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arkofthecovenantfoundation
Herbert W. Armstrong in Jerusalem
Through the Ambassador Foundation, Mr. Armstrong has worked with Jerusalem’s leaders to provide centers for Jewish and Arab children can learn to live, play and work in peace. It is a significant effort showing in a practical way that peace can never come until a generation of children have been prepared for a way of life other than war.
Mr. Armstrong worked with Mayor Teddy Kollek in supporting the “Children’s Playground” in Liberty Bell Park that was established during America’s bicentennial.
A.R.K. of God Foundation
is an independent community foundation dedicated to reviving the legacy of the late Herbert W. Armstrong in Jerusalem and in the whole world through an approach centered on remembering his teachings on God’s give way of life that will bring about peace among the peoples of different races, ethnicity or belief; and also to keep the covenant that God made with him.
“The Desert Shall Rejoice, and Blossom as the Rose”
“The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.” (Isaiah 35:1, ASV)
“In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old.” (Amos 9:11)
“For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.” (Romans 9:28)
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Chicken Church: Indonesia’s famed building was built by a man with a dream more than 30yrs ago
May 12, 2018 08:16:41
The shape and purpose of the building has often been misunderstood. (Instagram @humans_of_Indonesia_)
40 per cent of Indonesian students targeted by radical religious ideology: intelligence report
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Visitors passing by often wonder what a massive, chicken-shaped, stone building is doing standing perched in the middle of a forest in Indonesia.
The building was conceived by a man who had a reoccuring dream in the 1980s
The strange site is now highly popular with tourists and locals seeking a safe haven
The “Chicken Church” has become an immensely popular spot for local tourists
The strange building in the hills of Magelang in central Java province — known locally as Gereja Ayam, or “Chicken Church” — is actually neither a chicken nor a church.
The family who constructed and now manage the peculiar building say “church” is not the right word for the site.
“Our father’s initial plan was to build a house of worship in the shape of a dove, representing peace, but it didn’t end up being built by an architect or designer,” William Wenas, the son of the brains behind the project, Daniel Alamsjah.
“We were helped by the local people around here, so the shape is a little bit daggy,” the 37-year-old told the ABC.
A vision came to Daniel Alamsjah to build a prayer house in 1988. (Supplied)
Since then, Chicken Church has become an immensely popular spot for local tourists and is regularly featured on Instagram with the #chickenchurch hashtag.
But Mr Wenas maintains that not only has the shape of the building been misrepresented, but the purpose of the Bukit Rhema House of Prayer — as it is formally known — has also been widely misunderstood.
“Therefore, we always have a team who inform visitors that this is not a church but a house of prayer that is different to any other worship places, since we welcome everyone regardless of their faith and religion,” he said.
Chicken Church started with a reoccurring dream
The prayer house run several tours, including religious and educational tour (Supplied)
One night, Daniel Alamsjah, now 75, dreamt that he was asked to build a house of worship on a large hill, a house of worship like none other that had ever been seen before.
But Mr Alamsjah says that he kept having the same dream over and over until he met someone in 1988 at Candi Borobudur, a ninth-century Mahayana Buddhist temple in Magelang.
They took Mr Alamsjah to a small village in the same city where he says he was stunned to see the same hill from his dreams.
He felt his dreams had been validated after visiting the location and apparently started building the house of prayer a couple of years later in 1992 following instructions set out from his dream.
Daniel Alamsjah (fourth from left) set up the prayer house with support of his family. (Supplied: William Wenas)
He regularly travelled to Magelang from Jakarta some 400 kilometres away to oversee the progress of the development, before he ultimately decided to move to the area with his family.
“Every Friday evening after work he went to Magelang by a train,” Mr Wenas told the ABC.
Mr Wenas said his family didn’t understand why his father would visit the project every weekend.
“Logically he could not afford to build it at all,” Mr Wenas said.
“If God didn’t lend a helping hand, he wouldn’t have been able to finish it.”
‘We all find peace and tolerance in this place’
Paintings on the wall on level four tell how diverse culture is in Indonesia. (Supplied: William Wenas)
Each floor in the seven-storey complex has a different theme — such as spiritual journeys, the meaning of prayer, God’s perfections, and local wisdoms — and the themes are represented through various artworks.
The purpose of this building, the family says, is to promote religious diversity and tolerance in Indonesia.
There are 15 prayer rooms for almost all official religions in Indonesia, including a spot for Christians and another room facing Mecca for Muslims.
“When I first came here, I thought this was a place of worship for Christians since it was called a ‘church’,” one of visitor named Mimiva told the ABC.
“But we also found there’s a room for Muslims equipped with Islamic prayer mats, clothes, and sarong.”
The message of peace and diversity of religions conveyed in the building is embraced by visitors — the building is also home to social events, including delivering a rehabilitation program for ex-drug users.
“All visitors and friends here hail from different backgrounds, but we all find peace and tolerance in the place,” another visitor Herman Trianto said.
Local and international tourists have long-been flocking to the site. (Supplied: Instagram/@uncharted_ireland)
religion-and-beliefs,
community-and-society,
human-interest,
travel-and-tourism,
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The Switch Lite Seems Nice, But What I Really Want Is a Switch Pro
Image: Sam Rutherford (Gizmodo)
Earlier this week, Nintendo finally announced the long-rumored Switch Lite and it looks good. At $200, even though it doesn’t have support for the standard model’s docking feature, the Switch Lite seems like the natural upgrade for anyone still clinging to a 3DS, and a perfect handheld companion for long car rides or plane flights.
But for someone who has owned a Switch since launch, the Switch Lite holds no appeal for me. What I really want is a Switch Pro.
While this idea might sound like a pipe dream, there’s some evidence Nintendo is already gearing up to make this a reality. Back in March, the Wall Street Journal reported that Nintendo was preparing to launch two new versions of the Switch: “a cheaper option for casual gamers” which is almost certainly what became the Switch Lite, and a version with “enhanced features targeted at avid videogamers.” In other words, a Switch Pro.
I’m Finally Convinced: The Nintendo Switch Really Is the Console For Everyone
I didn’t hate the Switch when I reviewed it last year, but after spending an entire day hunting it…
More recently, a new FCC filing suggests that Nintendo is planning on upgrading the Switch with a new SoC (which is a fancy term for a gadget’s CPU, a different type of flash memory, and a new circuit board to accommodate those components.
Furthermore, as detailed in a report by Digital Foundry, numerous lines of code in one of the Switch’s recent firmware updates add even more weight to the potential development of a more powerful Switch. In version 5.0 of Switch’s system software, there are references to an unknown component codenamed Mariko that features revision number t214 or t210b01 instead of the typical t210 designation reserved for the Nvidia Tegra X1 chip used in the current Switch.
On top of that, a more powerful and more expensive version of the Switch makes a lot of sense for Nintendo’s portfolio. With the new $200 Switch Lite slotting in beneath the $300 standard Switch, it feels like there’s ample room for a $400 or $450 Switch Pro to bookend the other side of Nintendo’s price range.
But strangely, while Nintendo saw fit to announce the Switch Lite before it goes on sale later this fall, there’s been no official word about a Switch Pro. Here’s what I’d want to see.
A better screen
This would have to be the number one upgrade on a Switch Pro. As it stands, the Switch features a 1280 x 720 LCD screen which seems downright archaic in a day when even $200 budget phones come with 1920 x 1080 displays. The Switch’s current screen also isn’t very bright or colorful by modern metrics, and its bezels take up a lot of space that could otherwise be used to increase the size of its screen without expanding the Switch’s overall dimensions.
Even though I’m inside on a cloudy day, because the Switch is facing a window, glare dominates the screen.
Photo: Sam Rutherford (Gizmodo)
But even more than the display itself, the front of the Switch’s screen is plastic, not glass, which makes it incredibly prone to scratches. Moreover, out of all the modern gadgets with glossy screens, the reflections you get off the Switch’s screen are infuriating. Using the Switch in handheld mode on a sunny day (both indoors and outdoors) often results in your own ugly mug staring back at you while you’re trying to game. I’m not trying to solve some puzzles here, not count the number of times I blinked while playing Box Boy and Box Girl.
And if Nintendo wants to go even bigger from 6.2 inches to 7 inches or more, I’d take that too. The standard Switch is portable, but it’s doesn’t fit in a pocket, so making the Switch Pro just a bit bigger would be a welcome change. (Bigger Joy-Cons would be a treat too.)
Another side benefit of giving the Switch Pro a larger display is that it could also give Nintendo more room to cram in a bigger battery. Depending on the game (like Breath of the Wild), it’s possible to kill a Switch’s battery in under three hours. And that’s before you consider the degradation in longevity that all batteries suffer from over time. Regardless, a bigger battery is a pretty simple request with a lot of benefits. Longer handheld play, more juice to power a larger screen, and even the ability to offer increased performance.
Support for wireless audio
While I’d really like Nintendo to keep the Switch’s headphone jack on the Pro, Nintendo needs to add support for Bluetooth audio devices too. The trends are evident, more and more people are ditching wired headphones and headsets for wireless alternatives, and it’s long past time for the Switch to respond to that.
Just putting a headphone jack on the Switch isn’t good enough anymore.
Both the Xbox One and PS4 support wireless headsets, and while technically so does the Switch via its smartphone app, that solution is just way too clunky. There are even games like Fortnite for Switch that support broadcasting in-game audio and voice chat wirelessly, but to take advantage of that, you need to buy special third-party controllers.
While a lot of Switch games have pretty reasonable file sizes (Mario Odyssey is 5.5GB, and Super Mario Party is less than 3GB), others like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (14.9GB) and Breath of the Wild (13.4GB) aren’t quite so petite. Buying both of those games digitally and downloading them to the Switch will max out the system’s 32GB of onboard storage.
Because I was so worried about storage, I opted to buy a physical copy of Zelda.
Yes, you can add on more space via the microSD card slot. But the standard Switch’s storage is so small it causes a type of storage anxiety. Because I’m always worried about running out of room, I tend to install everything to a microSD card. This habit results in slightly slower loading times than you would get if games were running off of the Switch’s internal flash memory. Sigh.
YouTuber’s Tiny GameCube Is a Heartbreaking Look at What Could Have Been
Unlike the low-effort PlayStation Classic, the NES Classic and SNES Classic are among the best…
Now compare that to the 1TB of storage you get on an Xbox One X or S or the 500GB of base storage you get in the least expensive PS4, and it’s easy to see why the next Switch needs a storage bump.
A Sturdier Kickstand
A lot of people like to make fun of the Switch’s kickstand. It’s kind of flimsy, doesn’t always work, and sometimes it feels like it’s going to break if you look at it wrong. But the Switch’s kickstand is more of a case of a good idea with bad execution. While it might sound ridiculous, I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve seen people playing the Switch in real life in a bar, at a mall, while waiting in line, or even on a roof, all while keeping the Switch propped up via its kickstand.
The Switch’s kickstand is a highly undervalued feature.
The Switch’s kickstand is a good idea (more gadgets should come with them), it just needs to be sturdier, more like what you get on a Microsoft Surface.
Bonus: The D-pad from the Switch Lite
One sort of sneaky thing Nintendo did for the Switch Lite was replacing the four face buttons on the left of the system with a traditional D-pad. A lot of Switch fans have been clamoring for this from the start, though I understand why Nintendo didn’t do it, as it would have detracted from the Joy-Con’s ability to serve as both one half of a controller while also doubling as an independent gamepad. But after seeing it on the Switch Lite, putting a D-Pad on a system targeted at gaming enthusiasts makes sense.
So what’s left?
But wait, you didn’t mention faster performance. Yes, but as I detailed above, Nintendo seems to be already working on that. And while it would be nice to see Nintendo add support for 4K TVs to a Switch Pro, I’m not sure the Switch really needs it, or could even support resolutions that high without an entire redesign.
With games like Mario Odyssey and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Nintendo has proven like it has numerous times in the past that faster clock speeds and more video RAM aren’t required to make an amazing game. And when you add in the flock of indies like Stardew Valley, Overcooked 2 and more that have rushed to support the Switch, it’s clear graphical horsepower isn’t one of the Switch’s significant limitations.
But that’s just me, what else do you think Nintendo needs to add on a Switch Pro?
Pixel 3, 3a owners with Google Fi device protection can now get same-day screen repairs at uBreakiFix
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Panetta Inspires with Call for Leadership
On Tuesday, October 30, Secretary Leon Panetta made a visit to the Chofu campus. Panetta’s long career in politics has spanned over half a century, and seen him serve in Congress, as the Chief of Staff for President Clinton, the Director of the CIA and the Secretary of Defense under President Obama. But when he came to speak to our high school students this week, what they saw was not so much a well-regarded, high-ranking official, but a humble, public servant who has dedicated his life to the betterment of his country and fellow citizens.
Secretary Panetta’s visit, facilitated by Roy Ryu ‘77 and the Washington Speakers Bureau, was organized and hosted by six student leaders from high school: Rei Lindemann ‘19, Cora Eaton ‘20, Everett Hirano ‘20, Leah Fahy ‘19, Sean McGuire ‘20, and Masao Kawasaki ‘19. These students not only took on the responsibility of coordinating and promoting his visit, they also reached out to the student body beforehand to gather questions from their peers. With the help of their social studies teachers, they selected the questions and prepared their opening and closing remarks.
Despite a long and illustrious career, Secretary Panetta did not come to rehash his own glorious past with our high school students; instead, he focused on them and their futures as leaders and agents of change. The desire to inspire younger generations to aspire to leadership and public service led to his founding of the nonprofit Panetta Institute for Public Policy at UC Santa Clara. His message was one our students needed and wanted to hear. “Politics is so polarized today,” junior Sean McGuire noted. “Personally, as we are in the transition of becoming adults, it seems daunting to go back to the US and face the problems they are facing.”
Panetta spoke about his own experiences in Congress in the 1970s and ‘80s, comparing them to those of his son Jimmy, who now represents California’s 20th congressional district, contrasting the frequent cross-party cooperation he experienced with the current gridlock. His solution— look past labels, sides, and the desire to win and simply work together and collaborate for the betterment of the country. “Our country has had over 200 years of challenges,” he told students. “We have had a civil war, world wars, recessions, and depressions. But the power is and always has been with the people. And great leaders are those people who rise to these challenges.”
Parents and teachers know the frustration of teaching children one thing, while watching adults in the news do the opposite. Panetta spoke from experience about working alongside politicians and other world leaders who have looked past their own differences to implement public policy that benefits their constituents, and his stories (many of which cannot be found in a history book) served as an example to our own community. “I’ve worked under nine Presidents,” Panetta told the crowd. “I’ve worked over 50 years in public service and have seen Washington at its best and its worst. I have seen Democrats and Republicans put aside their differences and work together.” He reminded our students that true leadership is about “courage, strength, and the willingness to make sacrifices and take risks.”
During the Q&A session hosted by our six student leaders, the discussion covered everything from his initial reasons for pursuing the field of politics (his parents wanted him to become a professional piano player, but once he joined student council at his high school he discovered his passion for leadership through public service), to kneeling during the national anthem, and even whether or not he thought the current state of political tactics and rhetoric were appropriate. As someone who has worked for both major political parties, he had a lot to say about civility and respecting your colleagues. High school principal Dr Jon Herzenberg was impressed with Secretary Panetta—and our ASIJ students. He told us that “the world needs more people who can cultivate consensus, collaboration, and have the ability to work together with others from different backgrounds and perspectives. In order to achieve this lofty aspiration, compromise, patience, and empathy are required. In my humble opinion, Secretary Panetta embodied these attributes during his visit, both in his words and in his actions. I can confidently say, that our students modeled these same qualities as well.”
Following Panetta’s speech and the Q&A session, our student leaders toured him around our campus. The sincerity of his words became even more evident through his ease with the students, his frank, but humorous, honesty, and his genuine desire for a new generation of young people to be inspired to become leaders who create change—not through drawing a line in the sand, but through respectful dialogue and compromise.
After he left campus, the students were a bit shell-shocked. Senior Masa Kawasaki best summed up the opportunity they had just had by stating that this opportunity was a rare one indeed—it was a classroom lesson becoming reality. It was history, policy, and politics becoming a tangible, living person who was more than another distant sound-bite on their computer. It was, in fact, an all too brief moment that a leader became an inspiration to a new generation.
Posted in: High School | Tagged: Education, Excellence, Japan, Politics, Social, Specialists, Student Perspective, Students, Visitor
October Days in the Middle School
Elementary School Strings and Choir End of Year Performance
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E3 Final Day Wrap Up – Games You Might Have Missed
RK128 June 16, 2016 Others Leave a Comment
E3 was very hectic and we covered a lot of content the past few days on the site. From press conferences, videos, interviews and more; we covered as much as we could. Sadly, this meant missing or glossing over some of the other games announced or detailed. NeoGaf member bomblord1 decided to make a Thread on the forum covering a number of other game announcements. The announcements will be below but thank you so much for making this comprehensive list.
Source: NeoGaf
7th Dragon III Code VFD
Any news is great news for us 7th Dragon fans, we honestly never expected to see this series released in the West. So the excitement is high surrounding the new E3 2016 trailer for 7th Dragon III Code: VFD. The game will be releasing exclusively on Nintendo 3DS next month July 12, 2016. Here is the publishers description. https://youtu.be/k33Dld-V5pw
Source: http://operationrainfall.com/2016/06…-iii-code-vfd/
Atelier Firis Launch Trailer and news
Gust reveals the launch trailer for their newest entry in their long running Atelier series, Atelier Firis: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Journey. Gust has provided some information on two of the new characters Atelier Firis introduce; https://youtu.be/iG93q92sfMg
Source: http://www.hardcoregamer.com/2016/06…debuts/211882/
Gaf Thread: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthre…=atelier+firis
Beyond Flesh and Blood
Mecha in Britain. I almost want to just stop there. But Pixelbomb Games, a developer proud of their Manchester heritage, have a unique take on the genre that breaks away from the Japanese tropes. https://youtu.be/CCgL978xMDU
Source: http://operationrainfall.com/2016/06/16/b3-part-2/
Black Rose: Valkyrie: Character Trailer
Compile Heart has released the latest in their character introduction series for their upcoming game, Black Rose Valkyrie, which is due out on the PlayStation 4 on July 21 in Japan. https://youtu.be/S2xZX5T6FWk
Source: http://www.hardcoregamer.com/2016/06…railer/212430/
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night: E3 Demo
A playable demo for Koji Igarashi’s Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is available at E3 2016, and an off-screen video from the event gives us a closer look at the Inti Creates-developed game. [Thanks, Gamer.] https://youtu.be/P5CuDs87MkQ
Source: http://www.siliconera.com/2016/06/16…playable-demo/
Bound: A new game from Santa Monica Studios
SOMETIMES IN ORDER TO MOVE FORWARD
YOU HAVE TO TAKE A STEP BACK
Source: http://bound.playstation.com/
Gaf Thread: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1233000
Cherry Tree High Girls Fight: Released on Steam
Once upon a time, the Cherry Tree High series was focused around cutsey adventure/visual novel gameplay. The latest title, Cherry Tree High Girls’ Fight, switches things up by pitting the cast of teenage girls against one anther in battle.
Source: http://www.hardcoregamer.com/2016/06…-steam/212046/
Dragon ball Xenoverse: E3 Info
Hub World
7 times bigger than Toki Toki City
Can’t fly at the start, flying locked off to prevent players getting to all areas initially
Vehicles available in Hub, Hover boards mentioned. Nimbus Hinted
Source: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthre…ight=xenoverse
Exiles End Trailer
XSEED Games just provided us with a bunch of information and a trailer for Exile’s End which is a retro sci-fi platformer that seems to be hiding a lot of mysteries.
https://youtu.be/IAJRJSdqqCk
Source: http://operationrainfall.com/2016/06…s-end-trailer/
It may not seem like the most exciting game to come out but gosh darn, people love farming. The day of farmer starts well before the sun rises and doesn’t stop until it goes down. It’s a tough career but somebody has got to do it and Farming Simulator 17 may be the ultimate test for any would be farmers.
Source: http://www.hardcoregamer.com/2016/06…tor-17/212673/
Fate Extella
XSEED Games has released new details for one of Marvelous’ upcoming games, Fate/EXTELLA: The Umbral Star.
This title will take place in the same worlds as Fate/EXTRA and Fate/EXTRA CCC. It will feature multiple characters from several different titles in the Fate universe. These titles include Fate/Grand Order, Fate/Apocrypha, Fate/EXTRA and the original visual novel Fate/stay night.
Source: http://operationrainfall.com/2016/06…s-screenshots/
Fault Milestone: Coming to PS4 and Vita
Fault is a series of science-fantasy cinematic novels using a unique 3D camera system for a visually immersive reading experience. Fault Milestone One follows the story of a princess named Selphine and her Royal Guardian Ritona
Read more at http://www.siliconera.com/2016/06/14…GsVrdORYM2K.99
Source: http://www.hardcoregamer.com/2016/06…d-vita/212058/
Gaf Thread: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthre…highlight=rabi
Fictorum
Fictorum, a first or third-person action RPG with customizable spells, features destructible structures, letting players tear whole cities apart in their quest for vengeance.
Read more at http://www.siliconera.com/2016/06/15…2DZcOEUlbJu.99
Source: http://www.siliconera.com/2016/06/15…ble-buildings/
Gal Gun Double Peace: Release date announced
You know those E3 feelings are truly in the area when we finally get a Gal Gun Double Peace release date — truly the highlight of the conference.
Source: http://www.ricedigital.co.uk/gal-gun…nt=VigLink+Inc
Gaf Thread: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthre…245&highlight=
Greedy Guns
You didn’t think I’d get through this list without having an indie platformer did you? A lot of the more obscure games I look through fit this category but Greedy Guns stands out from the rest. Developer Tiu Atum has put together a co-op metroidvania bullet hell barrage that looks incredibly fun.https://youtu.be/5kHrIbRAEL4
Source:http://operationrainfall.com/2016/06/16/b3-part-2/
Harvest Moon Skytree Village:Trailer
Rising Start Games has published a new trailer for Harvest Moon: Skytree Village, which was only recently announced. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJem…ature=youtu.be
Source: http://www.hardcoregamer.com/2016/06…leased/211807/
Gaf Thread: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthre…t=harvest+moon
Hatsune Miku Project Diva X: New Trailer
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bJ7rIZB1dU
Gaf Thread:http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1234345
KARAKARA: Demo Live
After a successful Indie Go Go campaign, Sekai Project has released the demo for KARAKARA right in time for the wrapping up of E3. The demo has been released on Steam, so this is the all ages version. There is also an 18% Denpasoft version in the works.
Source: http://operationrainfall.com/2016/06…ara-demo-live/
Killing Floor Incursion: Light gun game announced for Oculus
Tripwire Interactive’s Killing Floor series has done impressively well over the years. This multiplayer-focused shooter continues to draw fans with Killing Floor 2, but that’s hardly the end of the line for this team.
Source: http://www.theverge.com/2016/6/13/11…-touch-e3-2016
Neptune vs Sega Hard Girls
When it comes to anthropomorphic consoles in our games, JRPG fans know who our goddess and goddess candidates are. We’ve seen eight games in the Hyperdimension Neptunia series by this point, after all. Neptune, Noire, Blanc, Vert, Nepgear, Uni, Rom, and Ram are household names in the right circles. Superdimension Neptune VS Sega Hard Girls is increasing our pantheon when it comes to the PlayStation Vita this year.
Read more at http://www.siliconera.com/2016/06/16…taTSrzy6HYL.99
Source:http://www.siliconera.com/2016/06/16…rite-consoles/
Observer:CyberPunk Horror Game
Layers of Fear may have have left some mixed reactions among gamers when it came out of Early Access earlier this year, but that doesn’t mean developers Bloober Team won’t stop trying to deliver us the best first-person horror experience they can in video games. As such, today they unveiled their new game, Observer, this time delving into the realm of horror with a sci-fi twist.
Source: http://www.hardcoregamer.com/2016/06…server/211718/
Rabi-Ribi: Coming to PS4 and Vita
Yesterday, Sekai Project and Mighty Rabbit Studios announced they would be porting some Windows PC games to PlayStation platforms, complete with limited physical runs through Limited Run Games.
Source: http://www.siliconera.com/2016/06/14…station-vitas/
Root Letter: Coming West
Kadokawa Games’ Root Letter is to be published in the west by PQube, the publisher has announced. The game is to be released on June 16 in Japan, with a western release at some point during 2016 for the PlayStation Vita.
Source:http://www.hardcoregamer.com/2016/06…ublish/211826/
Shantae 1/2 Genie Hero Trailer and Demo
Off-screen footage from the demo of the Wii U version of Shantae: Half-Genie Hero has surfaced from E3, courtesy of Yoshiller. You can watch the demo, made specifically for E3, below.
Source: http://www.siliconera.com/2016/06/16…heros-e3-demo/ + https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kfc7…ature=youtu.be
Gaf Thread:http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1234880 + http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1233848
Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse: Trailer
The release date for the latest in the long running franchise, Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse, is rapidly approaching. It is still slated for a Summer 2016 release. So Atlus has graced us with a trailer featuring many of the new features of the game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkazX7U2PCw
Source: http://operationrainfall.com/2016/06…iv-apocalypse/
Seven Pirates: “Chest Growth Trailer” (oh Japan)
As you can see, it makes use of the Vita’s touchscreen in…interesting ways. https://youtu.be/h_eVI2qeJIg (nsfw)
Source: http://operationrainfall.com/2016/06…rowth-trailer/ (nsfw)
Stardew Valley: is coming to Xbox One PS4 and WiiU
So today, I’m pleased to officially announce that Stardew Valley is coming to the Xbox One, Playstation 4 and Wii U!
With the help of Chucklefish and Sickhead Games, I’m expecting to have these versions ready in time for the winter holidays!
Source: http://stardewvalley.net/stardew-val…soles-q4-2016/
Star Ocean 5: Launch Trailer
Here’s a new one. While it’s not uncommon for games to receive launch trailers a couple weeks in advance, I can’t think of an instance where a publisher releases a launch trailer for E3. Regardless, that’s just what Square Enix has done for Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vk49cdSyOrc
Tales of Bersaria: New Trailer
It’s E3 so we have a brand new trailer to share with you for Tales of Berseria which shows some of the animation sequences by Ufotable! You’ll get a brief look on the story of Velvet, her companions and the world they live in. It starts off with Velvet in a dark cell before she embarks on a quest to find Artorius Collbrande in A Tale of Emotion versus Reason. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EKK…ature=youtu.be
Source: http://blog.talesofgame.com/en/japan…h-screenshots/
Tears Revolude
Sion and Michelle set off to discover the final works of a unique artist, only to find danger and monsters in turn-based RPG Tears Revolude.
Source: http://www.siliconera.com/2016/06/15…ears-revolude/
Touhou Scarlet Curiousity E3 Trailer
XSeed Games has recently shared a new trailer for Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity. The game is a independent spin-off RPG based on the shmup franchise. [Thanks, Operation Rainfall.] https://youtu.be/JA_3dYMUU9c
Source: http://www.siliconera.com/2016/06/15…e1A4pE19r3d.99
Trails of Cold Steel 2: E3 Trailer
XSeed Games has shared some more information as well as a new trailer for The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II, giving us a look at the game’s story and characters. [Thanks, Operation Rainfall.] Read more at http://www.siliconera.com/2016/06/16…GhWB6DkFiOO.99
Source: http://www.siliconera.com/2016/06/16…ry-characters/
Yesterday Origin
Pendulo Studios have been making point and click adventure games for over 20 years now; they’re best known for the Runaway Series which is quite popular in Europe. Yesterday Origins acts as a sequel/prequel to John Yesterday’s first outing. https://youtu.be/bFNi6R6JVOg
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CfP: 100 Years of Night and Day, 26 October 2019, London
A one-day symposium at University of Westminster on 26 October 2019.
One hundred years after its publication, the School of Humanities at the University of Westminster are hosting a one-day symposium to celebrate and interrogate Virginia Woolf’s second novel, Night and Day.
In her diary in 1920, Virginia Woolf wrote: ‘I don’t suppose I’ve ever enjoyed any writing so much as I did the last half of N. & D.’ Her happiness with the novel was characteristically short-lived. In 1932 she wrote that ‘N. & D. is dead.’
Likewise with critics, the novel has moved in and out of favour. Coming as it did after the often surreal subversion of the Bildungsroman that is The Voyage Out, it has been sometimes read by Woolf’s contemporaries and more recent critics alike as a step back towards realist fiction. Famously described by Katherine Mansfield in 1920 as ‘Jane Austen up to date,’ and by critic Randy Malamud in 1989 as ‘a stillborn modernist artefact,’ the question of where this novel exists on the spectrum between realist and modern is one that persists in Woolf criticism, right up to present day.
But as well as considerations of its position in the broad narrative of Woolf’s relationship to realism and modernism, Night and Day has provided fertile ground for critics to explore a wide range of ideas presented by its content. Its engagement with Shakespeare, with women’s suffrage, with mathematics, with class; its portrait of London; its silence on the First World War – all have led critics to new and exciting enquiries.
One hundred years after its initial publication, this one-day symposium in the heart of London seeks to encourage work that considers Night and Day and its innovations, breaking away from readings of the text as a mis-step to consider the rich, unusual, and sometimes difficult ideas that the novel offers.
Paper topics might include, but are not limited to: the relationship between literature and mathematics and astronomy; dreaming and daydreaming; body consciousness; ghosts and haunting; writing practice represented in fiction; spatial geography; London and its addresses; women’s suffrage; marriage and courtship plots; literary celebrity; family portraits; generational conflict; vagueness.
We welcome papers that consider how writers other than Woolf have also explored Night and Day’s themes.
Funding is available to contribute towards speaker travel costs. Lunch will be provided.
Please send abstracts of 150–250 words for 20 minute papers to rosie.reynolds@my.westminster.ac.uk by 31 July 2019.
CategoriesCFPs, Events, Uncategorized
CfP: The Body and the Built Environment, 25 June, Durham
CfP: Beckett & Italy, Reading, 7-8 Nov. 2019; ‘Sapienza’ Roma, May 2020
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Home / World / Africa / World – US willing to help Nigeria
World – US willing to help Nigeria
ABUJA –– The United States is prepared to send military trainers to Nigeria to help new President Muhammadu Buhari’s armed forces improve their intelligence gathering and logistics, a senior State Department official said today.
Strains between American military advisers and the Nigerian army over human rights abuses and corruption under Buhari’s predecessor Goodluck Jonathan undermined cooperation in efforts to counter the six-year-old Boko Haram insurgency.
The State Department official said Buhari and US Secretary of State John Kerry would discuss future security assistance and expanded economic ties in a meeting on the sidelines of the new president’s inauguration on Friday.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of Kerry’s visit to Abuja, said initial talks with Buhari indicated he wanted a “close relationship” with the United States.
Secretary of State John Kerry waving as he arrives at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, Nigeria, yesterday.
“We have every indication that we’ll be able to start a new chapter. We continue to have advisers there . . . what I’m talking about would be new advisers in areas where we would expand.”
Nigerian security forces have scored some successes against Boko Haram this year. The jihadists held an area of northeast Nigeria roughly the size of Belgium at the start of 2015 but have since been beaten back by counter-attacking government forces backed by those of neighbouring Chad, Niger and Cameroon.
The State Department official said Washington was willing to help train Nigeria’s security forces in intelligence and logistics as well as military justice.
“We want to make sure and prioritize based on what President-elect Buhari and his top military team needs,” the official said, acknowledging that training of a newly created army battalion last year “ran into some difficulties.
“[But] we think we can pretty quickly get back on track.”
Boko Haram launched its insurgency in 2009, attacking towns and villages and killing thousands of people in pursuit of a state adhering to strict sharia law. The militants’ abduction of 200 schoolgirls in April 2014 provoked outrage across the world.
The State Department official said that during his discussions with Buhari, Kerry would also express American interest in more economic cooperation with Nigeria, Africa’s biggest energy producer and most populous country.
American firms were especially interested in investing in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector and in manufacturing.
← Trinidad – ‘The gloves are off’
Setting the pace →
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Archive | October, 2016
Beth Miller Explains the Impact of the Israeli Military on Palestinian Youth
Beth Miller, who is the U.S. Advocacy Officer at the Defense for Children International Palestine, spoke on Friday, Oct. 7, at the Christ Lutheran Church in Long Beach, on the impact of the Israeli military occupation on Palestinian children and youth in the West Bank to about 30 people.
People for Palestinian – Israeli Justice sponsored Miller. The cosponsors were Christ Lutheran Church, Jewish Voice for Peace – LA, Long Beach Area Peace Network, United Methodists’ Holy Land Task Force, Peace and Justice Ministry Team of Grace First Presbyterian Church of Long Beach and Friends of Sabeel – Los Angeles and Orange County, according to a flyer distributed before the event.
Dennis Kortheuer, who is a Professor Emeritus from Cal State University Long Beach, introduced the audience to PPIJ and Miller. Regarding PPIJ, Kortheur said that PPIJ had recently had its two year anniversary and that PPIJ’s mission is “to work for a just resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict through education, public discussion, coalition building and action.
Miller, who holds a master’s in Human Rights Law from the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London, said DCIP is an independent, local, Palestinian, child-rights organization, founded in 1991 and is based in Ramallah in the West Bank. It started as a small group of volunteers to provide free, legal-aid services to Palestinian children the Israeli military arrested. Now, besides providing the legal-aid services, DCIP monitors and documents all child-rights violations across the occupied Palestinian Territories. It then uses the evidence gathered for its advocacy.
After describing DCIP and its work, Miller showed the 20-minute documentary, “Detaining Dreams,” which was produced in collaboration with the American Friends Service Committee. It tells the stories of four Palestinian-male youth the Israel military detained and then prosecuted through the military courts for throwing stones. The documentary, through the four’s own words, shows how the Israeli military ill-treated and tortured these youth and the trauma the four suffered from the experience. The four ranged in age from 14 to 16.
After the documentary, Miller spoke about the legal framework under martial law on the West Bank, specifically Israeli Military Order 1651, in which about 700 Palestinian youth are prosecuted yearly. It is under 1651, which criminalizes throwing stones. She did admit many Palestinian youth do throw stones. Another criminal act defined under the same law is insulting the honor of an Israeli soldier.
She said, “So effectively, if you are a Palestinian child living on the West Bank you can be arrested by an Israeli soldier pretty much at any time for any reason…. Three out of four of the children who arrested in this way are going to experience physical violence at some point….They are using the system to control the population …and we see that how children are treated.”
After her presentation and during the discussion, Miller said Israel is the only country in the world that systematically prosecutes children in military courts.
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Tag Archives: Carlos Alexander Hidalgo
Poor People’s Campaign Comes to Orange County
Inspired by the civil-rights movement, the Poor People’s Campaign, on Thursday, April 11, brought its “Truth and Poverty Tour” to four stops across Orange County “to challenge the evils of systemic racism, poverty, the war economy, ecological devastation and the nation’s distorted morality,” according to the meetup.com about page of the Orange County Poor People’s Campaign.
On the second stop of the Orange County Poor People’s Campaign, a crowd of about two dozen people, on Thursday, April 11, gathered to hear speakers across the street of the Theo Lacey Facility in Orange, which houses detainees for the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement; Photo by Barry Saks
The second stop was across the street of the Theo Lacey Facility, which houses detention centers for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department and the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The public leader of the OCPPC, Lisa Pedersen, who characterizes herself as “a community activist for human rights and social justice,” also on the same meetup.com site, introduced Jan Meslin. Meslin, who helped, in 1984, found the Friends for Orange County Detainees, which visits detained immigrants, emceed.
In her introduction, Meslin, said, “There are several thousand men right now, right across the street who are in maximum security prison…. Each of these men has a story, each of these men has a family… a lot of them have lost their jobs, their apartments and they could be out here thriving…. A little more than 500 are there simply because they don’t have proper documents.”
Jan Meslin, who is from Freedom for Immigrants, addresses, on Thursday, April 11, the crowd gathered across the street from the Theo Lacey ICE detention center in Orange at the second stop of the Orange County Poor People’s Campaign.
Meslin, who is now the director of social change development for Freedom for Immigrants, introduced Roberto Herrera as a Community Engagement Coordinator for the Resilience Orange County, which according to its website, is “a youth-oriented institution that works towards social-systemic transformation while promoting healing, trauma-informed and culturally relevant practices that are inclusive of all members of the community.” Meslin said, “Roberto (Herrera) has worked to advance and defend the rights of immigrants and the undocumented community in Orange County, specifically those most marginalized, including the LGBTQ community, those with past criminal convictions, overly-criminalized youth and people of color.”
Herrera said, “The (California) Attorney General (Xavier Becerra) in February of this year released a report detailing the conditions inside this detention center. What confirmed was what we already know, the egregious conditions inside.” He added that this center doesn’t have a “proper grievance process.” If detainees are “experiencing excess force by the sheriffs,” the detainees have no recourse because the grievances are not collected.
Carlos Alexander Hidalgo, who had been detained at ICE detention centers in Adelando and the Theo Lacey in Orange, speaks, Thursday, April 11, across the street of Theo Lacey about his incarceration and becoming an immigrant-rights activist; Photo by Barry Saks
After Herrera spoke, Meslin introduced Carlos Alexander Hidalgo and said she met him after he had been transferred from the Adelanto ICE detention center to Theo Lacey in retaliation to a hunger strike he started.
“He was born in El Salvador in 1967, came to the U.S. when he was 11-years old, he graduated from Bell Gardens High School (in Los Angeles County) and he made a life, got married, he had some children, he worked, and found himself in some legal trouble…served a little bit of time and instead of going on parole as if he were a U.S. citizen, he found himself in the detention-deportation system….He was able to get bonds and be released,” Meslin said.
Hidalgo, who is on the leadership council of Freedom for Immigrants, said, “The last five years with all that has happened to me, I’ve become an immigration activist.…I lost custody to my kids just because I couldn’t make it to court, (I lost) my business….I’m going to be the thorn in their eyes.”
After Hidalgo spoke, the Rev. Michelle Harris-Gloyer of the First Christian Church of Orange, Disciples of Christ, led the crowd in the song, “Someone is Hurting My Brother” and the second, which the reverend characterized as a mantra, “I am not Afraid.”
Tags: Carlos Alexander Hidalgo, Freedom for Immigrants, ICE, Jan Meslin, Lisa Pedersen, Orange County, Poor People's Campaign, Theo Lacey Detention Center
Categories immigration, News
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Phil Woolpert
2001, Basketball
Phil Woolpert was the basketball coach at University of San Francisco and came to national attention when he led his great 1955 and 1956 teams to NCAA titles. But perhaps more significant was his coaching of the ’57 team, without superstars Bill Russell and Casey Jones, to the NCAA Final Four. His record was 154-78 for nine seasons, including a remarkable run of 60 straight wins. Woolpert was among the first to integrate, giving minutes to his players according to ability, not color. He died in 1987.
Plaque location: University of San Francisco
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Residents Help Out In Cambodia
Elaine Farge
Alameda residents Elaine Farge (left) and Marlene Getz took the Alameda Sun with them to Cambodia and Vietnam recently to participate in a multi-faceted mission trip planned by a non-profit called Cambodian Child’s Dream Organization (www.cambodianchildsdream.org).
The recent goal of CCDO was to sponsor a literacy mission. Marlene worked to expand two pre-school programs and Elaine established an English library for students in rural schools outside Siem Reap, Cambodia. In addition, 12 students from the Social Welfare Dept. of UC-Berkeley led a successful fund-raising effort to provide money for solar panels for one of the schools.
Both Elaine and Marlene come from education backgrounds. Marlene is a retired pre-school teacher, having worked in Berkeley for 30 years. Elaine, after leaving teaching in North Carolina, has worked with educational publishers in northern CA. The pre-school and library supplies and materials were taken to Cambodia in dozens of suitcases and duffle bags and came from donations from publishers and pharmacies.
The need in Cambodia is huge. Many families in rural areas that endured genocide during the Khmer Rouge era earn less than $2.00 per day and cannot afford to build water wells, nor have electricity or money to send their children to school. Children need to supply their own uniforms and school supplies, both of which have been supported by CCDO.
CCDO was organized in New York and the Bay Area in 2003 to address these needs from a grassroots level. Since that time, over 800 water wells and Tippy Taps have been provided for over 30,000 people. Hygiene and clean village workshops instruct everyone on the importance of hand-washing using soap and running water.
The January 2014 trip that Marlene and Elaine participated in was the first one organized around literacy.
sun shines everywhere
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Home › reference – authors bios › Edward T. Hall
Edward T. Hall the author of The Silent Language is an anthropologist who received his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1942. He is best known for his work in intercultural relations and communication, he consulted with businesses and government agencies.
He did fieldwork on intercultural relations with the Navajo, Hopi, Spanish-Americans, and the Trukese.
During the crucial years of the USA foreign aid program in the 1950s he was Director of the State Department’s Point IV Training Program.
From 1959 to 1963 he directed a communications research project at the Washington School of Psychiatry where he studied nonverbal communication.
He taught at the University of Denver, Bennington College, the Harvard Business School, the Illinois Institute of Technology, and Northwestern University.
Dr. Hall was a Fellow of the American Anthropological Association and the Society for Applied Anthropology, and a member of the Building Research Advisory Board of the National Academy of Sciences.
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The Troubles: Books about Ireland, Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom
Aisling Twomey 06-07-17
I was born and raised in the Republic of Ireland- in Cork, about as far south as you can go. As a child, I saw the last remnants of the violence from the Troubles and as I grew up, I witnessed the creation of a peace process that has held for three decades. Ireland is green and pretty but it has a dark and complex history. We’re not all parties and bars.
In last year’s Brexit vote, 55% of those in Northern Ireland voted to Remain. At the time, the Scots received most airtime because 66% of them voted to stay in the EU; Northern Ireland was vastly forgotten. Mild questions were posed about the peace process and, more recently, talks of a hard border and the dismantling of the Good Friday Agreement have become more widespread. During Eurovision, a Conservative councillor sent a tweet promoting the placement of a hard border in Ireland, as punishment for Ireland not giving the UK Eurovision points. This is foolish, of course, but it does reflect a harsh reality; we are making decisions without understanding the reality of what they may mean.
During the Brexit campaign, many people I spoke to in London were unaware that the peace process has been funded by the EU to the tune of more than 1 billion Euro since 1989. EU funding sustains the entire peace process, maximising victim support, youth engagement, shared education and social stability. Truthfully, without the EU, the peace process might never have kept up momentum.
As an Irish person, I worry for the future of Northern Ireland without EU funding. I don’t think I would worry so much, except that last week a British person asked me “But why is Northern Ireland even a thing? Like, why do we have it?”
People I know and love have suggested that Ireland is part of the UK anyway (it’s not) and that I’m English no matter what I think (I’m definitely not, and this is egregiously offensive). When a friend of mine learned that Britain colonised Ireland in a series of planned invasions before subjecting the entire country to severe discriminatory rule and divesting Irish people of their wealth and livelihoods, he called me a liar. Far from being a lie, this is history. When the British left Ireland following a bloody war in the 1920s, the island of Ireland was partitioned, six counties staying part of the UK and becoming Northern Ireland. The rest would become the Republic where I was born.
Tearing a country in two is a hard fought battle. It’s difficult to know who has won and who has lost. The emergence of hardline, violent loyalist and republican groups turned parts of Ireland, Northern Ireland and the UK into a warzone. British soldiers patrolled the streets of Northern Ireland, stirring tensions higher- and paramilitary groups targeted UK buildings and civilians. Thousands died. Thousands died, but last week a British person couldn’t even tell me what Northern Ireland was or why it might matter. It’s not a place you often see on TV or in the newspapers today, but the idea of a UK land border on the island of Ireland is pushing tensions to an unpleasant level where I’m from. It is hard not to feel resentful that my own country is to be so impacted by the choices of another- especially when the surrounding history seems to be so poorly known.
Revisionism walks blithely among us, ignorant by will but also by circumstance. As human beings, we are ignorant of reality because we choose to keep our eyes closed- and sometimes, our lack of knowledge is down to the fact that we weren’t taught, didn’t learn and can’t know. Someone should have done better for us but we still have a duty to learn. Identity comes in part from our past- if you don’t know who you are and where you’re from, the identity that you graft isn’t real.
This is a list of books about or from Northern Ireland. If you want to learn about a conflict you probably know very little about, jump in- and be prepared to learn some weighty lessons in your head and your heart. If you’re British or Irish, you have a duty to pick up one of these. You have a duty to know your past- because without it, you’ll never be able to build a future that works.
Making Sense of the Troubles byDavid McKittrick and David McVea
First written in the beginning of the 21st century when the peace process was shiny and new, an updated version now exists dated from 2012. This is history- clear, balanced and easy to digest. The story of the Troubles isn’t easy to read, but this is as frank and friendly a narrative as you could find.
The Twelfth Day of July by Joan Lingard
Published in the 1970s, this was how I came to understand Northern Ireland when I was a child. A novel based in Belfast tells the story of Kevin and Sadie, a Catholic boy and a Protestant girl, who fall hard for one another- in a world that’s determined they shouldn’t be together. The futility of the Troubles is so well expressed that, even though I haven’t read this in almost two decades, it’s stuck in my heart. There are also sequels- and they’re just as good.
Lies of Silence by Brian Moore
What many people don’t realise about the Troubles is how easily regular people got drawn in- and how horrific the consequences were. In this novel, the IRA demand that a hotel manager plant a car bomb to kill a Protestant preacher. If he refuses, his wife will be killed. The plot is as simple as a plot can be- but it’s completely harrowing.
Lost Lives by David McKittrick, Seamus Kelters, Brian Feeney, Chris Thornton
This one is a really hard read and you won’t feel right for a while after you get through it. The authors have examined every single death directly caused by the Troubles. It doesn’t examine the remaining injured, but it does portray, very starkly, the price paid for years of disaster.
The Faithful Tribe by Ruth Dudley Edwards
This is probably the most controversial book on this list- an intimate portrait of the Orange Order, a protestant fraternal organisation mostly based in Northern Ireland. Deeply loyalist and conservative, the organistion has been accused of sectarianism and supremacy. This is the story of a Catholic woman who wanted to know more. The book regards the Orange Order with fondness but not without criticism. As a nationalist, it was a hard thing to read- which also made it one of the most rewarding. Opening your own eyes is never a bad thing.
Cal by Bernard McLaverty
Cal will break your heart anew. An IRA sympathiser, Cal is torn apart by guilt at some of his involvement in local paramilitary activities- and is forced to face his own pain and hurt when he falls for the widow Marcella. This was published before the peace process was even a conceptual reality- it may seem antiquated as a result, but it cuts deep.
The Glass Shore, Sinead Gleeson (ed)
The voices of the women of Northern Ireland have, vastly, been lost or abandoned. The focus has almost always been on the young men who got caught up in the violence that dominated the landscape. This collection of short stories is not a clichéd rehashing of the Troubles. The stories instead address cultural identity- and the concept of borders is a heavy feature.
Bear in Mind These Dead by Susan McKay
Where Lost Lives discusses the deaths of the Troubles, Susan McKay has instead examined the legacy of the violence, giving a voice to the ultimate voiceless; the ones left behind when the dust clears. It is hard to survive a war- harder still to build a future where old wounds are still rubbing and sore. This is a look to the future and the healing required to rebuild, brick by brick.
Edit June 8th: Typo Correction
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#Nonfiction#northern ireland#The Troubles
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Tag: camilla cabello
Camila Cabello to Star in ‘Cinderella’ Adaptation
If you are one of the few that think we don’t need another Cinderella adaptation, I hope this will convince you otherwise. Cuban-American singer, Camila Cabello, is preparing for her acting debut in Sony’s adaptation of the Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale.
The Fifth Harmony alumna made her big break with her hit ‘Havana’, the hit song off her album Camila, which released in 2018. As her first single ‘Havana’ stole the charts and became the most streamed song by a female artist. As part of the cast, she will also be assisting in the music creation.
image via radio.com
Over the past many years, Cinderella retellings and adaptations have been popular in both literature and film. In 2017 we saw the release of My Fairy God Mother is a Drag Queen by David Clawson, which put a very modern spin on the classic. Cinder, a more popular release, written by Marissa Meyer, takes a more fantastical approach to the story. I know, what could be more of a fantasy than a fairy god mother and mice that turn into horses? Well, Cinderella is a robot. Kenneth Branagh’s Cinderella took the story back to its roots, minus Disney’s musical numbers, while Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella featured favorite artists Brandy and Whitney Houston.
image via vanity fair
Of course, with a new adaptation comes the very important question: what will be different? This particular adaptation was thought up by late night show host, James Corden. You may know him from Carpool Karaoke, which Cabello appeared on in 2017. The story is said to be a modern take on the classic, but further plot details are being held tight.
image via hello magazine
Working with Cabello and Corden on the project are Leo Pearlman and Kay Cannon. Pearlman has worked with Corden for years at Fulwell 73, but is more popular with his documentaries, such as The Class of ’92. Fans will know Cannon from her work on blockbusters like Pitch Perfect and Blockers. The line-up of comedic writers combined with Cabello’s tunes is sure to make it a box office hit. What we do know is that the project is on the fast-track to production, so we are hoping for more news soon.
Featured Image Via mor.bo
by Theresa Loughlin
Book Culture
camilla cabello
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Could It Be? Will Andre 3000 Be Playing Jimi Hendrix On The Big Screen??
Posted on July 7, 2011 - By Bossip Staff
It just wouldn’t be right any other way…
Andre 3000 just got a promotional boost for his next act from a very unlikely source: “Captain America” leading lady Hayley Atwell.
The up-and-coming actress, who will star opposite Chris Evans in the summer blockbuster, told Esquire that her next project will be “possibly a Jimi Hendrix biopic” with the rapper – real name Andre Benjamin – playing the title role.
This is good news for Benjamin, who has been vocally gunning for the project since 2004, seemingly to no avail.
In an interview with the Daily News seven years ago, the OutKast rapper said he was excited about portraying the two sides of Hendrix’s persona onscreen, though no project ever materialized.
“Jimi was wild onstage,” he said. “Offstage, he was really calm.”
The film never came to be, however.
This would be EPIC if it goes down. Who else in the world other than Andre could possibly play someone as eclectic and creative as Jimi Hendrix? We really hope this goes down, and for the big wigs in Hollyweird it’s definitely a draw to both the black and white crowds.
Hate it or love it?!?
Categories: Behind the Scenes, Celeb Association, Did You Know
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Leave a comment Posted on February 23, 2018 January 23, 2019 Angel Coulby, David Graham, David Menkin, Kayvan Novak, Rasmus Hardiker, Reviews, Rosamund Pike, Sandra Dickinson, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Thunderbirds Are Go Season 2 Vol 2, TV Reviews
Thunderbirds Are Go Series 2 Volume 2 Review
Series Title: Thunderbirds Are Go
Season: Series 2 Vol. 2
Network: ITV
Cast: Rasmus Hardiker, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, David Menkin, Kayvan Novak, Rosamund Pike, David Graham, Sandra Dickinson, Angel Coulby
Format: Widescreen, Color, DVD (R2, PAL)
Thunderbirds Are Go is an excellent and fun series. This volume goes back to the format of International Rescue (IR) doing what they do best – rescue people from impossible situations. There are few episodes that focus on a single character but the rest involve all or at least three of the main characters. The first story in the collection, “Volcano”, gives Brains a chance to shine. The plot, inspired by the Icelandic volcano eruptions, also features a scientist who has become a bit of a laughing-stock, constantly warning International Rescue and the nearby resort that the volcano was “going to blow”. But this time, as Brains discovers – he’s right. It’s a great rescue. “Grandma Tourismo” as the title suggests, has Grandma Tracy and Virgil working together on a windstorm rescue in the desert. It’s actually a great episode – and gives us a little background into the older Tracy family members (it was Grandma Tracy who taught Jeff how to fly). Many of the episodes focus on rescues with heart-pumping action, and good characterization of both our regulars and the guest star characters.
Whereas the previous volume put most of the emphasis on The Mechanic and the Hood, this volume only has a few stories where they even appear. The Mechanic is trying to escape the Hood’s control, in any way possible, Brains and the GDF promise to help the Mechanic escape being controlled. But in the final minutes of the last episode, the Hood manages to escape custody again.
I highly, highly, highly recommend this series, including this volume for all ages. The stories are full of action and the characters are great. The Tracys dedicate themselves to helping people in impossible situations, and put human life over anything and everything else. They aren’t there to save things or infrastructure but people, it’s just what the Tracys do – they help.
Read Thunderbirds Are Go Series 2 Volume 1 Review
Read my Thunderbirds Are Go Series 1 Volume 2 Review
Original Gerry Anderson Thunderbirds Information
Leave a comment Posted on February 19, 2017 January 29, 2019 Angel Coulby, David Graham, David Menkin, Kayvan Novak, Reviews, Rosamund Pike, Sandra Dickinson, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Thunderbirds Are Go Season 2 Vol 1, TV Reviews
Thunderbirds Are Go is a CGI animated modern updating of the Gerry Anderson Supermarionation series. The series is action-packed, and several stories in this volume see one of the boys in life-threatening danger. Volume 2 has stories set in several environments as well, from the deep ocean to outer space to Europa and Mars. The opening episode introduces a new continuing villain, the Mechanic, who has some relationship with The Hood. Meanwhile, the Hood is in a Global Defense Force maximum security prison. The Mechanic makes huge, and dangerous, mechanical devices, almost evil Thunderbirds – and he defends his nefarious plots with “mechs” – drones that attack whatever he wants. The Mechanic controls his drones with a virtual reality suit, moving his hands in front of a heads-up computer screen, to control his drones. The search for and to stop the Mechanic is a continuing theme for the set, with the final episode seeing International Rescue, Lady Penelope (with Parker and Sherbert) and the Global Defense Force attempting to stop the Mechanic from breaking the Hood out of prison.
The rescues and disasters in this season are huge, but often work to rescue one or two people not rescued by more conventional means – much like the original series. Kayo (the updated version of Tin Tin) gets a considerable amount to do – and her role of “Covert Ops” now is integrated into International Rescue. She not only gathers intelligence, but uses her skills to get inside dangerous areas to get people out. And her vehicle Thunderbird S – Shadow is pretty awesome. Speaking of awesome, Lady Penelope’s pink Rolls Royce is incredible! I seriously want her car. Fab 1 can fly, hover, it’s a submarine, and it’s capable of traveling through underground tunnels. Fab 1 was impressive in the original series, but the new one? It can do just about anything. Lady Penelope, Parker, and Sherbert are fully integrated into the Thunderbirds Are Go stories, with the three working to find out more about the Mechanic and how he’s connected to the Hood.
The opening story is really big and full of heart-pumping action, though Gordon and Alan are not part of the actual rescue. It also introduces the Mechanic – who pilots a giant drilling and refining factory, without care to the destruction he causes, or even the two geologists who are trapped in a giant crack in the Earth caused by his machine. But from the beginning it’s also clear that the Mechanic is somehow connected to the Hood.
There is more characterization of the boys in this volume for the most part. Kayo and Lady Penelope get to do a lot more. And even Grandma Tracy gets to dispense wisdom. It’s nice to see some women in the show. Overall Thunderbirds Are Go is extremely good. It’s full of plenty of action. Yet the emphasis for the Tracys is always on rescuing people, or saving people from harm. The Tracys risk their lives to help others, and that’s an important message. Overall, it’s a fun, exciting, action-packed, and positive series that is incredibly fun to watch. Highly recommended, especially for children aged 10-16, though adults can enjoy the series, I certainly did. Previous volumes are also reviewed on this blog.
Thunderbirds are Go Series 1 Vol. 1
Thunderbirds Thunderbirds Are Go
Leave a comment Posted on March 19, 2016 January 30, 2019 Andres Williams, Angel Coulby, David Graham, David Menkin, Kayvan Novak, Rasmus Hardiker, Reviews, Rosamund Pike, Sandra Dickinson, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Thunderbirds Are Go Season 1 Vol 2, TV Reviews
Thunderbirds Are Go Season 1 Vol. 2 Review
Season: 1 Vol. 2
Cast: Rasmus Hardiker, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, David Menkin, Kayvan Novak, Rosamund Pike, David Graham, Sandra Dickinson, Angel Coulby, Andres Williams
DVD: Widescreen DVD (R2, PAL)
Thunderbirds Are Go is a modern animated take on the Classic Supermarionation series by Gerry Anderson. This DVD set is the second half of the season. The series uses CGI animation and models, with model work by Weta Workshop in New Zealand, supervised by Richard Taylor. Vol. 2 starts off intense and never stops going. The first mission, “Falling Skies” involves all the boys and vehicles – with subsequent episodes focusing on individual characters, even the poor guy with bad luck from the first set (and his pet geranium Gladys) return for a story.
The CGI animation, and Richard Taylor’s updated model work let the stories do a lot more than Anderson and Derek Meddings (the Oscar-winning model specialist who went on to work on the James Bond films and Christopher Reeve’s Superman films) could do in the 1960s, even at ITV. And this is an action-packed series. It’s the type of show where I’d sit down to watch one or two, three at the most, and suddenly end-up watching most of the disc. The animation is beautiful, even though it does have the tendency that I see in CGI animated series all the time of people looking a bit plastic, and in this series, clothes looking more like clay than real fabrics (hair also has a very clay-like appearance).
Thunderbirds Are Go is an action-packed thrill ride, and it’s completely suitable for children aged 7 to 13. Adults can enjoy the series as well – I certainly did. I did find that with the running time reduced to about 22 minutes, rather than the hour (50 minutes) of the original Supermarionation series, there is less characterization. The back half of the season includes three episodes focusing on Lady Penelope and Parker, and Kayo gets to be center stage in the last couple of episodes. There’s an episode where Virgil is miffed no one seems to remember his birthday – then misses his own surprise party because the simple “hour or two” rescue John had sent him on turned into anything but simple. So there are some character moments. But I miss the strong characterization that made the original series work so well.
Set in the future, Thunderbirds Are Go, keeps the premise of everything being bigger – and the use of technology and science to help humans. When things go wrong, it’s often because of greed, violations of law, or more often than not – some scheme by the Hood which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense but it’s fun to watch. The Hood, and his “evil laugh” – should be annoying, but he isn’t because he just reminds us, well, me anyway, of the classic almost mustache-twisting villain. And while he isn’t actually tying Lady Penelope to a track track – he’s just a traditional-style of villain. That surprisingly works better than the Hood of the original series – who always made me very uncomfortable. Oddly enough, this Hood reminds me of a combination of Roger Delgado’s Master from Doctor Who, and Lex Luthor – with maybe a little bit of Dr. Evil thrown in. Given that combination – you can’t not like the guy, he isn’t really meant to be taken that seriously. And it’s a children’s series.
Another aspect of Thunderbirds Are Go it keeps from the original series is that the Tracys are simply there to help. When things go wrong – International Rescue is there. And IR’s mission is always to help people – not things, objects, whatever – but to rescue people. In the final few episodes of the season, conflict erupts between Kayo who would like to be more proactive – catching criminals to prevent disasters from happening, and Scott – who insists that’s the job of the GDF – the Global Defense Force. It’s an interesting and valid conflict, and it gives the final episodes a bit more depth.
I would love to see more of this series. It’s fun to watch, full of action, has a large ensemble cast, and although the characterization is a bit thin – it’s still there. The characters do act like their counterparts from the original series. This animated series honors the original and that is precisely as it should be.
Highly recommended especially for children.
Animation TV Gerry Anderson Thunderbirds Thunderbirds Are Go
Leave a comment Posted on July 31, 2015 January 31, 2019 Andres Williams, Angel Coulby, David Graham, David Menkin, Kayvan Novak, Rasmus Hardiker, Reviews, Rosamund Pike, Sandra Dickinson, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Thunderbirds Are Go Season 1 Vol 1, TV Reviews
Thunderbirds Are Go Review
Season: 1 (DVD set is Vol. 1)
ITV has created an updated children’s series based on the original Gerry Anderson Supermarionation TV series. This version includes half-hour (22-minute) CGI animated episodes. But there is plenty of action in those 22 minutes! The episodes seem so very short because they are jam-packed with action and story. Often either a rescue begins to go wrong, or the first planned rescue attempt doesn’t work then Tracy boys need to come up with a new plan on the fly. Fortunately, coming up with ways to rescue people in impossible situations is exactly what the Tracys do best. The series keeps the five boys, their five Thunderbird machines, and the extra characters of Grandma Tracy, London agent Lady Penelope and her chauffeur Parker (she is also now given a small dog, named Sherbet as well), and Kayo (and updating of Tin Tin – now IR’s “covert ops” agent, pilot of Thunderbird S (Shadow), and sometimes co-pilot of Thunderbird 3), and even the villainous Hood. Another regular is the GDF (Global Defense Force), basically global cops and military. Mention is also made of local rescue efforts handling smaller disasters. At the beginning of this new series we’re told Jeff (Tracy the boys’ father) is missing.
ITV’s new Thunderbirds series is bright and colorful. It’s clearly aimed at kids. However, it doesn’t talk down to its audience, and I found the show to be fun, amusing, well-written, and action-packed. The stories are inventive, and well-realised. The use of CGI animation means they can do things in the plots the original series never could do. I loved seeing how Thunderbird 4 got back into the pod of Thunderbird 2, for example. I also liked seeing the industrial robots assembling needed rescue equipment on the fly with a single pod base (OK, yes, that does sound like “giant Japanese Robot assemble!” but trust me – it makes sense when you see it.) The direction is much better than you’d expect in a children’s series. There’s a pan-up and over Tracy Island that’s not only beautiful, but clearly shows the film-makers love for Thunderbirds – original and new. And in “Runaway”, the demolishing of a geranium’s flower will make you feel sorry for a plant. Fortunately she returns as Gladys, a “pet” plant belonging to a poor guy who needs rescuing not only in “Slingshot” but also in “Under Pressure”.
The CGI at times is very good, as is the updated model work. But at other times, at least to me, characters look incredibly plastic – and clothing (and hair) looks like it’s made from thinly-rolled sheets or sculpted pieces of modeling clay (or even the fondant used to decorate cakes). As the series progressed, though, I became more accustomed to it. The light and coloring on the eyes was particularly good.
OK, now to the changes and the – definitely not bad, but the, let’s call it, for some areas “needs improvement”. The Thunderbirds themselves have been slightly updated (especially Thunderbird 2 which is much more boxy in shape; and Thunderbird 3’s been given grappling arms which make sense given her space-bound duty.) The changes do end-up looking like improvements, and modernization (the entire show has a futuristic look). The Tracy sashes have been completely changed – now instead of matching the contrast or piping color of the corresponding Thunderbird – they match the main color of the Thunderbird (except John) and the sashes are really bright. The new color scheme is:
Scott – Grey sash (silver)
John – Gold Sash
Virgil – Green Sash (bright toxic green)
Gordon – Yellow Sash
Alan – Bright red sash
And the hats are gone! Though, in truth the Tracys only seemed to wear them on formal occasions and not during heavy rescues in the original series.
Second, due to the shorter running time – there’s a lot less characterization. There is witty banter, and the banter is actually witty – not something that would set your teeth on edge, or make one squirm with it’s inappropriateness. We see some concern amongst the brothers for each other, but it tends to be downplayed. However, in “Tunnels of Time”, Scott loses his cool completely when a greedy archaeologist seems more concerned with treasure than the safety of Gordon, Lady Penelope, and Parker. Also, the entire family is concerned about Alan in “Slingshot”. However, there’s nothing, so far, like the family concern in some of my favorite episodes of the original Thunderbirds series (click the link for info).
The speaking voices of the Tracys are far more natural and less clipped than the original series – this adds to the modern feel. I also liked the implication than 2060 is a pretty nice place to live. The show is relentlessly optimistic – like it’s original series inspiration. The Tracys are great characters.The rescues are fantastic – and I found myself concerned about the characters and the people they were rescuing more than once.
Overall, highly recommended – I cannot wait to see more in the near future.
Disappointingly, the DVD set has no special features whatsoever.
Trivia: Thomas Brodie-Sangster also played Jojen Reed in Game of Thrones. Also, Richard Taylor (Lord of the Rings) is in charge of the model work for Thunderbirds Are Go, and the models and some special effects work are done by Weta Workshop.
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Leave a comment Posted on April 22, 2014 August 16, 2014 B/W Film, Classic, From Tumblr, James Stewart, Photosets Gallery
James Stewart Photoset and Film Links
Please NOTE: This is reblogged from tumblr – I have not tried these links and take no responsibility for content. Hopefully it’s what it says on the tin, and these are out of copyright.
darlinghepburn:
A collection of classic Jimmy Stewart films with links to watch them online:
You Can’t Take it With You (1938)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Destry Rides Again (1939)
The Philadelphia Story (1940)
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
Rope (1948)
Harvey (1950)
Winchester ‘73 (1950)
The Shop around the Corner (1950)
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
Anatomy of Murder (1959)
For my other lovely anon xo
Awesome – I’ve seen two.
Links reblogs
Leave a comment Posted on December 21, 2011 January 8, 2019 1930s, Clark Gable, Classic, From The Movie Project, Gone with the Wind, Historical, Leslie Howard, Movie Reviews, Olivia deHavilland, Reviews, Romance, Technicolor Film, Victor Fleming, Vivien Leigh
Title: Gone with the Wind
Studio: MGM
Genre: Classic, Romance, Historical Epic
Cast: Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable, Leslie Howard, Olivia deHavilland, Ann Rutherford
Format: Technicolor, Standard
“Most of the miseries of the world were caused by wars, and when the wars were over — no one ever knew what they were about.” — Ashley Wilkes
“No, I don’t think I will kiss you. Although you need kissing and badly, that’s what’s wrong with you. You should be kissed and often, and by someone who knows how.” — Rhett Butler
“What a woman!” — Rhett Butler
Gone with the Wind sweeps you into its story gradually but completely. You are quickly immersed in the story and the characters. And the film is really Scarlett’s story. Scarlett O’Hara, despite first appearances, in a way is a very modern character, and at times a strong woman. She’s manipulative, determined, strong and feisty, and she knows what she wants (or thinks she does). She’s willing to do whatever she has to do, whenever she has to. Scarlett is in sharp contrast to Melanie (deHavilland) who’s kind and generous — to a fault, and weak and even, at times, a bit simple. Melanie can be strong (watch her face down Union troopers in the second half of the film for example), and she’s honest about her feelings and in her marriage to Ashley (her much older cousin). DeHavilland is fantastic in her thankless role as the perfect Melanie. Scarlett’s sisters never learn anything about strength, or getting what they want (which is simply a husband to care and provide for them) and whine and simper-on throughout the film. Scarlett never once whines or complains, not really, she just does what needs to be done, or what she thinks she needs to do (and she doesn’t care at all who she hurts in the process). Essentially Scarlett’s a bitch in both the good and bad sense of the word. Because in some circles to be a bitch is a compliment, and in some circles, it’s the only way to really survive. And whatever else you say about Scarlett O’Hara – she’s a survivor.
When we meet Scarlett, she’s not that impressive – she comes off as dumb, and shallow, concerned only with her looks, and her beaus. But even in the beginning of the film, it’s suggested she’s not as dumb as she pretends – she just acts that way because it’s how she’s been taught and how she thinks she can get a man. However, she soon finds out the man she’s “wanted”, who she thinks really loves her, Ashley Wilkes (Leslie Howard) from the plantation next door, is going to marry his cousin Melanie, instead. We aren’t told if this is an arranged marriage or a love match. Ashley and Melanie are actually well suited to each other – both are kind and gentle, always doing what’s expected, never raising any controversy, filling their roles the way one was expected to – given the times and their statuses. Scarlett, throughout the film, says both aloud and by her actions that she loves Ashley and that she’s convinced he loves her – even when both are married to other people.
The war (the American Civil War) comes and all the men go off to fight. Ashley and Melanie have been married. Scarlett, in a fit of pique, marries Charles, Melanie’s brother, even though Charles was her sister’s beau. Charles dies of pneumonia during the war. Scarlett really doesn’t care, and even rebels at wearing Widow’s Weeds and not dancing at the next round of society balls (which at this point are only being held as war fundraisers). She gives in to convention, though, and manages to look stunning in black. (At the time, only a widow would have worn black, especially at a society function). During the society ball, she manages to arrange things so each of the women will be “auctioned off” for dances. Rhett Butler bids on and wins Scarlett. She’s so desperate to dance, she takes him up on it, claiming it’s for charity (we know it’s not). Rhett is the dashing stranger – he’s avoided service in the war because he has no desire to get himself killed and he hates all the waste of war. Rhett’s a gambler, a blockade runner, and a rakish rogue. He’s trouble and considering Scarlett is as well – they are very suited to each other. Even Rhett says to her, they are two of a kind.
Scarlett and Melanie end up in Atlanta, working as nurses to help the wounded. Scarlett doesn’t particularly like this duty, but she knows she must do it. Melanie has Ashley’s baby (nine months after his Christmas leave). She’s sick and ill just before and during the birth, but Scarlett manages to figure out and help with the process. By this time, the war is nearly over, and Sherman’s troops are marching on Atlanta. Rhett comes to the rescue of the three women (Scarlett, Melanie, and Scarlett’s maid, Prissy) and the baby. He gets them out of Atlanta and safely on the road to Tara, Scarlett’s home, then leaves, informing Scarlett he’s going to join the war effort for the last stand.
Scarlett manages to make it the rest on the way on her own, seeing Twelve Oaks (the Wilkes plantation) burned to the ground on the way. Tara’s survived, but her family’s in ruins: her mother has died, her sisters are still weak and ill from a fever that killed her mother, and her father’s gone out of his head from shock. Saddled with another sickly and physically weak woman and a baby, Scarlett endures. She finds that her home still stands, but it sits in the middle of a wasteland, and there’s no food or money. Scarlett runs out into a field, eats a carrot she finds and starts to throw up. Then, she holds up her hand, “As God as my witness, I’ll never be hungry again,” she swears. This is the end of part one, and the intermission card is on the DVD.
Part two picks up during the Reconstruction. Scarlett is told she needs three hundred dollars to pay the taxes on her home. That might not sound like much, but in the 1860s/1870s it was a small fortune, especially when you have absolutely no way of making any money. Scarlett uses a pair of drapes to sew herself a new dress and tries to get the money from Rhett Butler. He’s in a union jail (stockade) and can’t access his money which is in a London bank. (After all, it’s not like they had ATMs back then, and though he could access his funds via bank draft, it could be traced and the money taken — this is a risk Butler isn’t willing to take). Scarlett then runs into Frank Kennedy, another of Sue Ellen (her sister’s) beaus. She marries Frank to get at his money that he’s made running a general merchandise store, and convinces him to buy the lumber mill next door. Scarlett saves Tara, but lives in Atlanta, running the mill and lumber business.
Scarlett proves to be a shrewd businesswoman, running the mill (though Ashley Wilkes is her partner in name), at a time when women seldom worked, much less ran their own businesses. However, one day she takes a horse and buggy (another concept the ladies in town find scandalous – Scarlett driving her own buggy, alone) through a bad area of town. She’s attacked. Rhett Butler shows up and rescues her. Scarlett, Melanie, and the other girls have a sewing party, and Scarlett knows something is going on but doesn’t know what. She later learns Ashley, her husband, Frank, and several other men have gone to attack the men who attacked Scarlett. Frank’s killed. Ashley returns, wounded, but alive. (Rhett again comes to the rescue, faking being drunk, with Ashley faking being even drunker, as in the local doctor so they can get into Tara which is being guarded by Reconstructionist/Union troops on the lookout for the men who attacked the men who attacked Scarlett). A widow again, and in Widow weeds, again, Rhett proposes to Scarlett. They marry and soon have a daughter, Bonnie.
Scarlett, however, is so vain, that after the birth of her daughter, she decides not to have any more children because it will ruin her figure. Rhett considers divorcing Scarlett when she tells him this but decides to stay. He’s fallen for Scarlett, despite their tendency to constantly fight, and Scarlett’s drinking issues.
When Bonnie’s around eight, Rhett gets fed-up and takes Bonnie with him on a trip to England, when they return dual tragedies occur: Bonnie’s killed in a horse-jumping accident (it really is one of the saddest moments of the entire film), and Scarlett, who’s gotten pregnant again, despite her intentions, falls/is pushed down a flight of stairs, gets sick, and has a miscarriage. Her second pregnancy is interesting anyway because it’s the result of something seldom talked about now, and certainly not in 1939 – marital rape. She’s drunk/he’s drunk – they fight, he carries her up the stairs and literally has his way with her, then leaves for London the next day). Also, the scene on the stairs between Rhett and Scarlett is filmed in such a way that we really don’t know if Scarlett fell by accident, if she fell accidentally on purpose to anger Rhett, or if Rhett was so angry at her he pushed her without thinking. Whatever – he’s devastated by the dual losses. It doesn’t help that though Scarlett calls out for him, all the women around her decide not to tell Rhett she wants him with her when she’s ill. Shortly thereafter, Melanie, who was told not to have more children, gets pregnant, has a miscarriage, and dies of sepsis (or possibly pre-eclampsia). She even tells Scarlett to look after Ashley for her. Scarlett talks to Ashley though and finally realizes she really loves Rhett, and her feelings for Ashley were a childish crush and a pipe dream. She goes to tell Rhett – but he basically doesn’t believe her and leaves her. In the end, Scarlett’s bereft and without a man, but she realizes that she does still have the one thing that really matters – land, Tara, her home. Somehow, Scarlett will be just fine.
Gone with the Wind really is a great film. It’s more than simply a romance or a war film. It’s unusual in that the entire film is told from the point of view of a woman – and not a goody-goody woman, but a woman who’s complex, scheming and manipulative. And unlike the designing women or femme fatales of the Film Noir films, Scarlett isn’t made to fatally suffer for her misdoings. The film sweeps you up and into its world and it’s characters. Vivien Leigh is gorgeous and gives an incredible performance as Scarlett. Clark Gable is fantastic as Rhett Butler. The rest of the cast shine in their roles, sometimes in the smallest and simplest scenes (such as the conversation between Melanie and the Atlanta madam Miss Belle after she hides Ashley and saves his life).
The film also looks gorgeous – it’s an early Technicolor film, and the colors just pop right off the screen. I loved the restoration work on my copy – it looks brand new, with no color bleeding or red cast. There are scenes in Gone with the Wind that still impress, such as the burning of Atlanta. The film is of course, based on a novel, and print screen cards appear not just at the beginning of the film, but throughout the movie explaining what is going on, especially in the larger canvas of the Civil War – it adds to the scope of the film.
The politics of the film deserve a mention – this is a film that white-washes (no pun intended) the Old South, and slavery in particular. Blacks (called “darkies” in the film – even by Scarlett and Rhett) are referred to as servants, not the slaves they were. They are also portrayed as being well treated and taken care of and happy with their lot (something that simply wasn’t true). The film is definitely sympathetic to the South. However, that speaks volumes about the times when the film was made (1939) and the times the film portrays (the 1860s) as well as the point-of-view of the author of the book. Students can learn from such a film what attitudes were in the past, and then learn what the harsh realities were.
About the famous slapping scene, though – often it’s taken, completely out of context as an example of the film’s racism. However, when Scarlett slaps Prissy – she’s hysterical. Scarlett could have easily have slapped a white woman who was behaving in such a fashion. And Scarlett pretty much slaps everyone in the film at one point or another (including her sister, Rhett, Ashley, and possibly even Melanie – but again to wake her up). Slapping Prissy is not out of character for Scarlett, it’s in character. And considering Prissy’s hysterical at the time – she needed to be slapped (it’s film grammar for shutting up a hysterical woman). Besides, in the film’s context – Prissy is Scarlett’s slave, not a servant, and technically Scarlett had the right to hit her. Not that it’s right, but there you go. There’s a lot more in Gone with the Wind that is on the racist side, but that scene isn’t one of those things. It certainly isn’t something worth banning the film for, as has been proposed occasionally.
Overall, a really remarkable film and a must see.
Next Film: Mary Poppins
Leave a comment Posted on May 22, 2011 February 22, 2015 1940s Films, Angela Lansbury, B/W Film, Charles Boyer, Classic, Drama, Film Noir, From The Movie Project, Gaslight (1944), George Cukor, Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten, Movie Reviews, Reviews, Suspense
Gaslight (1944)
Title: Gaslight
Director: George Cukor
Genre: Drama, Film Noir, Suspense, Classic
Cast: Ingrid Bergman, Charles Boyer, Joseph Cotten, Angela Lansbury
Format: Standard, Black and White
DVD Format: R1, NTSC, (Double-sided)
“I was right about you — I knew from the first moment I saw you, you were dangerous to me.” — Gregory
“I knew from the first moment I saw you, you were dangerous to her.” — Mr. Brian Cameron, Scotland Yard
I’ve always thought that Gaslight is one of the scariest movies to watch. It’s spine-tingling and chilling, rather than gross, or shocking. The best way to get the full effect, is to watch it with all the lights off, at night, when you’re alone in the house, and of course a thunderstorm helps. There is nothing scarier than the idea of someone coldly trying to drive you insane. Films about those kinds of mind games are truly frightening.
The movie opens with Paula leaving her aunt’s house, she thinks for the last time. She had been raised by her aunt, after her mother died in childbirth. She’s been encouraged to go to Italy to study singing and forget the recent tragedy that’s befallen her. We learn later that her aunt was a famous opera singer and she was murdered. Still later we learn the murder is still unsolved, there was a jewel theft at the same time, but the jewels were never found, sold, or traded.
In Italy, Paula quickly discovers she has no talent for operatic singing, and she meets the man of her dreams, she thinks. After two weeks, he’s proposed. She tells him she needs time to think about it, and wants a week to herself at a lakeside vacation resort. When her train arrives there, he’s waiting for her. He talks her into settling down in London, and even though Paula doesn’t want to return to London, she agrees. The film is, by the way, set in Victorian London. They end up living in Paula’s Aunt’s house, which Paula has inherited.
The film then gets weird – Gregory Anton completely controls his wife’s life. He doesn’t allow her to go out of the house, not even on a short walk (even by Victorian standards, that’s excessive). He fires Paula’s maid, and hires an impertinent girl named Nancy (beautifully played by Angela Lansbury as alternately sinister and flirty). Again, normally the hiring and firing of servants would be a woman’s job. And he slowly starts to drive Paula insane, giving her things, then taking them away but telling her she lost them. Taking a picture down off the wall, then pointing it out to be missing and saying she did it. And going out at night, leaving her alone with a deaf cook and rude maid, who do everything he says and thus join in on his mind games of turning down the gaslight (and saying it hasn’t been) and ignoring the footsteps in the closed off attic that Paula hears.
But the genius of the movie is that it isn’t obvious about any of this. We don’t actually see Gregory take a brooch from Paula’s purse, we only see him fiddle with it. We don’t see him tell the servants to lie to make Paula look nuts either – we only see him tell Nancy she’s to take all her orders from him and not her mistress.
Joseph Cotten is Mr. (Brian) Cameron, a Scotland Yard detective who happens to see Paula with Gregory one day when they are sight-seeing at the Tower of London. Gregory is immensely jealous when Paula smiles at Cameron after he tips his hat to her, but she was merely being polite. Gregory then goes back to the Yard and examines the cold case of Paula’s aunt’s murder, but is told to leave it alone. Luckily for Paula, he doesn’t.
Paula, Gregory and Mr. Cameron again run into each other at a party thrown by one of Paula’s aunt’s friends. Again, Gregory pulls his slight of hand, telling Paula his watch is gone and pulling it out of her purse – the hysterical Paula is led from the party.
Gregory’s cold, calculating, insidious little plans get worse and worse, as he tells Paula a letter she found in her aunt’s music doesn’t exist and she was staring at nothing, and that her mother didn’t die in childbirth but rather a year later in an insane asylum.
Fortunately, by this time Cameron and a bobby named Williams have started investigating, and find out Gregory only goes out to “work” at night, they even find that he disappears in an alley behind the house, and comes out looking dirty and dusty, his tie askew. One night, when Gregory has left, Cameron goes to the house and finds Paula, he starts talking to her when the gaslight dims. She’s excited that he also sees the gas lower. Then he hears the footsteps, and, knowing what he does from his own investigation, concludes her husband is poking around in the attic. They also find the letter that Gregory had claimed didn’t exist.
Then the light turns to normal, Paula encourages Cameron to leave, he does, and when Gregory returns he, and Elizabeth try to convince Paula no one was there that evening. Paula starts to break down and Gregory arrives. After a struggle, Cameron arrests Gregory finding the jewels on him. Paula’s aunt had sewn them on her costume amongst all the paste jewels. Nothing like hiding in plain sight!
But this isn’t a case of the boy rescues the girl. Ingrid Bergman’s performance is masterful – she portrays a deliriously happy bride, and a frightened wife equally well. But her best scene is at the end of the movie, as she turns the tables on her husband, playing the same mind games on him that he had played on her, if only for a short while, before turning him over to Cameron and the police.
The directing, the use of light and shadow, and the acting, especially by the women in the piece is all masterful. It’s also a flip-flop of the typical Film Noir motif — that usually involves a cunning, conniving, designing woman, known as the femme fatale, dragging a relatively innocent man down into a well of crime and evil, and thus destroying him. In Gaslight, it’s the man who’s cunning, conniving, cold, and chilling, and he’s attempting to drive his wife insane, after murdering her aunt, to get the jewels he didn’t have time to steal because she had interrupted him. (The police knew Paula had awoken, walked down the stairs, and found her aunt dead, but everything else on the case remained open.) Also, where the man often dies as a result of committing a crime for the femme fatale – here Paula not only survives, but in the end, she’s triumphant, discovering she’s not going insane, getting the chance to pay her husband back (who’s secretly married to someone else, and thus not legally her husband), and possibly even finding happiness with the detective who solved the case. How often can a Film Noir film have a truly happy ending? Not often.
Anyway, it’s an incredibly good film, everyone in it does an excellent and admirable job, and I love it. It can be good to watch something spooky occasionally.
Next film: Gaslight (1940)
Leave a comment Posted on May 1, 2011 February 22, 2015 1930s, B/W Film, Bela Lugosi, Classic, Dracula, Drama, From The Movie Project, Horror, Movie Reviews, Reviews, Tod Browning
Title: Dracula
Director: Tod Browning
Genre: Horror, Drama, Classic
Cast: Bela Lugosi, Helen Chandler, Edward Van Sloan
“Listen to them, children of the night, what music they make.” — Dracula, regarding a wolf howl
“The strength of the vampire is… that people will not believe in him.” — Van Helsing
This movie, along with Frankenstein and “The Wolf Man” (to be reviewed later) are extras on the Van Helsing collector’s box set. It’s nice to see the originals. Dracula itself is a short movie (only 74 minutes) and it really doesn’t make much sense, to be honest. Renfield goes to Transylvania with some papers for Dracula to sign — Dracula is very strange. They take a boat to London, during the crossing there’s a nasty storm, and all the crew are killed. Renfield survives the trip but he’s nuts, eating bugs and spiders for their blood. In London, Dracula meets Lucy, Mina, and John Harker — all famous characters from the novel. There’s also Dr. Van Helsing, who eventually figures out Dracula is a vampire — especially when he doesn’t show up in mirrors, as well as eventually saving Mina by killing Dracula.
There is some very nice direction, especially Dracula’s reaction when Renfield gets a papercut, and subsequently when the rosary one of the village ladies has given Renfield falls into Dracula’s line of sight. Throughout the movie, there’s also a light on Dracula’s eyes, so them seem to glow, weirdly, and that’s quite effective. Dracula also has strong powers of hypnotism, especially towards the young women. Only Van Helsing is able to counter it. Dracula also telepathically speaks to and controls both Mina and Renfield – an interesting idea, not seen in many more recent versions of Dracula or vampire fiction.
Oh — and Mina’s silver gown is gorgeous! The fabric is flowing and the silver color practically glows – I loved it!
Overall, the movie is slow, though fortunately short. I haven’t ever read the book, though I get the impression this may be a more fateful adaptation. Bela Lugosi is actually good as Dracula, but it’s unfortunate that I’m so used to parodies of his accent that it’s hard to keep a straight face at times.
Recommendation: Overall, such a classic it deserves to be seen.
Next Film: Easter Parade
Leave a comment Posted on April 26, 2011 September 15, 2017 1940s Films, B/W Film, Barbara Stanwyck, Billy Wilder, Classic, Double Indemnity, Drama, Edward G Robinson, Film Noir, Fred MacMurray, From The Movie Project, Movie Reviews, Reviews, Suspense
Title: Double Indemnity
Director: Billy Wilder
Studio: Paramount
Genre: Film Noir, Drama, Suspense, Classic
Cast: Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson
Format: R1, NTSC, Two-disc Legacy Edition
“I killed him for the money and for a woman. I didn’t get the money and I didn’t get the woman.” Walter Neff
Double Indemnity is one of my favorite movies – because it is such a classic noir film. Wilder is a brilliant, brilliant director, especially when he directs dark film noir movies in black and white. The film has it all – a cold, calculating, manipulative femme fatale, an innocent drawn into a web of crime that destroys him, snappy dialogue, brilliant black and white photography, and an intriguing crime that, in the end, falls apart taking it’s participants down with it.
Part of the brilliance of Double Indemnity is it’s choice of lead actor in Fred MacMurray. Yep – the guy from Disney flicks like The Absent-Minded Professor, and Flubber, and the dad in My Three Sons (OK, yes, it’s true, all those roles were from the 1960s, or after this movie, but still) actually plays the bad guy in this film. But, that’s part of brilliance of the film – MacMurray looks like an average guy, he sounds like an average guy, and we can believe he’s an insurance salesman. I don’t think the film would have been as successful with standard villian type or “baddie” in the role of Walter Neff.
But MacMurray isn’t the only piece of reverse casting: Edward G. Robinson was famous for playing gangsters, tough guys, and baddies. Yet, in Double Indemnity, he’s practically the good guy. He’s Neff’s boss Keyes, who ends up investigating the husband’s “accident”. There’s also a very close friendship between Neff and Keyes.
As with Wilder’s other brilliant Film Noir picture, Sunset Blvd, Double Indemnity is told back to front, and thus it’s the tale of a man’s slide into destruction and death. The film begins with Neff returning to his office at Pacific All Risk Insurance, and using a dictating machine to record his confession (the line quoted at the beginning of this review is practically the first line he speaks). The film then cuts to scenes showing us what’s happening and winding back to the start. And somehow, the audience almost forgets that Neff is a dying man as they are completely entranced by the story.
Interestingly enough, the actual murder goes off almost perfectly. But as the second half of the film develops, the characters’ own guilt (especially Neff’s) and Keyes own intuition and experience at spotting insurance fraud leads, Tell-a-Tale-Heart-like to the downfall of both Neff and Phyllis.
The filming and cinematography are brilliant – the use of light and shadow to highlight and conceal detail, and the suggestion, as the film moves along, of characters trapped by their own actions, is highlighted by the black and white photography. It’s a dark film, and only black and white really captures that, especially at the time the film was made. It’s really only been rather recently that very dark, yet color, films have been possible, previously the amount of light required for the film to properly develop, especially for Technicolor films, made filming in color with the amount of darks in this film, impossible.
There’s also a lot of very fast, very snappy dialogue. The double entendres fly fast and furious, but even the cut and parry of the dialogue between Neff and Phyllis (Stanwyck) works to emphasize their hot and steamy relationship without actually ever showing you anything. (Likewise, one thing that makes the murder in this particular film so effective is that it is off-screen, letting your imagination fill in the blanks).
Overall, if you want to know what film noir is all about – this film, more so than even The Maltese Falcon, is the one to see.
Recommendation: See It
Next Film: Dracula (1931)
Leave a comment Posted on April 2, 2011 February 22, 2015 1940s Films, B/W Film, Citizen Kane, Classic, Drama, From The Movie Project, Joseph Cotten, Movie Reviews, Orson Welles, Reviews
Title: Citizen Kane
Director: Orson Welles
Studio: RKO Radio Pictures
Genre: Classic, Drama
Cast: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten
DVD Format: R1, NTSC (2-disc Special Edition)
“One item on your list intrigues me, the New York Inquirer, a little newspaper I understand we acquired in a foreclosure proceeding, please don’t sell it, I’m coming back to America to take charge, I think it would be fun to run a newspaper.” — Charles Foster Kane
“The trouble is you don’t realize you’re talking to two people. As Charles Foster Kane who owns 82,364 shares of Public Transit Preferred, you see I do have a general idea of my holdings, I sympathize with you, Charles Foster Kane is a scoundrel, his papers should be run out of town, a committee should be formed to boycott him, you may, if you can form such a committee, put me down for a contibution of $1000. … On the other hand, I am the publisher of the Inquirer, as such it is my duty, and I’ll let you in on a little secret, it’s also my pleasure to see to it that decent, hardworking people in this community aren’t robbed blind by a pack of money-mad pirates just because they haven’t anybody to look after their interests!” — Charles Foster Kane
Citizen Kane is thought by many film critics and historians to be the best film ever made. Personally, I think that honor should go to Casablanca… but anyway. Citizen Kane is an odd film – the direction is incredible, and the shots, angles, tricks with shots, use of lighting, shadows, mirrors, are incredible. In fact, I’d say if you’re one of the people who doesn’t like Citizen Kane, I’d suggest try watching it with the sound off, just to notice the picture more.
However, it is true that there aren’t really any sympathetic characters in this movie. Kane, who is vaguely sympathetic when he starts out as the crusading newspaper publisher, also starts a war for his own aggrandizement and to sell papers (Kane even paraphrases the famous William Randolph Hearst quote, “You provide the pictures, I’ll provide the war.” More about Hearst later.) His personal life is in shambles, but not in a way that the audience can sympathize with – we know both of his wives left him, and his first wife died in a car accident along with his son. We know he was more or less sold off by his parents and raised by a banker and boarding schools, though with a silver spoon in his mouth, so to speak, without real love.
We’re not really sympathetic to the reporter who’s trying to discover the meaning of Kane’s last word either. Though the non-linear story-telling was probably revolutionary at the time (1941), now audiences are much more accustomed to even more complicated methods of explaining the plot. So the reporter’s running around interviewing old friends, acquaintances and ex-lovers of Kane’s seems more like a device for structure. I don’t even remember the reporter’s name – if he has one. And “Rosebud” is a verbal McGuffin, that is, “the thing everyone in the film is looking for – that may or may not be found.” In this case, only the audience learns that “Rosebud” is his sled.
Which brings me to the point of what the movie is about. As Kane’s life crumbles, his first marriage growing colder and colder, until she finally leaves, taking his son, and subsequently dying – he begins to acquire more and more – not only building his newspaper and radio empire, but buying statues, art, even parts of castles. In my opinion, this buying spree represents two things – the habit of the nouveau riche of buying expensive things to impress others, whether or not they like looking at them or even know anything about the art they are buying. And second, Kane’s obsession with a need to possess. Whether it’s for a sense of security, or only a way of lording it over those who don’t have what he has, or even simply an attempt to be accepted in the highest circles of the wealthy is completely unknown and unanswered in the film.
Kane’s second wife is no better – she quickly becomes rude, screeching, mean-spirited, and even cruel, though in truth Kane responds in kind. Susan never seems to appreciate what Kane does for her (he did after all, build her an Opera house and a palace) but he’s also doing things that he thinks will impress her or make her happy, rather than what she wants. In the end, though it appears Kane married both women for love – in the end, neither loved him.
So Kane ends up, all alone, in his stately pleasure dome of Xanadu, probably pretty miserable, surrounded by his art treasures which are for the most part, still in their packing crates. It’s the ultimate story of stuff and things not being as important as love, living life, and caring about friends and family.
And Rosebud? I think besides being his sled, it represents the last time Charles Foster Kane was truly happy.
Course besides the incredible, incredible direction, the perfect use of shadow and light, contrast, basically just really, really good black and white photography, and the incredible shots and images (the breaking of the glass snowball, Kane towering over Susan, the increasing table size and growing physical distance representing the increasing coldness in Kane and Emily’s marriage, the row of Kanes as he passed the mirrored archway in his palace, etc., etc.) and then there’s also the famous “controversy” about Citizen Kane.
William Randolph Hearst hated the movie. He saw it as a direct insult to him, his wife, and his girlfriend, and set out to destroy the film and almost succeeded. Being a newspaper tycoon – he ordered bad reviews in all his papers (still a strategy that works today – you want something to fail, spread bad press about it), not only that – his movie theaters would not run the film. The 2-disc special edition includes a documentary about the feud between Hearst and Welles, which I watched when I bought the DVD set several years ago. I didn’t re-watch it this time, but in many ways it’s more interesting than the actual film. Especially if you’re interested in the history of censorship. So if the 2-disc special edition featuring the documentary is still available that’s the version one should buy.
Next film: The Commitments
Leave a comment Posted on March 22, 2011 September 27, 2014 1940s Films, B/W Film, Casablanca, Classic, Claude Rains, Drama, From The Movie Project, Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Michael Curtiz, Movie Reviews, Peter Lorre, Reviews, Sydney Greenstreet
Title: Casablanca
Director: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre
Format: Black & White, Standard
R1, NTSC
“What in heavens name brought you to Casablanca?” – Cap’t Louis Renault
“My health, I came to Casablanca for the waters.” – Rick Blaine
“The waters? What waters — we’re in the desert.” – Cap’t Renault
“I was misinformed.” – Rick
“What’s your nationality?” – Maj. Strasser
“I’m a drunkard.” – Rick
“Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world — she walks into mine.” – Rick
“I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here.” – Cap’t Renault
“Your winnings, sir.” – Waiter
“Oh, thank you very much.” – Cap’t Renault
Casablanca is one of the best movies ever made. Like all great movies it is still enjoyable after repeat viewings, and can even become more enjoyable because of the anticipation of favorite lines, scenes, and events. The movie, after a brief audio introduction, swiftly carries you into it’s world. Casablanca: Crossroads of the world, filled with refugees from war-torn Europe hoping to beg, borrow, or steal enough to obtain exit visas and passage on the plane to Lisbon and from there passage to America. Part of what Casablanca does so well is not only the main plot of three “little people”, but the small side plots: the older German couple who have finally obtained passage and are practicing their imperfect English; the woman who sells her diamond tennis bracelet – for far less than it’s worth because she’s desperate for money (and the broker knows it); the pickpocket; the young girl who asks Rick if she should trust Cap’t Renault and do a “very bad thing” so she and her husband can escape Casablanca. There is a real sense that everyone in Casablanca has a story – and it may be as compelling as the story of Rick, Ilsa and Victor Laszlo.
But at the heart Casablanca is about Rick, Ilsa, and Victor – three good people caught in a mess. Rick – the cynic, who “sticks his neck out for nobody,” Victor – hero of the people, who escaped a German Concentration Camp and is leader of the underground free French. And Ilsa – the girl they both love and have loved at different times. The film is about Rick’s journey from cynic to unlikely hero, but there’s an edginess to the movie – the audience doesn’t know what Rick’s final decision will be. Part of this may have been the cast didn’t know, supposedly the script was unfinished and the movie was made on the fly. But even if that wasn’t so, and even when you have the final scene with all it’s perfect dialogue memorised – you’ve seen this movie that often, the film still manages to have a sense of surprise to it, a sense of anticipation, and it creates a world that envelops you. It truly is a brilliant, brilliant film.
Also – Casablanca is filled with great lines, those quoted above, and gems like Cap’t Renault’s “I’m only a poor, corrupt official,” or his “Major Strasser has been shot – round up the usual suspects,” not to mention Rick’s speech to Ilsa at the end of the film, and the last line of the film as well. Totally classic!
Besides the sparkling script – the film is filled with great images as well: Ilsa’s hand knocking over the champagne glass as Rick kisses her as the Germans match into Paris; the rain washing away the ink of Ilsa’s note to Rick; the close-up as Cap’t Renault drops the bottle of “Viche Water” into the trash. And light and shadow is used so well in the film. Ingrid Bergman looks so beautiful, especially when she walks into Rick’s the lighting on her face makes her practically glow. But shadows and half light are also used well. Mist and smoke are used to enhance the visual image: the smoke obscuring Rick as he gets on the train in Paris, and the mist and fog shrouded airport at the end of the film are two examples. Another of my favorite scenes is when Victor leads all of Rick’s Cafe’ Americain in singing the Marseillais to drown out the Germans who are singing De Fatherland, especially Yvonne crying.
And Rick – Richard Blaine, who “sticks his neck out for nobody,” who at the start of the film does nothing to help poor Ugarte (Lorre), despite his pleas, and despite him saying Rick’s the only one he trusts – an action which later results in Ugarte’s death. This is the man who is the noble one at the end of the picture – he’s the one who gives up love for something greater, and because he knows the woman he loves – loves someone else. I just love this movie and could watch it again and again and again. Which is often the best compliment a work of art can have – to make you want to experience it over and over again.
All in all – just about a perfect movie.
Recommendation: See it! Own it!
Rating: 5 (out of 5) Stars
Next Film: Charade
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Walden U Debuts Online Competency-Based Master's Program in Early Childhood Ed
Flipping the Traditional Lecture Hall
Columbia University is experimenting with the flipped classroom model in large lecture courses.
By Michael Hart
There's no question that the flipped classroom model has become all the rage at colleges and universities across the country. In fact, in the most recent Horizon Report, the New Media Consortium (NMC) called the flipped classroom one of the most important emerging trends in educational technology for higher education, noting, "The model is becoming increasingly popular in higher education institutions because of how it rearranges face-to-face instruction for professors and students, creating a more efficient and enriching use of class time."
Yet with all the flipped classroom's potential for active, collaborative learning and increased interaction between professors and students, there's still one bastion of higher education that has resisted the trend: the large lecture course.
With the large lecture format, said NMC Senior Communications Director Samantha Becker, "it's really hard to personalize the material so that a student can feel like they have ownership over their own learning process." And, she added, "It's hard to speak up. There's always the fear of being ostracized by other students or feeling like asking stupid questions."
Maurice Matiz, executive director of Columbia University's (NY) Columbia Center for New Media Teaching and Learning, agreed: "Sitting in one of these 180-student classrooms is a very passive situation," he said. "We've found that students aren't really learning very much."
Matiz and his colleagues are out to change that — by finding ways to adopt the flipped classroom model to traditional large lecture courses.
The Big Flip
They started last year with Associate Professsor Brent Stockwell's biochemistry class of 180 students. Stockwell was discouraged by the number of students who were not completing the required reading assignments before coming to class and, thus, were unprepared to get the most out of his lectures.
So, in the fall 2013 semester, he began creating weekly slide presentations using PowerPoint and the screen-recording application ScreenFlow. He would upload the videos to YouTube, then embed them into the syllabus section of the online learning management system and invite students to watch. Stockwell also placed a link to a short quiz underneath the video player on the syllabus page. Since the quiz results counted toward students' grades, he was assured that most students would watch the video and come to the following day's class prepared.
"[The quiz] is something we learned to do with our MOOCs, and then applied to what we do on campus," said Matiz, who helped Stockwell organize the flipped class.
The flipped format allowed Stockwell to delve deeper and in new directions with the live content he presented in class. He also incorporated a polling service called Socrative that students could access on their mobile devices. Students could respond to questions anonymously in real time, giving him a sense of whether they understood the concepts presented to them, allowing him to revisit a difficult topic or move on to other material.
Then he divided the class of 180 into groups of five and, for part of each class, he would give them problems to work on together, such as how a specific fatty acid should be labeled or how to predict the mechanism of an action of a drug based on the results of an experiment.
The group work led to livelier discussions and forced students to synthesize and apply information from the textbook, videos and classroom discussion.
"What I particularly appreciated about Professor Stockwell is the way he wove all the different components together," NMC's Becker said. "He countered the size of the class by grouping people together and allowing for anonymous polling through the response feature."
Deciding to try an even larger class, Matiz moved on to Professor Rachel Gordon's Body, Health and Disease class of 250 in Columbia's College of Physicians and Surgeons. Gordon also used short video lectures students could view before class, reserving class time for discussions of case studies with an audience response system. She would poll students after covering a concept and, if less than 50 percent of students chose correct answers, she would ask them to break into small groups to discuss their choices.
Typically, she said, the peer discussions would lead to increases in accuracy when students were polled a second time.
"On many levels it was more satisfying than lecturing, where you don't really know if the students are 'getting it,'" Gordon said. "I hope that more teachers will take the plunge. It's worth it."
One challenge that Matiz and Stockwell encountered with applying the flipped classroom model to large courses: the physical limitations of spaces that are not inherently designed for small group work.
"This is an old university," Matiz said, "over 250 years old. A lot of the classrooms are traditional classrooms. Many of them even still have desks that are bolted to the floor."
Nevertheless, Stockwell made it work. "If you're willing to deal with those issues, you can still do it," Matiz said.
Fortunately for Gordon, the Columbia medical school has a relatively new campus and entire sets of classrooms that were built with collaboration in mind.
Stockwell also noted that the biggest challenge he had in the first year was running out of difficult, thought-provoking problems and case studies to give his students when they broke up into small groups. To resolve that challenge in this, his second year of using the flipped classroom model with the biochemistry course, he has called on other biochemistry professors in the New York area to build a repository of problem sets that can be shared.
Despite the difficulties, Matiz said, the command of material by students during and at the end of the course was so obvious to Stockwell and Gordon that he is convinced of the benefits of the flipped classroom in college and university courses.
"There are so many advantages," Matiz said. "The course really becomes just for the student."
NMC's Becker agreed, adding, "The flipped classroom is less of a technology and more of a digital strategy that's enabled by technology. It's really a pedagogical movement that's incorporating a lot of 21st-century learning techniques."
The Power of Immersive Tools to Prepare Students for the Modern Workplace
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Advertise on Canal-st.co.uk
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Advertising on the site can take the traditional forms of Leaderboard's and MPU's along with the targeted weekly newsletter sent to over 6500 registered readers.
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Say Hello to a New Starbucks Coming to the Bushwick Bed-Stuy Border
The coffee giant's new location will spring up in the shadow of Woodhull Hospital.
Magdalena Waz, 27 June 2017
Magdalena Waz
@ThrowBigWords
While the Bushwick/Ridgewood border is no stranger to Starbucks, the coffee giant is making its first foray into Bed-Stuy with a 2,500 square-foot location soon to arrive on the Bushwick/Bed-Stuy border at 774 Broadway.
Representatives of Starbucks told Commercial Observer that this particular location will be a "community store," meaning that it will partner with a local non-profit to provide job training for 16-to-24-year-olds who aren't in school.
“The training covers the basics of customer service, barista skills and food-safety certifications, amongst other areas, to prepare local youth for jobs with Starbucks or other businesses," the spokeswoman said.
The store is not set to open until the second quarter of 2018—nearly a year from now—which gives Bushwick more than enough time to debate the merits of a Starbucks in that area. A representative from the real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield said the combination of the hospital on the corner and an influx of young professionals make the neighborhood a smart choice for Starbucks.
The location is currently home to Fat Albert's Warehouse, a giant discount department store. It appears that Albert Srour, the owner, has been looking to retire. Last year, his son and president of Bklyn Commons, a co-working space, signed a lease on another portion of the building.
Featured image courtesy of Google Maps.
starbucksBushwickBed-Stuynew constructionBklyn Commonsretail spacecoffee
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Canada adds 9,300 jobs in December, economy 'remains very close to full employment'
Alicja Siekierska
Yahoo Finance Canada January 4, 2019
In (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
The Canadian economy saw job growth slow in December, leaving the unemployment rate unchanged at 5.6 per cent and the Bank of Canada unlikely to hike interest rates in the near future.
After posting record employment gains in November, there were 9,300 new jobs added in the month of December, according to Labour Force Survey data released by Statistics Canada on Friday. The economy saw 28,300 part-time jobs added last month, while the number of full-time employment positions decreased by 18,900. The number of self-employed positions jumped by 46,400.
“Call this one ‘less than meets the eye’,” TD senior economist Brian DePratto wrote in a note on Friday.
“The headline unemployment rate may have defied expectations to remain at a record low 5.6 per cent, but the way we got there was less encouraging.”
Over the full year, employment grew in Canada by 163,000, or 0.1 per cent, with gains largely concentrated in the service industries. The yearly unemployment rate fell 0.2 percentage points in 2018 to 5.6 per cent, the lowest rate since 1976, when comparable data was first available.
Despite the record unemployment, economists agree – don’t expect the Bank of Canada to hike interest rates anytime soon, thanks in part to weak wage growth.
“Overall, what we’re left with is an economy that remains very close to full employment, that’s now grinding out jobs gains roughly in line with labour force growth, and yet wage gains are just managing to roughly track underlying inflation,” Bank of Montreal chief economist Douglas Porter wrote in a research note Friday.
“There’s really nothing in this non-descript report to prompt any near-term response from the Bank of Canada, which is fully expected to stay on hold again at next week’s rate decision, and likely for some time after that.”
While increases in employment were positive, CIBC economist Royce Mendes doesn’t expect the latest results will “do much to brighten the mood in Canadian markets today”, calling some details of the report “far less encouraging.” For example, year-over-year average hourly earnings for permanent workers increased at a rate of 1.5 per cent – which, while solid, is running cooler than other indicators.
“It’s not necessarily a great report, but it’s not a terrible one if that we were able to sustain the job gains we saw in November,” Mendes said in an interview.
“But it’s not so great that the jobs came from part-time and self-employed positions, and it’s certainly not great that wages are still growing at only 1.5 per cent.”
However, he notes that if job creation momentum can continue and wages increase, “consumers should still do their fair share to support GDP growth in 2019.” Meanwhile, he expects the Bank of Canada will focus on the trajectory of oil prices when considering future rate hikes.
(Source: Statistics Canada)
DePratto agrees.
“At the moment, there are more pressing matters impacting the Canadian economy,” he wrote.
“However, wages are near the core of the Bank’s mandate. It is definitely not our base case, but without bottom-up wage pressure, further monetary tightening is clearly not urgent.”
British Columbia posted the country’s lowest unemployment rate among the provinces and territories, at 4.4 per cent, followed by Ontario with 5.4 per cent.
But, as noted by BMO Capital Markets senior economist Robert Kavcic, “convergence remains a theme, with Alberta and Atlantic Canada (remaining) sturdy, though unspectacular.” Alberta’s unemployment rate came in at 6.4 per cent, but the province shed 17,000 jobs in December, as losses in full-time work outpaced part-time gains.
Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android.
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admin in Leadership/Management Personal Effectiveness
Charting a Course In a Sea of Demands
CHIEF executives are under intense pressure — whether from shareholders, environmental and labor activists or reinvigorated directors — to change their companies’ ways. Executives need to understand which groups to work with and which ones to fight, says David A. Nadler, chairman and chief executive of Mercer Delta Consulting, a management consulting firm based in New York. Following are excerpts from a conversation with him:
Q. Chief executives seem to be coming under fire from lots of new and different directions. Do you agree?
A. Yes, in working with chief executives, I’ve found that a major issue in front of them is, “How do I deal with all the constituencies who want something from the company or from me personally when many of them are increasingly hostile?”
There were always traditional constituencies, including the financial markets, customers, suppliers and your own people. But now, more and more time is being spent with regulators, prosecutors, legislators, the press, various communities and various special interest groups.
Q. They are dealing with more lawyers, too, right?
A. The chief executive of a major financial services firm told me recently that he was talking with peers in the industry and they discovered that, on average, each of them faces six governmental investigations related to shareholder lawsuits. Most of that has little to do with serving the customer. But it’s a fact of life.
Juggling all those constituencies and trying to figure out which ones are most critical, which ones you have to pay attention to, is difficult.
Q. In general, do you tell your clients to work with activists and disgruntled shareholders or to stonewall them?
A. The advice I’d give is, identify which constituencies can be worked with. There are some elements of the plaintiffs’ bar with whom there are no common interests. But in other cases, you can find common ground.
Q. Home Depot is one company trying to get out ahead, in this case on the question of where it gets its lumber, right?
A. Yes. Staples has done the same thing on the environment. There are a number of companies that have done it. If there is an issue arising, get out ahead of it.
That’s what social capital is all about. By his or her actions, a chief executive can build up social capital, or positive feelings about the company. Johnson & Johnson had positive social capital so that when it ran into the Tylenol crisis, it had a positive reservoir of feelings.
Q. Who else uses their social capital well?
A. There are also companies that have worked their way back from a situation where every constituency was critical of them to the point that they re-established credibility. Anne Mulcahy at Xerox, for example, has been working on that the last couple of years, reaching out to groups, to customers, to constituencies. She’s been credible and delivered on her promises.
Q. Are more nongovernmental organizations and activist groups attacking companies?
A. Yes, we’re seeing a rise of interest groups. As a consequence of what’s happened in the economy and the business scandals, there’s a more negative view of corporations. They have become more attractive targets.
Q. Can you think of a company or an industry whose top executives are not handling the new climate well?
A. The mutual fund industry is on the receiving end of this. If you’re in that industry, you have to reflect on what’s happened.
Q. And how do you think the oil industry is handling the pressures it is facing?
A. Another industry where you’d expect there would be a lot of negatives about the environment or price increases would be the oil industry. But BP, whose chief executive is John Browne, has positioned itself well with a commitment to alternative fuel research and the environment.
Q. But BP’s highly publicized relationship with Greenpeace fell apart.
A. But still, BP has clearly been active in doing things to position themselves and show that they recognize the problems.
Q. Do you see this adversarial climate for chief executives as permanent?
A. I think it’s going to be here for some time. The accessibility of information has improved dramatically, thanks in part to the Internet. Interest groups can form much more easily and can communicate across time zones. I think it’s a fact of life that’s going to continue to be part of a chief executive’s job.
The really tough part of this is that the boundaries between internal and external constituencies have blurred. In the Wal-Mart situation, these are their employees who are pressing their cases. Managers have both internal and external challenges.
Q. What’s the biggest mistake chief executives make in handling these pressures?
A. When they go back into the C.E.O. cave and don’t engage.
Q. So a smart chief executive builds a coalition to respond to those putting pressure on the company?
A. Absolutely. Building social capital means that you have other people who feel positive about what you’ve actually done over time. It’s the job of chief executives to orchestrate that and build that coalition of support to deal with the attacks that are going to happen.
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Aaron Swartz Suicide: Genius and Depression
Caroline Miller
The death of Aaron Swartz, the 26-year-old programming prodigy and digital rights activist who committed suicide Friday, was stunning and upsetting. Swartz, who helped invent RSS as a 14-year-old and contributed to the creation of Reddit, was a passionate believer in the principle of open information. He was being prosecuted for allegedly downloading millions of academic papers collected by JSTOR, which sells digital access to scholarly journals, from the MIT archive. Swartz was said to be very upset about the charges, which carried a sentence of up to 35 years in jail and $1 million in fines. He was also said to be struggling with depression.
Mashable outlines the controversy over the criminal charges against Swartz, which his family calls “intimidation and prosecutorial overreach,” and some of the tributes offered by tech leaders, including this description of Swartz from a Harvard academic and activist: “A kid genius. A soul, a conscience, the source of a question I have asked myself a million times: What would Aaron think?”
What cuts even closer to the quick is the blog Swartz himself wrote in 2007 to describe his experience with the illness and depression that plagued him. I hope you’ll read it.
Swartz begins by apologizing for not keeping up with his blog, and admits that he’s been ill with several things, including stomach pain and migraine.
I have a lot of illnesses. I don’t talk about it much, for a variety of reasons. I feel ashamed to have an illness. (It sounds absurd, but there still is an enormous stigma around being sick.) I don’t want to use being ill as an excuse. (Although I sometimes wonder how much more productive I’d be if I wasn’t so sick.)
And he writes with painful eloquence about being depressed, about the pervasive sadness and the frustration of being unable to feel the joy everyone else seems to feel.
At best, you tell yourself that your thinking is irrational, that it is simply a mood disorder, that you should get on with your life. But sometimes that is worse. You feel as if streaks of pain are running through your head, you thrash your body, you search for some escape but find none. And this is one of the more moderate forms.
There’s more. But he comes back, in the end, to stigma, citing an economist who notes that depression, which affects 1 in 6 people, is the greatest impediment to happiness today:
Sadly, depression (like other mental illnesses, especially addiction) is not seen as “real” enough to deserve the investment and awareness of conditions like breast cancer (1 in 8) or AIDS (1 in 150). And there is, of course, the shame.
Swartz’s suicide is another reminder that genius is often no match for depression, and that the shame that inhibits both treatment and research can rob us all of great potential.
Mental Health,
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Kevin Love has anxiety and panic attacks. We asked what he’d like to tell his younger self.
Troian Bellisario struggled with anxiety and eating disorders. We asked what she’d like to tell her younger self.
Rick Springfield suffered from depression. We asked what he’d like to tell his younger self.
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21st Century Films Horror
The Dangers of Casual Sex: It Follows (2014)
By Christopher Lindsay January 1, 2017 September 2, 2018
12 Comments on The Dangers of Casual Sex: It Follows (2014)
Interpreted allegorically, the film is a warning against the dangers of casual and pre-marital sex with the monster representing a sexually transmitted disease.
In David Robert Mitchell’s It Follows (2014), Jay (Maika Monroe) goes on a date with Hugh (Jake Weary), and after they have sex, a monster starts following her. Interpreted allegorically, the film is a warning against the dangers of casual and premarital sex with the monster representing a sexually transmitted disease.
The film suggests that if you have sex with the wrong person, it can have devastating consequences. After Jay has sex with Hugh, the shape-shifting monster that was following him comes after her. There is, however, a short-term solution. The monster will stop following Jay if she has sex with someone else, so she has sex with Greg (Daniel Zovatto). Unfortunately, this only delays the inevitable. The monster kills Greg, and then starts following Jay again.
The monster is playing a game. Games have rules, and the monster plays by certain rules: “It” only follows one person at a time, the unlucky individual who had sex with the last person it was following. (The game is similar to the children’s game of tag where the last person touched is “It.”) The monster is playing the long game with its victims: The last person who is “tagged” will be motivated to have sex again, giving the monster a larger number of potential victims.
The film can be interpreted allegorically with the monster representing a sexually transmitted disease (STD). Hugh says “It” started following him after a “one night stand.” Like an STD, the monster can only harm people who have casual or premarital sex. Two virgins who get married would never be in any danger from “It.” The monster punishes people who engage in risky sexual behavior.
Casual sex is risky behavior because you might get an STD. Despite the possible consequences, the percentage of young people engaging in casual sex is increasing. A 2014 study found that “35% of GenX’ers in the late 1980s had sex with a casual date or pickup (44% of men, 19% of women), compared to 45% of Millennials in the 2010s (55% of men, 31% of women).”1 The increase in casual sex has led to STD rates reaching a record high in the United States.2 In 2015, there were over 1.5 million reported cases chlamydia, 395,216 cases of gonorrhea, and 23,872 cases of syphilis, with most of the infections among people ages 15 to 24.3 Millions of Millennials have been infected with STDs because of their sexual promiscuity.
Although STDs can often be prevented through the use of condoms, the only safe sex is between two people who are married or in a monogamous relationship. Unlike casual sex (which is usually spontaneous), you can delay having sex until you both go to a doctor and make sure neither partner has an STD. Making sure your partner has a clean bill of health before having sex is the responsible thing to do. It could save you from a life of suffering, and possibly even death.
In It Follows, Jay nearly dies because she had sex with Hugh. She didn’t know his sexual history, and suffers the consequences of her unlucky choice. In the climax of the film, Jay and her friends try to destroy the monster. Unfortunately, with STDS this is not always possible. While many STDs can be treated and cured, others will never go away.4
Jean M. Twenge et al., “Changes in American Adults’ Sexual Behavior and Attitudes, 1972-2012,” Archives of Sexual Behavior 44, no. 8 (May 2015): 2278, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25940736
Jacqueline Howard, “STD rates reach record high in United States,” CNN, October 20, 2016, http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/20/health/std-statistics-record-high/
McKinzie Brocail, “Sexual Healing: Which STDs Can & Cannot Be Cured,” September 11, 2015, STDcheck.com, https://www.stdcheck.com/blog/sexual-healing-which-stds-can-cannot-be-cured/
Tags: casual sex It Follows premarital sex sexually transmitted diseases STD
I wonder how many of those who saw the film actually took away this lesson.
Chris Lindsay says:
Thanks, Mr. Bobinsky. Yes, there is a greater risk of getting an STD from casual sex. If two people are dating, they can both go to a doctor and get a clean bill of health first.
However, if you are interested, I wrote a post on how premarital sex increases the probability of divorce. https://christopherjohnlindsay.wordpress.com/2017/08/23/premarital-sex-divorce/
Mr. Bobinsky says:
It’s a big worldwide problem indeed.
I don’t think though that the movie was about premarital sex (and what is actually wrong with that?). Casual, unprotected and ‘mindless’ sex may have bad consequences.
To us, yes, but since a huge part of this audience are teens or very yound audience… If they get the message, I’d be more than happy.
Thank you for reading my post and your comment. Very few films and TV shows (that I have seen) show that premarital sex can have negative health consequences. Also, films speak to us both consciously and unconsciously.
In 2016, Americans were infected with more than 2 million new cases of gonorrhea, syphilis and chlamydia, the highest number of these sexually transmitted diseases ever reported. http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/26/health/std-highest-ever-reported-cdc/index.html
The message of the film is clear, but I just felt like… do we really need 1 hour and a half to understand such a simple thing that most know already? And those who don’t know it, will they understand it from the film?
Hi Moviemanster, When a film shows positive, negative (or no negative) consequences from engaging in a certain type of behavior, it is sending a message to the viewer, even if the director or writer didn’t consciously intend it.
For instance, in a lot of crime films, the police get the criminal(s) in the end. This sends a message that crime doesn’t pay.
moviemanster says:
Not sure how you made a connection to premarital sex. Sure the film parallels STDs but it makes no attempt at shunning safe casual sex. I think you’re projecting your beliefs just a bit!
Thank you, Mary, for reading my post.
Adultery (or cheating on a partner) often has negative consequences in many films I’ve seen, but It Follows is the only film I can think of where casual sex can have deadly consequences.
If you know of any films with a similar theme, please suggest.
Mary Rayis says:
My son was just talking about how scary this movie is. Thanks for your perspective on what it is about. Sexual promiscuity and adultery being punished seem to be themes in many works of fiction.
mettelray says:
Wow, 1,5 million is a lot, that is more than there are people in my country, Estonia. And the fact that this topic was so cleverly delivered in a horror movie makes you think that these types of movies are far more scary than the sexual education lessons I’ve heard US schools have. We didn’t have those things I guess, but I’m not sure of our numbers as well, so I don’t know how much it affects our millennials.
Kalie Zamierowski says:
The film could definitely be interpreted as an allegory for STDs, especially the most insidious, lethal ones, since “it” stalks its victim and kills it. I’m intrigued that you call “it” (the following thing) a monster. I never would have thought to call it that.
It’s a wonder the government hasn’t found you yet and put an end to this “propaganda”. (I’m being sarcastic. Great article.)
Previous Entry What Causes Sexual Orientation: Nature and Nurture
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Education Week's blogs > Rules for Engagement See more School Climate coverage
Education Week journalists explore some of the nonacademic issues that bear on students’ learning. Find insights, news, and analysis on a wide range of issues including school climate, student engagement, children’s well-being, and student behavior and discipline.
« School Lunches Lower in Fat, Sugar, and Iron Than Packed Lunches, Study Finds | Main | After Criticism, White House Announces Efforts for Girls of Color »
With Aim of Driving Down Disparities, Minneapolis to Review Suspensions
By Evie Blad on November 12, 2014 12:25 AM | No comments
This is a cross post from District Dossier.
Beginning this week, every suspension of a minority student in the Minneapolis school district will be reviewed by the superintendent's leadership team.
The new policy announced late last week and presented to the school board on Monday is part of Superintendent Bernadeia H. Johnson's focus on reducing the disparity in suspensions between minority students and their white peers and pushing forward with the district's goal to close the achievement gap by 2020.
It also comes as the district agreed to a settlement with the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, which had been probing whether the district was discriminating against black students by disciplining them "more frequently and more harshly" than white students.
The Office for Civil Rights has focused heavily in recent months on discipline policies, including out-of-school suspensions for minor infractions, their applications and their impacts on minority students. In January, the Education Department and the Justice Department released guidance for school districts on how to reduce disproportionality in disciplinary policies.
The agreement calls for strict reporting requirements and a robust review of the district's policies, along with a host of changes—some of which the district has already implemented. It will require more specificity in the definitions of misconduct, better data collection systems, staff training and the appointment of a district supervisor to oversee school discipline.
Minneapolis is one of the 62 big-city school districts that have signed on the Council of the Great City Schools pledge to focus on improving outcomes for young men of color. Reducing disproportionality in suspensions and expulsions is one of the key areas that the signatory districts have promised to address.
In Minneapolis, the leadership team review is meant to help district officials better understand the circumstances behind suspensions and provide students and their families with additional support if necessary, according to the district. Depending on the circumstances, the panel will have the power to overturn a suspension, a district spokesman said.
"My desire is to be more deeply involved and understand the circumstances around our suspensions so that we can provide the appropriate support our principals, teachers, students and families need," Johnson said in a statement last week announcing the policy. "This team will bring in resources for the student, family and school as needed."
The district plans to eliminate the non-violent suspension gap completely by 2018, with specific targets for improvement along the way.
Earlier this school year, the district instituted a moratorium on suspensions for nonviolent behavior in pre-K through first grade, an action that Johnson said had positive effects district-wide.
"Suspensions, removals and referrals for all student groups are down by almost half throughout the school district," she said. "We still have a lot of work to do. African American students are still suspended at a rate 10 times that of their white peers. There are 10 black students suspended for every white student suspended."
The district said the review of the suspension policy is one of many steps it has taken to focus on improving outcomes for students of color.
Others include:
A new behavior standards policy;
Creation of the Office of Black Male Student Achievement;
Adoption of an equity policy;
And the creation of winter and spring break academies to provide additional academic support for students.
As part of the agreement with the Department of Education, the district must take concrete and specific actions to address the disparity in suspensions.
It will have to report to the department progress it has made in reducing suspensions for students of color, increasing parent and student engagement, and reviewing its staffing as it relates to guidance counselors, social workers and mental health professionals.
The district has to examine the root cause of the discipline disparity; conduct an annual discipline forum in all schools; train staff and teachers who make discipline referrals; and improve data collection on referrals, discipline sanctions, and administrative transfers in all schools.
The district also plans to reduce the number of school resource officers in the schools, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported. All 16 full-time and nine part-time officers are police officers, the paper said. The district plans to eliminate the part-time officers by next year and reduce the number of full-time ones to seven in the next four years.
A copy of the agreement can be found here.
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Tubers: who are they and why should I care?
I’ve recently become intrigued by the phenomenon of YouTube bloggers and why it is such a big business. Seemingly average people are managing to bring in subscribers in the millions and creating a living off of their YouTube channel, so I thought I would explore this in more detail….
Let’s start by looking at the most popular YouTuber
The most subscribed to YouTuber is Swedish comedian and gamer Felix Kjellberg, known on YouTube as PewDiePie. With over 49 million subscribers, PewDiePie has twice as many subscribers as Justin Bieber, who is the most subscribed to pop star (and third most subscribed to channel on YouTube overall). PewDiePie even has more subscribers than YouTube’s own channel Spotlight, also beating them by double. If you’re over the age of 17 it’s probably unlikely that you’ve heard of PewDiePie, and like me you might be asking yourself how does he have more subscribers than the population of South Korea?!
PewDiePie’s channel started off in 2010 with him creating game commentary videos – that’s basically him playing video games so that the viewer can watch his game play as well as a thumbnail of him playing the game and commentating and sharing his reactions while he plays. This then expanded to him posting vlogs (video blogs), comedy videos and videos of him and his friends playing various games and performing sketches. Alongside his YouTube activity, PewDiePie also made personal appearances at gaming conventions, and as his popularity grew he has appeared in a number of TV programs and news articles, all of which led to his subscribers increasing.
PewDiePie is part of a generation of ‘Tubers’ who have become popular because of their YouTube channel, rather than having set up a YouTube channel after already being famous for other reasons. PewDiePie is not the only successful YouTube star, although no one quite comes near to his subscribership. British beauty vloggers such as Zoella (11million subscribers) and Tanya Burr (3.5million subscribers) are becoming household names, and British and Irish gamers such as KSI and jacksepticeye are also pulling in the viewers, with 14 million and 12 million respectively.
In order to understand why the Tuber phenomenon is so popular I have done some extensive research (i.e. sat in front of my computer and watched more PewDiePie videos than I care to admit) and have come up with a list of possible reasons:
1. People can relate to what they are watching
Most tubers have a theme to their channels, which means that people are pretty much sharing their hobbies with their followers. So the gamers watch PewDiePie, jacksepticeye and KSI because they want to see what they think about new games, and they can share their own experiences in the comments. You might watch Zoella or Tanya Burr to see what their latest beauty buys are, or get some inspiration for a makeup look for the weekend. Whatever it is you’re looking for, you’re getting what you want from someone who is sitting in their bedroom talking to a camera and could easily be someone you know. They aren’t out of reach like traditional celebrities, they are living the same lives as us, doing much the same things. One of the aspects that I’ve noticed about the popular Tubers is that they speak to the camera as though they are having a chat with their friends, and many of them refer to their viewers not as their audience, but as their companions. For example, PewDiePie calls his viewers ‘bros’ and gives them all a ‘bro fist’ at the end of every video. Zoella often tells her viewers that she hopes they’ve had a lovely week, and not just that she hopes they’ve enjoyed her video. These little things make you feel like you are part of the Tuber’s social circle, rather than feeling like a fan from afar.
2. There’s more going on behind the scenes
Once you delve into the world of Tubers you uncover a strong network of people making videos about…well basically nothing. Most of the popular Tubers are signed to networks which help to produce YouTubers’ videos. For example, PewDiePie is signed to Maker Studios and has created his own sub-network, RevelMode, which is made up of a number of Tubers, such as his girlfriend CutiePieMarzia and friends jacksepticeye, KickThePj and CinnamonToastKen. Unsurprisingly, all of the Tubers who are part of RevelMode often collaborate with each other and give each other shout outs, which strengthens their subscribership. In fact a number of them are currently in LA together filming a series call ‘Scare PewDiePie’.
As well as showing support for friends and collaborators, Tubers also often sample other channels’ videos in order to make fun of them. For example, PewDiePie often samples videos of Tubers who have made hate videos about him or upload badly edited videos and uses them to base a comedy video around, almost like a YouTube roasting. This of course then pushes more people to those Tuber channels and they get more views. One of these Tubers is Marina Joyce, which brings me onto my next point…
3. Social media plays a huge role
T he use of social media alongside YouTube, both by the Tubers and their viewers helps to increase their audience. One of the best examples of this happened earlier this year when Tuber Marina Joyce was the focus of a social media buzz when concerned viewers started a Twitter campaign to help ‘save’ her. Marina Joyce is a sort of beauty vlogger who, over the past 6 months or so, started to upload videos which were of a much poorer quality than her previous style. She also seems a bit ‘out of it’ in a lot of her videos and in one video people suggested that you could hear her whispering “help me” in the background. She then tweeted some con fused tweets, which led to some of her viewers suggesting that maybe she had been kidnapped and was being forced to make YouTube videos, possibly by ISIS (yes, really). Soon enough a #SaveMarinaJoyce campaign was trending on Twitter and the Met Police actually ended up visiting Marina after they had received calls about her safety. They even tweeted to say that she has been visited and she was fine. Marina also had to post a live video to show everyone that she had not been kidnapped. As a result of this, Marina Joyce had a huge increase in her video views and subscribership, and continues to make poor quality videos to a much larger audience today.
4. It’s fun!
One of the main things about the big YouTube channels is that they are just fun to watch. You don’t need to be invested in a story line, you don’t need to know everything about the person in the video, you can just sit down and enjoy the videos for what they are. I am by no means a gamer, but I am seriously addicted to PewDiePie videos. He is funny and lighthearted and says what we are all thinking…and I can enjoy his videos in 10-minute chunks.
But why should you care?
If you’re not into watching YouTube videos you’re probably thinking “Why should I care about these people sitting in front of a computer screen talking a load of nonsense”? Well, you really should care! As we have seen, many of these Tubers are just as popular, if not more, than many mainstream celebrities, and will no doubt be having a huge influence on the younger generation.
Tubers are also playing huge roles in industries outside of YouTube. For example, beauty vlogger Zoella (currently 50th most subscribed to channel) has released best selling novels, has her own line of beauty products and is even an ambassador for the mental health charity MIND. PewDiePie occasionally mention that he has helped to raise millions of dollars for charity whenever people claim that he is doing nothing with his life. The money he has raised has gone towards charities such as Save the Children, for whom he raised over $630,000 through a charity drive.
Not only are they influential with their viewers and spreading their wings outside of YouTube, but they are also bringing in the big bucks. Forbes estimates that PewDiePie earned $12million in 2015 and KSI $4.5million. Even Tanya Burr with her modest 3.5 million subscribers is estimated by Marie Claire to be making £20,000 a month.
A few months ago PewDiePie uploaded a video to say that his bank accounts had been frozen due to someone trying to defraud his accounts, and jokingly told his bros that he was broke. He made a tongue in cheek video asking his followers to support him financially by donating money to an online crowdfunding site called Patreon. To his surprise, within a few days of publishing this video he had been giving donations of over $3,500 dollars a month, which he promised to refund.
So, I don’t know about you, but I’m off to create a YouTube channel….
Discussion, YouTube
Gaming, Tubers, Vlogging, YouTube
Incorporating Social Media Into Your Event: An Interview with Employer Engagement Officer Sarah Bowden
The Death of Vine
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Identifying barriers and improving communication between cancer service providers and Aboriginal patients and their families: the perspective of service providers
Shaouli Shahid1,
Angela Durey2,
Dawn Bessarab2,
Samar M Aoun3 &
Sandra C Thompson1
Aboriginal Australians experience poorer outcomes from cancer compared to the non-Aboriginal population. Some progress has been made in understanding Aboriginal Australians’ perspectives about cancer and their experiences with cancer services. However, little is known of cancer service providers’ (CSPs) thoughts and perceptions regarding Aboriginal patients and their experiences providing optimal cancer care to Aboriginal people. Communication between Aboriginal patients and non-Aboriginal health service providers has been identified as an impediment to good Aboriginal health outcomes. This paper reports on CSPs’ views about the factors impairing communication and offers practical strategies for promoting effective communication with Aboriginal patients in Western Australia (WA).
A qualitative study involving in-depth interviews with 62 Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal CSPs from across WA was conducted between March 2006 - September 2007 and April-October 2011. CSPs were asked to share their experiences with Aboriginal patients and families experiencing cancer. Thematic analysis was carried out. Our analysis was primarily underpinned by the socio-ecological model, but concepts of Whiteness and privilege, and cultural security also guided our analysis.
CSPs’ lack of knowledge about the needs of Aboriginal people with cancer and Aboriginal patients’ limited understanding of the Western medical system were identified as the two major impediments to communication. For effective patient–provider communication, attention is needed to language, communication style, knowledge and use of medical terminology and cross-cultural differences in the concept of time. Aboriginal marginalization within mainstream society and Aboriginal people’s distrust of the health system were also key issues impacting on communication. Potential solutions to effective Aboriginal patient-provider communication included recruiting more Aboriginal staff, providing appropriate cultural training for CSPs, cancer education for Aboriginal stakeholders, continuity of care, avoiding use of medical jargon, accommodating patients’ psychosocial and logistical needs, and in-service coordination.
Individual CSPs identified challenges in cross-cultural communication and their willingness to accommodate culture-specific needs within the wider health care system including better communication with Aboriginal patients. However, participants’ comments indicated a lack of concerted effort at the system level to address Aboriginal disadvantage in cancer outcomes.
Effective communication between patients and providers is essential to achieve positive health outcomes for users of services [1–3]. Good communication is particularly vital for successful cancer treatment as patients will have multiple anxieties at different stages of their cancer journey. How an individual experiences and copes with cancer depends not only upon the type of cancer and the treatments available, but on social support in a variety of forms, including mechanisms for dealing with uncertainty. A patient’s ability to participate in decision-making around treatment also plays a major role in satisfaction with care [4]. Most patients and families experiencing cancer go through several forms of physical, social, economic and psychological trauma. Cancer care thus encompasses long-term whole-of-care for a patient evolving much more than just managing physical and clinical symptoms going well beyond the confined hospital setting to include home and community contexts. Thus, unless information is conveyed effectively from the beginning and understood by patients and their families, it can negatively impact upon their psychological and physical health and satisfaction with care [3]. Successful communication requires co-constructing meaning to achieve agreement between the healthcare provider and patient, both of whom bring their individual physical, social and cultural orientation, prior knowledge, experiences, verbal and non-verbal communication styles [5].
Communication between Indigenousa patients and non-Indigenous health service providers has been identified as an impediment to good Indigenous health outcomes [6–9]. For Indigenous Australians, the interplay of factors in the meaning-making process is more complex, occurring within the broader historical, social and political context where Indigenous experiences of marginalization, colonization, and disempowerment have led to distrust, intergenerational grief and trauma [10] resulting in a lack of acknowledgement of some of these experiences within mainstream health care. These views are consistent with the ecological model of health, and intervention to improve understanding and address Indigenous health issues will be strengthened by acknowledging that context [11].
Given the increased commitment of the Australian government to reducing the difference in life expectancies between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians through partnerships, gaps in understanding and difficulties in patient-provider communication warrant careful analysis. A previous study which explored Aboriginal people’s perspective on cancer care identified numerous barriers contributing to miscommunication in cancer services [12]. These included: service providers’ lack of understanding of the historical context of Aboriginal people; cross cultural misunderstanding and a lack of recognition of Aboriginal beliefs and “ways of doing things”; complex centralised health systems; logistical challenges in accessing health services [13]; linguistic differences in communication styles and a lack of trust [12]. These issues highlighted that, along with cultural competency at the clinical, organizational and systemic levels of a service delivery [14], acknowledgement of the differences between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal culture, recognition and addressing the power differentials between the patient and service providers, and acknowledgment of the impact of history, political, social conditions on the health of Aboriginal people [15] must be considered to overcome the communication barrier between Aboriginal people and the service providers. Above all, culturally secure services that link awareness of cultural issues to actions that address them at the policy, organisational and system level [16] are needed to support Indigenous participation in cancer treatment.
Service providers need encouragement and support to reflect on and identify limitations arising in their service capability to better address and understand Indigenous needs. Lack of confidence and fear of naming deficits in their service delivery and practice can impede providers’ ability to deliver improved services that meet Indigenous people’s needs [17]. The current study was prompted as a follow-up to an earlier one [12, 18, 19] which explored Aboriginal Australian views about cancer and cancer services and the barriers they identified in accessing cancer services in WA. Our aim was to explore the issues of Aboriginal people accessing cancer care from the perspective of Cancer Service Providers (CSPs), since improving Aboriginal cancer outcomes requires a common understanding of both patients’ and providers’ perspectives that need to be understood and resolved for the health system to function optimally and in culturally sensitive manner for the care of Aboriginal people with cancer. This paper presents an analysis of interviews with CSPs and their experiences working with Aboriginal cancer patients and discusses issues that emerge, directly or indirectly, related to their practice and which affect Aboriginal patient-provider communication. It also presents strategies suggested by CSPs for promoting effective communication with Aboriginal patients in WA.
This study was approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee of Curtin University, WA Country Health Services and the Western Australian Aboriginal Health Ethics Committee.
Recruitment of participants and data collection
Data collection occurred in two phases – between March 2006 and September 2007 and April and October 2011. Initially, a formal letter containing the information sheet and consent form were sent to service managers to circulate information about the project to staff, requesting that interested staff contact the researchers. After being contacted by potential participants, the interviewer discussed the study and arranged a time for an in-depth interview. Other participants were purposively recruited from a range of locations, services and professions. Informed consent was provided by all participants.
The semi-structured interview schedule used in the previous research [12, 18, 19] was reviewed and modified. This covered questions around health service providers’ general experience with Aboriginal patients with cancer, any specific issue they face and possible solutions to these issues. As communication was identified as one of the major barriers by Aboriginal participants in the earlier study, we included a specific question related to communication with Aboriginal patients and their families for this study.
The interviews were digitally recorded, transcribed verbatim and imported into N-Vivo software to assist management of data. Transcripts were analysed by organising and coding the data into themes which were ordered, recorded and stored as ‘free nodes’ from which other themes were developed through a process of line-by-line reading of the transcriptions [20]. The frequency and distribution of important themes were identified, highlighted, grouped and stored as ‘tree nodes’ which enabled a series of sub-themes to be developed under the key theme. Trustworthiness of the data was ensured through searching for rival explanations and linking the findings and conclusions to data, theory and evidence from the literature [21–23]. In addition, inter-coder reliability checks of interview analysis were conducted by members of the research team to check and re-check coding [22].
The design, framing and analysis of this research was based upon the philosophical foundations of the social constructionist perspectives that guided us to understand how people interpret and make sense of experiences within particular socio-cultural, political and historical contexts [11, 24]. The interpretation and analysis of findings was guided also by theoretical standpoints that included the social ecological framework [25], the ‘critical cultural approach’ [26], ‘cultural security’ framework [16] and concepts of Whiteness and privilege [27, 28]. These theories are all relevant to the interpretation of the challenges in communication faced by non-Aboriginal health professionals working with Aboriginal patients and their families. We were aware of the common tendency to frame findings in a way that suggests “deficiency” in Aboriginal people or communities [29] and have instead presented a range of responses identifying various levels of awareness about the role of health services and providers play in promoting or undermining Aboriginal health and wellbeing. We anticipated these approaches would identify changes needed to current practices to promote good communication with Aboriginal people.
CSPs having experience working with Aboriginal patients were recruited from a variety of service settings: hospitals, the Cancer Council WA, cancer screening services, palliative care services, Aboriginal community health services and other relevant allied health services providing support to cancer patients in Perth and six rural/remote regions of WA. Sixty-two in-depth interviews were conducted of whom 17 participants were Aboriginal CSPs; participants’ demographic characteristics are described in Table 1.
Table 1 Demographic information about the CSPs
Key themes that emerged as barriers to communication for CSPs were their lack of knowledge about the cultural, social and health needs of Aboriginal people; the marginalization of Aboriginal people within the system; and Aboriginal patients’ distrust of the health system and fundamental aspects of communication, including language and communication style.
Strategies identified by both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal CSPs to improve CSPs’ communication with Aboriginal patients included: recruitment of more Aboriginal staff; cultural training for the CSPs; education for Aboriginal stakeholders; providing assistance to the patients during patient consultations with clinicians, with careful and repeated explanations; continuity of care; clear, simple and empathic communication; and coordination within services. These will be discussed, sub-themes described and the similarities and differences in responses with the previously reported Aboriginal patients and family participants [12] identified (Table 2).
Table 2 Differences and similarities in Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal participants’ views on barriers to communication
Contextual barriers to communication
Lack of understanding by CSPs about the overall needs of Aboriginal people
One challenge reported by non-Aboriginal providers was their lack of knowledge and understanding of the complex multiple issues that Aboriginal people faced in their day-to-day lives, including unsuitable housing for patients when discharged. These often led to misunderstanding patients’ needs during consultations.
I suppose this latest young lady, well one of the frustrations I had was organising to get her to the metro area and highlighting all of the possible complexities with her situation being a young woman with young children and an extremely nasty cancer but not getting the support from some of the hospital staff in the metro and then not, I guess they basically turned away, some of the supports that I had linked the patient with. As when those people went to get in touch and be involved they said, “Your services aren’t needed.” And because of that, and I don’t know … they certainly had no understanding of the complexities of what she would face when she came back home. (CSP13, Rural non-Aboriginal nurse)
Several participants reported making assumptions about Aboriginal cultural preferences such as preferred place of stay at the end-of-life, gender-specific communication, and the appropriateness of talking about cancer or death and dying that led to increased concern and vigilance: “we do not communicate with them, we will be excessively cautious and respectful…. There’s a lot of uncertainty and a lot of confusion” (CSP54, urban non-Aboriginal participant). In response to questions about why they did not ask for clarification, CSPs often indicated they thought that would be inappropriate. Thus, many of the practical issues that Aboriginal patients faced were not explored or were not addressed in an appropriate manner.
Another challenge for services was consulting and negotiating with extended family members to obtain consensus about treatment and end-of-life decision-making. This sometimes impeded timely delivery of healthcare to the patient as service providers often needed consent from multiple people, some of whom often were present but at certain times extended family members were located in remote communities.
Lack of understanding of the Western medical system by Aboriginal patients
Both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal CSPs perceived Aboriginal people’s lack of understanding about cancer and the medical system as a major impediment to communication. All participants reported that most Aboriginal patients and families struggled with understanding how the Western medical system worked. CSPs found that, particularly rural and remote Aboriginal patients and their families lacked understanding of the importance of adhering to oncology treatment regimes, the need to attend follow up appointments on time; the length of stay for treatment; the importance of staying near the place of treatment and abstaining from smoking and consuming alcohol. These resulted in misunderstanding and frustration among non-Aboriginal CSPs and silence in Aboriginal patients, which ultimately contributed to further breakdown in communication.
That is a bit of struggle, the communication is really difficult because Aboriginal people don’t have a voice, they’re reluctant to use their voice and even with my support, they still find it difficult to actually [communicate] (CSP28, rural Aboriginal participant)
Mostly non-Aboriginal participants reported difficulty in explaining the importance of treatment and follow-up care to Aboriginal patients:
Him understanding what I was wanting to do with him and because he had insulin at certain times of the day and he’d gotten into that routine he thought it was my duty of care to say to him, “Well actually, we do it in hospital like this, and we have to give you your treatment and we have to give you your medications”, and … he didn’t understand what I was saying to him, that’s why he was getting angry and anxious. It’s understandable. (CSP9, Urban non-Aboriginal participant)
While the problem was often externalized onto the Aboriginal patient, the often inappropriate communication of health providers was identified by Aboriginal participants:
They [non-Aboriginal health professionals] need to come down a peg. Instead of talking high and mighty to a person … they should sit down and relax and actually talk English to that person instead of using big words, fancy words, making themselves look good and making themselves feel proud that they can, you know, ‘I know what this word is, but you don’t because you are small.’ (CSP49, Rural Aboriginal participant)
Some CSPs acknowledged the diversity among Aboriginal people based on their educational background, area of residency and their degree of acculturation. The analysis revealed that Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal CSPs with longstanding experience and relationships with Aboriginal communities understood patients’ issues sooner and had confidence in addressing them empathetically and in a manner considered to be more culturally appropriate: “without being kind of aggressive about it, you have to dig a bit to really find out about the person… health needs and problems” [CSP26, urban non-Aboriginal participant]. Due to the pressures on clinicians working within health, they often did not want to unearth patient’s contextual issues, recognising that they would need more time to address them:
… if you’re busy you know, and you don’t want to ask those questions because if the answer comes back positive, then what do you do? I certainly have come across people who say they don’t want to ask that question because then you’ll… you can be another half hour there, yes. But yes, I think there’s a bit of what are you there for really? (CSP26, urban non-Aboriginal participant)
Marginalisation of Aboriginal people and distrust
Aboriginal CSPs mentioned that history, racism and associated distrust towards the medical system by Aboriginal people are exacerbated by poor communication with non-Aboriginal CSPs. Service providers’ control of the environment, structure, purpose, topic and language of communication highlighted their position of power, authority and reinforced the marginalised position of Aboriginal patients within the system:
… lack of insight I think from the nurses there and inappropriate sense of possession or ownership or I don’t know, superiority in their own skills and abilities which is unfounded. Their lack of accepting that people might need more than just them to help, to deal with their situation. They’re very insular and they feel that they are a one stop shop and they can provide everything but they can’t. (CSP13, rural non-Aboriginal participant)
Interestingly, this critique of the inability of some CSPs to recognise and respond to the power imbalance, fits well with whiteness theory, where whiteness is normalised, taken for granted and therefore acts as an invisible form of privilege and superiority. Some non-Aboriginal providers reported counterbalancing this distrust by actively building relationships and investing time in empathic listening to Aboriginal patients. However, several were unsure about the process and reported that building trust often took a long time. This highlights the needs for the system level change to support the service providers so that they can work towards the goal of achieving culturally safe services for Aboriginal people. Non-Aboriginal providers reported the feeling that they were likely to fail when dealing with Aboriginal patients, because Aboriginal people did not fit the usual models and for their care there was a clash with the demands of the system in which they worked: “when you know you are gonna have an Aboriginal person coming to your clinic, your heart sinks….” (CSP26, urban non-Aboriginal participant) This participant, as with some other non-Aboriginal CSPs, felt they lack the power to improve Aboriginal people’s participation in cancer treatment, but there was relatively little interrogation from their point of view of how the system could be changed to accommodate the Aboriginal patient’s needs or even the power to make a difference to an individual patient through the quality of the relationship that they developed with an Aboriginal patient and their family.
Impediments to communication
Fundamental issues related to communication which were highlighted were language, communication styles and differences in the concept of time.
Language was a barrier that led to misunderstandings between Aboriginal patients and clinicians as some Aboriginal patients communicated in Aboriginal English which often differs from standard Australian English in pronunciation and meaning. Other misunderstandings were the result of medical professionals’ difficulty in communicating with Aboriginal patients in clear, jargon-free language so they are understood. Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal CSPs criticised the poor patient interaction skills of some medical professionals which added to the distrust experienced by Aboriginal patients:
Oh he’s just an ignorant, bit of a dickhead. … [Non-Aboriginal patients] might admire his competence, but they don’t like his manner… we have a couple of oncologists like that and they’re very good oncologists but they’re … (laughter)… hideous communicators. Non-Aboriginal people will just think, “Oh” but they’ll accept that because of his competence whereas Aboriginal people just won’t go back. (CSP27, rural non-Aboriginal participant)
This comment illustrates how for those who are comfortable within the Western model of care, the technical competence of a clinician may be enough for them to disregard what to an Aboriginal patient may be considered as further evidence of a system in which they are uncomfortable and therefore not likely to feel well cared for, particularly in a holistic sense.
Communication style
Most non-Aboriginal CSPs described Aboriginal people as ‘non-assertive’, ‘non-responsive’, shy to ask questions and reluctant to talk about their illnesses, accompanying problems and reactions to what was happening in their lives. According to some, Aboriginal people lacked enough education and confidence to ask appropriate questions, evidenced by the tendency of patients to agree with whatever was being said (referred to in the literature as ‘gratuitous concurrence’) [7]: “it was difficult because often people would say ‘yes I understand’ and you don’t know if they did” (CSP3, urban non-Aboriginal participant). There was little consideration by CSPs that Aboriginal acquiescence could be a learnt response as a result of years of marginalization and oppression and having being subdued in a way that has silenced their voices [11], a response that would be predicted by the socio-ecological model [25]. Aboriginal people were labeled as ‘non-responsive’ because the Western medical system generally expects individuals to conform to the system, assert their preferences and to take control of their personal health care.
Interestingly, when Aboriginal providers communicated with non-Aboriginal patients and families they found them reserved, withholding their thoughts with them. The willingness to share information was noted as different when dealing with an Aboriginal provider. One Aboriginal CSP explained how she felt ‘known’ and close when she dealt with an Aboriginal person. Aboriginal staff within the services often provided a “zone of comfort” for Aboriginal patients “… there was a patient here who wouldn’t even see the doctor unless I was in the room and with them” (CSP1, urban Aboriginal participant). Optimal caregiving and advice seemed to occur when patients and providers shared the same cultural background, and life experiences, highlighting the importance of cultural security for improving outcomes.
Differences in the concept of time
Mainstream service providers struggled to adjust to differences in the ‘concept of time’ used by Aboriginal people which hampered communication both directly and indirectly. Moreover, CSPs who work part time mostly find it difficult to meet the needs of Aboriginal patients who, often, do not operate within a time schedule where appointments are diarized:
With that particular case we’d already set up a meeting with the Aboriginal Health Service and then the workers of the Health Service had made other appointments and gone off. So we all finally got there, but the actual Aboriginal Health Service wasn’t free and then that blows your mind. You think, “Oh my God.” …so in many ways it takes an awful lot longer. You’ve really got to build more bridges and go more slowly and be more fluid in how you work which for me is difficult because I only have two days in which I can do anything with anybody so I can’t be as fluid. (CSP56, Rural non-Aboriginal participant)
CSPs operated by allocating a specific time for each patient in advance, and “that doesn’t always meet people’s needs” (CSP14, rural non-Aboriginal participant). One participant said, “When you’re dealing with (particularly more traditional) Aboriginal patients … they don’t live by a clock. They don’t sort of come to appointments on time…. So I think the difficulty of providing good care as an outpatient is partly based on whether we can find the patients in a timely fashion on the day that I’m visiting” (CSP52, urban non-Aboriginal participant). This elastic time particularly created difficulties with video conference consultations. Some CSPs tried to find a solution and they booked their appointments “for half an hour either side for the consult, so that we can ensure that the patient is actually seen timely” (CSP14, rural non-Aboriginal participant)
So that’s a huge difficulty but it’s not with all Aboriginal families. Some families you can say I’ll be there at two, and everybody is there and they’re quite happy to sit down and meet, it’s just particular families can be quite difficult. (CSP56, Rural non-Aboriginal participant)
Strategies to improve communication
Aboriginal staff and support people within services
CSPs expressed the need for more Aboriginal staff who, in their view, enhanced the quality of communication with Aboriginal patients: “at the moment I find them [Aboriginal patients] not easy opening up to us and talking to us about any psycho-social problems [but] they feel more comfortable talking to some of their own people… might be their relatives at home” (CSP50, rural non-Aboriginal participant). An informed and responsible family member escorting the patient or an Aboriginal staff member could help non-Aboriginal providers better understand patients’ needs and circumstances. It also made easier for Aboriginal people to trust the health system and highlighted benefits of establishing and developing partnerships between health services and the Aboriginal community. The role of Aboriginal service providers as cultural brokers was particularly significant when CSPs dealt with patients in outreach areas as Aboriginal staff often knew the “ins and outs” of the community, such as where certain people lived and what was happening with them at that time. Their informed cultural and local knowledge was extremely valuable and provided an ongoing resource for the CSPs.
Although many providers were aware that yarning with Aboriginal patients and families informally could help them feel more comfortable and relaxed, in most circumstances only Aboriginal staff could confidently achieve this. Interacting with Aboriginal patients and bonding with them using a conversational approach is referred to as ‘social yarning’ [30]:
… generally with Aboriginal people it works very well to actually be able to go away from the clinical environment and go and sit under the tree and just do a bit of yarning and get to know and build a relationship.… things like home visits are really valuable (CSP14, Rural non-Aboriginal participant)
According to most participants, educating Aboriginal people about cancer and the Western medical system was important. However, increasing CSPs’ knowledge of Aboriginal culture and life-style was also considered ‘key’: “… it comes back to knowledge again. If we all have a bit more knowledge on how we might do it better, how we might do it differently. I think we’d all be a lot better off” (CSP56, Rural non-Aboriginal participant). Participants suggested that further emphasising cultural education within health curricula, on-going ‘on-the-job’ health-related cultural awareness training for CSPs and more interaction with Aboriginal people would increase the knowledge of CSPs. Many participants considered the available cultural awareness training insufficient as it focused too much on what had happened in the past. Access to extensive health-specific cultural training opportunities was an identified need.
Assistance while consulting clinicians
Communication could also be improved by Cancer Nurse Coordinators (CNCs) (positions established in 2007, prior to the second period of data collection) or an Aboriginal Liaison Officer (ALO) supporting patients during their appointments with clinicians. This support assisted patients to better understand their treatment, side-effects and symptoms. Participants reported that although it required preparation, planning, consultation and coordination between different services, the process ultimately assisted providers to be informed about the patient’s actual condition.
We tend to offer that service where we go in with patients and we sit with them when the doctor is explaining to them and for some patients we’ll even take notes and give them to the patient afterwards in plain simple language. (CSP6, rural non-Aboriginal participant)
Repeat explanations
Repeat explanations by an ALO or a CNC about a treatment and its side-effects, the importance of continuity of treatment, and consulting the patient before and after seeing their treating clinician were other strategies which helped improve patient/clinician communication. These were regarded as facilitating better adherence of patients to their treatment regime and better outcomes and were particularly useful for patients undergoing complex treatment regimes, such as for patients with lung, cervix, head and neck cancers.
…predominantly cervical cancer, they need to have radiation therapy daily for a good six weeks as part of their treatment plus some chemo and that’s quite hard work to ensure that they complete that because it’s every day you have to be in for a fifteen minute treatment and so there’s a lot of meeting at the appointments… two or three times a week sometimes, or at least ringing them if they’ve got a mobile phone and reminding them don’t forget you’ve got your treatment, I’ll meet you today or being at the treatment. Because they don’t always turn up for one or two days. It’s sort of understanding that you can’t break your treatment. (CSP2, Urban non-Aboriginal participant)
Clear verbal explanation, visual materials, suitable pictures and face-to-face conversations with Aboriginal patients were also identified as important: ‘I find a picture, and I go on the internet, I find a picture, a basic picture and I bring it back and I go over the picture with them.’ (CSP1, Urban Aboriginal participant)
Continuing care by the same CSP was recognized as important to establishing a trustworthy relationship. Aboriginal people were more comfortable when they met the same person during their visit to a service:
I: So is it important to have the same person in every visit?
P: If it’s possible, but it’s not always possible. But also, if it’s going to happen that you don’t have the person, explain it to the patient that next week I’m not here but she [another staff member] will fill my boots and she will do exactly the same as I do, and then when I come back we can continue or this person is going to take over your care. You have to explain to them that you might move on and somebody else is going to take over then they know what’s going on. I think if it comes from you that they trust now and they see this person is good and they can manage with everything that should be just as all good for them. You can’t have a continuity of care if you want it, it’s just not possible. But you can at least try. (CSP50, Rural non-Aboriginal participant)
Understanding and accommodating patients’ needs
Some participants reported that Aboriginal patients and families valued attention, support and understanding from providers, and this helped them feel relaxed and connected within the system. Accommodating the patient’s needs required CSPs being aware of the patient’s context, circumstances, background and needs. Allied health professionals played a significant role in that aspect. One non-Aboriginal CSP talked about how he built an empathic relationship gradually with one male Aboriginal patient who was suffering from head and neck cancer, had severe dental problems and a negative view of the health system. From the beginning, hospital staff tried to ensure everything fell into place to support his treatment, appointments, pain management and needs. They interacted with his extended family members, and eventually the patient and his family became comfortable, and started interacting with staff. This example showed that a positive change in a CSP’s attitudes and practice helped to build trust and improved the patient’s experience of health care, their engagement with the service and contributed to comfort during the illness.
Coordination within services
Non-Aboriginal CSPs reported that oncology patients generally are offered too many services, which can be overwhelming for many patients. Several participants felt that although there were many issues still to be addressed, improvements had begun with care coordination now shared among and between different services. For example, regional CNCs can communicate with patients in smaller communities via local networks and help best manage their care with appropriate referrals. With CNC support, specialized health professionals in metro areas can make informed decisions about patients living in isolated areas. CNCs in rural and remote areas can also make sure that a “patient fully understands the appointment dates and the length of time they would be staying in the metro” (CSP3, urban non-Aboriginal participant) before they come for treatment:
I think with careful and good co-ordination and good networking, using the people that meet the patient’s needs… I think the whole team has learnt from that. But it is about making sure that there’s pathways and processes in place and so, yes, we’re working on that and always the issues are around the practical good communication, that’s the key factor I think. (CSP14, rural non-Aboriginal participant)
Arrangements to ensure privacy were mentioned by some service providers to ensure trustworthy and respectful communication between Aboriginal patients and providers, while Aboriginal patients and the family members participated in the previous study [12] identified them as crucial aspects of culturally appropriate care: ‘it must be a quiet area, you mustn’t have lots of people coming in and out and lots of disturbances and stuff and sometimes a one-on-one with a parent or aunty there, is much better than having a big group of people… also because it just freaks them out if there’re lots of people standing around them and they don’t know what’s going to happen, especially if it goes ahead with procedures.’ (CSP52, urban non-Aboriginal participant).
Communication with health providers was a key barrier for Aboriginal people with cancer identified in a previous study exploring the experiences of Aboriginal people with cancer [12]. This study explored the views of CSPs (both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal) on communication and compares the findings with those of Aboriginal patients with a view to identifying possible solutions which are sensitive to the needs of Aboriginal people as well as feasible and achievable by the service providers within their services.
The ‘cultural security’ framework ‘whereby organisations and individuals… make a positive shift away from altering attitudes and values, and move towards changing organisational and individual behaviours and practices’ [16] was one of the frameworks that guided us to assess if the prevailing Western model of care fostered good communication with Aboriginal patients and their families, responded to their needs and promoted their wellbeing. As previously indicated, cultural security recognises that theoretical ‘awareness’ of culturally appropriate service provision is not enough, and focuses directly on practice, skills and efficacy by incorporating cultural values into the design, delivery and evaluation of services. This model argues for society and system levels involvement in securing an environment that is safe for Aboriginal people, and proposes to ‘effect change in all elements of the health system workforce development, workforce reform, purchasing of health services, monitoring and accountability and public engagement’ [31]. Previous research findings drew attention to the tensions in the system where the model of standardized care that privileges Western biomedical knowledge and practice at times failed to meet the needs of Aboriginal patients, demonstrated in poor communication styles. This experience eroded an Aboriginal patient’s trust and reinforced their marginalisation. This tension was found to have intersected with the need for health providers to be flexible, respectful and responsive to cultural differences raising the issue of how such challenges were negotiated [12, 13].
Findings from this research clearly indicated that some CSPs wanted to deliver high quality culturally appropriate care to Aboriginal patients yet felt powerless or did not get enough support to initiate change. They wanted to respect Aboriginal traditional beliefs and practices and incorporated some sensitivity to Aboriginal culture into their service. However, they lacked confidence and were unsure if Aboriginal patients’ needs were met. They wanted to form a relationship with Aboriginal patients but gaps remained in their understanding that compromised good communication. They reported trying to deliver health information empathically, repeating it as needed and were often prepared to spend extra time with Aboriginal patients. However, they already felt over-stretched. Where possible, extended family members were included in decision-making around treatment, however, this was challenging particularly when planning discharge and with limited resources available in the patient’s home environment to provide high quality care. Many of these positive initiatives occurred as a result of the efforts by individuals and not by the system. Therefore, while some intentions to improve Aboriginal health care were clearly stated, limitations in the system and the competing demands placed on CSPs were evident. Thus, support at the system level to ensure cultural security within health services was generally seen as missing.
Cross-cultural communication difficulties exacerbated the problem. Participants were aware of the fact that long-term relationships and trust were vital for all interactions between Aboriginal patients and their providers. However, that link was often not developed due to poor understanding of how a trusting relationship could be established or how an overloaded health system focused on throughput challenged meeting patients’ needs given busy schedules. Critical reflection by non-Aboriginal CSPs of the need for service provision to be more flexible and attuned to the needs of patients from other cultures was largely missing. While oncology patients in general have been found not to disclose concerns about their underlying beliefs which do not fit with the dominant biomedical paradigm [3], some CSPs stereotyped Aboriginal patients and associated their non-assertiveness with cultural differences, lack of education and understanding. Most of them failed to reflect back on their own short-comings in the cross-cultural communication process. Working within a health structure that privileges a Western biomedical model of care and discounts other cultural understandings of illness was not considered a factor in informing communication difficulties [32]. Often providers seemed blind to the way that delivery of cancer care is inherently racialised. Although the term “whiteness” lends itself to being associated with skin colour, Kowal [33] has pointed out that whiteness and privilege can also encompass a racialised social structure.
Overall CSPs held the view that those who understood and could work with the system were likely to have a better outcome and prognosis, referring to some Aboriginal patients as ‘coping well’, ‘articulate’ and ‘easy to deal with’. These responses reflected the implicit and pervasive expectation that Aboriginal people should adapt to the needs of the health system rather than the system becoming more flexible in meeting the needs of Aboriginal patients. Health providers’ projecting problems onto Aboriginal people and not reflecting on the limitations of their own practice highlight the need to interrogate their understanding of ‘culture’; their understanding of the socio-cultural determinants of health and the privilege positioning in health care. Moreton-Robinson [27] points out that white Anglo-Australian cultural and racial dominance is the ‘invisible omnipresent norm’ [27]: xix) in Australia and not questioned; instead it is the benchmark by which differences from that norm are measured, valued and often ignored. In a health context, this means that service providers trained in the dominant Western biomedical model of health adopt a standardised approach to care that is accepted as ‘the’ structure where Indigenous knowledge, beliefs and values are often dismissed or ignored at the level of policy and practice. This often resulted in a failure in organizational support for CSPs with inadequate education and training to understand the lived experience of many Aboriginal Australians from socio-cultural and historical perspectives.
A commitment to reflect on factors informing cross-cultural practice was needed to become aware of the impact of relations of power and authority on the marginalized position of Aboriginal patients and explore ways to improve communication so it promoted Aboriginal health and wellbeing. While the role of the AHWs is integral to providing culturally safe care to Aboriginal patients, improving the knowledge and skills of non-Aboriginal cancer service providers through education and training is equally crucial to ensure sustained improvements to practice shared by all. Historically the ‘cultural awareness’ training is being provided to improve Indigenous-mainstream relations and communication and to bridge the ‘problematic’ gaps between two distinct cultures. However, critical cultural theorists point out most of these trainings have been based on the ‘classic narrow’ view of culture that failed to see the complexity of human experiences within the broader socio-political context and can lead to a false perception of essentialising Aboriginal culture as “a unified entity called ‘Indigenous culture’ that can be described, taught and understood” [34]. As opposed to this narrow view of culture, they urge an appreciation and recognition and appreciation of culture as a relational entity which changes over time. One way forward is for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal CSPs and key community members to work together to ensure that differing cultural values are respected, communication is improved and solutions reached in the spirit of consensus. Change requires CSPs and health services to reflect on their own cultural orientation, and identity, power and authority associated with whiteness reflected in attitudes and practices that can either promote or superior positions in the society, whiteness, identity, attitudes and practices and how these either promote or undermine Aboriginal health and wellbeing.
Respect and consideration for people from different cultures who are not fluent in English is of paramount importance in any health care, but arguably particularly for cancer care which is protracted, distressing and has multiple side effects. A raised voice and/or manifestation of anger may make Aboriginal people coming from rural and remote areas feel terrified, confused and irritated [7]. It is important for CSPs to understand that there needs to be differences in how service providers approach patients about their illness based on how patients perceive their illness. While non-Aboriginal service providers, in most circumstances, preferred short conversations focusing on issues around treatment, follow-up, medications and their disease, Aboriginal service providers used discussion, metaphors, storytelling, and pictures to connect and to build relationship and trust with their patients. This process has been identified as effective in other contexts as well [35].
In general, service providers who reported fewer communication problems with Aboriginal patients made efforts to be understanding, compassionate, accommodating, flexible and considerate. This accorded with the views of Aboriginal patients and families who expected their physicians to be “understanding”, “compassionate”, “concerned” and “empathetic” [12]. CSPs from rural/ remote regions of WA or those who had long-term experiences in dealing with Aboriginal patients were more likely to fall into this category. However, factors underpinning differences in service provider’s perspectives and approaches and how they can be affected during training or subsequently is an area requiring further research.
Underrepresentation of Aboriginal doctors and other health professionals’ further aggravates the issue. Optimal dialogue occurred when staff and clients shared the same linguistic and cultural background; when they didn’t, extra effort was required [7], and support for this was largely missing at the system level. Better communication and service delivery requires a coordinated approach and more Aboriginal staff working in the system and fully embraced by the treating healthcare team [36]. Careful attention is needed so that their roles are well defined and supported, not tokenistic. A recent study on hospitals considered to be successfully addressing the issues of their Aboriginal patients highlighted that commitment at the management level and a change at the organisational and system level is critical to success. An open, supportive and safe environment not only assisted Aboriginal staff and patients to feel comfortable within an organisation, but it also encouraged other ‘staff working to change themselves and their institutions to break down barriers’ [36]. Health services need to facilitate the process of building genuine relationships between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people which is the most important prerequisite for working with Aboriginal people [37].
From the standpoint of Aboriginal participants, the legacy of colonization underpins ongoing communication difficulties because of a lack of control over their lives and lack of trust [12]. Conversely, very few non-Aboriginal participants recognised that ongoing distrust could stem from ‘history and colonization’ after so many years, and would currently inhibit patient-provider communication. This shows the lack of capacity of the service providers to relate health with the factors at the macro level, such as, socio-political context, historical experiences and so on.
Often, problems with communication are attributed to Aboriginal people speaking a native tongue and having poor command of English. This is an issue for some Aboriginal people from more remote areas of the state, but the majority of Aboriginal people in WA speak English. However, it is poorly appreciated that they often use “Aboriginal English” which “differs from many other dialects of English in systematic ways at all levels of language including underlying conceptual systems and is associated with different patterns of interaction” [38], p.10. Access to professional interpreters has been identified as one approach to solving the problems in communication [7, 35]; however, the diversity of Aboriginal language groups in WA creates challenges in having a professional interpreting service for each Aboriginal language. Use of interpreters or cultural brokers for different regions and groups remains largely unexplored. An accompanying family member or the availability of AHWs may be an alternative option although several problems have been identified with these approaches in the literature [7]. Suggested strategies and recommendations (see Suggestions and recommendations based on the study findings) for improving communication included fostering service provider training highlighting the social determinants of Aboriginal health and wellbeing.
Suggestions and recommendations based on the study findings
Addressing contextual barriers
Ensure cultural competency at the clinical, organisational and system level by
recruiting, involving and providing training to Aboriginal staff;
providing cultural safety training to all staff, mindful of not ‘essentialising’ culture but recognising it as fluid, dynamic, and intricately connected to a person’s social context;
improving patient record system so that Aboriginal identification can be improved;
Make the service environment welcoming to Aboriginal people by
–consultation with the local Aboriginal communities on how their needs can be addressed within the service setting;
–displaying images that recognise and are inclusive of Aboriginal people (artwork, photography);
–having Aboriginal staff visibility including in reception areas;
–Using images and art to help explain what cancer is and cancer treatments including Aboriginal-specific resources in the display rack;
Appropriate cancer education for Aboriginal people and evaluation of outcome
Improve continuity of care
–allow adequate time to build rapport and to get to know the person
–maximising continuity of care during treatment and follow-ups
Provide care and follow-up closer to home where possible
Better coordination and integration of care between cancer treatment services, primary and community-based care
Addressing specific communication issues
•Use interpreters or relevant support people to increase understanding of a patient’s concerns and needs during consultation
Show empathy, kindness and understanding for the person and the family affected by cancer
Use clear, plain language to communicate with Aboriginal patients and their families
Repeat explanations around options and listen to a patient’s choices
Make sure that Aboriginal patients and their families have understood what has been prescribed or recommended in regard to cancer treatment, follow-ups and management
Most CSPs participated in this study wanted Aboriginal patients and their families to trust them and to understand that their job is to help patients. However, a reflection of the service providers towards their own perception, positioning and the privileges they experience and a cultural shift and/or must-change within the wider health care system is required to achieve this. It is essential that non-Aboriginal providers understand that there are inherent differences in the way the English language is spoken and heard by many Aboriginal people that contributes to misunderstanding. While the Western model of health care provides service delivery to Aboriginal patients, critically reviewing its limitations is important so that service providers do not perpetuate practices that compromise the quality of care delivered to Aboriginal patients. Equally important is to develop strategies for improvement. CSPs who become aware of how their attitudes and practices may adversely impact on Aboriginal patients, and who reflect on the shortfalls in their service provision can become agents of change for service improvement at a broader systems level. As McDermott suggests ‘Becoming a thinking, culturally safe practitioner is also the prerequisite for emerging as a clinically safe one’ [39].
For services to be culturally secure, time must be spent to ensure that the patients’ needs are met, that family members are included and communicated appropriately, and that care is organised in a way consistent with their circumstances and cultural needs. This requires more than simply deciding on the most effective treatment as shown in clinical trials. When a patient feels confident that the health care worker really cares about them and their family and is striving to understand and respond holistically to their circumstances, the therapeutic relationship can be transformed to one which focuses on healing, not just treatment, and in which the service provider meets the needs of the patient.
aIn this paper, the term Aboriginal has been used to refer to the Indigenous people of WA. We have used Indigenous when we are referring to features that are identified across different Indigenous peoples.
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This research was supported by Suzanne Cavanagh Early Career Research grant from The Cancer Council of WA and Cancer and Palliative Care Research and Evaluation Unit (CaPCREU) Small Grants Scheme. We thank all the participants for their time and sharing their experiences with us. We are thankful to many health service providers that assisted the process, and acknowledge the support we received from Katherine van Schaik, Colette Mckenna and Kathy Deas during the project period. Dr Shaouli Shahid is supported by an NHMRC Early Career Fellowship (ID 1051572). The Combined Universities Centre for Rural Health receives core funding support from the Department of Health and Ageing.
Combined Universities Centre for Rural Health (CUCRH), University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia
Shaouli Shahid
& Sandra C Thompson
Aboriginal Health Education Research Unit, Curtin Health Innovation Research Institute, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia
Angela Durey
& Dawn Bessarab
School of Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Health Sciences, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia
Samar M Aoun
Search for Shaouli Shahid in:
Search for Angela Durey in:
Search for Dawn Bessarab in:
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Correspondence to Shaouli Shahid.
The author(s) declare there are no competing interests, including financial and non-financial.
Authors’ contribution
SS coordinated the project, participated in the project’s design, carried out the data collection and analysis for this project, and prepared the initial draft. AD was involved in the writing. DB, SA and SCT participated in the design, assisted with the conduct of the study, helped interpret findings, commented upon drafts of the manuscript and writing. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Health service provider
Cancer service provider
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User Tracking, App Store Compliance & ASO
June 14, 2019 Gummicube Leave a comment
Earlier this year, Facebook found itself at the center of a firestorm when it released an app that let it monitor everything users sent or did on their phones. The app, called Facebook Research, was designed to gather information on usage habits. Although it did offer users payments in exchange for their data, it was still given to users as young as 13. When Apple removed it, the company also revoked Facebook’s ability to publish apps like it. However, Facebook recently announced that it is recruiting participants to try a similar app on Google Play – this can provide an important lesson about working within the rules and guidelines of the App Store and Google Play Store to maintain a presence.
Facebook Research
After Facebook Research was removed from the App Store, Facebook began looking for a new way to approach marketing research. This involved a few steps:
Upfront notice regarding the collection of information
Monetary incentives for users
Users must opt-in and be 18 or older
Additionally, Facebook is only offering this application on Google Play. Apple recently updated its App Store Review Guidelines, including new restrictions on gathering user data. Apps that compile information must have explicit consent, even if the data is deleted immediately after and not shared. Additionally, apps cannot gather “information about which other apps are installed on a user’s device for the purposes of analytics or advertising/marketing.”
Although Facebook’s new research app does request permission and provide clear information on how the data is being gathered, it is still gathering sensitive information for user research, which is against Apple’s policy.
Compliance & App Stores
Putting the app on Google Play after Apple banned it may be seen as similar to a person asking permission from their mother after their father said no, but in this case, it is still a viable method for reaching an app audience.
There are several apps only available on one store or another, due to differences in guidelines and policies. It’s important to look at the App Store and Play Store policies closely and ensure that you’re compliant with them – often times it is possible to adjust an app to be in compliance with both stores. In some cases, where the explicit purpose of the app is not allowed on one store (such as the case is with Facebook Research) it may be necessary to upload it to one only.
It is also important that apps are open about the data they gather and how it’s used. Facebook has been known to misuse user data or leave it vulnerable, which has caused difficulties for its reputation in the past. In cases like this, apps should be upfront in their descriptions and onboarding about how the app gathers and uses data, in addition to letting users opt in upon installation.
Not all users will want to share their data, so being upfront may prevent some conversions. That is fine – those users would still uninstall the app after learning what it does. They may also leave angry reviews saying they were tricked or lied to. This would be a greater negative for the app and its ASO than losing the potential installation.
While there is still some debate over the ethics of Facebook’s research app, it’s clear that it’s learning from the trouble it had on Apple’s App Store. It’s paying close attention to the App Store and Play Store Guidelines to ensure its app is compliant, providing upfront information, receives permission from users and offers a monetary incentive. If it didn’t, it would be at risk of being removed from the Play Store as well.
Want more information regarding App Store Optimization? Contact Gummicube and we’ll help get your strategy started.
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Identify Two Theorists Of Consciousness Who Write From Either A 1st, 2nd Or 3rd Person Perspective, Summarize Their Positions And Choose Which One You Feel Is Most Convincing.
David Chalmers and Daniel Dennett are both atheists and philosophers (1)(2). However, this is pretty much where the similarities end. David Chalmers is an Australian philosopher and self-proclaimed 'dualist' (3) who firmly believes that "the heart of the science of consciousness is trying to understand the first person perspective" (4). He rejects more materialistic views which he sees as reductionist and argues that when the third person perspective is taken we overlook the important sensations, thoughts and feelings of what it's like to be human. Daniel Dennett on the other hand insists the first person approach can not be trusted (5) and prefers to study consciousness objectively from the third person. He is an American who embraces the materialist approach and rejects dualism (6). This essay will look in more depth at each individual's position as a theorist of consciousness and attempt to understand their contrasting viewpoints.When trying to understand and explain consciousness, philosophers must realise that there is no agreed definition of what 'consciousness' actually is, which naturally creates a problem. There are those for example who would argue that self-awareness is simply an illusion (7) and because this is based entirely on one's own subjective experience it would be difficult to argue or convince them otherwise. As Susan Blackmore puts it, "no wonder philosophers and scientists have struggled for millennia with the concept" (8) The French philosopher René Descartes proposed that the body works like a machine and is constricted to the laws of physics whereas the mind is a separate 'non-material' entity (10), he believed the body and mind to be connected at the pineal gland in the brain, which he referred to as "the seat of the soul" (10). However he does not explain how the pineal gland can interact with the mind. Neither does he explain how qualia (the ineffable traits of how we see the things around us, such as how red a shirt is or how green the grass is) can work.Nikos Logothetis, a Greek biologist experimented with monkeys in the 1980's. He used 'binocular rivalry' by showing a different picture to each eye of the monkey subject and found that the monkeys were unable to press a lever to indicate which picture they were viewing (11). However, after inserting electrodes into different parts of their brains Logothetis found that the activity of the cells in the visual cortex did not change whereas the activity in the central cortex did when the monkey's experiences changed. David Chalmers therefore suggests that consciousness is generated in these areas, and he is supported by the American neuropsychologist Vilayanur S. Ramachandran who suggests that these areas of the brain are "qualia-laden" while others are not (12). Conversely, Daniel Dennett argues that there is no one area of the brain that acts as a 'central headquarters'. Instead, he says, information comes in from the senses and is distributed to different...
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Language And Three Words In Lois Lowry’s The Giver
Language is a tool to communicate with others, convey your ideas and meanings. Precise language is important because it can help you exchange ideas with others more efficiently without any chance of being misunderstood. Sometimes, different words are used to conceal the true meaning of the idea or action, such as passing away implicating death. In Lois Lowry’s “The Giver”, people living in the community are taught to use precise language to prevent any misunderstanding or misconceptions. But some words used in the community are not precise and are used to distort the true purpose of the word, in order to promote rules or ideas that the government does not want the general public to know. Three words in Lois Lowry’s “The Giver” which camouflage the true meaning of the words are release, assignment and stirrings.
On page two of Lois Lowry’s “The Giver”, there is the first mentioning of the word “release” when the announcer says: “Needless to say, he will be released.” Throughout the book, the main character, Jonas, wonders what being released means. We learn that being released is not to be taken to another community but to be killed. This definition is unknown to most people in the community, and many think that being released is harmless and just the process of getting sent to another place. The word “release” obscures the true definition of the word death because they do not want to scare the people living in the community. People in the community are happy and joyful because they don’t know the truth, which is that they will automatically be killed at a certain age. If the general public knew the true action of release, it would cause confusion. This is shown on pages 150 and 151 of “The Giver” when Jonas sees what being released actually is. He describes his feelings as “a ripping sensation inside himself, the feeling of terrible pain clawing its way forward.” If everyone in the community knew what being released was and everyone agreed with Jonas, they would want to leave the community. Therefore masking the true meaning of release does affect people’s behavior because people think that being released when you are old is an amazing thing. If they knew the truth, then they would react differently.
The word assignment means: “Something, such as a task, which is assigned.” (dictionary.com). This means that the people getting the assignment have no choice or say in the process. In Lois Lowry’s “The Giver”, assignment is used in place of the word “job”. This may not seem like a huge difference, but it still affects the meaning. Job is something that you can, for the most part, choose for yourself, but assignment is something that others choose for you. The community in “The Giver” does not allow people to choose their own jobs, but instead the elders...
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The Giver by Lois Lowry Essay
2304 words - 10 pages In Lois Lowry’s, The Giver, Jonas comes to find who he is through struggles he faces with his family, friends, and the Giver. This novel is complex and surprising (Lord). Zaidman states,” In The Giver, Lowry explores new territory. This fantasy's seemingly perfect society (without pain, disorder, or overpopulation) is actually a frightening dystopia (without love, colors, or sense of the past). (Zaidman)” This novel is fighting a struggle of
1280 words - 5 pages Safety and comfort is a choice that most people prefer. However, sometimes familiarity isn’t always the best selection. There are times where having to break through comfort zone is a better choice. Freedom is an element that is essential to life. Personal choice is so significant, a plethora of individuals actually surrender many things to receive it. For example, take a look at Lois Lowry’s Newberry Award winningbook, The Giver. In this
The Giver, by Lois Lowry: Decisions and Personal Empowerment
1163 words - 5 pages Lois Lowry’s The Giver considers something the world takes for granted: personal empowerment. These simple day-to-day decisions create what the world is. Without self-empowerment and right to believe in a personal decision, what is the human race? The world can only imagine, as Lois Lowry does in The Giver. She asks: What if everything in life was decided by others? What if spouses, children, the weather, education, and careers were chosen based
With Happiness Comes Pain in Lois Lowry's The Giver
809 words - 4 pages Imagine living in world where there are no feelings, color, or pain, and everyone is the same besides you. Jonas realized he was living in a world without color, pain, or feelings. Without color, pain, and feeling Jonas wasn’t able to express true happiness, and he therefore left the community. “Lois Lowry’s childhood escapades inspired her books,”(Dellinger). Also Lois loved photography and it resulted in the cover of The Giver, which is a
1976 words - 8 pages Giver is also an easy reading level. It shows how important memories are important. Jonas, the protagonist captures memories and learns a new meaning about life. I would give this book a 9/10 because the use of language is good and the plot is easy to understand. Lois Lowry does a great job of explain the setting and characters. It is interesting to learn about what goes through Jonas’s mind. Overall, this book is a great and the language of the author is fabulous
"The Giver" by Lois Lowery
1590 words - 6 pages This is a research paper about the book The Giver by Lois Lowery. I used sources, the paper includes quotes from many different references and a works cited page. It breaks down the story looking in from a different perspective; as if the world Jonas lives in takes away from the richness of humanlife.A Colorless WorldIn the world today people make their own decisions, clean their own houses, drive their own cars, and live their own lives. Or
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1495 words - 6 pages “The Giver” a novel by Lois Lowry (1993), is an, engaging science fiction tale that provides the reader with examples of thought provoking ethical and moral quandaries. It is a novel geared to the young teenage reader but also kept me riveted. Assigning this novel as a class assignment would provide many opportunities for teachers and students to discuss values and morals. The Plot The main protagonist is a young boy named Jonas, living in a
"The Giver" by Lois Lowry
1501 words - 6 pages so that Gabe won't bereleased.Falling Action:People search for Jonas and Gabe.Resolution:Finally Jonas and Gabe make it elsewhere, and they were safe.The Giver Setting#1: "Now the landscape was changing. It was a subtle change, hard to identify at first.The road was narrower, and bumpy, apparently no longer tended to by road crews. It washarder suddenly, to balance on a bike, as the front wheel wobbled over stones and ruts."#2: "Standing in the
Analysis and Summary of The Giver by Lois Lowry
773 words - 4 pages others. Everything is the same for everyone because there is no memories and no choices. Time period and location: The author don't tell you the time period and location but is presumed to be somewhere on Earth in the future. Genre: Young adults, fantasy, science fiction. Main Characters: 1. Jonas - the 12 year old that will become “the receiver of memory”. 2. The Giver - the wise old man who holds all the memories. Other Characters: 1. Jonas’ parents 2. Jonas’ sister Lily 3. Jonas’ best friend Asher 5. Gabriel -the baby boy being nurtured by Jonas' family THE GIVER AUTHOR: LOIS LOWRY By: Louis E. Chiodo Period 4 Mrs. Kelly
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1761 words - 7 pages “The books that the world call immoral are the books that show the world its own shame,” famous author Oscar Wilde once said. In Lois Lowry’s controversial young adult novel The Giver, twelve-year-old protagonist Jonas lives in a dystopian world in which citizens in the Community have their career, spouse, and children picked for them by the Elders. The Community is dominated by the concept of Sameness where individuality, emotion, and color
Comparing Lois Lowry’s The Giver And Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451
2290 words - 9 pages resistance possible in both novels, but also it is necessary for any kind of social change. Lois Lowry’s novel, The Giver, and Ray Bradbury’s novel, Fahrenheit 451, both have similar societies that are highly disciplined. To keep things in this order, the power structures of both Jonas and Montag’s communities enforce an effective amount of punishment on its citizens. However, resistance is possible within these societies and as a result suggests
Censorship Of Lois Lowry’s The Giver
2170 words - 9 pages Censorship of Lois Lowry’s The Giver Every year Kansas students in grades three through eight vote on their favorite of a list of literary works nominated for the William Allen White Award. This award, founded in 1952 honors "one of the state's most distinguished citizens" and journalists (Bogan). A selection committee comprised of representatives of several Kansas educational organizations such as the Department of Education and
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1759 words - 7 pages . Some novels hope to instill this belief through the use of a dystopian society. One such novel tells the story of a young man named Jonas, who gains wisdom through a man called the Giver, who transmits memories of the past to him in order to bring about some change in their dysfunctional society. In The Giver, Lois Lowry utilizes a dystopian setting to stress the importance of feeling and individuality over apathy and sameness. Lowry’s
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776 words - 4 pages Change: is to pass from one state to another: to pass or make something pass from one stage to another. In a dystopian novel The Giver, by Lois Lowry, a 12/13 year boy experiences change from finding out that his Community is not as perfect as it seems. He has changed from a naive to a wise person, from a kid that never lied to his parents to a man who lied to his parents, and a rule keeper to a rebel. Jonas has changed from a naive person to
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"The Autobiography Of My Mother" By Jamaica Kincaid As An Anticolonial Text
Colonialism and its impacts on the political, economy, and social lives are of great thematic importance for Jamaica Kincaid. Many of her works - fiction as well as non-fiction - deal with the aftermath of colonialism. She uses literature mainly as a means of unveiling deeply hidden truths about the impact of colonialism in Caribbean islands. If in 'A Small Place' she had adopted a rather acidic tone in her criticism of the colonial rule in Antigua, in 'The Autobiography of My Mother', her castigation of the colonisers is disguised through the character of Xuela. In 'The Autobiography of My Mother', Xuela becomes the medium though which Jamaica Kincaid gives an account of the effects of colonisation. In other words, she replies back to Gayatri Spivak's question 'Can the subaltern speak?' She gives voice to the Black female Caribbean. Xuela herself points out that:"I am not a people, I am not a nation...I only wish from time to time to make my action be the action of the nation..."As an anti-colonialist text, 'The Autobiography of My Mother' provides textual space to the silenced and the oppressed Caribbean people of colonial days or of present time. Kincaid is writing history, a history which is not Eurocentric in nature since the Caribbean people are able to voice out their suffering, their poor condition of living and their worries within the text. Their suffering is the outcome of colonisation since the Europeans have taken away all the riches which the Caribbean islands offered. For Kincaid, "history was not a large stage filled with commemoration, bands, cheers, ribbons, medals, the sound of fine glass clinking, (...) in other words, the sounds of victory. (For her) history was not only the past: it was the past and it was also the present". Moreover, taking an anti-colonialist stance, the author shifts those who have "been reduced to shadows; the forever foreign, the margins, (those who have) long ago lost any connection to wholeness" to the centre. True enough, the "conquered" and their descendants shift places from the margins to the centre in the sense that they now relegate the "conqueror(s)" and the Europeans to the margins, being treated as the Other; "they had a quality of something other, something other than ourselves; we were human and they were not human". Also, the fact that Xuela is writing the autobiography of another person, that is, her mother, this may be considered as a form of colonisation. However, Kincaid subverts this by giving voice to the oppressed Caribbean women, including Xuela's mother.MOTHER/DAUGHTER RELATIONSHIPIn her works, Jamaica Kincaid attempts to rewrite the history of the West Indies and in 'The Autobiography of my Mother', she deals mainly with identity problems and the issue of hybridisation within the colonised space. In this novel, Kincaid uses the strong figures of Xuela's mother and father to play the role of the colonisers and she shows how they both try to efface Xuela's identity. Indeed the...
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1375 words - 6 pages Travel Literature Essay - A Small Place In the work “A Small Place” by Jamaica Kincaid, she discusses many things she is not happy with: the ignorant tourist, whom she addresses as the reader, Antigua’s corrupt government, the passiveness of the Antiguan people, and the English who colonized Antigua. This work can be discusses as a polemic because of Kincaid’s simplistic diction, and very confrontational tone throughout the book. From
1430 words - 6 pages A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid presents the hypothetical story of a tourist visiting Antigua, the author’s hometown. Kincaid places the reader in the shoes of the tourist, and tells the tourist what he/she would see through his/her travels on the island. She paints a picturesque scene of the tourist’s view of Antigua, but stains the image with details of issues that most tourists overlook: the bad roads, the origin of the so-called native food
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Final Essay for Introduction to Fiction: Lituary insight of Jamaica Kincaid and her story titled "Girl"
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Artist News Releases
Enter Shikari release remix, announce new book
By Andy Malt | Published on Tuesday 25 September 2018
To mark the first anniversary of the release of their fifth album, ‘The Spark’, Enter Shikari have released a new remix and announced a book of lyrics.
‘The Spark – Lyrics & Exegesis Of Rou Reynolds’ is set to be published by Faber Music in November. It combines all the lyrics of the album’s songs with essays by frontman Rou Reynolds on the inspiration behind them. It follows the same format as previous book ‘Dear Future Historians’, which collected lyrics from and essays on songs from the band’s first four albums.
“I’m THRILLED to be working again with Faber and publishing my second book of lyrics and essays”, says Reynolds. “I’m a strong believer that dissection and analysis of music or art does not – contrary to popular belief – diminish it or reduce its magic. As Beethoven said, ‘don’t only practice your art, but force your way into its secrets; art deserves that’. I hope readers of this piece of explanatory literature will find it exciting and interesting”.
Of the newly released remix of ‘Live Outside’, which was the first single from ‘The Spark’, he adds: “The ‘Live Outside’ remix has been a staple of our Shikari Sound System DJ sets for a while now and always goes down a treat”.
He added that the band were “excited to finally release it into the world on the anniversary of the album’s release. We’re truly touched that ‘The Spark’ affected so many people worldwide, and so viscerally too. It was both a struggle and a joy to make, and still gives me such a rush to play the songs live”.
Watch the video for the remixed track here:
Alongside all this, the band are currently preparing for a lengthy tour of the UK, set to begin in December and run through to February.
READ MORE ABOUT: Enter Shikari
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Too many mouths to feed
The venerable Professor John Beddington has some stern warnings about over-population in the next few decades. In essence, we cannot ignore the human over-population problem any longer. There are simply too many people for the finite resources available and the consumption rates that do not appear to be declining (not surprising given our voracious appetite for economic growth – more like long-term economic suicide, really). Australia is certainly no exception – with most of our country essentially uninhabitable, we’ve already exceeded our carrying capacity (but try telling this to the pollies).
In my opinion, human over-population is THE principal driver of biodiversity loss in the modern context. Without some serious global efforts for population planning, expect a lot more conflict in your lifetime, and a lot worse effects of climate change. See also Global Population Speak Out.
This one from the BBC:
Growing world population will cause a “perfect storm” of food, energy and water shortages by 2030, the UK government chief scientist has warned. By 2030 the demand for resources will create a crisis with dire consequences, Prof John Beddington said. Demand for food and energy will jump 50% by 2030 and for fresh water by 30%, as the population tops 8.3 billion, he told a conference in London.
Climate change will exacerbate matters in unpredictable ways, he added. “It’s a perfect storm,” Prof Beddington told the Sustainable Development UK 09 conference.’Perfect storm’ poses global threat, says Professor Beddington. “There’s not going to be a complete collapse, but things will start getting really worrying if we don’t tackle these problems.”
Prof Beddington said the looming crisis would match the current one in the banking sector. “My main concern is what will happen internationally, there will be food and water shortages,” he said.
“We’re relatively fortunate in the UK; there may not be shortages here, but we can expect prices of food and energy to rise.” The United Nations Environment Programme predicts widespread water shortages across Africa, Europe and Asia by 2025. The amount of fresh water available per head of the population is expected to decline sharply in that time. The issue of food and energy security rose high on the political agenda last year during a spike in oil and commodity prices.
Prof Beddington said the concern now – when prices have dropped once again – was that the issues would slip back down the domestic and international agenda. “We can’t afford to be complacent. Just because the high prices have dropped doesn’t mean we can relax,” he said. Improving agricultural productivity globally was one way to tackle the problem, he added. At present, 30-40% of all crops are lost due to pest and disease before they are harvested. Professor Beddington said: “We have to address that. We need more disease-resistant and pest-resistant plants and better practices, better harvesting procedures. “Genetically-modified food could also be part of the solution. We need plants that are resistant to drought and salinity – a mixture of genetic modification and conventional plant breeding. Better water storage and cleaner energy supplies are also essential, he added.
Prof Beddington is chairing a subgroup of a new Cabinet Office task force set up to tackle food security. But he said the problem could not be tackled in isolation. He wants policy-makers in the European Commission to receive the same high level of scientific advice as the new US president, Barack Obama. One solution would be to create a new post of chief science adviser to the European Commission, he suggested.
« Perceptions on poverty: the rising Middle Class Destroyed or Destroyer? »
Date : Thursday, 19 March 2009
Tags: conservation, human over-population, science
Categories : climate change, decline, environmental policy, fisheries, human overpopulation, planning
zeitgeiber (07:21:32) :
One reason people have kids is that kids take care of you in your old age. Children are a retirement plan, in the developing world.
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Biology Major Sinks Teeth Into Co-op Experience
By Alissa Falcone
Drexel student Victor Fiore shows a fellow
co-op how to use a 3D scanner
Some students are lucky if they can work part time or full time at their co-op once it is finished, but biology major Victor Fiore is planning on spending all three co-ops, as well as the time in between, as a dental intern at Gilbert Dental Care, a bit of a change up for someone who originally wanted to be a pediatric doctor.
“When I was younger, I always read about some form of medicine, whether it was working with children or doing neurosurgery,” the pre-junior said. “I just knew I wanted to be in that kind of environment and the only co-op that was in a medical environment was Gilbert’s Dental Care.”
Fiore applied for his first co-op for the fall-winter 2011 cycle through the Steinbright Career Development Center, or SCDCOnline. Fiore was offered the Gilbert Dental Care position in the A-round and picked it over other offers he received— including one from the Philadelphia Water Department—because it was the only non-research co-op position.
“I didn't want to be a code monkey, if you will,” he said.
Instead, Fiore gets to do “pretty much everything” there is for a co-op to do in the office, including sterilizing, stocking the rooms, filing, fixing technology problem issues and patient care, and more. He even had “homework assignments” to practice drawing teeth to become more familiar with the anatomy of teeth.
“It started the first day at the office. They really threw you right in—you became an intricate member the moment you walked through the door. So for the first day, with no prior training, I was in the office assisting,” he said.
The work has paid off. After completing his first co-op, Fiore continued to work part-time in the months between his second co-op, where he also worked at the office. Currently working part-time at Gilbert Dental Care after his second co-op, Fiore plans on staying through for his third co-op.
"The job is already set in stone,” he said. Fiore’s family transferred over to Gilbert Dental Care, where Fiore receives discounted dental work. He’s also interacted with some of the office’s celebrity clients.
"You never know who you're going to meet or what's going to happen,” he said.
It seems like the uniform black scrubs and white lab coat embroidered with his name and the name of the office were a good investment, as are the comfy shoes Fiore wears while working, he said.
"Since you're running around on your feet all day long, obviously it's important to wear the comfiest shoes you can find,” he said.
Fiore plans on taking the Dental Admissions Test (DAT), which is very much like MCATs for dental schools before applying to a school. According to Fiore, it’s harder to get into dental school than medical school just because there are fewer in the country. Indeed, in Philadelphia, where Fiore grew up and hopes to go to dental school, the only universities that have a dental school are Temple University and the University of Pennsylvania.
But for now, he’s content to stay a Drexel dragon dentist.
Read more from DrexelNow »
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Maria Muratore was born and raised in New York. She attended St. John’s University, received a Bachelor’s degree in Finance and worked in banking in Manhattan before starting a family. Maria has always been an active practicing Catholic. She’s ministered in various capacities through the years. As a young adult, she attended The Amazing Grace prayer group and assisted at Healing Masses, Retreats, Seminars, Conferences and wherever there was a need. She assisted Youth Ministry at St. Gabriel’s Retreat House on Shelter Island, NY to counsel teenagers on retreats.
Maria met and married Peter Muratore on April 7, 1991. Maria and Peter are blessed with two daughters, Nicole and Michelle. In 1995, Maria developed and led a young mother’s “Moms and Tots” group at Notre Dame Parish in New Hyde Park, NY. In the fall of 2000, Maria founded and led “The Queen of Peace” prayer group including smaller spin off prayer groups for children as well.
Maria and her family moved to Cary, NC during the summer of 2009 and joined St. Michael the Archangel parish. Since then, Maria has served as a Catechist for Elementary Faith Formation, the Edge Middle School, as well as, the Teen Youth ministry. Maria has been a board member for Catholic Charismatic Services of the Diocese of Raleigh during the past five years. Maria is also a Core Team leader of the Jesus Is Lord prayer group at St. Andrew’s, as well as, a Core team leader of the Holy Spirit Ministries Prayer group at St. Michael's. Maria enjoys partnering, collaborating and edifying others to reach goals together. She is seeking to unify prayer groups within the Diocese creating fellowship and awareness of the gifts of Holy Spirit through conferences, Regional prayer gatherings, retreats, Life in the Spirit Seminars including Healing Masses and other events. Maria feels honored and blessed about being appointed and serving as the Catholic Charismatic Services Director for the Diocese of Raleigh.
Maria, so very happy to have come across this bio. Outstanding service you are rendering Christ and His Church. It seems like yesterday we were all at the Amazing Grace Prayer Group. What wonders the Lord granted us. How vast has been His dispersion of those who worshipped Him there. God bless you, your family and your ministry
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Mark Koepsell is the executive vice president of business development for CORT where his responsibilities include overseeing the Higher Education market, CORT Destination Services, the CORT Global Network, the Lead and Account Development Group and the Training Department. Joining CORT in 1988 as national accounts manager, Mark has held a series of leadership roles over the last 26 years, including developing CORT's National Accounts, Federal Sales, One Point, Global Network and Higher Education programs.
Prior to CORT, Mark served as the major accounts manager for MBI, a regional computer chain located in Rockville, Maryland. He also served as the director of marketing for Equi-Tech, a manufacturer of equine veterinary products based in Great Falls, Virginia.
Graduating with both a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master of Business Administration-Finance degree from the University of Maryland, Mark has been involved with the university for several years as a senior mentor with the Robert H. Smith School of Business and currently sits on the Corporate Advisory Board of the marketing department. Mark resides in Northern Virginia with his wife and two children. He enjoys golfing, skiing and following the Triple Crown.
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Robin Wright of the U.S. Institute for Peace provides an update on the arrest of dozens of Saudi Arabia’s most influential figures.
November 2017 December 2014 December 2014 June 2014 June 2014 January 2014 January 2014 October 2013 October 2013 October 2011
Texas Shooting; Robin Wright; Taika...
Entertainment, Politics, Food
CBS News coverage of a Texas church shooting; an update on Saudi Arabia; "Thor: Ragnarok"; “Jeremiah Tower: The Last Magnificent” 53:04
Experts discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in light of Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Abdullah's peace proposal. 14:02
Prince Turki bin Faisal Al Saud
A look at Saudi Arabia's relationship with Iran with Saudi Arabian Prince, Turki Al Faisal. 18:29
Karen Elliott House
Author Karen Elliott House on her new book, "On Saudi Arabia," which looks at the politics and future of the country. 14:22
Mike Morell; David Ignatius
World, Politics, Religion
Mike Morell highlights the top national security challenges to face the next U.S. president; David Ignatius on Saudi Arabia. 54:21
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Home News "Are We There Yet?": Interview with Rosie Whitehouse
"Are We There Yet?": Interview with Rosie Whitehouse
In Sarajevo, as the wife of a BBC war correspondent, Rosie Whitehouse and her five children “heard the firing of the shots that started a war”. Heather Ryan asks what else she had to juggle in the raising of a most unusual family.
“Family travel with bullets” is not a synopsis that could be applied to many books. But “Are We There Yet” is no ordinary travel memoir. Author Rosie Whitehouse and her war reporter husband, Tim Judah, brought up their children in Bucharest, Belgrade, Croatia and Bosnia during their most unstable years rather than separate their family. Her book not only describes the struggles of a wife and mother trying to create a stable home environment in the midst of war and social upheaval, but also examines the (positive) effect that a childhood spent following Daddy across Europe has had on her children’s identity and development.
Whitehouse is a journalist herself; indeed, she and Judah met while working on the student newspaper at the London School of Economics. She was News Editor, and he was Arts Editor; he caught her eye when he delivered his article to her office, and she managed to get him to ask her out by setting up an arts magazine, inviting him to contribute, and hoping he would take her on dates with the free tickets to cultural events that he received. Needless to say, it worked. Studying International History at undergraduate level, and then Russian government and politics at Master’s, Whitehouse’s university career was good preparation for her career in the BBC World Service.
It was as an ambitious editor of Newshour that Whitehouse “woke up one morning and felt sick”; she had fallen pregnant with her eldest son, Ben. In 1980s Britain, she tells me, “women were expected to look as poised and elegant as Princess Di, and hold down a full-time job as well – to have it all”. In spreading themselves so thinly, Whitehouse counters, women “ended up with nothing”. Finding it increasingly hard to go out to work and leave her son with a babysitter, she decided to become a full-time mum, a move which precipitated her husband – a freelance reporter – to approach the Times and ask for work. He was dispatched to cover Bucharest, not long after the fall of the Berlin Wall – revolution had swept over Romania and thousands of people were dying in street-fights. Despite the daunting political situation, Whitehouse was “delighted” with her husband’s assignation and there was no question that she and Ben would be accompanying him.
Did Rosie ever wonder whether she was doing the right thing? Of course, but although she concedes “perhaps I’m slightly crazy”, Whitehouse insists that her family’s experiences have enabled her children to “meet history head-on”. She is confident that their unusual upbringing has given her children an appreciation of history, politics and culture that conventional education can’t provide, and this is perhaps borne out by the fact that her firstborn Ben is now studying Modern History and Politics here at Oxford. Whitehouse had a somewhat unconventional childhood herself. Her father was a doctor – a “workaholic” who took his daughter along on his ward rounds on Christmas Day – and his work took him to Iraq under the rule of Saddam Hussein, and Poland in the grip of Communism. Family holidays consisted of accompanying her father on business trips abroad. However, she is adamant that her identity, as a child who travelled often but from a settled base in Britain, differs fundamentally from that of her children, two of whom had never lived in the UK before the family recently re-settled here. She uses the Troubles as an illustration. With an Irish Catholic mother, Whitehouse says that she “grew up with an Irish identity that fed my interest in politics”. In contrast, when she visited Ireland with her children, they “identified with the ethnic strife on the streets of Belfast” but do not self-define as Irish, taking instead “a worldwide approach”.
I am interested in the conflict between motherhood and career to which Whitehouse alludes in her discussion of the book. “When you have a child,” she tells me, “you mutate – your child becomes the focus of your life. You’re torn in two.” As a foreign correspondent, finding a satisfactory work-life balance was particularly difficult. But when she was a full-time mum bringing up her children in the Balkans, she gained a new perspective on the things that people work in order to buy: “We don’t need half the rubbish people buy in the UK. Do you really need designer baby clothes?” However, she’s not advocating that women should forego career in favour of motherhood, and feels that the workplace battles her generation fought have prepared the ground for our generation to have a better work-life balance.
Whitehouse is a vocal critic of newsrooms, which she says “neglect” the families of the foreign correspondents they dispatch to dangerous situations. In 17 years of her husband’s career, only once has somebody from a newspaper – the Times – contacted her to check everything was all right. How could this be remedied? Firstly, she says, a journalist calling with news of her husband should “think before they open their mouth” – because ringing late at night, and leaving terse messages such as “Your husband isn’t dead”, are common occurrences that raise more concerns than they alleviate. She illustrates her assertion that journalists are often thoughtless by describing a recent visit to Warminster in Wiltshire, site of an army barracks. “Reporters were asking the Army wives how they’d feel if their husbands were killed!” Secondly, she suggests an Internet forum could be established for war reporters and their families. “Men need an outlet where they can talk about trauma,” Whitehouse says, “and there could be a closed forum where people could ask advice, and post bits of information and messages of support.”
Whitehouse hopes that, in the absence of such a forum, her book can offer some support to families in a similar position to her own. “No parenting guide I’ve ever seen tells you how to explain to your five-year-old why war has broken out, or what to say when your child asks if Daddy loves Iraqis more than he loves them.” In more ways than one, “Are We There Yet” is a first.
Rosie Whitehouse will be speaking at QI on Tuesday, June 26th, at 7:30. Tickets will be £3 on the door. “Are We There Yet” can be bought from www.reportagepress.com – it costs £8.99 and part of the proceeds go to the Rory Peck Trust, which helps the families of freelance newsgatherers who are killed, seriously wounded or imprisoned.
Rosie Whitehouse has a blog, which contains excerpts from her book: www.travelswithmyfrontlinefamily.blogspot.com
By Heather Ryan
Cherwell 24 is not responsible for content of external links
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2012: An Alternative Look
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Showing 1 - 10 of 212 titles with a criteria of Subject is Asia
After Silence
Examines the treatment of Japanese-Americans during WW II, and its relevance to post 9/11 America.
Against My Will
The stories of three women who took refuge at the Dastak women's shelter in Pakistan, founded to help women fleeing abusive and murderous families.
A look at the long-term effects, on U.S. soldiers, the Vietnamese people, and the environment of Vietnam, of the spraying of Agent Orange on Vietnam during the Vietnam War.
The Amahs of Hong Kong
Filipino women exploited as maids in Hong Kong.
Angry Monk
Gendun Choephel, a legendary figure in Tibet, turned from the monastic life he was born to (as the reincarnation of a Buddhist lama), to become a fierce critic of his country's religious conservatism and isolationism.
The Apology
Former 'Comfort Women' who were forced to serve Japanese troops during World War II tell their harrowing stories.
Icarus Films | 2016 | 104 minutes
Around India with a Movie Camera
Sandhya Suri skillfully weaves together archival footage—including hand colored sequences and a new score—to create a story about life across India from 1899 to 1947.
West Papua, the "Amazon of Asia" is a vast tropical rainforest that has been occupied for 25,000 years. The Dani and the Asmat people have lived in spiritual harmony with the land for millennia. Now they are threatened by Indonesia's policy of assimilation and the destruction of their lands. This title has one or more clips.
At the End of a Gun
The devastating effect that the civil war in Sri Lanka is having on women.
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Category Archives: From the Archives
Q&A with Rebecca Brannon and Joseph S. Moore, editors of The Consequences of Loyalism
April 23, 2019 By Christopher F. Minty in Academia, Book Review, From the Archives, Historiography, Methodology, Publishing, Recent Scholarship, Research, Review / Q&A Tags: Atlantic History, Christopher F. Minty, Diaspora, Editing, Joseph S. Moore, Loyalism, Loyalists, Publishing, Rebecca Brannon, South Carolina Leave a comment
Following on from Emily Yankowitz’s review of The Consequences of Loyalism: Essays in Honor of Robert M. Calhoon (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2019), we continue our Review/Q&A format with an interview with the editors, Rebecca Brannon and Joseph S. Moore. Brannon is associate professor of history at James Madison University and the author of From Revolution to Reunion: The Reintegration of the South Carolina Loyalists (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2016), which was reviewed on The Junto in 2017. Moore is associate professor of history and department chair at Gardner-Webb University. He is the author of Founding Sins: How a Group of Antislavery Radicals Fought to Put Christ into the Constitution (New York: Oxford University Press, 2015). Continue reading →
Guest Post: Caylin Carbonell, Does Size Really Matter? Searching for Early American Women in the Archives
March 12, 2019 By Casey Schmitt in Digital History, From the Archives, Research, women's history Tags: Archives, Massachusetts Historical Society, vastearlyamerica, women's history 5 Comments
Today’s guest post comes from Caylin Carbonell, PhD Candidate at the College of William and Mary. Her research interests include gender, family, and legal history in the colonial British Atlantic. Her dissertation looks at women’s everyday household authority in colonial New England. Prior to her doctoral work, Caylin graduated summa cum laude from Bates College in 2012. Caylin received her Master of Arts degree from the College of William and Mary in 2015. Her master’s thesis, titled “In noe wise cruelly whipped: Indentured Servitude, Household Violence, and the Law in Seventeenth-Century Virginia,” explores how early Virginians narrated their experiences with violence and authority. In a close examination of court records from Virginia’s Eastern Shore, Caylin argued that servant bodies and the sites where servants faced violence served as crucial evidence in determining the legitimacy of violence, as correction or abuse. Follow her on Twitter @caycarbs.
Most historians enter the archive with something they’re hoping to find. For me, that has always been women’s voices. Even as my dissertation project has evolved into a broader study of family, labor, and authority in early New England households, I remain firmly committed to bringing women’s stories front and center. Whenever I enter the archive, I am hopeful, if realistic, about what I might find in my efforts to bring women more squarely into the stories we tell about Vast Early America. Continue reading →
Where Historians Work: Q&A with David Gary of the American Philosophical Society
June 29, 2017 By Katy Lasdow in From the Archives, Interview, Special Features, Where Historians Work Tags: American Philosophical Society, curation, library science, Print Culture, teaching Leave a comment
“During graduate school, you have to be very focused on a topic. But in libraries you’re a generalist in many ways. In all the jobs I’ve had, I’ve had to learn new skills and topics.” ~ Dr. David Gary, the American Philosophical Society
Good morning, Junto readers! As we head into July 4th weekend, what better city to visit than Philadelphia? Today, we discuss the exciting intellectual opportunities that accompany the curation of printed collections, with Dr. David Gary, Curator of Printed Materials at the American Philosophical Society.
Dave’s story highlights the vibrancy and variety of the history profession, as well as the many paths scholars can take, both during and after graduate school, to find themselves in fulfilling occupations. Continue reading →
Where Historians Work: Q&A with Margaret Bendroth of the Congregational Library and Archives
June 23, 2017 By Katy Lasdow in From the Archives, Public History, Special Features, Where Historians Work Tags: Archives, career diversity, congregational archives, libraries, religious history 1 Comment
“I’ve learned so much about how historians talk to the general public … If you tell a good story you can get people to hang in and keep listening.” ~ Dr. Margaret Bendroth, Executive Director of the Congregational Library & Archives.
For today’s “Where Historians Work: The View from Early America,” Katy chats with Dr. Margaret Bendroth, the Executive Director of the Congregational Library & Archives in Boston, Massachusetts. They discuss the importance of story telling and having an “entrepreneurial” frame of mind, when it comes to a vibrant career in history.
Guest Post: French Imposters, Diplomatic Double Speak, and Buried Archival Treasures
April 10, 2017 By Sara Georgini in From the Archives, Guest Posts, Recent Scholarship Tags: Archives, Britain, Diplomacy, diplomatic history, documentary editing, documents, Early Republic, France, James Monroe, military history, Navy, newspapers, Politics, Print Culture, scholarly editing, Scotland, War of 1812 Leave a comment
Today’s guest post is by Cassandra Good, Associate Editor of The Papers of James Monroe at the University of Mary Washington, and author of Founding Friendships: Friendships Between Women and Men in the Early American Republic (New York: Oxford University Press, 2015). Follow her @CassAGood.
The latest volume of The Papers of James Monroe covers a short but important period in Monroe’s life and career: April 1811 to March 1814. Monroe became Secretary of State in April 1811 and was tasked with trying to repair relations with both Great Britain and France. After war with Britain began in June 1812, his focus broadened to military affairs and included a stint as interim Secretary of War. The bulk of the volume, then, is focused on the War of 1812. However, there are a number of other stories revealed here that will be of interest to a range of historians. Continue reading →
Guest Post: Dress and West African Desire
January 27, 2017 By Rachel Herrmann in From the Archives, Guest Posts Tags: African history, Angola, Black Atlantic, Congo, Fashion, French Atlantic, History of Fashion, Louisiana, material culture, New Orleans, West Africa 2 Comments
Jessica Blake is a PhD candidate in U.S. History at the University of California-Davis, where she is completing a dissertation entitled, “A Taste for Africa: Imperial Fantasy and Clothes Commerce in Revolutionary-era New Orleans.” She is currently a dissertation fellow at the Winterthur Museum and Archive.
Linen Market, Dominica, by Agostino Brunias (1780), Yale Center for British Art
In 1808, the New Orleans trader John Joly placed an advertisement in the Moniteur de la Louisiane for a shipment of large Angola shawls (grands shals d’Angola), a rectangular cloth of African construction meant to drape over the shoulders. Joly marketed the cloth for the general consumer, making no indication that he considered it a product intended solely for use by enslaved or free people of color.[1]
Guest Post: Questions About the Illicit Slave Trade, State Auctions, and Urban Infrastructure [Cross-Posted]
January 19, 2017 By Jessica Parr in Commentary, From the Archives, Guest Posts Tags: capitalism, Crossposts, Guest Posts, Petitions, Slavery 4 Comments
Todd Burst is an independent scholar who is researching and blogging about the eighteenth century British-African slave trade and the development of capitalism. He is currently writing about how Fante Africans on the Gold Coast vicariously influenced the role of the British state in commerce through the Company of Merchants Trading to Africa. He also runs the Roads to Modernity blog, where he reviews current writings about the history of slavery and capitalism, and occasionally publishes some of his own works. This guest post is cross-posted from his blog.
In Antebellum America, Southern municipalities generated revenue by confiscating and reselling illicit slaves through public auctions.[1] In 1807, Congress prohibited the international slave trade, a year later, Louisiana followed suite, but this did not stop the trade. An illicit trade from Africa across the Atlantic continued to supply the America South with slaves. Illegal slaves were forfeited to the state. The Sheriff’s department placed these slaves in prison to await resale to the public. These findings raise questions about the role of the state in the slave trade, property laws, municipal revenues, and contributions of the sale of slaves at “property auctions” to modern city infrastructures.
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East Meets West: Who Has Better Leaders?
I recently returned from a trip to Beijing where I was working with senior managers to develop leadership skills in one of the largest companies in the world. This is a truly global firm, with headquarters in China and the U.S., and most of its leaders are native to their respective countries.
As part of the process, I was using a 360-degree feedback instrument to provide insights on the strengths of each leader, which in this context provided something of a cross-cultural view into how employees feel about their leaders’ effectiveness. I was surprised to find that, in the aggregate, leaders in the East outperformed leaders from the West in every category of the assessment — which is to say, the Chinese participants judged their bosses better than their Western counterparts did at focusing on results, communicating, innovating, building relationships, employing technical expertise, and a host of other leadership abilities. That was surprising because when I’ve conducted a similar (though to be fair, not exact,) analysis with our broader database of companies and employees, Western leaders outpaced their Eastern counterparts. What to make of these seemingly contradictory results?
As I rested sore legs from hiking The Great Wall, I gave this a lot of thought. Several people have suggested to me that perhaps the Eastern responders to the 360 survey were not as candid as their Western colleagues or that they were more concerned about the possibility of retribution should they give low ratings. But the scores in most cases were very close — in some measures only a difference of two hundredths of a percent. If either of these possibilities were the case, I’d expect the differences to be far greater. And there was a third party managing the 360 process so the feedback was anonymous and about as protected as one can get.
So perhaps there are other reasons. Joe Folkman, one of the world’s leading psychometricians, suggested to me that maybe superior recruiting in Eastern markets was what made the difference. The company is very popular in Asia — kind of like working for Google in the U.S. So it may be that the company attracts superior talent in the Asian markets. Or the Chinese leaders’ scores might be higher for the same reason that women tend to score higher on 360s than men the world over: Because they frequently feel they need to be seen to be working harder. Being perceived to work hard often contributes to strong leadership scores, since it’s viewed as a sign of commitment.
There are other factors to consider as well — time in a job (the longer people work together the higher they tend to score their leaders, provided leaders don’t get complacent), the success of a unit (successful units tend to view their leaders as successful), and so forth. And of course, this is just one organization.
But, then, an entirely different thought came to me. What if I was asking the wrong question? What if the important thing wasn’t which group scored better but the fact that the scores were so close? Granted that Western leadership skills were at one time considered superior, what if that advantage, perceived or real, no longer exists? From atop the Wall, it looked to me like the similarities mattered far more than the differences. In fact, the list of commonalities was long. Here are just a few:
1. The direct reports of both groups felt that the ability to inspire and motivate was a critical attribute of great leaders in general — and something they all wanted from their own. In all my work, inspiring and motivating is the attribute most strongly associated with the highest leadership scores (and the best company performance). The world over, I would argue, everyone prefers leaders who bring out the best in us and inspire us to be better than we ever thought we could be on our own.
2. The leadership attribute managers in both groups valued most, though, was the drive for results. Isn’t that just like a senior executive — Just get the job done! Leaders always have to produce results no matter where in the world they are, of course — that’s the point of leading. But I’d say that when leaders, East or West, can combine their focus on results with an ability to inspire, they have the magic bullet for managing up and down the organization.
3. Both groups were equally interested in improving their own leadership skills. No complacency here, despite what so many leaders of change initiatives might have you believe. No matter their background, few people show up to work each day intending to do a lousy job. Most want to do good work and to feel good about the work they are doing. When leaders can harness that natural inclination and cultivate it, it becomes passion, which can make all the difference in performance.
4. Nearly everyone who had done some kind of leadership development in the last two years had been focused on remediation of some weakness area. The world over, no matter what culture we grow up in, it seems we are inexorably drawn to fixing our weaknesses when we think of making improvements. While I can easily show you why raising the bar and building on strength is a far more valuable route, nowhere is that intuitively obvious, it would appear.
5. When it came to developing a strength, the initial reaction from both groups was to do more of the same. That works to a point but, as I have previously discussed, there is great power in developing different but complementary skills that can magnify our strengths. And yet, despite Eastern Yin Yang traditions, using complementary skills to make a strength more effective was no more obvious to the Chinese participants than it was to their Western colleagues.
I’m not saying that cultural differences don’t exist or don’t matter (I really did not enjoy the jelly fish or Yak tendons that I ate, for instance). The client kept focusing on them, as well. But in the end perhaps this matters more: We are more similar, even as leaders, than we had ever thought.
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Helping To Promote Good Health In Africa
African women waiting for care.
The United States recently announced the latest in a series of initiatives to improve the education of nurses and midwives.
In many countries in Africa, a shortage of qualified medical professionals has been a barrier to broad and equitable access to quality health care. Expanding public health services is vital to addressing the widespread incidence of HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases on the continent and reducing maternal and child mortality.
To help meet the health care needs of today's African communities and families, the United States recently announced the latest in a series of initiatives to improve the education of nurses and midwives. A health workers training program in Malawi will receive $4.32 million to support the training of 550 nurses and other health professionals. The effort also includes technical assistance to the Southern African nation's nursing colleges to upgrade teaching programs and address key gaps in faculty.
The U.S. nursing education partnership with Malawi complements the nation's ongoing program to train new health workers. There are now 1.44 health workers per 1,000 people in Malawi, up from 0.87 per 1,000 in 2004 – a 66 percent increase over that period.
The new grant for nursing education in Malawi follows similar efforts in Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia and Lesotho. Over the next four years the U.S. will commit $33 million for those five countries, with the aim of strengthening the quality and capacity of nursing and midwifery education institutions. This in turn will increase the numbers of badly needed skilled nurses and midwives, and will be accompanied by the development of strategies to retain those workers.
Supporting such human resources for health is part of our nation's commitment under President Barack Obama's Global Health Initiative to ensure that the U.S. investment in Africa's health sector brings comprehensive benefits to the lives of people there.
On Neglected Tropical Diseases
Presidential Transition In Malawi
Tackling Maternal Mortality
Sebelius On U.S. Global Health Strategy
U.S. Committed To East African Relief
The U.S. Is Committed To South Sudan
International Disability Rights
World AIDS Day 2011
USAID's 50th Anniversary
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Thursday 9 March 2017
Rewards for Fugtives: Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi
Under its Rewards for Justice Program, the U.S. State Department has announced it is increasing to $25 million its reward offer for information leading to the location, arrest, or conviction of ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Gulmurod Khalimov
Under its Rewards for Justice Program, the U.S. State Department is offering up to three million dollars for information leading to the location, arrest and or conviction of a key ISIL operative –- Gulmurod Khalimov.
Abdelkarim al-Nasser
Abdelkarim Hussein Mohamed al-Nasser
Jamal al-Badawi
Jamal Mohammad al-Badawi is a fugitive who is wanted in connection with the October 2000 attack on the USS Cole, a U.S. naval vessel moored at the time in the harbor of Aden, Republic of Yemen.
Millions of dollars in rewards are being offered for information on seven top leaders of the al Qaeda-linked, Somalia-based al-Shabaab.
Sirajuddin Haqqani
Sirajuddin Haqqani is a fugitive who is wanted in connection with the January 2008 attack on the Serena Hotel in Kabul, Afghanistan, that killed six people.
Al-Shabaab Leaders
Millions of dollars in rewards are offered for information on Yasin Kilwe, Abdikadir Mohamed Abdikadir -- also known as Ikrima -- and Jafar, also known as Amar.
Emrah Erdogan Designated Global Terrorist
By designating Emrah Erdogan a Specially Designated Global Terrorist under Executive Order 13224, the United States effectively freezes his property and bank accounts, thus preventing his assets from falling into the hands of like-minded individuals.
African Terrorists
In its continuing effort to assist other nations in confronting terrorism and to protect American citizens and interests, the United States is offering significant rewards to locate four terrorists operating in western and northern Africa.
Benghazi Attacks
The Rewards for Justice Program is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the arrest or conviction of any individual responsible for the September 11, 2012 Benghazi attacks.
Revolutionary People’s Liberation Front
In its continuing effort to assist other nations in confronting terrorism and protecting American citizens and interests, the United States is offering rewards to find three key leaders of a terrorist organization that attacked the U.S. Embassy in Ankara last year.
Oumar Ould Hamaha
Oumar Ould Hamaha is a spokesman for the MUJWA. Previously a member of al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb.
An International Public Service Announcement by the U.S. Government
To report any information on a fugitive contact the Regional Security Office at the nearest U.S. Embassy. You can also contact the tip line at www.rewardsforjustice.net or e-mail information to info@rewardsforjustice.net You can also call the RFJ tip line at 1-800-877-3927.
More Fugitives
Rewards for Fugitives: Information on Hezbollah's Financial Networks
PSA Hamza Bin Laden
View From Washington: Religious Freedom, the First Freedom
Rewards for Fugitives: Al Aruri, Harb, and Ali Tabataba'i
Information on 2008 Mumbai Attack
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September 24, 2012 by hb Leave a Comment
Remington’s got the story right. See below.
Mortal enemies, right? The basis for zillions of all-American children’s games. And, more or less, utter nonsense. It’s amazing how thoroughly we buy into the distortions that media provides each and every day.
Nobody knows how many Native Americans lived in North America before the enemy showed up and killed most of them. In what become the United States, there were probably between 5 and 10 million native people. The vast majority of these natives were killed by European settlers, not “out West” (by which we mean, mostly, the Great Plains), for those deaths came in the 1800s, toward the end of the story. Far more were killed first by the European diseases carried by explorers and traders, and then, by a century of U.S. military actions. By 1871, the U.S. government no longer bothered with Indian treaties–they had already won the war and decimated the native population. Our images of cowboys on the open plains are circa 1880, and by that time, the “Indian problem” was mostly resolved by Manifest Destiny. (Prior to the final third of the 19th century, there wasn’t much of a cattle industry, so there weren’t many cowboys).
Remington had the story right: his painting, above, A Dash for the Timber, U.S. militia–not cowboys–shoot at the Apaches (see in the rear).
Sure, cowboys battled Indians (or, if you prefer, Injuns), but much of the action occurred courtesy of wildly imaginative Wild West Shows operated by the likes of Wild Bill Cody Hickok and Buffalo Bill Cody. As pure show business, these spectacles were extremely popular, and provided a nascent motion picture industry with the necessary creative impetus to produce “Westerns,” most often featuring some version of cowboys and Indians (not so much, “smallpox and Indians,” or “U.S. Army troops and Indians”–cowboys made more sense as entertainment). And with all of that, we’ve bought into this elaborate mythology: our native people were primitive, violent (when provoked with loss of land, family, and health, but that part is forgotten), a class of warriors who deserved no better than their present fate.
It’s a bit of a reach, but not too much of a reach, to wonder about a retelling of the Civil Rights movement through the magic of CGI, or a reconstructed version of Weapons of Mass Destruction emerging from a Jeb Bush White House in 2016 or so. The alternative truth is easily constructed, sold on the big screen and through immersive videogames, and if the stage management is effective, and the bits are in the right places, most people can be made to believe what they know not to be true.
We’re better than this. I sure wish we are smarter today than we were as kids playing cowboys n’ injuns. It’s not about getting the historical facts right–not a bad start, but not the point, either–it’s about teaching our children (and our adults) what really happened, why it happened, and why we might rethink the subject matter that becomes the basis for our entertainment or our children’s games.
Just in case you missed it, here’s a tale about The Battle of Little Big Puck, for thirty years an annual hockey game between Cree Indians and the local cowboy population. The referee is a local Mountie. Here’s the backstory:
“The roots go back to a hot summer day in July where a couple of cowboys and a couple of members of the Nekaneet band met in the old Commercial Hotel over a cold beer,” he said. “And as good friends do, they got to bickering good naturedly as to who could ride the rankest horses, and rope the quickest, and pretty soon it came down to, ‘We can darn sure beat you guys at hockey.’”
BTW: If you can figure out how to write the last sentence of this blog, please post your closing sentence as a comment below. I’m completely at a loss for the best way to close this one out.
Filed Under: Learning, Trends Tagged With: children's game, cowboy, games, Indian, reason, U.S., United States, wisdom
Infographic: US Education Spending vs. Results
Doing some research, I came upon this colorful infographic that compares educational investment and results in a dozen different countries. No big surprises, but it’s easy to follow. It’s clear that Mexico spends a very small amount per student and achieves only modest results, and it makes sense to see France in the middle of per-capita spending and also in the middle of the results. Clearly, the US and the UK are out of whack–spending is high, but their results are middling. Why the mismatch? And why is the US’s purple circle so much larger than any other circle? Population accounts for only part of the reason why.
Via: MAT@USC | Master’s of Arts in Teaching
Filed Under: International, Learning, Trends Tagged With: community, education, funding, global, learn, per student spending, United States, Urban, US education spending, US spending on education
I Want to Watch TV on My iPad (The Plot Thickens)
July 18, 2012 by hb 1 Comment
Last week, a U.S. district judge provided Aereo with a go-ahead on TV that we’ll be able to watch on our mobile devices, but that oversimplifies an interesting story. Here’s the original article, plus an update that, I am certain, will be rewritten once again as the legal dust-up continues. Some of the issues are significant, and will resonate beyond this particular venture. Worth reading.
Here’s the original story published on March 6, 2012:
You’re looking at an array of television antennas. These antennas are used to capture local broadcast signals that you can watch, if you pay a monthly subscription fee, on your computer, tablet, or phone. Aereo (formerly Bamboom) is the company behind the scheme, and, as you might expect, they’ll be spending a lot of time in the legal system as they argue with broadcasters regarding the rights and wrongs of live retransmission (that is, if Aereo is to survive, the broadcast networks want to see monthly cash–just like they receive from the cable operators).
Ah, the free airwaves, the ones that broadcasters use for the public good. Ah, the intellectual property that broadcasters carry over those airwaves, the IP that cable service providers pay to carry. Ah, the unresolved legal gotcha!! Any company that attempts to make those signals available via a secondary distribution scheme must pay for the right, or so say the broadcast networks.
The price for the service? $12 per month. The debut date? March 12. The place: for now, the New York metropolitan area.
For cord cutters, this may be a terrific deal. But it’s unclear whether the courts will block Aereo’s progress, as they have with ivi.tv and others who attempted to climb the walls of the castle without paying the required tribute (or, as I’m adding in my updated version of this article… others who attempted to challenge the current system of copyright and payments for distribution rights to intellectual property).
Slingbox? That’s okay. Over-the-air mobile TV? That’s not ready yet, except in a few markets on a test basis. Watch over-the-air TV? Sure. Watch via cable or satellite? As long as you’re paying for the privilege. Watch on another device? Nope, not yet. Or, maybe the answer is yes. We’ll find out in a few weeks.
Here’s the update that I wrote on March 12, 2012:
From Bloomberg: Predicting a “great fight” with traditional media companies, billionaire Barry Diller said he plans to expand his new Aereo Web-based television service to 75 to 100 cities within a year, reports Bloomberg.
Diller, speaking at the South by Southwest Interactive festival in Austin, Texas, noted that efforts by Walt Disney Co. and other media companies to cite copyright violations were “absolutely predictable,” since entrenched companies always protect their turf, the story says.
Want to know more? Here’s a bunch of links:
The tech explanation:
http://www.techspot.com/news/47467-aereo-offers-tv-over-internet-with-antennas-engineered-to-comply-with-law.html
The consumer angle:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/dorothypomerantz/2012/02/29/how-much-are-you-willing-to-pay-to-cut-the-cord/
The business story:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204059804577229451364593094.html?mod=wsj_share_tweet#printMode
The investment story:
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2012/02/14/iac-l20-million-aereo-barry-diller-vc.html?s=print
Here’s the update as of July 17, 2012
Again from Bloomberg (July 13, 2012): “A U.S. district judge this week allowed Aereo to continue operating while television networks pursue a copyright lawsuit against the company. Aereo captures broadcast signals with small antennas and streams them to devices such as Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s iPad, without paying for the programming.” As a result of the ruling, Diller is now planning a nationwide rollout.
As I pondered what all of this might mean, I read an essay on TV NewsCheck’s website, written by television executive Lee Spieckerman. I contacted him, and we spoke for a while about the ruling and its implications. In short, he believes that Judge Nathan bungled the decision:
“We see loopy rulings from Federal judges all the time, and I think this fits into that category… She misread the governing law!”
Spieckerman’s argument is based in part upon law and in part upon common industry practice. His legal argument tracks back to a 1993 law which requires operators of paid television systems to secure the necessary rights from local broadcasters. The concept is called “retransmission consent” and that ruling has proven to be something of a windfall for local broadcasters as a result of the fees paid by cable operators in exchange for this consent. According to Spieckerman, these fees are now worth about $2 billion to the commercial broadcast network, plus an additional several billion dollars to local stations. This, plus the additional revenues from political advertising resulting from the Citizens United decision, provide the advertising base necessary for local television news to survive. (Seems to me, we should all understand the economics and consequences of this new approach to journalism funding–a worthwhile topic for a future article). Back to his other argument: “there is no tradition in this country for renting antennas–nobody rents antennas!”
Digging deeper with Mr. Spieckerman, and the real argument emerges. This is all about copyright infringement, and protection of distribution rights associated with intellectual property. Judge Nathan’s ruling begins to disrupt a system by which cable operators compensate owners of cable networks and local stations. ESPN receives $4.69 per cable subscriber–do the math and that’s about $50 per year per subscriber multiplied by 100 million subscribers, and that’s $5 billion per year in subscription fees. Spieckerman believes local broadcast station fees to be 20-50 cents, but acknowledges that these deals are confidential. (Consider that Comcast, Time Warner, and other cable operators charge consumers charge those 100 million subscribers over $1,000 per year–1o0 million x $100 = $100,0o0,000,000, or $100 billion, also good raw material for another Digital Insider article.)
Of course, the local station operators are anxious to negotiate with Diller’s Aereo. And Diller is anxious to go with the Judge’s ruling because it requires no fees. For now, according to Bloomberg,
We’re going to really start marketing… Within a year and a half, certainly by ’13, we’ll be in most major markets.”
To which Mr. Spieckerman counters:
Who is going to be next? This is a pandora’s box, and when you start circumventing and tearing down the few elements there are in the industry and inviting the destruction of an important industry. If I have any intellectual property that I want to distribute, I do not want anybody able to steal my material.”
Filed Under: Mobile, TV & New Media Tagged With: Aereo, antenna, Bamboom, Barry Diller, ESPN $4.69, free airwaves, Judge Nathan, Lee Spieckerman, Public Policy, TV News Check, United States
Brooke’s Illustrated Guide to Media Theory
On the Media host Brooke Gladstone, in cartoon form, illustrated by Josh Neufeld for The Influencing Machine, “a media manifesto.”
Brooke Gladstone is a brave woman. In the interest of explaining why media matters, she loses her head, plays the fool, embeds an Intel chip in her skull, becomes the robotic vitruvian woman, takes on the whole American political system (from its start in the 1700s), allows herself to be drawn in a hundred goofy ways by cartoonist Josh Neufeld, and…while on the high-wire, without a net…attempts to tell the truth about media and its influence on the ways that we think, believe, and act. In the early stages of this graphic non-novel’s development, it was “a media manifesto in comic book form.” Close enough. (If you’re interested, here’s how they did it.)
The Influencing Machine is now a paperback comic, the equivalent of a graphic novel, I guess, but it’s not easy reading. It’s a well-researched, deeply thoughtful examination of why media behaves as it does, how media interacts with law and government, and the interaction of history and philosophy. Pictures and the graphic novel style keep things light, and concise, but this is not a book to be read once, and it’s not a book to be read quickly. The starting point is news and public information, which may seem appropriate, but for most people, most media consumption is not news or information, it’s entertainment. And in that domain–which should include children’s programming, scripted comedy, scripted drama, and the variety shows that keep the masses satisfied (and have for centuries)–media’s influence is powerful, but rarely mentioned here.
She begins with a Victorian era story about machines that control people’s minds–or the fears that such a thing might someday exist.
Then, she explores the ideal of a perfect balance between effective governance and free flow of truthful information…only to find that such a balance is always outweighed by the government’s need for control.
Quoting German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860):
Journalists are like dogs–whenever anything moves, they begin to bark.”
Most profound–and most evident in today’s journalism–is “The Great Refusal.” Simply stated, by Gladstone, “Few reporters proclaim their own convictions. Fewer still act on them to serve what they believe to be the greater good.” With pressure from government to suppress potentially important information (for example, think: embedded journalists and the trade-offs they must make), and lacking the necessary resources to provide information based upon research and time to consider the story so that it can be presented in context, most journalists simply parrot press releases or official statements. Along the way, they must steer clear of various biases, and play within what most people perceived as reasonable boundaries. This behavior gets everybody into trouble because the whole point of journalism should be uncovering stories that ask the difficult questions…but the system is not set up to encourage, fund, or accept that kind of journalism. Instead, posits Gladstone, we live within a comfortable doughnut. What’s more, any journalist who strays finds himself or herself either (a) famous, at least for a while, or (b) difficult to employ. The risk of the latter is very real, and so, the status quo rules.
And so it goes, as Gladstone attempts (and is drawn to be) a bird of a feather, flocking together in homophily while watching global warming destroy habitat–she calls the phenomenon of groupthink “incestuous amplification” and illustrates it with references to global warming and weapons of mass destruction. She considers reasons to be okay and reasons to panic. She wonders about dumbing down and frets about the half of Americans who never read literature. She briefly touches on intellectual property laws, and G.K. Chesterton’s statement about journalism:
Journalism largely consists of saying ‘Lord Jones is dead’ to people who never knew Lord Jones was alive.”
And she wraps up with notions of globalism, and the ways that news is now a 24/7 global enterprise whose stories may affect us all.
There are few answers here, and the questions, well, they’re often difficult to shape and impossible to answer. At least she’s asking the questions, and placing herself in the middle of a digital storm. Thank you, Brooke, for steering clear of the obvious text presentation (mea culpa here, I’ll admit, as I write another few hundred words of text). The visual presentation, and the illustrations by Josh Neufeld, bring important ideas to life. And if there’s any interest in continuing the adventure to explore the many unexamined territories in the media landscape, count me among your first readers.
We need to talk about all of this stuff because the forces that demand silence are both powerful and ubiquitous. Even if it’s complex, even though it’s difficult to form into digestible bites, even if most people wonder why we’re obsessed with the way that media works, ought to work, and, sometimes, doesn’t work at all.
Below, some sample pages:
Filed Under: Books & Print, Learning, TV & New Media Tagged With: comic, education, free speech, globalism, graphic novel, journalism, media, Schopenauer, The Great Refusal, United States
Big Empty Boxes
Just in case you missed it, Slate published an interesting article about a new Amazon strategy that could turn the remaining big box stores into empty boxes. After a decade of placing warehouses in far-off places, Amazon is investing more than $1 billion in warehouses near large population centers, near New York City, Philadelphia, Washington DC, with up to ten warehouses in California, and more. With warehouses so close to large numbers of customers, Amazon will likely offer next day delivery for very low prices, and, perhaps most intriguing, delivery within just a few hours of online purchase. That’s the part that makes me wonder about the future of visiting, say, Staples or Best Buy, or, for that matter, my local supermarket. The term “complete domination of the retail industry” comes to mind.
Sure, it’s the natural evolution of business. The local hardware store is eliminated by Home Depot, and a few decades later, Home Depot is eliminated by an online service that requires no retail presence at all. Yes, it’s dismaying to see empty retail stores. And yes, it’s pretty cool to see the iPad that you ordered at 11AM in your mailbox at 4PM the same day. It’s consolidation. It’s progress. And along the way, we eliminate some local jobs, become cozier with a 24/7 consuming lifestyle, and lose just a bit of social interaction. I don’t know if any of this is good or bad or something else entirely, but I’m pretty sure we all ought to be discussing these ideas and what they mean. There’s something distinctly creepy about just having things happen to us, to lose little bits of our towns and our stores to a high-efficiency corporation reliant upon new forms of robots to do the pick-and-pack. In time, I suspect deliveries will be made not by men and women wearing UPS uniforms, but logistical robots who drive better, don’t get lost, and know what time you’re scheduled to be home so the delivery can be made “in person.”
Filed Under: Trends Tagged With: Amazon, Amazon warehouse, big box, local hardware store, small town, United States
21st Century Debate
Although the series has been on the air for over five years, I discovered Intelligence ² within the past twelve months. Last night, I watched Malcolm Gladwell argue that college football was a bad idea because it involved the bashing of heads, and that, surely, there was some other game these people could play that would not, you know, involve bashing the heads of students (or anybody else, for that matter). On his team: Buzz Bissinger (he created Friday Night Lights, a popular TV series about football). Bissinger (see in the screen shot below) was strident, fierce and passionate in his well-researched beliefs: (a) colleges and universities should not be in the business of entertaining the masses, and (b) they should not be in the business of providing a farm system for professional football. On the other side, predictably, were two articulate football players who have moved on to bright careers (presumably, they, too have been beaten on the head several thousand times, but seemed to be okay with the way things turned out). Both were associated with FOX Sports: Tim Green and Jason Whitlock. In the advanced game of debate, their arguments proved to be less convincing.
Football is not high of my list of things I care about, but the debate was compelling (and, having now watched several episodes, it’s fair to say that some are very passionate and others are not as much fun to watch). The series is called Intelligence Squared. There are two teams and three rounds. First round: each team member presents his case, his ideas in detail. Second round, they mix it up by arguing with one another. Third round: closing arguments. What’s the point? At the start of each show, the audience at NYU’s Skirball Center votes on a straightforward question: “Should college football be banned?” (yes, the question is black-white and there are grey areas, discussed during debate, but not a part of the ultimate vote on the simple question). Panelists answer questions from members of the audience. End of show: now that they have been presented with convincing arguments, the audience votes again. One team wins (Gladwell-Bissinger), the audience applauds, and we’re done for the evening.
The influence of Stanford Professor James Fishkin is evident here. Deliberative Polling also involves a baseline vote, then immersion in fact-based information seasoned by strong opinion, with a re-vote after the information has been received and processed.
A look at the website suggests that this is modern media done properly. Of course, you can watch or listen to the whole debate (or an edited version, audio+video or audio only). You can listen on about 220 NPR radio stations, or watch on some public TV stations. Or, you can watch on fora.tv. For each episode, the site features a comprehensive biography on each of the four debaters, a complete transcript, and a rundown on the key points made by each debater, along with extensive links to relevant research. In short, you can watch an episode, then read a lot more from the debaters and from the thought leaders who influenced the debaters’ opinions. It’s presented in a clean, easily accessible (non-academic) way. You can easily dive right in, learn a lot in a short time (if you wish), or spend a few hours to deeply consider what was said, why it was said, and why the voting audience did or did not change its collective mind.
The topics are provocative (and always simplified so they can be stated as a yes/no question for voting). Some examples:
NO FRACKING WAY: THE NATURAL GAS BOOM IS DOING MORE HARM THAN GOOD
CHINA DOES CAPITALISM BETTER THAN AMERICA
OBESITY IS THE GOVERNMENT’S BUSINESS
THE U.N. SHOULD ADMIT PALESTINE AS A FULL-MEMBER STATE
BTW: If you like this sort of thing, you should spend some time at fora.tv, which features an abundance of intelligent, well-informed, well-researched lectures and discussions. Much of the material is free (advertiser and foundation supported). Fora.tv goes in directions that TED does not. And isn’t it interesting that there are now hundreds of these smart media outlets now available on the internet? In their way, they are taking the place of the 20st century dream of public television…with a broad range of ideas presented from every part of the world, abundant links to related ideas and research. Much of it is free, much of it is provocative, and very little of it is actually seen on television.
Filed Under: Learning, TV & New Media Tagged With: ban college football, Buzz Bissinger, community, debate, deliberative polling, Intelligence Squared, Intelligence2, Malcolm Gladwell, Professor James Fishkin, Public Policy, Skirball Center, thinking, United States
Music and Activism… A Master Class
May 28, 2012 by hb Leave a Comment
In August, 1964, $70,000 was a lot of money (it would be worth over a half-million today). Harry Belafonte filled a doctor’s bag with small bills, talked his buddy Sidney Poitier into traveling with him, and they boarded a plane from New York City bound for Jackson, Mississippi, then hopped a small Cessna for Greenwood, then drove in convoy to the Elks Lodge where they delivered the secret cash. The money was needed to keep the volunteers on site in Mississippi to encourage the Black population to register and vote. The Klan and the local police wanted the volunteers to go home. Harry and his show business friends saved the day. Turns out, this was not an altogether unusual day for Mr. Belafonte.
When I started reading Harry Belafonte’s autobiography, My Song, I didn’t know much about him. His song makes for quite a story.
No surprise that the started out poor, and became quite rich. What he did with the money, and the power of celebrity, is remarkable.
And how things happened, even more so.
The first few chapters set the scene: an angry young man who discovers the magic of theater, then tries to become an actor in New York City. He talks his way into the Dramatic Workshop at The New School for Social Research, where his classmates include Walter Matthau, Bea Arthur, Rod Steiger, Marlon Brando, Bernie Schwartz (later known as Tony Curtis), and Brando’s motorcycling buddy, Wally Cox. His early acting adventures aren’t going so well, so Belafonte is crying in his beer at the Royal Roost, a Harlem jazz club. Saxophone player Lester Young asks, “How’s your feelings?” and Harry tells him, “My feelings aren’t so good!” and Lester says “Why don’t you ask (club owner) Monte (Kay) to give you a gig?” Kay says “yes,” and Lester gives his young friend a send-off by backing Belafonte’s little intermission gig with his buddies, including Charlie Parker and Max Roach. Belafonte becomes a pop singer, and later, a folk singer specializing in music from his native Caribbean Islands, and story songs. And the list of “firsts” begins–the first Black to play the Coconut Grove in L.A., selling a spectacular number of records (competing with Elvis for the number one records in 1956, etc.), appearing on Broadway and in the movies (he had a deep crush on Dorothy Dandridge, being the first Black performer to host NBC’s Tonight Show (which he did for a full week in 1968 with guests including Bobby Kennedy, Paul Newman, Bill Cosby, the troublesome Smothers Brothers, and Martin Luther King, Jr.), and as with any celebrity bio, the list of famous names is vast), and tremendous success in Las Vegas, first at the Rivera, then at the then-new Caesar’s Palace, and with that success, friendships with the mob.
And, then, in his words, “One day in the spring of 1956, I picked up the phone to hear a courtly southern voice. ‘You don’t know me, Mr. Belafonte, but my name is Martin Luther King, Jr.” So began a fast friendship and a very deep lifelong involvement in civil rights and social justice. With Paul Robeson as a role model, and Eleanor Roosevelt as an early friend in social reform, Belafonte agreed to perform at Carnegie Hall to raise money for the Wiltwyck School, where “mostly black children who had committed serious crimes but were too young to be incarcerated” were taught. With the Kennedy White House, his reach grew, providing guidance and often serving as a conduit between John, and more often, Robert Kennedy and the movement. He marched. He served in Martin Luther King’s kitchen cabinet, which often met at Belafonte’s Upper West Side apartment in Manhattan (Martin stayed there, too, and had his own bottle of Bristol Cream liquor for relaxing evening chats). He was King’s confidant, a close friend, and a principal fund-raiser for the entire Civil Rights movement. He was deeply involved in the SLCC and SNCC. He worked on the strategy side, and the movement benefitted from Belafonte’s gigantic rolodex and his ability to raise funds or contact celebrities for favors, often granted. He became deeply involved in improving life in Africa, first helping to build a (never built) performing arts center in Guinea, and later serving as a UN and UNICEF ambassador (replacing Danny Kaye), also with an African focus.
He introduced performers to American audiences, and helped Mariam Makeba (already a South African star) to build a powerful career. Much later, as a result of his encouragement, Fidel Castro established a facility for Cuban rap artists. But before that, it was Harry Belafonte who came up with the idea for “We are the World,” getting Michael Jackson and Lionel Ritchie and Quincy Jones involved, then fading into the background until the hard work of distributing funds to Africa was to be done, and he supervised. He helped to free Nelson Mandela, and then served as Mandela’s personal guide for his first visit to the USA, where he answered so many questions about the U.S. Civil Rights movement.
With the help of co-author Michael Shnayerson, Belafonte is a very good storyteller with a very good memory. At 84, he’s candid about his show business successes and failures, attempts to tell his version of the truth about civil rights and entertaining personalities, family matters, and his half century of therapy and shaky love and family relationships (TMI). The showbiz story is fun, but the book shines as Belafonte provides context and backstory about the day to day struggles of the American civil rights story. For that, this becomes an essential accompaniment to the Taylor Branch trilogy about Martin Luther King, Jr., and the equally remarkable (but lesser known) The Race Beat by newspaper reporters Hank Klibanoff and Gene Roberts.
Filed Under: Books & Print, International, Learning, Music, Trends Tagged With: Civil Rights, creative, creative professional, education, folk music, jazz, Lester Young, Martin Luther King Jr., protest, Public Policy, singer, social action, United States
On Our Side
March 12, 2012 by hb Leave a Comment
Ani DiFranco marching in DC for Women’s Lives in 2004. Her new album is entitled Which Side Are You On?
I love Ani DiFranco’s commanding version of Pete Seeger’s classic, “¿Which Side Are You On?” Her vocal is strident and scolding, hopeful and demanding. With each verse, she raises important questions, and insists that we, at least, think about the answers. The backup voices, percussion and increasing distortion suggests a dark revolutionary march; she’s in front of the angry crowd, instructing, inciting, leading the charge. She’s terrific.
She’s provocative when she sings about “Promiscuity,” offering a cool lyrical analysis with “promiscuity is nothing more than traveling, there’s more than one way to see the world.” She’s fully exposed on “Life Boat,” a song about a failed mom’s sadness and self-image featuring “red scabby hands” and “purple scabby feet.” She’s political and forceful when she proposes an “Amendment” to provide civil rights to women, a good song that promotes the “right to civil union with equal rights and equal protection, intolerance finally ruined.”
This is Ani DiFranco’s ambitious, righteous, significant side. She is a songwriter and a performer who thinks, and isn’t at all afraid to tell us what she thinks and why.
Then, there’s the other side, the side that confuses me, the writer who takes the easy way out, as on “Zoo,” where we’re treated to “I can no longer watch TV cuz that shit really melts my brain…” and “I go to do my food shopping and all I can see is packaging and a mountain of garbage about to be happening…” Sure, every record’s got its B-sides, but DiFranco’s good work is so strong, I wince when I hear work I wish she had done better. Moreso because her lyrics are both interesting to the ear and smart enough to be worth reading. And, even moreso because her songs quickly become old friends, worthy of replays for weeks on end. The more I listen, the more I like what I hear.
But I do keep coming back to the Seeger song. He plays some banjo at the start of it, but it’s Ani DiFranco’s power that electrifies the song and its meaning. And it’s that song that anchors this album, a nod from one authentic performer to another. Wouldn’t it be fun to hear her perform an album filled with Seeger songs, a female counter to Bruce Springsteen’s We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, or maybe, even better, an album exposing lesser-knowns who took sides in their time: Phil Ochs, Tom Paxton, maybe Joan Baez, too.
Buy the album directly from the artist’s Righteous Babe label.
Filed Under: Music Tagged With: Ani DeFranco, CD, record, Seeger, singing, United States
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Justia › Forms › Official Federal Forms › US Patent Office › Patent › Request For Access To An Abandoned Application Under 37 CFR 1.14
Request For Access To An Abandoned Application Under 37 CFR 1.14
Request For Access To An Abandoned Application Under 37 CFR 1.14 Form. This is a Official Federal Forms form and can be use in Patent US Patent Office.
Tags: Request For Access To An Abandoned Application Under 37 CFR 1.14, PTO-SB-68, Official Federal Forms US Patent Office, Patent
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Ms. Magazine and Feminist Majority Foundation awards End Rape On Campus
November 20, 2014 End Rape On Campus
Wednesday, November 19th, EROC Co-founder, Andrea Pino, accepted a "Wonder Award" and the #Msat42 award luncheon in Washington D.C, alongside members of Know Your IX and The Black Women's Blueprint, and Emma Sulkowicz of #CarryThatWeight in commemoration of our work to help end sexual violence on campus.
Andrea accepted the award on behalf of the entire EROC team, and was joined by Emerson College activist, and lead complainant, Sarah Tedesco. Although thankful, she encouraged the room of more than 400 feminist activists to remember all the ways campus sex assault impacts survivors long after the violation has occurred. "Perpetrators are graduating while survivors are dropping out of school," Andrea said, stopping to share her how she became the first person in her family to attend college when she was awarded a scholarship to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, but faced major sacrifices when fighting for equity on campus.
To read more of about the event, visit the Ms. Magazine feature article here:
http://www.msmagazine.com/news/uswirestory.asp?ID=15328
Source Comment
Sexual Assault and Its Affect On Memory via Think Progress
Are you a transgender or gender non-conforming survivor, & are being discriminated against? we can help!
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Home NATIONAL SC Dismisses Petitions Challenging Demonetisation
SC Dismisses Petitions Challenging Demonetisation
New Delhi: Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to stay the government’s notification demonetising Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes but asked it to spell out the steps taken to minimise public inconvenience.
“We will not be granting any stay,” a bench comprising Chief Justice T. S. Thakur and D. Y. Chandrachud said. The remarks were made when the court was hearing petitions challenging government’s demonetisation decision.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for one of the petitioners, however, said he was not asking for a stay on the notification but seeking answers from the government about the steps taken to remove public inconvenience.
The bench asked Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi to file an affidavit about the measures already undertaken by the government and the RBI to minimise public inconvenience and also the steps likely to be undertaken in future. Without issuing any notice to the Centre or the RBI, the bench posted the matter for further hearing on November 25.
During the hearing, the Chief Justice said the objective seems to be laudable “but there is some inconvenience also to the public at large.” The bench also said, “You (Centre) can have surgical strike against black money but you cannot have surgical strike against people of the country.”
At the outset, the Centre which had filed a caveat in the matter, sought dismissal of the petitions challenging demonetisation on several grounds including that they were “misconceived”.
Attorney General (AG) Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the Centre, outlined the idea behind demonetisation and said large number of fake currency has been used to finance terrorism in various parts of the country including in Jammu and Kashmir and northeastern states.
Rohatgi said there were approximately one lakh branches of various banks and two lakh ATMs besides the post offices across the country to dispense cash to common people and the restriction on withdrawal is there to ensure that the money be paid to maximum number of people. He summed up the submission contending that there was no legal basis for opposing the Centre’s move to demonetise the higher denomination currency notes aimed at “catching big fish” which the previous governments failed to do in last 50 years.
He said the Centre has complied with section 26(2) of the RBI Act and the present “surgical strike has to be seen in the context of safety and security of the nation, its border, and financial terrorism unleashed through fake currency.”
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for one of the petitioners Adil Alvi, said the petition has also challenged the constitutional validity of the notification as the provision of the Reserve Bank of India Act has not been complied with. He referred to section 26(2) of the Act and said the government was not authorised to demonetise all series of currency notes of high denominations in one go.
Sibal then highlighted the inconvenience faced by the common people in getting their own money from banks and ATMs and said it was a “surgical strike against the common man.”
The apex court, on November 10, had agreed to hear pleas against the November 8 decision of the Narendra Modi government that these notes are no longer a legal tender. Out of the four PILs on the demonetisation issue, two were filed by Delhi-based lawyers Vivek Narayan Sharma and Sangam Lal Pandey, while two others were filed by individuals, S Muthukumar and Adil Alvi.
The Prime Minister, in a televised address to the nation, had declared that high denomination notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 will no longer be legal tender from November 8-9 midnight. He had said the Government has declared a “decisive war” against black money and corruption.
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Lawrence Alma-Tadema: At Home in Antiquity review
October 16, 2017 October 16, 2017 ~ woostersauce2014
On paper, the artist Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836-1912) was part of the art establishment – a Royal Academician, a knight of the realm and a member of the Order of Merit, with a lucrative career that brought him fame and substantial financial rewards. Scratch the surface however and you find a Dutchman (born Lourens Alma Tadema), whose artistic career took him from his home country the Netherlands through Belgium and finally to Britain where he spent the last 40 odd years of his life.
The exhibition Lawrence Alma-Tadema: At Home in Antiquity is a comprehensive survey of his life and career and using the Leighton House Museum as a venue was an inspired choice as it gives one an idea and feel of the studio-residences that Alma-Tadema created in London with his family. The ground floor rooms display paintings from the beginning of Alma-Tadema’s career, where his early paintings were heavily influenced by artists from the Golden Age of Dutch art such as Rembrandt, David Teniers the Younger and Nicholas Maes, as exemplified by portraits that he painted of members of his family. In the 1850s, he turned to historical painting, specialising in medieval subjects. Following his marriage to a French woman (Pauline Gressin Dumoulin) and during their honeymoon in Italy, the places they visited such as Rome and Pompeii provided new inspiration for his art – everyday life set in ancient Rome with titles such as Pomona Festival and The Flower Market. While Alma-Tadema ensured that his rendering of the interiors and clothing were as accurate as possible, some details especially the faces are very contemporary, as if the people depicted are playing at dressing up.
Alma-Tadema’s development as an artist is chronicled in the upstairs room. In 1869, his wife Pauline died and while in London seeking medical treatment he was invited to the home of the artist Ford Maddox Brown where he met Laura Theresa Epps and promptly fell in love with her. The outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War and his growing feelings for Miss Epps influenced his decision to settle in Britain permanently and he married her in 1871; following which they acquired their first marital home near Regent’s Park (Townshend House). Laura became an artist in her own right and throughout the second floor there are paintings by her which show the influence of the Dutch masters and her specialisation in genre painting. There are also portraits that Alma-Tadema did of his wife and children that underscored them as a close and loving family unit.
Once Alma-Tadema settled in Britain, he became acquainted with artists from the Pre-Raphaelite movement and his colour palette changed; the darker tones of his Dutch and Belgian years giving way to the light hues influenced by his trips to Italy and his association with Pre-Raphaelite artists. By the 1880s, he was well established in his adapted country – garlanded with honours and awards as well as his paintings being well-received. In 1883, the Alma-Tademas bought a large house in St John’s Wood (located in Grove End Road) which also housed his studio. The interior of the house was done in the Roman style which served as his backdrop for many of his paintings.
During this period, Alma-Tadema also was commissioned to paint portraits and his portrait of the Polish pianist and future prime minister and diplomat Ignacy Jan Paderewski is a stark contrast to his historical paintings. While the colours are unmistakably Alma-Tadema, the rendition is almost impressionistic which showed that Alma-Tadema was more than a painter of scenes from antiquity. The same versatility can also be seen in the few landscapes that he painted, mostly while on holiday in Italy and from the view of his house in Grove End Road. The Italian paintings especially are notable for the skill with which the painter depicts the sunlight on flesh, marble and sea: paintings such as A Solicitation emit a tangible sunlit warmth and ease.
Despite his dabbling in portraiture and landscape painting, Alma-Tadema was primarily known for his historical painting. There were recurring elements in his work such as the prevalence of blue skies, white marble and vistas as exemplified by A Solicitation and Pleading. By the later phase of his career, Alma-Tadema had crystallised the elements that characterised his work: the sea, alluring women, classical sculpture, rich textures and flowers. He was known for his attention to detail and accuracy to the best of his ability (which was aided by trips to Italy and Egypt as well as informing himself of new developments in archaeology) all of which are evident in his most famous works such as Coign of Vantage, The Triumph of Titus: AD71 and The Roses of Heliogabalus. The latter is particularly interesting as it pretty much encapsulates almost all of Alma-Tadema’s elements and USP. However, I find the study much more interesting and convincing than the finished product; while the actual painting is technically accomplished and aesthetically pleasing there is none of the sense of urgency and panic as the guests are being suffocated by the avalanche of the flowers streaming over them: they seem to be wholly relaxed about their fate. In contrast however, the study for The Roses of Heliogabalus has more of the sense of the violence and suffering inflicted on the guests as demonstrated by the contortions of the body as the guests struggled to escape the shower of rose petals that threatens to engulf them.
By the time of Alma-Tadema’s death in 1912, his paintings and style had fallen out of fashion, supplanted by the likes of Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, post-Impressionism and Cubism. For most of the 20th century he fell into obscurity but while Alma-Tadema wasn’t exactly a household name, his paintings gained a second lease of life in cinema. They became influential in how filmmakers brought the ancient world to life in cinema; one look at The Death of the First-Born and I was immediately reminded of the same scene in Cecile B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments (1956) where the same muted colours and subdued lighting used by Alma-Tadema found its way into the film. More recently, Sir Ridley Scott was also influenced by Alma-Tadema for his film Gladiator (2000) where the scenes of gladiatorial combat are reminiscent of A Pyrrhic Dance and the costumes worn were inspired by the women depicted in various paintings dotted around the exhibition.
While some might think that Alma-Tadema’s paintings are clichéd and only fit to decorate biscuit and chocolate tins, this exhibition shows that he was more than a painter of scenes from antiquity. That said, his main body of work was all about the ancient world and the way he brought it to life does show that Alma-Tadema was indeed an artist “at home in antiquity”.
Lawrence Alma-Tadema: At Home in Antiquity is on at the Leighton House Museum until 29 October 2017. For more information please visit the website https://www.rbkc.gov.uk/subsites/museums/leightonhousemuseum/almatademaathome.aspx?gclid=CIWW4KCZ8tYCFeaT7QodjWsNxg
The bloggers visited the exhibition on 4 October 2017. We would also like to thank Ana Garcia of the Marketing and PR Department of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea for permission to use the images in this blog.
Posted in Exhibition Reviews 19th century British art19th century British Historyart historyCecile B.DeMillecinema historyFord Maddox BrownGladiatorIgnacy Jan PaderewskiLaura Lady Alma-TademaLawerence Alma-Tadema: At Home in AntiquityLeighton House MuseumPre-Raphaelite movementSir Lawrence Alma-TademaSir Ridley ScottThe Ten Commandements
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7 thoughts on “Lawrence Alma-Tadema: At Home in Antiquity review”
I have always loved his detailed work. I reject the ‘biscuit-tin’ criticisms, and counter with the quality of detail, that resembles high-art photography, at its highest level. Dutch, or English, I don’t really care. Talent shines through the meticulous attention to detail, and it leaps off of the screen, or page.
Thanks for featuring this wonderful artist.
woostersauce2014 says:
The “biscuit tin” remarks came at a time when artists were rejecting older schools of art and of course due to changing fashions. It’s only in the last 40 years that Alma-Tadema is being appreciated again and of course, his influenced lived on in the various “sword and sandal” films that have been churned out in the last 100 years.
I don’t bother to argue the ‘Art’. I just love his wonderful paintings.
Agree. The detail and colours are amazing!
ActonBooks says:
And he could so easily have been prematurely removed from this world by the Regent’s Park Canal gunpowder barge explosion of October 1874 that destroyed his house. He just happened to be out that night. It makes you wonder about all the other talents, geniuses and exceptional people to which fate dealt a worse hand, in events as mundane as a railway accident — or as grave and all encompassing a scythe of humanity as WW1.
Many thanks for this info. It’s interesting to speculate what might have been but it was indeed fortunate that he was out that night.
Reblogged this on Actonbooks.
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Exxon, government settle dispute over Gulf leases
admin Contributor
NEW YORK (AP) — Exxon Mobil Corp. and the Norwegian oil producer Statoil have reached an agreement with the federal government that will allow the companies to continue developing a potentially lucrative oil discovery in the Gulf of Mexico.
The government will get more money from Exxon and Statoil as part of the agreement to settle federal lawsuits over their leases in the oil field known as Julia, which is about 250 miles southwest of New Orleans. The proposed settlement was filed in federal court Friday but still must be approved by a judge.
Exxon spokesman Patrick McGinn said Saturday that the settlement will allow the company to develop the resource as quickly as possible. The initial phase of the project is expected to produce more than 175 million barrels of oil from six wells.
Exxon has estimated that the oil field may hold billions of barrels of oil and gas equivalent but it is remote and technically challenging to develop.
Exxon and Statoil have five leases in the field; three signed in 1998 and two in 2003. Each company owns 50 percent interest in the leases.
The dispute began in October 2008, when Exxon applied to extend the leases but the government refused. It said the company didn’t present a specific production plan. Exxon and Statoil sued the government after losing several appeals.
Under the settlement, the two companies will develop their leases in phases as initially planned with the goal of starting initial production by June 2016.
They also will pay more to the government in exchange for the lease extensions. For example, the companies will pay $11.2 million each year until the three original leases reach at least 87.5 million barrels of total production, McGinn said in an emailed statement.
The agreement also raises the royalty rate on those three leases to 18.75 percent from 12.5 percent, he said. Annual rent on those three leases rose to $11 per acre from $7.50 per acre. The royalty rate for the other two leases is 12.5 percent.
If Exxon and Statoil had lost the lawsuit, the leases would have reverted to the government.
Planned Parenthood Is In Disarray After Its President Was Ousted
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Katie Couric And Her Pals Keep Grabbing Guns, Headlines
June 09, 2016 10:20 AM ET
A quick recap: Two weeks ago we learned that Katie Couric’s anti-gun documentary, Under the Gun, used deceptive editing to make it look like she had stumped gun-rights activists with a tough question. Unfortunately for her, the group was recording the interview as well. Here’s what was shown in the film, followed by the full audio of the conversation.
That was bad enough. Then Couric issued an “apology” that didn’t really qualify as an apology because she was still lying.
And then we learned that the director of Under the Gun, Stephanie Soechtig, publicly admitted to breaking federal gun laws:
When Sean Davis at The Federalist asked Soechtig for comment, she just made things worse for herself:
In response to a series of detailed questions about the incident posed by The Federalist, Soechtig simultaneously confirmed that she and her team skirted federal gun laws and declared that they did absolutely nothing wrong:
“While it may seem hard to believe that one could buy these types of guns this easily, all purchases in the film were made completely legally. Arizona law allows out-of-state residents to buy long guns (i.e. rifles, shotguns, military style assault rifles) from a private seller without a background check. It also allows Arizona residents to buy handguns from a private seller without a background check.
“We demonstrated both versions of this dangerous loophole in the film on a hidden camera, in full compliance with both state and federal laws. The rifles – including a Smith and Wesson M&P 15, the gun used in the Aurora massacre – were purchased by an out of state resident. The handgun was purchased by an Arizona resident.
“These guns were then turned over to law enforcement and destroyed. They never left the state of Arizona.”
When combined with her statements during her interview with The Lip TV, Soechtig’s latest statement provides clear evidence that she and her team did not follow all applicable gun laws.
Doing something illegal and then declaring it legal does not, in fact, make it legal. Why should we listen to these people’s opinions on gun laws when they don’t even know what’s legal and what isn’t?
Here’s the footage of the illegal act in question, courtesy of Ammoland:
But wait, there’s more! If you’ve been wondering if this is the first time Couric has pulled this sort of crap, the answer is no. Guy Bentley reports:
Katie Couric has been accused of doctoring a second documentary to embarrass an interviewee who disagreed with her worldview.
Directed by Stephanie Soechtig and produced by Katie Couric, the documentary “Fed Up” took aim at the food industry and the role processed foods and sugar play in contributing to obesity.
One of the film’s participants has come forward with accusations eerily familiar to those made against Couric during her recent film “Under the Gun.”
Here’s the video, courtesy of the Washington Free Beacon:
Dr. David Allison says he did answer the question, after taking a moment to think through what he wanted to say. His answer was not included in the film. As with the deceptive edit in Under the Gun, this was a deliberate attempt to make it look like Couric had stumped an ideological opponent with a tough question.
Here’s another deceptive edit from the same film. Soechtig is speaking to Lisa Gable, a spokeswoman for the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation:
According to Stephen Gutowski at the Free Beacon, that last offscreen comment, “It feels like you’re avoiding the question,” was taken from another part of the interview and edited in, followed by Gable’s silence. Once again, the intent was to make it look like the filmmakers had stumped one of the “bad guys.”
These liars can try to scrub the damning evidence from the Internet, but it’s too late. We know who they are, and we know what they do. They’re liars, and they lie and lie and lie.
Some people think Yahoo should fire Katie Couric, but I’m not so sure. She should stay right where she is and keep behaving the way she does. Let everyone see just how these frauds operate. Let her serve as an example of the left’s utter corruption.
And now, on a lighter note:
Fake but accurate. That’s how it works, right?
P.S. Liz Sheld at PJ Media has more.
Tags : gun control katie couric stephanie soechtig under the gun
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Influenced by Dini Kimmel Music
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If you know someone who should be listed here, invite them.
There was an error. Totally Fandalism's fault.
Do me a huge favor and email support@fandalism.com the following info so I can fix it:
{"influence":"Dini Kimmel Music","genre":"","country":"","latlon":"","radius":"50","age2":"","gender":"","zipcity":"","instrument":"","age1":"","src":"bio influence"}
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Quebec partnership develops shared tourism strategy
Case Study: Quebec partnership develops shared tourism strategy
Brownfields (5)
Backgrounder (1)
Webinar recording (1)
Building Inclusive and Green Municipalities (4)
Community Economic Development Initiative (10)
Community Infrastructure Partnership Project (6)
(-) FCM Innovation Network (2)
First Nations Programs (7)
Green Municipal Fund (225)
Haiti Digitalization of Land Registry Project (4)
Inclusive Municipal Leadership Program (1)
Jordan Municipal Support Project (3)
(-) Leadership in Brownfield Renewal network (5)
(-) Municipal Asset Management Program (28)
Municipal Cooperation Program (9)
Municipalities for Climate Innovation Program (34)
Municipal Partners for Economic Development (2)
Partners for Climate Protection (51)
Partnership for Local Economic Development and Democratic Governance (5)
Partnerships for Municipal Innovation - Local Economic Development (6)
Sustainable and Inclusive Communities in Latin America (7)
Toward Parity (3)
Vietnam Municipal Solid Waste Management Project (2)
The First Nations–Municipal Community Economic Development Initiative (CEDI) is a joint project of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) and Cando (the Council for the Advancement of Native Development Officers). From 2013 to 2016, the initiative worked with six community partnerships across Canada in urban, rural and remote settings. Hundreds of communities expressed interest in collaborating with this unique initiative and as a result, FCM and Cando are currently implementing a second phase of CEDI until 2021.
CEDI enables collaboration to pursue joint community economic development (CED) initiatives by fostering stronger relations and supporting mutually beneficial initiatives. Released in September 2015, CEDI’s Stronger Together toolkit systematizes the knowledge and experience from the first phase. The First Nations–municipal CED methodology is articulated around four milestones, starting with building a relationship and mutual respect.
In 2017, CEDI staff visited one of the partnerships located in western Quebec. Through CEDI (Phase 1), Kebaowek First Nation (formerly Eagle Village First Nation), the Town of Témiscaming and the Municipality of Kipawa developed a tripartite friendship, agreed to pursue a shared tourism strategy and started to explore a coordinated approach to regional economic development. The CEDI toolkit includes a case study outlining the history and milestones of the partnership. The last activity of the partnership under CEDI support took place in June 2015, but the tripartite collaboration continues to flourish and grow.
First Nations–Municipal Collaboration is Groundwork for National Truth and Reconciliation
In 2013, the Town of Témiscaming (population 2,385) and Kebaowek First Nation (261 on-reserve and 568 off-reserve) described the state of their relationship: “We live next door to one another yet don’t necessarily know each other; we coexist.” In the wake of the national Truth and Reconciliation process, this situation remains all too common across the country.
Témiscaming and Kebaowek are located on the traditional territory of the Algonquin Nation, in a resource-rich region of Quebec, approximately 70 kilometres northeast of North Bay, Ontario. The two communities were concerned about their dependency on the forestry industry and saw the opening of a new provincial park, Opemican Park, as a way to support tourism growth. They decided that a regional approach would better attract tourists and asked the nearby Municipality of Kipawa (population 474) to join them. They developed a joint vision statement to guide their collaboration. “We want to create a memorable experience by welcoming visitors to share our natural beauty, cultural heritage and friendliness.”
While it seemed that conditions favoured a successful venture, the partnership had a difficult start because the three communities held opposing views over a proposed mine in the region. Over the course of several months, through openness and mutual commitment, community leaders managed to overcome this barrier. They “agreed to disagree” on the rare-earth mineral mine project. The CEDI Dialogue Principles were instrumental to that process. These communities came to better appreciate their respective histories and issues, and the need to collaborate to build a better tomorrow.
Trust and respect were built over time. During ameeting, Chief Lance Haymond repeated these two words. He explained, “Understanding and educating is the biggest part of the Truth and Reconciliation. Fighting prejudice. Few people know the contribution that First Nations have had for the development of Canada.”
This sentiment resonates with his counterparts. Nicole Rochon, Mayor of Témiscaming, said, “Understanding the Indigenous culture has helped me realize some of the constraints and challenges that the Band Council has to deal with. This remains true today. They have to manage everything, including contracting and paying the nurses. We don’t have that responsibility as a municipality.”
By 2016, at the end of their formal involvement in CEDI, the partners had accomplished the four milestones. The foundations of friendship were in place. A tourism strategy had been adopted. And a series of key objectives were in sight:
Develop a tourism marketing plan
Create a name, logo and slogan to build the brand
Hire a joint tourism development officer
Create a website and promotional material, including a short video
The completion of the four stages of joint First Nation-Municipal CED is not the end of the process; rather it marks the start of a new way of thinking about, and working with, neighbouring communities. Long-term success depends on making joint CED the new normal in communities:
Invest in building mutual trust and respect
Develop a broad network of supporters and champions
Make formal commitments and governance structures
Address difficult issues as they arise
Try new things; learn and improve
More than Economic Development, CED is Vital to Social Inclusion and Wellbeing
Chief Haymond knows his community thoroughly. He speaks persuasively of the prejudices of social welfare and challenging circumstances. He points to the legacy of residential schools. He knows the responsibility and small window of opportunity for the five remaining elders in his community, aged between 60 and 86 years old, to pass on their language and culture: the traditions, the names of the lakes, the knowledge of the land. Community development is complex and there is much at risk.
Adding to the challenges are complicated jurisdictions, legal and fiscal arrangements, and accountability mechanisms that can make development processes cumbersome. As Chief Haymond explains, “In Canada, we have Indigenous communities that have a legal relationship with the federal government and municipalities that work under the jurisdiction of their provincial municipal acts.” These dynamics create boundaries and silos, resulting in neighbouring communities that cannot easily collaborate. People circulate freely on the land and through the towns, but social issues create islands of solitude.
One case in point is the segregation of school systems. Throughout the history of the three communities, English and French school systems were planned separately with children divided by language and culture. As a result, children living in the same neighbourhood did not play together. Racism and intolerance feed on ignorance.
While municipalities are not responsible for schools, Témiscaming, Kebaowek and Kipawa have started to advocate together for change with the school boards. These issues affect everyone, and the communities are finding strength and leverage with stakeholders through collaboration.
Chief Haymond acknowledges that the partnership has come a long way, and that it was not always easy. “Through dialogue and mutual respect, and cooperation, we are starting to see the benefits. The more we talk, the more we realize that we have things in common.”
From Coexisting to Long-term Collaboration
At the forefront of the collaboration with Témiscaming and Kipawa, Justin Roy, Director of Economic Development for Kebaowek First Nation, has seen the relationship develop from its early stages. “We haven’t missed a single meeting of our committee since it started. There are a lot of moving parts to our collaboration. We don’t want this to go off the road!”
CEDI provided the technical support, the advice and the encouragement to break down barriers and create relationships. “With time, we build trust,” said Roy. “Trust that gets bigger and better. That’s the biggest thing we’ve got from the project.”
Reflecting on the lessons learned from the CEDI project, Roy spoke of open communication and transparency as key to success. Trust and friendship were built by:
Ensuring equal representation of partners in all discussions
Taking time to get to know one another on topics such as governance, policy, culture, history
Leaving politics out of the collaboration to focus on joint objectives for community wellbeing
Creating open conversations
Picking common goals
“Tourism is a nice, clean industry that we can all take part in,” said Amanda Nadon-Langlois, Tourism Development Officer at Kipawa Tourism, and it is also a strong ground for long-term collaboration.
Leading Together
FCM and Cando were invited to an event to launch the logo of Kipawa Tourism in spring 2017. The logo features three proud loons, standing together heads high under a shared horizon: a beautiful and powerful representation of the relationship that is developing amongst the three partners.
“We are three cultures here: the Algonquins, the French descendants, and the English descendants. We work together. We play together. And we build our future together,” said Norman Young, Mayor of Kipawa. “You cannot work with someone if you don’t know them. The road that we have walked together over the years has built great friendship. We started with the idea of tourism. But now, we’re starting to think about other things.”
An addition to the reserve, growing the snowmobile and bike trails, and developing commercial activities are on the radar, said Justin Roy. Through their collaboration, the communities have been able to attract three doctors. “We see new leaders emerging. We see new faces, younger people. We discuss new things that I don’t think we would have been able to discuss just a few years ago. This is making our communities better.”
At the Kipawa Tourism launch event, all partners acknowledged CEDI’s important contribution to enable and nurture their relationship.
Helen Patterson, CEDI Project Manager reminded guests and partners, “We asked you to show us the way for Canadian municipalities and First Nation collaboration. You have demonstrated rigour, commitment and dedication. Congratulations on your success! Thank you for being the example.”
The launch event culminated with a preview of the promotional video developed as part of the tourism strategy. With the fitting theme “At the heart of nature,” the three communities are poised to take flight into their future.
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£100m more funding found for apprenticeships and traineeships
Paul Offord
Mon 4th Jul 2016, 10.00
The government has found almost £100m of additional funding for apprenticeships and traineeships through the latest round of growth requests, FE Week can reveal.
The figures were confirmed by the Skills Funding Agency on Tuesday (June 28), which said that it had funded “all credible growth cases” — although the amount of cash involved was not stated at the time.
FE Week can now reveal the total amount was £99.5m.
The SFA also provided a breakdown of the figures which show, for example, the total targeted growth allocation this year is £30.1m for all apprenticeships, and £10.3m for traineeships.
The total 2016/17 allocation increase for apprenticeships, meanwhile, is £53.2m, with the figure for traineeships standing at £5.9m.
An SFA spokesperson said: “We have funded all credible growth cases to grow delivery in these priority areas ahead of the start of the funding year.
“Alongside this exercise, we have also reviewed the baseline data used in calculating 2016-to-2017 apprenticeship and traineeship allocations, reflecting provider earnings for 12 months up to March 2016.”
She added that where “there is evidence of increased performance, we have increased providers’ 2016-to-2017 allocations accordingly”.
“All increases will be included in 2016-to-2017 contract variations which we will be issuing shortly.”
The SFA announced in May that growth requests would be offered for the delivery of any of the new apprenticeship standards.
A statement uploaded to gov.uk at the time said the offer would apply to standards — not existing apprenticeship frameworks — but did not specify which ones.
Asked if this meant providers who needed more funding could lodge growth requests for “any of the new standards”, an SFA spokesperson said: “Yes, on standards, we have not been specific on sector areas”.
“Requests are subject to affordability and our normal credibility checks,” she added.
So far more than 112 new standards have been approved by the government for delivery.
The targeted growth request – which included traineeships as well as apprenticeships – also covered delivery at higher and/or degree level, food, farming and agritech, and those that are science, and technology, engineering and maths (STEM)-based.
Earlier this year providers branded “ridiculous” the overdue news that many of their 16-to-18 apprenticeship and traineeship growth requests had not been funded in full by the SFA.
The agency announced in early February that it had awarded an additional £25m to colleges and training providers to deliver 16-to-18 apprenticeships — but there was no extra cash for 16-to-18 traineeships.
The announcement, which should have been made on January 8, was made in response to growth requests submitted by providers to help fund apprenticeships and traineeships in 2015/16.
It came just a week after FE Week exclusively revealed that the delay in confirming the growth requests was due to an overspend by the Department for Education.
William Boyes
Is the SFA funding allocation list a public document?
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Olivia Breen
Olivia Breen nee Dier, is the oldest person in Ireland. She was born 3rd October 1901 and currently resides in Montenotte Choice in Cork.
She was born in Clonroche Co Wexford into an Anglo Irish Protestant family. Her father Jamer Dier was born in 1857 and farmed a 200 acre farm in the village of Clonroche. During British Rule pre independence, James Dier was a Justice of the Peace in Clonroche.
She had four brothers and one sister. One of her brothers, Richard died in the Battle of the Somme. Another brother John qualified as a doctor in the College of Surgeons Dublin and also at Edinburgh University.
Belated wishes are extended to a former Clonroche resident who celebrated her 109th birthday in early October. Olivia Breen nee Dier was born in 1901 lived in Clonroche and received her early education in Clonroche National School.
As you can imagine a lot of changes have taken place throughout her life, in Clonroche, in Ireland and all over the world, including World Wars 1 and 2. Mrs Breen now resides in Co. Cork.
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Paulist Fathers Guide to Responsible Voting 2016
Posted on September 6, 2016 by frjamesdiluzio
AS you may know, I am a member of the Paulist Fathers, the first order of Catholic priests founded in the United States (1858) to engage conversation of the Christian Faith with American culture. The following was prepared for and approved by the Paulist Fathers General Council for public distribution. It is followed by Statement on Civic Participation written by Paulist Father Ron Franco, PhD, Political Science, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ.
Paulist Fathers Statement on Moral Issues in the 2016 Presidential Election
“The American people may rest assured that when ever a question arises involving fundamental principles, Catholics will always be found on the side of liberty, fair play and equal rights.
”
– Servant of God Issac Thomas Hecker (1819-1888), founder of the Paulist Fathers
It is hard to imagine a more challenging period in recent American politics than the 2016 presidential election cycle. It has been a year dominated by shocking headlines that have left us disturbed and often disoriented.
Language and methods once considered out-of-bounds for political candidates have been found acceptable by a not-insignificant number of our fellow citizens.
Prejudices that we hoped dead were merely sleeping. These prejudices have been awakened and given new voice.
As a community of Catholic priests, we do not endorse political candidates or political parties. But, the issues of 2016 are not just political. More than ever, the themes of this presidential campaign are moral ones that we, and all people of good will, are compelled to face and address.
In particular, we are obliged to address the five areas of concern outlined below.
A New Rise of Bigotry and Xenophobia
“You shall not oppress an alien; you well know how it feels to be an alien, since you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.” (Ex 23:9)
Since our community was founded in 1858, many Paulist Fathers have been immigrants, the children of immigrants and the grandchildren of immigrants. And, throughout our 158 years, our ministry to the people of God has been enriched by the immigrant experience. We have walked with immigrants and their descendants, sharing their joys and sorrows in every place we have served.
Paulist Fathers witnessed firsthand the discrimination against new Irish immigrants in New York City in the 1800s. We saw for ourselves the “No Italians Need Apply” signs in Portland, Oregon, in the early 1900s. From the turn of the last century to the present day, we have been blessed to serve immigrants from Asia and the South Pacific in San Francisco and Los Angeles. And, for decades, in cities throughout the United States, we have shared in the journeys of Spanish-speaking immigrants from Mexico, Latin America, South America and the Caribbean.
The story of the Catholic Church in the United States is the story of immigrants and refugees. It is a story in which we have always seen the working of the Holy Spirit.
It is therefore with sorrow and alarm that we have seen growing support in the electorate for sweeping and inaccurate generalizations that demean the law-abiding nature and intrinsic worth of men and women who are new to this country.
With sorrow and alarm, we have seen the plight of millions of refugees from Syria and Somalia disregarded because of fear and the harmful actions of a few.
With sorrow and alarm, we have seen the integrity of a federal judge impugned because of his parents’ country of origin.
With sorrow and alarm, we have seen disparagement of Muslim-Americans based solely for their religious affiliation. This included a call to temporarily ban entry by all Muslims into the United States, which would be an unprecedented violation of the Freedom of Religion enshrined in our Constitution.
With sorrow and alarm, we have seen a coy hesitancy to disavow the support of individuals and organizations that have promoted discrimination and racism, particularly against African-Americans.
As each of these attacks occurred, we were reminded of the pledges of “never again” each time bigotry and xenophobia gained public support in the last century.
“Never again” would we tolerate attacks on a single faith tradition, many leaders said after the Holocaust of the 1930s and 1940s. “Never again” would we tolerate the scapegoating of a single ethnic group, many leaders said after the Rwandan genocide of the 1990s.
Sadly, these attacks against basic human decency are happening again These attacks are happening in our own country and are gaining the active support of some U.S. citizens and the passive acceptance of others. Both the cheers of the rally crowds and the silent tolerance of those watching at home are deeply troubling.
As the electorate prepares to vote, we pray they will be mindful of Pope Francis’ words to the U.S. Congress on September 24, 2015:
“We, the people of this continent, are not fearful of foreigners, because most of us were once foreigners. I say this to you as the son of immigrants, knowing that so many of you are also descended from immigrants … Our world is facing a refugee crisis of a magnitude not seen since the Second World War. This presents us with great challenges and many hard decisions. On this continent, too, thousands of persons are led to travel north in search of a better life for themselves and for their loved ones, in search of greater opportunities. Is this not what we want for our own children? We must not be taken aback by their numbers, but rather view them as persons, seeing their faces and listening to their stories, trying to respond as best we can to their situation. To respond in a way which is always humane, just and fraternal.”
“You shall not kill.” (Ex 20: 13)
The many recent incidents of mass violence and individual gun violence in the United States and other parts of the world have rattled the collective nerves of our society. We brace ourselves at news of each bombing or shooting. We brace ourselves as the death totals are announced and we learn about the victims and the injured. “Why again?!” we cry out to God. “Why does this keep happening?!”
Then we grieve. At times, we grieve from a distance. At times, when the incident hits close to home, we grieve personally with our parishioners and friends. But we always grieve.
And we pray. We pray that God will turn the hand and soften the heart of the next man or woman who is contemplating violence. We pray for God’s inspiration for the best pastoral response and the best public policy response.
We note when the attacker is a native son or daughter of the place where the violence occurred. We note when the attacker is from a foreign place or motivated by an ideology. In our vocabulary, both kinds are terrorists, seeking to cause pain and disrupt our social fabric.
We note when an act of violence causes discord between law enforcement officials and the communities they serve.
We know these incidents are in the minds of many voters. We know these incidents are shaping how some voters view their neighbors.
We pray that our societal and public policy response to these acts of violence will be seen as a pro-life issue. We must rank these acts of violence alongside war, abortion, the death penalty and euthanasia as attacks upon the sacredness of all human life.
We pray all voters will remember the words of Pope Francis in his address to Congress:
“All of us are quite aware of, and deeply worried by, the disturbing social and political situation of the world today. Our world is increasingly a place of violent conflict, hatred and brutal atrocities, committed even in the name of God and of religion. We know that no religion is immune from forms of individual delusion or ideological extremism … We know that in the attempt to be freed of the enemy without, we can be tempted to feed the enemy within. To imitate the hatred and violence of tyrants and murderers is the best way to take their place. That is something which you, as a people, reject. Our response must instead be one of hope and healing, of peace and justice.”
The Sacredness of All Human Life
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.” (Is 55: 8)
As we consider the many incidents of mass violence and individual gun violence, we acknowledge they have not occurred in a vacuum. We exist in a society that does not always cherish human life.
The American people have grown numb to war, paying scant attention to a 15-year military operation in Afghanistan that has seen thousands of people killed. Headlines rarely draw our attention to the plight of civilians in war zones as well as U.S. veterans returning home with injuries both visible and hidden. At the same time, government spending on war and weapons is rarely examined.
Abortion of the unborn also threatens our culture. We pray that all people will see human life as a precious gift from God that begins in the womb. We also recommit ourselves to be present to single women and couples facing unplanned pregnancies. We recommit ourselves to support those who have welcomed children despite difficulties and challenges.
Similarly, the death penalty and euthanasia are the easy solutions of a culture seeking to avoid the heavy-lifting of reconciliation and the burden of pain. Our society will be stronger when all human life, from conception to natural death, is protected.
In his address to Congress, Pope Francis spoke of the sacredness of human life in this way:
“The yardstick we use for others will be the yardstick which time will use for us. The Golden Rule also reminds us of our responsibility to protect and defend human life at every stage of its development. This conviction has led me, from the beginning of my ministry, to advocate at different levels for the global abolition of the death penalty. I am convinced that this way is the best, since every life is sacred, every human person is endowed with an inalienable dignity … “
Economic Uncertainty, the Middle Class and the Poor
“Behold, the wages you withheld from the workers who harvested your fields are crying aloud, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.” (James 5: 4)
Economic uncertainty has been one of the great motivating factors of the 2016 presidential election. While new technologies and innovations have galvanized some sectors of our economy, many Americans still feel uncertain about their jobs and the financial future of their families.
Pockets of the United States have never fully recovered from the recession of 2002 – 2003 and “The Great Recession” of 2008. Income disparity is at historic levels with the richest Americans controlling more of the country’s wealth than ever before. At the same time, the middle class is shrinking and many poor families are having incredible difficulty rising out of poverty.
These factors have caused a strain on our nation’s social fabric that must be repaired with detailed, specific and measurable policies that strengthen businesses and lift up workers. We know that, for our democracy to thrive, we must have a healthy middle class and that the American dream cannot be out of reach for the poor.
We join with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in the belief that “social and economic policies should foster the creation of jobs for all who can work with decent working conditions and just wages” and that “barriers to equal pay and employment for women and those facing unjust discrimination must be overcome.”
As Pope Francis said to Congress:
“If politics must truly be at the service of the human person, it follows that it cannot be a slave to the economy and finance. Politics is, instead, an expression of our compelling need to live as one, in order to build as one the greatest common good: that of a community which sacrifices particular interests in order to share, in justice and peace, its goods, its interests, its social life.”
Care for Our Common Home
“God saw everything that he had made, and behold it was very good” (Gen 1:31)
Care for the environment also is a moral issue that has not received the serious attention it deserves during this year’s presidential election. We note that Pope Francis continually calls all people to greater concern for “our common home.”
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is correct in its statement that “protecting the land, water, and air we share is a religious duty of stewardship” and “effective initiatives are required for energy conservation and the development of alternate, renewable, and clean-energy resources.” We join the bishops’ call to address global climate change, “focusing on the virtue of prudence, pursuit of the common good, and the impact on the poor, particularly on vulnerable workers and the poorest nations.”
In the words of Pope Francis to Congress:
” … I call for a courageous and responsible effort to ‘redirect our steps’ and to avert the most serious effects of the environmental deterioration caused by human activity. I am convinced that we can make a difference and I have no doubt that the United States – and this Congress – have an important role to play. Now is the time for courageous actions and strategies …”
In an accompanying commentary, we offer a more in-depth rationale for Catholics’ civic participation in our polarized time. We hope it will be helpful for those seeking a secure footing to engage with the moral questions that have dominated 2016.
Despite the challenges we have outlined, we are reassured by the knowledge that the American experiment still inspires our own citizens and countless people around the world. The passions and principles that led to our nation’s founding – and have sustained it for 240 years – have not been extinguished.
May God bless America in the months and years ahead.
Paulist Fathers Commentary on Civic Participation in the 2016 U.S. Election
Written by Paulist Father Ron Franco, PhD, Political Science, Princeton University, Princeton NJ.
As the 2016 General Election approaches, we are all aware of the many difficult issues facing our country, along with the contentious arguments that have characterized this campaign and dominate the national news. Disagreement and debate among citizens and between political parties are natural and inevitable in a free and open society. Wisely and properly conducted, they make it possible for us to choose intelligently among competing candidates and their policies, and so provide for the peaceful and legitimate transfer of political power to those we designate to govern our country according to our political, cultural, and moral values. Those are the values which we will express in our votes.
As committed Catholic Christians, we also share with our fellow citizens in the benefits and the responsibilities of citizenship in 21st-century American society. Does our faith offer resources to help participate in civic life? What lessons from centuries of Catholic spiritual and intellectual tradition, and the experience of Catholic history in the United States, can we share with our fellow citizens? What can we do together to promote the common good and care for our common home? The evident seriousness of the issues facing policy makers and the intensity of the current political campaign make it all the more essential for us to take part in these important debates and to bring to them the particular perspectives of our rich Catholic faith and experience.
For this reason, we anticipate that much individual reflection and many group discussions will be taking place in our communities, a process we wish to encourage. To assist in these reflections and discussions about the issues and the candidates, the Paulist Fathers offer the following commentary, identifying some foundational principles for us to take into account as we prepare to exercise our duty as citizens to vote.
In doing so, it is not our intention to dictate to anyone how to vote or whom to vote for. An election challenges each citizen to evaluate the issues and the available information and form a reasoned moral decision in the forum of one’s conscience. Amid all the loud and angry noise of our current campaign cycle, our purpose is rather to highlight some fundamental moral and religious principles, which ought to form a foundation for helping us make these judgments, not just for one election but for ongoing participation in our political life.
It is our hope that individuals and groups – Paulist Fathers, Paulist collaborators, and lay people in parishes and throughout the Church in the United States – may find this reflection helpful as an aid in their own study and deliberation and a resource to foster further discussion. For this purpose, we have included sample questions for individual reflection and group discussion.
THE BLESSING AND CHALLENGE OF CITIZENSHIP
Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. [1]
So wrote the prophet Jeremiah, six centuries before Christ, to those who had been exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon. Jeremiah counseled them not only to become responsible and productive citizens of the society in which they were living, but also to appreciate how much their long-term wellbeing depended on their doing so. Jeremiah’s prophetic insight remains relevant for the People of God today. As Pope Benedict XVI reminded the Diplomatic Corps in 2013, “the glorification of God and human peace on earth are closely linked.” [2] If, as has been said, “we give birth to ourselves by our own free choice of what is good,”[3] who we become here and now will be who we are for all eternity. And who we become here and now is inseparable from our participation in the human communities of which we are a part, communities from which we benefit and to which we must in turn contribute.
From the beginning Christians have been conscious of being both in the world while not of it. [4] Jesus famously told his questioners to render to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s. [5] Saint Paul told the Christians in Philippi that our citizenship is in heaven, but he also instructed the Christians in Rome to obey lawful governments and to pay their taxes. [6] Going even further, the New Testament explicitly instructed the early Christian community to pray for the emperor. [7] In the 3rd century, despite Roman persecution, the early Christians prayed, “for Emperors, their ministers, for the condition of the world, for peace everywhere, and for the delaying of the end.” [8]
The early Christians appreciated the benefits of civil society. In instructing them to obey the law and honor the Emperor, the New Testament emphasized that our religious obligations to God, while always absolute in themselves, do not cancel out our membership in civil society and our resulting obligations to the political community we all share. Whether as public officials or as ordinary citizens, who vote, pay taxes, and affect public policy in any number of ways, we enjoy the peace, security, and justice that civil society makes possible. And we have corresponding obligations. Thus, the Second Vatican Council called upon all citizens to “be mindful of the right and also the duty to use their free vote to further the common good.” [9] Likewise, the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us that “the love and service of one’s country follow from the duty of gratitude,” [10] and that “as far as possible citizens should take an active part in public life.”[11]
Civilization doesn’t come free. Nor does our faith allow us any excuse to act as if it did. Thus, the Second Vatican Council warned: “They are mistaken who, knowing that we have here no abiding city but seek one which is to come, think that they may therefore shirk their earthly responsibilities. For they are forgetting that by the faith itself they are more obliged than ever to measure up to these duties, each according to his proper vocation. Nor, on the contrary, are they any less wide of the mark who think that religion consists in acts of worship alone and in the discharge of certain moral obligations, and who imagine they can plunge themselves into earthly affairs in such a way as to imply that these are altogether divorced from the religious life. This split between the faith which many profess and their daily lives deserves to be counted among the more serious errors of our age.” [12]
The same Council taught that, while the Church as such has received from Christ “no proper mission in the political, economic or social order,” even so from its explicitly religious mission comes “a light and an energy which can serve to structure and consolidate the human community according to the divine law.” [13]
Over time, the Church has adopted as her own – and adapted to ever changing political and social situations – the ancient philosophical understanding that human beings are social and political by nature, [14] that human beings are naturally intended to live and thrive in close cooperation with others, and that the most developed and fulfilling form of that is our political association as fellow citizens. This political association as citizens with one another provides us with many benefits, which we would not otherwise enjoy. At the same time it also challenges us with serious responsibilities and obligations to one another and to the wider community.
In this traditional understanding, political choices – such as whom or what party to vote for, who should benefit from tax policies, what to spend on and what to cut in the budget, and how to relate to other nations and states in the world community – all such choices are ultimately moral choices that express what we value. Such choices identify whom we care about enough to include (or not), and highlight what kind of nation (and world) we want to be. As Catholics and citizens, we need to be particularly attentive to this dimension of political decision-making. As Catholics and citizens, we need to respond to the challenges of voting and other political choices in a morally serious way that transcends simplistic sloganeering and emotional appeals to narrowly defined secular identities and group interests. As our own American bishops have recently reminded us: “Catholics may choose different ways to respond to compelling social problems, but we cannot differ on our moral obligation to help build a more just and peaceful world through morally acceptable means, so that the weak and vulnerable are protected and human rights and dignity are defended.” [15]
Jeremiah 29:4-7.
Address to the Diplomatic Corps, January 7, 2013
Saint Gregory of Nyssa, “Homily on Ecclesiastes,” Liturgy of the Hours, Tuesday, 7th Week in Ordinary Time.
John 17:15-16.
Matthew 22:20; Mark 12:17.
Philippians 3:20; Romans 13:1-7
Apologetics, 39.
Gaudium et Spes, 75.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2239.
Gaudium et Spes, 43; Cf. Hebrews 13:14;2 Thessalonians 3:6-13; Ephesians 4:28.
Gaudium et Spes, 42
Cf. Aristotle, Politics I, 2
USCCB, Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship(1915), 20.
RESPONSIBLE CITIZENSHIP AND AMERICAN POLITICAL CULTURE
In 1931, James Truslow Adams coined the now familiar term “the American Dream.” All too often, we tend to reduce that image to its material and consumerist components. In its fullest sense, however, that American Dream “is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.” [1]
The first Europeans to settle in the New World were Catholics, who brought their Catholic faith and institutions with them, leaving a strong legacy of Catholic culture throughout this continent. That legacy is currently being highlighted in so many ways by recent generations of Latin American immigrants. They follow earlier generations of European immigrants, who brought a distinct Catholic sensibility to the American experiment, rooted in their own immigrant experience and its challenges.
Already in the 1830s, an astute European observer of American society, Alexis de Tocqueville, noted Catholicism’s capacity to contribute to American democracy, for “it imposes the same observance upon the rich and the needy, it inflicts the same austerities upon the strong and the weak, it listens to no compromise with mortal man, but reducing all the human race to the same standard, it confounds all the distinctions of society at the foot of the same altar, even as they are confounded in the sight of God.” [2]
Later in that same century, Servant of God Isaac Hecker, the founder of the Paulist Fathers, emphasized the moral seriousness of citizenship and its responsibilities. Toward the end of his life, he wrote, that someone “who cannot subject his private interests to the common good is not fit to enjoy American liberty.” [3]
As part of his mission to evangelize America, Isaac Hecker consistently sought to identify important points of contact between the Catholic faith and its understanding of society, on the one hand, and the political culture of the United States, on the other. While humanity’s ultimate fulfillment is always finally to be found in one’s citizenship in the kingdom of God, Hecker recognized the implications of the transcendent requirements of being a citizen of God’s kingdom for the immanent responsibilities of citizenship in society. “We protest, therefore,” Hecker said in one of his most famous sermons, “against the idea of giving the earth over to wretchedness and the world to sin; rather would we indulge the hope, of establishing God’s kingdom here, and laboring earnestly for it.” [4]
Like De Tocqueville and other contemporary thinkers, Hecker was sensitive to the problem posed by the fragmented character of an American society with fragile connections between individuals, and the dilemma of how to create a community capable of uniting individuals consistent with their freedom. In 19th -century Europe, in which the Catholic Church was struggling to survive as an institution against an increasingly hostile political order, the Church sought to counteract growing social fragmentation and to reconnect increasingly isolated individuals into a community by preserving, repairing, or restoring religious bonds. The way it tried to do this was to assert the Church’s claims to authority as vigorously as possible and to insist upon its political and institutional rights in relation to the modern state. In the very different American context, however, Hecker saw a solution in which full Catholic participation in American society and participation in its democratic institutions would positively influence American social and political life.
Thus, in a time of terrible social conflict and political polarization in the United States, Hecker expressed his confidence in what Catholics had to offer America. Already at his very first audience with Blessed Pope Pius IX, on December 22, 1857, in response to the Pope’s concern about factional strife in the United States, “in which parties get each other by the hair,” Hecker confidently replied that “the Catholic truth,” once known, “would come between” parties “and act like oil on troubled waters.” [5]
Hecker’s hope that we act like oil on the troubled waters of a conflicted and polarized society remains relevant for us today. It is a fundamental challenge facing faithful Catholic citizens in this election year – as it always is. Unfortunately, economic trends, social and cultural changes, and changes in family and marriage patterns have all combined to make society and the social bonds that are its glue that much more brittle. Meanwhile, our political polarization and governmental gridlock have made corrective action in the form of effective public policy more and more difficult to achieve. In turn, these trends may further encourage apathy and cynicism on the part of ordinary citizens and increased ideological intensity among the most politically active.
Research has shown how “the mere fact that one party proposes an idea can motivate partisans on the other side to dismiss it.” [6] The moral and public policy consequences of framing political choices in this way are alarming for the future of our society. Hence, this recent warning from the President of the United Sates Conference of Catholic Bishops: “When we fail to see the difference between our enemies and people of good will, we lose a part of who we are as people of faith. Policies of fear and inflammatory rhetoric will only offer extremists fertile soil and pave the way toward a divisive, fearful future.” [7]
This same concern also applies to the moral and political judgments and choices which we make about the wider world beyond our national borders, where we must likewise guard against what Pope Francis has called “the simple reductionism which sees only good or evil; or, if you will, the righteous and sinners.” [8]
At the same time, in the United States today, religious faith itself seems increasingly in danger of being separated from public life and consigned to the parochial realm of personal belief and private spirituality. If what we believe is true, however, then there can be no such separation. Catholics need to be fully engaged in the complex cultural, economic, social, and political questions that our country and our world are facing, bringing to the debate the truth about the human person and human society. As Pope Francis has reminded us, our faith summons us “to overcome suspicion, habitual mistrust, fear of losing our privacy, all the defensive attitudes which today’s world imposes on us.” [9]
More pointedly, Pope Francis has challenged us as a Church “to give a clear answer in the face of the threats that arise within the public debate: this is one of the ways of the specific contribution of believers to the building of the common society. Believers are citizens.” He reminds us, “The nation is not a museum, but a collective work in permanent construction in which the things that differentiate one, including political and religious membership, are to be put in common” [10]
It is, of course, primarily the particular and proper role of lay people to act in the political sphere. “Secular duties and activities belong properly although not exclusively to laymen,” taught the Second Vatican Council. “Let the layman not imagine that his pastors are always such experts, that to every problem which arises, however complicated, they can readily give him a concrete solution, or even that such is their mission. Rather, enlightened by Christian wisdom and giving close attention to the teaching authority of the Church, let the layman take on his own distinctive role.” [11]
Recognizing and respecting this distinction of roles, the Church’s pastors in their role also “have the right to offer opinions in all that affects people’s lives, since the task of evangelization implies and demands the integral promotion of each human being.” [12] It is, after all, the responsibility of the Church’s ministers to share fully with all the faithful the abundant riches of our Catholic teaching and tradition. “Bishops, to whom is assigned the task of ruling the Church of God, should, together with their priests, so preach the news of Christ that all the earthly activities of the faithful will be bathed in the light of the Gospel.”[13] In fact, all the faithful are challenged to “demonstrate that even now the Church by her presence alone and by all the gifts which she contains, is an unspent fountain of those virtues which the modern world needs the most.” [14]
Indeed, our Catholic tradition of reflection on political principles and on social and economic questions and policies represents a profoundly rich storehouse of moral wisdom. We believe that this wisdom fully reflects centuries of human experience and responds to fundamental human needs more comprehensively than contemporary secular ideologies, such as the life-style libertarianism of the extreme Left or the economic libertarianism of the extreme Right.
For this reason, already in the 19th century Isaac Hecker contended: “Make a list of all the honest demands for ameliorations and reforms in man’s social, industrial, and political condition – it will not be a short one – and you will discover that they have their truth in the spirit, and are justified by the teachings and the practice, of the Catholic Church.” [15]
In today’s comparably challenging circumstances, the Bishops of the United States have continued to offer guidance for Catholics in their fulfillment of their political responsibilities as citizens. [16] Through this exercise of their pastoral leadership, they invite us all to “take to heart the urgency of our vocation to live in the service to others through the grace of Christ and ask humbly in prayer for an outpouring of the grace of the Holy Spirit on the United States of America.” [17]
James Truslow Adams, The Epic of America, pp. 214-215.
Democracy in America, p. 356.
“The Human Environments of the Catholic Faith,” CW, July 1886, p. 466.
Sermon, How To Be Happy, 1863, pp. 60-62]
“From a letter to the American Fathers, dated Rome, December 22, 1857,” The Paulist Vocation, p. 46.
Geoffrey L. Cohen, “Party over Policy: The Dominating Impact of Group Influence on Political Beliefs,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 5, (2003), 808-822.
Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, December 14, 2015.
Speech to Joint Session of the Congress of the United States, September 24, 2015.
EG 88.
Pope Francis, Address in Florence, November 11, 2015.
EG, 182.
The Church and the Age,p. 167
Cf. Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship: A Call to Political Responsiibility (2007), revised with “Introductory Note,” (2015)
Faithful Citizenship, Introductory Note
CONSCIENTIOUS CITIZENSHIP AND PRUDENTIAL JUDGMENT
Jesus in the Gospels repeatedly challenged his disciples to understand that saying “Yes” to God may mean saying “No” to certain other options. The long list of the Church’s martyrs testifies to God’s uncompromisingly absolute claim on our consciences – in the face of any and all competing secular claims. Certainly, some things are simply wrong – “in and of themselves … by reason of their object.” [1] As Pope Francis recently reminded the United Nations General Assembly: “The defense of the environment and the fight against exclusion demand that we recognize a moral law written into human nature itself, one which includes the natural difference between man and woman, and absolute respect for life in all stages and dimensions.” [2]
Within what legitimately “belongs to Caesar,” however, within civil society’s legitimately large sphere of action and responsibility, it is more often than not a matter of trying to approximate what will work best in specific circumstances. The ordinary dynamics of politics and economics have not been repealed by the Gospel, which does not try to tell us precisely which policies will produce a more prosperous economy or a more stable and secure international balance of power. But the Gospel does invite us to a life of authentic faith, from which certain principles follow. Even then, when it comes to practical judgments of policy and their implementation in legislation, we often have to figure things out, as best we can as citizens or lawmakers, using the best human knowledge we have at our disposal. And, because we are human and our human wisdom is limited, we may make mistakes. For this reason, when it comes to making practical policy judgments, reasonable, morally sincere people, applying the same general principles, may well come to different but comparably compelling conclusions.
In practice, therefore, “Decisions about political life are complex and require the exercise of a well-formed conscience aided by prudence.” [3]
A Well-Formed Conscience
“Laymen should also know that it is generally the function of their well-formed Christian conscience to see that the divine law is inscribed in the life of the earthly city; from priests they may look for spiritual light and nourishment.” [4]
Conscience is defined as “a judgment of reason whereby the human person recognizes the moral quality of a concrete act.” [5] According to the moral law written in our hearts, [6] conscience properly challenges us to do good and to avoid evil. [7] Blessed John Henry Newman, one of the patrons of the Paulist Fathers, famously called conscience “the aboriginal Vicar of Christ.” [8]
In order for our conscience to function effectively in guiding us in making moral judgments, developing a well-formed conscience becomes a serious human and religious responsibility. What does it mean to have a well-formed conscience? “A well-formed conscience is upright and truthful. It formulates its judgments according to reason, in conformity with the true good willed by the wisdom of the Creator. The education of conscience is indispensable for human beings who are subjected to negative influences and tempted by sin to prefer their own judgment and to reject authoritative teachings.” [9]
Ignorance is a serious obstacle to the correct formation of conscience – both ignorance of fundamental moral principles and ignorance of the realities regarding which decisions must be made. Faithful discipleship and responsible citizenship challenge us to honest study and prayerful discernment of political issues in the light of authentic Catholic moral principles and the data which actual human experience provides.
This is especially challenging when the character of our political debate itself seems sometimes to do little to encourage a conscientious engagement with moral principles or even with the relevant facts of actual human experience. Sometimes, “issues are exploited by a rhetoric which cheapens them.” [10] We live, Pope Francis has sadly warned us, “in an information-driven society which bombards us indiscriminately with data – all treated as being of equal importance – and which lead to remarkable superficiality in the area of moral discernment.” [11] Hence, the heightened importance of strengthening our capacity for morally serious political analysis, which will enable us to form morally and politically sound judgments as citizens and make wise choices as voters, fully recognizing what is at stake.
What we need, Pope Francis has stressed, are “more politicians capable of sincere and effective dialogue aimed at healing the deepest roots – and not simply the appearances – of the evils in our world! Politics, though often denigrated, remains a lofty vocation and one of the highest forms of charity, inasmuch as it seeks the common good.” [12]
To achieve such a politics requires conscientious citizens, formed in the virtue of prudence.
Aided by Prudence
As the Second Vatican Council reminded us, we must “recognize and understand the world in which we live, its explanations, its longings, and its often dramatic characteristics.”[13] To do so calls for the virtue of prudence, which Saint Thomas Aquinas defined as “wisdom concerning human affairs” or “right reason with respect to action.”[14] Prudence is a moral virtue (one of the four classical cardinal virtues) that concerns all aspects of practical human life.[15] Prudence enables us “to discern our true good in every circumstance and to choose the right means of achieving it.”[16] Aided by prudence, citizens are called to exercise a well-formed conscience to make practical political judgments – to apply moral principles to particular policy choices and to our choices among political candidates.
Political judgments – whether about particular policies or about political candidates – are rarely opportunities to implement the ideal or perfect alternative. Politics and policy-making are widely and rightly recognized as “the art of the possible.” The policy preferences we adopt as citizens and the political choices we make as voters will most often reflect this limited, practical dimension. This side of utopia, policy-making is most often incremental. Our political actions, choices, and decisions must likewise reflect this fundamental limitation. That is why “incremental improvements in the law are acceptable as steps toward the full restoration of justice.”[17]
Political parties and partisan activity are an inevitable part of political life in a free and pluralistic society. As such they can contribute significantly to the effective functioning of social and political institutions. As citizens, Catholics may choose to identify with a particular political party and to engage in overtly partisan activity, but no political party or program will ever produce perfect justice. For that reason, the Church and its representatives must always be cautious in how they evaluate partisan political claims and should avoid being manipulated by one party or another on sensitive issues. Pastors and preachers in particular must be vigilant not to let themselves be co-opted by political parties and their partisan language, something that contradicts the pastoral character of their office and ultimately diminishes the efficacy of their ministry and the credibility of the Church as an authentic spokesman for the well-being of all people – rich and poor, old and young, healthy and sick, citizens and non-citizens.
Finally, Catholics “must recognize the legitimacy of different opinions with regard to temporal solutions, and respect citizens, who, even as a group, defend their points of view by honest methods. Political parties, for their part, must promote those things which in their judgement are required for the common good; it is never allowable to give their interests priority over the common good.” [18]
CCC, 1756.
UN Address, September 25, 2015.
Faithful Citizenship, 31.
Cf. Romans 2:14-16.
“Letter to the Duke of Norfolk,” V, in Certain Difficulties felt by Anglicans in Catholic TeachingII (London: Longmans Green, 1885), 248.
Evangelii Gaudium,203.
Evangelii Gaudium, 64.
Evangelii Gaudium, 205.
Gaudium et Spes, 4.
Summa TheologiaeIIa IIae 47, 2 ad 1, and 47, 4.
Summa TheologiaeIIa IIae 47, 2 c.
Gaudium et Spes,75.
SOLIDARITY, THE COMMON GOOD, AND THE CARE FOR OUR COMMON HOME
As Saint John Paul II reminded us almost 30 years ago, Catholic social teaching is constant “in its fundamental inspiration, in its ‘principles of reflection,’ in its ‘criteria of judgment,’ in its basic ‘directives for action,’ and above all in its vital link with the Gospel of the Lord.” But it is also “ever new, because it is subject to the necessary and opportune adaptations suggested by the changes in historical conditions and by the unceasing flow of the events which are the setting of the life of people and society.”[1] In the day-to-day world of social and political life, especially in this era of almost unprecedented dramatic social and cultural change, new issues will surface and old issues will re-surface requiring re-examination in the light of altered circumstances. While the fundamental moral principles underlying one’s conscientious response to these issues always remain constant, the virtue of prudence directs us to evaluate and respond to new issues and changed circumstances in an engaged and dynamic way.
As it has developed over the centuries, Catholic social teaching has highlighted several fundamental moral principles that constitute its very heart and are all critical for our political life.[2] Among these constant principles are the principles of solidarity and the common good, which – without excluding any of the other fundamental moral principles of the Church’s social teaching – seem especially relevant right now in the context of our contemporary national and international circumstances and the corresponding issues that arise in our current political debates. Related to these foundational moral principles, we also need to consider the care for our common home, so emphasized by Pope Francis in his recent encyclical Laudato Si’. This principle of the care for our common home represents a specific application and significant development of those fundamental principles in the changed historical conditions which the human race is experiencing throughout the entire world in this 21st century.
In clear contrast to the biblical and classical conceptions of solidarity that have been and remain at the heart of Catholic social teaching, the United States and other modern western democratic societies have, in varying degrees, tended to take the individual as the starting point for discussion. This has led to “the individualism of our postmodern and globalized era,” which Pope Francis has so strenuously warned against. [3]
In our increasingly privatized, individualistic culture, the very basis for and the extent of shared social bonds and political obligations to society may seem problematic to many. Thus, contemporary debates about the size and scope of government, about paying taxes to promote the common good, and about the legitimacy of economic regulations to protect the environment and manage climate change – and the fundamental concerns underlying such debates about protecting and prioritizing personal and individual rights – all reflect this very modern individualistic philosophical premise.
In contrast, the biblical story highlights the essential solidarity of the human race in many ways, beginning with its accounts of creation itself. Catholic social teaching reminds us, for example, how in the beginning God entrusted the earth and its resources to the common stewardship of humankind, how this “universal destination of goods remains primordial and that the right to private property “does not do away with the original gift of the earth” to all. [4] It further follows from this, for example, that private property is rightly regulated by political authority “for the sake of the common good.” [5] As the medieval author of The Imitation of Christ famously observed, whoever “seeks to have private possessions loses the things that are common.”[6]
Catholic social teaching in the modern era has continued to remind the world of this fundamental human solidarity in its emphasis on the common good, understood as “the sum total of social conditions which allow people, either as groups or as individuals, to reach their fulfillment more fully and more easily.”[7] Pope Francis has described “the tireless and demanding pursuit of the common good” as “the chief aim of all politics.”[8] Promoting the common good of all is the proper responsibility of government at all levels – local, state, and federal – and must, therefore, be uppermost in political decision-making, starting with the individual citizen’s fundamental decision to vote and whom to vote for. “For by his innermost nature man is a social being, and unless he relates himself to others he can neither live nor develop his potential.” [9]
Solidarity is, thus, “not a feeling of vague compassion or shallow distress at the misfortunes of so many people, both near and far. On the contrary, it is a firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good; that is to say to the good of all and of each individual, because we are all really responsible for all.” [10]
Nor is solidarity as a principle of political judgment to be confined solely within the borders and limits of our own society and country. “The same criterion is applied by analogy in international relationships. Interdependence must be transformed into solidarity, based upon the principle that the goods of creation are meant for all.” [11]
Of course, nations have always had to deal with one another, and conscientious citizens and statesmen have always had to take international issues as well as domestic political considerations into account. The world wars and global crises of the 20th century demonstrated the impossibility of isolationism as a national policy. One of the defining characteristics of our contemporary world, moreover, is how much more interconnected than ever human beings have become all over the world and how 21st-century political decision-making must reflect that interdependence. This reality, of which we are now so especially conscious because of the international crises created by such contemporary concerns as climate change and the across-border movements of refugees and migrants, was already recognized by Vatican II over 50 years ago: “The destiny of the human community has become all of a piece, where once the various groups of men had a kind of private history of their own.” [12]
More recently, Pope Francis has stressed this point as one of the principal concerns of his pontificate: “As creatures endowed with inalienable dignity, we are related to all our brothers and sisters, for whom we are responsible and with whom we act in solidarity. Lacking this relationship, we would be less human. We see, then, how indifference represents a menace to the human family.” [13]
Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, 2.
Cf., Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 160.
Evangelii Gaudium,67.
CCC 2402-2403; cf. Genesis 1:26-29; Gaudium et Spes,69, 1.
CCC 2406; cf. Vatican II, Gaudium et Spes,71 § 4; Saint John Paul II, Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, 42; Centessimus Annus 40; 48.
III, 13.
Gaudium et Spes,26 § 1; 74 § 1.
Saint John Paul II, Sollicitudo Rei Socialis,38.
Gaudium et Spes,5.
Message for 49thWorld Day of Prayer for Peace, January 1, 2016
During his historic visit to the United States last year, Pope Francis became the first Pope ever to address a Joint Session of Congress. Although our elected representatives were his immediate audience, the Pope explicitly stated that he was speaking through them to “the entire people of the United States.” [1] As citizens, we should take that as a fitting reminder that our representatives are there only because we have empowered them, and that our government’s policies are ultimately our policies, for which we as citizens all share moral responsibility. As another national election approaches, we have both the opportunity and the duty to exercise our responsibility as citizens to contribute to our ongoing political debate and participate in shaping a humanly fulfilling future for our country and for the world. In this election year, may every conscientiously arrived at prudential judgment that we make about competing candidates, political parties, and public policies be “an expression of our compelling need to live as one, in order to build as the greatest common good: that of a community which sacrifices particular interests in order to share, in justice and peace, its goods, its interests, its social life.” [2]
May we all respond faithfully to this perennial challenge to live out our responsibilities as conscientious Catholic citizens and so fulfill Isaac Hecker’s hope that the resources of our Catholic faith and the wisdom of Catholic truth may “act like oil on troubled waters” for our country and our entire world.
Speech to Joint Session of the Congress of the United States, September 24, 2015
QUESTIONS FOR INDIVIDUAL REFLECTION AND GROUP DISCUSSION
1. Do I vote regularly? Do I consider it my duty to do so? Why?
2. Do I identify with a particular political party? Has my party allegiance been lifelong or has it changed over time? Why?
3. What issues in the current campaign concern me most? How does my Catholic faith and experience affect my judgments about those issues?
4. What issues in public life does my Catholic faith highlight for me that I feel the current campaign is neglecting?
5. How do my political beliefs, values, and preferences relate to Catholic language about solidarity, the common good, and care for our common home? Do I consider these Catholic principles relevant and helpful fo my own political decision-making?
6. Without endorsing particular candidates, what political issues would I like to hear my parish priests, my bishop, and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops speak more about? How would their guidance assist me in my own thinking about such issues?
VERY REV. ERIC ANDREWS, C.S.P., President
The Paulist Fathers
M. 295-7204
paulist.org
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Home » Uncategories » places to see in singapore
places to see in singapore - Best Place to Travel
if construction costs are a traveler’s bag, then they’ll delight in seeing the marina bay sands , a resort that cost us$5.7 billion to build, making it the world’s most expensive building when it opened in 2010. the marina bay sands is an integrated resort that has it all: a luxury hotel, restaurants, an endless collection of shops, a convention center that is one of the largest in asia, theater , an artscience museum and other entertainment centers. it also has an indoor skating rink made with synthetic ice.
places to see in singapore, the singapore flyer is a giant ferris wheel, only with benefits, that only start with the stunning views below . cars hold up to 28 people as they circle above the city. when it opened in 2008, it was the highest ferris wheel in the world, reaching 165 meters (541 feet) up into the singaporean sky
with advance notice, the flyer can accommodate disabled guests in wheelchairs located on marina bay, the flyer’s terminal has three floors of restaurants, shops and other services. the chinese build temples to a lot of gods and other things, but the buddha tooth relic temple is one of the more unusual. in the late 1980s when a buddhist temple was first proposed for singapore’s chinatown, , it was supposed to become a more traditional temple. somewhere along the line it became the tooth relic temple, a home for a tooth relic from buddha. the temple, located in central chinatown, also features other arts and culture of singaporean buddhists. travelers who enjoy nightlife but are tired of the club scene should head over to night safari where nocturnal, not party, animals are on display
since it opened in 1984, it is one of singapore’s top attractions, with more than one million people annually enjoying a tram ride through seven of the world’s geographic regions. travelers on a budget will appreciate the singapore botanic gardens as most of the gardens are free; there is only a charge for the national orchid garden, the most visited section of the garden. the garden contains more than 60,000 species of plants and animals, and is home to the world’s first children’s garden. past visitors rave about the tropical greenery of the gardens. gardens by the bay is a recent addition to singapore’s tourist attractions, but is one that gardeners won’t want to miss visiting. open less than a decade, gardens by the bay is built on reclaimed land in central singapore. it consists of three gardens: bay central, a garden with a waterfront walk that will eventually
connect the other two gardens; bay east, which is opening in phases as sections are completed, and bay south, the largest garden, which showcases tropical horticulture and includes tree-like structures up to 50 meters (160 feet) high that dominate the gardens’ landscape. raffles hotel, with its graceful colonial style, is the face of singapore. since it opened in 1887, it quickly became the place to stay in singapore, with writers rudyard kipling, somerset maugham and ernest hemingway, among others, adding to its fame. this epitome of luxury boasts 15 restaurants and bars, including the long bar where the cocktail singapore sling was invented. the raffles hotel is legendary the world over, down to the uniformed sikh doormen who introduce guests to this bit of southeast asian history. the
lobby of the main building is open to the public while the hotel museum is hidden away on the 3rd floor. clarke quay is another part of singapore’s past that is still a happening place today. one of the key tourist attractions in singapore, the quay, at the mouth of the singapore river, was the city’s hub of commerce in the late 19th century. it still hustles and bustles today, but with a different kind of commerce: trendy restaurants, unique boutiques, pushcart vendors and more, all of which blend asian and european influences. once a market, always a market, except at night when clarke quay teems with chic nightspots. resorts world sentosa is a singaporean destination unto itself. located on an island off singapore’s south coast, the property features hotels, restaurants, a casino, theme parks – in short, something for everyone no matter how old they are.
with this location, attractions obviously center around the sea: marine life park, dolphin island, a water park and an aquarium. other attractions include universal studios singapore and nightly entertainment. the casino offers a variety of table games sand 2,400 slot machines; be forewarned, it does enforce a dress code. the resort offers more than 60 dining options for hungry guests. orchard road is the main shopping street of singapore, regularly frequented by the locals as well as foreign tourists. named after the fruit orchards that the road led to, orchard road is flanked by malls, numerous upmarket restaurants, coffee chains, cafã©s, nightclubs and hotels. it is also the site of the official residence of the president of singapore, the istana. the christmas decorations along orchard are famous and entirely over the top
, with reindeers cavorting through palm trees and gingerbread houses topped with fake snow.
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Home › Live Reviews › Augustines – Live In The Round: at Camden Roundhouse
Augustines – Live In The Round: at Camden Roundhouse
By Every Record Tells A Story on December 9, 2014 • ( 3 )
When Augustines play live you witness not so much a rock show as a rock revival. Like indie-Narnian-lions, the band breathe life into the the stone-cold Camden Roundhouse, converting a freezing December audience into the hippest looking bunch of Southern Baptists you will ever see.
Lead vocalist William McCarthy wears his heart on his sleeve. His troubled background can explain why he sings with such release. He was born to a mother with drug problems. He spent his formative years in a number of foster homes. His mother fatally overdosed when he was 19. His brother suffered from mental health issues but was jailed, and took his own life in 2009.
But if you think this translates into a gloomy show, then think again….
McCarthy sang of his life in We Are Augustines’ debut album, “Rise Ye Sunken Ships”. After a series of live performances that enhanced the band’s reputation word spread and the venues grew bigger. A follow up LP released in January this year dropped the “We Are” and was simply entitled “Augustines”.
Having endured such sadness in his life, it is clear that McCarthy, alongside fellow band members Eric Sanderson, and drummer (and Londoner) Rob Allen has chosen not to wallow in the pain but to seek release from it. It is the same approach to that of an evangelical preacher and this is why Augustines’ music is cathartic and joyful instead of being gloomy and inward-looking. Reach out and touch faith…
But faith is not always enough. This is the last show of the year and of the tour. Although the first thing that strikes the listener is the quality and power of McCarthy’s voice, he confesses to having had “a needle up my ass” to get him through the show. “I don’t care if I lose my voice in London” he says, “it’s a good place to leave it…”
That’s a great line, isn’t it?
The set (which is being recorded for a film) begins with “Headlong into the Abyss” and builds slowly. “Waiting on the Stairs”, from McCarthy and Sanderson’s previous band Pela makes an appearance. But Augustines have made their name from making the most of a venue and aren’t content to stay onstage. Sanderson jumps into the front rows of the crowd, then the band assemble at the back of the Roundhouse’s balcony to play “The Avenue”, followed by a thumping “Book of James” back onstage which almost winds the first three rows with its power.
The highlight of the set however is when the band play in the centre of the Roundhouse, surely a venue made like no other for such a thing, with acoustic guitars in hand, and a glass of whisky in McCarthy’s. “Weary Eyes” kicks off a few numbers played with the band surrounded by the faithful. A cover of Toots and the Maytals’ “Pressure Drop” gets the crowd dancing. “New Drink For The Old Drunk” gets us singing.
Yet despite a tour that has sent audiences across the world into rapture, McCarthy remains insecure and vulnerable. “I always think someone’s going to take it away” he confesses, visibly welling up onstage as the audience applaud, “it’s just me, I know…it’s just….we’ve worked so hard…”
Augustines are a band that bring joy onstage with them each night. McCarthy is a fascinating character. Part showman, part rock n roll Pagliacci. You don’t often see such raw emotion onstage. I hope he can take it, because he’s one of a kind, and Augustines are a band you’ll want to see again and again…
I don’t normally do this, but here’s a video clip of the band in the middle of the Camden Roundhouse crowd, singing along with their acoustic guitars. If you couldn’t make the gig tonight – if you were stuck in Leeds or the USA or wherever, then here’s a clip of what it was like….
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Categories: Live Reviews
Tags: Augustines, Billy McCarthy, Camden Roundhouse, review, We Are, William McCarthy
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travellingmo
Wish I was there! I have you to thank for getting me into these guys 🙂
You are very welcome – glad I have spread the word!
Year of Augustines – Monday December 8th at The Roundhouse | Eileen's Blog
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Code red! The Constitution is burning.
Larry Kummer, Editor America 5 August 2010 27 March 2015
Summary: On 4 July 2006 this website forecast the death of the Constitution. Depending on the verdict of our Courts and the success of our assassins, future historians might say the second American republic died this year. You’ll miss the Constitution when it’s dead (most of you). Not tomorrow, or next year. But eventually. How will you explain this time to your children or grandchildren?
Excerpt from the motion to the Court
How did we get to this point?
Other posts about our Constitution
Afterword and contact information
(1) What’s at stake
The events since 9/11 may have provided the spark to burn the dry remnants of our Constitution (if so, 9/11 may have been the most effective single military operation in the history of the world). Since we’ve seen a series of events, each more astonishing and unprecedented than the previous. Now Obama — called a radical leftist by deranged Republicans — sends his lawyers into Court into extending Bush Jr’s assumption of powers to its logical conclusion, arguing that …
the Executive branch can condemn to death and execute a US citizen without prosecution or trial, without public notice, and
a Citizen’s right to legal representation depends on the approval of government officials, who can deny it without explanation or appeal.
There are no extraordinary circumstances here. No ticking bomb. No killing on the battlefield, by him or us. Our government asserts the right to condemn and execute citizens as it sees fit.
Should the Courts concur, then this precedent will mark the death of the Constitution. Our other rights mean nothing when the government can deny the right to legal representation — without which our Courts are useless to the average citizen — and execution without any public (let alone judical) review. Habeas corpus, the primary right, becomes meaningless. We will have less rights than Brits before the infamous Star Chamber (Wikipedia). In better days Justice Stewart delivered the opinion of the Supreme Court that “the Star Chamber has for centuries symbolized disregard of basic individual rights” (source). What’s at stake here?
Should the Courts approve this, we will have passed an milestone. Our legal system, our highly educated and mostly well-meaning judges and attorneys, will have become links in our chains. From a historian’s perspective, their important function being writing briefs justifying government secrecy, arbitrary search and seizure, torture, and execution.
The republic’s buildings will remain standing. Congress and the Courts meet as usual. Much as Rome’s Senate still met and talked during the Principate days of the Roman Empire (Wikipedia). Eventually a President might nominate a horse to the Supreme Court, to end the farce.
No historical event is irreversible. Events are significant primarily as markers, showing the condition of a people. The event does not destroy the Republic, it shows that our unworthiness to inherit the Republic. Our incapacity to carry the burden of self-government. Our fitness as sheep.
If this happens, we can expect interesting times ahead. Who will rule us? The Roman Republic ended badly, a series of wars deciding who would establish the new political regime. Rome’s people got to choose which tyrant to follow, to die for.
For background about the Presidential authority to assassinate US citizens, see Another nail put in the Constitution’s coffin, but we don’t care. There is no discussion here of the specifics. Guilty or innocent, it’s not the Executive’s job to act as prosecutor, judge, jury, and executioner.
Update from Glenn Greenwald:
Politico‘s Josh Gerstein reports that the administration has magnanimously deigned to grant permission to the ACLU and CCR to represent Awlaki’s father (and Awlaki’s interests). The primary effects of this decision are two-fold: it
moots the ACLU/CCR’s legal challenge to the administration’s licensing scheme, thus enabling them to avoid this legal challenge (and thus continue to wield this asserted power until someone else challenges its legality), and
ensures that the ACLU and CCR will now promptly file the lawsuit seeking to enjoin the administration from killing Awlaki without criminal charges or any other due process of any kind.
Gerstein is a good reporter and his article on the administration’s response to this lawsuit is worth reading.
Update: Bernard Finel (American Security Project) discusses this at “An Appalling Threat to Civil Liberties and Democracy“.
(2) Excerpt
From the Motion for a temporary restraining order filed by attorneys of the American Civil Liberties Union and Center for Constitutional Rights, 3 August 2010. Red emphasis added. This describes madness, something from plays by Kafka. Or from Solzhenitsyn’s stories about life in the Soviet Union.
This case challenges the legality of a regulatory scheme that requires attorneys to seek permission from the government before providing uncompensated legal representation to or for the benefit of individuals whom the government has designated as terrorists. In this case, the effect of the scheme may be to deny legal representation to a United States citizen whom the government is attempting to kill without any legal process.
On July 7, 2010, Plaintiffs American Civil Liberties Union Foundation (ACLU) and the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) were retained by Nasser al-Aulaqi to provide uncompensated legal representation in connection with the government’s reported decision to add his son, U.S. citizen Anwar al-Aulaqi, to its list of suspected terrorists approved for “targeted killing.” According to published reports, Anwar al- Aulaqi has already been the target of several unsuccessful drone strikes, and both the CIA and the U.S. military are actively attempting to kill him.
… On July 16, 2010, the Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC), a division of the Department of the Treasury, labeled Mr. Aulaqi a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist” (SDGT). As a consequence of that designation and regulations promulgated by OFAC, Mr. Aulaqi’s assets have been blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in any transactions with him or for his benefit under threat of criminal sanction. OFAC’s regulations make it illegal for attorneys to provide “legal services” to or for the benefit of a blocked individual in Aulaqi’s circumstances without a license from OFAC. Unless the government grants the ACLU and CCR a specific license, OFAC’s regulations make it a criminal offense for ACLU and CCR attorneys to file a lawsuit on Mr. Aulaqi’s father’s behalf seeking to protect the constitutional rights of his U.S. citizen son. In other words, under the regulations at issue in this case, the same government that is seeking to kill Anwar al- Aulaqi has prohibited attorneys from contesting the legality of the government’s decision to use lethal force against him.
Pursuant to this regulatory scheme, on July 23, 2010 Plaintiffs ACLU and CCR submitted to OFAC an application for a license to provide uncompensated legal representation to Nasser al-Aulaqi as representative of the interests of his son, Anwar al- Aulaqi, who remains in hiding. Plaintiffs emphasized that the application was extremely urgent because of the nature of the action planned by the government against Mr. Aulaqi, and they requested that the license be issued immediately. Nonetheless, more than ten days have now elapsed, and defendants have not granted the requested license.
Plaintiffs bring this action challenging the legality and constitutionality of the regulatory and licensing scheme as applied to attorneys seeking to provide uncompensated legal representation. As an initial matter, OFAC has exceeded its statutory authority by promulgating regulations that purport to prohibit a U.S. citizen or a person acting on his behalf or in his interest from retaining even uncompensated lawyers to assert legal rights; no plausible reading of the relevant statute evinces a congressional intent to regulate non-economic activity of this nature. Even if this Court were to conclude that the regulations at issue are not ultra vires, those regulations are unconstitutional insofar as they condition the provision of uncompensated legal services on the acquiescence of the very government that the designated citizen and his attorneys are seeking to sue.
Body of the motion
… As the court of appeals recognized in AAC, individuals have a right under the First Amendment and the Due Process Clause to associate with counsel and to be represented by counsel in court. “[I]n our complex, highly adversarial legal system, an individual . . . may in fact be denied the most fundamental elements of justice without prompt access to counsel.”
… In addition, OFAC’s regulations also raise exceptionally serious separation-of-powers issues. Because a lawsuit cannot be filed for the benefit of Mr. Aulaqi without an OFAC license, OFAC’s regulations have the effect of giving the executive branch effective veto power over a citizen’s right to go to court to challenge executive branch conduct. The notion that the government can compel a citizen to seek its permission before challenging the constitutionality of its actions in court is wholly foreign to our constitutional system. … In this case, OFAC’s restrictions are particularly severe: they prevent designated individuals, including Mr. Aulaqi, from vindicating their rights in court without the express permission of the U.S. government.
… The regulatory scheme at issue here provides none of the safeguards that Freedman requires – indeed it provides no procedural safeguards at all. It specifies no time period within which OFAC must respond to a license application. … If an application is denied – or constructively denied, as in this case – the applicant bears the burden of initiating judicial review, as Plaintiffs have had to do in the instant case.
… The regulatory regime at issue here does not constrain the discretion of OFAC – let alone with narrow, objective, and definite standards. In fact the regulatory regime sets out no standards at all to govern OFAC’s consideration of license applications. Nothing in the statute, the Executive Order, or the SDGT regulations forecloses OFAC from granting licenses to favored attorneys and denying them to disfavored ones; from responding expeditiously to favored attorneys and leisurely to disfavored ones; or from granting licenses in run-of-the-mill cases but denying them in politically controversial ones. And nothing prevents the government from using the licensing scheme as a means of insulating its own policies and conduct from judicial review. The regulatory regime violates the First Amendment by investing OFAC with unbridled discretion.
… OFAC’s regulations are preventing Plaintiffs from providing legal services for the benefit of a U.S. citizen against the government’s decision to kill him without due process.
(3) How did we get to this point?
See the comments at the Volokh Conspiracy website article “Targeting of US Citizen“, 7 April 2010. Not much support there for a government of laws. Lots of fear, blood-lust, rage. These are 3 of the first 5.
Parable_of_the_rich_man says: I’ll save everybody the trouble. Just tell me where he is. The lowlife traitor is |NO AMERICAN in my eyes.
John says: So long as each and every Hellfire has the Miranda warning imprinted on it I see no problem.
ShelbyC says: The reliance on proximity to a battlefield strikes me as odd. Isn’t wherever the exec chooses to engage an enemy combattant a battlefield?
What degree of tyranny will these people accept? All the way, I suspect. Perhaps they see themselves as guard dogs for the emperor. Or vicariously thrill to his power.
(4) Posts about the Constitution and our government
Forecast: Death of the American Constitution, 4 July 2006
The Constitution: wonderful, if we can keep it, 15 February 2008
Congress shows us how our new government works, 14 April 2008
See the last glimmers of the Constitution’s life…, 27 June 2008
Remembering what we have lost… thoughts while looking at the embers of the Constitution, 29 June 2008
A report card for the Republic: are we still capable of self-government?, 3 July 2008
Another step away from our Constitutional system, with applause, 19 September 2008
What comes after the Constitution? Can we see the outlines of the “Mark 3″ version?, 10 November 2008
Are Americans still willing to bear the burden of self-government?, 27 March 2009
“Lights, Camera, Democracy” by Lewis Lapham, 24 May 2009
“The Constitution that I interpret and apply is not living, but dead.” – Supreme Court Justice Scalia, 9 June 2009
More about the tottering structure of the American political regime, 17 August 2009
Listen to the crowds cheering Sarah Palin, hear the hammerblows of another nail in the Constitution’s coffin, 8 February 2010
Another nail put in the Constitution’s coffin, but we don’t care, 9 February 2010
Does the US government have the American people’s consent to govern?, 10 March 2010
Recommended reading about the Constitution, 17 March 2010
Another step towards fascism: “Silencing the Lawyers”, 31 May 2010
The Feds decide who to lock up for life (not just at Guantanamo), another nail in the Constitution’s coffin, 2 June 2010
The President’s big stick (domestic): his National Emergency Powers, 12 June 2010
(5) Afterword and contact info
For more about this website, see the About the FM website page.
You can subscribe to receive posts by email; see the box on the upper right.
Contact us (WordPress keeps your contact information confidential):
star chamber
Published 5 August 2010 27 March 2015
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Origins of Hospitals and Schools of Higher Learning
Many hospitals and universities too were indeed founded by churches, religious orders and individual Christians.
If youʼre making a distinction between founded on and founded by Iʼd be curious to see it. You can find hospitals founded by non-Christian institutions or individuals but a large number owe their existence to the aforementioned Christian associations and individuals. Itʼs a historic fact.
I read Edʼs article and donʼt see a contradiction between it and what I wrote. There are hospitals in other parts of the world and other cultures had their own means of healthcare. He contends that “hospitals as we know them were an innovation of Christianity.” The operative phrase being “as we know them.” Stephen is probably right but I expect heʼll weigh in himself on this. — Paul
Article in Dispute, History of Hospitals
Ed: Paul, I would like to add something to what you wrote above concerning “the origin of universities,” since you have added that to the topic of the origin of hospitals. Please read the quotations below, from recognized scholars. The early Christian church under the Christianized Emperors let languish and helped destroy the greatest library known to the ancient world. It associated “Satanʼs influence” with great works of pagan genius. It threatened people with hell for reading “pagan” books, it closed the schools of the ancient pagan scientists and doctors and mathematicians (Ramsay McMullen, cited often below, is a well known and well respected professor of history concerning this particular time period and has written copiously about it):
[During the reign of Christian Emperor Theodosius] bands of wandering monks attacked synagogues, pagan temples, hereticsʼ meeting places, and the homes of wealthy non-believers in Mesopotamia, Syria, Egypt, Palestine, and North Africa. [Also during his reign] the bishop of Alexandria incited local vigilantes to destroy the Temple of Serapis [also known as the Serapeum], one of the largest and most beautiful builds in the ancient world that also housed a library donated by Cleopatra. Alexandrian Christians whipped up by Bishop Cyril rioted against the Jews in 415, and then murdered Hypatia, a wise and beloved Platonic philosopher.
- Richard E. Rubenstein, When Jesus Became God: The Epic Fight Over Christʼs Divinity in the Last Days of Rome, p.226-227
Art, philosophy, literature, the very psychology of Western man, all suffered by the victory of the [Christian] bishops.
- John Holland Smith, The Death of Classical Paganism
The Christian zealots for conversion took to the streets or criss-crossed the countryside, destroying no doubt more of the architectural and artistic treasure of their world than any passing barbarians thereafter.
- Ramsay MacMullen, Christianizing the Roman Empire
Examples of destroyed Temples: the Sanctuary of Aesculap in Aegaea, the Temple of Aphrodite in Golgatha, Aphaka in Lebanon, the Heliopolis. Christian priests such as Mark of Arethusa or Cyrill of Heliopolis were famous as “temple destroyers.”
In the early fourth century the philosopher Sopatros was executed on demand of Christian authorities.
In the sixth century pagans were declared void of all rights.
- K. Deschner, Abermals krähte der Hahn, (Stuttgart 1962), p. 466, 468
Pagans had not been clear or unanimous in their belief in an afterlife, but those who credited it looked to mystery cults for insurance in their future. Christians were much more positive. The Christians united ritual and philosophy and brought the certainty of God and history to questions whose answers eluded the pagan schools. Whereas pagan cults won adherents, Christianity aimed, and contrived, to win converts.
Paganism was reclassified as a demonic system. If Satan was the source of error and evil, false teaching and wrongdoing were not merely mistaken: they were diabolic. The division between a Christian “community of goodness” and an “outer world of evil” could easily become too pronounced. The idea of Satan magnified the difference between “true” and “false” Christians and between Christian sinners and saints.
Like Satan, the Last Judgment was a force that Christians exaggerated and then claimed to be able to defeat. This teaching was reinforced by an equally powerful ally, the Christian idea of sin. Sin was not just the sin of an action, or even an intention, but also the sin of a thought, even a passing interest in an appealing man or woman. This combination of rarefied sin and eternal punishment was supported, as we shall see, by books of vision and revelation that were probably more widely read than modern contempt for “pseudepigraphic” forgeries allows: acquaintance with the Apocalypse of “Peter” would make anyone think twice before leaving the Church (we happen to know that “Peterʼs vision of hell” was still read as a holy text in the churches in Palestine on Good Friday during the fifth century). If fears for Eternity brought converts to the faith, one suspects that they did even more to keep existing converts in it.
- Robin Lane Fox, Pagans and Christians (Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York, 1987), p. 326-327, 330-331, 412
Institutions of higher learning had been largely destroyed. The [Christian] emperorsʼ attacks had centered on the chief of them, Athens and Alexandria, in the late fourth century and were turned against them again toward the end of the fifth and in 529 [the year that the School of Athens was closed by the decree of the Christian Roman Emperor Justinian.
— E.T.B.].
As to the initiators of the persecution, the [Christian] emperors themselves, a steady decline in their level of cultivation has been noticed. Thus books and philosophy were bound to fade from sight.
After Constantine there existed an empire-wide instrument of education: the church. What bishops, even emperors, made plain, and what could be heard in broader terms from every pulpit, was an agreed upon teaching. Every witness, every listener should know the great danger to his soul in Platoʼs books, in Aristotleʼs, in any of the philosophical corpus handed down from the past. The same danger threatened anyone using his mind according to their manner, with analytical intent, ranging widely for the materials of understanding, and independent of divine imparted teachings.
Another factor that arose specifically out of the ongoing conversion of the empire was the doctrine of demonic causation. The belief in the operation of maleficent forces on a large scale had to await Christianity; and it was of course Christianity that was to form the medieval and Byzantine world.
Satanic agents were to be seen as the cause not only of wars and rebellions, persecution and heresy, storms at sea and earthquakes on land, but of a host of minor or major personal afflictions. So, in consequence, Christians were forever crossing themselves, whatever new action they set about, and painted crosses on their foreheads too, responding to their leadersʼ urging them to do so. It would protect them against all evil.
- Ramsay MacMullen, Christianity and Paganism in the Fourth to Eighth Centuries
[Lucky thing that the Moslems preserved such a huge library of classical books stored in Seville, Spain, that helped reignite the European Christian world of learning. It was that Moslem library at Seville that helped revive learning more than all the books the Irish monks were busy “illuminating.” (I learned that from the famed CONNECTIONS television series). - E.T.B.]
The Origin Of Universities
As for Christian universities they were inspired by revived Greek and Roman learning during the Renaissance. Calvin attended such a “humanistic” institution of learning before becoming a Reformer. Luther was certainly in close contact with such “humanist” scholars like Erasmus and others. Such institutions were inspired by the Renaissanceʼs revival of ancient pagan knowledge and ideals of scholarship. So the Christians took their studies from the Greeks and Romans. Aquinas built his system on that of Aristotleʼs philosophy (and added eternal hell and the joy of seeing the damned rot there). See the following quotations:
Because of the emphasis on authority and the all-pervasive influence of the church, the medieval atmosphere was not conductive to free scientific investigation. Those who studied science were churchmen, and their findings were supposed to illuminate rather than contradict the dogmas of the theologians. When Greek and Arabic works were translated in the twelfth century, the West inherited a magnificent legacy of mathematical and scientific knowledge. Algebra, trigonometry, and Euclidʼs Geometry became available, and Arabic numerals and the symbol for zero made possible the decimal system of computation…
Scholasticism reached its zenith with Thomas Aquinas (1225?-1274). In his Summa Theologica, this brilliant Italian Dominican dealt exhaustively with the great problems of theology, philosophy, politics, and economics. Thomasʼ major concern was to reconcile Aristotle and church dogmain other words, the truths of natural reason and the truths of faith. There can be no real contradiction, he argued, since all truth comes from God. In case of an unresolved contradiction, however, faith won out.
Origin Of Universities
The rebirth of learning in the twelfth century, with especially its revival of classical learning, its unprecedented number of students flocking to the schools, and its development of professional studies in law, medicine, and theology, led to the rise of organized centers of learning - the universities, which soon eclipsed monastic and cathedral schools. Originally the word university meant a group of persons possessing a common purpose. In this case it referred to a guild of learners, both teachers and students, similar to the craft guilds with their masters and apprentices. In the thirteenth century the universities had no campuses and little property or money, and the masters taught in hired rooms or religious houses. If the university was dissatisfied with its treatment by the townspeople, it could migrate elsewhere. The earliest universities - Bologna, Paris, and Oxford - were not officially founded or created, but in time the popes and kings granted them and other universities charters of self-government. The charters gave legal status to the universities and rights to the students, such as freedom from the jurisdiction of town officials.
Source: ragz-international.com
Since we [the nation of India] inherited the present system of university education from the British, one may be tempted to believe that university education had its origins in the West. The truth of the matter is very different. India and Sri Lanka had their own systems of university education, their origins going back to the pre-Christian era. Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, describing the structure of the village republics of ancient India, in his ‘Glimpses of World History’ describes the origin of universities in very simple terms: “Many learned men used to retire into the forests, near the towns and villages, in order to lead simple lives, or to study and work in quiet. Pupils gathered round them, and gradually fresh settlements grew up for these teachers and their students. We can consider these settlements as universities. There were not many fine buildings there, but those who sought knowledge came from long distances to these places of leaning” (P.25).
When large towns and cities grew up, the universities also grew up into large complexes. “And in these centers of learning” continues Nehru, “every kind of subject that was then known was taught. The Brahmans even taught the science of war” (P.26). Prof. A. L. Basham, the author of the famous book, ‘The Wonder That was India’ tells us more about these Indian universities.
“Certain cities became renowned for their learned teachers, and achieved a reputation comparable to that of the university cities of medieval Europe. Chief among these were Varanasi and Taksasila, which were already famous in the time of the Buddha; later, around the beginning of the Christian era; Kanci acquired a similar reputation in the South. Varanasi, then usually called Kasi, was particularly renowned for its religious teachers, but Taksasila, in the far North-West, laid more emphasis on secular studies.”
Taksasila, which is now in Pakistan, had become so famous as a university that even the Buddhist Jataka tales make reference to it. Says Prof. Basham: “The Buddhist Jataka tales show that young men from all over the civilized part of India sought education in this city, through which a trickle of Iranian and Mesopotamian influence found its way to India.
Among the famous learned men connected with Taksasila were Panini, the grammarian of the 4th century BC, Kautilya, the Brahman Minister of Chandragupta Maurya, and traditionally the chief master of science of statecraft and Caraka, one of the two great masters of Indian medical science.” (P.165) Indian Buddhists get the credit of establishing monasteries that developed into universities. The Buddhist monastery of Nalanda, in Bihar, founded during the Gupta Age was one such university. According to Hsuan Tsang, the Chinese pilgrim who visited Nalanda in the 7th century, Nalanda was a hive of intellectual activity. As Prof. Basham notes “Under its aged and saintly abbot Silabhadra, Nalanda did not confine itself to training Buddhist novices, but also taught the Vedas, Hindu philosophy, logic, grammar and medicine. It would seem that the student population was not confined to the Buddhist order, but that candidates of other faiths who succeeded in passing a strict oral examination were admitted” (P. 166). [Here this website adds, “To be continued”]
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Eastern Ukraine
(Redirected from East Ukraine)
This article needs to be updated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (April 2015)
Several Oblasts can be referred to as "Eastern Ukraine":
Red - always included
Orange - sometimes included
Eastern Ukraine or East Ukraine (Ukrainian: Східна Україна, Skhidna Ukrayina; Russian: Восточная Украина, Vostochnaya Ukraina) generally refers to territories of Ukraine east of the Dnieper river, particularly Kharkiv, Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts. Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhia Oblasts sometimes are also regarded as Eastern Ukraine. In regard to traditional territories the area encompasses portions of the southern Sloboda Ukraine, Donbas, the western Azov Littoral (Pryazovia).
Almost a third of the country's population lives within the region, which includes several cities with population of around a million. Within Ukraine, the region is the most highly urbanized, particularly portions of central Kharkiv Oblast, south-western Luhansk Oblast, central, northern and eastern areas of Donetsk Oblast.
The region stretches from southern areas of the Central Russian Upland to the northern shores of the Sea of Azov, from the eastern border with Russia to Black Sea and Dnieper lowlands (including the left banks of Dnieper) to the west. Aside of Dnieper, the major river of eastern Ukraine is Seversky Donets which gave the name to the main economical region for that portion of the country, Donbas (Donets basin).
Cities and populationEdit
See also: List of cities of Ukraine
The territory is heavily urbanized and commonly associated with the Donbas. The three largest metropolitan cities form an industrial triangle within the region. Among the major cities with population of over 200,000 people are Kharkiv, Dnipro, Donetsk-Makiivka, Zaporizhia, Mariupol, Luhansk, Horlivka and Kamianske. Cities of Donetsk and Makiivka create what is known as urban sprawl with very close proximity to other important cities such as Horlivka and Yenakieve.
Oblast (Province)
Ukrainian name
Area in km2
Population at
Notes [1]
Donetsk Донецька область 26,517 4,825,563 4,403,178
Kharkiv Харківська область 31,418 2,914,212 2,742,180
Luhansk Луганська область 26,683 2,546,178 2,272,676
Total for 3 Oblasts 84,618 10,285,953 9,418,034
Zaporizhia Запорізька область 27,183 1,929,171 1,791,668
Dnipropetrovsk Дніпропетровська область 31,923 3,561,224 3,320,299
Total for 5 Oblasts 143,724 15,776,348 14,530,001
1991 Ukrainian independence referendum, "Yes" votes by region
A large majority of voters in eastern Ukraine (83% or more in each oblast) approved Ukraine's declaration of independence in the 1991 referendum, although the numbers were not as high as in the west.[2][3]
In 2014, pro-Russian protests took place in parts of eastern Ukraine. Some of the protesters were "tourists" from Russia.[4][5] The war in Donbass resulted in thousands of deaths and over a million people leaving their homes.[6] As of 2016, about half of the territory of Donbas is controlled by the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic.
Culture and languageEdit
Ethnic Ukrainians in Ukraine by oblast (2001 census)
Population with Ukrainian as their native language in Ukraine by oblast (2001 census)
According to the 2001 census, the majority of Eastern Ukraine's population are ethnic Ukrainians, while ethnic Russians form a significant minority. The most common language is Russian, having long dominated in government and the media. When Ukraine became independent, there were no Ukrainian-language schools in Donetsk.[7]
Noticeable cultural differences in the region (compared with the rest of Ukraine except Southern Ukraine) are more "positive views" on the Russian language[8][9] and on the Soviet era[10][11] and more "negative views" on Ukrainian nationalism.[10]
During elections voters of the Eastern (and Southern) oblasts (provinces) of Ukraine vote for parties (Communist Party of Ukraine (CPU), Party of Regions) and presidential candidates (Viktor Yanukovych) with a pro-Russian and status quo platform.[12][13][14] The electorate of CPU and Party of Regions was very loyal to them.[14] But following the 2014 Ukrainian Revolution the Party of Regions collapsed[15] and the CPU was banned and declared illegal.[16]
Effective in August 2012, a law on regional languages did entitle any local language spoken by at least a 10% of the population to be declared official within that area.[17] Within weeks, Russian was declared as a regional language in several southern and eastern oblasts and cities.[18] From that point Russian could be used in those cities'/oblasts' administrative office work and documents.[19] On 23 February 2014, the law on regional languages was abolished, making Ukrainian the sole state language at all levels even in Eastern Ukraine,[20] but this vote was vetoed by acting President Oleksandr Turchynov on 2 March.[21][22] A February 2015 survey found that eastern oblasts (61%) preferred "second official regional language" over (31%) "state language" status for Russian.[23] The 2012 law on regional languages was repelled by the Constitutional Court of Ukraine on 28 February 2018 when it ruled the law unconstitutional.[24]
ReligionEdit
Religion in eastern Ukraine (excl. Donbass) (2016)[25]
Eastern Orthodoxy (63.2%)
Not affiliated to the religions listed (24.7%)
Simply Christianity (8.1%)
Protestantism (1.9%)
Islam (0.5%)
Roman Catholicism (0.3%)
Judaism (0.3%)
Hinduism (0.3%)
Other religions (0.8%)
According to a 2016 survey of religion in Ukraine held by the Razumkov Center, 73.5% of the population in Eastern Ukraine were Christians (63.2% Eastern Orthodox, 8.1% simply Christians, 1.0% Protestants, and 0.3% Latin Rite Catholics), 0.5% were Muslims, 0.3% were Jewish, and 0.3% were Hindus. Not religious and other believers not identifying with any of the listed major religious institutions constituted about 24.7% of the population.[25] It also showed that approximately 55.6% of the population of eastern Ukraine (which in Razumkov's mapping excluded Donbass and consisted of the regions immediately to the west of it) declared to be believers, while 13.4% declared to be undecided or non-believers, and 3.5% declared to be atheist.[25]
Public opinionEdit
A 2007 survey by the Razumkov Centre asked "Would you like to have your region separated from Ukraine and joined another state?" In eastern Ukraine, 77.9% of respondents disagreed, 10.4% agreed, and the rest were undecided.[26]
Kiev International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) geographic division of Ukraine used in their polls.
In a poll conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology in the first half of February 2014, 25.8% of those polled in East Ukraine believed "Ukraine and Russia must unite into a single state", nationwide this percentage was 12.5%.[27]
A November 2015 poll carried out by Rating Group Ukraine in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, except in Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) controlled areas, found that 75% of residents wanted the entire Donbas region to stay in Ukraine, 7% said that it should join Russia, 1% wanted it to become an independent country, and 3% said that DPR and LPR-controlled territories should leave and the rest of Donbas remain in Ukraine.[28] When asked if Russian-speaking citizens are under pressure or threat, 82% said 'no' and 11% said 'yes'.[28] 2% "definitely" and 7% "somewhat" supported Russia sending troops to "protect" Russian-speakers in Ukraine, while 71% did not.[28] 50% wanted Ukraine to remain a unitary country, 14% wanted it to be a federal country, 13% said it should remain unitary but without Crimea, and 7% wanted it to be divided into several countries.[28] If they had to choose between the Eurasian Customs Union and the European Union, 24% in East Ukraine (including Kharkiv oblast) preferred the ECU and 20% preferred the European Union (in Donbas: 33% for the ECU, 21% for the EU). On joining NATO, 15% were for, 15% were against, and most said that they would not vote or it was difficult to answer (in Donbass: 16% for, 47% against).[28] East Ukrainians were less likely to vote in parliamentary elections.[28]
Western Ukraine
Central Ukraine
Southern Ukraine
^ All statistics sourced from: State Statistics Committee of Ukraine.
^ Ukrainian Nationalism in the 1990s: A Minority Faith by Andrew Wilson, Cambridge University Press, 1996, ISBN 0521574579 (page 128)
^ Ivan Katchanovski. (2009). Terrorists or National Heroes? Politics of the OUN and the UPA in Ukraine Paper prepared for presentation at the Annual Conference of the Canadian Political Science Association, Montreal, June 1–3, 2010
^ Roth, Andrew (4 March 2014). "From Russia, 'Tourists' Stir the Protests". The New York Times.
"Russian site recruits 'volunteers' for Ukraine". BBC News. 4 March 2014.
^ "Protesters Storm Kharkiv Theater Thinking It Was City Hall". The Moscow Times. 8 April 2014.
^ "Ukraine Situation report No.33 as of 27 March 2015" (PDF). OCHA. 27 March 2015. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
^ Eternal Russia:Yeltsin, Gorbachev, and the Mirage of Democracy by Jonathan Steele, Harvard University Press, 1988, ISBN 978-0-674-26837-1 (page 218)
^ The language question, the results of recent research in 2012, RATING (25 May 2012)
^ http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/poll-over-half-of-ukrainians-against-granting-official-status-to-russian-language-318212.html
^ a b Who’s Afraid of Ukrainian History? by Timothy D. Snyder, The New York Review of Books (21 September 2010)
^ ‹See Tfd›(in Ukrainian) Ставлення населення України до постаті Йосипа Сталіна Attitude population Ukraine to the figure of Joseph Stalin, Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (1 March 2013)
^ Communist and Post-Communist Parties in Europe by Uwe Backes and Patrick Moreau, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2008, ISBN 978-3-525-36912-8 (page 396)
^ Ukraine right-wing politics: is the genie out of the bottle?, openDemocracy.net (3 January 2011)
^ a b Eight Reasons Why Ukraine’s Party of Regions Will Win the 2012 Elections by Taras Kuzio, The Jamestown Foundation (17 October 2012)
UKRAINE: Yushchenko needs Tymoshenko as ally again Archived 2013-05-15 at the Wayback Machine by Taras Kuzio, Oxford Analytica (5 October 2007)
^ ‹See Tfd›(in Ukrainian) "Revival" "our land": Who picks up the legacy of "regionals", BBC Ukrainian (16 September 2015)
‹See Tfd›(in Ukrainian) Party of Regions: Snake return, The Ukrainian Week (2 October 2015)
‹See Tfd›(in Ukrainian) Activists noticed that most ex-Regions are on lists of Poroshenko, Ukrayinska Pravda (22 October 2015)
^ Symonenko: Communists will go to elections as part of "Nova Derzhava" party (Симоненко: комуністи підуть на вибори у складі партії «Нова держава»). Radio Liberty. 25 September 2015
^ Yanukovych signs language bill into law. Retrieved 2012-09-07.
^ Russian spreads like wildfires in dry Ukrainian forest. Retrieved 2012-09-07.
^ Romanian becomes regional language in Bila Tserkva in Zakarpattia region, Kyiv Post (24 September 2012)
^ Ukraine: Speaker Oleksandr Turchynov named interim president, BBC News (23 February 2014)
^ Traynor, Ian (24 February 2014). "Western nations scramble to contain fallout from Ukraine crisis". The Guardian.
^ Kramer, Andrew (2 March 2014). "Ukraine Turns to Its Oligarchs for Political Help". New York Times. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
^ Halya Coynash (13 April 2015). "Bad News for Moscow on the Language Front". Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group. Retrieved 1 January 2016.
^ Constitutional Court declares unconstitutional language law of Kivalov-Kolesnichenko, Ukrinform (28 February 2018)
^ a b c РЕЛІГІЯ, ЦЕРКВА, СУСПІЛЬСТВО І ДЕРЖАВА: ДВА РОКИ ПІСЛЯ МАЙДАНУ (Religion, Church, Society and State: Two Years after Maidan), 2016 report by Razumkov Center in collaboration with the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches. pp. 27-29.
^ "Would you like to have your region separated from Ukraine and joined another state (regional distribution)". Razumkov Centre. 18 June 2007.
^ "How relations between Ukraine and Russia should look like? Public opinion polls' results". Kyiv International Institute of Sociology. 4 March 2014.
^ a b c d e f "IRI's Center for Insights Poll: Pessimism High after Two Years of Violent Conflict with Russia; People in the Ukrainian-Controlled Territories of Donbas Want to Remain Part of Ukraine". International Republican Institute. 12 January 2016.
Serhy Yekelchyk Ukraine: Birth of a Modern Nation, Oxford University Press (2007), ISBN 978-0-19-530546-3, page 187
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John Flaxman
John Flaxman RA (6 July 1755 – 7 December 1826) was a British sculptor and draughtsman, and a leading figure in British and European Neoclassicism. Early in his career he worked as a modeller for Josiah Wedgwood's pottery. He spent several years in Rome, where he produced his first book illustrations. He was a prolific maker of funerary monuments.
(1755-07-06)6 July 1755
7 December 1826(1826-12-07) (aged 71)
Sculpture and
John Flaxman by Musgrave Watson, University College London, 1847
Early life and educationEdit
He was born in York. His father, also named John (1726–1803), was well known as a moulder and seller of plaster casts at the sign of the Golden Head, New Street, Covent Garden, London. His wife's maiden name was Lee, and they had two children, William and John. Within six months of John's birth the family returned to London. He was a sickly child, high-shouldered, with a head too large for his body. His mother died when he was nine, and his father remarried. He had little schooling, and was largely self-educated. He took delight in drawing and modelling from his father's stock-in-trade, and studied translations from classical literature in an effort to understand them.[1]
Memorial in the church at Badger, Shropshire
His father's customers helped him with books, advice, and later with commissions. Particularly significant were the painter George Romney, and a cultivated clergyman, Anthony Stephen Mathew and his wife Mrs. Mathew, in whose house in Rathbone Place the young Flaxman used to meet the best "blue-stocking" society of the day and, among those his own age, the artists William Blake and Thomas Stothard, who became his closest friends. At the age of 12 he won the first prize of the Society of Arts for a medallion, and exhibited in the gallery of the Free Society of Artists; at 15 he won a second prize from the Society of Arts showed at the Royal Academy for the first time. In the same year, 1770, he entered the Academy as a student and won the silver medal. In the competition for the gold medal of the Academy in 1772, however, Flaxman was defeated, the prize being awarded by the president, Sir Joshua Reynolds, to a competitor named Engleheart. This episode seemed to help cure Flaxman of a tendency to conceit which led Thomas Wedgwood V to say of him in 1775, "It is but a few years since he was a most supreme coxcomb."[1]
He continued to work diligently, both as a student and as an exhibitor at the Academy, with occasional attempts at painting. To the Academy he contributed a wax model of Neptune (1770); four portrait models in wax (1771); a terracotta bust, a wax figure of a child, an historical figure (1772); a figure of Comedy; and a relief of a Vestal (1773). During this period he received a commission from a friend of the Mathew family for a statue of Alexander the Great, but he was unable to obtain a regular income from private contracts.
WedgwoodEdit
From 1775 he was employed by the potter Josiah Wedgwood and his partner Bentley, for whom his father had also done some work,[2] modelling reliefs for use on the company's jasperware and basaltware.[1] The usual procedure was to model the reliefs in wax on slate or glass grounds before they cast for production. D'Hancarville's engravings of Sir William Hamilton's collection of ancient Greek vases were an important influence on his work.[2]
His designs included the Apotheosis of Homer (1778), later used for a vase; Hercules in the Garden of Hesperides (1785); a large range of small bas-reliefs of which The Dancing Hours (1776-8) proved especially popular; library busts, portrait medallions, and a chess set.[2]
Early sculptural workEdit
By 1780 Flaxman had also begun to earn money by sculpting grave monuments. His early memorials included those to Thomas Chatterton in the church of St Mary Redcliffe in Bristol (1780), Mrs Morley in Gloucester Cathedral (1784), and the Rev. Thomas and Mrs Margaret Ball in Chichester Cathedral (1785).. During the rest of Flaxman's career memorial bas-reliefs of this type made up the bulk of his output, and are to be found in many churches throughout England.[1] One example, the monument to George Steevens, originally in St Matthais Old Church, is now in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.[3] His best monumental work was admired for its pathos and simplicity, and for the combination of a truly Greek instinct for rhythmical design and composition with a spirit of domestic tenderness and innocence.[1]
MarriageEdit
Anne, Flaxman's wife, by Henry Howard, c. 1797
In 1782, aged 27, Flaxman married Anne Denman, who was to assist him throughout his career. She was well-educated, and a devoted companion. They set up house in Wardour Street, and usually spent their summer holidays as guests of the poet William Hayley, at Eartham in Sussex.[1]
ItalyEdit
In 1787, five years after their marriage,[1] Flaxman and his wife set off for Rome, on a journey partly funded by Wedgwood.[2] His activities in the city included supervising a group of modellers employed by Wedgwood, although he no longer made any work for the potter himself.[1] His sketchbooks show that while there he studied not only Classical, but also Medieval and Renaissance art.[4]
While in Rome he produced the first of the book illustrations for which he was to become famous, and which promoted his influence all over Europe,[4] leading Goethe to describe him as "the idol of all dilettanti".[5] His designs for the works of Homer (published in 1793)[4] were commissioned by Georgiana Hare-Naylor; those for Dante (first published in London in 1807) by Thomas Hope; those for Aeschylus by Lady Spencer. All were engraved by Piroli.[1] Flaxman created one hundred and eleven illustrations to Dante's Divine Comedy which served as an inspiration for such artists as Goya and Ingres, and were used as an academic source for 19th-century art students.[6]
He had originally intended to stay in Italy for little more than two years, but was detained by a commission for a marble group of the Fury of Athamas for Frederick Hervey, Earl of Bristol and Bishop of Derry, which proved troublesome.[1] By the time of his return to England in the summer of 1794, after an absence of seven years, he had also executed Cephalus and Aurora, a group in marble based on a story in Ovid's Metamorphoses. This was bought by Thomas Hope, who arrived in Rome in 1791, and is often said to have commissioned it. Hope was later to make it the centrepiece of a "Flaxman room" at his London home. It is now in the collection of the Lady Lever Art Gallery, Liverpool.[7]
Return to EnglandEdit
During their homeward journey, the Flaxmans travelled through central and northern Italy. On their return they took a house in Buckingham Street, Fitzroy Square.[1] Buckingham Street has since been renamed Greenwell Street, W1; there is a plaque to Flaxman on the front wall of no.7 identifying this as the site of the house where Flaxman lived.[8] Immediately after his return the sculptor published a protest against the scheme (already considered by the French Directory and carried out two years later by Napoleon) to set up a vast central museum of art at Paris to contain works looted from across Europe.[1] Despite this, he later took take advantage of the Peace of Amiens to go to Paris to see the despoiled treasures collected there.[1]
While still in Rome, Flaxman had sent home models for several sepulchral monuments, including one in relief for the poet William Collins in Chichester cathedral, and one in the round for Lord Mansfield in Westminster Abbey.[1]
A 1795 engraving after Flaxman's drawing of Achilles mourning Patrocles
The Flaxman Gallery of UCL main library in the Octagon building
Memorial to Christian Friedrich Schwarz by John Flaxman, commissioned by Serfoji II, Raja of Tanjore, at the CSI Schwartz Church, Tanjore
In 1797 he was made an associate of the Royal Academy. He exhibited work at the Academy annually, occasionally showing a public monument in the round, like those of Pasquale Paoli (1798) or Captain Montague (1802) for Westminster Abbey, of Sir William Jones for University College, Oxford (1797–1801),[1][9] of Nelson or Howe for St Paul's Cathedral, but more often memorials for churches, with symbolic Acts of Mercy or illustrations of biblical texts, usually in low relief.[1] He made a large number of these smaller funerary monuments; his work was in great demand, and he did not charge particularly high prices.[4] Occasionally he would vary his output with a classical piece like those he favoured in his earlier years.[1]
Soon after his election as Associate of the Academy, he published a scheme for a grandiose monument to be erected on Greenwich Hill, in the form of a figure of Britannia 200 ft (61 m) high, in honour of British naval victories.[1]
In 1800 he was elected a full Academician, and in 1810 the Academy appointed him to the specially created post of Professor of Sculpture. He was a thorough and judicious teacher, and his lectures were often reprinted. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica of 1911: "With many excellent observations, and with one singular merit — that of doing justice, as in those days justice was hardly ever done, to the sculpture of the medieval schools — these lectures lack point and felicity of expression, just as they are reported to have lacked fire in delivery, and are somewhat heavy reading."[1] His most important sculptural works from the years following this appointment were the monument to Mrs Baring in Micheldever church, the richest of all his monuments in relief (1805–1811); that for the Cooke-Yarborough family at Campsall church, Yorkshire, those to Sir Joshua Reynolds for St Paul's (1807); to Captain Webbe for India (1810); to Captains Walker and Beckett for Leeds (1811); to Lord Cornwallis for Prince of Wales's Island (1812); and to Sir John Moore for Glasgow (1813).[1]
He was commissioned to create the monument to Matthew Boulton (died 1809), by Boulton's son, which is on the north wall of the sanctuary of St. Mary's Church, Handsworth, Birmingham, where Boulton is buried.[10] It includes a marble bust of Boulton, set in a circular opening above two putti, one holding an engraving of the Soho Manufactory.
Around this time there was much debate over the merits of the sculptures from the Parthenon in Athens, which had been brought to Britain by Lord Elgin, and were hence popularly known as the Elgin marbles.[1] When Flaxman first saw them at Elgin's house in 1807, he advised against their restoration.[11] Flaxman's statements in favour of their purchase by the government to a parliamentary commission carried considerable weight; the sculptures were eventually bought in 1816.[1] His designs for the friezes of Ancient Drama and Modern Drama, for the facade of the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, made in 1809 and carved by John Charles Felix Rossi, provide an early example of the direct influence of the marbles on British sculpture.[12]
In the years immediately following his Roman period he produced fewer outline designs for publication, except three for William Cowper's translations of the Latin poems of John Milton (1810). In 1817, however, he returned to the genre, publishing a set of designs to Hesiod, which were engraved by Blake. He also designed work for goldsmiths at around this time — a testimonial cup in honour of John Kemble,[1] and the famous and beautiful (though quite un-Homeric) "Shield of Achilles"[1] designed between 1810 and 1817 for Rundell, Bridge and Rundell.[13] Other late works included a frieze of Peace, Liberty and Plenty, for the Duke of Bedford's sculpture gallery at Woburn Abbey, and an heroic group of St Michael overthrowing Satan, for Lord Egremont's Petworth House[1] (delivered after Flaxman's death.)[14] He also wrote several articles on art and archaeology for Rees's Encyclopaedia (1819–20).[1]
Design for the façade decoration of Buckingham Palace (1821-1826)
In the last six years of his life, Flaxman designed decorations for the facades of Buckingham Palace.[15] Some of his drawings for this commission are now held by the Royal Collection Trust.[15]
In 1820 Flaxman's wife died. Her younger sister, Maria Denman, and his own sister, Maria Flaxman, continued to live with him, and he continued to work hard. In 1822 he delivered at the Academy a lecture in memory of his old f riend, Canova, who had recently died; in 1823 he received a visit from Schlegel, who wrote an account of their meeting.[1]
Flaxman's name listed on the south face of the Burdett Coutts memorial
Flaxman died, aged 71, on 7 December 1826.[1] His name is listed as one of the important lost graves on the Burdett Coutts Memorial in Old St. Pancras Churchyard.
Studio practiceEdit
Most of the carving of his works was carried out by assistants; Margaret Whinney thought that, as a result "the execution of some of his marbles is a little dull" but that "his plaster models, cast from his own designs in clay, frequently show more sensitive handling".[4] Early in his career, Flaxman made his works in the form of small models which his assistants would scale up when making the finished marble versions. In many cases, notably with the monument to Lord Howe, this proved problematic, and for his later works he produced full-sized plaster versions for his employees to work from.[14]
Flaxman's complicated monuments in the round, such as the three in Westminster Abbey and the four in St Paul's Cathedral, are considered too "heavy"; but his simple monuments in relief are of finer quality. He thoroughly understood relief, and it gave better scope for his particular talents. His compositions are best studied in the casts from his studio sketches, of which a comprehensive collection is preserved in the Flaxman gallery at University College, London.[16] The principal public collections are at University College, in the British Museum, and the Victoria and Albert Museum.[1]
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac Encyclopædia Britannica, 1911
^ a b c d "John Flaxman Jr (1755–1826)". The Wedgwood Museum. Retrieved 11 April 2013.
^ Hermione Hobhouse (General Editor) (1994). "Plate 14: The Church of St Matthias". Survey of London: volumes 43 and 44: Poplar, Blackwall and Isle of Dogs. Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
^ a b c d e Whinney 1971, p. 137.
^ "John Flaxman 1755–1826". Tate Gallery. Retrieved 11 April 2013.
^ "Introduction". Flaxman's Illustrations for Dante's Divine Comedy. Mineola N.Y: Dover Publications. 2007. ISBN 0486455580.
^ "'Cephalus and Aurora', 1790". Liverpool Museums. Retrieved 11 April 2013.
^ "John Flaxman 1". www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk.
^ According to theVictoria History of the Counties of England, Oxfordshire vol.III, p. 80., this monument had originally been intended for Calcutta. University College has three other memorials by Flaxman: to Sir Robert Chambers, like Jones a Fellow of the College, judge and orientalist, Nathan Wetherell, Master 1764–1807, and Matthew Rolleston, Fellow of the College.
^ "(untitled)". Birmingham Post. 18 November 2008. pp. 1, 14.
^ Whinney 1971, p. 140.
^ Whinney 1971, p. 140. The friezes survived the theatre's destruction by fire in 1856, and were reused on the present building.
^ "The Shield of Achilles, 1821". Royal Collection. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
^ a b Whinney 1971, p. 144.
^ a b "John Flaxman (1755-1826) - The Pacification of Europe". Royal Collection Trust. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
^ John Flaxman Collection Archived 22 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine, University College London.
Whinney, Margaret (1971). English Sculpture 1720–1830. Victoria and Albert Museum Monographs. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Flaxman, John". Encyclopædia Britannica. 10 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 489–491.
Petherbridge, Deanna, 'Some Thoughts on Flaxman and the Engraved Outlines', Print Quarterly, XXVIII, 2011, pp. 385–91.
Rix, Robert (2007). William Blake and the Cultures of Radical Christianity. Ashgate Publishing. ISBN 9780754656005. - Flaxman was a prominent Swedenborgian.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to John Flaxman.
397 paintings by or after John Flaxman at the Art UK site
Information from the National Portrait Gallery (London)
World of Dante — Flaxman's illustrations of Divine Comedy in World of Dante gallery
John Flaxman's Biography, style and artworks
John Flaxman's illustrations of the Iliad
John Flaxman's illustrations of the Odyssey
John Flaxman at Find a Grave and at findagrave.com
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Localism (politics)
Localism describes a range of political philosophies which prioritize the local. Generally, localism supports local production and consumption of goods, local control of government, and promotion of local history, local culture and local identity. Localism can be contrasted with regionalism and centralized government, with its opposite being found in the unitary state.
Localism can also refer to a systematic approach to organizing a national government so that local autonomy is retained rather than following the usual pattern of government and political power becoming centralized over time.
On a conceptual level, there are important affinities between localism and deliberative democracy. This concerns mainly the democratic goal of engaging citizens in decisions that affect them. Consequently, localism will encourage stronger democratic and political participatory forums and widening public sphere connectivity.[1]
Localists[example needed] assert that throughout the world's history, most social and economic institutions have been scaled at the local level, as opposed to regional, interregional, or global (basically until the late 19th to the early 20th centuries).[citation needed] Only with imperialism and the industrial revolution did local scales become less central.[citation needed] Most proponents of localism position themselves as defending aspects of this earlier way of life;[citation needed] the phrase "relocalization" is often used in this sense.[citation needed]
In the 20th century, localism drew heavily on the writings of Leopold Kohr, E.F. Schumacher, Wendell Berry, and Kirkpatrick Sale, among others. More generally, localism draws on a wide range of movements and concerns and it proposes that by re-localizing democratic and economic relationships to the local level, social, economic and environmental problems will be more definable and solutions more easily created. They include anarchism, bioregionalism, environmentalism, the Greens, and more specific concerns about food, monetary policy and education. Political parties of all persuasions have also occasionally favored the devolution of power to local authorities. In this vein Alan Milburn, a Labour Party MP, has spoken of "making services more locally accountable, devolving more power to local communities and, in the process, forging a modern relationship between the state, citizens and services"[2]
Beginning in the 1970s, a particularly visible strain of localism in the United States was a movement started by Alice Waters to buy locally produced products. This movement originated with organic farming and likely gained impetus because of growing dissatisfaction with organic certification and the failing economic model of industrial agriculture for small farmers. While the advocates of local consumption draw on protectionist arguments, they also appealed primarily to an environmental argument: that pollution caused by transporting goods was a major externality in a global economy, and one that "localvores" could greatly diminish. Also, environmental issues can be addressed when decision making power is held by those affected by the issues instead of power sources that do not understand the needs of local communities.
Political philosophyEdit
Localism as a philosophy is related to the principle of subsidiarity.
In the early 21st century, localists have frequently found themselves aligned with critics of globalisation. Variants of localism are prevalent within the Green movement. According to an article in International Socialism, localism of this sort seeks to "answer to the problems created by globalisation" with "calls to minimise international trade and to seek to establish economies based on ‘local’ self-sufficiency only."[3]
Some localists believe that society should be organised politically along community lines, with each community being free to conduct its own business in whatever fashion its people see fit. The size of the communities is defined such that their members are both familiar and dependent on each other, a size something along the lines of a small town or village.[citation needed]
In reference to localism, Edward Goldsmith, former editor of The Ecologist magazine, claims: "The problems facing the world today can only be solved by restoring the functioning of those natural systems which once satisfied our needs, i.e. by fully exploiting those incomparable resources which are individual people, families, communities and ecosystems, which together make up the biosphere or real world"[4]
Tip O'Neill, a longtime Speaker of the House in the US Congress, once famously declared that "All politics is local".[5] He eventually wrote a book by that name: All Politics Is Local: And Other Rules of the Game.
Localism and populismEdit
Wayne Yeung [6] made the assumption that localism is a sub-school of European-American populism, and its ideology is according to him a combination of “ultra-nationalist, anti-leftist, and immigrant-bashing rhetoric”.[6] Yeung raised an example in which localism is a cultural or civic value rather than a value that supports ethnic understanding in Hong Kong identity politics.[6] Consequently, localism contains elements of populism and is a politicised form of racism. [6]
Jane Wills argued that an increasing numbers of populist politicians are endorsing localism as a framework for public policy.[7] She defined populism as a form of politics that involves people speaking in a register that is authentic to the experiences and needs of those people.[7] In other words, most likely Populist Party policies would contradict parties that support the elites.[7] She also used the term "anti-politics" to describe localist politicians because they stand against mainstream politics.[7] She used the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) as an example of a party adopting localism into their policies. Mainstream politicians from the Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat parties are threatened by the rise of UKIP.[7]
Localism and Third WorldEdit
Many localists are concerned with the problems of the development of the Third World. Many advocate that third world countries should aim to rely on their own goods and services to escape from what they see are the unfair trade relations with the developed world. George Monbiot claims this idea does not recognise the fact that, even if Third World countries often get a raw deal in trade relations, refusing to trade at all would be a significant blow, as the countries need the revenue generated by trade.[8]
Some localists are also against immigration from poor countries to rich ones. One of the problems they claim results from such immigration is the drain on the intellectual resources of poor countries, so called brain drain. For example, in the past decade, Bulgaria is estimated to have lost more than 50,000 qualified scientists and skilled workers through emigration every year. About a fifth of them were highly educated specialists in chemistry, biology, medicine and physics.[9][10]
International relationsEdit
Some localists are against political intervention and peace keeping measures. They believe that communities should find solutions to their own problems and in their own time, in whatever fashion they decide. They believe that all societies are capable of achieving long term peace once given the opportunity to do so.
Localist activismEdit
Localism usually describes social measures or trends which emphasise or value local and small-scale phenomena. This is in contrast to large, all-encompassing frameworks for action or belief. Localism can therefore be contrasted with globalisation, and in some cases localist activism has parallels with opposition to corporate-led globalization. Localism can be geographical, but there are also transnational linkages. Localist movements are often organized in support of locally owned, independent businesses and nonprofit organizations. Although the focus of this aspect of localist activism is on "buy local," "support local food," and "bank local" campaigns, some organizations and businesses also combine the goal of increased local ownership with environmental sustainability and social fairness goals.[11][12]
Examples of localism are:
Support for local food networks, such as farmers' markets, community-supported agriculture, community gardens, farm-to-table programs, food cooperatives, and restaurants that serve local food. The slow food movement, using diverse, seasonal, natural food in reaction to multinational merchandising of food which is uniform, produced using industrial methods, and called fast food.
Support for locally owned, independent businesses, including community banks and credit unions, such as the following organizations: American Independent Business Alliance, Business Alliance for Local Living Economies, the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, and Move Your Money. "The Benefits of Doing Business Locally" an essay by Jeff Milchen, American Independent Business Alliance co-founder, covers many arguments for local business ownership and patronage.
Localism in media to support a diverse news media in the face of increasing corporate control. The US Federal Communications Commission is using this term when seeking input on its rules and states that "promoting localism is a key goal of the Commission’s media ownership rules."[13]
Localism in government structures, which can include:
Tertiary government where small community councils make relevant decisions, with some degree of independence from local or national government.
Workers' councils, where the employees of a particular workplace discuss and negotiate with their employer, rather have this done by a national union which may be remote from local issues.
Federalism and devolution.
Postmodernism can be seen as a sort of cultural localism, where accepted cultural values may be ignored in favour of people creating their own criteria of value.[citation needed]
Religion (Protestant):
Exclusive localism holds that there can't be more than one legitimate institutionally visible church at one given location, the variation of which varies but is usually held to be either a city or a neighbourhood.
Localism is more generally the congregationalist idea that each local church should be autonomous, only extended to reject any formal association of churches. It is specially relevant among Baptists, where localists reject the forming of Conventions.
Religion (Churches of Christ):
The congregationalist idea of local autonomy is a cornerstone of restoration movement fellowships that identify as churches of Christ or Independent Christian Churches/Churches of Christ. Founders of the movement declared their independence from various denominations, seeking a fresh start to restore the New Testament church, and abandoning creeds. The names "Church of Christ," "Christian Church" and "Disciples of Christ" were adopted by the movement because they believed these terms to be biblical and not man made.
A converging of Christians across denominational lines in search of a return to a hypothesized original, "pre-denominational" Christianity.[14][15]:108 Participants in this movement sought to base doctrine and practice on the Bible alone, rather than recognizing the traditional councils and denominational hierarchies that had come to define Christianity since the 1st century AD.[14][15]:82,104,105 Members of the Churches of Christ believe that Jesus founded only one church, that the current divisions between Christians are not God's will, and that the only basis for restoring Christian unity is the Bible.[14] They typically prefer to be known simply as "Christians", without any further religious or denominational identification.[16][17][18]:213 They see themselves as recreating the New Testament church established by Christ.[19][20][21]:106
Churches of Christ generally share these theological beliefs:[14]
Refusal to hold to any formalized creeds or statements of faith, preferring instead a reliance on the Bible alone for doctrine and practice;[21]:103[22]:238,240[23]:123
Autonomous, congregational church organization without denominational oversight;[22]:238[23]:124
Local governance[22]:238 by a plurality of male elders;[23]:124[24]:47–54
One of the largest divisions within churches of Christ was due to controversy of foreign missionary work. Opponents of what they dubbed "Institutionalism" argued against it both as a drain on local congregations and as sinful if done in cooperation with other congregations. This belief extended to cooperative support of orphanages, homes, large-scale radio and TV programs and ministries.[25]
The Restoration Movement is so averse to association with other congregations that they renounce the term "protestant" distancing their churches from any association to any denomination; even one they would have to "protest" and evolve from.
Accountable autonomy
Agrarianism
Autonomism (political doctrine)
Distributed manufacturing
Distributism
Global justice
Indigenism
Internationalization and localization
Irredentism
List of micro-regional organizations
Localism Act 2011 - UK law
Localism in Thailand
Localism in Hong Kong
Nativism (politics)
New localism
Open Source Ecology (OSE)
Parochialism
Posse Comitatus (organization)
Regionalism (politics)
Think globally, act locally
^ Ercan, S.A.; Hendriks, C.H. (2013). "The democratic challenges and potential of localism: Insights from deliberative democracy". Policy Studies. 31 (4): 422–440. doi:10.1080/01442872.2013.822701.
^ Milburn, Alan (2004), Localism: The need for a new settlement (speech), Demos .
^ Tomas, Mark. "Feedback: Transport and climate change—a reply to James Woodcock". International Socialism (109).
^ De-industrialising society, archived from the original on 2006-05-14 .
^ Politic, River Deep, October 2000 .
^ a b c d , a self-ascribed film critic[Yeung, Wayne. “From Populism to Localism.” New Bloom. Updated on April 15, 2016. https://newbloommag.net/2016/04/15/from-populism-to-localism/.]
^ a b c d e [Wills, Jane. “Populism, localism and the geography of democracy.” In Geoforum, Volume 62 (June 2015), pp.188-189.]
^ George Monbiot (September 9, 2003), "The myth of localism", The Guardian .
^ Michaud, Hélène (April 2005), East-West brain drain, Radio Netherlands, archived from the original on 2006-01-17, retrieved 2006-01-30 .
^ Edward J. Feser and Stuart H. Sweeney, Out-migration, population decline, and regional economic distress, Washington, DC: Economic Development Administration, 1998.
^ Hess, David J. (2009). Localist Movements in a Global Economy: Sustainability, Justice, and Urban Development in the United States. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. ISBN 9780262512329.
^ DeYoung, Raymond, & Princen, Thomas (2012). The Localization Reader: Adapting to the Coming Downshift. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. ISBN 9780262516877.
^ FCC Localism Hearing to be Held in Washington, DC, on October 31st (PDF), USA: FCC .
^ a b c d Batsell Barrett Baxter, Who are the churches of Christ and what do they believe in? Available on-line in an "Archived copy". Archived from the original on June 16, 2006. Retrieved 2011-10-03. CS1 maint: Archived copy as title (link) CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link), and here, here Archived 2008-05-09 at the Wayback Machine and here Archived 2007-10-11 at the Wayback Machine
^ a b C. Leonard Allen and Richard T. Hughes, "Discovering Our Roots: The Ancestry of the Churches of Christ," Abilene Christian University Press, 1988, ISBN 0-89112-006-8
^ "The church of Jesus Christ is non-denominational. It is neither Catholic, Jewish nor Protestant. It was not founded in 'protest' of any institution, and it is not the product of the 'Restoration' or 'Reformation.' It is the product of the seed of the kingdom (Luke 8:11ff) grown in the hearts of men." V. E. Howard, What Is the Church of Christ? 4th Edition (Revised), 1971, page 29
^ Batsell Barrett Baxter and Carroll Ellis, Neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jew, tract, Church of Christ (1960) ASIN: B00073CQPM. According to Richard Thomas Hughes in Reviving the Ancient Faith: The Story of Churches of Christ in America, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1996 (ISBN 0-8028-4086-8, ISBN 978-0-8028-4086-8), this is "arguably the most widely distributed tract ever published by the Churches of Christ or anyone associated with that tradition."
^ Samuel S. Hill, Charles H. Lippy, Charles Reagan Wilson, Encyclopedia of Religion in the South, Mercer University Press, 2005, (ISBN 0-86554-758-0, ISBN 978-0-86554-758-2) 854 pages
^ "On the cornerstone of the Southside Church of Christ in Springfield, Missouri, is this inscription: 'Church of Christ, Founded in Jerusalem, A.D. 33. This building erected in 1953.' This is not an unusual claim; for similar wording can be found on buildings of churches of Christ in many parts of the United States. The Christians who use such cornerstones reason that the church of Jesus Christ began on Pentecost, A.D. 33. Therefore, to be true to the New Testament, the twentieth-century church must trace its origins to the first century." Page 1, Robert W. Hooper, A Distinct People: A History of the Churches of Christ in the 20th Century, Simon and Schuster, 1993, ISBN 1-878990-26-8, ISBN 978-1-878990-26-6, 391 pages
^ "Traditional Churches of Christ have pursued the restorationist vision with extraordinary zeal. Indeed, the cornerstones of many Church of Christ buildings read 'Founded, A.D. 33.' " page 212, Samuel S. Hill, Charles H. Lippy, Charles Reagan Wilson, Encyclopedia of Religion in the South, Mercer University Press, 2005
^ a b Stuart M. Matlins, Arthur J. Magida, J. Magida, How to Be a Perfect Stranger: A Guide to Etiquette in Other People's Religious Ceremonies, Wood Lake Publishing Inc., 1999, ISBN 1-896836-28-3, ISBN 978-1-896836-28-7, 426 pages, Chapter 6 - Churches of Christ
^ a b c Carmen Renee Berry, The Unauthorized Guide to Choosing a Church, Brazos Press, 2003, ISBN 1-58743-036-3
^ a b c Ron Rhodes, The Complete Guide to Christian Denominations, Harvest House Publishers, 2005, ISBN 0-7369-1289-4
^ V. E. Howard, What Is the Church of Christ? 4th Edition (Revised) Central Printers & Publishers, West Monroe, Louisiana, 1971
^ Randy Harshbarger, "A history of the institutional controversy among Texas Churches of Christ: 1945 to the present," M.A. thesis, Stephen F. Austin State University, 2007, 149 pages; AAT 1452110
McKibben, Bill. Eaarth. New York: Time /Henry Holt, 2010. Print.
Business & the Environment; Sep 2011, Vol. 22 Issue 9, p1-4, 4p
Curtis, Fred (2003). "Eco-localism and Sustainability". Ecological Economics. 46 (1): 83–102. doi:10.1016/S0921-8009(03)00102-2.
Pugh, Michael, ( 30 June 2014), 'Centralism versus localism? Democracy versus efficiency? The perennial challenges of Scottish local government organisation', History & Policy.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Localism.
Foundation for Self-Sufficiency in Central America
"Localism" - James Howard Kunstler's view of "Localism"
"The Localization Reader" - De Young and Princen's view on the process of "localization."
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Some Time in New York City
Some Time in New York City[1] is a studio album by John Lennon & Yoko Ono and Elephant's Memory, and paired with the live album Live Jam as a double album.
Studio album and Live album by
John Lennon and Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band with Elephant's Memory & Invisible Strings
12 June 1972 (US)
15 September 1972 (UK)
Studio: December 1971 – 20 March 1972
Live: 15 December 1969
Lyceum Ballroom, London
6 June 1971, at Fillmore East, New York City
John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Phil Spector
John Lennon chronology
(1971) Some Time in New York City
(1972) Mind Games
Yoko Ono chronology
(1972) Approximately Infinite Universe
Singles from Some Time in New York City
"Woman Is the Nigger of the World"
Released in 1972, it is Lennon's third post-Beatles solo album, fourth with Ono, and third with producer Phil Spector. Some Time in New York City fared poorly critically and commercially compared to Lennon's previous two albums, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band and Imagine.
John Lennon and Yoko Ono moved to New York City in September 1971 and continued their involvement in political, peace and social justice causes of the counterculture era. When they eventually settled in Greenwich Village, in October,[2] they were quickly contacted by activists Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman who persuaded them to appear at a rally for left-wing writer John Sinclair, who was jailed for possession of two marijuana joints.[2] The Lennons also spoke out on the Attica Prison riots, jailing of Angela Davis and oppression of women. On 12 November, Lennon taped numerous demos of "The Luck of the Irish", which was filmed, and titled Luck of the Irish – A Videotape by John Reilly.[2] On 9 December, Lennon and Ono flew to Ann Arbor, Michigan, for the John Sinclair rally, which was due to start the following day.[2] On the morning before the rally, Lennon was recorded playing the song "Chords of Fame" with Phil Ochs.[2] At the rally itself, Lennon and Ono played tracks that would end up on Some Time in New York City: "Attica State", "The Luck of the Irish", "Sisters O Sisters" and "John Sinclair".[2] The performance was filmed, and included in the short film Ten for Two which was shown at Ann Arbor sometime in December.[2][nb 1]
Lennon and Ono, along with David Peel, performed Peel's "The Ballad of New York", on The David Frost Show, with Lennon playing tea-chest bass.[2] The trio, now joined by The Lower East Side Band, played the same set of songs that Lennon and Ono had played at the John Sinclair rally, with the exception of a diminutive version of "The Luck of the Irish".[2] This episode was recorded on 16 December 1971 and broadcast on 13 January 1972.[2] The next day, Lennon and Ono performed at a benefit concert for families of victims of the Attica Prison riot at the Apollo Theater, playing acoustic versions of "Imagine", "Attica State", and "Sisters, O Sisters".[2] By January 1972, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had opened a file on the Lennons, fearing they would organise the youth vote and prevent a second term for President Richard Nixon. Soon, the government would begin deportation proceedings against the couple, and the FBI began intense surveillance, documenting their every move.
RecordingEdit
The original double album contained the live album Live Jam containing the Plastic Ono Supergroup's 15 December 1969 live performance of "Cold Turkey" and "Don't Worry Kyoko (Mummy's Only Looking for Her Hand in the Snow)"[nb 2] at the Lyceum Ballroom in London,[4] from a UNICEF charity show,[5] billed as the "Peace for Christmas Concert".[6] In addition to Lennon and Ono, as part of the super group among others was former-Beatle George Harrison,[5] The Who's drummer Keith Moon, Delaney & Bonnie,[3] Billy Preston and Legs Larry Smith.[6] Harrison, who before the performance had been touring with Delaney & Bonnie, was excited by Lennon's proposal over a phone call when asked if he wanted to play with him.[7] The ballroom had its interior covered by posters declaring "WAR IS OVER, if you want it, love John and Yoko.[8] For "Cold Turkey", Ono had sat inside a white bag which was located near Lennon's feet, while for "Don't Worry Kyoko (Mummy's Only Looking for Her Hand in the Snow)", Ono jumped out of the bag, facing the crowd, and proceeded to scream at them.[8] As the latter song got towards the end of its performance, Ono broke down crying.[8] An early mix of the two tracks was arranged by the Abbey Road Studios engineers on 26 November 1970, and was sent to Lennon and Ono.[2] The album also featured a recording of Lennon and Ono performing with Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention at the Fillmore East on 6 June 1971, which they performed with after the persistence of Andy Warhol.[2] The performance was documented after Ono had arranged for someone to film it.[2] Klaus Voormann overdubbed his bass at a later date.[2]
Throughout January, until the 21st, Lennon personally mixed the live album, at Record Plant.[2] Lennon also mixed the recordings of the John Sinclair rally, the Apollo Theatre and Lyceum Ballroom performances, for possible release as EPs; however, only the Lyceum performance ended up being released.[2] Lennon and Ono, with the assistance of studio drummer Jim Keltner, hired Elephant's Memory, a local band known for their hard partying and anti-establishment musical style, to back them for a series of albums and live performances. Lennon once again brought in Phil Spector to co-produce the new studio album, which was completed on 20 March 1972.[2] Around this time, Lennon and Ono were producing Elephant's Memory's self-titled album.[2] Several jams were recorded featuring Lennon and Elephant's Memory, all of which remained unreleased: "Don't Be Cruel", "Hound Dog", "Send Me Some Lovin'", "Roll Over Beethoven", "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On", "It'll Be Me", "Not Fade Away", "Ain't That a Shame" and "Caribbean".[2]
Music and lyricsEdit
The opening song of the studio album, "Woman Is the Nigger of the World" (a phrase Ono had coined in the late 1960s), was intended as a negation of sexism and was also issued as a single in the US to controversial reaction, and – as a consequence – little airplay. The Lennons went to great lengths (including a press conference attended by staff from Jet and Ebony magazines) to explain that the word "nigger" was not meant as an affront to black people. A quote from Ron Dellums, referring to the use of the word "nigger", appeared in an issue of Billboard (referred to on an episode of The Dick Cavett Show). Lennon's other tracks include the biographical "New York City", a Chuck Berry-styled rocker that details the Lennons' early months in their new home, as well as "John Sinclair", his musical plea for Sinclair's release from a ten-year sentence for giving two marijuana joints to an undercover policewoman.
Yoko Ono, very much a feminist supporter, responds musically with "Sisters, O Sisters", tackles the lacking education system with "Born in a Prison", and celebrates a culture of one in "We're All Water". In fact, this album is generally seen as the beginning of Ono's emergence as a songwriter after her rather challenging previous two releases.[citation needed] Together, Lennon and Ono lament police brutality in "Attica State", the hardships of war-torn Northern Ireland in "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "The Luck of the Irish" (see Bloody Sunday (1972) article), and pay tribute to Angela Davis with "Angela".
ReleaseEdit
Some Time in New York City was issued in the US on 12 June 1972 but delayed until 15 September in the UK due to a dispute with Northern Songs over publishing rights on songs co-written by Lennon and Ono.[2] The album was packaged like a newspaper (an approach previously used by The Four Seasons, Jefferson Airplane, and Jethro Tull) depicting the events covered in the album, causing even more consternation with an altered photo of Richard Nixon and Mao Zedong dancing nude together. (The photo was stickered over on many of the issued copies, with a non-removable seal.)
With most of the gatefold cover space taken up by printed lyrics and photographs, the album credits appeared on the first disc's inner sleeve. The customised label, featuring the face of Lennon morphing into Ono's, was created by Iain Macmillan. The inner sleeve for Live Jam featured Lennon's doodling over the cover of Zappa's album, Fillmore East - June 1971, adding his credits and commentary to Zappa's.
Although the UK release managed a number 11 chart peak, it only went to number 48 in the US. Lennon was reportedly stunned by the album's failure and consequently did not record new music for almost a year.[9]
Boston Phoenix
Christgau's Record Guide C[12]
MusicHound 3/5[14]
On release, Some Time in New York City provided a startling contrast for listeners expecting a repeat of the well-received Imagine in 1971. According to author Robert Rodriguez, the new album received "abysmal reviews".[18] In a scathing critique published in Rolling Stone, Stephen Holden wrote that "the Lennons should be commended for their daring", but not before calling the album "incipient artistic suicide". Holden added: "except for 'John Sinclair' the songs are awful. The tunes are shallow and derivative and the words little more than sloppy nursery-rhymes that patronise the issues and individuals they seek to exalt. Only a monomaniacal smugness could allow the Lennons to think that this witless doggerel wouldn't insult the intelligence and feelings of any audience."[19]
Dave Marsh wrote a mixed review for Creem, stating that "it's not half bad. It may be 49.9% bad, but not half."[20] The Milwaukee Sentinel declared that John and Yoko had produced "another crude, superficial look at trendy leftist politics and have plunged even further into their endless echo chamber".[21] In the NME, Tony Tyler presented his album review in the form of an open letter, titled "Lennon, you're a pathetic, ageing revolutionary". After criticising Lennon for "the general tastelessness of the presentation", particularly the album's lyrics and cover art, Tyler concluded: "Don't rely on cant and rigidity. Don't alienate. Stimulate. You know, like you used to."[22]
More recently, Garry Mulholland of Uncut magazine has described Some Time in New York City as "a contender for the worst LP by a major musical figure, its list of '70s left-wing clichés hamstrung by the utter absence of conviction within the melodies and lyrics".[17] Writing in the Boston Phoenix in 2005, Eliot Wilder said that listening to the album was "a painful experience". Although he conceded that Lennon "had his heart in the right place", Wilder opined: "these tracks – pedantic, topical, elitist – show that a latter-day Dylan he was not … Refer to the Beatles' 'Revolution' or his own 'Give Peace a Chance' if you need a dose of John the Protest Singer."[11] More impressed, Mark Kemp of Paste considers that "the album has been unfairly chastised", and he identifies "Woman Is the Nigger of the World" as "one of Lennon's finest songs" and Ono's "Born in a Prison" as another highlight.[15]
On 30 August 1972, Lennon and Ono performed two benefit concerts for the Willowbrook State School for the mentally challenged at Madison Square Garden, at friend Geraldo Rivera's request. The shows, known as One to One, were filmed and recorded, with the evening show broadcast on ABC Television, and the earlier matinée show compiled for release as the 1986 live album and video, Live in New York City. New York mayor John Lindsay declared the date "One to One Day". They proved to be Lennon's last full live concerts.
Zappa criticised the presentation of the Mothers performance on Some Time in New York City, as the vocals of Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan had been removed, and Zappa did not receive writing credit for "King Kong", which was wrongly identified on this release as "Jamrag".[23][24] He and Lennon had also agreed that each would release their own version of the performance, but Zappa was legally prevented from issuing his version, which did not appear until the release of Playground Psychotics in 1992.[5]
After Lennon's death, the album, along with seven other Lennon albums, was reissued by EMI as part of a box set, which was released in the UK on 15 June 1981.[nb 3][25] Some Time in New York City was remixed, remastered and reissued in November 2005 as a single CD, removing, in the process, several of the Live Jam cuts, while adding "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" and "Listen, the Snow Is Falling". On this remastered release, "John Sinclair" and "Attica State" were not remixed. In 2010, the album was digitally remastered in its original format.
All songs written by John Lennon and Yoko Ono, except where noted.
"Woman Is the Nigger of the World" – 5:15
"Sisters, O Sisters" (Ono) – 3:46
"Attica State" – 2:54
"Born in a Prison" (Ono) – 4:03
"New York City" (Lennon) – 4:30
"Sunday Bloody Sunday" – 5:00
"The Luck of the Irish" – 2:56
"John Sinclair" (Lennon) – 3:28
"Angela" – 4:06
"We're All Water" (Ono) – 7:11
Side three
Performed live at the Lyceum Ballroom in London, England on 15 December 1969, for a UNICEF charity concert
"Cold Turkey" (Lennon) – 8:35
"Don't Worry Kyoko" (Ono) – 16:01
Side four
Recorded live at the Fillmore East in New York City with Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention on 6 June 1971
"Well (Baby Please Don't Go)" (Walter Ward) – 4:41
"Jamrag"[23] – 5:36
"Scumbag" (Lennon/Ono/Frank Zappa) – 4:27
"Aü" – 8:04
Remixed version of Side 4
A remixed version of the live recordings captured on side four of Some Time in New York City was released in 1992 on Frank Zappa's album Playground Psychotics.[2] The album features the recordings remixed, making Zappa more prominent in the mix, and in some cases, the songs were given new titles (i.e. "Say Please" and "Aaawk" are edited from "Jamrag" (a longer piece on Some Time in New York City), and "Au" is retitled "A Small Eternity With Yoko Ono"). The songs, which appear as tracks 22 through 26 on disc one of the CD, are denoted as follows:
Remixed tracks
22. "Well" (Walter Ward) 4:43
23. "Say Please" (John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Zappa) 0:57
24. "Aaawk" (Lennon, Ono, Zappa) 2:59
25. "Scumbag" (Lennon, Ono, Howard Kaylan, Zappa. In this mix, Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan can be heard improvising lyrics, including "Now Yoko's in the scumbag". This is inaudible on Some Time in New York City.[24]) 5:53
26. "A Small Eternity with Yoko Ono" (Lennon, Ono) 6:07
2005 CD reissueEdit
This remixed/remastered edition, issued on a single disc, omits much of the live material with Zappa (though it is available in a different mix/edit on Zappa's Playground Psychotics) and includes two bonus tracks. Some of the track times, notably for "We're All Water" and "Don't Worry Kyoko", differ from those on the original vinyl LPs.
"Woman Is the Nigger of the World" (Lennon/Ono) – 5:17
"Attica State" (Lennon/Ono) – 2:55
"Sunday Bloody Sunday" (Lennon/Ono) – 5:03
"The Luck of the Irish" (Lennon/Ono) – 2:59
"Angela" (Lennon/Ono) – 4:08
"Cold Turkey (Live Jam)" (Lennon) – 8:35
"Don't Worry Kyoko (Live Jam)" (Ono) – 15:20
"Well (Baby Please Don't Go) (Live Jam)" (Ward) – 4:33
"Listen, the Snow Is Falling" (Ono) – 3:06
"Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" (Lennon/Ono) – 3:34
Studio albumEdit
John Lennon – guitars, vocals
Yoko Ono – vocals
Jim Keltner – drums, percussion
Elephant's Memory:
Stan Bronstein – saxophone, flute
Wayne 'Tex' Gabriel – guitar
Richard Frank Jr. – drums, percussion
Adam Ippolito – piano, organ
Gary Van Scyoc – bass guitar
John La Boosca - piano
Live JamEdit
All credits taken from Lennon's handwritten credits on the Live Jam inner sleeve.[26]
John Lennon – guitar, vocals
Yoko Ono – bag, vocals
For everyone except himself and Ono, Lennon made up pseudonyms:
Eric Clapton ('Derek Claptoe') – guitar
Delaney & Bonnie ('Bilanie & Donnie') – guitar, percussion (and friends, brass, percussion)
Jim Gordon ('Jim Bordom') – drums
George Harrison ('George Harrisong') – guitar
Nicky Hopkins ('Sticky Topkins') – electric piano (overdubbed in N.Y. as organ was lost)
Bobby Keyes ('Robbie Knees') – sax
Keith Moon ('Kief Spoon') – drums
Billy Preston ('Billy Presstud') – organ
Klaus Voormann ('Raus Doorman') – bass
Alan White ('Dallas White') – drums
The audience in attendance is credited on the label as "a cast of 1000's" and on the dust jacket as a "star studded cast of thousands!!".[27]
Uncredited
Jim Price – trumpet
Aynsley Dunbar – drums
Bob Harris – keyboards, vocals
Howard Kaylan – vocals
Jim Pons – bass guitar, vocals
Don Preston – Mini-Moog
Ian Underwood – keyboard, vocals, woodwinds
Mark Volman – vocals
Klaus Voormann – bass guitar, vocals
Frank Zappa – guitar, vocals
1970s portal
^ The film wasn't released until 1 April 1989, years after the rally had taken place.[2]
^ The performance of "Don't Worry Kyoko" was over 20 minutes in length.[3]
^ UK EMI JLB8[25]
^ The title is rendered Sometime in New York City on the record label, inner jacket, and original compact disc.
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Miles, Barry; Badman, Keith, eds. (2001). The Beatles Diary After the Break-Up: 1970-2001 (reprint ed.). London: Music Sales Group. ISBN 9780711983076.
^ a b Edmondson, Jacqueline (2010). John Lennon: A Biography (illustrated ed.). Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood. p. 131. ISBN 978-0-313-37938-3.
^ Blaney, John (2005). John Lennon: Listen to This Book (illustrated ed.). [S.l.]: Paper Jukebox. p. 41. ISBN 978-0-9544528-1-0.
^ a b c Urish, Ben; Bielen, Kenneth G. (2007). The Words and Music of John Lennon. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 15. ISBN 978-0-275-99180-7.
^ a b Leng, Simon (2006). While My Guitar Gently Weeps: The Music of George Harrison ([New edition]. ed.). Milwaukee, WI: Hal Leonard. p. 67. ISBN 9781423406099.
^ Blake, John (1981). All You Needed Was Love: The Beatles After the Beatles. Middlesex: Hamlyn Paperbacks. pp. 90–91. ISBN 0 600 20466 9.
^ a b c Blake 1981, p. 91
^ Spizer, Bruce (2005). The Beatles Solo on Apple Records. New Orleans, LA: 498 Productions. p. 74. ISBN 0-9662649-5-9.
^ Some Time in New York City at AllMusic
^ a b Wilder, Eliot (23–29 December 2005). "John Lennon Sometime in New York City". Boston Phoenix. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
^ Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: L". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved 1 March 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
^ Doyle, Tom (November 2010). "John Lennon Signature Box". Mojo. p. 114.
^ Gary Graff & Daniel Durchholz (eds), MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide, Visible Ink Press (Farmington Hills, MI, 1999; ISBN 1-57859-061-2), p. 667.
^ a b Kemp, Mark (23 October 2007). "John Lennon – Reissues". Paste. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
^ "John Lennon: Album Guide | Rolling Stone Music". Rollingstone.com. Archived from the original on 9 February 2014. Retrieved 16 August 2014. CS1 maint: Unfit url (link)
^ a b Mullholland, Garry (November 2010). "John Lennon – Remasters". Uncut. p. 108. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
^ Rodriguez, Robert (2010). Fab Four FAQ 2.0: The Beatles' Solo Years, 1970–1980. Milwaukee, WI: Backbeat Books. pp. 95, 180. ISBN 978-1-4165-9093-4.
^ Holden, Stephen (20 July 1972). "Some Time in New York City". Rolling Stone. Straight Arrow Publishers, Inc. (113): 48.
^ Marsh, Dave (August 1972). "Some Time in New York City". Creem.
^ Wilk, Stuart (24 June 1972). "John and Yoko: Banal Balladry". The Milwaukee Sentinel. Journal Communications: 9.
^ Hunt, Chris (ed.) (2005). NME Originals: Beatles – The Solo Years 1970–1980. London: IPC Ignite!. p. 65. CS1 maint: Extra text: authors list (link)
^ a b Miles, Barry (23 September 2004). Zappa: A Biography. Grove Press. p. 212. ISBN 978-0-8021-1783-0. Retrieved 5 February 2010. At the same time John and Yoko claimed copyright on the entire jam, giving 'King Kong' the new title 'Jam Rag' (British slang for tampon)
^ a b Zappa, Kurt (1988). "The Rolling Stone interview with Frank Zappa". The Rolling Stone (Interview). Interviewed by Kurt Loder. Archived from the original on 17 December 2010. Retrieved 5 February 2010. "They put out this record and took 'King Kong' – which obviously has a tune, and a rhythm, and chord changes – and they called it 'Jam Rag', and accredited the writing and publishing to themselves … the way they mixed it, you can't hear what Mark and Howard are singing."
^ a b Blaney 2005, p. 203
^ Some Time in New York City (Inner sleeve). John Lennon and Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band with Elephant's Memory & Invisible Strings. Apple, EMI. 1972. CS1 maint: others (link)
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Some_Time_in_New_York_City&oldid=897866254"
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For the ice hockey tournament, see Subway Super Series.
The Subway Series is a series of Major League Baseball (MLB) rivalry games played between the two teams based in New York City, the Yankees and the Mets. Previously, this applied to the Giants and Dodgers as well, before they moved out of New York City. Every historic and current venue for such games has been accessible via the New York City Subway, hence the name of the series.
The view of Yankee Stadium from the adjacent New York City Subway station; both the Yankees' and Mets' home grounds are accessible via the Subway.
First meeting
October 5, 1921 (World Series, between the Giants and Yankees)
October 1, 1941 (World Series, between the Dodgers and Yankees)
June 16, 1997 (regular season, between the Mets and Yankees)
Latest meeting
June 11, 2019 (between the Mets and Yankees)
Meetings total
188 (84 World Series, 104 regular season)
36 (all World Series, between the Giants and Yankees)
43 (all World Series, between the Dodgers and Yankees)
109 (5 World Series, 104 regular season between the Mets and Yankees)
Regular season series
60–44, Yankees (over Mets)
Largest victory
Giants: 13–5 (October 7, 1921–World Series)
Dodgers: 13–8 (October 5, 1956–World Series)
Mets: 12–2 (June 9, 2000–regular season)
Yankees: 18–4 (over Giants, October 2, 1936–World Series)
9–0 (over Dodgers, October 10, 1956–World Series)
15–0 (over Mets, June 14, 2009–regular season)
Longest win streak
Mets: 6 (May 27, 2013–May 13, 2014)
Yankees: 7 (June 30, 2002–June 29, 2003)
Current win streak
1, Mets (over Yankees)
Post-season history
1921 World Series: Giants defeat Yankees, 5–3
1923 World Series: Yankees defeat Giants, 4–2
1941 World Series: Yankees defeat Dodgers, 4–1
1955 World Series: Dodgers defeat Yankees, 4–3
2000 World Series: Yankees defeat Mets, 4–1
The term's historic usage has been in reference to World Series games played between the city's teams. The New York Yankees have appeared in all Subway Series games as they have been the only American League (AL) team based in the city, and have compiled an 11–3 all-time series record in the 14 championship Subway Series.
Since 1997, the term Subway Series has been applied to interleague play during the regular season between the Yankees and New York City's National League (NL) team: the New York Mets. The Mets and Yankees also played each other in the 2000 World Series, in which the Yankees won.
19th century Trolley SeriesEdit
Main article: 1889 World Series
See also: Dodgers–Giants rivalry
Although organized games between all-stars from New York teams against all-stars from Brooklyn teams date back to the 1850s, the first actual New York-Brooklyn "World Championship Series" occurred in 1889, a full nine years before Brooklyn was incorporated into the City of New York by the Greater New York Act of 1898, when the New York Giants squared off against (and defeated) the Brooklyn Bridegrooms, also called the "Trolley Dodgers", of the American Association. The following season, Brooklyn withdrew from the Association and joined the League, setting the stage for many future intra-city competitions.
Some[who?] might argue that the 1889 Series would qualify as a "Trolley Series", but would not qualify as a Subway Series since New York's subway did not open until 1904.
The 1906 World Series between the Chicago Cubs and the Chicago White Sox is also loosely referred to as a Subway Series, though the term Crosstown Series is more commonly used. The term is also inaccurate, since Chicago had surface systems from 1892 till the building of the State Street Subway in 1943.
Early and mid-20th century Subway SeriesEdit
By the 1920s, the subway had become an important form of public transport in the city and provided a convenient form of travel between the three city ballparks: the Polo Grounds, in upper Manhattan; Yankee Stadium, in the Bronx; and Ebbets Field in Brooklyn. The 155th Street elevated and subway stations, the 161st Street station, and the Prospect Park respectively, served the ballparks. (New York's subway and elevated systems—the IRT, BRT/BMT, and IND—were in competition with each other until 1940.)
In the case of the World Series contests listed, the entire Series could be attended by using the subway. The date of the first usage of the term "Subway Series" is uncertain. The term "Nickel Series" (a nickel was the old subway fare) appeared in newspapers by 1927, and "Subway Series" appeared by 1928.[1] "Subway Series" was clearly already a familiar concept by 1934, as discussed in this article about that year's All-Star Game to be held in New York, discussing the "subway series" possibility for the Giants and Yankees. (Ultimately, no New York team made it to the 1934 post-season.).[2]
Yankees–GiantsEdit
Main articles: 1921 World Series, 1922 World Series, 1923 World Series, 1936 World Series, 1937 World Series, 1951 World Series, and Giants–Yankees rivalry
The 1921 and 1922 match-ups were played in a single ballpark, as both the Giants and Yankees then played at the Polo Grounds. The Giants won both of these World Series against the Yankees, the first two Subway Series played. Despite cordial relations just a few years before when the Yankees allowed the Giants to share their home at Hilltop Park for a year in 1911 and the Giants more than returning the favor in kind by sharing Polo Grounds with the Yankees since 1913, the Yankees were issued an eviction notice in mid-1920 ending their lease after the 1922 season. The Yankees opened their new ballpark in 1923. Fortunes changed immediately for the Yankees as they defeated the Giants this time in the third straight year of World Series competition between the two teams. Their new home would host the Yankees' first of 11 Subway World Series victories that year and first of an unprecedented 26 World Series until the stadium closed in 2008.
The venues for the 1923, 1936, 1937, and 1951 World Series—the Polo Grounds and the old Yankee Stadium—were a short walk apart across the Macombs Dam Bridge over the Harlem River.
Yankees–DodgersEdit
Main articles: 1941 World Series, 1947 World Series, 1949 World Series, 1952 World Series, 1953 World Series, 1955 World Series, 1956 World Series, and Dodgers–Yankees rivalry
The term was used again in 1941 when the Dodgers made their first World Series appearance since 1920. Multiple Hall of Famers took part in these contests between the "Bronx Bombers" and "Dem Bums from Brooklyn" and the games involved numerous achievements including Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier as the first African-American baseball player in the World Series and Don Larsen's performance in pitching the only perfect game in post-season history. The seven matchups between the Yankees and the Dodgers between 1941 and 1956 cemented the term as being mostly associated with the New York vs. Brooklyn contests, during the time when New York City was retroactively dubbed by historians as "The Capital of Baseball".[3] Despite Brooklyn's repeated success at winning the National League pennant, it was only able to win one World Series (1955) against the Yankees.
World Series matchupsEdit
The all-New York match-ups in World Series play during this period been the following:
National League team
American League team
Winning team
Losing team
New York Giants John McGraw 5–3[V] New York Yankees Miller Huggins [4]
New York Giants John McGraw 4–0–(1)[T] New York Yankees Miller Huggins [5]
New York Yankees Miller Huggins 4–2 New York Giants John McGraw [6]
New York Yankees Joe McCarthy 4–2 New York Giants Bill Terry [7]
New York Yankees Joe McCarthy 4–1 Brooklyn Dodgers Leo Durocher [9]
New York Yankees Bucky Harris 4–3 Brooklyn Dodgers Burt Shotton [10]
New York Yankees Casey Stengel 4–1 Brooklyn Dodgers Burt Shotton [11]
New York Yankees Casey Stengel 4–2 New York Giants Leo Durocher [12]
New York Yankees Casey Stengel 4–3 Brooklyn Dodgers Charlie Dressen [13]
Brooklyn Dodgers Walter Alston 4–3 New York Yankees Casey Stengel [15]
New York Yankees Casey Stengel 4–3 Brooklyn Dodgers Walter Alston [16]
New York Yankees Joe Torre 4–1 New York Mets[W] Bobby Valentine [17]
Exhibition seriesEdit
In addition to the five World Series played between the Yankees and Giants before 1940, the two teams also played exhibition series against each other from time to time. The match-ups were known as the "City Series" and were sometimes played in October while other teams played in the World Series. However, after 1940, this became difficult because the Yankees would routinely appear in the World Series. In the 17 years from 1941 to 1957 (after which the Giants and Dodgers left New York City for California), the Yankees appeared in the World Series 12 times, failing to reach the Series only in 1944, 1945, 1946, 1948, and 1954.
Before New York's two National League teams left the city, the Yankees and Dodgers played an annual midseason exhibition game called the Mayor's Trophy Game to benefit sandlot baseball in New York City. The proceeds raised by the Yankees were given to leagues in Manhattan and the Bronx, while proceeds raised by the Dodgers went to leagues on Long Island and Staten Island. The annual charity event was discontinued following the 1957 season, when the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles and the Giants moved to San Francisco. leaving the Yankees as the only major league team in the city. The game was revived in 1963, after the National League returned to New York with the expansion New York Mets in 1962. After dwinding interest and public bickering between the owners of both teams, the Mayor's Trophy Game was discontinued following the 1983 season. It was revived again as a pre-Opening Day series titled the "Mayor's Challenge" and held in 1989.
Modern usageEdit
Subway Series 2008, Johnny Damon with the Yankees (left) and Brian Schneider with the Mets
A full house at the new Yankee Stadium for a Subway Series game against the Mets on June 13, 2009. The Mets won the game 6-2.
See also: Mets–Yankees rivalry
In modern usage, the term "Subway Series" generally refers to a series played between the two current New York baseball teams, the New York Yankees and the New York Mets. Their stadiums remain directly accessible by subway: Yankee Stadium via the 161st Street–Yankee Stadium station, and Citi Field via the Mets–Willets Point station. It can also refer to any time two New York City-based teams play each other, such as the Knicks and Nets in the NBA, and the Rangers and Islanders in the NHL. All of these teams' venues are easily accessible via the New York City Subway as well.
2000 World SeriesEdit
The name "Subway Series" was commonly applied to the 2000 World Series between the New York Yankees and the New York Mets. The Yankees won four games to one and celebrated their 26th championship in front of Mets fans at Shea Stadium. This was the only time that visiting teams had ever won a World Series at Shea Stadium. The other two times the World Series ended at Shea Stadium, in 1969 and 1986, it ended with the Mets winning.
During the 2000 World Series, the City of New York decorated some of the trains that ran on the 7 train (which went to Shea Stadium in Queens, home of the Mets) and 4 train (which went to the old Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, home of the Yankees). The 7 trains were blue and orange and featured the Mets version of the "NY" logo, and the 4 trains were white with blue pinstripes and featured the Yankees version of the "NY" logo. Also, after each game in the series the city offered free subway rides home for attendees of the game. Yankee fans displayed signs that read "Yankees in 4 and not in 7", predicting that the Yankees would easily dispatch the Mets in a Series sweep as opposed to a difficult, full-length Series. The signs had the 4 in a dark green circle designating the number 4 train, and the 7 in a purple circle designating the number 7 train.[citation needed]
Islanders–Rangers rivalry
Devils–Rangers rivalry
Knicks–Nets rivalry
Hudson River Derby
T The 1907, 1912, and 1922 World Series each included one tied game.
V The 1903, 1919, 1920, and 1921 World Series were in a best-of-nine format (carried by the first team to win five games).
^ "Terry and Cronin Select Squads For All-Star Game Here Tuesday". New York Times. Associated Press. July 4, 1934. p. 21.
^ Baseball: A Film by Ken Burns; Inning 7: The Capital of Baseball (Television Documentary). PBS.
^ "1921 World Series". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved January 2, 2010.
2000 Subway Series Recap on MLB.com
Great Subway Series moments
History of the Subway Series from the NY Times
The Subway Series (and Other Inter-Urban Series)
Subway Series Yankees vs. Mets history and boxscores from Newsday
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Subway_Series&oldid=903609797"
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Deadmau5 in 2014
Joel Thomas Zimmerman
Halcyon441
Karma K
Testpilot[1]
(1981-01-05) January 5, 1981 (age 38)
Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada
Record producer
Mau5trap
Virgin EMI
Astralwerks
Rob Swire
Wolfgang Gartner
deadmau5.com
Campbellville; Milton, Ontario, Canada
Kelly Fedoni (m. 2017)
Joel Thomas Zimmerman (born January 5, 1981),[2] known professionally as Deadmau5 (stylized as deadmau5; pronounced "dead mouse"), is a Canadian electronic music producer, DJ, and musician. Zimmerman mainly produces progressive house music and sometimes other forms of electronic music. His works have been included in compilation albums such as Tiësto's In Search of Sunrise 6: Ibiza and presented on Armin van Buuren's A State of Trance radio show.
Zimmerman has received six Grammy Award nominations for his work. He has worked with other DJs and producers, such as Kaskade, MC Flipside, Rob Swire and Wolfgang Gartner. He has also collaborated with Steve Duda under the group name BSOD (Better Sounding On Drugs), and was part of the group named WTF? with Duda, Tommy Lee, and DJ Aero. In 2007, he founded his own record label, Mau5trap. Deadmau5 is currently one of the highest paid electronic music producers in the world,[3] and is a masked music artist similar to Marshmello and Daft Punk.[4]
In 2000, an early 12" single produced on vinyl titled "I Don't Want No Other" was released by Joel Zimmerman and Derek Caesar under the group name Dred and Karma.[5] A 2006 compilation album titled Deadmau5 Circa 1998–2002 was self-released under the alias Halcyon441.[6] His debut studio album, Get Scraped was released in 2005, with follow-up Vexillology in 2006. His breakthrough, Random Album Title, was released in 2008 and was certified gold in Canada, and silver the United Kingdom. The album includes seminal release "Faxing Berlin", "Not Exactly", and moderate chart hit "I Remember" (with Kaskade). In 2009, his fourth studio album For Lack of a Better Name was released to critical acclaim, featuring Rob Swire collaboration "Ghosts 'n' Stuff", "Hi Friend", and the critically acclaimed "Strobe". His fifth studio album, 4×4=12, released in late 2010, supported by singles "Some Chords", "Animal Rights", "Sofi Needs a Ladder", and "Raise Your Weapon".
In 2012, Zimmerman released singles "The Veldt" and "Professional Griefers" (featuring Gerard Way) to commercial success. These singles were featured on his sixth studio album, Album Title Goes Here. Following departure from long-time label Ultra Records, Zimmerman released his seventh studio album, While(1<2) through Astralwerks and Virgin EMI in 2014. The album's release was supported by its four singles; "Avaritia", "Seeya", "Infra Turbo Pigcart Racer", and "Phantoms Can't Hang". After a brief hiatus, Zimmerman's eighth studio album, W:/2016Album/ was released in late 2016, with singles "Snowcone" and "Let Go".
2.1 1998–2006: Get Scraped and self-released compilations
2.2 2006–08: Vexillology, Mau5trap, and Random Album Title
2.3 2009–11: For Lack of a Better Name and 4×4=12
2.4 2012–14: Album Title Goes Here and While(1<2)
2.5 2015–16: Depression, return, and W:/2016Album/
2.6 2017–present: Stuff I Used to Do, Where's the Drop?, Polar soundtrack and Mau5ville
3 Video game appearances
5 Name origin
6 Controversies
6.1 DirtyCircuit
6.2 Disney trademark dispute
6.3 Meowingtons trademark dispute
6.4 Offensive slurs
Zimmerman was born in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.[7] His mother, Nancy (née Johnson), is a visual artist, and his father, Rodney Thomas "Rod" Zimmerman, is a General Motors plant worker.[8][9] He has two siblings, Jennifer (older) and Chris (younger).[8] His ancestry includes German, Swiss, and English.[9][10] He received his first keyboard for Christmas when he was a teenager.[8][11] His music career began in the late 1990s, with a chiptune and demoscene movements-influenced sound with the Impulse Tracker.[12] Zimmerman graduated from Westlane Secondary School in Niagara Falls. He then worked with an online music licensing company and as a programmer. He adopted the name Deadmau5, which referred to a dead mouse he found in his computer.[13]
1998–2006: Get Scraped and self-released compilations
Zimmerman released his debut studio album, titled Get Scraped on July 26, 2005. The tracks "Just Before 8bit", "Nice Try, Kiddo" and "Uploading and Downloading" from Project 56 were edited and expanded upon in Get Scraped under the names "8bit", "Try Again", and "Unspecial Effects", respectively. Tracks "Bored of Canada", "Intelstat" and "I Forget" reappear on this album as is, as well as "The Oshawa Connection" from Deadmau5 Circa 1998–2002.
Three self-released compilations, Project 56, Deadmau5 Circa 1998–2002, and A Little Oblique, were finished in 2006, with Project 56 seeing an official release two years later.
2006–08: Vexillology, Mau5trap, and Random Album Title
Deadmau5 at Coachella 2008
In 2006, Zimmerman released his second studio album, Vexillology, on November 6, 2006 through Play Records.[14]
In 2007, Zimmerman founded his own record label, Mau5trap, which, along with Ultra Records and Ministry of Sound, released the 2008 album Random Album Title, which saw the collaboration of Zimmerman and Chicago producer Kaskade with "I Remember". Random Album Title, saw a digital release on September 2, 2008, via Ultra Records in the United States and Ministry of Sound in the United Kingdom and Europe. Physical copies of the album were released in November 2008. Singles "Faxing Berlin" on October 25, 2006, and "Not Exactly" on August 27, 2007, were released prior to the album's release. Single "I Remember" (with Kaskade) was later released on September 15, 2008, before the album's release.
In the United States, Zimmerman's collaboration with Kaskade, "Move for Me", reached number one on Billboard magazine's Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart in its September 6, 2008, issue.[15] Since then, Zimmerman has seen two more tracks, also collaborations ("I Remember" with Kaskade and "Ghosts 'n' Stuff" with Rob Swire), reach number one on Billboard's Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart, making him the only Canadian to have three number-one tracks on that chart. He is also the sixth Canadian to top that chart, following Deborah Cox, Nelly Furtado, Dragonette, Justin Bieber, and The Weeknd, each with one apiece.
2009–11: For Lack of a Better Name and 4×4=12
Deadmau5 performing at the Austin Music Hall, 2011
On September 22, 2009, Ultra Records released his album For Lack of a Better Name in the United States, and October 5 internationally. On a subsequent tour in the fall of 2009, Zimmerman's performances were recorded and made available for sale immediately following the concerts on USB wristband flash drives. For Lack of a Better Name includes two of Zimmerman's most popular songs, "Ghosts 'n' Stuff" (featuring Rob Swire) and "Strobe". "Ghosts 'n' Stuff" was released on November 25, 2008, before the album, while "Strobe" was released on February 23, 2010, after the album's release.
MTV named Zimmerman as the house DJ for the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards and MTV PUSH artist of the week on August 16, 2010. He expressed gratitude towards Lady Gaga and David Guetta for bringing dance into the pop music scene and paving the way for him to the mainstream.[16] At the awards, Zimmerman performed with Jason Derulo and Travie McCoy.[17] His song "Ghosts 'n' Stuff" had been featured on the soundtrack for the MTV reality series Jersey Shore earlier.[18]
His fifth studio album, 4×4=12, was released on December 6, 2010, in the United Kingdom and December 7, 2010, in the United States. Singles "Some Chords" on May 3, 2010, "Animal Rights" (with Wolfgang Gartner) on September 6, and "Sofi Needs a Ladder" (featuring SOFI) on November 1 were released and were featured on the album. "Raise Your Weapon" (featuring Greta Svabo Bech) was released later on May 23, 2011. "Some Chords" was featured on an episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation where Zimmerman made a cameo appearance, and an instrumental version of "Sofi Needs a Ladder" was featured in the film The Hangover Part II. That year, he also released two non-album singles "Aural Psynapse" and "HR 8938 Cephei".
2012–14: Album Title Goes Here and While(1<2)
Deadmau5 performing at Rock in Rio in Madrid, 2012
On August 9, 2012, Zimmerman announced his sixth studio album, Album Title Goes Here, which was released on September 24 of that year.[19][20] Singles from this album include "Maths" on February 17, 2012, "The Veldt" (featuring Chris James) on May 8, and "Professional Griefers" (featuring Gerard Way) on August 14. Singles "Channel 42" (with Wolfgang Gartner) on February 12, 2013, and "Telemiscommunications" (with Imogen Heap) on March 12 were released in 2013, after the album was released. His collaboration with Gerard Way on "Professional Griefers" was announced on Facebook prior to release. In December 2012, FUSE TV named "Professional Griefers" one of the top 40 songs of 2012.[21]
In November 2013, Zimmerman deleted three years worth of music from his SoundCloud account, replacing them with an EP of seven melancholy piano sonatas, simply called 7, named after the Latin translations for the seven deadly sins: "Acedia", "Avaritia", "Gula", "Invidia", "Ira", "Luxuria", and "Superbia".[22] Also in November 2013, Zimmerman left longtime label Ultra Records and signed with record label Astralwerks, the famed NYC-based imprint that houses artists such as Swedish House Mafia, David Guetta, and The Chemical Brothers. Speaking on the partnership, Zimmerman admitted, "I found a place that knows what to do with my music."[23]
On January 7, 2014, Zimmerman announced via his Twitter account that his much-anticipated new album is complete. "In other news... I finished my album today," the tweet read. "2 discs. 2 continuous mixes. 25 tracks. and something I'm proud of."[22] On May 10, 2014, Deadmau5 announced through his subscription service that his upcoming album would be titled While(1<2) and would be released on June 17, 2014.[24] The album was preceded by the release of four singles: "Avaritia", "Seeya" (featuring Colleen D'Agostino), "Infra Turbo Pigcart Racer" and "Phantoms Can't Hang". Starting on the week of May 20, 2014, each single was released weekly for a total of four weeks leading up to the release of the album.
2015–16: Depression, return, and W:/2016Album/
Deadmau5 performing on the Cube stage at VELD Music Festival in 2016
On January 13, 2015, it was announced that Deadmau5 would be a headlining act for the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, in Manchester, Tennessee, which was held on June 11–15, 2015.[25][26] On February 2, 2015, it was announced he would appear at Reading and Leeds Festivals.[27][28] On July 23, 2015, Valve announced that Deadmau5 was creating a series of sound clips to be featured in their video game Dota 2.[29] The music pack was released alongside the announcement.[30] On August 8, 2015, Deadmau5 performed live at KeyArena in Seattle at the conclusion of the Dota 2 competition The International 5 (TI5).[31][32] On October 7, 2015, Deadmau5 officially announced that he was leaving his then label Astralwerks and going entirely independent with his own label Mau5trap.[33]
On December 17, 2015, it appeared that Zimmerman was either taking a leave of absence or ending his career altogether after deleting both his Twitter and Facebook accounts.[34][35] His Instagram account, however, had not been deleted.[36] On December 21, 2015, Zimmerman reopened his Twitter account and posted an apology to his Tumblr account explaining his disappearance from social media, saying that he was suffering from depression and would be returning to producing music after the new year.[37][36]
On May 27, 2016, "Snowcone", the first single from Zimmerman in nearly two years, was released as a digital download.[38] This track was later revealed to be the first single from his next album.[39] On November 4, 2016, Zimmerman announced his next studio album, W:/2016Album/, which was released on December 2, 2016, digitally,[40] with a vinyl and CD release on February 17, and March 17, 2017, respectively.
2017–present: Stuff I Used to Do, Where's the Drop?, Polar soundtrack and Mau5ville
On January 7, 2017, Zimmerman announced a compilation of his earlier work ranging from the years of 1998 to 2007 on Twitter, titled Stuff I Used to Do. Zimmerman also stated that the compilation would release in February of that year.[41] On February 24, 2017, Zimmerman released a limited version of Stuff I Used to Do on WeTransfer. The edition, available until March 3, featured three tracks less than the full album. The album includes tracks from Get Scraped and early compilations, in addition to an alternative mix of "Creep" from While(1<2).[42] The album was officially released on Mau5trap a week later, on March 3, 2017.[42]
On March 25, 2017, Zimmerman began a concert tour with his new "Cube 2.1" stage set entitled Lots of Shows in a Row to promote the release of W:/2016Album/.[43] Zimmerman toured around North America for two months, before touring the rest of the world from June 3, 2017, and Canada from October 6, 2017, with the tour concluding on October 31, 2017.
On August 25, 2017, Zimmerman released a stand-alone single entitled "Legendary", featuring guest vocals from rapper Shotty Horroh.[44] A music video for the song was released on Mau5trap's YouTube channel on September 11, 2017.[45]
In September 2017, Zimmerman confirmed his next studio album is "on the way".[46]
In March 2018, Zimmerman announced a compilation album comprising orchestral performances of previously released music, titled Where's the Drop?.[47][48][49] On March 30, 2018, the album was initially released exclusively on the music streaming service Tidal for a period of three months. On June 29, 2018, the album was officially released on other digital download and streaming services, as well as vinyl.[50][51][52]
On July 3, 2018, Zimmerman announced an EP and compilation album titled Mau5ville: Level 1, featuring "Monophobia", a collaboration with Rob Swire, as well as tracks from Getter and GTA.[53][54] It was released on July 13, 2018 through Mau5trap.[55][56]
On September 18, 2018, Zimmerman announced that he was in the process of producing his first ever original film score for the Netflix film "Polar" directed by Jonas Åkerlund.[57]
In October 2018, the track listing of a follow-up EP, Mau5ville: Level 2, was leaked, showing featured collaborations with Lights and Mr. Bill, with no release date confirmed at the time.[58][59] The EP was released officially on November 16, 2018 through Mau5trap.
On January 25, 2019, Polar premiered on Netflix, with Zimmerman releasing the soundtrack album, Polar (Music from the Netflix Film), through Mau5trap.[60][61]
On February 1, 2019, the third installment in the Mau5ville series, Mau5ville: Level 3 was released through Mau5trap. The Compilation EP featured collaborations with Shotty Horroh, Scene of Action as well as tracks from No Mana and C.O.Z.[62][63]
Video game appearances
Zimmerman is a playable avatar in DJ Hero 2, a video game released in October 2010.[64][65][66] The game featured several tracks by the artist, including a mix of "Ghosts 'n' Stuff" with Lady Gaga's "Just Dance".[67] He is also featured as a secret unlockable character in the 2014 video game Goat Simulator.[68] His music has been included in other video game titles, including a custom soundtrack for Dota 2.[69]
In the mobile app Family Guy: The Quest for Stuff by TinyCo, Deadmau5 was available for purchase as a playable character during the "PeterPalooza".[70]
A virtual version of his helmet is also an available accessory in Rocket League.[71]
Zimmerman unmasked
On July 30, 2010, at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C., Zimmerman collapsed on stage, suffering from exhaustion and vomiting. This resulted in the cancellation of the rest of the show, as well as nine shows following the event.[72]
In September 2012, Zimmerman began dating American tattoo artist and TV personality Kat Von D.[73] After breaking up in November 2012, they rekindled their relationship shortly afterwards.[74] On December 15, 2012, Zimmerman proposed to Von D via Twitter, and they announced that they would marry in August 2013 with an aquatic-themed wedding.[75][76] They both have several matching tattoos, including the numbers "289m3d22h" on both of their arms, a sentimental reference to the day when they met, as well as two black stars underneath their eyes.[77] Zimmerman moved to Los Angeles to live with Von D.[78] In June 2013, Von D announced that they had ended their engagement.[79]
In 2014, Zimmerman purchased a $5 million home in the Campbellville area of Milton, Ontario.[80][81][82][83]
On August 12, 2017, Zimmerman married his fiancée Kelly Fedoni.[84]
On October 11, 2018, Zimmerman announced a leave of absence, due to mental health and personal reasons.[85]
Zimmerman's father claims that when his son was in his early teens, he was chatting with a friend on his computer, which then abruptly shut off. According to Zimmerman's father, he said that it had a smell of burnt wire and had a strange odour. Zimmerman started to dismantle his computer and happened to find a dead mouse. Zimmerman then became known as the "dead mouse guy" among friends. He tried to change his name to "Deadmouse" in an online chat room, but it was too long, so he shortened it to "Deadmau5". "Maus" is the German word for "mouse" and is pronounced the same as in English; the ending 5 instead of an 's' is a form of leet.[11]
Zimmerman created the original logo—called "mau5head"—while learning how to use some 3D modelling software.[86] The logo appears in many different colors and designs, and has been shown on the cover art of most of Zimmerman's albums. He was given the idea to wear a headdress based on the logo by one of his friends, Jay Gordon of the industrial metal band Orgy. In an interview with CBC Television, Zimmerman said that he wants his logo to be an "icon". Fans often attend Deadmau5 concerts sporting their own copy of the Mau5head.
He created his website and began uploading songs to SectionZ and producing under the alias "Deadmau5" in 2002.[87]
DirtyCircuit
In 2008, an artist called DirtyCircuit claimed to have been threatened with legal action after using a sample called "LP_Faxing Berlin C_128bpm"[88] that came bundled with FL Studio, and to which Zimmerman claimed copyright.[89] The sample was a direct clip of a full bar of the song. Zimmerman provided a "Demo Track" which came bundled with FL Studio, along with several loop samples. The case caused slight discomfort among the users of FL Studio,[90] and some have pointed out potential inconsistencies in the EULA of the software.[88] Subsequent versions, after FL Studio 8, no longer contained those loop samples.
Disney trademark dispute
Deadmau5 logo
Basic geometrical representation of Mickey Mouse's head and ears
In a 2012 interview with Rolling Stone, Zimmerman acknowledged possible similarities between his Mau5head logo and that of Mickey Mouse, joking that "someone at the Disney patent office fell asleep on that one."[91]
In March 2014, it was reported that The Walt Disney Company had filed a request with the United States Patent and Trademark Office to investigate Zimmerman's application to register the Mau5head emblem as a trademark, noting its resemblance to the figure of Mickey Mouse.[92][93] Disney officially filed its opposition in September 2014, arguing that the mark is likely to cause confusion because it is "nearly identical in appearance, connotation, and overall commercial impression" to Disney's trademarked iconography of Mickey Mouse. In response to the opposition, Zimmerman attacked Disney on Twitter, arguing that the company thinks of people as being "stupid" because "[they] might confuse an established electronic musician/performer with a cartoon mouse."[91] Zimmerman also believed that he had been targeted by Disney due to their attempts to "cash in" on the EDM market, specifically alluding to Dconstructed—a recently released compilation album containing remixes of music from Disney properties by major electronic musicians such as Armin van Buuren, Avicii and Kaskade.[94]
On September 4, 2014, Zimmerman revealed on Twitter that Disney had used "Ghosts 'n' Stuff" in a Mickey Mouse "re-micks" video on their website and YouTube channel without his or his labels' permission, and posted pictures showing a takedown notice that had been sent to Disney by his lawyers. The letter also contained a trademark infringement accusation, arguing that the use of Deadmau5's name in material regarding the video falsely implied his endorsement of it. Disney argued that it had properly licensed the song and that there was "no merit to his statement."[94][95]
In an October 2014 USPTO filing, Zimmerman argued that Disney has attempted to co-exist with him in goodwill. Zimmerman presented evidence that Disney had been in contact with him regarding potential collaborative projects, including an offer to participate in a "re-imagining" of Fantasia as a live concert tour for the film's 75th anniversary.[96]
In June 2015, Zimmerman's attorney stated that he and Disney had "amicably resolved their dispute."[97]
Meowingtons trademark dispute
In 2015, Zimmerman attempted to register a trademark for the name of his pet cat, Professor Meowingtons, whom he adopted in 2010 and has incorporated into some of his own merchandising. However, the registration was rejected due to a pre-existing Meowingtons trademark held by an online retailer of the same name established in 2014,[98] which sells cat-themed accessories and clothing. After discovering the trademark, Zimmerman petitioned against it, citing his pre-existing uses.[99]
In March 2017, Zimmerman was sued by Emma Bassiri (the owner of the website) for trademark infringement and unfair competition; the suit argued that claims by Zimmerman that she had named the site specifically after the cat was false. Zimmerman himself told The Hollywood Reporter that "from the very beginning I was working to find a way to resolve this situation amicably", but that he had been forced to "litigate this woman out of existence".[98] On May 15, 2017, Deadmau5 filed a countersuit against Bassiri with the intention of seeking forfeiture of Bassiri's website and domain name.[100]
In March 2018, World Intellectual Property Review reported that Zimmerman and Bassiri had resolved their dispute.[101]
Offensive slurs
In October 2018, Zimmerman posted comments on Twitter during an argument including the statements "I’ll bet you suck a guy off for 40 grand zero fucking questions asked" and "women don't posses [sic] penises". These comments were construed by readers as being homophobic and transphobic.[102] Zimmerman apologized for his comments, saying that he "wasn't trying to make blatant transphobic statements", and had "just got into a heated arguement [sic] with some dude online", noting that his comments had been taken "somewhere unintended".[103]
A few days later during a gaming stream he referred to a track by artist Slushii as "AIDS fucking music" and calling it "autistic shit". Slushii – who is on the autism spectrum – responded to these comments on Twitter, calling them "really disappointing".[104] Zimmerman later apologized for these comments, citing mental health issues that required "professional help", and stating that he would take time "off the radar" to "work on [himself]".[105]
In February 2019, whilst playing PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds on a livestream on Twitch, Zimmerman called another player a "fucking cock-sucking stream sniper fag."[106] Twitch banned Zimmerman from the platform for hate speech, after which Zimmerman posted: "I know who I am, and I don’t have to fucking sit here and cry and defend my fucking self with the obligatory 'I'm not that person, I am sorry' reflex."[107]
Main article: Deadmau5 discography
Get Scraped (2005)
Vexillology (2006)
Random Album Title (2008)
For Lack of a Better Name (2009)
4×4=12 (2010)
Album Title Goes Here (2012)
While(1<2) (2014)
W:/2016Album/ (2016)
Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Deadmau5
Music of Canada portal
List of ambient music artists
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Deadmau5.
Artist Site at Ultra Records
Get Scraped
Random Album Title
For Lack of a Better Name
4×4=12
Album Title Goes Here
While(1<2)
W:/2016Album/
Compilation albums
Deadmau5 Circa 1998–2002
A Little Oblique
It Sounds Like
5 Years of Mau5
Stuff I Used to Do
Where's the Drop?
Mix albums
At Play Vol. 2
At Play in the USA, Vol. 1
Extended plays
Mau5ville: Level 1
"Faxing Berlin"
"Not Exactly"
"Move for Me"
"I Remember"
"Ghosts 'n' Stuff"
"Strobe"
"Some Chords"
"Animal Rights"
"Sofi Needs a Ladder"
"Raise Your Weapon"
"Aural Psynapse"
"Maths"
"The Veldt"
"Professional Griefers"
"Channel 42"
"Telemiscommunications"
"Avaritia"
"Seeya"
"Infra Turbo Pigcart Racer"
"Phantoms Can't Hang"
"Snowcone"
"Beneath with Me"
"Let Go"
"Legendary"
"A City in Florida"
"4ware"
"Monophobia"
Lots of Shows in a Row
Steve Duda
"Happiness"
DJ Award for Best International DJ
Erick Morillo (2002)
Jeff Mills (2003)
Tiësto (2004)
David Guetta (2007)
Armin van Buuren (2009)
deadmau5 (2010)
Carl Cox (2014)
Hardwell (2015)
DJ Award for Best Electro DJ
Trentemøller (2007)
Sander van Doorn (2009)
Award ceased (2016–2017)
Meowingtons Hax Tour Trax
Mau5trap Ten Year Anniversary
MusicBrainz: 4a00ec9d-c635-463a-8cd4-eb61725f0c60
VIAF: 27145970217132251638
WorldCat Identities (via VIAF): 27145970217132251638
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Deadmau5&oldid=905884332"
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Canadian people of Swiss-German descent
Electro house musicians
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2001 Irish constitutional referendums
Three referendums were held simultaneously in Ireland on 7 June 2001, each on a proposed amendment of the Constitution of Ireland. Two of the measures were approved, while the third was rejected. The two successful amendments concerned the death penalty and the International Criminal Court.
The failed amendment concerned the Treaty of Nice. It has also been intended to submit a fourth proposal to a referendum, concerning the investigation of judges, but this amendment was not ultimately passed by the Oireachtas (parliament) and so was never put to a vote.
1 Twenty-first Amendment
2 Twenty-second Amendment
3 Twenty-third Amendment
4 Twenty-fourth Amendment
Twenty-first Amendment[edit]
Main article: Twenty-first Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland
The Twenty-first Amendment introduced a constitutional ban on the death penalty and removed all references to capital punishment from the text. The proposal was approved.
Twenty-first Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland referendum[1]
Yes 610,455 62.08
No 372,950 37.92
Valid votes 983,405 98.55
Invalid or blank votes 14,480 1.45
Total votes 997,885 100.00
Registered voters and turnout 2,867,960 34.79
Twenty-second Amendment[edit]
Main article: Twenty-second Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2001
The Twenty-second Amendment Bill proposed to establish a body for the investigation of judges and to amend the procedure for the removal of judges. It was not passed by the houses of the Oireachtas and therefore was not submitted to a referendum. It is a "missing amendment" of the Constitution of Ireland.
Twenty-third Amendment[edit]
Main article: Twenty-third Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland
The Twenty-third Amendment permitted the state to ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. The proposal was approved.
Twenty-third Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland referendum[1]
Twenty-fourth Amendment[edit]
Main article: Twenty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2001
The Twenty-fourth Amendment Bill proposed that the state ratify the Nice Treaty of the European Union. The proposal was rejected.
Twenty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland Bill 2001[1]
Constitutional amendment
Politics of the Republic of Ireland
History of the Republic of Ireland
^ a b c "Referendum Results" (PDF). Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 December 2014. Retrieved 14 August 2014.
Elections and referendums in the Republic of Ireland
Dáil elections
1927 (Jun)
1927 (Sep)
1982 (Feb)
1982 (Nov)
Seanad elections
1972 (May)
1972 (Dec)
2002 (Mar)
2002 (Oct)
See also: Elections in the Kingdom of Ireland
Elections in Ireland as part of the UK
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipediam.org/w/index.php?title=2001_Irish_constitutional_referendums&oldid=886220817"
2001 in international relations
2001 in Irish law
2001 in the European Union
2001 referendums
Constitutional referendums in the Republic of Ireland
Death penalty law
June 2001 events in Europe
2000s elections in Ireland
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Bible Map
In order to provide you the best experience on our website, we have written a number of help articles which detail various features of the site and how to use them.
Should you have questions about a particular area that is not covered by these articles, please submit your request on the following form.
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Access the latest Bible classes
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Glee finale and second season post mortem
By JR Russell 31 May 2011 Glee Season 2 Season 3 Wicked
Question: To say I was disappointed by the Glee season finale is an understatement. I was insulted. I’m usually willing to look past the show’s ridiculous “plot” developments, because it is at least fresh and fun, and the songs are good. But in the finale, I think I laughed only once, and even the music was lame. From the pointless cameo of Patti LuPone to the blatant product placement for Wicked, the episode was a sad and (cardinal sin) boring mess. This is one former fan who has thrown in the towel. Is it just me, or do you think the emperor has lost his clothes? — Duncan
Matt Roush: The garments are a bit tattered, but I’m not giving up on Glee yet — though it’s hardly gotten a free critical ride during this second season. So many of the big episodes, including this oddly anticlimactic New York outing, got pretty well beat up, and for good reason. The show’s inconsistencies are chronic, and the less said about Sue this season the better — surely someone from Modern Family will be seen as more worthy of an Emmy this season (no slight on Jane Lynch, who I adore; it’s the character, not her) — but for all of its faults, there’s still something special about Glee, and I would like to think with a chance to pause between seasons, the powers that be will take stock of what worked (the music mostly, though going back to original songs for Nationals backfired) and what didn’t and try to return the show to its sweet, goofy, exuberant core. Of course, this kind of optimism could be akin to Charlie Brown trusting Lucy with that football. We’ll have to see. Until then, I have my downloads on the iPod to get me through the summer. (Final note: I was in a bar over Memorial Day weekend that played the Kurt-Rachel “Defying Gravity” duet on the big screen, and I’ve decided I’m OK with that particular product placement. Wicked almost feels part of Glee’s DNA. Sometimes you’ve just got to cut this show a little slack.)
via Ask Matt: Finale Fallout (Mentalist, House, Glee, Chicago Code, Castle) and More! – Today’s News: Our Take | TVGuide.com.
Personally I hadn’t thought of Wicked as a product placement. As a person who was once a huge musical theatre nerd in high school, I was equally obsessed with Les Mis and Phantom and Miss Saigon as these kids are with Wicked and Rent. Different generation, but for my graduation present, I got to go see Miss Saigon, and that was no product placement, just a huge big deal, in my life. Singing on the Wicked stage (while obviously not something most kids will get to do) is just the kind of thing that these kids legitimately dream of. Most of us only got the sheet music and piano lessons.
And yes, Sue — oh Sue. She used to be hilarious. She also used to have a job at McKinley. But now her Cheerios are gone and she seems to be doing nothing but coaching the opposing school’s glee club and doing weird things like marrying herself (I didn’t find that in the least bit funny and I love LOVE Carol Burnett) and threatening to torture a kid with dental implements. They really need to reign her character in and get back to the awesome one-liners that made her a favourite in the first place.
Also, I want to clear up one huge inconsistency (I’ve decided to let the ages of the characters go, for now). Santana Lopez. From Lima Heights Adjascent. Where “bad things” happen. With the father who’s a “real doctor”. Is Dr Dad a deadbeat? Let’s figure this out, because I’m betting we’re going to see a lot more of Santana (and, actually, Blaine) in Season 3. So hopefully we’ll get backstory galore.
Posted in Glee, Plot Holes and other Road Hazards
15 thoughts on “Glee finale and second season post mortem”
Hm, I never thought of it as product placement, though of course by definition it is, so it’s just as interesting to think about *why* we didn’t think of it that way. I think it’s partly because of my dna as a theatre kid, and as part of Kurt’s/Rachel’s story (Defying Gravity).
From a generational standpoint, I have to say, I wish Wicked & Rent had been the iconic shows for my growing-up. I was with you: Les Miz, Phantom of the Opera. I mean, I loved them at the time, but Wicked might have been healthier. Less melodrama, more real drama.
shanna yarbrough
With regards to the Santana/Lima Heights Adjacent thing, I’ve noted the inconsistency as well but thought that it was just really hilarious posturing on her part, playing up the fact that she’s an ethnic minority in xenophobic Middle America (where they will ASSUME she’s some bad ass, poverty-stricken hispanic); she gets to make her schoolmates look stupid and scare the hell of them at the same time, on account of their assumed prejudice.
I also didn’t see Wicked as product placement, but the culmination of the Kurt storyline (esp. as I have serious reservations about the “I love you, too!” moment): here was a boy who had dreamed of being on Broadway, and most likely in Wicked, and most importantly, SINGING THE FEMALE LEAD. That is not going to happen, and yet, magically, it did happen. My sole issue with it is in the icky feeling in the pit of my stomach that the show has turned into a vehicle for Chris Colfer — which I think the writers are WAY on board with — and while I love me some CC, I think it has been a terrible mistake to let him dominate the show to the extent he did this season. Almost the last line, “Kurt Hummel’s had a pretty good year,” really sums up Season 2. Unfortunately, none of the other characters can say the same.
To me, product placement occurs when it’s inherently irrelevant to the script. This wasn’t that. at all.
Shanna, that was my idea on the whole Santana situation too. But I would like to see it addressed, because every time she mentions it, I get annoyed. Surely someone else in Lima would go, “Hey, that’s like the poshest neighbourhood in East Lima,” or something to that effect.
Actually, I think I agree with everything you’ve said. As much as I adore Kurt, and his storyline, and Chris Colfer’s acting, I’ve been a bit uneasy with the same feeling, and I hope that the focus will slide to other worthy characters in Season 3. Except that he does seem to be far and away the best actor of all the Glee kids.
Allowing Matt Morrison to sing his own, pretty mediocre song was a massive mistake. Likewise, Gwyneth Paltrow, every last scene she was in (and I actually really love GP).
They really need to sort the writing. So far they’ve hired 1 new writer. Season 3 could really be anything.
IMO, the problem isn’t really with Kurt’s storyline dominating the show, because I’m completely sure that he’s had less screentime than Rachel this season (and also possibly less than Will) and fairly sure that his storyline is roughly equivalent to Quinn’s in the first season (which makes sense because, like Quinn’s pregnancy in the first season, Kurt’s bullying arc has been the throughline of the season season–the conflict that lasts longer than an episode and has season-long consequences that disappear completely at the beginning of the next season).
The problem is that with the exception of Santana and Puck, everybody else’s storylines have been wildly inconsistent and/or have mostly been a retread of their season one storylines. Will’s romantic storylines are pretty predictable and (imo) terrible, and his “stardom vs. Glee club” conflict was done before and done better in “Acafellas” and “Dream On” from the first season. The Rachel/Finn/Quinn triangle has been done before and done better, and has mostly been the focus of Rachel’s storyline (which is a shame because the most compelling Rachel storylines this season, for me at least, have been her developing friendships with the other Glee club members and her finally learning how to place friendship over stardom, far more so than the tacked-on “love versus Broadway” conflict involving her relationship with Finn). Finn’s “leader” conflict at the beginning of the season never led to any personal growth and never really came to anything. Quinn’s conflict between independence and desire for romance was never really fleshed out, and then was dropped completely for an entirely new storyline dealing with her quest for popularity.
I hope in the next season they continue the trend of taking a second-tier character and making their storyline the emotional throughline of the season (Mercedes is my fervent hope). I just hope they learn from their mistakes this season and improve the plotlines of their main characters–Rachel, Finn, and Will–if they insist on maintaining them as main characters.
Adding this: I do also think that making Kurt’s storyline so isolated from everybody else’s was a big problem of this season. While Quinn’s storyline in S1 affected a lot of other characters, Kurt’s storyline really only affected Kurt–even his new stepbrother was barely affected by his absence, and the only people we saw Kurt interact with for a good part of the season were new characters, who are obviously going to have less of an affect on the audience than previously established characters. And since “homophobia” was embodied in Karofsky (rather than examined as a systemic problem that everybody is involved in in one way or another, including the male glee club members who sent him to Dalton in the first place because he wasn’t welcome in their meeting), as was “bullying” (despite every character on Glee being both bullies and bullied themselves), the only character growth possible there was for Karofsky and Kurt (and eventually Santana, sort of). Hopefully the S3 storyline will have a greater impact on everybody else’s character growth, instead of just a handful.
I haven’t done the math on screentime for Kurt this season, but I think his was the only storyline that had any power behind it, and he therefore looms much larger than the rest of the cast in retrospect (and all of my stand-out memories of the rest of the cast have to do with their relationship to Kurt’s storyline. But I’m also undeniably Kurtcentric, so that could be my bias). I appreciate your likening it to Quinn’s pregnancy in Season 1, that seems spot on.
If there’s going to be a similar bringing to the forefront of a character next year, with an epic story arc, I would like it to be Karofsky (or Blaine, if I’m expected to start caring about him or his relationship to Kurt). I like the character of Mercedes, and Amber can definitely sing, but I don’t think she’s a very good actress. I don’t know if she could carry a season…
I heard rumors that Blaine is coming to McKinley next year? Can anyone confirm or deny?
I’m not sure that focusing on Karofsky or Blaine would help the next season from being Kurt-dominated, given that both characters are peripheral characters from Kurt’s storyline and don’t really exist independently from him–their storylines are pretty much inextricably entertwined with his. I’m also not sure how much they could do with the Karofsky character that hasn’t been done with Puck (reformed bully) and Santana (popular gender-conforming closeted queer). But then, I’m completely biased against having Karofsky on the show anymore at all, and particularly in the context of joining the glee club, given that I really hate what they’ve done with his storyline (making him the embodiment of homophobia/bullying, which essentially makes homophobia an inter-community problem rather than societal; upping the sexual aspects of his bullying and then ignoring them; making his ‘redemption’ be entirely imposed from the outside or come out of nowhere, rather than through an actual emotional epiphany about the damage he’s caused or a self-imposed attempt to change his own behavior). I also don’t really want to see him interact with Kurt anymore than he already has if they’re going to continue to ignore his sexual harassment. It just skeeves me out.
Moreover, though, I really don’t think they should focus on a new character from season two (which Karofsky essentially is, since he was basically just Bully #2 in season one) who isn’t going to carry over to season 4 (which neither are, because they’re going to graduate). Instead I’d rather they either focus on the original cast members who’ve been neglected over the past few seasons (which would also solve the problem of Glee being so incredibly white-focused) or else focus on whatever new character they bring in next season. It wouldn’t really seem right to me to give that much focus to either Blaine or Karofsky, given that we already know more about them than we know about, say, Tina.
As for the acting thing, well, that’s subjective. Amber Riley’s not the greatest actor, true, but then again, neither are Darren Criss or Max Adler. The latter two have the not insignificant problems of shoddy characterization to work with (Blaine is kind of a different character in every episode, and Karofsky had no real arc to play off of, instead jumping from hate-filled creep to a sad and self-hating from one appearance to another), and in Darren Criss’ case, at least, he apparently got scripts the day of shooting, so I can’t really cast too much judgment there. But still. It’s not as though Amber Riley has had much meat to work with, and while Criss’ and Adler’s scenes have occasionally made me cringe (I love Darren Criss’ face, but ugh, his facial expressions in emotional scenes!), Riley has yet to.
Kate, while the thinking part of my brain agrees with what you’ve said above, the part that receives emotional signals is really putting up a fight!
I am very pro-Karofsky. Not in an “ain’t he sweet” or “dreamboat” kind of way (though I do find Max Adler easy on the eyes), just… I don’t know, exactly, but I’m interested. I find him compelling. I don’t think I have gone as deep into a lot of the social issues as many of the readers of this blog have, so I won’t try to argue the whiteness of Glee or the ramifications Karofsky’s homophobia being too neatly tied up in his own closeted sexuality; I am a character-invested viewer, and I find Karofsky much more interesting at this point than Tina, or Artie, or Sam…
As for Blaine, my only interest in a big storyline for him is that I can’t stand him and I’d like to find a way to enjoy him if he’s going to be around all the time.
The reality is that they need to bring in a number new characters in the hopes of extending the life of the series, and that those characters — and how they interact with the current cast — will probably make up a good portion of S3. Why don’t any of these people have siblings, anyhow? It would make life easier to just start following Tina’s awesome little brother and his friends who joins Glee (a la Skins), for instance…
Well, I think the problems with Tina, Artie, and Sam isn’t that their characters are inherently boring so much as that the writers haven’t really known what to do with them, or cared. Tina hasn’t had a thing to do all season, and last season her storyline was really tied up with Artie’s–they could definitely find ways to focus on her (maybe including her “righteous blade of budding feminism” that’s been so neglected) to make her interesting. Artie has masculinity issues and disability issues but they’re never explored in a particularly complex or interesting way–after all, so many of his issues were easily fixed by having him inexplicably be allowed to join the football team, and giving him a hot cheerleader girlfriend who doesn’t challenge him with her feminist concerns. And Sam–well, poor Sam. He was kind of a counterpoint to Finn in the beginning of the season, which could have been an at least somewhat interesting storyline if they’d felt like actually exploring Finn’s issues instead of just giving him a go-nowhere conflict, and then he was just Quinn’s bland love interest, and then I just felt terrible for him because pretty much everyone he’s come in contact with has tried to use him in one way or another. His own story of being a geek who has a chance to reinvent himself and is suddenly popular could have played out as an actual storyline instead of a character note, and him being a high school kid who’s suddenly homeless and has adult responsibilities that conflict with Glee club, instead of yet another “do I want to do what I love, or do I want to be popular?” conflict, could also be interesting.
Basically I think every character on Glee has at least the potential to have an interesting storyline if the writers cared to actually follow through on them. Instead, all of these issues get touched on for a single episode and then wrapped up with an easy after school special message that doesn’t actually solve any problems (Artie’s–and the other glee club guys’–sexism being touched on in “The Power of Madonna”, for example, and then easily fixed by a lecture and a group sing-along, and then they all go back to their old behaviors). Karofsky is kind of a rarity on the show in that, inasmuch as I think they’ve flubbed his storyline by making his redemption too easy, his issues have lasted for longer than a single episode and still aren’t entirely wrapped up, given that the show regards him being out as the wrap-up to his storyline (rather than him stopping harassing Kurt, which is pretty much where my interest ends).
But yeah. I don’t necessarily care more about the Glee kids’ siblings than I would any other group of new kids (I lost interest in Skins about halfway through season three–Effie just wasn’t enough of a link to the first generation to keep me interested, and I didn’t have enough of an investment in anyone else) but it was an odd choice to introduce Sam, who’s the same age as all the other Glee kids, instead of a younger kid who could interact with the original cast for a while and then carry on a year or two after the original cast leaves.
Yes, exactly. I’m thinking he was “lashing out” by calling it that. But it’s incorrect, definitely.
They’d be out of their minds to not bring Blaine to McKinley. Darren Criss is a massive break out star for them, and the whole Dalton thing is problematic in the long term (admittedly, problematic in the short term too). And Darren’s screen acting has improved substantially over the course of the season.
Personally I’m hoping for more of the gay. Blaine backstory, Santana coming out, Karofsky figuring stuff out.
Kurt, himself, does point out the systemic homophobia when he’s talking to Mr Schue in NBK. He also calls out Sue on it when she calls him Lady.
But otherwise, yeah, it does seem to be limited to Karofsky — which is an interesting message.
Do we know Sam is a Junior? He could be a sophomore if they haven’t explicitly said he’s a Junior (he was just a date to the Junior Prom)…
For some reason I can respond directly to your comment.
I thought the first half of the season was really good at pointing out the exclusionary nature of heteronormativity, and also good at critiquing homophobia even from supposed allies. Duets, Never Been Kissed, The Substitute, and Furt all made it really clear that it wasn’t just a matter of Karofsky’s bullying that made Kurt uncomfortable at McKinley, it was a matter of Kurt constantly being stereotyped, misunderstood, excluded, and discriminated against by both fellow students, faculty, and even his friends. Once they needed to get him back to McKinley, though, all of those problems disappeared, to the extent that Schue was even the one moderating the meeting between the Karofskys and the Hummels to determine whether or not Kurt would be returning to school (despite the fact that the only student I can ever remember Schue actually disciplining is Kurt).
Prom Queen did go a ways towards making it clear that homophobia is a widespread, systemic problem, but Prom Queen also had Kurt being once again excluded from an all-guy activity (serenading Brittany for Artie’s prom proposal) with no commentary whatsoever, which then carried onto the guys (except Kurt) serenading Rachel in New York. Basically, it makes me sad when Glee realizes something is a problem, addresses it once and acts like the problem is solved, and then has the characters return to their old behaviors with no commentary at all.
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Tag Archives: Affordable Care Act ( also known as Obamacare) passed in 2010
Alabama Hospital Association: Two new studies support Medicaid Expansion
By Amy Yurkanin | ayurkanin@al.com
The Alabama Hospital Association released two reports last week laying out almost $3 billion in financial benefits for expanding Medicaid – a step state leaders have declined to consider since the Affordable Care Act ( also known as Obamacare) passed in 2010.
Leaders of the hospital association held a press conference at the Renaissance Ross Bridge Friday morning to tout the findings. The organization has been one of the strongest supporters of Medicaid expansion in Alabama, claiming the move would benefit hospitals and patients.
David Becker, a professor in the UAB School of Public Health, created similar reports in 2012 and 2016 – when federal funds covered all the costs of expanding Medicaid to low-income adults. The match is down to 93 percent this year and will drop to 90 percent in 2020, where it will remain.
Owen Bailey, CEO of USA Health, said the deal still makes sense for Alabama.
“It’s obvious that by expanding Medicaid, the state would have a huge return on investment,” Bailey said. “For every one dollar the state provides, we will get nine dollars to match it.”
Becker’s study found that implementing Medicaid expansion now would be costlier for the state than it would have been in 2014 because of the loss of federal matching dollars and the increased cost from low-income patients who purchase insurance through the exchange. Bailey said 12 hospitals have closed in Alabama in the last eight years.
“The state did miss out on the deal of the century,” Becker said. “I don’t have a time machine. All we can do is look forward. The case for expansion remains very strong.”
Medicaid expansion is one part of Obamacare, which also created regulations on health insurance and subsidies to purchase private insurance. Alabama is one of 14 states that have not expanded Medicaid. Residents of Utah, Nebraska and Idaho recently voted to expand Medicaid in statewide referenda.
Alabama’s lack of action has kept millions in federal dollars out of the state that could help support rural hospitals that often care for the sick and uninsured, said Don Williamson, president of the Alabama Hospital Association.
“Hospitals and healthcare are every bit as important for infrastructure as roads are,” Williamson said. “Otherwise they are building roads to communities that are dying because their hospital has closed.”If Alabama expanded Medicaid, the program would grow to cover adults who earn up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level. Currently, the program only covers caregivers of people on Medicaid who earn less than 20 percent of the poverty level. The change in Alabama would add more than 300,000 people to the Medicaid rolls, according to the study.
That expansion would cost Alabama $227 million in 2020, according to Becker’s calculations. The state would receive nearly $2 billion in funds from the federal government that year.
The other study, by consulting company Manatt, said the state could pay up to $216 million in additional costs and get more than $2 billion from federal sources. The state would save additional money in other areas, including medical care for prisoners, Williamson said.
The Alabama Hospital Association has submitted similar reports in 2012 and 2016. Williams said they are hopeful legislators will give expansion serious consideration this year. He said unsuccessful votes to repeal Obamacare and midterm successes by Democrats running on healthcare show the law has staying power.
“For a lot of people, there was a belief that Obamacare was going to disappear,” Williamson said. “The last election has pretty much taken repeal and replace off the table. The number of states, including some very Republican states have gone to expansion and they are seeing the benefits. Our hope is that the reality that this is going to be here, that it’s not going away, will become clear to Alabama lawmakers.”
Posted in Community, Crime, Education, history, Newswire, Politics, School, Uncategorized | Tagged Affordable Care Act ( also known as Obamacare) passed in 2010, Medicaid expansion in Alabama, The Alabama Hospital Association | Leave a comment
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If happy cows produce better milk, and happy chickens produce better eggs... what about happy humans?
Some time ago, I don't recall precisely when, I started being more interested in eating meat that was free range, pasture reared, eating a particular diet. I would occasionally eat a steak from the kind of cow that had been massaged in its field. I started seeking fish that was line caught, wild rather than farmed. The eggs we eat at home are those farm reared, free range organic ones with a fancy name and particularly orange yolks.
Why do I do all of that? Well, I happen to believe that happy animals result in better tasting and healthier milk/eggs/meat... and I'd rather animals were well looked after because... well, why wouldn't you?
Legislation has dictated that farms have to meet certain standards of welfare throughout the process, but determining whether you're going to follow the law, meet minimum standards or indeed go wholeheartedly into creating a happy environment is a matter of philosophy.
Take a look at this short video... Happy Cows. (But don't forget to come back and finish the article).
Here's a guy, completely and utterly, philosophically aligned to the belief that his job as a dairy farmer is to create the conditions in which the animals in his care really matter - the happier and healthier they are - the better his business performs. Seems like a great manager to me.
So what about humans? Why is it seemingly so difficult to accept that the best thing to do, and the right thing to do is to focus on happiness at work for employees?
Almost every day I face the questions from prospective clients and partners alike
What's the business case for happiness?
What's the ROI? We need an ROI!!!
What's the shareholder return???
Of course, I don't really mind these questions... and because it's business I somewhat expect them but it always seems to me to be a bit of a nonsense.
The relationship between happier people and performance is so well proven that it can't possibly be about evidence... it must be a question of mindset or philosophy?
Perhaps the question I should be asking is... "philosophically speaking, which are you... Battery Farming or Free Range?"... it's almost that simple
"philosophically speaking, which are you... Battery Farming or Free Range?"
As a manager, how easily would you identify with the sentiment of the farmer in the video above?
I talk a lot about creating the conditions for happier work... it isn't rocket science but it does take a bit of effort and focus, and whilst hardly any firms I speak to would identify their own employment and management practices with battery farming, they're so far from happy cows it's not funny!
...most companies are so far away from happy cows... it isn't funny!
We all know people who work where they're not able to get up and make themselves a coffee because they've got to be at their desk... where toilet breaks are monitored... where being at your desk for longest is still the objective (regardless of what you're doing when you're there) and where the primary belief is to "JFDI"... success is primarily about endurance (or should I say enduring)
If you were to think about creating the right physical environment for happiness at work... you wouldn't be a million miles wrong if you actually thought about cows and then applied it to humans... natural light, warmth, shelter, access to food and water, contact with their herd (colleagues), to feel safe (from outside threat as well as injury or harm where they are)... throw in broadband, a mobile phone and a laptop and that would suffice for most human teams.
What else might people want? (Let me turn to our 5 Conditions for Happiness)
To do something that matters for a company that is doing something meaningful for society/the world i.e. A purpose-led company.
To work in a high-trust environment (flowing both upwards and downwards).
To have a degree of control over how, where and when they do what they need to do to fulfil their objectives (Autonomy)
To feel supported by their colleagues and management alike - emotionally (kind, caring and civil) and practically (right tools, environment etc).
To be growing, progressing, learning, developing... my life is moving forwards (development)
What you can see is that there is nothing in here that isn't possible as a result of a bit of effort - I'm not saying it's easy, as much of it is behavioural - but this isn't like a digital transformation where you need to find endless pots of money to make change everything you do... what we're talking about here is absolutely a philosophical question.
If you decide that you want to be the kind of farm with happy cows... well, there's likely to be a bit of work ahead of you but you'll find plenty of people willing to help - who doesn't want to be happy?
And once you've got the ball rolling... just imagine the possibilities!
If you like this video, don't forget to click "Like" and "Share" or indeed use the comments to tell me what you think!
Happiness Lab helps companies to understand, measure and improve happiness in the workplace - find out more at: happinesslab.com
David Bellamy
david@happinesslab.com
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A New Head Curator for the Harvard Art Museums
by Marina N. Bolotnikova
Soyoung Lee
Photograph by Audrey Kotkin
The Harvard Art Museums has named Soyoung Lee, an expert in Korean art and curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, its new chief curator, effective September 24. Lee’s appointment concludes a lengthy search process—she succeeds Deborah Kao, who retired from the position in January 2017.
“When I tell people who are not in the arts that I work at the Met, it sounds so glamorous,” Lee said in an interview. “But when you come to a museum and look at a beautiful object, there are so many different hands and minds that go into it.” An exhibition can take five years to plan, particularly for complex shows that involve loans from international institutions. For some of her Korean art exhibitions, she explained, government officials had to decide whether certain important cultural treasures could be loaned internationally. “Sometimes you do your best to conceptualize and organize a show, and at the last minute some political workings will prevent a major piece from coming.”
Lee has spent her 15-year curatorial career at the Met, where she was the first curator for Korean art and organized critically acclaimed exhibitions of Korean ceramics, paintings, screens, and other works, from the fifth century through the modern period. She holds a Ph.D. in art history from Columbia, where she wrote her dissertation on the influence of Korean ceramic styles on the ceramic industries of Japan. In 2016, as a visiting professor at Columbia, she taught a graduate seminar on Korean and Japanese ceramics. She’s aimed to “help people conceptualize where Korean art fits in the context of East Asia and within the global context,” she said. Her most recent exhibition, “Diamond Mountains: Travel and Nostalgia in Korean Art,” featured evocative depictions of the Kumgang Mountains in present-day North Korea.
“The Harvard Art Museums opportunity is something that one can’t pass up,” Lee said. “In my new role, I won’t be dealing solely with Korean art, and I’m happy to be thinking more broadly about different cultures and how they connect, and how world-class museums like the Harvard Art Museums can shape the next generation’s thinking about art and culture.”
She will oversee the Harvard Art Museums’ three curatorial divisions (Asian and Mediterranean, European and American, and Modern and Contemporary), its exhibition program, and the stewardship and development of the collections. She will work closely with Martha Tedeschi, director of the museums, who was appointed in 2016.
Her appointment is the most recent in a series of changes in the museums’ senior staff. “We are welcoming Soyoung to our staff at an exciting time, as we further establish our dual role as a premier teaching institution and one of the major public art museums in the dynamic Boston cultural landscape,” Tedeschi said in a press release announcing Lee’s appointment. “We are thrilled to have such a well-respected and gifted art historian join our curatorial team.”
Lee also looks forward to collaborations with Harvard’s many cultural institutions and resources, like the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts and the Peabody Museum. “This is a very transitional moment for museums in general within the cultural world,” she said. “Traditionally, museums have been thought to be places where people come to see art presented in ways where the museum curators are the experts. That remains true and is a fundamental role of the museum...but people are rethinking what culture means, and looking to museums as part of that experience.” Many museums, she said, are now are going beyond being places where art exists to ask, “How do we incorporate a broader cultural experience into the museum?”
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CNN is Losing Money, Viewers, and Laying Off Employees, Because Evidently People Don’t Like Fake News
Posted in IV. Columns, Politics with tags American Politics, CNN, Donald Trump on February 17, 2018 by Ian Pham
(YouTube/CNN)
Earlier in the week, news outlets reported that CNN, the left-leaning, major multibillion-dollar media corporation, often labeled as “Fake News” by President Donald J. Trump, has been yielding disappointing revenues, and as a result, is taking countermeasures to deal with the money troubles.
Despite trying to put a positive spin on the overall situation, an article from Vanity Fair, another left-leaning publication, reports that there are “as many as 50 jobs around the globe scheduled to be eliminated this week… the exact number could still be in flux.” Furthermore, the report states that those employees affected will include “CNN Money, video, product, tech and social publishing,” as well as “Several high profile initiatives” such as “CNN’s virtual reality productions and its efforts on Snapchat.”
The situation is also reported by Mediaite, who adds that as part of the cuts, CNN has shut down the $25 million video startup Beme, which was acquired from YouTube star Casey Neistat a little over a year ago. According to Buzzfeed, CNN purchased Beme and hired on its creator, Neistat, in late 2016, with hopes of bringing “a new generation of news consumers” into the CNN viewership. However, shortly after one year of the purchase, Neistat would become frustrated with the company, CNN would struggle to meet their ambitious plans, and, as recent events show, the entire project would be shafted.
As described by the cited Vanity Fair and Mediaite sources, the year 2017 saw missed revenue projections for CNN, as well as news companies Buzzfeed and VICE. Though “still profitable,” according to Vanity Fair, CNN had fell short of its profit goals “by tens of millions of dollars.”
This period of unsatisfactory numbers aligns with a time of widespread criticism of CNN, who, in the previous year, has been exposed repeatedly for spreading either false, distorted, or unsubstantiated information, most often with the explicit and malicious intent of slandering, discrediting, and generally damaging the White House under the administration of President Donald Trump.
It is no coincidence, as argued here, that this period of weak profits is happening in tandem with declining viewer confidence in a once reputable news corporation.
To provide some perspective on the woes of #FakeNewsCNN, in the week of Feb. 5, 2018, according to Adweek, the network ranked #9 in the Total Day (Total Viewers) category with 674,000 viewers, getting crushed by Fox New, which ranked #1 with 1,529,000 viewers in the same category. In the Prime Time (Total Viewers) category, CNN did not even crack the Top 10, ranking #13 with 888,000 viewers, once again getting destroyed by Fox News, which captured 2,605,000 viewers, and taking the #1 spot in this category as well.
These statistics represent the most recent happenings on cable news, but is very telling of the trend that has been developing since last year.
An analysis of Adweek statistics by the Daily Wire during the summer of 2017 reported similar findings, with CNN struggling to crack the 800,000 viewer territory during that time period as well.
Over the last year, with its dishonest and malicious reporting on the Trump presidency, frequently launching personal attacks on the president himself, his supporters, his friends, and even members of his family, many viewers of CNN, such as myself, became disillusioned and fed up with the media giant’s blatant bias and lack of respect for its audience and the general public. It is for this reason that I, through no conscious plan of my own, have found myself not watching CNN on television for nearly ten months now.
From its disappointing numbers, its cuts, and its layoffs, it seems I am not the only one to stop watching CNN. I had no clear intention of actively boycotting CNN, but incidentally, that is what happened. Although there is no time frame for this convenient boycott, I simply do not see myself tuning in to CNN again anytime soon.
I know I’m not missing much.
Year One: 938, The Year Vietnam Broke Free
Posted in Ancient History, Dynastic History with tags 1000 Years of Chinese Occupation, 10th Century, Ancient Vietnam, Bach Dang River, Duong Dinh Nghe, Dynastic History, East Asian History, History of Vietnam, Kieu Cong Tien, Military History, Naval History, Ngo Quyen, The First Battle of Bach Dang, Vietnamese History on January 1, 2018 by Ian Pham
(Wikimedia)
Let us be clear, first and foremost, that Vietnam, its history, its language, its culture, and its people, has existed long before the year 938 A.D. There are at least two thousand years of popular recorded Vietnamese history, and much more information available about Vietnam out there covering even further back than these two millennia. This article does not make the case that 938 is the year that Vietnam began. No, this article simply seeks to highlight the significance of the year 938, because, while there are many, many major dates in the history of Vietnam before and after 938, that particular year holds a very important place in Vietnam’s history.
938 A.D. was the year that the people of Vietnam defeated China in a decisive war, ended the thousand years of Chinese occupation once and for all, achieved independence, and created for themselves a sovereign nation that was distinctly Vietnamese. It was a new beginning for the Vietnamese people, the year that Vietnam was reborn, and the dawn of a new era of independence after a destructive thousand years of Chinese domination. This is the significance of the year 938, and why it is argued here to be “Year One” of a new Vietnamese epoch.
So many heroes and so many lives were sacrificed, up to and including the year 938 to achieve the triumph of the Vietnamese people over the Chinese occupiers. This momentous victory culminated at Vietnam’s Bạch Đằng River, where a small Vietnamese naval force, under the leadership of General Ngô Quyền, destroyed an invading army from the Southern Han kingdom of China. It was at Bạch Đằng, with this victory, that China’s thousand years of domination over Vietnam effectively came to an end (Bolt & Garrett, 1999).
Prior to the 938 Battle of Bạch Đằng, Vietnam was still an occupied territory under the Southern Han of China. The millennium of Chinese domination over Vietnam formally began in the year 111 B.C., when the Han Dynasty of China, under the command of Emperor Wu Di, overran the ancient kingdom of Nam-Việt (ancient Vietnam) (Tran, 1920: 44-47). From that period, all the way until 938 A.D., the Vietnamese people initiated many fights for independence. Although some of these efforts yielded short-lived successes, such as the revered and truly consequential Trưng Sisters’ Rebellion in the first century (40 A.D. – 43. A.D.) (ibid, 49-50), a conclusive and lasting victory did not occur until Ngô Quyền’s monumental triumph over the Southern Han at Bạch Đằng in 938. It was then and there that Chinese domination was ended once and for all.
General Ngô Quyền, the man who led the fight against the Southern Han in 938, was born in Vietnam’s Sơn Tây province (Chapuis, 1995: 70). According to the historian Tran Trong Kim, Ngô Quyền was 47 years old when he died in the year 944 (89), thus marking his age at either 40 or 41 at the Battle of Bạch Đằng, depending on whether his birthday (unknown in this article) occurred before or after the battle. In any case, one can see here that Ngô Quyền was not very old at the time he led the Vietnamese to victory.
Before Ngô Quyền took the helm as leader of the resistance, a man named Dương Đình Nghệ, Ngô Quyền’s mentor and father-in-law, led the Vietnamese rebel forces. Certain feats accomplished by Dương Đình Nghệ showed him to be a strong and effective leader.
In 931, having already established control over some originally Vietnamese territories in the crumbling Chinese empire, the elder Nghệ launched an attack on Southern Han forces in Đại La, expanded the scope of his control, and effectively consolidated a governorship over a quasi-independent Vietnamese territory (Taylor, 2013: 45-46).
During this time, though the Vietnamese area was indeed ruled by a Vietnamese leader, it was, on paper, still under the control of the Southern Han. Having achieved recognition from a weak and reluctant Southern Han (Taylor, 46), the Governor Nghệ had big plans for his territory. However, due to his assassination, Governor Nghệ would only rule for a span of six years and was unable to carry out his goals (Tran, 76). In 937, Dương Đình Nghệ was betrayed and murdered by one of his own generals, Kiều Công Tiễn, who then sought help from the Chinese to consolidate his usurpation (Taylor, 46). Consistent with their approach to any traitor to the Vietnamese nation, the Chinese were happy to assist the treasonous Kiều Công Tiễn in causing damage to Vietnam’s interests.
During this time, Ngô Quyền was serving under Dương Đình Nghệ as the administrator of what is modern day Thanh Hóa province. The two men had a close relationship, for it was Nghệ who recognized the talents of Ngô Quyền in earlier times, promoted Quyền to oversee the operations of Thanh Hóa, and granted his daughter’s hand in marriage to Quyền. Upon hearing the news of his mentor’s death, Ngô Quyền mobilized his own forces to confront Kiều Công Tiễn and avenge his father-in-law (Tran, 76).
Marching northward, Ngô Quyền killed the traitor Kiều Công Tiễn in 938, and promptly shifted his attention to the incoming Chinese invasion (Taylor, 46; Tran, 76). From China, the Southern Han ruler, Liu Gong, braced his forces for an attempt to recapture the Vietnamese territory.
Anticipating the Southern Han’s attack, Ngô Quyền “stationed his men at the estuary of the Bạch Đằng River where the sea routes entered the plain and where he prepared to receive the Southern Han fleet with iron-tipped poles planted in the bed of the river,” (Taylor, 46).
Prior to the Battle of Bạch Đằng, the Southern Han heeded the call of the traitor Kiều Công Tiễn, and “mobilized a fleet of warships, commanded by the crown prince, to bring an army to the aid of its would-be ally,” (ibid). According to Chapuis, this invading force was known as the “Yunnanese expedition,” (70), and was led by Liu Gong’s son, the crown prince Liu Hungcao (Anderson, 2007: 43), [known as Hoằng Tháo in Vietnamese records (Chapuis, 70)].
As history shows, even after the death of Kiều Công Tiễn, the Southern Han continued their invasion of Vietnam without their “would-be ally.” An examination by James Anderson demonstrates that during this period, in what the Chinese describe as the “Five Dynasties” period, the aspirational Southern Han dynasty north of the Vietnamese regions were showing renewed interest in once again capturing full control of Vietnam and its people (43). These findings cast doubt on the Southern Han’s apparently benevolent intentions of simply helping a potential ally, embodied by the treasonous Kiều Công Tiễn. Instead, it is more apparent that the Southern Han, though claiming to assist an ally in need, sought to exploit the situation in Vietnam to capture and reestablish Chinese control over the Vietnamese once more.
The Southern Han’s Yunnanese expedition arrived in the autumn of 938, and was met by the forces of General Ngô Quyền at Bạch Đằng River (Anderson, 43; Taylor, 46).
As part of their strategy, it was the forces of Ngô Quyền who initiated the naval confrontation versus the Southern Han fleet (Chapuis, 70). The Việt forces instigated the fight during high tide, when the river waters covered the giant iron stakes they had planted beneath the waves. As the tide gradually fell, Ngô Quyền’s forces feigned a retreat, prompting a chase by the Southern Han’s forces. In their pursuit, the invaders sailed directly over Ngô Quyền’s trap (Tran, 70). With the fall of the tide, the Chinese ships became entangled, the stakes ripping through the Chinese ships and impaling the soldiers onboard (Anderson, 43). It was then that Ngô Quyền and the Việt forces launched their counter attack, against an ensnared Southern Han naval fleet that could neither fight back nor escape. As a result, at Bạch Đằng River, Ngô Quyền and his navy obliterated the Chinese invading forces (Tran, 76), drowning half of the Chinese expedition (Anderson, 43).
From the battle, the Southern Han’s naval commander, the crown prince Liu Hungcao, was captured by Ngô Quyền’s forces and subsequently executed (Tran, 76). With the destruction of its invading fleet, and the loss of Prince Hungcao, who was both the leader of the fleet and the heir to the Southern Han’s throne, the defeat at Bạch Đằng River marked “the end of Southern Han ambitions in An Nam,” (Taylor, 46). [Side note: An Nam was the Chinese’ derogatory name for Vietnam, meaning “Pacified South,” and is a label “much resented by the Vietnamese,” then and now (Bolt & Garrett)].
With the Southern Han invaders vanquished, and his position over the Vietnamese realm solidified, Ngô Quyền purged himself of any designations associated with the old Chinese order, and took on the role as “King” of a newly independent Vietnamese throne (Anderson, 43). The new Vietnamese King then set up his independent capital at Cổ Loa, an ancient site north of the Red River Delta, where the legendary Vietnamese ruler King An Dương founded his ancient kingdom of Âu Lạc (257 B.C. – 207 B.C.) more than a thousand years before Ngô Quyền’s time (Anderson, 43-44; Taylor, 46).
Ngô Quyền’s decision to set up his government at this specific location signified his purpose to be a “Vietnamese leader who was independent from northern [Chinese] control” (Anderson, 44). In so doing, King Ngô Quyền declared his own dynasty, separate from the Chinese (Taylor, 46). It was a monarchic regime, viewed by some as “the first manifestation of Vietnam’s national identity,” (Chapuis, 70).
And with that, in the year 938 A.D., a new Vietnamese nation was born, after more than one thousand years of Chinese domination.
The Battle of Bạch Đằng of 938 would be recorded famously in the annals of history, and the mastermind behind the brilliant strategies that resulted in that victory, the General (and later, King) Ngô Quyền, joined the “pantheon of Vietnamese national heroes,” (43). Successive generations, such as the dynasties of the Đinh, the “Early” Lê, the Lý, the Trần (Tran, 76), and all those after them, stemmed from the foundation laid by Ngô Quyền and the brave Vietnamese who made the ultimate sacrifice before and up to that monumental victory at Bạch Đằng River.
It was at that critical juncture that a new Vietnamese homeland was born. At Bạch Đằng River, after a thousand years of trying, trying, and trying some more, our Vietnamese ancestors realized our destiny in 938, affirming the right to exist of the Vietnamese people, and of a Vietnamese homeland, always and forever.
For this reason, with the undying truth that Vietnam and its people possess thousands of years of history long before the Battle of Bạch Đằng Bay, the year 938 A.D. stands immortal in the history books of the Vietnamese people, and is argued here to be “Year One” of a new Vietnamese era.
Anderson, James. The Rebel Den of Nùng Trí Cao: Loyalty and Identity Along the Sino-Vietnamese Frontier. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2007.
Bolt, Ernest & Amanda Garrett. “The End of Chinese Domination: The Battle of Bach Dang (938).” From Pre-Colonial Vietnam: Study Module for Online Course (Richmond University, 1999). https://facultystaff.richmond.edu/~ebolt/history398/PrecolonialVietnam.html (accessed Dec. 30, 2017).
Chapuis, Oscar. A History of Vietnam: From Hong Bang to Tu Duc. Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1995.
Taylor, Keith W. A History of the Vietnamese. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2013.
Tran, Kim Trong. Việt Nam Sử Lược. Vietnam: Thanh Hoa Publishing, 1920.
Merry Christmas! 2017 Edition
Posted in Art, IV. Columns, Music with tags Happy Holidays, Happy New Year, Merry Christmas, Music, Seasons Greetings on December 25, 2017 by Ian Pham
(Freepik)
Seasons Greetings, dear readers!
I know I haven’t been around as much, but I had to drop in to wish you all a Merry Christmas!
If you are wondering if this blog is still active, and whether I am still active, fear not, because the answer to both of these questions is a resounding YES! Blogging time has been sparse over this last long haul, but I see some opportunities to change that as we go forward. More on that soon!
And so, in this brief Christmas letter, I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas, a Happy Holidays, and a very Happy New Year!
I hope all of you have the opportunity to take some time and appreciate the things that are important to you, whatever they may be. Remember to take care of yourself, love yourself, and know that whoever you are, your are enough, and you are worth it.
❤️🎄🎁🎵
Viewers Beware: Brief Thoughts on the Upcoming PBS Documentary “The Vietnam War”
Posted in Film, Opinions, Politics, Society with tags "The Vietnam War" Documentary, PBS, Vietnam War on September 10, 2017 by Ian Pham
Left to right: Lynn Novick and Ken Burns, the duo filmmakers of the upcoming PBS documentary, “The Vietnam War.” The first episode premiers next Sunday, Sept. 17, 2017. (David Burnett / Vanity Fair)
I got a bad feeling about this. That’s my take.
The reasons I am sharing my brief thoughts, and not a full-on analysis on the subject, are because: 1) I haven’t watched the documentary series, which, spanning 10 episodes, will be 18 hours in total, and; 2) The news articles out there that talk about the documentary don’t really tell you much, besides how great the liberal mainstream media thinks it’s going to be.
That’s why, based on my findings from a few articles I’ve read, I can only say that I do not have a very good feeling about this upcoming documentary.
At a glance, I would say that this new documentary is the political left’s latest multi-million dollar effort to screw us (the Vietnamese freedom community) over. Before I watch the whole documentary, however (… all 18 freaking hours of it), it would not be fair for me to write the whole thing off. With that said, given the track record of the liberal media, I have much reason to dismiss this documentary as the latest leftist hatchet job against the U.S. and South Vietnam, designed to further bury the truth and turn the more gullible of the millennial generation against us as well.
According to the UK’s Daily Mail, interviewees of the documentary range from U.S. soldiers who served in Vietnam, to deserters of the U.S. forces, as well as “North Vietnamese and Vietcong fighters.”
The prominent attention given to the North Vietnamese and Vietcong interviewees is a red flag (pun intended) in terms of possible biases. Acknowledging that I have not seen the documentary yet, I have concerns that a major focus of the film will be devoted to telling the side of the communists and viewing them in the positive light so typical of the leftists since the 1960s.
Not mentioned in the Daily Mail source, The New York Times claims that the documentary will also include some South Vietnamese soldiers as interviewees. Though that may be reason for optimism, I suspect that the “South Vietnamese” speakers chosen for the documentary may not be authentic South Vietnamese, but are actually traitors, communist sympathizers, ARVN deserters, Vietcong or Northern spies, and others of the sort. I am concerned that they are fake South Vietnamese, South Vietnamese in name only, who were specially selected by the creators because they hold views that fit the liberal antiwar narrative.
Another worrisome possibility is that these South Vietnamese interviewees, who may actually be legitimate and devoted citizens of the Republic of Vietnam, will not be fairly represented in the documentary. I am here concerned that these people, true to the South Vietnamese republic, may appear on the film with pure intentions, but get deliberately misquoted by the film’s creators, with their words twisted and distorted to fit the liberal antiwar narrative. Manipulation of words and facts was a major tactic of the liberal media during the war, is still frequently used up to this day (just look at the mainstream media coverage of Donald Trump), and is something we should be watching out for when viewing this documentary.
Furthermore, Vanity Fair says that, on top of the North Vietnamese and Vietcong, the film will also be presenting interviews with “an anti-war protest organizer,” as well as “journalists who covered the war.” Neither of these interview subjects seem like they will be particularly friendly to the non-communist side.
In regards to Vietnamese interviewees from the North and the South, via the same Vanity Fair source:
It [the documentary]… includes South Vietnamese veterans and civilians, and, most strikingly, former enemy combatants: Vietcong guerrillas and North Vietnamese Army regulars, now gray and grandfatherly (or grandmotherly), many of whom showed up for on-camera interviews in their old uniforms, gaudy yellow epaulets on their shoulders.
The passing mention of “South Vietnamese veterans and civilians,” followed by a more detailed introduction of the communists, with humanizing depictions such as how “gray” and “grandfatherly (or grandmotherly)” they look, or the fawning observation that they “showed up for on-camera interviews in their old uniforms, gaudy yellow epaulets on their shoulders,” leads me to believe that the the author of this Vanity Fair article is much more enthusiastic and reverent of the communist side. By extension, I fear that these pro-communist sentiments echo across all creative fronts relating to the project, whether they be news outlets covering the documentary, or producers directly involved with this documentary.
I don’t know about you, but it seems like, intentionally or not, but almost certainly intentionally, this new PBS documentary “The Vietnam War” will most definitely skew to the side of the communists, Ho Chi Minh, and the antiwar “movement” that the liberals, even up to present today, still cling to as some sort of shining achievement.
The Daily Mail reports that the makers of the documentary “hope viewers will draw their own conclusions – while opening a dialogue about the controversial war.”
My concern about this above statement is that the makers of the documentary will bombard the viewer with 18 hours of pro-communist bullshit propaganda, flushed with $30 million-worth of gripping production value and epic “storytelling,” before “encouraging” the viewers to “draw their own conclusions.”
In summary, no, I do not have a good feeling about this upcoming PBS documentary. However, I am not worried about the negative impact this documentary will have on our freedom-loving Vietnamese community.
We will need to brace ourselves. It might hurt at the start, but we’re strong, we’re smart, and we’re resilient. We’re children of the Republic of Vietnam, and we didn’t brave the crashing ocean waves of the Pacific, become successful in all fields including sports, medicine, law, academics, government, military, etc., etc., to be undone by some bullshit liberal propaganda documentary.
It might not even be that bad, but in the event that it is, we’ll handle it. We are the freedom-loving Vietnamese community. We are children of the Republic of Vietnam, and we will handle it.
Posted in Opinions, Politics with tags China, Donald Trump, James Mattis, Pacific Politics, South China Sea, U.S. Navy on July 22, 2017 by Ian Pham
(Sunday Express)
Yes, I fully support this move, for obvious reasons.
It’s no secret my views on China. The rude, disrespectful, and uncivil conduct on the international stage, the constant blatant violations of international law, the groveling, whining, and playing the victim when they get caught and called out for expansionism, espionage, and encroaching on other nations’ sovereignties, and so much more. Plus, China is a totalitarian dictatorship that kidnaps, terrorizes, and murders anyone who speaks out against the Chinese government’s crimes against humanity. And, there’s also the little matter of them evidently trying to invade Vietnam, doing so by currently destroying Vietnam’s environment including forests, highlands, coastal waters, etc., killing off Vietnam’s food supply, poisoning Vietnam’s water supply, sending in staggering numbers of undocumented Chinese “workers,” and many more things beyond the scope of this article. There’s also that. So, yes, I am not a fan of China.
China is a threat to international stability and peace, and is, by these measures, a threat to the free world and liberal democracies everywhere.
For this reason, I argue that U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent approval of a plan that allows the U.S. Navy more flexibility to act and react to happenings in the South China Sea is a very, very good thing.
As reported by The Times of India:
US President Donald Trump approved a plan giving the country’s navy greater freedom in operating in the South China Sea and put pressure on China’s efforts to enlarge its military presence by artificially building reefs and atolls in the area.
The move is seen as a challenge to Beijing’s maritime claims over most of the South China Sea and its attempts to overrule overlapping claims by five other countries, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei and the Philippines.
The US move will keep China’s expanding navy busy in the South China Sea and make it difficult for Beijing to deal with its territorial disputes with other countries such as India and Japan…
The new plan, which was submitted by US defence secretary Jim Mattis, involves a full-year schedule of when US navy ships will sail through contested waters.
It seems that under the new U.S. president, China will no longer be able to freely violate international law, throw its weight around without consequence, and make a mockery of international cooperation in a shamefully belittling way that only China is capable of doing.
As per usual, China is employing their time-tested strategy of playing the victim and complaining vociferously while at the same time ignoring all claims and evidence of their wrongdoing.
According to Business Insider:
China has responded forcefully to US incursions into the region, telling the US the moves were provocative and that they must ask permission, which doesn’t align with international law or UN conventions.
“China’s military will resolutely safeguard national sovereignty, security and regional peace and stability,” China’s Foreign Ministry said in response to US bombers flying in the region.
While at the same time (ibid)…
Over the last few years, China has ambitiously built up islands on reefs and atolls in the South China Sea and militarized them with radar outposts, military-grade runways, and shelters for missile defenses.
Military analysts believe China hopes to expand its air defense and identification zone into the western Pacific and build a blue-water navy to rival the US’s, but six other countries also lay claim to parts of the region.
Seriously, how stupid does China think the rest of the world is?
You remember in elementary school, there was that kid who tried to steal your chocolate milk on the playground, but then ran away crying and snitching to the teacher after you got up and broke his nose? That kid is China. China is the crying snitch with the broken nose.
Always plotting, stealing, and sabotaging other nations, then playing the victim when they get caught or called out. That’s China. Pathetic.
I’m glad the United States is finally doing something about this China problem.
I know a lot of you may not be the biggest fans of President Trump (myself included at times), but when he does something right, credit is given where credit is due.
Get ready, East Asia, because America is back.
Chinese Officials Overplay Hand at Hanoi Meeting, Get Sent Home Early
Posted in Politics with tags Border Defense Friendship Exchange Program, Chinese Communist Party, East Asian Politics, South China Sea, Vietnamese Communist Party, Vietnamese Politics on June 25, 2017 by Ian Pham
(Voice of America)
It’s not that impressive, but when you remember that these are the Vietnamese communists we’re talking about, it’s kind of a big deal. Still not that great, though, by the standards of non-garbage nations.
In a nutshell, some Chinese representatives said some things to their Vietnamese hosts in a recent meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam’s capital city. The hosts didn’t take kindly to the words of their Chinese guests, and as a result, the visitors were sent packing early.
This is newsworthy because it is very uncharacteristic of the Vietnamese communist government to ever show any type of backbone when talking with the Chinese. It’s usually a “yes sir, thank you sir,” and sometimes a “sorry sir,” on the parts of the Vietnamese communists to their Chinese overlords, with the two sides then going on public record saying that “great progress” has been made in “the talks” for “ensuring stability in the region.” In reality, behind these empty cliched words, it’s just China telling their VCP lapdogs what to do next, and the communists in Hanoi nodding their heads in agreement and obedience.
The fact that this is not the case this time, and that someone in the VCP actually had the guts to ask the Chinese to leave is something of a news story for Vietnamese geopolitics in the current era of communist rule.
Below are further details of the Chinese delegation’s early-cancelled trip in Vietnam.
According to Voice of America, Vietnamese edition, Chinese general Fan Changlong and a squad of Chinese military officials came to Vietnam this week to meet with high-ranking members of the Vietnamese Communist Party.
The meeting, officially deemed a continuation of the annual “border defense friendship exchange program,” was supposed to last from June 20-22, but was promptly cancelled due to “private disagreements” that were not specified by either side, according to The Diplomat.
Officially, the Chinese government cite “working arrangements” as reasons for the shortened visit, The New York Times claims. However, analysts believe that deeper issues are afoot.
Reports claim that China appears to be angry with Vietnam for developing closer ties to Japan and the United States. These two nations are both viewed with suspicion and envy by the Chinese. Vietnam’s increased cooperation with these countries is likely interpreted by the Chinese as an affront to their own influence in the region.
Furthermore, Caty Weaver cites government sources claiming that “discussions about the disputed South China Sea” may be the cause of Fan’s shortened visit to Vietnam. Similarly, it is reported by The New York Times that the Chinese representatives’ trip was “unexpectedly cut short… after tempers flared during a closed-door discussion on disputed territories in the South China Sea.”
In response to Vietnam’s surprisingly tougher than usual reaction, China has deployed 40 naval vessels, as well as some military aircraft within Vietnam’s Exclusive Economic Zone. Even before Fan’s visit, Beijing moved their infamous Haiyang 981 oil rig back into Vietnam’s EEZ, most likely as a tactic of intimidation to let the communist Vietnamese know that their granddaddy China was on the way.
Analysts assert that possible reasons for China’s extra assertiveness at this time is opportunism due to “the loss of ASEAN momentum in the South China Sea,” and what appears to be “a distracted United States” in the region. Currently, there is much uncertainty regarding President Trump’s policies in the Pacific, and so the Chinese are trying to capitalize on this opportunity and expand their military and geopolitical position.
Increased pressure on Hanoi in the recent meeting is thus simply a continuation of China’s attempt to better its influence in the Pacific. Unfortunately for the Chinese, they pushed too hard this time in their “discussions” with the communist Vietnamese. For whatever reason, Hanoi finally snapped and bit back at Beijing’s bullying tactics.
As a result, China is now embarrassed at the debacle, an event exemplified by their General Fan “voluntarily” leaving Vietnam earlier than scheduled. To “save face,” the Chinese government is currently lashing out by sending ships and planes in a show of “strength” along Vietnam’s coast.
Thus far, it is unclear in the short term whether the situation in the South China Sea will simmer down or escalate. Time will tell.
Viet X. Luong: The South Vietnamese Kid Who Grew Up to Be a U.S. Army General
Posted in I. News, Inspirational People, IV. Columns with tags Boat People, Luong Xuan Viet, U.S. Army, Viet X. Luong, Viet Xuan Luong, Vietnam War, Vietnamese Refugees on June 1, 2017 by Ian Pham
Viet X. Luong gets promoted from Colonel to Brig. General of the U.S. Army in a ceremony on August 6, 2014 at Fort Hood, Texas. (Bryan Correira / NBC News)
Luong Xuan Viet, or Viet Xuan Luong in American vernacular, was only nine years old when he came to the United States as a South Vietnamese refugee (Bowman, 2015). Today, he holds the reigning achievement of being the first-ever Vietnamese-born person to reach the rank of Brig. General in the U.S. Army (Ghandi, 2014). Currently, he is stationed in South Korea, acting as the Deputy Commanding General of the Eighth Army of the United States (United States, 2017).
His story begins like so many of ours.
It was late April 1975, in the dying days of the Vietnam War. The Republic of Vietnam was on the verge of collapse, and like so many other South Vietnamese at the time, Viet’s family was frantically planning to evacuate the dying country.
During the last days of the war, Viet’s father, a marine in the South Vietnamese Army, called an emergency family meeting. There, it was decided that the Luong family would depart Vietnam before the communist takeover. Following a harrowing excursion to Tan Son Nhut Air Base, which involved sightings of communist artillery fire, Viet and his family entered a Marine helicopter and flew out to the Pacific. Eventually, the Luong family would land on the USS Hancock aircraft carrier, where Viet recalls his father telling him, “… nothing in the world can harm you now,” (Bowman, 2015).
Standing on the wide deck of that American aircraft carrier, Viet found his life’s calling (Hood, 2014). “I knew right back then that I wanted to serve our country,” Viet said (Bowman, 2015).
After becoming settled in Southern California with his family, Viet would come of age and steadily follow in his father’s footsteps (Hood, 2014).
As an undergrad at the University of Southern California, Viet joined the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (Bowman, 2015). During his time in the ROTC (1983-1987), he was the only cadet from an ethnic background (Garsema, 2016). Upon graduation, he joined the U.S. Army, and so began his professional military career (Bowman, 2015).
Through patience, hard work, and determination, Viet rose through the ranks of the U.S. Army to become the first Vietnamese-born ever to reach the level of general officer.
This historical moment took place on August 6, 2014, at Fort Hood, Texas, where Colonel Viet X. Luong’s uniform was pinned with the star of an Army Brigadier General (Japanese American Veterans Association, 2014).
As Brigadier General, Luong led the American training effort in Kandahar Air Base in Afghanistan, as Deputy Commander of the First Cavalry Division. This training prepared the Afghan forces in their fight against the Taliban (Bowman, 2015).
In March 2016, General Luong become the Chief of Staff of U.S. Army Central (United States, 2016).
Earlier this year, in May of 2017, General Luong was assigned to South Korea as the Deputy Commanding General of Operations for the Eighth Army (United States, 2017).
Viet X. Luong’s story, his successful and still-growing military career, and his many personal victories and achievements are an inspiration for Vietnamese people everywhere, inside and outside of Vietnam. He is part of the South Vietnamese legacy, representing the struggle, hard work, and dedication of all Vietnamese people who love freedom, country, and family. His story is our story, and that story is the story of the freedom-loving Vietnamese people.
In the words of Luong himself, “As a Vietnamese American, and as an immigrant, I am a symbol of democracy, of freedom, of justice, of our constitution… I live every day trying to live up to the honor and prestige of one of the owners of that,” (Ghandi, 2014).
In 2015, Brig. General Luong led the U.S. training of Afghan forces in their fight against the Taliban. (David Gilkey / NPR)
General Viet X. Luong is a role model, not just for the Vietnamese community around the world, but for people everywhere.
Thank you for leading by example, General Luong, and thank you for your service.
Bowman, Tom. “The Frightened Vietnamese Kid Who Became A U.S. Army General.” April 30, 2015. NPR. Accessed May 31, 2017. http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2015/04/30/403082804/the-frightened-vietnamese-kid-who-became-a-u-s-army-general.
“Colonel Viet Xuan Luong Promoted to Flag Rank.” August 15, 2014. Japanese American Veterans Association. Accessed May 31, 2017. http://javadc.org/news/press-release/army-brigadier-general-viet-xuan-luong/.
Garsema, Emily. “USC Alum, An Army Brigadier General, Shares His Tale of Success With Cadets.” April 1, 2016. USC News. Accessed May 31, 2017. https://news.usc.edu/97768/usc-alum-an-army-brigadier-general-shares-his-tale-of-success-with-cadets/.
Ghandi, Lakshmi. “U.S. Military Promotes First Vietnamese-American General.” August 11, 2014. NBC News. Accessed May 31, 2017. http://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/u-s-military-promotes-first-vietnamese-american-general-n177936.
Hood, David. “Southern California Man is First Vietnamese-Born General in U.S. Military.” August 18, 2014. The Orange County Register. Accessed May 31, 2017. http://www.ocregister.com/2014/08/18/southern-california-man-is-first-vietnamese-born-general-in-us-military/.
United States. “General Officer Assignments, Release No: NR-088-16.” March 15, 2016. U.S. Department of Defense. Accessed May 31, 2017. https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Releases/News-Release-View/Article/694035/general-officer-assignments/.
United States. “General Officer Assignments, Release No: NR-156-17.” March 15, 2016. U.S. Department of Defense. Accessed May 31, 2017. https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Releases/News-Release-View/Article/1168558/general-officer-assignments/.
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Hot enough for you: Data center cooling system heats buildings
By John Breeden II
Dear Mr. Oil Man,
We will no longer require your services as we have discovered an alternate method of heating our home. Please do not fill up the tank any more. We wish you the best.
Smart College Students
That is part of a letter that was never sent to the guy who delivered heating oil to a house I shared with a bunch of computer science students in college. Back then, computers were not the powerhouses they are today, so to get a lot of computing power, we had to link several systems together in a sort of primitive Internet that didn’t extend beyond the bounds of the house.
All summer we devised ways to keep the server rooms cool, so that when winter came around, we wondered if we would really need to purchase heat. The computers were generating enough of their own, or so we thought.
The problem was that this was Frostburg State University up in the frigid mountains of Frostburg, Md. The computers themselves generated a lot of heat, but nothing that could contend with winters up there. About three inches away from the exhaust port of any system, the temperature was pretty nice. But beyond that you could still see your breath if the house heat was turned off.
It was true that the server room was moderately warmer than the rest of the house, but we had no way to distribute the modest heat gain to all the bedrooms. We were thinking about devising such a system, even tapping into the existing central air ducts when cooler heads prevailed, and we simply decided instead to buy more oil and heat the house in the traditional way.
But I always thought that the heat generated by computers could be useful. We are always fighting it. In the new lab facility we use a Tripp Lite SRCOOL12k to keep things from getting too toasty. Heat is seen as the enemy, but like fire, it can easily be used for good.
A few months ago, I wrote about how the Austin Advanced Computing Center was submerging computers in fluid (after removing cooling fans and other moving parts) to keep them running efficiently. It turns out that the hot water such a cooling system generates can be used after all.
Instead of venting heat from a liquid-cooled system to the atmosphere, Green Revolution Cooling has found a way to keep a compound of buildings nice and toasty at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.
The water in the mineral oil-fueled cooling tank is naturally heated by underwater computers to about 122 degrees Fahrenheit. Normally that heat would be sent to a cooling tower and purposely bled off into the air, but instead, that hot water is being routed to the HVAC systems of surrounding buildings.
The result is that the computers really are heating the compound, which leads to reduced energy bills and less fossil fuel consumption. Since the heat from the computers is created anyway, using that energy to do other things is a perfect solution for both the wallet and the environment.
So there may be an oil delivery man getting his walking papers after all. He just lives in Sweden, not Frostburg.
John Breeden II is a freelance technology writer for GCN.
How to prepare for emerging technologies
Marines bring solar energy to the battlefield
Cyber attacks are rewriting the 'rules' of modern warfare -- and we aren't prepared for the consequences
Is banning surveillance tech worth it?
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About Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis was a leading figure in the popularization of rock & roll during the 1950s. He was first signed to Sun Records in 1956 where he was labelmates with Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, and other early rock artists. Of those musicians, however, he was the only piano player and combined with his heavy-handed playing style, sexually suggestive lyrics, and provocative stage antics he came to epitomize the rebelliousness of the genre.
He rose to international fame for his 1957 versions of the songs “Great Balls of Fire” and “Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On.”
Lewis' popularity rapidly tumbled, however, when in 1958, when at the age of 22, he married his 13-year-old cousin. Though this scandal continued to tarnish his image, Lewis never retired from music. As of October 2015, he continues to perform live.
Popular Jerry Lee Lewis songs
Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin On
Whole Lot of Shakin' Going On
High School Confidential
Crazy Arms
Another Place Another Time
Drinking Wine Spo-Dee O'Dee
Show all songs by Jerry Lee Lewis
Popular Jerry Lee Lewis albums
The Jerry Lee Lewis Anthology: All Killer No Filler!
Golden Hits of Jerry Lee Lewis
The Session Recorded in London With Great Guest Artists
"Great Balls of Fire"/"You Win Again" single
Show all albums by Jerry Lee Lewis
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Show ALL Forums > Politics > Home login
gentalltheway
Msg: 1078
It looks like McCain's VP pick is Sarah PalinPage 92 of 104 (64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104)
Be careful for what you wish for...
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/09/23/palin/index.html
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/09/15/bess/index.html
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/09/17/palin_mayor/index.html
This woman is scary as hell!
No wonder why McCain keeps her as far as possible from reporters.
Well, this was fun while it lasted. Adios plentyoffish forums!
It looks like McCain's VP pick is Sarah Palin
It's true that both Palin and Obama have much less experience when contrasted with McCain or Biden. However, one of the differences between Palin and Obama is that Obama is willing to face the glaring spotlight of the media. He answers questions and does interviews. Palin, even though she is a V.P. candidate rather than a Presidential candidate, still needs to show that she can handle herself in public. Sarah still needs to be out there speaking in a variety of public situations. The Vice Presidency is a public office, not a mere staff position.
Palin is not being made accessible because everyone (including the McCain strategists) knows she wouldn't handle herself well. That isn't going to change in 43 days or by next January, either. She would perform just as poorly after the inauguration as she is performing now.
designingwoman
AMEN, spitfire! Palin actually has LESS overall experience than Obama does. Obama served eight years as a legislator, and has been in the Senate for two. Palin was mayor for six years, and has only been governor for two. Before that she didn't do much of anything while Obama led a community organization and grew it from one person to a staff of 17 or so. Obama has more executive experience as a community organizer than Palin does as governor Palin is a laughingstock and an embarrassment. No wonder the McCain/Palin ticket is not talking to the media.
Obama is the man for the job! He's not afraid of the media, as the above poster said.
McCain may technically have more experience than Obama, but his judgement is very poor and that to me is very scary indeed.
Obama may have less experience than McCain, but he has excellent judgement and chose wisely when he chose Joe Biden as his running mate.
Look at it like this: Would you rather have a pilot who flew for ten years but has really bad judgement, flies drunk and puts his passengers at risk, or would you rather have a man who has been flying for two years but has better judgement, and puts safety first? Experience isn't everything! Judgement, character, integrity and willingness to deal with the REAL issues of the day are far more important. McCain did crash five aircraft while he was in the military!
OBAMA/BIDEN 2008
Yet, on Obama's first trip to meet heads of state, he did the same thing. But not a peep from the media. Can you say bias? You don't need to, it's blatantly apparent.
Actually, Obama took a number of nationally-known reporters with him on his trip, and he has always been available for extensive Q&A with reporters. He gives access, while McCain won't let Sarah do the same.
No one can be faulted for liking Sarah or for identifying with Sarah if that is their choice. That's fine. However, she has no experience on the national stage, and the small amount of executive experience she has in Alaska won't prepare her for the V.P. role. In addition to that, she is poorly educated and relatively ignorant when compared with any other Vice Presidential candidate in recent history. It's hard to defend her when even the McCain campaign knows full well that she's not ready.
The V.P.-on-Training-Wheels Express rolls on for Sarah Palin:
www.nytimes.com/2008/09/21/us/politics/21debate.html
McCain advisers said they had been concerned that a loose format could leave Ms. Palin, a relatively inexperienced debater, at a disadvantage and largely on the defensive.
Special debate rules for a "special" candidate!
Politically, I'd say McCain chose her as running mate because he wanted to look progressive to the voters and prove his, so called, maverick status. It wasn't because she has bags of experience in any thing resembling foreign policy or anything else - you don't get much being the gov. of a state known for ?? Being president of a country doesn't lend itself to "on the job training". McCain's health problems are documented, so she could become president in heart beat.
She only got her passport a short time ago and she has only recently started meet 'n greets with forign leaders. Political Handlers trying to get her up to speed? Her first reaction (and possibly the most honest one) to the state trooper thing was not to co-operate with the investigation. She only got involved after her political handlers got her involved and because it turned out to be a political black eye.
She's probably a a smart woman. Some people like Carly Fiorina might disagree (the former head of HP said Pailin could not run Hewlett-Packard. That was her opinion. Fiorina has actually run HP herself, so she would know). Pailin's a wild card and posibly irrelevant.
McCain is being a weasel by wimping out of the debate
I agree with rayzr that both Obama and Joe Biden have far more integrity than McCain and Palin do. Only a man of integrity would not be afraid of the media.
By hiding from the media and trying to get out of the debate, McCain is showing us just what a dishonorable weasel he really is.
George Will is right for saying that McCain is acting very un presidential.
wvwaterfall
OK, this is a developing story, so undoubtedly it will take a while for it all to sort out, but according to CNN:
Obama called McCain early Wednesday morning to ask for a joint statement, a McCain senior advisor said.
An Obama campaign source confirmed the call and said that McCain returned his call six hours later, and accepted the concept and suggested the two of them return to Washington to join the negotiations. The source says that Obama told him that he would do that only if negotiators saw it as useful.
According to the Obama source, soon after they ended the call, McCain announced he was suspending his campaign and returning to Washington.
Based on the above, it sounds like Obama made the first move, suggesting a joint statement. It sure looks like McCain then responded with his 'suspend the campaign' move to make it look like he was the one taking initiative.
There are positives to be found here. Both candidates are demonstrating their willingness to cross party lines to address a major problem. I am more impressed by Obama's approach, in that he understands that staying out of the way at this point may be more beneficial than barging into the middle of delicate negotiations. There's a world of difference between a President facilitating a bi-partisan solution and a candidate adding campaign complications to an already difficult situation.
But I also find it hard to imagine that had this happened in the last campaign the Kerry and Bush camps would have been able to even have a conversation about it, much less reach any sort of agreement. Both McCain and Obama are showing that when the chips are really down, they're willing to join forces if it will help.
Sure there's no doubt that they're each trying to demonstrate that their strategies today make THEM the better presidential choice. It would be naive to expect anything different. That's why it probably wouldn't help for one or both of them to get too deeply involved in the actual negotiation process.
But I still feel affirmed in my belief that we're going to have a better president in a few months than we do now.
That said, I think the debate should go on and that the candidates should limit their direct involvement in the current crisis to public statements, joint or otherwise. If they want to give us all a break from advertising, bickering and distortions, I won't complain a bit.
HalftimeDad
Actually Obama just was live on CNN stating that McCain called him, and Obama proposed a joint statement.
Obama then stated that McCain agreed to the statement and further suggested to postpone the debate, and the campaign, so that they could BOTH GO BACK TO WORK.
Obama stated that his staff would get back to John on that.
In the press conference Obama further stated that this is the time when the country wants to hear from the candidates.
By coincidence, I watched that live coverage.
Obama stated, and the McCain camp admitted, that Obama called McCain and McCain returned his call 6 hours later.
Obama called because he felt the candidates should put out a joint statement - the kind of bipartisanship both a promising and called for during a time of crisis. McCain suggested suspending campaigning - Obama said they should work out the joint statement first and then they could talk about what else they could do.
McCain surprised Obama by shortly after announcing his intention to skip the debate and suspend his campaign.
This is politics. Obama is seen by more Americans as being competent on economic issues and McCain needed to do something to get into the game. His last Hail Mary was the Palin pick and that worked for nearly 2 weeks. He just threw another bomb down the field. This one will probably be seen more cynically and will be less effective.
geeleebee
Dang; you should write the comedy for Faux News--you're funny!
No one in the Obama camp is freaking out--why would they? Obama is leading in the polls, Palin is showing her ass every time (okay, BOTH times) she talks to a journalist, and if McCain doesn't show up for the Friday debate, there will be an empty chair sitting on the stage.
Yep--he's going back to D.C. to fix the crisis--could he have gone back last week? Or, even this past Monday??? Yes, he could have.
Don't even bring up Obama not agreeing to more debates, when McCain won't show up to the first one.
Obama refused to have numerous townhall debates around the country.
Why is that even important now? It's a very dead, stinking horse.
Yet, throws a tizzy, when McCain wants to postpone a debate to do the job he and Obama were hired to do, and criticizes McCain for not debating, when he has been refusing to do MORE debates.
Another example of your sense of humor.
McCain WAS HIRED TO DO THIS JOB 20+ YEARS AGO.
Suddenly, in the midst of his campaign for the presidency, he remembers what he was suppposed to do, backs out of the debate, and hopes that we believe his 'it's for the good of the country that I go and fix this financial mess' blah blah blah.
Usually, when people streamline their activities during a time of crisis (cancelling commitments, etc.), it's a sign of being panicked and overwhelmed rather than a sign of leadership. There's no reason why McCain and Obama can't be involved in passing the bipartisan bill while still having the debate on Friday night. It's ridiculous to think that all 535 members of the Senate and House of Representatives need to be holed up in a bunker somewhere for 48 hours or 72 hours straight to produce a viable bill.
The fact that McCain not only wants to reschedule the 1st Presidential debate, but also the V.P. debate, is a sure sign that this is a desperation move and not just a leader taking the initiative. What does the Palin-Biden debate have to do with the Senators and Congressmen meeting a Friday deadline this week?
Someone mentioned that Obama shunned the town hall meetings. First of all, Obama didn't back out of any debates which had been already scheduled. Second, this financial crisis has been going on for a long time. McCain would be more credible if he had wanted to work extensively on this crisis months ago. The markets have been teetering during this entire campaign season. The fact that the media is finally reporting it as the clusterfùck it is doesn't mean the financial crisis hasn't been developing for the last 2 years! McCain went from saying "the fundamentals of our economy are strong" to "Let's cancel multiple debates; suspend the campaigns and stop the disaster." in 9 DAYS!
McCain is panicking, and that's never good for resolving this kind of financial challenge.
marathonman11x7
Maybe he is scared of Americans realizing the Obama is fraud.
The fraud is the candidate who cheated on his wife and kids all along fooling close friends and family into BELIEVING he was this sincere loyal husband and father. HE fooled his wife, family and close friends for many years. What fool believes he cannot do the same to the American public? He agreed to rush this country into an invasion and occupation based upon a fraud, how has he changed? He went on record speaking against change when it was clear that the race was him against Obama, now he lies and says he is about change....how quickly he turns how foolish and gullable he believes the American public to be.
BTW, funny how you got your story about the Obama/Mccain call wrong and then tried to gloss over it. True Mccain dispite country , dispite logic, dispite honor, dispite ethics, dispite truth, style.
Ready4SomethingFun
Wow. I smell a bit of flame baiting on this one. ^^^^^^
And Obama can't utter a sentence without 3 pauses and 4 uumms. I wouldn't call that a polished speaker.
Posted: 9/24/2008 10:05:33 PM
well then apparently I am smarter than the average Joe since I had you figured out so quickly.
You know, the person I would choose to run a company would be decisive, a leader, somone people could respect and want to work hard for and with, someone with strong moral convictions, if he or she happened to have a degree from Harvard, bonus, but not my top priority. I don't believe that having a college degree makes you equipped to run a government either, experience does, and frankly I think life experience is much more important.
Not if that experience shows you to be out of touch with those of us who are 'average'.
Not if that experience shows that you've focused on helping cronyism flourish.
Not if that experience shows a preference for helping the rich get richer.
Not if that experience shows that your 'moral convictions' stopped just short of your marriage vows.
The difference here is that the above quote is just the posters opinion.
The facts i've stated are provable facts.
I know that facts can be considered the dark side to some. But the truth isn't that bad, come on over.
We've got cookies!!!
Actually, if you take a look at McCain's track record--it's all over this board--you'll see that, more than mere opinion, what I posted is based on fact.
Nothing about the truth is dark, to me--which is why I've done the reasearch and decided to vote Democratic this year.
Keep the cookies; they'll taste great with the purple kool-aid.
bliss serendipity
Posted: 9/25/2008 12:27:43 AM
Well Rayzrsharp and others, wonder why this is happening:
"http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/9/24/103618/252
Goodbye Posse Comitatus: Army Begins Permanent "Dwell Time" Missions Oct 1
by thisniss
Wed Sep 24, 2008 at 07 18 AM PDT
According to the September 8 Army Times, the Army will deploy its first ever full-time combat unit within the borders of the United States, starting October 1. While troops have previously been mobilized within the US, as they were to help in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, employing combat troops in any extended capacity to serve as domestic law enforcement is in open violation of the Posse Comitatus Act as it has been historically interpreted from its passage in 1878 until its dismantling under the Bush Administration.
Still, there has not been a full-scale deployment of troops within the borders of the United States since the end of the Reconstruction. This 130-year restriction on the use of military for civilian policing will end on October 1, 2008. As noted in the Army Times article:
thisniss's diary :: ::
The 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team has spent 35 of the last 60 months in Iraq patrolling in full battle rattle, helping restore essential services and escorting supply convoys.
Now they’re training for the same mission — with a twist — at home.
Beginning Oct. 1 for 12 months, the 1st BCT will be under the day-to-day control of U.S. Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command, as an on-call federal response force for natural or manmade emergencies and disasters, including terrorist attacks.
The article does not state the reason for the deployment, the reason for the date (Oct 1) or length (1 year) of the deployment, nor the reason that this particular brigade was selected. It does state, however, that another unit will replace the 1st BCT after it finishes its deployment, and that the "dwell time mission" is expected to become a permanent one:
"Right now, the response force requirement will be an enduring mission. How the [Defense Department] chooses to source that and whether or not they continue to assign them to NorthCom, that could change in the future," said Army Col. Louis Vogler, chief of NorthCom future operations. "Now, the plan is to assign a force every year."
While the "dwell time mission" will be trained for certain peace time tasks (a la Katrina clean-up), it is clear from the article that a number of their duties will include tasks traditionally assigned to state and local law enforcement - a clear violation of Posse Comitatus. The article makes multiple references to "Homeland Security" type scenarios like response to terrorist attacks, weapons of mass destruction, etc. But there are also numerous references to "crowd control" type duties, and one officer describes training to use tasers.
The 1st BCT’s soldiers also will learn how to use "the first ever nonlethal package that the Army has fielded," 1st BCT commander Col. Roger Cloutier said, referring to crowd and traffic control equipment and nonlethal weapons designed to subdue unruly or dangerous individuals without killing them.
The package includes equipment to stand up a hasty road block; spike strips for slowing, stopping or controlling traffic; shields and batons; and, beanbag bullets.
To my knowledge, there has been NO coverage of this in any traditional media. Nor has there been any justification for what looks like the action of a rogue President teetering on the verge of enforcing Martial Law. I encourage everyone to write their elected representatives to ask for an accounting.
I realize that there are "bigger" stories filling the news cycle, but I feel this is worth discussing. Perhaps I am being paranoid (feel free to tell me so in comments), but isn't there something wrong when we start using our military as a force for policing our own citizenry?"
You know, the person I would choose to run a company would be decisive, a leader, somone people could respect and want to work hard for and with, someone with strong moral convictions, if he or she happened to have a degree from Harvard, bonus, but not my top priority
Clearly rules out Mccain and Palin hard to respect a womanizing aduterer witha noted bad temper which seems to rule out moral convictions....when words dont meet up to actions and deeds there seems to be very little conviction. Likewise when someone uses position for personal vendettas and fairness and morals take a back seat to religous stance and religious politics.
I am curious as to what the BHO supports think, as to why Obama refuses to do multiple televised debates?
Obama already arranged with the Commission on Presidential Debates to have three televised debates with McCain. That was taken care of in the summertime. If you're talking about McCain's last-minute, impulsive requests for joint town-hall meetings: the answer is that Obama already had his campaign schedule mapped out. You act like Obama was sitting around with nothing to do all summer, and no campaign schedule of his own for the Fall. Don't you realize that Obama's campaign had already leased venues all over the country for his own appearances months in advance? Why should he have changed all that just to accommodate McCain? Obama was doing his own appearances and town-hall meetings to get his own message out. He doesn't work for McCain, so there was no reason for him to factor himself into McCain's campaign plans. It's a ridiculous suggestion.
This was hardly last minute, as the request for 10, yes that's TEN debates, by McCain to Obama was rejected by Obama, well before he agreed to only 3 debates.
Yes, the request was at the last minute, and the suggested venues would have been in front of McCain-friendly crowds in an effort to boost McCain. Furthermore, McCain's request was for 10 town-hall meeting formats. Those are not debates---they are Q&A sessions with pre-selected audiences. In those cases, the audiences would have been McCain audiences. Why would Obama cancel ten of his own appearances in order to appear with McCain? (You do realize that Obama had his own Fall campaign schedule set up when the McCain request was made, right?) We certainly can't blame McCain for trying that political stunt; but, as was stated earlier, it's not up to Obama to help McCain perform in his own campaign.
Three televised debates are enough for both candidates to tell the American people what they plan to do and what they're about.
zabet
~Couric interview
A little while ago I saw a small segment of Couric's interview of Palin. Couric asked her to explain why she thinks it's important that Alaska is next to Russia. Palin's response was utterly pathetic, so much os that I almost felt sorry for her.
Then I saw a McCain ad that said Obama plans to tax our savings accounts!
Notice that the venues would be worked out by BOTH campaigns, so as to not make it biased one way or another
Again, Sanderick:
There was no point in Obama changing his Summer and Fall campaign plans to accommodate McCain's campaign. McCain did want the first suggested town-hall meeting to take place at New York's Federal Hall, and he also put forth suggestions for several other venues with which his campaign had coordinated. McCain publicly named venues which had been coordinated. So, your statement that the "venues would be worked out by both campaigns" isn't true. McCain already knew where he wanted many of these town-hall meetings to occur before he extended the "offer".
It wouldn't have made sense for Obama to assist with McCain's campaign plans. It's ridiculous. Obama had his own scheduled appearances and his own campaign to run. They are competing for the Presidency, not working in tandem for it.
The debates coordinated with the Commission on Presidential Debates have been formally agreed to by both campaigns in writing. McCain would be welching on his commitment if he backs out of Friday's debate now. He already committed to the debates in writing. He needs to follow through.
The Couric interview was a disaster, just like the Gibson interview and the Hannity interview were both unflattering to Sarah. She comes across like a 44-year-old Miss Wasilla beauty queen contestant:
Couric: Can you give some examples where Senator McCain tried to address the current economic crisis?
Palin: I will find them, and I will bring them to you!
Palin is scary stuff indeed.
Judgement is more crucial than experience, in many ways. Some people may have alot of experience but sorely lack common sense. Also some others may have the experience but not the right temperament for the job. I believe that while McCain has more experience (on paper) he lacks common sense and does not have the right temperament for the job. He is prone to making rash decisions, which could have disastrous consequences for us all. His choice of Sarah Palin shows very poor judgement. Sarah Palin is a joke, a sick one at that, who could never be ready to take over for the Presidency should McCain be incapacitated (a very likely prospect, given his age). McCain shows a callous disregard for our country by choosing such an ill prepared person for his running mate. God forbid if she ever becomes President!
Obama, on the other hand, may have less experience on paper, but he has common sense and the right temperament for the job. He listens, is careful in his decision making, and shows excellent judgement in choosing Joe Biden for his running mate. Joe Biden is a good and honorable man whose international experience will serve Obama very well. They work well together, and heaven forbid if Obama had a heart attack, Biden would be ready to take over at a moment's notice without so much as a bump. Obama also shows his love and respect for our country by choosing a running mate who can take over if need be, and one whose experience in international affairs nicely balances Obama's domestic experience.
Integrity is very important to me, as well. McCain has been lying in the campaign about a variety of things, and his lack of integrity is a big turnoff for me. Sarah Palin does not have integrity either. She has lied repeatedly about the Bridge to Nowhere for example. On the other hand, both Obama and Biden are men of integrity, good family men and are ready to lead our country back to prosperity.
Using Obama's middle name is a way to try to scare people into thinking he is a Muslim when he is not. It is sick and depraved to do this, and does show an element of bigotry when one does this. People who are not racists don't need to drag out the middle name to bring attention to his ethnicity. Obama will be a great president, and Joe Biden will make a great vice president. Frankly, I don't give a hoot what Obama looks like. He will get the job done right, and that's all that counts with me.
I have the audacity for hope for a better America, and will proudly cast my vote for Obama/Biden in November!!!!
Conservatives think Palin should step down
Obama kept saying that this is something that the next President will have to deal with, then in another breath he criticizes McCain for going to Washington to deal with it. It would seem to me that a candidate that may have to deal with this problem if elected President would want to be involved in such an important situation that is affecting the country.
You can debate till your blue in the face but debating and acting to solve the problem are two different things. McCain called this one right, get involved that way you know what your dealing with if your elected President.
Just curious....how did he get involved? He announced he was stopping campaigning - then went on CBS in New York to be interviewed about how he wasn't campaigning; then went to a fundraiser in New York; then went to bed. Arrived in Washington after a deal had been struck; met with House Republicans who then quashed the deal. Went to a meeting at the White House where Obama was also present.
Obama seems able to actually do more than one thing at a time.
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Thread: 11th September Oddities + 7/7
Location: Inactive
Serpent in the Sky
Serpent and the Rainbow (1988) - Montage ..
Antoine Izméry (died September 11, 1993) was a Haïtian businessman and pro-democracy activist..Izméry, who was of Palestinian descent, was among the wealthiest people in Haïti.. He was one of the most prominent backers of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and helped finance his election campaign..
On September 11, 1993, Antoine Izméry attended a mass that had been organised by KOMEVEB to commemorate the 1988 St Jean Bosco massacre, where numerous people had been killed in an attempt on Aristide's life, when he had been a parish priest.. Few journalists or human rights advocates dared attend, as there was a strong chance at the time that such a gathering would be attacked by paramilitaries. Izméry told Michael Norton of the Associated Press that he had been warned by the police that there would be bloodshed if the event went ahead. At around 6:00 am, the church was surrounded by armed men in civilian clothing. Numerous journalists were beaten and detained, and placed under the charge of Jackson Joanis, who headed the Port-au-Prince police's feared "Anti-Gang Unit".. While this was ongoing, a group of 10 men forced Izméry outside, and made him kneel before shooting him dead with a single bullet to the head..
The St. Jean Bosco massacre took place in Haiti on 11 September 1988.. At least 13 people (it is impossible to say how many;some sources say 50) were killed and around 80 wounded in a three-hour assault on the Saint-Jean Bosco church in Port-au-Prince, which saw the church burned down..The 2010 Haiti earthquake was a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 Mw EQ, with an epicenter near the town of Léogâne (Ouest Department), approximately 25 kilometres (16 mi) west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine_Izm%C3%A9ry
http://www.davidicke.com/forum/showp...&postcount=508I'm a U.S. citizen! Think about that!.I don't see the Ambassador here, do you?..are you saying that you're no longer willing to cooperate?.. All we do is cooperate!.. http://www.davidicke.com/forum/showp...&postcount=713
Last edited by lightgiver; 29-06-2015 at 01:02 AM.
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Cancer Research Domain
Manchester aims to become one of the top five integrated cancer systems globally, through transformational changes in the delivery of services and integration of these with Manchester’s world leading research and education expertise.
Cancer services are provided at a number of sites across the region, with our partners providing leadership in lung cancer and breast cancer.
Manchester is uniquely placed in the area of cancer with world-leading basic science research co-located with the largest single site cancer centre in Europe − Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute and Division of Cancer Sciences researchers (part of The University of Manchester) are based on The Christie NHS Foundation Trust site.
This co-location provides an ideal opportunity to support research that goes from bench to bedside, supporting the integration of clinical and basic scientists so that laboratory-based research is rapidly translated into the clinic. Research is co-ordinated through the Manchester Cancer Research Centre (MCRC). Through the work of the world-class MCRC, leading research in Manchester has helped to improve survival rates among children with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia by 10% in the UK.
The Christie NHS Foundation Trust also launched mobile chemotherapy units in 2014 and now provide 70% of appropriate treatments close to patients’ homes. The Christie is the tertiary cancer service for a population of 3.2 million people from across Greater Manchester and Cheshire. It treats more than 44,000 patients each year with 27% coming from outside of Greater Manchester and Cheshire.
The Christie was the first UK member audited and accredited as a Comprehensive Cancer Centre by the Organisation of European Cancer Institutes; meeting quality standards in care, education and research.
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Cristy grew up in college station where she lives with her husband and their 5 children. After many years in the work force she has been blessed to be able to be an at home mom for the past 2 years. After the birth of her youngest daughter she became involved in bootcamps and group fitness classes. It was during this time she discovered her love for fitness and helping people reach their goals. She has since received her Personal Training Certification through AFAAand joined the amazing team at MPower Fitness! In her spare time, Cristy enjoys spending time with her family and friends.
Most traditional fitness plans happen in predictable patterns that usually involve moving in two planes of motion—up and down or forward and backward—ignoring the third plane of motion, lateral. “Move your body in all directions to create the most fit, functional, and athletic physique,” Stokes says. If you're a runner, cyclist, or walker, remember to include movements such as jumping jacks, side shuffles, side lunges, and carioca (the grapevine-like move) in your warm-up or cool-down, she suggests.
Before and during pregnancy. You need more of certain nutrients than usual to support your health and your baby’s development. These nutrients include protein, calcium, iron, and folic acid. Many doctors recommend prenatal vitamins or a folic acid supplement during this time. Many health insurance plans also cover folic acid supplements prescribed by your doctor during pregnancy. You also need to avoid some foods, such as certain kinds of fish. Learn more about healthy eating during pregnancy in our Pregnancy section.
The Center for Young Women’s Health (CYWH) is a collaboration between the Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine and the Division of Gynecology at Boston Children’s Hospital. The Center is an educational entity that exists to provide teen girls and young women with carefully researched health information, health education programs, and conferences.
Choline: Some studies link low choline levels to increased risk of neural tube defects. Recommended levels have been established for this nutrient, but it's easy to get enough in your diet. Eggs are an excellent source of choline, for example. “Eating a few eggs a week should give you all you need,” Frechman says. “Most people can eat the equivalent of an egg a day without worrying about cholesterol.” Other choline-rich food sources include milks, liver, and peanuts.
Trimming some fat may eliminate some guilt, but be warned: Buying foods labeled “low-fat,” “non-fat,” or “fat-free” may encourage you to eat up to 50 percent more calories, according to three studies by Cornell University’s Food and Brand Lab. Fat’s not the issue when it comes your weight since most of these foods only have about 15 percent fewer calories than their regular counterparts. Go for the full-fat version and eat less—you probably will naturally since they taste better.
The new guidelines encourage eating more nutrient-dense food and beverages. Many of us consume too many calories from solid fats, added sugar and refined grains. The guidelines promote a diet that emphasizes vegetables, fruits, whole grains, fat-free or low-fat dairy products, seafood, lean meat and poultry, eggs, beans and peas, and nuts and seeds.
Lorelei had wanted to try yoga for years but had been making excuses until one morning she woke up and decided to work on doing more of the things she wanted to do. Eventually she started watching short YouTube yoga videos-one day she missed, and that day was when she realized how much yoga affected her not only on a physical level but a mental as well. She began to research, went to a week long intensive festival attending classes and workshops from instructors and physicians, took a college course on yoga, attended more festivals and then accomplished her 60hr Hot teacher training, and then her 200hr Yoga Teacher Certification. She looks forward to sharing what she has learned and excited to continue learning, smiling, and practicing with anyone willing to come play!
The daily calcium recommendations are 1,000 milligrams a day for women under 50, and 1,500 milligrams a day for women 51 and older. Oddly enough, these are the same requirements for men, who are much less prone to osteoporosis than women. But the recommendation takes into account the fact that women are smaller than men. Thus the amount of daily calcium is greater for women on a proportional basis.
Yes, regular weight training will result in increased muscle mass. However, there is a certain type of training necessary to achieve these gains in size, training that involves heavy resistance and volume. By keeping the weight at about 40 to 50% of maximum effort and increasing repetitions for a cardiovascular effect, you will notice tone, not bulk.
Fats contain both saturated and unsaturated (monounsaturated and polyunsaturated) fatty acids. Saturated fat raises blood cholesterol more than unsaturated fat, which may even help lower harmful cholesterol. Reducing saturated fat (most comes from meat, dairy and bakery products) to less than seven percent of total daily calories may help you reduce your cholesterol level. Whenever possible, replace saturated fat with monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats.
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There is one post tagged reality.
Are We Living In A Simulated Reality?
People have been discussing this idea for years, and it’s gained more traction as of late. Several articles in 2016 were sparked by billionaire Elon Musk’s comments at a technology conference. “There’s a billion to one chance we’re living in base reality,” he said, among other things.
As one might imagine, the “simulation” idea is a controversial topic. Some people take it very seriously — Tad Friend at The New Yorker wrote “Many people in Silicon Valley have become obsessed with the simulation hypothesis, the argument that what we experience as reality is in fact fabricated in a computer; two tech billionaires have gone so far as to secretly engage scientists to work on breaking us out of the simulation.”
Rich Terrile (a scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory) said that if our universe is finite, it’s computable, and therefore could be a simulation. He adds: “Reasons to believe that the universe is a simulation include the fact that it behaves mathematically and is broken up into pieces (subatomic particles) like a pixelated video game.” This could, however, just be how the universe works. We don’t know.
Skeptics of the “simulation” theory point out that there isn’t any proof to support the idea. There are many arguments for and against it — so who is correct? Well, to be honest, that’s likely irrelevant. But it’s interesting to think about.
in Philosophy, Science | 14 March 2017 | 1,408 Words
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10 most difficult Oceania riddles
A list of ten (out of 17) Oceania related questions that are the most often answered incorrectly
Oceania quiz
What is the highest time zone?
UTC0
UTC+12
Time zones range from UTC-12 to UTC+14. UTC+14 stretches as far as 30° east of the 180° longitude line and creates a large fold in the International Date Line. In Kiribati (UTC+14), the local time is the same as in Hawaiʻi (UTC−10:00), but the date is one day ahead. It is also 26 hours ahead of Baker Island (UTC−12:00).
time zones riddles
What is the largest island in Fiji?
Viti Levu is the biggest island in Fiji and houses more than 600,000 people. The Fijian capital is also found on the island. The island has developed into its present form through a series of geographical events where it was submerged in the sea and buried under massive amounts of lava and volcanic materials. Unique insects such as the Giant Fijian long-horned beetle are only found in this island.
wikipedia → Fiji
islands riddles
Where did the battle for Guadalcanal take place, from which the US offensive began?
in Fiji
on the Solomon Islands
in the Marshall Islands
on Samoa
The Guadalcanal Campaign, also known as the Battle of Guadalcanal and codenamed Operation Watchtower was a military campaign fought between 7 August 1942 and 9 February 1943 on and around the island of Guadalcanal in the Pacific theater of World War II. It was the first major offensive by Allied forces against the Empire of Japan.
wikipedia → Guadalcanal Campaign
sea battles riddles
What is the name of the capital city of Palau?
Majuro
Yaren
Ngerulmud
Ngerulmud is the seat of government of the Republic of Palau, an island nation in the Pacific Ocean. It replaced Koror City, Palau's largest city, as capital in 2006.
wikipedia → Ngerulmud
geography riddles
Where do the Kanak live?
Kanak are the indigenous Melanesian inhabitants of New Caledonia, an overseas collectivity of France in the southwest Pacific. According to the 2014 census, they make up 39.1% of the total population with around 104,000 people. Religion is an important aspect of Kanaks' life. Kanaks attend the Catholic Church in Nouméa. and they form nearly 50% of the population of Catholics in New Caledonia, next only to the Europeans.
Psyché
wikipedia → Kanak people
ethnography riddles
What is the only country in the world located over all four hemispheres?
Kiribati is a sovereign state in the central Pacific Ocean. It consists of 32 atolls and one island scattered over all four hemispheres in an expanse of ocean equivalent in size to the continental United States.
wikipedia → Kiribati
Kiribati riddles
This is a warrior from ...
Gabon, Africa
Manaus, Amazonas
Samoa, Pacific Ocean
The warrior carries a weapon called Nifo'oti, typical to the area. It's a mixture of a traditional weapon used in Oceania with an agricultural tool imported by Europeans.
ethnology riddles
In which country third-gender people are a part of traditional culture?
Fa'afafine are a commonly well-accepted third-gender people of Samoa. They are male at birth, and explicitly embody both masculine and feminine gender traits. In Samoa, there is very seldom ridicule or displeasure towards a biologically male child who states that they are a girl.
culture riddles
Where does manuka honey originate from?
Manuka honey comes from bees that pollinate Leptospermum scoparium, or the manuka bush, which grows predominantly in New Zealand and also in Australia. Other species of this bush grow all over the world, but do not produce the flowers bees need in order to produce manuka honey.
wikipedia → Mānuka honey
What is the capital city of Papua New Guinea?
According to a survey of world cities by the Intelligence Unit of The Economist, Port Moresby is one of the world's least livable cities (ranked 139 of 140 cities rated).
capitals riddles
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Over 6,000 Ottoman-Era Photographs Now Available Online
The Getty Research Institute has digitized a collection of Ottoman-era photographs available to study and download for free.
Deena ElGenaidiJanuary 4, 2019
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Unknown photographer, Constantinople, between 1888 and 1900 (all images courtesy Getty’s open content program)
The Getty Research Institute has recently digitized over 6,000 19th- and early 20th-century Ottoman-era photographs, collected in the 1980s by French collector Pierre de Gigord during his travels through Turkey. The collection is now available to study and download for free online.
M. Iranian, “Boucherie turque” (undated)
The photos encompass various walks of Ottoman life, depicting “landmark architecture, urban and natural landscapes, archeological sites of millennia-old civilizations, and the bustling life of the diverse people who lived over 100 years ago in the last decades of the waning Ottoman Empire,” according to the Iris, the Getty Research Institute’s blog.
Unknown photographer, Constantinople Panorama (1868)
The collection includes a 10-part panorama of Constantinople, which required stitching separate prints together to create a panoramic view of the Istanbul skyline in 1878. The shots can now be viewed in their entirety on a single screen. 82 glass plate negatives were digitized, along with 60 photographic albums documenting scenes of Ottoman life. Each individual image in the albums was photographed and digitized, allowing viewers to see up-close details alongside the calligraphic image captions.
The photos depict markets, sites of destruction, street vendors, encounters with government officials “such as the minister of war, Enver Pasha, the highest-ranking perpetrator of the Armenian genocide,” and more.
G.M. Georgoulas, Pyramids (undated, c. 1870–1929), gelatin silver print, depicts a Turkish tourist group posed to the side of the Great Sphinx
The digital files can be accessed through the Getty Research Institute catalogue or through the Gigord Collection’s finding aid. Unfortunately, two parts of the collection, according to the Iris, “were beyond the scope of this project” and therefore not digitized. Those include press photographs documenting the modernization of the Ottoman Empire and its transition to the Republic of Turkey, along with archival documentation on photographic studios. However, those materials can still be accessed by visiting the Getty Research Institute Special Collections in Los Angeles.
More information on the collection and digitization process can be found here.
A. Cailliez, reproductions of artworks by Amadeo Preziosi, “Beggars” (undated, c. 1857)
Sébah & Joaillier, “Fellahine, after 1883”
Félix Bonfils, “Bergers” (1870)
J. Sengsbratl, Crowd on the street with Turkish flags (1900), glass lantern slide
J. Sengsbratl, “Enver Pascha” (1900)
J. Sengsbratl, Turkish woman wearing veil (1900), glass lantern slide
J. Sengsbratl, Woman reclining on couch (1900), glass lantern slide
Unknown photographer, Boys standing in the street (c. 1900), glass plate negative
Unknown photographer, Turkish man carrying furniture on his back (c. 1900), glass plate negative
Getty Research InstituteOttoman EmpirePierre de GigordTurkey
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Hashing Out California’s Fin...
Hashing Out California’s Final Cannabis Regulations Cannabis with Attorney Dominic Ripoli
by Dominic Ripoli
Final changes to California's Cannabis Regulations
California’s newest cannabis regulations have been in place for nearly three months, and the industry is settling into the latest changes. This is the third set of regulations, so far, and after each revision, the cannabis businesses have groaned loudly they it strives for (and pay for) compliance. These latest rules are the final regulations for annual licenses, or at least they are final for now.
On Wednesday January 16th, 2019, the California Bureau of Cannabis Control (BCC) had its final regulations approved by the Office of Administrative Law, which rubber stamped the regulations with their official seal after over a month of review. These “final” regulations replace the emergency regulations that the BCC adopted in 2018, upon commencement of issuing commercial cannabis business licenses in California. The BCC and her sister agencies, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) and the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), have all now issued and published their final versions of these regulations, which are now the operational law.
Below is a summary of the most important changes. To get a complete understanding of the rules, it’s advisable to retain a professional who can guide you through them. This is especially true for cannabis business owners, as compliance is mandatory, and companies can be fined or closed for violations.
The most welcomed change comes in the form of statewide market access for non-storefront retailers, a.k.a. deliveries. There was some ambiguity among local governments as to whether they had the authority to ban commercial cannabis deliveries by companies from outside jurisdictions that have issued permits for them. The final regulations end this debate conclusively for the state. §5414 of the BCC regulations says, “A non-storefront retailer licensee shall be authorized to conduct retail sales exclusively by delivery as defined in Business and Professions Code §26001(p).” The Business and Professions code further clarifies that delivery is allowed in all local jurisdictions in California, including in any “city, county, or city and county.” So, for example, a delivery company licensed in Oakland, CA, has the right to deliver to consumers anywhere, even in cities and counties that ban cannabis retail sales.
Statewide delivery may still find opposition from the police unions and other prohibitionist local governments in the form of a lawsuit, and there is also push back from local cannabis retailers, who hoped to capture clients from municipalities with bans by requiring consumers to drive to their facility. But, although California’s legal system gives deference to local control and authority, especially on issues of public health and safety, Proposition 64 was meant to benefit all responsible adults in California, and not just those who live in communities that have zoned land for commercial cannabis. Despite opposition, it’s unlikely that the new regulations regarding cannabis deliveries will be overturned or watered down in the near future.
Exit packaging is another issue cannabis business owners need to understand. §5413 of the BCC regulations make clear that by 2020, all cannabis goods sold to customers that leave the retail facility must do so in resealable, tamper-evident, and child resistant packaging. The CDPH regulations §40417 note that cannabis products intended to be inhaled or applied topically may utilize packaging that is child-resistant only until first opened. The statement “This package is not child-resistant after opening” is required on such products. CDPH released packaging and labeling checklists recently, which are included with this article, in an attempt to simplify compliance with these often confusing regulations.
Cannabis Equity Licensing
Cannabis equity licensing is not part of the “final” regulations, per se, but the final rules allow the BCC to provide applications for cities with cannabis equity programs to receive funds from a $10 million fund. This fund, created by the state legislature last year, was awaiting the final approval of the BCC and sister bureaus in the form of these final regulations. Only cities with cannabis equity programs will be eligible to apply for the funds. In early March, the BCC finally put out equity grant applications, requiring municipalities to apply for the funds before April 1, 2019.
“Owner” and “financial interest holders” are the two terms that define all the moneyed interests in a commercial cannabis license. BCC final regulations define an owner as:
someone who holds an aggregate interest of 20% or more,
the CEO,
members of the board of directors of a nonprofit,
trustees who have control of a commercial cannabis business held in trust,
an individual entitled to a share of 20% of the profits or more,
an individual who will be in the direction, control, or management of the person applying for a license. Including:
the general partner of a commercial cannabis business,
a non-member manager or managing member of a commercial cannabis business organized as an LLC, or
an officer or director of a commercial cannabis business organized as a corporation.
Understanding California's Proposition 64 - A detailed look at the natio...
California's Proposition 65 - Cannabis and Cancer Warnings
A significant addition to ownership requirements is language requiring all individual members or owners of an entity with a financial interest in a commercial cannabis license must be disclosed. This means, LLCs and other corporate entity owners of a commercial cannabis business must reveal all members of the LLC and all owners of the company.
Financial interest holders include individuals who enter into an agreement to receive portions of profits of a commercial cannabis business. An exception to this rule includes ““persons” who hold a share of stock that is less than 5% of the total shares in a publicly traded company.” This last section, found in BCC regulations §5004(d)(4), alludes to persons who don’t actually exist yet, as this author has not yet heard of a publicly traded licensed California commercial cannabis business. This language should be telling as to what the cannabis lobby expects in the coming near-term future.
Deliveries facilitated by technology platforms have been a topic of discussion at the regulatory level since early 2018. This set of regulations includes significant changes that clarify how third-party technology platforms such as Eaze and GreenRush may partner with licensed commercial cannabis delivery businesses. No longer will Eaze be allowed to use their drivers and their vehicles to deliver cannabis goods from a licensed delivery retailer. The transactions must be delivered by employees of the delivery business and the vehicles must be owned by the delivery business. A third party technology platform cannot share in the profits of a licensed cannabis delivery retailer. Flat fee agreements will be needed to substitute any current agreements that require a portion of profit share as payment for services rendered.
There are many more significant changes, but the above addresses the most pressing matters facing the cannabis industry during the process of adapting to the final regulations issued by BCC and its sister agencies.
Packaging Updates
Labeling Updates for Flowers
Labeling Updates for Products
Tags: California Cannabis Regulations BCC Bureau of Cannabis Control California Department of Food and Agriculture California Department of Public Health BCC Regulations Dominic Ripoli
Dominic Ripoli
Dominic is an Associate at Wood, Smith, Henning, and Berman, LLP and Chair of the Cannabis Law Section at Alameda County Bar Association.
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Canada has a history of making famous figures who have taken matters in their own hands to make a difference
February 1, 2019 January 21, 2019 adminCustom papers
Canada has a history of making famous figures who have taken matters in their own hands to make a difference. Viola Desmond the first female to be on the ten 10$ bill, but that’s not just one of her significant things she has done in Canada’s history. Viola Desmond significant acts was her, Entrepreneur and being Community Leader, standing up in the Roseland Theatre and the Trial.
Viola Desmond is essential to Canadian history as she is the first woman to be on the $10. These are the 3 reasons why she is important to Canadian history. Her essential acts is being an Entrepreneur and being Community Leader, standing up in the Roseland Theatre and the Trial.
Entrepreneur and being a Community Leader.
In the early 1900s, many people wore hairstyles that needed lots of special products and maintenance. Since these hair and beauty styles became such a big trend, there were opportunities for female entrepreneurs to open businesses. Beauty salons became a center of the Black community, it was a place for Black women to get together and talk. Viola quickly became successful while opening her hair salon.She opened a beauty school, the Desmond School of Beauty Culture. Desmond made the school in order to help young Black women gain work skills. Women from all across Canada enrolled in her school. The school later trained all the employees to become beauticians, which they found fascinating with all of desmond’s help. She then stretched out her whole business across the province which then later on was becoming one of the biggest hair salons in their province. She then began the to create her own beauty line of products. Making a successful black-owned brand was very rare at the time. Black Canadians were still being so heavily discriminated against. Discrimination was at its peak during the Viola Desmond times, but without these discriminating things said to her, she wouldn’t be the person who she was today and the difference she made in today’s society. Although racism was not officially part of Canadian society, there were things that black Canadians “just couldn’t do.” But for Viola these minor setbacks came into a major comeback, as this didn’t stop her from pursuing her dreams and becoming the person she is today and the difference she made in today’s society.
Roseland Theatre
The night of 8 November 1946, Viola Desmond made an unexpected stop in the small community of New Glasgow after her car broke down while on going to a business meeting in Sydney, Nova Scotia. She was told that the repair is going to take hours, so she then booked an hotel close by the garage, she then decided what’s a better thing to do to waste a few hours.she then began to go to the roseland theatre. At the Roseland Theatre, Viola payed for a ticket for a seat on the main floor. The ticket seller handed Desmond a ticket to the balcony instead, the balcony level was for non whites. Walking into the main floor seating area not knowing that the ticket handler gave her a balcony ticket, she was challenged by the ticket-taker, who told her that her ticket was for an upstairs seat, where she would have to move. Desmond was then confronted by the manager, who argued that the theatre had the right to “refuse admission to any objectionable person.” Desmond pointed out that she had not been refused admission and had in fact been sold the ticket, which she still held in her hand. She added that she had attempted to exchange it for a main floor ticket and was willing to pay the difference in cost but had been refused. When she declined to leave her seat, a police officer was called. Desmond was dragged out of the theatre, injuring her hip and knee in the process, and taken to jail. There she was met by the chief of police, returning an hour later with a warrant for Desmond’s arrest. She was then held in a cell overnight.
The Roseland Theatre said that Viola was arrested for not paying the 1 penny difference between the “colored” seating upstairs and the “white” seating downstairs. She explained to the judge that she offered to pay the difference but the manager refused.The judge did not want to discuss how unfair it was that black customers had to sit in different theatre seats than white customers. Even though in Canada there was no official law saying that movie theatre’s were segregated, the manager of the theatre said, its “traditional” that blacks sit together in the balcony. Although everyone knew that anyone who fought against the segregated seating would be in big trouble. Since the Supreme Court can choose to listen to some cases and not others, her case was rejected and she was told to pay an unfair fine.After this decision, Viola decided to listen to her husband, Jack who began to worry about her safety. Black Canadians who fought against segregation and racism could be threatened and hurt by people who do not want society to change. Many activists receive death threats and they and their family could be hurt. So Viola did not have a 3rd court case. Many black people in Viola’s community were afraid that by being around her and going to her business that they could be hurt or further discriminated against. So she closed her very successful business and schools across Nova Scotia and left the country.
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The IMMA Collection is a unique resource which is made available to the public through a vibrant programme of temporary exhibitions and projects. Collection Exhibitions may explore the work of an individual artist, or address a theme or historic period.
Collection Exhibitions
Collection Policies
Madden Arnholz Collection
Artworks in the Grounds
IMMA is home to the National Collection of Modern and Contemporary Art, with over 3,500 artworks by Irish and International artists. The Collection is firmly rooted in the present and important contemporary works are added each year. Our collection of modern art, which has a particular emphasis on work from the 1940s onwards, is regularly enhanced by donation or loan.
Artist Betty Parsons (1) Brian Ferran (2) Bridget Riley (1) Camille Souter (1) Julio Le Parc (1) Michael Scott (1) Micheal Farrell (1) Robert Ballagh (1) Sonja Landweer (1) Tim Robinson (2) Tony O'Malley (3) Victor Vasarely (9)
Artwork Title Atlantic, 1968 (IMMA.1362 MCCL) Aunt Biddy's Flower Pots (IMMA.2618) Bowl Round Body (IMMA.282 GL) Cast a Cold Eye (IMMA.203 GL) Coastal Landscape (IMMA.1871) Fragments (IMMA.3934) from Nineteen Greys, B (IMMA.367 GL) Lant (IMMA.398 GL) Marchers (IMMA.2625) Movement Spring (IMMA.1365 MCCL) My Studio (IMMA.204 GL) Permutation Series (1/8) (IMMA.831.1) Permutation Series (2/8) (IMMA.831.2) Permutation Series (3/8) (IMMA.831.3) Permutation Series (4/8) (IMMA.831.4) Permutation Series (5/8) (IMMA.831.5) Permutation Series (6/8) (IMMA.831.6) Permutation Series (7/8) (IMMA.831.7) Permutation Series (8/8) (IMMA.831.8) Red Dublin (IMMA.1266) Untitled (Multiple Mirror) (IMMA.352 GL) Untitled (T.2016.28) Windward (T.2016.8) Winter (IMMA.1405 MCCL)
Category Installation Miscellaneous Painting Sculpture Work on Paper
Year 2018 (3) 2017 (8) 2016 (8) 2015 (8) 2014 (7) 2013 (11) 2012 (7) 2011 (13) 2010 (79) 2009 (27) 2008 (28) 2007 (27) 2006 (50) 2005 (38) 2004 (65) 2003 (43) 2002 (48) 2001 (47) 2000 (25) 1999 (48) 1998 (42) 1997 (45) 1996 (49) 1995 (30) 1994 (76) 1993 (85) 1992 (57) 1991 (50) 1990 (66) 1989 (40) 1988 (87) 1987 (58) 1986 (48) 1985 (55) 1984 (29) 1983 (33) 1982 (35) 1981 (53) 1980 (33) 1979 (63) 1978 (54) 1977 (65) 1976 (49) 1975 (66) 1974 (58) 1973 (29) 1972 (133) 1971 (29) 1970 (32) 1969 (59) 1968 (24) 1967 (32) 1966 (24) 1965 (27) 1964 (42) 1963 (13) 1962 (15) 1961 (7) 1960 (12) 1959 (27) 1958 (18) 1957 (11) 1956 (5) 1955 (5) 1954 (8) 1953 (2) 1952 (22) 1951 (4) 1950 (4) 1949 (4) 1948 (2) 1947 (4) 1946 (1) 1945 (10) 1944 (6) 1943 (3) 1942 (1) 1941 (5) 1940 (9) 1939 (2) 1938 (2) 1935 (9) 1933 (2) 1932 (1) 1930 (6) 1929 (3) 1928 (1) 1925 (2) 1924 (1) 1922 (1) 1920 (3) 1914 (2) 1912 (2) 1910 (1) 1901 (2)
Works with images
Works not on view
Works out on loan
from Nineteen Greys, B Bridget Riley 1968
Atlantic, 1968 Tony O'Malley 1968
Movement Spring Tony O'Malley 1968
Winter Tony O'Malley 1968
Coastal Landscape Michael Scott 1968
Cast a Cold Eye Brian Ferran 1968
My Studio Brian Ferran 1968
Bowl Round Body Sonja Landweer 1968
Untitled (Multiple Mirror) Julio Le Parc 1968
Lant Victor Vasarely 1968
Aunt Biddy’s Flower Pots Camille Souter 1968
Red Dublin Micheal Farrell 1968
Fragments Betty Parsons 1968
Permutation Series (1/8) Victor Vasarely 1968
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Lecture 2.8: The Ins and Outs of Social Influence
社会心理学
ウェズリアン大学（Wesleyan University）
4.9 (263 件の評価) | 30K在籍する学生
Ever wonder why people do what they do? This course—which includes more than $1,000 of video and reading materials—offers some answers based on the latest research from social psychology. Students taking the course for a Certificate will also receive free membership in Social Psychology Network (SocialPsychology.org). COURSE DESCRIPTION FROM PROFESSOR PLOUS: Each of us is dealt a different hand in life, but we all face similar questions when it comes to human behavior: What leads us to like one person and dislike another? How do conflicts and prejudices develop, and how can they be reduced? Can psychological research help protect the environment, and if so, how? This course offers a brief introduction to classic and contemporary social psychology, covering topics such as decision making, persuasion, group behavior, personal attraction, and factors that promote health and well-being. Our focus will be on surprising, entertaining, and intriguing research findings that are easy to apply in daily life. The course will also draw from the websites of Social Psychology Network, the world's largest online community devoted to social psychology. I hope you'll join me for this course, have fun, and learn some useful information that enriches your life.
4.9 (263 件の評価)
Learning so much and I'm only in week 1. It's untangled and clarified some of my own experiences and interactions in such an easy format with relevant and informative resources.
Professor Plous has made this course interesting with a number of additional videos, Ted talks and snapshot quiz. It is one of the best courses that I have taken on Coursera.
WEEK 2: The Psychology of Self-Presentation and Persuasion
This week's goals are to: (1) learn how people explain their behavior and the behavior of others; (2) explore the link between attitudes and behavior; (3) understand what cognitive dissonance is and why it matters; and (4) gain some practical tips from the science of persuasion and social influence.
Lecture 2.6: How to Be Persuasive15:07
Lecture 2.7: Secrets from the Science of Persuasion (Guest Lecture)13:02
Lecture 2.8: The Ins and Outs of Social Influence18:30
Scott Plous
Professor of Psychology; Executive Director, Social Psychology Network; recipient of the American Psychological Foundation Award for Distinguished Teaching
言語を選択スペイン語タイ語中国語（簡体）中国語（繁体）英語
I hope that you enjoyed the guest lecture
by Bob Cialdini and Steve Martin. In this video, we'll talk further about
Professor Cialdini's research, as well as other studies on the ins and outs
of social influence—that is, efforts by an individual or a group
to have an influence on another individual or group, whether it might be
to donate money, or buy a product, support a political cause or a candidate,
comply with a request, and so forth. To take just one example, several years ago,
Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona tried to discourage theft
by posting a sign intended to have a social influence.
The sign said, "Your heritage is being vandalized every day by theft losses of
petrified wood of 14 tons a year, mostly a small piece at a time."
The park thought that by helping visitors understand how small thefts add up to a
large problem, stealing would be reduced, but the problem continued, and eventually
they turned to Professor Cialdini and asked if he could help.
Professor Cialdini's solution is described in a short article that I've assigned as
part of this week's reading, so I'm not going to give away the full story,
but one problem Professor Cialdini pointed out is that the park was
unintentionally signaling that theft is normative, or normal behavior.
If 14 tons of petrified wood are removed each year, a tiny piece at a time,
that means thousands of visitors are doing it, and in fact, when Professor Cialdini
had the park remove the anti-theft message, stealing actually fell by almost 80%.
So you have to be careful. Yes, it's important to convey the
seriousness of a problem, but if you announce, for example,
that in a particular country a woman is raped every few minutes,
or most people cheat or steal, you're normalizing the very behavior
that you want to change. And even though we know that consensus
information doesn't always have an effect on causal attributions, it often has a
large effect when it comes to persuasion and social influence.
Psychologists have studied a wide variety of social influence techniques.
For instance, research suggests that people are more likely to do something
when you get them to imagine doing it or to predict that they'll do it
in the future (say, voting in an upcoming election).
Other research has found that mentioning your name before making a request
can increase the chances that the other person will say yes by 50 to 100%—
something as simple as "Hi, my name is Scott, and I'm wondering whether you might
do me a small favor?" Engaging people in a dialogue also leads
to greater compliance with a request, presumably because dialogue resembles
friendship more than a monologue does. The idea is to talk with people
rather than at people. One very effective technique pioneered
by Professor Cialdini is the "Even a penny will help" technique.
The original study on this technique was very simple.
Students went door-to-door raising money for the American Cancer Society,
and they said one of two things. Half the time, they said: "I'm collecting
money for the American Cancer Society. Would you be willing to help
by giving a donation?" And the other half of the time, they said
exactly the same thing but added, "Even a penny will help."
The idea here was not only to make it affordable to comply but to make it hard
to say no to such a minimal request. And lo and behold, by tacking on this
extra sentence (just five words: "Even a penny will help"), compliance
jumped from 29% to 50% with no significant difference in the average
amount people gave—a very simple technique to keep in mind
the next time that you're fundraising. Anyway, these are just a few findings
related to social influence, which, like persuasion, has received just a huge
amount of research attention. So, to avoid spreading ourselves too thin,
I'd like to focus on three of the most famous techniques:
first, the foot-in-the-door technique; second, the door-in-the-face technique;
and third, the low-ball technique, which car dealers are notorious for using.
Let's begin with the foot-in-the-door technique, which was briefly mentioned
in the guest lecture and was first studied experimentally by Jonathan Freedman
and Scott Fraser in the 1960s. The premise is that people are more
likely to comply with a large request once they've already complied with a
smaller one—a foot in the door of the larger request.
Freedman and Fraser conducted two experiments.
The one I'd like to walk through—and the one that's most famous—is Experiment 2.
The participants were 112 innocent residents of Palo Alto, California, who
just happened to be home between 1:30 and 4:30 one weekday afternoon when a member
of Freedman and Fraser's research team knocked on their door.
Every third or fourth home on certain blocks was randomly assigned to one of
five conditions: four in which a relatively small request
preceded a larger request, and one in which the larger request was made
without any prior contact. Four different small requests were used.
In one condition, the person at the door introduced herself or himself as a member
of the Community Committee for Traffic Safety
and asked people whether they'd post a small sign, three inches square,
in their window or car that simply said "Be a Safe Driver."
Professor Freedman was kind enough to loan me some materials from the original
study to share with our class, and as you can see, the sign was printed
in black block letters on a white background and generally looked
mildly unattractive. If people agreed to the request,
they were given a sign and thanked; otherwise, they were simply
thanked for their time. In another condition, residents were asked by a
member of the Keep California Beautiful Committee whether they would
post an equally unattractive sign that said "Keep California Beautiful."
In the third condition, residents were asked to sign a petition that supported
legislation on safe driving. And in a fourth condition, people were asked
to sign a petition in support of legislation to keep California beautiful.
So, these were the four small requests: two involving a three-inch sign,
and two involving a petition. Then, about two weeks later, a different member
of the research team revisited these households to make a much larger request.
This time, residents were approached by a member of
Citizens for Safe Driving to see whether they would post a very large sign
on safe driving in their front yard for a week or a week and a half.
This photo, from Professor Freedman, shows a sign smaller than the one
eventually used, which completely concealed the front door.
And once again, the sign was deliberately designed to look a bit ugly.
If people agreed to the request, they were told that more names than necessary
were being gathered, and that they'd be contacted in a few weeks
if their home were to be used. That way, people didn't actually have to
have a sign installed in their front yard.
So, in two conditions, the small request concerned the same issue as the
large request: safe driving as opposed to keeping California beautiful.
And in two conditions, the small request was of the same kind as the
large request: posting a sign as opposed to signing a petition.
Freedman and Fraser wanted to see whether the small request had to resemble the
large request in order to be effective, and if so, whether it was more important
to match the large request by issue or by kind of request.
What do you think they found? Before I share the results, take a guess.
Many people are surprised by the answer.
The correct answer is that compliance with a small request increased compliance with a
large request, regardless of whether the requests were of the same type or on the same topic.
When people were asked to post a large sign without first being asked to comply
with a small request, only 17% said yes, but if we average across all four of the
other conditions, including everyone who received a small request, whether or not
they said yes, compliance jumped to 56%—over three times higher.
And what's especially interesting is that compliance was nearly as high, 47%,
even when the small request was of a different type and on a different issue.
This is fairly dramatic. What we have is more than double the rate of
compliance found in the large request only condition, even though the two requests
are of a different type (signing a petition versus posting a sign)
on a different topic (keeping California beautiful versus safe driving), asked by
two different people, and separated in time by roughly two weeks.
How would you explain this? Freedman and Fraser concluded that once
people agree to a request, they become in their own eyes "the kind of person who
does this sort of thing, who agrees to requests made by strangers,
who cooperates with good causes." In other words, their explanation was
very consistent with Daryl Bem's self-perception theory.
People watch themselves behave a certain way and conclude that they
hold values and attitudes that match their behavior.
Since the time of Freedman and Fraser's study, more than a hundred experiments
have examined the foot-in-the-door technique,
and the bottom line is that its effectiveness really depends on
the details of how it's used. For example, the technique is most
effective when you explicitly label the person as helpful or as a supporter,
saying something like "I really appreciate you supporting this effort,"
which strengthens the person's self-perception as a supporter.
And the effect is strongest when the large request is presented as a
continuation of the smaller request, something that builds on the person's
prior commitment—"You did X last month; can you do a little bit more?"
But what happens when you ask people for something large
without a small request first, and they say no?
Does that make them more likely to continue saying no if you come back
with a smaller request? This question was posed in the Snapshot Quiz,
and you can see your answer here.
The correct answer, based on the best available research evidence,
is that when people reject a large request, they often become more likely to comply
with smaller requests down the road— smaller, not equally large. That's key here.
When a large request is scaled back, it has the appearance of a concession,
and because there are strong social norms encouraging reciprocity,
people often feel obligated to make a concession of their own—to reciprocate
and meet the other person somewhere in the middle.
In fact, this rejection-then-moderation procedure is so effective that
Professor Cialdini and his colleagues, who conducted pioneering research
on the topic, gave it a name: the door-in-the-face technique.
In one experiment, for example, a member of Professor Cialdini's research team
would walk up to students on campus and ask them if they'd like to work two hours
per week as an unpaid volunteer at a juvenile detention center
for at least two years! Can you imagine?
None of the students ever agreed to this, but then, after students had refused
the large request, the researcher made a smaller request,
like volunteering only once for about two hours.
What Professor Cialdini found is that compliance with a small request is much
higher if you can first get someone to "slam a door in your face" with a larger
request. In Professor Cialdini's research, this technique
doubled the rate of compliance, and a later meta-analysis of 87 different paired
requests found that the door-in-the-face technique is especially effective when
the same person makes both requests, the two requests are made
face-to-face with no delay between them, and the requests are prosocial
with the same beneficiary—that is, the requests are for the good of others,
and the ones who benefit are the same in both requests.
Under these conditions, norms of reciprocity and generosity are quite strong,
and as long as the initial request isn't so large as to seem unreasonable or
greedy, people find it hard to say no. One last social influence technique that
I'd like to discuss is known as the "low-ball" technique, and once again,
Professor Cialdini and his colleagues conducted ground-breaking studies
on the topic. Let me describe just one typical experiment.
I think you'll find it very useful to know about.
The participants were 63 college students enrolled in
a psychology course, and they were randomly assigned to either
a control condition or an experimental condition.
In both conditions, a research assistant telephoned students
and introduced herself as follows: "I'm calling for the Psychology Department
to schedule Psychology 100 students for an experiment on thinking processes.
The experiment concerns the way people organize facts.
We can give you one hour of credit for your participation in this experiment."
If students were in the control condition, the assistant told them that the
experiment was being run at 7:00 am Wednesday and Friday morning
and asked whether they might be able to make it then.
Not surprisingly, only 9 of 29 students, or 31%, were willing to make an
appointment that early in the morning, and only 24% showed up.
In the experimental condition (the low-ball condition), students were informed of
the 7:00 am time only after they had already agreed to participate in the experiment;
this was the low-ball, thrown at the last moment.
When all was said and done, 56% of these students made an appointment,
and 53% actually showed up for the 7:00 am experiment.
So, although there are obviously limits, it seems that once people commit
themselves to honoring a request, the request can often be increased
without them withdrawing from the commitment,
just as car dealers often throw a low-ball by adding conveyance fees and other
charges after people have agreed to buy a car for a particular price.
Let's pause for a pop-up question on social influence techniques,
and then I'll make a few concluding remarks.
Now, what's the value of knowing about these techniques? Well, it's not so that you can
go out and low-ball other people, I hope, but rather, that you can protect yourself
when other people try to low-ball you. The social influence techniques discussed
in this video are very powerful tools, but once you realize that a low-ball
has been thrown, or that someone stuck a foot in your door,
or gotten you to slam a door in their face,
you'll be in a better position to step back
and decide whether or not you want to comply with a request.
Maybe you'll say yes, or maybe you'll say no,
but at the very least, you'll understand the psychological dynamics
of the situation and be less likely to be manipulated.
Well, with this video you've completed two weeks of the course.
Bravo! I hope that you've enjoyed it as much as I have.
Before we end, let me just offer a friendly reminder to complete this week's
assignment, entitled "What Social Impression Do You Make?"
For the assignment, you can either join Social Psychology Network
and create your own page if you haven't already, or you can
complete the assignment by submitting a CV or résumé.
Personally, I would love to have you as a member of the Network, so I very much
hope that you will join if it doesn't present a financial hardship,
but either way will work just fine for the assignment.
What's most important is that you actively engage the course material.
If you can spare the time, don't just watch the videos—do the readings and
complete the assignments. We're heading into very interesting
waters next week, so if you can complete the readings and the assignments
for each week, you'll get more out of the course,
because it will set up the next week. Until then!
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Nasdaq: ANIX
Cchek™
CAR-T
Anixa In The News
ITUS Accelerates Schedule for its CAR T Therapy and Provides Update
SAN JOSE, Calif., June 26, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- ITUS Corporation (NASDAQ: ITUS) today provided a status update and accelerated development timeline for its CAR T therapy for Ovarian Cancer, which is in development with Moffitt Cancer Center.
Based on a number of factors, including the progress of the research discussed below, ITUS and Moffitt anticipate requesting a pre-IND meeting with the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) by the end of July of this year, roughly one year earlier than originally anticipated. The FDA recommends a pre-IND meeting as it enables the agency to review the development plan and provide useful recommendations. ITUS expects the meeting will be scheduled for the October/November timeframe. Assuming the FDA does not require significant additional animal studies, the Investigational New Drug (IND) application can be filed during Q1 of 2019. Should this accelerated goal be achieved, human trials could begin as early as the first half of 2019, roughly a year ahead of schedule.
ITUS initiated a Cooperative R&D Agreement (CRADA) with Moffitt to advance a proprietary CAR T therapy for ovarian cancer in November 2017. The study is led by Jose Conejo-Garcia, M.D., Ph.D., Chair of the Department of Immunology at Moffitt. The aim of this CRADA is to complete the pre-clinical studies necessary for the submission of an IND application to the FDA, seeking approval to test the therapy in human patients. The previous goal for IND submission was the end of 2019 or early 2020, now it has been accelerated dramatically.
Additionally, Robert Wenham, M.D. has joined the team to lead the clinical trial. Dr. Wenham is the Chair of Gynecological Oncology at Moffitt. He received his MD from the University of Texas, Southwestern, completed his Obstetrics and Gynecological Residency at Harvard, and his Gynecological Oncology Fellowship at Duke.
Brief R&D Results
Several groups of tumor free, female mice were intra-peritoneally infused with increasing concentrations of the murine CAR T construct, and their health status was monitored for up to 5 months. The goal of this research is to determine if the CAR T construct would specifically target the ovaries of the mice, while not disturbing other healthy organs.
No treated mice showed any signs of pain/stress, difficulty breathing or increased respiratory rate, reduced movement, reduced grooming or feeding, dehydration, anorexia or any other sign of distress. Control mice also did not show any distress.
Accordingly, the mice did not show any weight loss. Control mice did not show any weight loss.
One cohort also had blood drawn periodically for measurement of multiple markers including markers for liver function (AST-Aspartate transaminase/ALT-Alanine transaminase), kidney function (creatinine), and metabolic function (glucose). No abnormal values were observed, as was the case for control mice.
Serum IL-6 (interleukin-6) increased in the treated mice, as well as mice treated with control T-cells. This indicated that the T-cells were inducing the expected inflammatory response.
Histological analysis of the ovaries showed that 60 percent of the treated mice had significant damage to their ovaries, while the control mice exhibited no damage. This observation confirms that the CAR T was successfully attacking the ovaries, as hoped and expected.
Additional details will be included in filings for the US FDA and will eventually be published.
Dr. Amit Kumar, CEO of ITUS stated, "We are extremely pleased with the progress of our program, and we are thrilled at the prospect of beginning human trials considerably ahead of schedule. Should our technology be the first demonstration of CAR T efficacy in humans afflicted with a solid tumor, the benefit to patients could be tremendous and the value for ITUS shareholders could be equally dramatic."
"Moffitt is committed to advancing CAR T-cell therapy so that more patients can benefit from this breakthrough treatment. Ovarian cancer is difficult to treat because most women are diagnosed at the later stages of disease progression. Consequently, outcomes are often poor and there are few treatment options. Being able to bring CAR T to patients, even in an investigational setting, is a step in the right direction," stated Dr. Wenham, Chair of Gynecological Oncology at Moffitt.
CAR T Background
Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell therapy is an adoptive cell therapy approach that begins with removal and isolation of certain T cells from a patient's blood. In the laboratory, these T cells are then modified by utilizing a viral vector designed to genetically engineer them to aggressively target and attack the patient's cancer. After engineering, the cells are expanded (increased in number) in the laboratory, then they are infused back into the patient where they seek out the tumor for destruction. To date this type of therapy has worked extremely well for patients suffering from B-cell malignancies (certain lymphomas and leukemias) who had failed other therapies, and for whom there were no options. These results have induced tremendous interest from the scientific and investor communities in CAR T technologies and companies. Unfortunately, to date no CAR T approach has meaningfully worked against solid tumors, for which there are many more sufferers than B-cell cancers. ITUS and Moffitt believe that certain key characteristics of their proprietary CAR T technology will enable it to work for ovarian cancer and then eventually for tumors such as breast, prostate, pancreatic and others. The peer-reviewed scientific details supporting this assertion have been discussed elsewhere and have been published in the journal, Clinical Cancer Research (http://clincancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/23/2/441.article-info).
ITUS Corporation
ITUS, a cancer-focused biotechnology company, is harnessing the body's immune system in the fight against cancer. Its wholly owned subsidiary, Anixa Diagnostics Corporation, is developing the CchekTM platform, a series of non-invasive blood tests for the early detection of solid tumorbased cancers, which is based on the body's immunological response to the presence of a malignancy. Its majority owned subsidiary, Certainty Therapeutics, Inc., is developing CAR-T based immuno-therapy drugs which genetically engineer a patient's own immune cells to fight cancer. ITUS also continually examines emerging technologies in complementary or related fields for further development and commercialization. Additional information is available at www.ITUScorp.com.
Moffitt is dedicated to one lifesaving mission: to contribute to the prevention and cure of cancer. The Tampa-based facility is one of only 49 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers, a distinction that recognizes Moffitt's scientific excellence, multidisciplinary research, and robust training and education. Moffitt is a Top 10 cancer hospital and has been nationally ranked by U.S. News & World Report since 1999. Moffitt devotes more than 2 million square feet to research and patient care. Moffitt's expert nursing staff is recognized by the American Nurses Credentialing Center with Magnet® status, its highest distinction. With more than 5,700 team members, Moffitt has an economic impact in the state of $2.1 billion. For more information, call 1-888-MOFFITT (1-888-663-3488), visit MOFFITT.org, and follow the momentum on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
Forward-Looking Statements: Statements that are not historical fact may be considered forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are not statements of historical facts, but rather reflect ITUS Corporation's current expectations concerning future events and results. We generally use the words "believes," "expects," "intends," "plans," "anticipates," "likely," "will" and similar expressions to identify forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements, including those concerning our expectations, involve risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond our control, which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and factors include, but are not limited to, those factors set forth in "Item 1A - Risk Factors" and other sections of our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K as well as in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. You are cautioned not to unduly rely on such forward-looking statements when evaluating the information presented in this press release.
View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/itus-accelerates-schedule-for-its-car-t-therapy-and-provides-update-300672065.html
SOURCE ITUS Corporation
Released June 26, 2018
Anixa Biosciences Announces a Strategic Alliance and Licensing Agreement with Cleveland Clinic for an Innovative Breast Cancer Vaccine Technology
Anixa Biosciences Highlights Recent Publication in The Journal of Experimental Medicine on Myeloid Derived Suppressor Cells
Anixa Biosciences to Present at the CYTO 2019 - 34th Congress of the International Society for Advancement of Cytometry
Cancer Fact: Liver cancer accounts for 3.6% of worldwide cancer incidences.
Copyrights © 2019 Anixa Biosciences, Inc.. All Rights Reserved.
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The Impact of Syria’s Unrest on Iran
What role is Iran playing in the Syrian political crisis?
In April, the United State claimed that Tehran has been helping Damascus put down the Syrian uprising. Two rounds of U.S. sanctions on Syria for human rights abuses have since named Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) for a role in the bloody crackdown. The sanctions specifically targeted Qasem Soleymani, commander of the IRGC Qods Force, and Mohsen Shirazi, head of Qods Force operations. The Qods Force is the elite IRGC wing that liaises with foreign governments and militias. Accounts of Iran’s role vary significantly. But other reports have suggested that Iran’s security apparatus, including police and intelligence, have also provided support to the Assad regime.
Direct involvement by Iranian personnel is likely to be limited, however. The Assad regime may need advice and assistance from its long-time Iranian allies, but Damascus has enough manpower to confront the opposition. The Syrian regime is also unlikely to defer to or hand over management of domestic affairs, especially decision-making on how to defuse the current crisis, to Iran.
Cooperation between Iran and Syria was evident in the case of Dorothy Parvaz, an Iranian-Canadian journalist who works for al Jazeera. Parvaz was arrested in April when she flew to Syria to cover the unrest. She was imprisoned in Damascus and has written a graphic account of her ordeal. She was sent to Iran, where she was detained and eventually released.
What are the stakes for Iran in Syria’s unrest?
For Iran, the ouster of President Bashar Assad in Syria would arguably be the most significant setback since the end of its eight-year war with Iraq in 1988 and possibly even since its 1979 revolution. Regime change would be a major blow for both Iran’s ideological and foreign policy goals. Syria has been Iran’s only stalwart supporter over the past 32 years. It was one of the few Arab states that stood by Iran during its eight-year-long war with Iraq in the 1980s.
Over the past three decades, Syria has also served as a major conduit for Iranian arms shipments and support to Lebanon’s Hezbollah. The militant Shiite movement represents a major asset for Tehran and Damascus in the regional power struggle against Israel, the United States and their allies. Since the end of the 2006 Lebanon conflict, Damascus and Tehran have rebuilt Hezbollah into a formidable force with an arsenal estimated at 40,000 rockets and missiles.
What impact is the Syrian political crisis having on Iran—either on the regime or the opposition?
The overthrow of the Assad regime has the potential to transform regional dynamics too. It could force the theocratic regime to recalculate or soften its stance on key issues, such as the Arab-Israeli conflict and support for Hezbollah and Hamas. It might also facilitate Iran’s rapprochement with Egypt.
On the domestic front, the toppling of Syria’s ruling Baath Party could embolden the opposition in Iran, particularly the Green Movement, to renew protests against its own autocratic leadership either through demonstrations or civil disobedience.
How important is the Iran-Syrian axis in the region?
The resurgence of Syrian-Iranian power in the Middle East has been exaggerated. Their influence has been enhanced—and Washington’s room for maneuver has diminished—partly due to other factors. They include: Washington’s preoccupation with Iraq and Afghanistan; Israel’s failure to deliver a knock-out blow to Hezbollah during the 2006 war; the lack of progress in the Arab-Israeli peace process; and the volatility of oil prices in the international markets.
Damascus has demonstrated its ability to stoke the fires in Iraq, while Tehran has proven its ability to intervene in both Iraq and Afghanistan. But both countries are also often on the defensive; neither has many other solid allies in the region.
Tehran is the more powerful partner in the alliance today, but its leverage does not mean that Damascus is a junior partner or appendage of the Islamic Republic. The Syrian Baathist regime calls the shots in its domestic and foreign affairs, and will try to ride out the current crises by using force and any means possible.
Reas Jubin Goodarzi's chapter on Iran and Syria in "The Iran Primer."
Jubin Goodarzi, a professor of International Relations at Webster University Geneva, Switzerland, is author of, "Syria and Iran: Diplomatic Alliance and Power Politics in the Middle East."
Online news media are welcome to republish original blog postings from this website (www.iranprimer.com) in full, with a citation and link back to The Iran Primer website (www.iranprimer.com) as the original source. Any edits must be authorized by the author. Permission to reprint excerpts from The Iran Primer book should be directed to permissions@usip.org
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CHI Workshop 2018: Digital Technologies for Supporting Children’s Literacy
Literacy is a necessary skill for both learning and participation in social life. Acquired in early years and primary school, skilled readers continue to have a lifelong engagement with literacy. Yet, many children leave school without the necessary knowledge and practice in reading and writing. Recognising the importance of securing these foundational skills, in recent years there has been a proliferation of digital technologies for supporting children’s literacy (DTCL) and accordingly there is an emerging body of evidence to show how these tools shape children’s learning or motivation.
We invite academic and practitioner submissions concerned with theories, design and practice within digital technologies for supporting children’s literacy in primary school (ages 5-11). Submissions should cover a DTCL and its relevance to the HCI community, considering questions that address our overarching themes:
Who currently benefits from DTCL, and should we change this?
How do we design social uses of DTCL?
How can interaction design collaborate with the children’s publishing industry?
What are the outcomes of current DTCL and are there evidence-based interaction design principles? How do we define and measure ‘effectiveness’?
Participants should submit a 1-2 page paper in one of the following formats: a position paper (presenting a critical examination around one of our key themes to advocate how things ought to be), a research-based review (drawing on literature to present current impacts and uses of these technologies), or a mini research proposal (a motivation statement for a new area of research).
Papers should be submitted by date tbc via email to l.benton@ucl.ac.uk. Submissions will be juried by the co-organisers and members of the program committee based on originality and relevance to the workshop themes. At least one author of each accepted position paper must attend the workshop and all participants must register for both the workshop and for at least one day of the conference.
For further details please see our full workshop proposal. Please direct any questions via email to Laura Benton.
Short madness-style intros (2-3 mins) from participants
Rotation 1: Small group (4-5 participants) theme discussion activities
11:15-12:30pm
Feedback from discussions
Map out future direction
Post Workshop Dinner
Laura Benton is a Research Fellow at University College London. Based at the UCL Knowledge lab her research focuses on education technology design for children. Laura has worked on multiple projects in the areas of literacy, computing and mathematics where she has looked at ways to support the involvement of both children and teachers in the technology design process. She is currently working on the EU-funded iRead project (personalised adaptive reading apps for primary school children), where she is leading the interaction design of an e-reader for beginning, dyslexic and EFL readers as well as coordinating the pedagogical design of a connected literacy game.
Asimina Vasalou is a Senior Lecturer at the University College London Institute of Education. She worked in the technology design industry for over ten years before entering academia. Her research sits between the social sciences and interaction design, and examines how digital technologies shape the learning and expression for young people and vulnerable populations. She is also currently a coordinator of the iRead project.
Elisa Rubegni is Senior Lecturer at the School of Computer Science of the University of Lincoln, UK. She investigates the sociotechnical issues created by information systems and her agenda is focused on two main topics: ICT to enhance personal and community growth, and children-computer interaction. She has been involved in many projects (national and European) which contribute to understanding the design space for supporting learning activities such as literacy acquisition (education) as well as for creating compelling in-presence interactions in public spaces (community interaction).
Natalia Kucirkova is a Senior Research Fellow at the University College London Institute of Education. Her research concerns innovative ways of supporting children’s book reading, digital literacy and exploring the role of personalisation in early years. She developed an award-winning children’s app ‘Our Story’ and has widely published on early literacy and children’s technology. Natalia currently leads an ESRC-funded project focused on children’s personalised books at the Department of Learning & Leadership.
Wolmet Barendregt is Associate Professor at the Department of Applied Information Technology at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. Her research focuses on user-centered and participatory design of (educational) technologies for children, such as games and social robots. Currently, she is part of the iRead project where she works on the user-centered design of the literacy games and the e-reader for dyslexic, beginning, and EFL readers, involving both teachers and children.
Daniel Gooch is a Lecturer in Computing and Communication at the Open University in the UK. His research interests are motivated by wanting to understand how we can best design technology to fit within, and where necessary change, people’s practices and behaviour. He has previously worked as a researcher on the iLearnRW project, which developed tablet-based educational apps to assist children with dyslexia in reading and writing.
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Isaiah's Airplane Blog
Classic Aircraft Trivia
Tag Archives: airforce aircraft
Holiday Post
Hi, I’m not John King. Anyway, for my holiday season blog post, I decided to do something for which some of you will think I’m nuts: the Christmas story. You may be thinking, “It’s not even Thanksgiving yet!” Well, true; however, keep in mind that my family bought our Christmas trees November 23rd. And even if you do think I’m nuts, and in some ways I am, this isn’t one of them, and I’m a Christian, so I don’t care anyway. So let’s get started!
What I did here is that I combined the different books to get what I consider about the best possible Christmas story. So if something looks odd, that’s why.
At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) All returned to their own towns to register for this census. And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. He took with him Mary, his fiancée, who was obviously pregnant by this time. And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the village inn. That night some shepherds were in the fields outside the village, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terribly frightened, but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news of great joy for everyone! The Savior– yes, the Messiah, the Lord– has been born tonight in Bethlehem, the city of David! And this is how you will recognize him: You will find a baby lying in a manger, wrapped snugly in strips of cloth!” Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others– the armies of heaven– praising God: “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to all whom God favors.” When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Come on, let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this wonderful thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” They ran to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. Then the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, but Mary quietly treasured these things in her heart and thought about them often. The shepherds went back to their fields and flocks, glorifying and praising God for what the angels had told them, and because they had seen the child, just as the angel had said. Eight days later, when the baby was circumcised, he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel even before he was conceived. About that time some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We have seen his star as it arose, and we have come to worship him.” Herod was deeply disturbed by their question, as was all of Jerusalem. He called a meeting of the leading priests and teachers of religious law. “Where did the prophets say the Messiah would be born?” he asked them. “In Bethlehem,” they said, “for this is what the prophet wrote: ‘O Bethlehem of Judah, you are not just a lowly village in Judah, for a ruler will come from you who will be the shepherd for my people Israel.’ ” Then Herod sent a private message to the wise men, asking them to come see him. At this meeting he learned the exact time when they first saw the star. Then he told them, “Go to Bethlehem and search carefully for the child. And when you find him, come back and tell me so that I can go and worship him, too!” After this interview the wise men went their way. Once again the star appeared to them, guiding them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were filled with joy! They entered the house where the child and his mother, Mary, were, and they fell down before him and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. But when it was time to leave, they went home another way, because God had warned them in a dream not to return to Herod. After the wise men were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up and flee to Egypt with the child and his mother,” the angel said. “Stay there until I tell you to return, because Herod is going to try to kill the child.” That night Joseph left for Egypt with the child and Mary, his mother, and they stayed there until Herod’s death. This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: “I called my Son out of Egypt.” Herod was furious when he learned that the wise men had outwitted him. He sent soldiers to kill all the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under, because the wise men had told him the star first appeared to them about two years earlier. Herod’s brutal action fulfilled the prophecy of Jeremiah: “A cry of anguish is heard in Ramah– weeping and mourning unrestrained. Rachel weeps for her children, refusing to be comforted– for they are dead.” When Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and told him, “Get up and take the child and his mother back to the land of Israel, because those who were trying to kill the child are dead.” So Joseph returned immediately to Israel with Jesus and his mother. But when he learned that the new ruler was Herod’s son Archelaus, he was afraid. Then, in another dream, he was warned to go to Galilee. So they went and lived in a town called Nazareth. This fulfilled what was spoken by the prophets concerning the Messiah: “He will be called a Nazarene.”
So that’s the birth of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. And what’s even better is that it’s all true! Have a great holiday season, and thank God you’ve made it through another year!
Keep the pointy end forward, the dirty side down, and by all means, please… stay out of the trees!
Posted by Isaiah Casey in 1940s airplanes, airliners, ATIS, d.c., floatplanes, Hockey, Holiday Post, King Schools, museum, Pacific Theatre, turboprop, Uncategorized, washington, WWII airplanes Tags: air museum, air sea rescue, airforce aircraft, airplanes, Alex Ovechkin, aviation, b 17 flying fortress, B-17, ball turret gunner, Beaver, beaver dhc, Boeing, boeing b 17, Boeing Field, Christmas, classic aircraft, d.c., david akers, De Havilland, de havilland dhc, floatplanes, Flying Fortress, grumman f6f hellcat, hockey, Jarome Iginla, John King, king schools, Lightning, Lockheed, Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, Martha King, Montgomery Field, North American Aircraft Company, p 51 mustang, P-38, pearl harbor, piper cub, Single Otter, SR-71, The Good One, transportation, turboprop airliner, turboprop airliners, Twin Otter, verizon center, Victoria, waist gunner, washington, washington dulles airport, Wayne Gretzky, wwii aircraft, WWII airplanes, wwii japanese attack
WW2 U.S.Navy Top 3
Hello, aircraft fans!
In this edition of the Plane Crash, we’ll look at the U.S. Navy’s WW2 top three: the Grumman F6f Hellcat, the Vought F-4U Corsair, and the Grumman F4f Wildcat.
A painting of a Corsair at Boeing Field.
Wildcat: Before the greatness of aircraft like the Grumman Hellcat and Vought Corsair, the Grumman F4f Wildcat was a fine aircraft. First built in 1939, this rugged mid-wing 318-mph six machine-gun aircraft held a critical point in the U.S. Navy until better aircraft were supplied. For instance, Lieutenant Butch O’Hare destroyed five Japanese bombers in six minutes. Later, despite being shot down in the Pacific, the Chicago-O’Hare airport was named for him. The Wildcat had a crew of 1, one 895kW (1200hp) Pratt & Whitney R-1830-66 radial engine, a maximum speed of 512km/h(318mph), a range of 1239km (770 miles), and a service ceiling of 10,638m (34,900ft).
An excellent photo of a squadron of Wildcats during WW2.
Dimensions are as follows: Wingspan: 11.58m (38ft.). Length: 8.76m (28ft. 9in.). Height: 3.61m (11ft. 10in.).
Armament: Six 12.77mm (0.50in.) machine guns in wings and an external bomb load of 91kg (200lb.). Total loaded weight was 3607 kg (7952lb.).
The Grumman F6f Hellcat at the Stephen F. Udvar-Hazy Center.
Hellcat: The Hellcat flew for the first time on June 26, 1942. Many of its war abilities had been learned from its predecessor, the Wildcat. Specifications for this war-changing plane are as follows:
Crew: 1.
Powerplant: one 1492 kW (2000hp) Pratt & Whitney R-2800-10W radial engine.
Performance: Maximum speed: 612 km/h (380mph). Range: 1521km (945 miles). Service ceiling: 11,369m (37,300ft.).
Dimensions: Wingspan: 13.05m (42ft10in.). Length: 10.24m(33ft.7in.). Height: 3.99m (13ft.1in.).
Armament: six 12.7mm(0.50ibn.) machine guns in wings, or two 20mm(0.79in.) cannon and four 12.7mm(0.50in) machine guns, provision for two 453kg (1000lb) bombs or six 12.7cm (5in) RPs.
Weight: 7025kg (15,487lb).
In all, the Grumman F6f ran up a 19 to 1 kill ratio.
As the sun sets over the Pacific, these Corsairs return home.
And now: the Chance Vought F4U Corsair. The speed, strength, and firepower of the Corsair enabled it to dominate Japanese opposition, shooting down 2140 against a loss of 189. Its performance and dependability allowed great flight leaders like John Blackburn, John Smith, Marion Carl, Joe Foss, and Pappy Boyington to create legendary fighter squadrons. It was truly a superior aircraft.
Posted by Isaiah Casey in 1940s airplanes, airliners, d.c., floatplanes, museum, Pacific Theatre, turboprop, Uncategorized, washington, WWII airplanes Tags: air museum, air sea rescue, airforce aircraft, airplanes, aviation, Boeing, Boeing Field, classic aircraft, d.c., Grumman F4f Wildcat, grumman f6f hellcat, Grumman Hellcat, hockey, Lightning, Lockheed, Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, machine guns, North American Aircraft Company, p 51 mustang, P-38, pearl harbor, transportation, U.S. Navy, verizon center, Victoria, Vought Corsair, washington, washington dulles airport, wwii aircraft, WWII airplanes, wwii japanese attack
Classic Aircraft Trivia #2
In this edition of the Plane Crash, we’ll do another Classic Aircraft Trivia game. The rules are as follows, anyone who breaks them will lose… or something like that. CHEATING IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED, as according to the Backyard Football Sudden Death Overtime Rules. Rule number one: First team to score wins. Rule number two: Uh, there is no rule number two. Rule number three: see rules #1 and #2. Please send me your results via a “comment” box.
1. What is Britain’s most beloved aircraft?
A. Supermarine Spitfire B. Hawker Hurricane C. Curtiss Warhawk
2. What airline is based out of Vancouver BC?
A. Air Canada B. Canadian C. Air Force One D. First Niagara
3. What was the original competitor to the de Havilland Beaver?
A. Cessna 172 B. Cessna 185 C. Noorduyn Norseman D. None of the above
4. What is North America’s main short range civil aircraft company?
A. Nord B. de Havilland C. Maule D. Boeing E. Bombardier F. Cessna
5. What is the greatest floatplane ever?
A. de Havilland Beaver/single otter/ twin otter B. Cessna 185 C. Noorduyn Norseman
Bonus question: What Canadian squadron is the Winnipeg Jets NHL team named for?
A. 117th B. 123rd C. 555th D. 1st E. 246th F. 17th
G. None of the above H. All of the above I. Alex Ovechkin K. Angelica Ragdolls
Credits: backyard football sudden death overtime rules 1-2-3: Klem Daniels, as Chuck Downfield. Humongous Entertainment.
Posted by Isaiah Casey in 1940s airplanes, airliners, d.c., floatplanes, museum, Pacific Theatre, turboprop, Uncategorized, washington, WWII airplanes Tags: air museum, air sea rescue, airforce aircraft, airplanes, Angelica Ragdolls, aviation, b 17 flying fortress, B-17, ball turret gunner, Beaver, beaver dhc, Boeing, boeing b 17, Boeing Field, classic aircraft, Classic Aircraft Trivia, Classic Aircraft Trivia game, d.c., david akers, De Havilland, de havilland dhc, de Havilland C. Maule D., floatplanes, Flying Fortress, grumman f6f hellcat, hockey, Lightning, Lockheed, Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, Lyndon B. Johnson, North American Aircraft Company, p 51 mustang, P-38, pearl harbor, piper cub, Single Otter, SR-71, Sudden Death Overtime Rules, transportation, turboprop airliner, Twin Otter, verizon center, Victoria, waist gunner, washington, washington dulles airport, wwii aircraft, WWII airplanes, wwii japanese attack
Battle of Britain Memorial Flight
In this edition of the Plane Crash, we’ll take a look at the aircraft of the BBMF, or ‘Battle of Britain Memorial Flight’ of the RAF.
Now, we will take a look at the Avro Lancaster. Specifications are as follows: A crew of seven; four 1233kW (1640hp) Rolls-Royce Merlin 28 or 38 12-cylinder V-type engines; a maximum speed of 462km/h (287mph), a range of 2784km(1730miles), a service ceiling of 5790m(19,000ft); a wingspan of 31.09m(102 ft), a length of 21.18m(69ft 6in), and a height of 6.25m(20 ft 6 in), all adding up to a total loaded weight of 229,484kg(65,000lb). In addition, the armament was two 7.7mm (0.303in) machine guns in nose turret, two in dorsal turret and four in tail turret, and a maximum internal bomb load of 8165kg (18,000lb). It was a splendid aircraft, and the BBMF’s Lanc is still flying and is coded ‘PA474’.
The Hawker Hurricanes: coded LF363 and PZ865. Well, despite all of its Battle of Britain fame, the two Hurricanes, Night Reaper and The Last of the Many, have both seen numerous disasters since rolling off the factory lines. Despite this, the little 1-seat, 1460hp Rolls-Royce Merlin-powered 322 mph fighter is still in use in air shows.
Boeing Field’s Supermarine Spitfire.
Supermarine Spitfires P7350, AB910, MK356, PM631 and PS915 make up the most important part of the Flight. They had not nearly as many disasters as the Hawkers, and all of them, especially ‘THE LAST’, PS915, have been a great part of RAF history. With a crew of one; one 1074kW(1440hp) Rolls-Royce Merlin 45/46/50 V-12 engine; a maximum speed of 602km/h(374mph), range of 756km (470 miles), a service ceiling of 11280m(37,000ft); as well as two 20mm(0.79in) cannon and four 7.7mm(0.303in) machine guns. This all added up to a total loaded weight of 3078kg (6785lb).
And now: The Douglas DC-3 Dakota (or C-47 Skytrain)-ZA947. The Flight’s DC-3 succeeded the de Havilland Devon as the main support in 1993. The Flight also uses the de Havilland Chipmunk.
The BBMF is still in use and is highly honored among all Commonwealth countries.
A Douglas DC-3 at Boeing Field in Seattle, Washington.
Posted by Isaiah Casey in 1940s airplanes, museum, Uncategorized, WWII airplanes Tags: air museum, airforce aircraft, airplanes, aviation, Avro, Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, BBMF, Boeing, Boeing Field, classic aircraft, Hawker, machine guns, maximum speed, Rolls-Royce Merlin, Royal Air Force, service ceiling, Supermarine, transportation, waist gunner, wwii aircraft, WWII airplanes, wwii japanese attack
Grumman Aircraft
In this edition of the Plane View, we’ll take a look at the long line of Grumman aircraft. From the ’31 FF-1 to the EA-6, we will see how Grumman has one of the longest lines, and also is one of the best.
A painting of a Grumman at Boeing Field.
And now: The Grumman FF-1. The FF-1 was a Golden Age aircraft, and still served in the Spanish Civil War on the Republican side. It had a crew of one, a 709kW(950hp) Wright R-1820-22 Cyclone 9-cylinder radial engine, a maximum speed of 418km/h(260mph), a range of 1819km(1130 miles), a service ceiling of 9845m(32,300ft), as well as a wingspan of 9.75m(32ft.), a length of 7.01m(23ft), and a height of 2.84m(9ft.4in.). The weight was2155kg(4750lb) loaded; an armament of one 12.7mm(0.50in) and one 7.62mm(0.30in) machine gun in upper forward fuselage, as well as an external bomb load of 105kg(232lb.).
The Grumman G-12 Goose was a high-winged, amphibious aircraft with retractable landing gear, as well as a crew of 2, and a variable payload, changing depending on whether passengers or freight was being carried. A few are still in service today, as they are a grand old plane, first built in 1937.
Although the greatness of aircraft like the Grumman Hellcat and Vought Corsair, the Grumman F4f Wildcat was a fine aircraft. First built in 1939, this rugged mid-wing 318-mph six machine-gun aircraft held a critical point in the U.S. Navy until better aircraft were supplied. For instance, Lieutenant Butch O’Hare destroyed five Japanese bombers in six minutes. Later, despite being shot down in the Pacific, the Chicago-O’Hare airport was named for him.
The Grumman TBF Avenger was an effective dive-bomber, being second only to the Douglas SBD Dauntless. On the fighter side, the Grumman F6f Hellcat, which won the war in the Pacific, the F7f Tigercat, and the F8f all proved to be at least worthy aircraft.
Search and Rescue: The SA-16 Albatross of ‘47 and the S-2 of ’52 both were excellent, the SA-16 being S&R and the S-2 being submarine-killer. But the E-2 of ’60 surpassed both, in the way of searching for enemy aircraft.
Back to fighters: the F9f, F11f, and F-14 all proved to be sufficient for their time. The F-14 Tomcat had more than 30 years of service, but has now been replaced by the Boeing/McDonnell Douglas F-18 Hornet.
Lastly: the Grumman A-6 Intruder and EA-6 Prowler are the best attack-radar jamming aircraft ever. The current Prowler is greatly needed, as skies are again becoming hostile (get ready for World War III!
Hope you enjoyed this post.
Posted by Isaiah Casey in 1940s airplanes, d.c., museum, Pacific Theatre, turboprop, Uncategorized, washington, WWII airplanes Tags: air museum, air sea rescue, airforce aircraft, airplanes, aviation, Boeing Field, classic aircraft, d.c., grumman f6f hellcat, pearl harbor, washington, wwii aircraft, WWII airplanes, wwii japanese attack
Aicraft Trivia #1
In this edition of the Plane View, we’ll do something a bit different this time. Instead of me writing about one or more aircraft, it’s sort of a trivia game on aircraft. The rules are as follows, anyone who breaks them will lose… or something like that. CHEATING IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED, as according to the Backyard Football Sudden Death Overtime Rules. Please send me your results via a “comment” box.
1. Who bought out Northwest Airlines?
A: Delta B: Alaska C: United
2. What airline is based out of Denver?
A: Delta B: Alaska C: Frontier
3: What is Air Force One?
A: the President’s plane B: the code for the president’s plane C: a Golfstream aircraft
4: What does the president fly in from the White House to Andrews Air Force Base?
A: Marine One B: Air Force One C: a North American P-51 Mustang D: a hang glider
5: When is the president’s aircraft officially Air Force One?
A: all the time B: as soon as the president goes on board C: when it is airborne
BONUS QUESTION!: Who shot down the Red Baron?
A: Eddie Rickenbacker B: Roy Brown C: Wop May D: Richard Bong
The North American P-51 Mustang at the Stephen F. Udvar-Hazy Center.
Posted by Isaiah Casey in airliners, d.c., museum, Pacific Theatre, turboprop, Uncategorized, washington Tags: Air Force 1, air museum, air sea rescue, airforce aircraft, airplanes, aviation, Marine 1, Sopwith Camel, transportation, turboprop airliner, turboprop airliners, verizon center, washington dulles airport
British aircraft history
In this edition of the Plane View, we’ll take a look at the British hero aircraft. As the British “royal baby” has recently been born, I thought it would be fitting to do a post on the British aircraft fame.
Dating back to World War 1, England has been a world leader in the aircraft industry, with such greats as the Sopwith Pup, Sopwith Camel, Sopwith Snipe, the age-opening Sopwith Triplane, Royal Aircraft Factory FE.2b, and Royal Aircraft Factory SE.5. The famous Sopwith Camel, flown by such greats as William Barker, Roy Brown, Wilfred “Wop” May, and Snoopy (on his doghouse), was much like the German Messerschmitt Bf 109 Gustav, in the fact that both were feared by the enemy and the pilots. On the other hand, the Sopwith Pup was arguably the sweetest of all World War 1 aircraft to fly. The Royal Aircraft Factory SE.5 was the Supermarine Spitfire of World War 1, about as high of praise as a plane could get.
A picture of Snoopy in his Sopwith Camel
In World War 2, England was still on top. The enemies were mostly the same, with Germany as the main, but Italy was Axis, as was Japan. France, who had been the second toughest country of WWI, was now disgustingly crummy, and Canada was rapidly rising, never to drop. But despite the Hawker Hurricane, Supermarine Spitfire, Supermarine Seafire, Hawker Typhoon, Hawker Tempest, Grumman Wildcat, North American P-51 Mustang, Blackburn Skua, Bristol Beaufort, Bristol Beaufighter, Avro Lancaster, and de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito, the Germans had the Messerschmitt Bf 109 Gustav, Focke-Wulf Fw 190, Junkers Ju 87 Stuka, Junkers Ju 88, and Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor; the Italians had the Fiat Falco and Macchi MC.202 Folgore; and the Japanese had the Nakajima B5N Kate, Nakajima Ki.43 Oscar, Mitsubishi A6M Zero, Mitsubishi G4M Betty, Kawanishi N1K1-J George, and Kawasaki Ki-45 Nick. But in the end the workhorse Hawker Hurricane, and the greatest fighter in history, the beautiful little Supermarine Spitfire, surpassed them all.
And now, Britain still is one of the top airpowers, as the Panavia Tornado, the most radical current aircraft, has been accepted widely and is in the country category of INTERNATIONAL(as said by Robert Jackson). It could be the greatest aircraft of the coming years, currently hardly surpassed.
PS- this picture below is from a trip my family went on 7-22.
My family in Cannon Beach.
Posted by Isaiah Casey in 1940s airplanes, airliners, d.c., floatplanes, museum, Pacific Theatre, turboprop, Uncategorized, washington, WWII airplanes Tags: air museum, air sea rescue, airforce aircraft, airplanes, aviation, b 17 flying fortress, B-17, ball turret gunner, Beaver, beaver dhc, Boeing, boeing b 17, Boeing Field, classic aircraft, d.c., De Havilland, de havilland dhc, floatplanes, Flying Fortress, grumman f6f hellcat, hockey, Lightning, Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, Lyndon B. Johnson, North American Aircraft Company, p 51 mustang, P-38, pearl harbor, piper cub, Single Otter, SR-71, transportation, turboprop airliner, verizon center, Victoria, waist gunner, washington, washington dulles airport, wwii aircraft, WWII airplanes, wwii japanese attack
Welcome to Isaiah's airplane blog. You will find many references to my favorite flight schools, and maybe even a little about my hockey games. I am currently studying for my private pilot's license and hope to get an ATP rating. Have a great day!
Search in the Box Below:
ATIS and AWOS
Classic Aircraft Trivia 3
1940s airplanes
King Schools
Pacific Theatre
WWII airplanes
Boeing Field Museum of Flight
Evergreen Aviation Museum
National Air and Space Museum
Udvar Hazy Museum
Western Antique Aeroplane & Automobile Museum
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CYBERNETIC SERENDIPITY REVISITED: INTERACTION, PLAY & FUN FROM THE UNIVERSE OF ELECTRONIC ART TO METAVERSE
Since its first introduction, the concept of cybernetics spread widely through many branches of academy and percolated into the everyday life soon after. Even now, it continues to affect our social and cultural life greatly. Here, we will trace the impact of cybernetics on electronic art, and how this impact resonates with 21st centuries’ social online networks and metaverses in the idea of participation, co-creation, and constant flux.
Dr. Almila Akdağ
Ben Schouten
In 1968, the time was finally ripe for an exhibition where robots chased the audience and changed the lightning according to environmental sounds like clapping hands, where one had the chance to encounter computers writing poems, and machines drawing interesting geometric figures that played magical tricks with your visual system. Today, after 60 years, it has acquired the status of a myth among the cognoscenti of computer arts. In this paper, we will trace the links between the metaverse and electronic art to those first years, and to the impact of cybernetics.
From cybernetics to the fundamentals of electronic art:
The term ‘cybernetics’ was first used by Norbert Wiener in the title of his famous book “Cybernetics or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine”. Cybernetics grew partly out of Shannon’s information theory, and its etymology goes back to the ancient Greek word kybernetes, meaning steersman or governor. The title of Wiener’s book includes an appropriate definition of the concept, which is effectively a theory of control, i.e. of the principles that govern the behavior of adaptive systems (e.g. animals and machines) in dynamic environments.
Two concepts were particularly important to cybernetics. The first one is teleology, by which Wiener denoted the ‘purpose’ that guided the behavior of an adaptive system. This concept relates to planning and autonomy, issues that are still important aspects of robotics. The second important concept was self-replication, which is a natural property of living systems. In short, cybernetics sought the principles behind mechanisms of replication and reproduction that were equally applicable to artificial and conceptual systems. Katherine Hayles charts the transformations of the concept as it diffuses into the cultural space, by examining the equally influential information theory in broadest sense, and taking into consideration a bidirectional flow between the cultural/social circumstances of the times and the scientific agenda. [1] Here we would like to focus on the initial activities that transferred ideas from cybernetics into arts.
Abraham Moles and Max Bense were the first to apply information theory to arts at a theoretical level, when they tried to capture the essentials of aesthetics with the use of cybernetic thinking. [2] [3] However, on the level of applications, we should name the British artist Roy Ascott as the pioneer. Already in 1961, Ascott was teaching at Ealing School of Art a curriculum that fused cybernetic thinking with art education. In 1964, he displayed pieces based on these ideas in an exhibition entitled Diagram Boxes and Analogue Structures. Later on, he published the philosophical aspects of his work in the journal Cybernetica in a two-part article, “Behaviorist Art and the Cybernetic Vision.” [4] In this paper, Ascott describes a cybernetically driven art theory called Cybernetic Art Matrix, CAM for short. CAM’s prerequisite is an environment that calls for user participation in creating an art object. This environment is set up in a way to force the audience, or in Ascott’s terminology, the participant, to give feedback, through which the participant engages in a decision making activity concerning the art object. The end result is the joint creation of the object by the artist and the participant. Ideally, this object would be an open project, in constant flow and never ceasing to take on new aspects. With every new participant, the creation process would re-start or expand, and this circulation would continue until some physical limit (e.g. end of the exhibition) brings the process to a halt.
Apter notes that Ascott’s idea of ‘art as a process’ had a great appeal for artists, as it formulated art as a dynamic system that comes into existence only through the feedback loop between the artist and the audience. [5] As Ascott details in his papers, this line of thinking is in continuity with the modern art’s “behaviorist” tendencies. In contrast to the traditional understanding of an art object with a well-defined body, ways of construction (such as painting and sculpture), and a specific space for dissemination (i.e. museums, galleries, fairs), cybernetic art opened the doors to a new way of making, experiencing, sharing and displaying art. Franke sums up the aesthetics of this new type of art object as: “The conditions of optimum aesthetic communication can be obtained from a determination of the reactivity of viewers of works of art. Art then is a part of a process of regulation (in a cybernetic sense) in which an artist seeks to achieve the maximum of receptivity.” [6] The actual impact of cybernetics on arts clearly manifested itself in the form new meanings attached to arts and in the understanding of what makes an art object, as well as in the ways of how art production has changed. The concepts of feedback, interaction, information sharing and ‘art as a process’ led first to Telematic Art, then to Telepresence Art, both of which eventually falling under the heading of New Media Art, as Electronic Art is called today. [7]
From interaction to open-ended play
In their “Book for the Electronic Arts,” Mulder and Post subdivide the modern art practice in stable and unstable art. [8] With stable art they denote the culture of “high art”, driven by the materiality and of secularity of art objects. Unstable Art, in contrast, is more volatile, as it is participatory, performative and in constant flux, and is based on (shared) experience. Stable art is serious, unstable art is playful. In modern games and playful interaction the principles of unstable art are more alive then ever.
In the last decade digital games introduced new concepts in the context of playing: a virtual game space containing interaction space allows gamers to communicate, decide and create. These actions are all in line with the ideas expressed in the previous section, namely that the idea of being a part of the process inherently follows the principles of cybernetics, and opens up a performative space. In this sense, some artworks resemble games, and vice versa. A famous example of this is the computer artwork Daisies, by Theodore Watson. In this interactive installation, daisies are projected on a floor, creating an immersive game experience, in which the user is central. You walk over the daisies and the daisies die under your feet, only to quickly grow back a few seconds later.
In the 90’s, based on these concepts, designers and artists created interactive environments, mainly supported by video images and interactive sound. In this context, Marinka Copier’s definition of play becomes crucial. She describes games as a system of communication and continuous negotiation of (role) players with socio-cultural network of human and inhuman actors. [9] Copier formulates a comprehensive description of (role) play that does not focus on actors like rules, goals, objects, or environments, but instead investigates the relations between all actors. Role-players actively negotiate with the game mechanics, socio-cultural mechanics, as well as individual-personal ones. From these negotiations a play experience emerges. The play experience and the activities related to these experiences are in a constant state of flux. It is in this continuous change that the characteristic of play can be found, and is often defined as open-ended play.
Instead of designing for goal-directed behavior, as is assumed by, for example, Norman’s action cycle the definition of open-ended play assumes that players do not structure their activity beforehand, but that activity grows as the interaction in the context of use occurs. People are opportunistic as they interact with the world. These ideas are inspired by theories about situated action [10] [11] [12] and above all on emergent behavior in decentralized systems, [13] which relates to the aspect of cybernetics as regulatory systems. According to Resnick, nature provides us with various examples where local behavior leads to global patterns. For example, individual birds in a flock use only simple local rules related to nearby birds, which lead to organized flock patterns. Programs in his parallel programming environment StarLogo have shown that by giving objects or agents local rules overall patterns can occur in simulated environments (or micro-worlds). But most importantly, local rules are shaped by players’ participations and actions, and the patterns of the overall game emerges through these interactions, or in other words, through the wisdom of the crowd.
Play & Fun in Metaverse & Social Networks
Games in social networks like Facebook become more and more popular as they can be played everywhere and anytime. They enable expression through role-play, interactive attributes, measures and other (nonverbal) communications. In modern identity construction, (instant) meaningfulness is of increased significance. [14] This (instant) meaningfulness can, for example, be established in playing the same games in social networks (MafiaWars (Zynga 2008), PetSociety (Playfish 2009), or RestaurantCity (Electronic Arts 2009)) other activities like chat, msn (Microsoft 1999), Skype (Heinla, Kasesalu, en Tallinn 2003) etc., or belonging to the same interest groups. In Social Games like Farmville (Zynga 2009), identities are reshaped through collaborations around certain thematic activities. Within these online games a friend’s value corresponds to his or her instant meaningfulness in the game. To be a friend in FarmVille, means to be of value. A friend transforms in a sort of commodity since friends are assets to play the game. This directly ties-in with the social rules on social networks, in which someone’s popularity, and ‘value’ is qualified by his/her number of friends.
Here for us the most important thing is that the boundaries between ‘play time’ and other activities cease to exist: accessing the social sphere of the virtual games can be done via handheld devices, mobile phones and computers while working, eating, and even playing other games. The second factor we would like to emphasize is the erasure of the roles/identities: a dear friend becomes a commodity during the play experience, but with a switch for example from the play window of FarmVille back to Facebook home window, the everyday ‘identity/role’ of the friend is restored.
In modern play-design games and playful interaction are situated in real life as part of everyday activity; a playful approach in which games can be called upon when necessary as part of existing applications in learning, social networks, etc. [15] This requires a social intelligence in game design and will lead to games that are embedded in systems of social meaning, fluid and negotiated between us and other people around us. In this way game design focuses on interactive products as creators, facilitators and mediators of experiences as well as the creation of opportunities.
Damer makes a distinction about the ‘game-play virtual worlds’ and ‘social virtual worlds’, emphasizing that the latter differs from the former primarily because it is based on the freedom given to the players for building both the virtual world, as well as the social atmosphere and the game space in it. [16] In contrast the game-play worlds come with predefined rules, and scenarios. We can state that social virtual worlds resemble the idea of open-ended play.
An interesting thing to note here is about the artistic dimension of these worlds, and the question of creativity & artistic expressions experienced by its users. The general impression is that most of the artistic practices in these spaces are still confined to the existing forms of art creation and dissemination (Lester et. al. 2009). It is expected that with time, when virtual reality loses its novelty of offering a new experience, the potential it generates will be explored thoroughly, and new forms of arts will be born out of these explorations. There are already many fruitful virtual exhibitions hinting for this next step.
However, we believe that these virtual worlds and social networks will have a much bigger impact on the understanding of art. A simple google search for the most popular virtual worlds like World of War Craft and Second Life shows that their popularity extends to the social network sites as well. Here, for us, the most interesting social sites are the ones devoted to art (deviantArt, Flickr), and media (Youtube, MySpace). For instance, in deviantArt, there are ample groups around these cult-spaces, and many users not only uploads screenshot of their experiences, or their avatars, but also share tutorials and textures to help other members in educating how to create in virtual worlds. In other words, some players, first experiment themselves how to create ‘art’, and then share their knowledge with other members for them to join the experience.
The ubiquity of virtual social platforms, and the effects of overabundance of media lead some critics to question the role of the artists in current society. For some, spaces like metaverse offers, and forces the artist to go beyond the traditional artistic goals like catching/questioning the reality, and to become a scientist/technician redefining/creating the reality. For others, art as such does not even have a role to play anymore. In this paper, we tried to contradict these extreme postulations about art in metaverse by pointing out the potential of social spheres of networks and metaverse have on the dissemination and (hence) the definition of art.
Mulder and Post trace the transition of electronic art from machine to media, from there to interface, and lastly to networks. [8] We would like to conclude our paper by asking the question: What is next? We hope that the next step in the evaluation of electronic art will be the realization that expertise has lost its importance. Only then, art will be detached from its high pedestal and materiality by becoming the toy of the layman. Everyone who uploads a picture, designs an avatar, creates a space in Second Life, comments at someone else’s pictures in Flickr or deviantArt will be entitled an ‘artist’ if they care to take on this title.
References and Notes:
N. Hayles, “Boundary Disputes,” in Configurations 2, no. 3 (1994): 441–467.
A. Moles, Information Theory and Esthetic Perception (Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1966).
M. Bense, Aesthetica (Baden-Baden: Agis-Verlag, 1965).
R. Ascott, “Behaviourist Art and the Cybernetic Vision,” in Cybernetica 9, no. 4 (1966): 247-264.
M. J. Apter, “Cybernetics and Art,” in Leonardo 2, no. 3 (1969): 257-265.
H. W. Franke, “Some Remarks on Visual Fine Arts in the Age of. Advanced Technology,” in Visual Art, Mathematics and Computers, ed. F. J. Malina, 3-5 (Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1979).
A. A. Akdag Salah, “Discontents of Computer Art: A Discourse Analysis on the Intersection of Arts, Sciences and Technology” (PhD diss., UCLA, 2008).
A. Mulder and M. Post, Book for the Electronic Arts (Amsterdam: De Baille, 2000).
M. Copier, “Beyond the Magic Circle: A Network Perspective on Role-Play in Online Games” (PhD diss., Utrecht University, 2007).
J. Lave, Cognition in Practice (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988).
B. Nardi, “Studying Context,” in Context and Consciousness, ed. B. Nardi, 35-52 (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1997).
L. Suchman, Plans and Situated Actions (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987).
M. Resnick, Turtles, Termites and Traffic Jams Explorations in Massively Parallel Microworlds (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1997).
B. A. M. Schouten, T. Bekker, and M. Deen, “Playful Identity in Game Design and Open-Ended Play,” in Playful Identities (Utrecht: Utrecht University Press, 2011).
R. Tieben, T. Bekker, J. Sturm, and B. A. M. Schouten, “Eliciting Casual Activity through Playful Exploration, Communication, Personalisation and Expression” (conference, Chi Sparks, Arnhem, June 23, 2011).
B. B. Damer, “Meeting in the Ether,” in Journal of Virtual Worlds Research 1, no. 1 (2008): 1-17.
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Yes, I Actually Went Off-Roading In My Range Rover
Doug DeMuro
Filed to: off-roadingFiled to: off-roading
I recently had the opportunity to take my Range Rover off-roading. Real off-roading, I mean. Not typical Land Rover off-roading, which is what happens when you park your Evoque on the grass at a Sting concert.
This opportunity came up a few weeks ago, when I got an e-mail from a reader named Dylan. It said, and I quote, "Would you like to go off-roading?" I didn't even have to think about this one: of course I would like to go off-roading! It would give me the chance to test my vehicle's capabilities. To document a different perspective of automotive enthusiasm. To see what it's really like, out there in the wild, nothing but man and machine. Also, I had run out of other things to write about.
So we met up early one recent Sunday morning: me in my Range Rover, Dylan in his lifted Jeep Wrangler, and another friend in a 1983 Toyota Land Cruiser that sounded like an Eastern European farm tractor last serviced by an Iron Curtain mechanic who was paid in food. It had all the makings of an excellent day.
And an excellent day it was! You'd know this if you followed me on Twitter, where I posted a photo during our off-roading adventure, after our off-roading adventure, and at some point before our off-roading adventure, when I saw a pickup truck with a "Support Our Second Amendment" bumper sticker that depicted a "liberal" hanging from a gallows. You'd also know this if you watched the video, which is an excellent, high-budget production, in that I spent approximately nine United States dollars on triple-A batteries in order to make it.
But for those of you who are stuck in your place of work, unable to watch the video, unable to really live your lives, allow me to sum it up for you. Here's what happens: approximately 90 seconds into the off-roading adventure, Dylan finds a mud hole and promptly gets his Jeep stuck. He's towed out by the Toyota, which itself stalls out about an hour later. This leaves the Range Rover as the sole survivor, the only car with a flawless off-roading record, until a few minutes later when it's unable to climb over a rock.
As a result, we all retreat back down the mountain, figurative tails between our figurative legs, which is exactly the sort of result you'd expect when three people from the city attempt to go off-roading.
But that's all very clear from the video. What isn't clear is just how the Range Rover handled its off-roading adventure. Here's a car, built to tackle the toughest trails in the world, built to ford streams like an Oregon Trail wagon train, built to traverse inclement road conditions such as rain, sleet, snow, hail, tornado, hurricane, volcanic ash, large quantities of bird poop, etc., and yet most owners never take them further off the pavement than the dirt road leading to the cart path at the local country club. So I've decided to devote a few moments to summing it up for you.
In a word, the Range Rover was brilliant. No, maybe brilliant isn't the right word. Stupendous. Sublime. Exceptional. Whatever word you'd use to explain what happens when you're relaxing in a bright, airy, leather-lined cabin, automatic climate control blasting cool air, listening to Jimmy Eat World in 14-speaker Harmon Kardon surround sound, while your friends sweat profusely in an un-air-conditioned Toyota Land Cruiser manufactured back when America loved Cabbage Patch dolls and thought of the Rubik's Cube as an excellent way to spend an afternoon.
And speaking of Cabbage Patch dolls, our trip also included an unplanned stop to Babyland General Hospital, located in the rural north Georgia town of Cleveland (motto: "More guns than Cleveland, Ohio!"), where we witnessed — this is the truth — the birth of a cabbage patch doll, from a "magic forest" filled with plastic cabbage. This birth was carried out by a cabbage patch "nurse," actually a local Cleveland-area high school student, who, I can only assume, goes home every evening after work and drinks heavily.
But anyway, back to off-roading. Even on street tires, the Range Rover managed to make it surprisingly far into our adventure, traversing deep ruts, large rocks, repeated mud holes, and steep inclines. When we eventually made our way back, the Range Rover's hill descent control system worked perfectly, so that I didn't have to ride the brakes the whole way down the mountain. And the air suspension allowed me to lift up the body a few inches before we set off, ensuring that we'd have no problem driving over annoying obstacles like logs, branches, dirt mounds, and furry, lovable forest wildlife.
In other words: the Range Rover is a highly capable, brilliant off-roading vehicle with a lot of highly capable, brilliant off-roading components, assuming that you have a comprehensive CarMax warranty to keep these components working properly. Since I do, I highly recommend the Range Rover off-roading experience. Because there's nothing like rolling through a steep, rocky mud hole while a ventilated seat keeps your butt cool.
@DougDeMuro is the author of Plays With Cars. He owned an E63 AMG wagon and once tried to evade police at the Tail of the Dragon using a pontoon boat. (It didn't work.) He worked as a manager for Porsche Cars North America before quitting to become a writer, largely because it meant he no longer had to wear pants. Also, he wrote this entire bio himself in the third person.
Crossing the Country in a Lotus Elise – A Story From My Book
Ladies and gentlemen, I’ve written a book. I know what you’re thinking: Who the hell are you? And …
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Dad in his late twenties or early thirties
With Fathers’ Day fast approaching, I thought I’d take the time to record my impressions of my Dad.
William Henry Seward Leeds was born in 1891. He was named after his own father, who died in 1895. Thus, the “Jr.” was dropped at an early age. In 1928 he became the father of twin boys, and the oldest was given the “Jr'”. My brother would later have a son of his own; to this day, my nephew has a “III” following his name.
Prior to the birth of the twins, Dad became the father to two girls. That was in the early 1920’s. One of the girls was not his, but none of us ever knew it; he treated that girl just as he treated the rest of us – with love and compassion. It wasn’t until she turned 65 and applied for social security that we learned she had been unofficially adopted. Our only guess is the potential shame that might have been brought on the family was too great to make such a public announcement. Dad simply, and quietly, accepted a little girl as his own.
One other son was born in 1942, and I came along in 1944. If you were quick with your math, you guessed that Dad was 53 when I was born. That’s very close. I was born in August. Dad turned 53 later in the year.
Dad in the National Guard - 1918
During The Great War (which didn’t become known as World War I until sometime during World War II), Dad followed his patriotic heart and tried to enlist… in the army, the navy, the marines, and various Canadian outfits. They all turned him down. Somehow (perhaps to help a recruiter meet his quota?) Dad was inducted into the National Guard.
If you look closely at the above photos you’ll see that Dad wore glasses. I have a picture of Dad when he was in grade school; he was wearing glasses even then. Nineteen days after Dad’s induction, someone saw fit to give him an eye test. A few days later they gave him an honorary discharge.
This is all to say that when I was born, my father was an older man with very poor eyesight. If it hadn’t been for the twins, who were sixteen years older than me, (and in many ways filled the gap I felt) I might have resented Dad more than I did. Most of my friends had fathers who were much younger and most of them came outside and played games with us. As a young boy, it’s easy to ignore the fact that your father is working six days a week and doing all he can to keep a roof over your head and food in your belly.
Because of my late arrival, Dad had to continue working until he was almost seventy years old. He retired just as I was graduating from high school. I never thanked him for that; I certainly should have.
“When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years.” Mark Twain said those words, but they certainly fit the way I looked at my father.
Dad had dropped out of school after the 7th grade. As you recall, his father had died when he was four years old. His mother was doing her best to raise three children. Thus, Dad and his brother had to quit school and go to work as soon as they were able.
What I failed to realize was two-fold. First, a 7th grade education in the early twentieth century was more thorough in the basics than today’s high school graduates receive. Second, and more importantly, Dad never stopped studying. As poor as his eyesight was, he read everything he could get his hands on. When his eyesight failed him almost completely, he signed up for “Talking Books” and continued to read for most of his life.
My first rude awakening occurred when I returned home from my first semester in college. I had just missed making the “good” Dean’s list and was feeling rather smug. When Dad asked me what I had learned, I spouted off a few facts and found myself aghast when Dad started filling in the gaps of what I’d said. He knew far more about those subjects than I did. From then on, I had a much deeper respect for the “ignorant old man”.
When I graduated from college, Dad once again asked my what I had learned. My answer at that time was, “How little I know.”
Because of Dad’s lack of formal education, he always worked at jobs that were far below his capabilities, but he always worked. Throughout the Great Depression, Dad managed to keep working when many other men were standing in bread lines. Dad didn’t make a lot of money, but it was enough to take care of his wife and four children.
At one point, he even bought a bunch of baby chicks and raised them in a pen he built under the back porch of their home. He sold some and cooked some.
One of my memories from my teen years was the Strout Realty catalogs that were delivered to our house on a regular basis. Mom and Dad would study them from cover to cover. Their dream was to sell our house (as soon as I was out on my own) and buy a small farm where they could raise chickens. I guess their experience during the Great Depression convinced them they could handle such chores in their retirement years.
They almost made it.
Mom died during my senior year in college. And their dream died with her.
Dad lived another eight years. I think he was proud of his children. By then, we were all married and had families of our own. In fact, Dad had about sixteen grandchildren and a few great-grandchildren by the time he passed in 1974.
In the intervening years, Dad meant a lot to me. I could always go to him for advice… but he never said a word unless he was asked. That’s something all parents can learn from. He knew when we turned eighteen, his job was basically done. From that point on, it was up to us.
I mentioned earlier that I resented my father not being able to play with me when I was young. That’s one of the main reasons I got married and had my children while I was young enough to do things with them. I know I’m far less than perfect in their eyes, but I hope they remember all the fun we had when they were young.
1 Comment | Childhood Memories, Genealogy, Observations of Life | Tagged: Father's Day, Great Depression, The Great War, William Henry Seward Leeds, World War II | Permalink
A Letter to Grandchildren
Dear Grandchildren,
That song is from a show called “South Pacific”. It was a Broadway Play in 1949 and later made into a movie. Besides being a wonderful show filled with great music, South Pacific was one of the first dramas to address the questions of race and discrimination. Another song, “You’ve Got to be Carefully Taught” dealt with the fact that we are not born as racists, we must be taught to hate for no good reason.
I trust that your parents have not taught you to hate people simply because they are different. I’m sure you’ve been taught to judge people based on their character, and nothing more.
In the meantime, have you been taught the importance of having a dream? I failed to have a dream when I was young, and I’m afraid I may have discouraged your parents from having dreams. If nothing more, I failed to encourage them to sit down and give ample thought to what they hoped to get out of their lives.
As a child, I went through the typical dreams of the time – to become a star professional athlete, a fighter pilot, a fireman, and so on. But it wasn’t until I was nearing the end of my high school education that I gave it any serious thought. In truth, I gave little serious thought to anything at that time. That is why my grade average was a dismal “C”. I had the ability to do much better, but I had no reason to try. That’s what a serious dream would’ve given me.
Late in my senior year I decided that I would follow the foot steps of my older brothers. I would join the military (to avoid being drafted), serve out my required time, and then get a job driving a tractor-trailer across America. All three of my brothers had served and seen parts of the world I could only dream about – see! We can dream about lots of things! The two oldest brothers were local delivery truck drivers. I wanted to go beyond that and use the job to see the rest of our country.
Fortunately, one of my older brothers saw more promise for me than I did and convinced me to think about other options. At the time, I had started going back to church and was very impressed by our minister – John Latta. In talking with him, I decided I wanted to be a minister too. He sent me to talk to a younger minister at a church in downtown Pittsburgh. That’s when I learned that I could not enter the Presbyterian Seminary unless I had a Bachelor’s degree from a college.
I was a few weeks away from graduating high school and hadn’t even bothered to take a college entrance exam.
I went and spoke to the Principal of Langley High School – Harry D. Book – and asked his advice. That was the beginning of the whirlwind. Mr. Book recommended I apply to Edinboro State Teachers College and arranged for me to take the SAT in late June. He also wrote a glowing letter of recommendation to the admission office in Edinboro.
I scored surprisingly high marks on the SAT and received my letter of acceptance in early August. Classes began a week after Labor Day and I was on my way to becoming a member of the clergy.
The same brother who suggested I give serious thought to my future paid for my basic education for the first year. That amounted to about $1,000. Too bad those prices are a thing of the past.
For spending money, I got two campus jobs. I worked in the cafeteria and the Student Union. My pay was $0.75 per hour. Now do you understand inflation?
That first semester, I hit the books hard every night and finished with a 2.7 grade point average. That was almost a “B”! Unfortunately, by the time the semester came to an end, my “dream” of becoming a minister had faded. It was still there, but not as strong.
From that point on, I stayed in school for only one main reason – to NOT disappoint my family. I was the first of my siblings (also the youngest and last chance) to attend college and I had to graduate. In 1966, I did graduate… with a “C” average.
I still didn’t have a dream. I still had no idea what I wanted to do when I grew up.
I managed to get a job teaching emotionally disturbed children in a mental hospital. A year later, I was teaching emotionally disturbed children at an inner-city high school.
Through a series of lucky breaks, I then landed a job with IBM. I held that job until I retired. I made a good salary and provided a good home life for my family… from a financial standpoint. As I mentioned earlier, I think I failed my children in a number of ways… especially when it came to developing a realistic dream.
When I look back on my own life, there were many wonderful experiences and I did manage to accomplish at least one of my dreams. I’ve traveled all across our country and seen all fifty states. I didn’t get to drive the big truck, but I did travel over many of the same roads.
But what about the other aspects of my dreams? I never became a professional athlete, a fighter pilot, or a fireman. While I have been involved in the Stephen Ministry and have done extensive work with the homeless and needy, I never attended a seminary and was never ordained.
What I have done is pile up a number of doubts and questions. What could I have achieved if I had really applied myself and worked harder in school? What would have happened if I had entered the military after college (I had given that some thought when I had trouble finding a job) and made a career out of it? Could I have retired as a General? What if I had stayed in the field of education? Could I have become a college professor?
What if I had held off getting married and traveled the world when it was much safer and cheaper to do so? Would I have met a girl in Korea or Switzerland or Brazil, gotten married and spent my life in that country?
Obviously, none of these questions can be answered. I do know that beyond the questions and doubts I am happier now than ever. I have a wonderful wife, great children and step-children, and fantastic grandchildren.
It’s those grandchildren I’m thinking of as I write these words. I want each of them to sit down and think seriously beyond Justin Beiber, fire trucks, trains, and any of the other faddish things that can quickly grab the attention of today’s youth. I want each of them to realize that the jobs they are training for most likely don’t exist right now. Technology is changing everything.
So, we all (it’s not too late for me to develop a realistic dream!) need to think about the things that interest us the most – beyond Justin Beiber (can you tell I have a number of granddaughters?) – and begin studying subjects that fall into that general category. By all means, nail down the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic. If you have those basic skills, you can learn anything.
Take the time to develop a dream you can hang on to for the rest of your life. Don’t let life just happen. Know what you want and make the effort to get it.
See! This grandpap can do more than tease!
1 Comment | Childhood Memories, Observations of Life | Tagged: Braodway, Carefully taught, Dream, Edinboro, fighter pilot, fireman, Happy Talk, Harry D. Book, IBM, John Latta, Justin Beiber, Langley High School, military, movie, musical, Pittsburgh, Presbyterian, professional athlete, racist, SAT, seminary, South Pacific, Stephen Ministry, Student Union | Permalink
You Can’t Buy Friendship
I called this place "home" for 22 years.
I grew up with a group of guys in Pittsburgh. We were all within a couple of years of each other. Joey Geagin, Frank Sabash, Joey Stiger, Billy and Bobby Ault, Marvin Hess, Herb Gallagher, my brother Lewis, and me. A few of the guys lived on Hollywood Street; whenever we got involved in a sporting contest with kids from another neighborhood, we called ourselves the Hollywood All-Stars. That sounded better than any name we could invent based on Stratmore or Steuben streets.
There were a couple of other guys who moved away while we were all fairly young – Donny Yarling and a kid whose first name escapes me… his last name was Vater; his father owned the local hardware store.
And then there were the two siblings that were never quite part of the gang. One was a girl. She was obviously ostracized until our teen years. By then, she no longer wanted anything to do with us.
Her brother, David, was another story. I’m not going to mention his last name, but the folks I named earlier will probably know who I’m talking about.
It’s my understanding that both of those children were adopted. I can’t say for sure. I just know David was approximately our age, but had a different attitude on life.
None of us were anything more than fair athletes… at best, but David was never interested in our games of softball, football, or basketball. He always wanted to do other things – ride bikes, go to the movies, or get into mischief.
The thing that sticks in my mind the most about David is that he always seemed to have money. Money was a scarce commodity in our neighborhood and David learned early on how to use money to his advantage. If we were playing basketball and he wanted us to do something different, he’d offer to treat us to ice cream or pop. That meant bringing our game to a halt and walking the six or seven blocks to the dairy store.
David stayed in his house a lot more than the rest of us. When he did come out, he usually had something novel to get our attention… or he came bearing gifts. Because he never wanted to do the same things the rest of us enjoyed, we soon grew to dislike him.
Depending on the mood of the group on any given day, we’d either let him buy us something or tease him unmercifully until he went home.
I can remember one time I told him directly that he could not buy our friendship. If he really wanted to be a part of the group, he needed to just join in. Nothing more and nothing less. That’s the last time he offered me anything.
I often wonder if he would’ve changed as he matured. Unfortunately, we’ll never know. When he was fourteen or fifteen, he stole a car, took a bunch of guys joy riding, and wrapped the car around a telephone pole. He was killed.
Fifty years later I still have no idea why he felt the need to buy his friends. Yet, as I look around, I see others who seem to have the same personality trait.
I’ve known people who spend lavishly on friends and relatives and find themselves deeply in debt. Yet they’ll borrow money from retirement accounts to maintain the image of a wealthy big spender. I can’t help questioning what they’ll live on when they can no longer work.
Some people might think my bride and I are poor or simply miserly. We drive old vehicles and live in a modest home. We eat most of our meals at home and don’t spend a ton of money on the latest fashions. But we do manage to take nice vacations and continue to put money in our nest egg so that when we finally do retire completely, we won’t have to move in with our children.
You can’t buy friendship. I’ve always figured that if a person doesn’t like me because of whatever, I’m not really going to change his or her mind by spending lots of money showering him or her with gifts.
That seems like such a simple concept. So why can’t our government understand?
Jimmy Carter believed he could bring peace to the Middle East by giving Egypt the same amount of foreign “aid” as Israel was receiving. Considering all the money the Middle East is receiving simply by selling us oil, why do any of those countries need “aid”?
How many trillions of tax payers’ dollars have been sent to governments across the globe? How many of those tax payers’ dollars have trickled down to the poor people in those countries? How many of those tax payers’ dollars have made foreign potentates ridiculously wealthy while they continue to blame all their problems on the Imperialistic Devils in America?
We send billions of tax payers’ dollars to Saudi Arabia and their schools teach their children to hate us.
You can’t buy friendship. If children can figure that out, why can’t our politicians?
The current congress, and President, claim they want to cut government spending. I don’t know how much of the budget is given away to foreign governments, but I’ll bet we could save a bundle by telling them we don’t need their friendship that badly.
And that is my rant for the day.
4 Comments | Childhood Memories, Observations of Life | Tagged: Bill Ault, Bob Ault, Don Yarling, Frank Sabash, Herb Gallagher, Hollywood Street, Joe Gaegin, Joe Stiger, Marvin Hess, Pittsburgh, Steuben, Stratmore | Permalink
More Ramblings Down Memory Lane
That puzzle magazine continues to stir the memories long ago locked away in the remote recesses of my brain.
My original shopping center
As the calendar crept toward Thanksgiving, the merchants of our neighborhood would begin to order their Christmas wares. Note that I did not say they would display them; they would simply order them so they could be displayed soon after Thanksgiving.
Not shown in the above photo is the Crafton Heights First United Presbyterian Church – my first church home. The building sits back to the left of the telephone pole and car shown in the left corner of the picture. I point this out because shortly after Thanksgiving, a huge community Christmas tree would be erected in the church yard. The merchants would split the cost of the decorations and electricity to keep it lit throughout the season.
Back in the days when a letter could be mailed using a three cent stamp (Christmas cards could be sent for two cents if the envelopes were left unsealed) the U.S. Mail (this was long before the outfit changed its name) increased its service leading up to Christmas. We had our mail delivered twice – morning and afternoon – on Monday through Friday and once on Saturday. It kind of makes me wonder what happened. When they changed the name to Postal SERVICE, things seemed to go in the wrong direction.
Speaking of pennies, how many of you remember when you’d put twenty cents in a cigarette machine and get a pack of smokes that included two or three pennies in change?
I quit smoking more than ten years ago, but I’m told the price of a pack of cigarettes is now over $5.00! And there are no coins in the wrapper as change.
Another thing I remember about the Holidays was a company called Railway Express. Whatever happened to them? Quite often my family would receive a package sent by an uncle who spent his winters in Florida. That was the one time of year we’d have orange marmalade.
Come to think of it, winter was the only time our family had citrus fruit. As I recall, it simply wasn’t available any other time of the year. Of course, this could be said about most fresh produce. If it wasn’t grown in the U.S., it either wasn’t available or was too expensive for my family’s budget.
To this day I am amazed that our family gathered for Thanksgiving dinner at my parent’s home. When the twins got home from the Navy following World War II, a normal dinner would find mom and dad, my three brothers, and I gathered around a standard sized dining room table. With the other furnishings in the dining room, there wasn’t very much space for anything, or anyone, else. Yet, we somehow made room for the extended family on Thanksgiving and Christmas.
The extended family included our two sisters, their husbands, and their combined four children. So, on those special occasions, we had eight adults and six children crowded into that same space. We must have had a “children’s” table, but I don’t remember it.
I do remember those 25 to 30 pound turkeys! Mom and our sisters really went all out to make sure no one left hungry.
If I’m not mistaken, Thanksgiving is only a week or so away. Time to fire up the cooker and make sure I have plenty of peanut oil.
Things will never match my memories, but then I wasn’t doing any of the cooking. My only job was to clean my plate. I was good at that. Come to think of it, I still am.
Leave a Comment » | Childhood Memories, Observations of Life | Tagged: 3 cent stamps, 30 lb. turkey, Christmas, cigarette machine, citrus fruit, Crafton Heights, Florida, merchants, orange marmalade, seasonal produce, Thanksgiving, U.S.Mail | Permalink
Maglie of Mound Fame
Where my knowledge of trivia began
I recently received a crossword puzzle magazine in the mail. I love doing puzzles and I quickly jumped into this publication with relish. It wasn’t long until I found myself thinking about the many times lately when I’ve said something humorous in the presence of my grandchildren and been met by blank stares. Come to think of it, it’s not just my grandchildren who have no idea what I’m talking about; and it’s not just my attempts at humor. Most people twenty or so years younger than me have no knowledge of the trivia of my life.
For example, last week I mentioned that I once had a friend who was very much like Joe Btfsplk. Recognizing that I probably mispronounced Joe’s last name, I quickly added, “He was the little guy who always had the storm cloud over his head.”
Blank stares from all but one or two people in my presence. I had to explain further, “He was one of the characters in Li’l Abner… the Al Capp comic strip.” At that point, I realized that, even though we had just gone through an important election, mentioning Senator Phogbound’s name would get me nowhere.
Li’l Abner left the daily newspapers in 1977. I have to remind myself that most people younger than thirty-five have never seen anything to do with Al Capp’s Dogpatch.
Does anyone anywhere still celebrate Sadie Hawkins Day?
So what does Pansy Yokum have to do with a crossword puzzle magazine? Nothing more than the name of Desi’s daughter, Mindy’s TV roommate, Philo of whodunits, Warbucks’ ward, a 1984 dictator, J.R.’s mom, the actress who played Miss Kitty, a Princess Phone feature, the patriarch of the McCoy family, Imogene’s partner, TV panelist Francis, Burr’s TV crime fighter, DDE’s opponent, Robert of “I Spy”, Mountie Do-Right, Slaughter or Cabell, Bucky Beaver’s brand, Sapphire and Lightning’s radio and TV show, Vaudeville super-star Al, Kuklapolitans, and Will Rogers’ prop. And the list goes on.
Every puzzle in that magazine had at least one entry that would be extremely difficult for a young solver. I’ve often run into puzzles that throw in extremely obscure words or foreign phrases, but I’ve never seen so much absolute trivia.
At the same time, I’m loving that magazine because it’s bringing back so many memories.
It’s been years since I’ve given any thought to Captain Video and the Video Ranger, Howdy Doody, Buffalo Bob, Clarabell, Princess Summerfallwinterspring, Phynias T. Bluster, Flub-a-dub, Bobby Orr, Otto Graham, Jesse Owens, Jim Thorpe, Bruce Jenner, Ara Parseghian, Lech Walesa, Mario Lanza, Emma Peel of the Avengers, Maxwell Smart, Hedda Hopper, Erma Bombeck, DeSotos, Lonesome George, Uncle Miltie, Mamie’s predecessor, Walt Frazier, James Arness, Chester (Dennis Weaver), and Xavier Cugat’s wives.
Anyone who has recognized all the people and events I’ve mentioned so far is either somewhere around my age, or a great fan of meaningless information. Perhaps this will generate some comments and we can all remind each other of many other trivial items. In the meantime, I’m going to fill my jug with some Kickapoo joy juice and work another puzzle.
By the way, let’s all take the time to thank our fellow citizens who have served, or are currently serving, to protect our rights as Americans. Today may be a bit special – Veterans Day – but we shouldn’t wait to say “Thanks” only once a year. We thank them every day!
1 Comment | Childhood Memories, Observations of Life | Tagged: AES, Al Capp, Ara, Arness, Bobby Orr, Bombeck, Bruce Jenner, Buck Beaver, Captain Video, Cugat, Daddy Warbucks, Dallas, DDE, Desi, Dogpatch, Frazier, grandchildren, Gunsmoke, Hopper, Howdy Doody, humor, I Spy, Jim Thorpe, Joe Btfsplk, Kickapoo joy juice, Lanza, Lech, Lil' Abner, Lonesome George, Milton, Mindy, Pansy Yokum, Peel, Philo Vance, Phogbound, Raymond Burr, Real McCoys, Sadie Hawkin's Day, Senator, Smart, trivia | Permalink
Give me Your Tired, Your Poor
I’m not sure how old I was before I realized the family I grew up in was poor. I knew they’d lost a house during the depression, and I knew we didn’t have a lot of extra cash. I also knew that the men my father worked with at a meat packing plant would often stuff meat into his shirt before he left for home.
In fact, I believed my father to be a bit on the pudgy side until the day I saw him open his shirt and pull out several packages of meat. I was the youngest of four boys and the meat cutters he worked with wanted to be sure we were well fed.
At the time, my father was working as a maintenance man. I construed that to mean he was a janitor. My Big Sister is offended by that definition. “Daddy worked hard all his life!”
I totally agree with the old lady’s remarks, but considering that most of the repairs done on our home were accomplished by Mom, I’m not so sure Daddy knew how to maintain anything. But that’s getting off the subject.
The key thing is that my parents were proud to proclaim that (aside from the meat) they never took a handout. Government welfare had begun under President Franklin Roosevelt, but the vast majority of the poor folks in this country were too proud to take a handout. That’s why the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and other jobs programs were so successful. People didn’t want a handout – with the shame that came with it – they wanted a hand.
Jesus once said, “The poor will always be with us.”
Growing up in that proud, but humble home, I was stunned as I worked my way through college as an enumerator for the R.L. Polk company. I, and a number of others, would go door-to-door seeking information for the City Directory (and mass-mailing lists). Because of my size (I was six feet tall and a tad over 200 pounds in those days) I was sent into the poorer neighborhoods of Pittsburgh. I was shocked by the number of people who told me they were not employed, but living on P.A. (Public Assistance – Welfare!).
One day I got to talking to a boy who was about eight years old. I asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up. “I want to be on Public Assistance.” He proudly told me.
That’s when I first realized the damage our government had done. They’d removed the shame. The shame had nothing to do with being poor. Being poor is not shameful as long as you’re doing whatever you can to subsist. Shame comes from taking the money or goods that someone else worked for. That was a shame my parents fervently avoided.
And here was a young man who had no shame. He was proud of the fact that he, like his parents, would rather work the system than work for his living.
My father lost a number of jobs during the depression. In desperation, he ordered baby chicks and raised them under the back porch of the home where my family was living. He sold some of the chickens and fed others to his hungry brood – two boys and two girls at that time.
He tended the chickens at night… after working ten to twelve hours at whatever labor he could find. At times, he even took care of some of mom’s sister’s families… causing those families a bit of shame.
I was a middle-aged adult when I learned that a number of my aunts and uncles avoided my parents in later years because they felt resentment that Mom and Dad had food and a little bit of money when they had none. Resentment is something that grows out of shame. Rather than leaving the pain remain inside, humans have a tendency to direct the emotions outwardly. “It’s their fault that I feel this way!”
That’s exactly what has happened with welfare recipients. Instead of feeling ashamed that they have to rely on the labors of others, they turn it into resentment that the others aren’t being as generous as they should be. Those rich folks aren’t giving their fair share.
Several years ago our government took it a step farther. Because people were “embarrassed” having to use food stamps – and being recognized as lazy people living on the dole – the government turned to modern technology. The politicians claimed it was a money saving move. Politicians like to say they are saving the tax payers’ money even when they are doing something completely different.
The solution is known as an EBT card. It looks like a credit or debit card, but the EBT stands for Electronic Benefits Transfer. It’s interesting that they use the word “Benefits”. That’s a term that is normally applied to the fringe benefits that are earned as part of employment. This implies that even people who refuse to work are entitled to benefits.
Now, for the whining Liberals who have been offended by some of the things I’m saying, let me say that there truly are poor people who, for one reason or another, cannot work and earn their own living. It might be mental or physical problems, but the problems are legitimate. I have no problem with these people and agree that the government should step in and help… if their church affiliation is unable to do so.
My problem is with the people who refuse to work and see Public Assistance as a career path. Then, when they are shown on television picketing and demanding a raise, I lose all respect for them.
Speaking of television… Karl Marx called religion “The Opiate of the Masses”. It’s a shame to say this, but religion has been replaced by the television. Perhaps that is why our government has slowly but surely converted our country toward Marxism. EBT cards were just one baby step toward the redistribution of wealth.
How much of a giant step was taken by the Health Care Reform act? And what do student loans and Pell Grants have to do with health care? It makes me wonder how many other unrelated ear marks are buried in the pages of this monstrosity.
Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. But don’t give me your freeloading low-lifes who have no shame in taking what I and other good people have worked hard to attain.
Instead of inventing new ways to redistribute the wealth of our citizens, we need to discover a way to bring shame back into the mix. Pride in accomplishment must be reborn or our Republic is dead.
Leave a Comment » | Childhood Memories, Observations of Life | Tagged: CCC, chickens, City Directory, Civilian Conservation Corps, EBT, Electronic Benefits Transfer, enumerator, fair share, Franklin Roosevelt, Great Depression, Jesus, Karl Marx, opiate of the masses, Pittsburgh, politicians, Poor will always be with us, Public Assistance, R.L. Polk, Redistribution of wealth, Religion, resentment, shame, Welfare | Permalink
Haunted Childhood Memories
The Haunted House on Round Top Street
This photo taken in 2008 would indicate that someone finally bought this old house and refurbished it. When I was a child in the late 1940s and early 1950s, my friends and I were afraid to walk past it.
The photo clearly illustrates what an imposing edifice the structure is. It sits on the highest point in Crafton Heights and, when all the surrounding area was overgrown with weeds and vines, and the home was badly in need of paint, it was easy for a child to let his or her imagination run wild. Add numerous broken windows and a roof that was missing many shingles, and it became more frightening. And all of this was prior to Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho”!
There were rumors that some brave boys entered the stately old mansion (it still has the stone hitching post on the sidewalk in front of it) and found such oddities as a dumb waiter. But I never met one of these lads, so I could only go on what I heard from the rumor mill.
In any case, I avoided it like the plague, especially on Halloween.
Our woods above Steuben Street
These woods, which – surprisingly – are still there, represented one of our favorite places. We spent many hours playing games in the woods and throwing snowballs and other objects down on passing vehicles.
However, I was not permitted to go into those woods until I was allowed to cross the street by myself. I really don’t recall when that magical part of my youth came to pass. What I do remember is the night we were scared silly walking this road past the woods. It was in 1954, when I was ten years old. My brother and I, along with a number of friends, walked down to the Crafton Theater to see the latest horror movie.
By the time the movie ended, the sun had set. I don’t recall the exact season of the year, but it was warm enough for the crickets and other noisy insects to be out chirping away. Those chirps sounded just like the giant ants in the movie we’d just seen. That’s one time our parents didn’t have to worry about our dawdling on the way home. We made record time!
I’m sure there were other things that kept us awake at night, but hiding under the blankets always seemed to keep us safe.
The one thing I miss from childhood is movies that allowed us to use our imagination. Today’s films, with their constant displays of blood and gore, are disgusting… and not nearly as frightening as what we can envision by ourselves.
3 Comments | Childhood Memories | Tagged: Alfred Hitchcock, chirps, Crafton Heights, Crafton theater, crickets, frightening things, giant ants, Halloween, haunted house, imagination, Psycho, Round Top Street, Steuben Street, THEM | Permalink
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Posts Tagged ‘communism’
Posted by E on December 2, 2016
This note was originally posted in October 2016 on the Facebook wall of ‘Scoala nr. 19’ – the Bucharest elementary school I attended between ages 6-11.
This spring the nightmares came back. Hardly a month goes by without a flashback, but after my mother died in December 2015, everything that happened to me in Romania intensified. The last 30 years of my life have been a nightmare, and much of it stems from what happened to me in Bucharest, at Scoala Nr. 19.
I write this note in English because it’s the language I’ve spoken for the last 30 years. My parents are both dead, and I don’t have any Romanian friends in Toronto, Canada, where I emigrated at age 11 before the 1989 Romanian Revolution that toppled dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. I feel awkward expressing my emotions in Romanian, but the scars of what happened to me at Scoala nr. 19 still haven’t faded. Pain doesn’t fade with time. Sexual exploitation has consequences, especially at a fragile, tender age.
I was 9 years old when my mother defected from communist Romania, four years before Ceausescu’s regime was defeated. My father was 68 years old and didn’t want a child; his long-time affair with his mistress was all that he cared about. I was nine years old when my father began to lock me out of our apartment on Magheru Boulevard, and when I realized for the first time that nobody cared if I lived or died.
At nine years old I was skinny, always hungry, and most of all – afraid. The boys at my school started to pick on me – none worse than Marc Faur, the gang leader of a posse of boys who made my life miserable. He sensed who the most vulnerable, defenceless kids were in our school and honed in on me.
Those boys attacked me before and after school – kicked me, grabbed at my breasts, and Marc always made sure to punch me in the stomach with as much power and force as he could muster. They stole my innocence and at only ten years old, they made me feel that I was worthless, garbage and should kill myself.
Marc Faur hit me almost every day, making me feel dirty and afraid because nobody else tried to defend me. I know what it’s like to double over in pain, gasping – choked out of breath, feeling as worthless as a cockroach. Feeling that nobody gives a shit about me, that anybody can do whatever they want to me with impunity. I was alone, and Marc – well, Marc was the Pioneer President of Class E. His mother was a renowned opera singer, while my own parents were deaf. Worthless.
After my mother defected on a trip to Italy in 1985, my father and me were labeled political traitors. No teachers gave a shit about me.
The teachers knew better than to pick on Faur, and consequently he became our class bully. Marc Faur was a big, overweight boy and I was scrawny and unloved. Nobody cared how much I cried behind the school gymnasium, how hungry I was because nobody had packed a lunch for me.
Our teacher, Tovarasa Elena Hlatcu, sent notes to my father that my hair wasn’t brushed and I hadn’t washed my face. She sent notes after my period started, saying that “Someone should make sure the child is clean and doesn’t smell so awful.”
My father didn’t give a shit. I lived on the streets most of the time, fending off pedophiles, depending on my best friend’s family to feed me. I was a proud girl and never asked for food, but I didn’t turn away any sandwiches or leftovers, either. Marc and Silviu Constantin abused me in every way possible – kicking me, spitting on me, grabbing my breasts, punching me in the gut, and Marc Faur went so far as to look for cockroaches and drop them in my hair.
Marc wrote horrible things on the blackboard, calling me a whore, and (as always) punched me in the stomach and in the breasts, with as much force as he could. Others, like Dan Popescu didn’t care about my abuse; they were too delicate to hit me themselves, so they looked the other way. Even as boys teased, hit and abused me, Dan (who was the only boy I ever had a crush on) looked the other way.
To this day, I am terrified of bugs. I relieve what Marc did every moment I step into the shower and wash my hair.
To this day, often I look in the mirror I am embarrassed by the size of my breasts. Silviu and Faur did this – they made me feel like garbage. They assaulted me while (at only ten and eleven years old) I felt too worthless and ashamed to tell our teacher or my father, who probably would have beaten me for causing trouble.
Thirty years have passed. I am forty years old, but the trauma those boys caused me was worse than a sexual assault – it has permeated every pore of my being. It made me feel ugly and unloved. It made me feel disgusted with my own body, which I felt had betrayed me. As a teenager, I started picking, cutting at my skin; I hated every bit of me. I was as worthless as they made me feel – even worse.
The trauma that I experienced at Scoala Nr. 19 is still part of my daily life. To this day, nobody has apologized for destroying my innocence and causing me the nightmares that still return today. Nobody has apologized for making me feel ashamed of my body, for the disgusting words I still hear inside my head today.
But I have nothing left to lose – and I’m no longer willing to remain ashamed and feel worthless just to cover up what those boys did to me. They physically and sexually abused me. They raped my innocence, and I don’t owe them anything.
I refuse to be silent anymore.
Writing this post is part of empowering myself again – reclaiming the power that they stole from me.
Postscript: after I came forward with the truth about what happened to me, on Oct. 27 I received an “apology” via email from the bully ringleader of the abuse, Marc Faur, saying he was sorry for “not being nice” to me.
“Not nice” meant beating me during recess, among other things.
I rejected the apology because it wasn’t genuine and decided to write openly about it and post about it on his Facebook page this past week.
For the last 48 hours I’ve received hate-filled messages from his friends in Romania, telling me to “Go fuck yourself”, “you’re deranged”, and calling me terrible insults and names. This is without them knowing any evidence.
THIS is the reason women and girls don’t report abuse.
Soon they enlisted Facebook friends to attack me – friends who weren’t even Romanian and had no clue about what happened in the 1980s. Foreign friends who simply wanted justification to attack a stranger.
In the last 48 hours I also received messages asking me to excuse the actions of 11-year old boys. But none of those requests acknowledged the trauma caused to a 10-year old girl. Just because this happened decades ago does not lower the impact, the pain, the consequences of their abuse on my life.
Why are girls considered worthless compared to boys?
Why is my trauma considered worthless?
Former classmate Costin Craioveanu writes on Marc Faur’s Facebook wall: “I remember her…a superb being…it was impossible not to abuse her.”
This is pathetic – it’s bullying, and it’s NOT right. Abuse does NOT have an expiration date.
December 4 update: Other women have approached me with memories of being assaulted by boys at my old school. A model whose photos are pictured on Faur’s Photography page also contacted me privately. Another woman spoke about being raped by a boy from School no. 19, but from a different graduating year.
Last night I also spoke with an old classmate who was also beaten and abused by Marc Faur and shared the effects it had on her life. I hid her identity to protect her privacy and ensure she won’t suffer the abuse I’ve received over the last week. However, her story is important and needs to be heard. Her account is written in Romanian, but states that she was repeatedly emotionally and physically abused by Marc Faur.
We are not alone!
Posted in abuse, marc faur, romania | Tagged: abuse, bucharest, bucuresti, communism, costin craioveanu, LGBT, marc faur, physical abuse, rape, romania, sexual abuse, sexual assault, sexual exploitation, silviu constantin, trauma, tudor arghezi | Leave a Comment »
Berlin, Beijing – behind the smoke and mirrors, a monster rears its ugly head
Berlin 1936 = Beijing 2008. I bet Leni Riefenstahl is rolling in her grave wishing she could’ve gotten a crack at filming this one.
How are they similar? In both cases, a hopelessly corrupt IOC awards the Olympic games to a savage totalitarian state, while the world turns a blind eye to the atrocities committed by that state.
Violations against open discourse started early: as foreign journalists began converging on Beijing to cover the Summer Olympics, restrictions began to be placed on journalistic freedoms.
Since China was awarded the Games, China’s Communist Government and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) have continually given guarantees to the world’s media that journalists would have unrestricted access to the Internet.
Then, the Chinese Government blew that commitment into disarray when 20,000 journalists covering the August 8 – 24 Games in Beijing were told they would be blocked from accessing some Internet sites.
China has also designated 3 parks in Beijing for “sanctioned demonstrations”, promising that there would be room for protests, provided that those planning to organize a peaceful protest would submit a petition in advance. The result: people were rounded up and arrested instead. No protest ever took place.
Australia’s Media Alliance spokesman Christopher Warren was quoted as comparing the upcoming Games to those hosted by Nazi Germany in 1936. “This promises to be the most restricted Olympics, in terms of reporting the Games and its social and political context, since Berlin in 1936”.
Everyone who has watched the Olympics has witnessed pro-Chinese cheating, none more evident than in the gymnastics fiasco. Not only are at least two of the girls underage, but in my opinion it’s pretty clear the judges have been bought. Not surprising, though, since the field of gymnastics, like figure skating, is notorious for bribing and buying of judges.
China has spent in excess of 43 billion dollars (yes, you read that right) to showcase their superiority over (and shame) all other nations who have ever hosted an Olympics. You can rest assured that the message “We’re Bigger, We’re Better” does not stop with the theatrics of the opening ceremonies, to dubbed musical productions or with little girls who are considered too ugly to represent China and must sing below a stage.
The smoke and mirrors that cover an insatiable urge to beat all others will not put all its hopes on the shoulders of mere human beings. Just think about it – if you’ve gone all the way and spent 43 billion dollars on a show, what’s a few more paltry million to buy off some judges?
This is a country where you go to jail if you speak out against the regime. Where ethnic and religious minorities are persecuted and murdered in the open. Where you must fit in, must not think for yourself, must become a robot for the State.
Communism and fascism are similar in that way: they curtail the freedom to be an intellectual, to have free thought, to breathe without looking over your shoulder. They curtail the kind of music you can listen to, the kinds of magazines you read, the choice of vocation, job, and career you may ever have dreamed to have.
These are nations where children with aptitude are kidnapped from their parents and thrown into provincial facilities where they are forced to train for 16 hours a day, just to show the State as powerful and full of glory. Gold medals are stacked upon the broken bones, wilted minds and ruined bodies of young people.
You can also count on the fact that pre-Olympic discussions took place, where Chinese judging officials have been not only bribed with better apartments and salaries, but also warned that if they brought shame upon China (by marking them less than anyone else), they would be deported to some gulag somewhere and would wish for an early death.
You think it can’t happen again? Guess what? It’s happening already.
Posted in censorship, china, commentary, communism, culture, freedom, germany, news, olympics, politics, tibet, war | Tagged: beijing, berlin, censorship, china, communism, freedom, olympics, politics | 1 Comment »
Memories of my communist childhood – growing up under the red banner
After my last post, in which I wrote about my impressions of Cuba, I received some mixed feedback – exactly half of the commentators were against the Cuban regime, and half advocating earnestly for it. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of middle room for discussion when it comes to communist systems of government, does it? I’m not entirely sure what a middle ground would look like, but like any other battle of sectarian ideologies, this battle-line is drawn down the middle with a clearly-defined marker.
My opinions differ from most people I know, not necessarily in their ideology as much as from the formative experiences that have shaped who I am. I am a product of a so-called utopian society that like most others, found its end in a bloody revolution. There are many who still long for the good old times, simply because nobody ever was taught to think for themselves. For many decades, the people of my homeland were brought up to fear what was above them, the Golden Father of all Children, and when his regime fell so many older people didn’t know how to take care of themselves since they had always relied on the state to provide, to teach, and to think for them.
I was one of Ceausescu’s last batch of communism-raised children. We were an experimental generation of youth raised under the shade of a red star, in the Golden Epoch of our Fatherland. Our homeland, our Patria, was what we swore allegiance to. In grade 2, I received my Red Scarf and became a Pioneer. I remember that day clearly – for weeks I practiced memorizing a poem about our Great Father Nicolae Ceausescu that I later recited flawlessly in front of the Pioneer Assembly. In grade 3 I was stripped of one of my pioneer medals because my mother was a political defector. My father and I were followed by the Securitate for two years while we waited for our departure papers under the Red Cross Family Reunification program. In grade 4 I learned how to shoot a rifle. Officially, I became a child soldier for our homeland.
I loved my country. I truly, deeply appreciate that I had the opportunity to grow up sheltered from violence, from materialism, from being over-sexualized at an early age. I loved my uniform, my internal sense of fairness truly appreciating the equality that this white shirt and pleated navy skirt represented: all children, gypsies, christians, jews, all faiths and social classes brought together under one flag, one song, one classroom.
At the same time, I saw a country brought to its knees under the weight of its foreign exports. All of our rich resources were being exported to pay for Romania’s increasing debtload, a debt incurred as part of Ceausescu’s attempts at civilizing its people from its bourgeois roots: churches and villages were raised to the ground in order to pave roads and build collective farms and factories. People were reduced to a name on a ration card, one kilogram of flour and sugar per month, a litre of oil. Nothing more or less.
I remember standing in those lines: the line for bread, for butter, for meat, for books – any leftover money from people’s salaries was spent in a desperate attempt to buy food. There was never enough food for everybody. You could line up at 5 a.m. and it still didn’t guarantee there would be enough left by the time your turn came to the cashier. People made a habit of lining up: they didn’t know what kind of meat would be available at the butcher’s that day, but they arrived promptly at 5 in the morning, always five in the morning – for bread, for clothing, for various amenities.
And what did those people do in those lines? They laughed, they cried, they cursed “Him” who could not be named, but everybody knew – we were all co-conspirators, well-versed in the language of innuendos, scathing jokes and trepidation. Unlike the socialist red banner we lived in, nobody loved their neighbour. Everybody was jealous of each other – tried to figure out who had more, how they got it, and if we could get it too. People called secret, anonymous phone lines and denunced their neighbours for nothing more than a move to a better apartment or a better job assignment.
Under the red banner, I knew hunger, I knew pain, and what I experienced most of all – was fear. A deep, breath-taking fear that crushed your voice inside your ribs. You didn’t look up, you didn’t ask Why, you just obeyed. I knew people who worked at collective farms who went to jail for holding back a chicken from the monthly counts, just to feed their families a bit more protein. Only those who worked for the Party, the State, the Securitate, would have access to foreign currency and could go to that wondurous place we only heard stories about: the Shop. At the Shop, you could buy toblerone bars and Nescafe coffee, and loads of products we spied foreign tourists being served in fancy restaurants. Unfortunately, I never bought anything at the Shop. It was not for people like us. While Ceausescu was building the second-largest palace in the world after the Taj-Mahal, replete with gold bathroom fixtures, I remained underweight for my age.
Sometimes I wonder if anybody who glorifies a system like that of Romania, the Eastern Bloc, like Cuba and China’s, has ever lived inside this world. I don’t wonder this very often since I already know the answer: they have not. Nobody who has lived inside this world of sensory and emotional deprivation would wish for it again. Sure, nowadays Romanians will grumble that: “Before we had money but no food, now we have lots of food but no money to buy it.” But if questioned again about their past, their eyes glaze over and deep sighs can be heard. The emotional blackness of those days will always scar the lining of our souls.
Ceausescu meant well. So did Marx, and Che, and even Adolf (yes, I am mixing political affiliations!). Nobody starts out with the desire to massacre the spirit of their nation. But through deeds that are meant to be “for the good of others”, the result remains the same. Atrocity and sadness remains the legacy of so many regimes where scores of nameless people perish in the name of a warped ideology. Even after the 1989 Revolution, the scars remain, and they will remain there, imprinted on my heart, for the rest of my life.
I miss my childhood, the people I will never see again, the friends and neighbours who we have lost touch with, who all fled in the night to Australia, America, and Europe. One day you had lunch with somebody, the next day they were gone – and you didn’t know whether they had been arrested or paid someone to smuggle them over the border. As for myself, I never wanted to leave my homeland – I was dragged, kicking and screaming, away from it at age 10. In retrospect, it was already too late – I inherited my country’s history in my genes; its pulse beat in my veins like a tumultuous river. Even when citizenship was forcibly stripped from me as a defector, I remained Romanian. It was a thing they could never take away.
Nowadays, when I meet other Romanians I search for the legacy of the terror in their eyes: there is a darkness there, always, a haunted look that lies behind their smiles, their happy countenance. I see other survivors of my generation, other experimental byproducts of a world where walls cound talk, and where a whisper could mean exile. We walk like aliens among Canadians in this country, like wolves in sheep’s clothing – we are not of your world, this world of smiles and polite conversations. We are survivors of something that cannot be fathomed by those who are fortunate enough to have been born here.
I came from a world where being a lesbian would have meant a mandatory five-year jail sentence with hard labour. A world where my writing would be censored and condemned. Where my poetry would have to be dedicated to the Party. Where my life would forever remain not a burning flame, but a sigh.
I have realized that those people who continue the lovely fairytale of a communist utopia surely must not have experienced it. To be perfectly honest, I would absolutely love it if a true socialist state could exist in this world – a state of egalitarianism where all are cared for and provided by a loving government. But that will never happen, since it is not within the boundaries of human nature – it is by default that we strive to compete with each other, to outdo each other’s accomplishments, to work harder and seek greater peaks than those of our neighbours’. By default, true socialism cannot work. I have met leftists who said to me “Oh, but Elisa dear, what you experienced wasn’t truly communism, but state capitalism.” Because of course, they considered themselves experts of socialist systems, and every time one failed, it was attributed to the fact that “Well, that wasn’t REALLY socialism anyway, or a failed attempt at communism.” This came from well-meaning but confused activists, naive individuals who refused to acknowledge that every failure of communism over the last hundred years has been a sign of its instability and profound inability to ever be implemented.
Because as tough and hard-core a leftist as you can be, when you are inside oppression and you suffer in silence, you have but one of two choices: become the enemy, or be broken. On the tree-lined boulevards of Bucharest, in Moscow’s squares, on Beijing’s winding streets, and in the slums of Havana, people survived the only way they know how: a breath at a time.
To all deniers of oppression worldwide – shame on you. What is so quickly forgotten is destined to be repeated.
Posted in activism, canada, censorship, children, communism, cuba, freedom, gay, lesbian, life, politics, propaganda, revolution, romania, russia | Tagged: censorship, childhood, communism, history, oppression, romania, russia, ussr | 17 Comments »
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Book Review: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
I'm not going to insult your intelligence by giving a plot summary for this book as I think every person on the planet knows the premise. However, for the sake of completion and satisfying my OCD tendencies... Alice is a young girl who falls through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world, meeting lots of weird and peculiar characters. And that's it.
"We're all mad here."
Well, the Mad Hatter isn't wrong. I started this book excited at the premise of reading a classic that I don't recall ever having read before. Within about ten pages, my excitement had quickly waned. I've come to the conclusion that people who love this book must have fallen in love with the book as a child and therefore reading this book will trigger feelings of nostalgia and memories of childhood. Because I simply hated every minute of reading this book. I went to bed every night and would find myself procrastinating on my phone instead of getting stuck into my book like I normally would.
I don't enjoy nonsense. I like things to be logical and follow some kind of structure... I guess that's the scientist in me. Of course, not everything can be logical in horror books etc, but this was like a different level of ridiculousness. Nothing made any sense, things were all over the place. We were just jumping around everywhere and I just wanted the experience to be over. If this book wasn't so short, I think it would have became a DNF for me.
Oh, and Alice literally has to the sassiest, cheekiest, rudest little girl I've ever encountered in literature. What a brat. I just wanted to put her in her place for the entirety of the novel. Nope, I hate Alice.
The only highlight for me was the illustrations, as they are simply beautiful. So I apologise to all lovers of Alice in Wonderland but it's just not for me. I'll give 1 star for the story as I just can't allow myself to give zero stars... and I'll give 1 star for the illustrations. So that's 2 stars out of 5 from me! And a reading experience I'd like to forget.
Book Review: Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
Richard Mayhew is a normal guy with a normal life, until one day he finds a young girl bleeding in the street. He lifts her up and takes her home, this Good Samaritan act quickly catapulting himself out of his safe, everyday life in London Above into another world called London Below. London Below is located down in the sewers of London and is a dangerous, magical place inhabited by people who have fallen through the cracks. He soon embarks on a mission with the injured girl, called Door, in an attempt to seek vengeance for her parent's deaths. Along the way, they meet an eclectic, diverse range of people (and animals) that live below the streets of London...
"I mean, maybe I am crazy. I mean, maybe. But if this is all there is, then I don't want to be sane."
This was my first Neil Gaiman experience, and it's pretty safe to say that I'm now hooked. The wit and humour in his writing is a joy to read. Already I can tell he is a deft hand when it comes to creating fantastical worlds that will suck you in and entrap you until you reach the final page. I devoured this book within a very small number of sittings, reading up to 100 pages in one go, which is very unlike me. I usually read in small chunks but more often.
What I loved most about this book was the creation of a world that is actually very similar to ours in a lot of ways, but has had a touch of magic added. London Below is basically a parallel of London Above, but with a few enhancements and mystical beings. The story is consistently full of suspense and moves at a quick pace, there was never a lull in the story in which boredom would set in for a few pages. As for the ending... wow. During the book I kept wondering how he would wrap it all up and end it, and what Gaiman executes is perfection. Loved it. Understated, yet poignant.
My only teeny tiny nit-pick for Neverwhere is the main protagonist, Richard. I wasn't a fan, he was just too whiney and annoying and not someone you'd really root for? His relationship with his fiance Jess (sorry, Jessica *rolls eyes*) alone was enough to make me dislike him. Dude, you're so under the thumb it makes me feel kinda nauseous. Ain't no woman that great! However, this minor annoyance attests to the fact that this story and world that Gaiman created was wonderful enough that I could overlook this character and still give this book a stellar rating.
I will now consider myself a Gaiman fan and look forward to reading more of his books. I can definitely see the attraction and why so many bookstagrammers rate him so highly. A truly magical writer. 5 stars out of 5 from me!
Book Review: milk and honey by Rupi Kaur
milk and honey is a collection of poems that explores different themes such as abuse, loss, pain, love, healing, femininity. The book itself it split into 4 chapters, the first chapter explores abuse, the second looks at falling in love, the third deals with loss and the fourth is about healing. This collection of poems is a stunning look into life, love and loss.
you were a dragon long before
he came around and said
you could fly
you will remain a dragon
long after he's left
Okay, first of all, I have to open this review by saying I LOVED this book, but I completely understand why people may evoke the completely opposite reaction. It's a love or hate kinda thing, I get it, but I find beauty in simplicity - look at my bookstagram photos for crying out loud! From the very first page, I felt myself connecting with these poems and with Kaur's experiences. I myself may not have been a victim of abuse, but as a woman I can understand where such feelings would come from - the suggestion that your body exists merely to please someone else. I may not have resonated as strongly with the first chapter, "the hurting", but the rest of the chapters felt as though they were written for me, and that is how I feel poetry should be. You either connect with it or you don't.
The second chapter "the loving" explores those heady days of new relationships and falling in love. You would expect these poems to be more romantic, and while a lot of them were, some just weren't. You can see how some of the hurting and the abuse have been carried forward into her new relationship. The third chapter "the breaking" quickly contrasts the previous with heart-wrenching descriptions of what it feels like to go through a breakup and the loneliness that follows.
"the healing" chapter was my favourite, just full of uplifting, inspiring, thoughtful pieces.The poems are so powerful and full of emotion and they really touched me. It's a book I can't wait to revisit and read more slowly, as initially I feel like I just devoured it. I did re-read certain passages at the time, but overall, I'd like to immerse myself in it again. It's just deep, honest, raw, beautiful, heartbreaking, passionate...
I love knowing how writing this book helped heal her after her experiences, because simply reading it helped heal some of mine.
I'll leave you with one of my favourites...
i want to apologise to all the women
i have called pretty.
before i've called them intelligent or brave.
i am sorry i made it sound as though
something as simple as what you're born with
is the most you have to be proud of
when your spirit has crushed mountains
from now on i will say things like, you are resilient
or, you are extraordinary.
not because i don't think you're pretty.
but because you are so much more than that
Book Review: Just After Sunset by Stephen King
Just After Sunset is the fifth collection of short stories published by Stephen King, containing 13 stories in total. A lot of these stories seem to focus on the aftermath of tragedy, and how people react. Whether this is pertaining to the loss of a child or the events of 9/11, it's a strong theme throughout this collection of short stories.
"Any parting could be forever, and we just don't know."
Usually I will review short stories collectively, but I had gotten a few private messages and comments about people wanting to know what I thought of specific stories, so I thought I'd give a brief review on all the stories included in this collection. I also feel like you should go into short stories blind, therefore I really don't want to say too much in terms of plot.
First up - Willa. I don't want to spoil the "twist" in the story, so I feel like I can't say much, but this short story was just "blah" to me. I feel like it's one that I'll forget pretty quickly - it just didn't leave a lasting impression on me.
The Gingerbread Girl - this was a highlight within this collection. The pace is relentless, almost like the pace of Emily... see what I did there? *insert smug face* This short story was full of tension and had me feeling nervous, it really had some classic King themes in here. It also reminded me a bit of Duma Key given the location!
Harvey's Dream - this one was short and sweet. Quite unsettling - I liked it!
Rest Stop - once again King explores the idea of pseudonyms and how they can have an influence on the person who creates them. It's pretty violent, visceral, raw... it was a good one!
Stationary Bike - I know my pal Abbie isn't a fan of this one, but I actually kinda liked it. I guess too much exercise can be a bad thing? It was an interesting concept and one that was hard to wrap my head around initially, but it wasn't as bad as I was anticipating.
The Things They Left Behind - an interesting look at the topic of survivor guilt following the events of 9/11. Ultimately it evolved into quite an optimistic conclusion, I feel? It's definitely one I won't forget.
Graduation Afternoon - MEH. I actually had to Google the synopsis of this one to remind me what story it was even referring to - already I'm starting to forget about it!! Not a good sign. Pretty boring.
N. - okay, let me tell you about N. This story (or novella, I guess) blew my little mind. I was getting strong Lovecraftian vibes from the get-go - it's reminiscent of short stories focusing on Cthulhu and his ability to drive people insane. An interesting exploration of OCD, with an absolutely outstanding mix of supernatural horror and psychological terror. I went to bed that night feeling generally unsettled and couldn't stop thinking about it - that's what I want from my horror stories! This was really the jewel in the crown.
The Cat from Hell - another awesome story! This one actually left me feeling nauseous by the end... I will no longer be able to trust cats again.
The New York Times at Special Bargain Rates - this was a decent story, also exploring post-9/11 themes, but ultimately I think it'll be one I forget with time.
Mute - ah, this one was great!! Just a fun short story, very enjoyable.
Ayana - this was actually a short story that I think has the potential to become a novel, maybe? Very intriguing and I wanted to know more.
A Very Tight Place - oh geez, literally the most disgusting thing I've ever read! Glad I read this on an empty stomach as otherwise I would have probably been running for the bathroom to be sick. It was just... horrific. I now join in King in having a fear of becoming trapped in a porta-loo! Fun story overall!
So that's it. I think the stories in this collection ranged from awesome to pretty good to forgettable, which is probably true for most of the short story collections I've read (although to be honest, I think all of Night Shift is memorable). Overall then, I'd give this collection of short stories 4 out of 5. A pretty strong collection, but I've read better. N. was the definite highlight for me!
Book Review: The Stand Graphic Novel
The Stand is an epic apocalyptic tale, considered by many to be King's masterpiece. It tells the story of good vs evil, light vs dark. Following the outbreak of a virus dubbed "Captain Trips", the world is plagued by death. It is up to a number of survivors to overcome the encroaching darkness that is the Dark Man, Randall Flagg. This graphic novel is an adaptation of King's masterpiece novel.
"The place where you made your stand never mattered. Only that you were there...and still on your feet."
The Stand was the third King book I read, I believe... so that was a few years ago now. It used to be that when I thought about it or discussed it on bookstagram, I always felt like I just never loved it as much as everyone else seemed to. But after reading this graphic novel, I feel like it's just bad memory that made me feel this way, because this story is just epic.
The character development and story progression is simply outstanding in this book. King has created a plethora of characters that are all memorable in their own ways. Just think about how many amazing characters we meet here... Stu Redman, Tom Cullen, Nick Andros, Randall Flagg, Nadine Cross, Harold Lauder, Frannie Goldsmith, Glen Bateman, The Trashcan Man... I could go on. Each name is instantly recognisable and to obtain such a calibre of characters within ONE STORY is just unprecedented.
What could be said about The Stand that hasn't been said already? It's terrifying because it's something that could happen. Flu and viruses are something we all encounter quite regularly, and labs are constantly experimenting. The premise that a man-made virus could come along and wipe out 99.4% of the population literally makes me want to run and hide under the covers and never leave my house again.
As for the graphic novel itself, the illustrations are STUNNING. Out of this world. I would find myself just sitting and staring at different illustrations, completely distracted from the story. The characters are exactly how I picture them in my head, and in particular, the illustrations of Randall Flagg are incredible. The portrayal of how he attracts his followers and appeared to them in their dreams was pretty damn scary. I'd much rather have encountered old Mother Abigail when I hit the hay.
I've really started to get into graphic novels this year and this is my favourite so far. An absolutely outstanding adaptation of this epic novel, worth every penny I spent on it. 5 stars out of 5 from me!
Book Review: The Twelve by Justin Cronin
This is the second book in Justin Cronin's The Passage trilogy. The Passage focused on the outbreak of a virus created in a government experiment gone wrong, turning humans into blood-thirsty virals (pretty similar to vampires). As for The Twelve, there's two main timelines in this book; we go back to the very beginning of the plague, encountering some new characters, and we also visit Peter, Amy and the gang 5 years after The Passage ended.
"Kittredge had obviously misjudged her, but he had learned that was the way with most people. The story was never the story, and it surprised you, how much another person could carry."
Having read The Passage towards the end of last year, I was afraid my memory would fail me and I'd find it hard to remember all the characters and goings-on of the previous book. However, Cronin generously provides us with a Book of Twelves recap of previous characters at the very beginning of the book. Wikipedia also provided a nice refresher of the plot.
As with The Passage, Cronin's writing is impeccable. It's so easy to get sucked into this world he has created and not realise that an hour has passed since you picked up the book. My early morning car reading left me slightly late for work some mornings as I zoned out and become engrossed in this apocalyptic thriller - oops! Amazing, interesting, well-written characters - we revisit those from The Passage as well as being introduced to some pretty great new ones too!
One of my issues with this book, however, was the jumping back and forth between storylines and timelines. There's just so much going on that it can become slightly confusing at times. This wasn't really an issue with The Passage because in that book there was three distinct parts with three distinct chronological sections. I do still believe Justin Cronin is a master at weaving all the storylines together, and he did it perfectly in The Passage, but this was not handled as well in this book. His merging of storylines and characters was still amazing and impressive, I just felt there was too much jumping around this time.
This book was definitely more violent and gory than The Passage, and I did like that, because apocalyptic tales should be visceral and raw, in my opinion. However, there was one storyline I had an issue with and I don't want to say more as it would be a spoiler, but it was too stereotypical for me and left me feeling a bit disappointed in Cronin's decision to include it (for people who've already read this, it concerns Alicia - I'm sure you know what I'm referring to).
Overall, I loved being back in this world, I'm going to order City of Mirrors soon because I can't wait to finish off this enthralling trilogy. It gets 4 stars out of 5 from me!
After a break from my King, my TBR jar is letting me go back to him again! YAY. Until next time...
The Nocturnal Reader's Subscription Box: Trapped
Okay, so... let me tell you how awesome Jess and Vincent are at NRB. My first few NR boxes, I got them after my American friends and the wait was AGONISING. I tried to avoid posts on instagram, but sometimes it was unavoidable, especially if people posted them in their stories. Getting the box itself was still amazing, of course, but so much fun comes from the excitement of unboxing and not knowing what's in there! So, because these guys are awesome, they shipped the international boxes a week early and so I got my box around the same time as everyone else - HOW AMAZING. I opened this box with no idea of what was inside and it somehow made the experience even more exciting. I'm sure most companies would be like "Shipping isn't our problem, you get it when you get it", but NR are all about customer service and I'm grateful for this change in their shipping schedule!
Now, enough of me going on about how much I love this company...onto this month's box! The theme was "Trapped" and it did not disappoint!! We already knew there was going to be a few Stephen King items in this box, so excitement was peaking! Right, let me start with the books. I got a signed(!!) edition of Nick Cutter's latest release, Little Heaven. I was really happy about this, as Cutter's books are pretty popular on bookstagram, namely The Deep and The Troop, I even have one in my TBR pile. The synopsis for Little Heaven is as follows:
A trio of mismatched mercenaries - Micah Shughrue, Minerva Atwater, and Ebenezer Elkins, colloquially known as "the Englishman" - is hired by young Ellen Bellhaven for a deceptively simple task: check in on her nephew, who may have been taken against his will to a remote New Mexico backwoods settlement called Little Heaven, where a clandestine religious cult holds sway. But shortly after they arrive, things begin to turn ominous. There are stirrings in the woods and over the tree-tops - and, above all else, the brooding shape of a monolith known as the Black Rock casts its terrible pall. Paranoia and distrust soon grip the settlement. Escape routes are gradually cut off as events spiral towards madness. Hell - or the closest thing to it - invades Little Heaven. All present here are now forced to take a stand and fight back, but whatever has set its dark eye on Little Heaven is marshaling its powers - and it wants them all...
Ooh I am excited for that! Even reading the synopsis makes me feel a bit trapped and claustrophobic... Perhaps I'll get to buddy read it with a few of my fellow Nocturnal Readers! The other book in this month's box is Suffer the Children by Craig DiLouie, with the following synopsis:
It begins on an ordinary day: children around the world are dying. All children, everywhere - a global crisis beyond any parent's worst nightmares. Then, a miracle beyond imagining: three days later, they return. Shattered mothers and fathers see their sons and daughters happy and whole once more, playing and laughing as before - but only when they feed. They hunger for blood...and they can't get enough upon which to feast. Without it, they die again. How far would you go to keep someone you love alive?
That sounds CREEPY as hell, I love it! Already I'm thinking, if it was someone I loved, I'd do whatever it takes. Even if it meant harvesting blood for them - as long as I'm not the one drinking it!!
Now, the Stephen King items... I almost screamed upon finding a Cujo print signed by Dee Wallace! Beyond amazing. Check it out below:
There was also an Overlook Hotel glass that says "Where the son always shines" - I freaking love that! Too cool. We also got one or two Stephen King pins, I was ecstatic to find that I got two - one for Misery and one for Cujo. Both books in which the main character(s) find themselves trapped. Check them out below, as well as the Shutter Island matchbox we got by Jerilyn - major heart eyes. Shutter Island is potentially my favourite Leonardo DiCaprio movie! I still need to read the book.
On top of this, there was also a Chapbook: 120 Seconds to Light by G. E. Smith, a Girl in the Cell Anaglyph 3D art and Scream Queen 3D glasses. Last but not least, we got yet another tote - I love totes - and this time it was Lord of the Flies inspired. Yet another book in my TBR pile! Also one of the very few books my boyfriend has read - I'm hoping to read this soon so we can have some rare bookish conversations. Feast your eyes upon the tote!!
Oh, Nocturnal Readers Box, you guys outdo yourselves each month - I can't wait to see what's next. May's theme is Corporate Overlords... the countdown begins yet again!
Book Review: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by L...
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March 22, 2019 April 6, 2019 joynealkidney
Radio Tokyo Named Dale Wilson a POW
#75yearsago
There were many ways to serve your country during World War II, even on the home front. As their young people went off to war, those left behind dealt with food and tire rationing, grew victory gardens, and bought war bonds.
Although ham radio transmissions were suspended during the war, many operators made it their mission to listen. They copied down and relayed messages from shortwave broadcasts from Germany and Japan to families of the men named as Prisoners of War.
Nancy Street of Reno, Nevada, heard one from Japan in March of 1944, naming Dale Wilson of Minburn. She wrote that he been picked up when his plane went down, and was a Japanese prisoner on the island of Wiewak [sic].
Dale had been missing off the New Guinea town of Wewak since the end of November.
“We are hoping it’s true,” Dale’s sister Doris wrote her husband, “but can’t understand how she could have gotten details and names so well from a broadcast like that. Of course, we are hoping if Dale is a prisoner, he is in better hands than some are.”
Japan had signed the Geneva Convention, which provided rules for humane treatment of military prisoners of war, never ratified it so didn’t follow it. Allied airmen were especially mistreated after being shot down. They were beaten, many executed, and at least one was ceremoniously beheaded. Five American fliers who survived the crash of their B-25 off the coast of New Guinea the fall of 1943 had been bayoneted and beheaded.
“Mom is going to have the Perry Red Cross see if they can find out anything definite. Oh, Lord, I hope he’s all right.”
Two more letters about the short-wave message came from people in Seattle and Los Angeles. Now Wilsons were ready to believe that Dale was still alive.
“We are sure praying that he is still ok but four months is a long time to be a prisoner of Japan. Mom is writing to thank the people for notifying us and let them know we were the right people, as they all seemed about as skeptical as we were at first. Gosh, I hope we get word directly from him so we will be sure he is all right.”
From The Perry Daily Chief, April 4, 1944:
Jap Radio Says Dale R. Wilson Of Minburn, A Prisoner
Mr. and Mrs. Clabe D. Wilson of Minburn, whose son, Lieut. Dale Ross Wilson was reported missing in action in the Pacific war theatre some time ago, have heard that a Jap broadcast last week said Lieut. Wilson was a prisoner. According to messages to the Wilsons from several persons on the west coast who picked up the Jap short-wave broadcast, the enemy radio said Lieut. Wilson was rescued after his plane was shot down into the sea. The report added that he is a prisoner of war of the imperial Japanese army at Wewak, New Guinea. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson have received no official word, other than their son is missing.
“Honestly, Mom & Dad,” daughter-in-law Evelyn wrote, “I don’t know what to say about Dale. It is all so horrible. All we can do is hope and pray he is well. It is a dirty shame you raise such fine boys and then have to send them off to war. I was sick when I read Doris’s letter the other day. I shouldn’t have been shocked at hearing it because Del and Don thought all along he was a P.O.W. but it is different when you see it in black and white. Try and not worry too much. If there were only something we could do. There are going to be a lot of broken hearts, homes, and people when this awful mess is over. So keep your chins up, and don’t worry.”
Delbert added, “If only he could escape–and he may, too. If he would just use his head and not get too stubborn he will get his break. I know he will. All we can do is try and get word to him, pray, and hope. Let’s don’t let our minds dwell too much on what a Jap P.O.W. has to endure. He will make it and when we get him back–boy, we will fill him so full of wheat an’ milk.”
“It certainly is good news,” Danny Wilson wrote. “Dale is most certainly alive, but of the treatment he is getting, I would certainly question. Prisoners are given treatment and conditions according to the conqueror’s desire. Dale is one man who can take it, until he is rescued.
“Australian and U.S. forces are about 150 miles from Wewak, so Dale has a good chance of being rescued, if the Japs don’t move them out before then. We will probably drive up that coast, as Wewak has a pretty important base and airfield. If Dale is rescued, he will most certainly get to come home to the U.S.A. You will probably hear from or about Dale before long from American sources.”
At the end of the war in 1945, those POW letters kept his parents hoping as they listened to the radio day after day. The names of POWs being released in the Philippines and on Japan were being announced–day after day.
The Wilsons also learned that the family of one other crew member received letters from short-wave listeners–the navigator, John Stack.
Names of next of kin and addresses aren’t included on an airman’s dog-tags. Did the Japanese learn information from War Department telegrams to the families? I tried to find out more about this in the 1990s, but had no luck. Dale Wilson and John Stack were never officially named as POWs, but those letters from strangers gave their families hope.
But they were never heard from again.
See also: World War II Radio Heroes: Letters of Compassion by Lisa Spahr. She also has a Facebook page.
Dale R Wilson
F.G. Dallison Los Angeles California
H.L.Flowers Seattle Washington
John B. Stack
Minburn Iowa
Nancy Street Reno Nevada
Radio Tokyo
shortwave radio listeners
Voice of the Prisoners
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Excellent post. I did one on the ham radio operators myself.
There is just one thing – Japan and the Soviet did sign the Geneva Convention, but it was never ratified. Therefore neither was obligated to comply with the rules. (oh politics, don’t you love it!)
I didn’t know that about the ham radio operators listening to broadcasts from Japan. Have you encountered additional information about this in your WWII reading?
https://www.amazon.com/World-War-Radio-Heroes-Compassion/dp/0989191400/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Lisa+spahr&qid=1553258718&s=books&sr=1-1-catcorr The author also had a FB page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/138184517219/
Interesting material. Lots of history.
There’s a book about the people who listened, and also a Facebook page: https://www.amazon.com/World-War-Radio-Heroes-Compassion/dp/0989191400/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Lisa+spahr&qid=1553258718&s=books&sr=1-1-catcorr The author also had a FB page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/138184517219/
Thank you for this link. We enjoy growing and learning.
Fascinating, but so sad for the family! I hadn’t heard about these ham radio operators before.
It was new to me too.
LEORA WILLOUGHBY says:
What a great story about Dale. The people that contacted Grandma and Grandpa Wilson were sure doing an awesome duty to let the family know. It is sad that Dale was never found. It just makes a person wonder what happened to him.
Thank you Joy, for continuing to write great stories about our family.
They thought of it as something useful they could do on the homefront. I wonder if someone will ever search for the plane.
A fascinating account.
Thank you, Anne.
nwpaintedlady says:
I have been following your story of the family for some time and I was truly moved with sadness with this post ~ Sharon
Thank you, Sharon. I even tried to work through the system to see if I could have Dale officially named as a POW but didn’t have any luck. I thought it might dig out more information that I’d already discovered. And you don’t know whether to hope he was a POW, or that he didn’t survive the initial crash. Dale’s twin sister Darlene will be 98 in May.
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Brenda Marjorie Hale
Brenda Marjorie Hale, Baroness Hale of Richmond DBE PC QC FBA (born 31 January 1945) is an English barrister, jurist and judge, who is the current Deputy President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. In 2004, she joined the House of Lords as a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary. She is the only woman ever to have been appointed to this position.
Education, Politics
Brenda Marjorie Hale on Wikipedia
Profile https://www.theguardian.com/u…
Positive discrimination may be needed to redress the gender imbalance among senior judges, the only woman in Britain's highest court has proposed. The supreme court justice Lady Hale warned that the UK is "out of step with the rest of the world" in terms of judicial diversity.
And to top it all, next Monday the first woman to join their ranks - a self-confessed feminist who has declared that she wants "to see changes in the way society is organised, rather than wanting women to conform to male-determined roles" - takes up her post.
Brenda Hoggett, as a member of the Law Commission played a major role in the development of the Family Law Act 1996. This is the Act which incorporated the 'no-fault' divorce principle, already introduced in the 1970s by stealth, into statute, without the approval of most of the public or even of their knowledge. The effects of 'no-fault' divorce on men are described in our publications pages. She has also promoted the idea that the law should treat married and cohabiting couples in the same manner.
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Jungle Book Wiki
Tabaqui
Ranjan
Kaa
Bhoot
Characters, Bengal tigers, Males,
Desceased
Characters appearing in The Jungle Book (1994 movie)
Shere Khan and Mowgli
Species: Bengal tiger
Place of Origin: Unknown
Weapon: Teeth and Claws
Death: Trampled by buffaloes
Appears in: Mowgli's Brothers,How Fear Came,Tiger! Tiger!
Shere Khan was a tiger of the Indian jungle and the main antagonist of The Jungle Book. Shere Khan was Mowgli's archenemy.
After accidentally stepping into a bear trap , and derisively nicknamed Lungri (The Lame One) by his own mother, Shere Khan was arrogant and regarded himself as the rightful lord of the jungle. It seemed, however, that the only creature who looked up to him was Tabaqui, the cowardly, despised jackal.
One of Shere Khan's failed attempt to hunt humans caused a human "cub" to stray from his parents. By the time Shere Khan caught up with the infant it had already been adopted by the wolves Raksha and Father Wolf, who have named it Mowgli. Despite Shere Khan's bluster, Mowgli was accepted into Akela's wolf pack and protected by Bagheera and Baloo. Furious at losing his kill, the tiger swore that the cub would be his some day.
Over the next decade, while Mowgli was growing up, Shere Khan infiltrated the wolf pack by promising the younger wolves rich rewards once Akela was deposed. His plan came to a head when the young wolves maneuvered Akela into missing his kill, and the pack council met to expel him.
At the meeting Shere Khan threatened that if the wolves did not give him Mowgli he would take over their hunting territory. Having been warned by Bagheera, however, Mowgli attacked Shere Khan and his allies with a burning branch and drove them away. Akela left the pack to become a lone hunter. Mowgli returned to the human village, but swore that he would return one day with Shere Khan's skin.
After he reached the village Mowgli was adopted by Messua and her husband and learned human ways. He also learned that the villagers had heard of the lame tiger, which had a price on its head, but believed it was lame because it was the reincarnation of a money-lender who was lamed in a riot. When Mowgli scoffed at these fanciful tales the villagers decided to put him to work herding buffalo to keep him out of trouble. While he was doing so he met his wolf friend Grey Brother, who told him that Shere Khan was still planning to kill him. Grey Brother forced Tabaqui to tell him where and when Shere Khan was planning to strike, and then killed the jackal. With the help of Akela, Grey Brother and Mowgli traped Shere Khan in a narrow canyon and stampeded the buffalo, which trampled him to death.
Mowgli then set out to fulfill his promise by skinning Shere Khan, but while he was doing so he was interrupted by the village's elderly chief hunter Buldeo who wanted the tiger's hide for the reward. Mowgli called Akela, who pinned Buldeo down while Mowgli finished removing the hide.
Mowgli assumed that this would be an end of the matter, since in the jungle quarrels were usually settled quickly, but when he returned to the village with the buffalo the villagers drove him away, accusing him of witchcraft. Furious at being driven out of not one but two 'packs', Mowgli left. That night he fulfilled his pledge by laying Shere Khan's hide upon the wolf pack's council rock, and then danced upon the hide singing of his anger and confusion.
Thus Shere Khan's story came to an end, but the consequences of Mowgli's actions in defeating him continued to affect Mowgli and his adopted parents. Soon afterwards Mowgli discovered that the villagers were preparing to burn Messua and her husband to death for harbouring a witch-boy, and so he prepared to rescue them and take revenge on Buldeo and the villagers.
Trivias Edit
Bubu/Claw the Lion from Kimba the White Lion resembles Shere Khan, except in Aryll's New World from Astro Boy Productions, who's named Chere Chan.
Scar the Lion from The Lion King also resembles Shere Khan the Tiger, and are both Disney Villains.
In the real world, India has had at least eight actual man-eating tigers, though most of these were alive long after the stories were made.
The Disney version Edit
In Disney's 1967 animated adaptation of The Jungle Book, Shere Khan is the main antagonist, entering the story about three-quarters of the way through. His seductive, purring voice was supplied by the late George Sanders, and by Carlos Petrel in the Spanish version of the movie. He was designed and animated by master animator Milt Kahl. Khan is not depicted as being lame — quite the contrary, he is extremely powerful, deadly, and sophisticated. His mere presence in the jungle compels the wolf pack to send Mowgli away, since Shere Khan will kill him just on the principle that Mowgli is human; Man's gun and Man's fire are the only things Shere Khan fears. He easily avoids falling victim to Kaa's hypnotic powers, though whether it is from experience, observation, or immunity is unclear.
In the climactic battle of the movie, he finds Mowgli and gives him a ten second head-start. Once he reaches ten, Baloo grabs his tail and holds him back. Shere Khan chases Mowgli, who is being carried away by the vultures, while dragging Baloo behind him. Baloo proves such an impediment to Khan that he turns and attacks Baloo until the vultures arrive and distract him. Mowgli finds a burning branch from a lightning-struck tree and ties it to Khan's tail. When a vulture's comment prompts Khan to notice the branch, he tries in vain to put the fire out and winds up running away frantically.
In the Disney animated television show TaleSpin, Shere Khan is a recurring character. He's been anthropomorphized and personifies the wealthy industrialist archetype, the president of a huge conglomerate called Khan Industries. Occasionally, he would engage in somewhat dishonest business practices, but, for the most part, his most consistent characterization was as a cutthroat, often ruthless, but largely honorable businessman, who seemed to hold to a personal code of integrity (though that code was never very well-defined.) His business practices occasionally put him at odds with Baloo and the other TaleSpin heroes, but he is essentially a fair-minded man and gets on reasonably well with them. In the show, he was very grim-faced and serious. He had an almost unflappable demeanor, able to maintain an icy cool exterior even while (on at least one occasion) being shot at by air pirates (not flinching even when bullets missed him by inches.) His voice in the series was provided by the late Tony Jay.
In the television series Jungle Cubs (1996-1998), a prequel to the original 1967 film, Shere Khan appears as a young tiger cub. The show reveals that he was once friends with Baloo, Bagheera, King Louie, Kaa, and Hathi and, much like Kaa, was also seen having somewhat of a less malevolent personality as a cub than as an adult, but is still arrogant and haughty. Khan often tagged along with Baloo and friends on many adventures, usually trying to prove he's braver than they are. In the series, Shere Khan is given an American accent, while in other appearances, Khan speaks with a British accent. He seems to be the oldest of the cubs. He is sometimes called Khanny by others. In spite of being a cub, Khan still holds his intimidating demeanor and continues to strike fear into the hearts of many of the jungle's inhabitants. However, his cocky attitude can get him and his friends into trouble with foes even he's frightened by, usually by bigger animals. Khan prefers to refer to the others as his followers rather than his friends, even though he obviously enjoys spending time with them. During the second season though, while still friends with the other cubs, he becomes less often seen with them and spends more time hunting. Much like an adult, Khan was sometimes found with Kaa. In one episode, the duo teamed up to take advantage of Louie, after he accidentally injured them. Acting as if they were too injured to do anything themselves, they spent the day bossing the ape around. Khan is the least physically-changed of the cubs during the second season: He is slightly taller with brighter fur, but still has the same voice actor. In Jungle Cubs: Born to Be Wild DVD, Khan, as an adult, returned to murder Mowgli yet again; however, Baloo was able to throw a beehive onto the tiger's head right before he could, having him run off in pain. He was voiced by Jason Marsden in the series and Enzo Fortuny in the Spanish version.
Shere Khan appears again as the main antagonist in the theatrical sequel to the 1967 film, The Jungle Book 2 (2003). When Mowgli returns to the jungle, the tiger seeks revenge and places Mowgli's friend Shanti in jeopardy, only to be defeated again, but not killed. Shere Khan appears again in The Jungle Book 3 (2003) After Shere Khan has escaped from the lava pit, he was captured and was sold to a Russian circus along with Baloo. Meanwhile Bagheera, Shanti, Ranjan, and Mowgli have decided to save them both. After they saved them, Shere Khan regrets his hatred against humanity due to his capture, and had changed his evil ways. He is again voiced by Tony Jay in the films. Tony Jay also provided the voice when Shere Khan was featured as a guest in House of Mouse.
Shere Khan the Tiger is biting Baloo the Bear's butt.jpg
Shere Khan the Tiger bites Baloo the Bear on the butt.jpg
Baloo the Bear still holds Shere Khan the Tiger's tail.jpg
Baloo the Bear is still grabbing Shere Khan the tiger's tail.jpg
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Shere Khan frightening Jumeirah.png
"I'm going to enjoy hunting humans."
Shere Khan, Tabaqui, Grizzle and his Henchmen.png
Retrieved from "https://junglebook.fandom.com/wiki/Shere_Khan?oldid=10035"
More Jungle Book Wiki
1 Mowgli
2 Shanti
3 Tabaqui
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Knowledge through the scientific imagination
Fiora Salis is Associate Lecturer at the University of York. She works on imagination, fiction and scientific models. Currently, she is developing a new project on epistemic uses of imagination in science and art.
A post by Fiora Salis.
The problem of how scientists gain knowledge of reality through imagination in scientific models is still largely unresolved. Consider the Lotka-Volterra model of predator-prey dynamics. The model is usually identified with two differential equations interpreted as describing the growth rates of two populations, one prey and one predator, dynamically interacting with each other. To facilitate mathematical treatment, the model makes a number of assumptions, including that predators have infinite appetite, prey have limitless supplies of food, and the environment never changes. These assumptions enable the isolation of certain features of predator-prey interaction (including for example the density of the two populations) not by abstracting away from some particular predators and prey interacting with each other, but by stipulating that some populations having certain features interact in such and such a way. These assumptions, of course, are false (the idealized populations do not exist in reality), but they are not lies either. They are the product of creative uses of imagination that divert from reality to generate a model system as the object of study. They describe two imaginary populations interacting with each other under imaginary conditions. And this enables the generation of certain hypotheses and the assessment of their truth-likeness. The model predicts that the dynamic interaction between predators and prey will show a cyclical relationship in their numbers. Imagination is therefore vital both to the construction and development of the model and to the generation of plausible hypotheses.
What sort of knowledge is produced through scientific imagination? An answer to this question is inspired by the similar problem of how we learn through imaginative engagement with works of fiction. When creating and developing a work of art, the artist considers alternative possible ways the work could be developed, including possible outcomes (similar to the scientist when creating and developing a scientific model). Sometimes readers and literary critics do the same in forming an evaluative judgment of how the work could have been better or worse than it actually is (similar to scientists assessing the truth-likeness of hypotheses generated through imagination in the model). For example, by imagining a different ending to a story, we may come to a reliable judgment about the strengths and weaknesses of the work. So reliable critical evaluation sometimes requires imagining alternative possibilities. Knowing what those other possible versions are requires imagination. So, justified artistic evaluation in some important cases requires imagination (just like justified scientific evaluation of models requires imagination).
Imagination also plays an integral role in the ways in which people can gain knowledge of reality. Flaubert created and developed Madame Bovary through his own imagination and wrote about the vicissitudes of Emma Bovary, a doctor’s wife in provincial Northern France who lived beyond her means and had adulterous affairs. We, as readers, imaginatively engage with the story and learn about Emma’s psychology, including the reasons for and consequences of her actions. But we also learn about contemporary rural French people, their social aspirations and the ways they aped an urban bourgeoisie.
Philosophers of art usually distinguish between knowledge-claims about the fiction and the imaginary scenario associated with it, and knowledge-claims about reality that are generated through the fiction (Novitz 1987). A similar distinction can be made also in the context of modelling. Scientists can make knowledge-claims about the imaginary system described in the model, and they can make knowledge-claims about reality that are produced through imagination in the model. For example, they can claim to know how imaginary predator and prey populations interact in the Lotka-Volterra model and, on the basis of this claim, they can also claim to know how real predator and prey populations dynamically interact with each-other. This distinction provides a useful basis for the systematic investigation of the sort of knowledge involved in these contexts.
This investigation, however, presupposes a previous understanding of the ways in which imagination is constrained. Imagination is often thought of as being completely free and subject to the will. But the key to a genuine understanding of knowledge through imagination is in those uses of imagination that are constrained in certain relevant ways (Kind and Kung 2016). I hypothesise that there are three main types of constraints on imagination, architectural, context-specific and epistemic.
Architectural constraints are determined by the cognitive structure of the imagination and operate on all uses of imagination. Two main architectural constraints emerge from contemporary studies in cognitive psychology, mirroring and quarantining (e.g. Leslie 1987; Perner 1991; Nichols and Stich 2000). Mirroring is displayed when imagination carries inferential commitments that are similar to those carried by belief. Quarantining is that feature of imagination according to which imaginings have effects only within an imaginative context and do not guide action in the real world. Of course, this does not mean that nothing of real-world importance can be learned through imagination. But learning through imagination requires moving one step away from it, by exporting what one has learned within an imaginary context outside of it and into reality.
Context-specific constraints are determined by disciplinary conventions and interpretative practices. Walton (1990) appeals to reality orientation and mutual belief orientation as contributing to the generation of truths in fiction. Reality orientation operates when features of an imagined episode are derived from features of reality. Mutual belief orientation operates when features of an imagined episode are derived from the mutual beliefs of the community where the episode originated. Both constraints are highly problematic, but I do not have the space to engage in a critical discussion here. Others have already emphasised that imagination is constrained differently in different artistic genres, e.g. epic, tragic, comic (Shen-yi Liao 2016). And Roman Frigg and I (forthcoming) argue that different (context-specific) constraints operate on imagination in different types of models, e.g. mathematic, mechanistic, computational. However, context-specific constraints have not been studied in any rigorous or systematic way and they are still poorly understood.
Finally, epistemic constraints are determined by the particular epistemic purposes (the sort of knowledge we want to acquire) of an episode of imagination. Not all constrained uses of imagination are aimed at gaining knowledge of reality. A writer of fiction and her readers might respectively create a work of fiction and imaginatively engage with it to escape reality or to enjoy a particular imaginative experience. Scientists typically have some particular epistemic purpose in mind when building and developing a model. I can see at least two epistemic constraints on imagination: justification and rationality. What makes a particular imagining justified is the possession of evidence that is provided by the original set of assumptions together with the relevant context-specific constraints. We are justified in imagining that Emma Bovary was the wife of a country doctor if this conforms to the story’s stipulations that this was the case. Similarly, we are justified in imagining that predator and prey populations dynamically interact with each other in cyclical ways if this conforms to the imaginings generated in the Lotka-Volterra model according to the relevant context-specific constraints. A particular imagining is minimally rational if it is a member of a set of imaginings that is internally consistent. A set of imaginings is internally consistent if for any proposition p in the set it is the case that either p or not-p holds. Imagining that a predator population has infinite appetite is rational if this is true in the model and it is not the case that the same population does not have infinite appetite in the same model. Imagining that Emma was the wife of a country doctor is rational if this is true in the story and it is not the case that she was not a country doctor’s wife in the same story. This minimal rationality condition can be strengthened by adding further conditions relating to the particular evidence provided in the imaginary context of the fiction or the model.
There is no philosophical or scientific understanding of how scientific and aesthetic imagination generate knowledge of reality. However, philosophers and cognitive scientists have a common interest in this issue and bringing together both perspectives may lead to a better understanding in the future.
Kind, Amy and Kung, Peter 2016. Introduction: The puzzle of imaginative use. In Amy Kind and Peter Kung (eds), Knowledge Through Imagination, Oxford University Press.
Leslie, Alan, 1987. Pretense and representation: The origins of ‘Theory of Mind’. Psychological Review 94/4: 412-26.
Liao, Shen-yi, 2016. Imaginative Resistance, Narrative Engagement, Genre, Res Philosophica 93/2: 461-482.
Nichols, Shaun and Stich, Steven 2000. A cognitive theory of pretense. Cognition 74: 115-47.
Novitz, David 1987. Knowledge, Fiction & Imagination. Temple University Press.
Perner, Josef 1991. Understanding the Representational Mind. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Salis, Fiora and Frigg, Roman forthcoming. Capturing the scientific imagination. In Peter Godfrey-Smith and Arnon Levy (eds), The Scientific Imagination, Oxford University Press.
Walton, Kendall 1990. Mimesis as Make-Believe. Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA.
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Illustration by
Mytam Vo
Controversy in the courtroom
Phones buzzed as headline after headline read “Brett Kavanaugh confirmed for Supreme Court” after the Senate voted 50-48 to confirm Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the highest court in the land — an expected, but nonetheless disappointing decision for many Americans.
The debate of Kavanaugh’s moral character was one that divided America. However, it was apparent to us that he had tacky and immature manners, such as a moment during his hearing when he asked a senator if she had blacked out due to being drunk, or asking a senator if they like beer.
A Supreme Court Justice should be of the highest moral standard, and should have an immaculate personal history, without any skeletons in the closet.
However, that was not the case with Judge Brett Kavanaugh, who shortly after his Supreme Court nomination, was accused of allegations of sexual harrasement by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, while the two were in high school in the 1980s.
Two additional allegations were brought forth by Deborah Ramirez and Julie Swetnick, which corroborated the initial accusation of sexual harassment.
Although it was never decided whether or not these allegations were 100 percent factual, Ford delivered a moving and brave testimony before the committee, after which it was decided that a week long FBI investigation would take place.
The investigation did not dig up any additional evidence, and Kavanaugh was confirmed on Saturday, Oct. 6.
The decision to confirm Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court disheartened many, and was a step backward in the Me Too movement, which has gained significant traction recently.
Although many abusers have been exposed for their disgusting behavior, a potential abuser now sits on the highest court in America and makes daily decisions that affect millions of lives.
By disregarding Ford’s statement, the people in power are giving a pass to yet another white man with atrocious moral character.
However, even though this decision slowed the progress of the Women’s Rights and the Me Too movement, we still commend Dr. Ford for her bravery. It is a daunting task to have the eyes of the whole nation. She fulfilled her civic duty by bringing forth her allegations, regardless of her own personal cost.
We now have to look to the future. Whether we like it or not, Brett Kavanaugh is a Supreme Court Justice, and it is extremely unlikely he will be impeached. His power is real and valid.
We also realize that a possible abuser is in power. His appointment, as well as the Republican response to Dr. Ford, sets a disgusting precedent for this country because it dismisses many other women’s stories.
Although we cannot determine who will be nominated in the future, we can make sure that another abuser is never in a place of power again.
As Sen. Chuck Schumer said, “we ask that if you didn’t like what you see, vote. If you are upset and think that men like Kavanaugh should never be in a position of that magnitude, vote.”
If you’re angered by Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination, bring that anger with you to the Midterm elections. Vote the people who confirmed Kavanaugh out of power. Make your voice heard.
Staff Editorials represent the majority view of the Warrior’s editorial board.
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