pred_label
stringclasses 2
values | pred_label_prob
float64 0.5
1
| wiki_prob
float64 0.25
1
| text
stringlengths 160
1.02M
| source
stringlengths 39
45
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
__label__wiki
| 0.971924
| 0.971924
|
About TLE
SUPPORT FREE INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM
Tech/Auto
Man who can’t build bridge across the Thames wants to construct one across the Channel
Boris Johnson, whose London bridge project collapsed in acrimony last year after shelling out £37 million on the project, yesterday proposed a 22-mile bridge across the Channel. The Foreign Secretary oversaw plans for a “garden bridge” in London during his tenure as Mayor that would stretch 366 metres across the Thames. But the “garden paradise” was […]
by Jack Peat
in News, Politics
Devil in the Detail
Boris Johnson, whose London bridge project collapsed in acrimony last year after shelling out £37 million on the project, yesterday proposed a 22-mile bridge across the Channel.
The Foreign Secretary oversaw plans for a “garden bridge” in London during his tenure as Mayor that would stretch 366 metres across the Thames.
But the “garden paradise” was canned by Sadiq Khan, who said he could not justify the £200 million construction.
Not that the catastrophic fail has spoilt Johnson’s appetite for bridge building.
The foreign secretary discussed the issue with Emmanuel Macron, the French president, at the Anglo-French summit, saying it was “ridiculous” that two of the world’s biggest economies are linked by a single railway line.
BJ has a history of failed infrastructure projects. His Thames Estuary airport never got off the ground either at a cost of £3.2 million to the taxpayer.
That’s over £40 million in failed investment from the foreign secretary.
Extraordinary scenes across UK as Extinction Rebellion start ‘summer uprising’ in five cities
Mars could be made habitable by creating small islands
US Air Force “stands ready” as up to a million people plan to storm Area 51
Gang supplying cocaine to City workers in square mile have been jailed for 33 years
Boris Johnson calls Sadiq Khan a “puffed up pompous popinjay” over Trump visit
“Poundland Donald Tump” Boris Johnson repeats false £350m a week pledge for NHS post-Brexit
Boris Johnson – The most indiscreet man in public life in charge of MI6 and GCHQ
Who is the UK’s most important relationship?
Tags: headline
Jack Peat
Jack is a business and economics journalist and the founder of The London Economic (TLE).He has contributed articles to The Sunday Telegraph, BBC News and writes for The Big Issue on a weekly basis.Jack read History at the University of Wales, Bangor and has a Masters in Journalism from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
TLE,
International House,
24 Holborn Viaduct,
London EC1A 2BN,
Editorial enquiries, please contact: jack@thelondoneconomic.com
Commercial enquiries, please contact: advertise@thelondoneconomic.com
We do not charge or put articles behind a paywall. If you can, please show your appreciation for our free content by donating whatever you think is fair to help keep TLE growing and support real, independent, investigative journalism.
© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2553
|
__label__wiki
| 0.529633
| 0.529633
|
Pro/Con Debates
Editorial Cartoons & Illustrations
The Rampage Online
Blake Evans was born on June 24, 1999 and is an English major and aspiring journalist. He hopes to go into investigative journalism and uncover the next Watergate. Blake’s interest in journalism began with high school speech and debate where he had to use current events to formulate debate cases. While researching current events, Blake discovered an interest in the news, particularly in long form investigative pieces.
Despite this, when entering college in 2017, Blake had no idea of what major he wanted to pursue or what he wanted to do with his life. It wasn’t until Spring semester 2018, that Blake decided he should pursue his journalism interest.
Blake was born and raised in Fresno, California but is thinking about leaving the Central Valley after college. After Spring 2019, Blake hopes to transfer either to a UC or to Fresno State where he plans to get a BA in English.
Another interest of Blake's is politics. He loves to debate and talk about politics with anyone who listens. Blake’s interest in politics began during the 2016 election. This election was really the first political awakening for Blake as it was the first election he paid attention to.
Blake previously wrote for The Rampage in fall 2018 and is returning for spring 2019.
Blake’s other interests include watching TV, playing video games, and arguing on Twitter. He has one dog, a German Shepherd named Capone, after Al Capone. Blake’s favorite food is pizza. In the future, Blake wants to travel more.
Blake Evans, Reporter
Philosophy Professor and Academic Senate President Retires (Story)
Shame, Stigma, Misinformation Compound Food Insecurity Problems (Story)
Breaking the Cycle of Poverty and Hunger (Story/Media)
The Mueller Report Won’t Save Democrats in 2020 (Story)
FCC Solar Project Shines Bright (Story)
“The Little Prince” Hits Center Stage at FCC (Story)
Participants Reminded of History in Rites of Passage Ceremony (Story)
Herrick’s Book Celebrated With Poetry Readings (Story/Media)
Poetry Instructor Celebrates Release of Third Book (Story)
Block Party Empowers Southeast Fresno Community (Story)
Xochipahtli: Healing Through Flowers (Story)
CityFest — Night of Music, Food, Wine (Story/Media)
Sunshine Derek is Fighting for a Brighter Future (Story/Media)
New Music Faculty Add Classes, Events (Story)
The News Site of Fresno City College
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2555
|
__label__wiki
| 0.52585
| 0.52585
|
Home »Research»PAPER TRAIL 2»Mind Mirror Research with Well-known Healers
Introduction. Maxwell Cade was a physicist who studied psychology and medicine pre WW2. He joined the RAF as a navigator and developed improved radio navigation techniques. After the war he published research papers on infra red physics and became a scientific consultant, both here and in the USA. Through his upbringing he had a profound knowledge of Eastern philosophy and was an experienced meditator. His aim was to provide a scientific basis for the study and practice of higher states of consciousness by correlating brainwave patterns and polygraph (lie detector) readings with subjective mental states. To this end he opened the Franklin School, in Hampstead (1970-1985) with his wife, Isobel, eventually attended by some 3,000 students, including swamis, yogis, zen masters, mediums, healers and clairvoyants. An electroencephalic (EEG) unit, called the Mind Mirror, was developed that showed the profile of brain wave frequencies from both sides of the brain from high to low frequencies (30-1Hz), as sideways bars of differing lengths according to the amplitude of each frequency looking, as in the picture (The illustration shows frequency profile typical of a healer in the intention to heal mindset with maximum amplitude around 7.8Hz (1Hz = 1 cycle per second). These frequencies have been divided, functionally, into four frequency bands having a rough correlation with subjective states as follows:
Beta (13-30/40Hz), associated with normal waking brain activity.
Alpha (8-13Hz), associated with passive, meditative mental activity.
Theta (4-8Hz), associated with a dreamy state of mind.
Delta (1-4Hz), deep sleep.
For example, a person in a steady state of meditation held a steady brainwave profile with wide amplitude bars (row of light emitting diodes (LEDs)) at around Alpha/theta 9 Hz, as did the healing mindset into Theta at a slightly lower frequency around 7.8 Hz. These profiles might vary up and down the frequency range according to the healer, but remained recognizably consistent. As a result of his research Max had classified a ladder of consciousness into a hierarchy from ‘0’ as initial relaxation to ‘8’ when in a state of deep meditation into universal awareness. Meditation was the fifth state, defined as a ‘Very lucid state of consciousness. Deeply satisfying. Intense alertness, calmness and detachment, and this included the intention-to-heal mindset. The school closed soon after Maxwell’s untimely death in 1984 from an acute asthma attack, and this era of exciting research, including healing, came to an abrupt end. Unfortunately, Max never published any research papers on healing so his findings never gained any academic recognition, but chapter 8 of his book is devoted to the subject and this is a summary of his findings. Some of the well known healers of the time who became involved in this research over several years were Major Bruce MacManaway (Healing: The Energy That Can Restore Health with Johanna Turkan, 1983. Excellent book, still on Amazon, highly recommended), Edgar Chase, retired physicist, and his wife, Hilda, Mrs Rose Gladden, and Addie Raeburn (wife of the Keeper of the Tower of London at the time no less!).
Ch 8. When watching simultaneous recordings of Mrs Raeburn’s EEG profiles and her clients’ profiles, the frequencies of her two brain hemispheres, initially quite different in outline, slowed down and were seen to come slowly into frequency accord over some 4-5 minutes as she entered the healing mindset with a similar profile on both sides. Within a short time the healee’s profile, initially completely different, developed a similar pattern that stayed constant throughout the healing session. Afterwards they diverged back to normal with widely different patterns. It was found that this entrainment was more effective if her hands were laid on the head rather than over the site of injury. For example, when healing a patient over several weeks who had suffered severe leg injuries with resulting pain and stiffness, he still had very poor balance on that leg and could not ride his bike. When watching the Mind Mirror Cade noticed that no change of EEG pattern occurred while her hands were on his leg, but when Max suggested that she moved to his head and stayed there, his EEG profile came into line over some 25 minutes with a sense of healing, and within 3 days he could balance on the leg and ride his bike. This observation was followed up and it was found that, with hands-on healing, healing was more successful, and the healee’s EEG came into closer entrainment, when the healer’s hands were placed on the head than elsewhere.
It was also found that, except for the most exceptional healers, many healer’s EEG patterns and apparent healing effectiveness was reduced if their minds wandered, or if they indulged in general chat with the healee, whose own EEG pattern also tended to break up. In a very interesting experiment with Major MacManaway with the patient attached to the Mind Mirror, they found that with up to seven healers present, as each healer went behind the patient and joined the team the healee’s EEG pattern became incrementally increased, interpreted as an increase in healing power from the linked healers.
Distant healing entrainment. In an experiment to see if a patient’s EEG profile could be affected by distant healing Edgar Chase went into one room with Geoffrey Blundell, the electronics expert who had designed and built the Mind Mirror, and was duly connected up. The patient, also connected to the Mind Mirror, remained in the consulting with Mrs Chase who pretended to be getting ready to do the healing but would not be the healer. Max and Isobel stayed in the consulting room watching the patient’s Mind Mirror patterns. Unknown to the patient, an arrangement had been made that when a clock struck the hour Edgar would commence healing. On the stroke Edgar’s EEG came into the healing profile and the patient’s EEG was observed to come into a closely similar profile some 15 seconds later, remaining steady throughout the next 10 minutes of healing.
A striking example of healer to healee EEG entrainment by distant healing occurred during the Wrekin Trust 1978 Sixth Annual Health and Healing Conference, held at Loughborough University with an audience of 400 doctors, psychologists, scientists, healers and other professionals watching on closed circuit television. On the stage Mrs Rose Gladden, as the healer, was connected to a Mind Mirror. Nora Forbes, wife of a doctor present, volunteered to be the patient and, rather apprehensively, was also connected to a Mind Mirror. The entire audience were able to watch Mrs Gladden’s EEG profile change from everyday randomness to follow her through deepening levels of meditation into the profile of the healing mindset. Within a few minutes she was producing very strong low frequency alpha waves and then, gradually, Mrs Forbe’s EEG took up the same pattern over 15 minutes and became completely attuned. As Max says ‘It was such a clear-cut and undeniable demonstration, in terms understandable and convincing to all, that the audience was stunned. People cried, one or two even sobbed.’. (I have met a healer who was there and she said the atmosphere was absolutely electric). Mrs Gladden explained what she had felt and experienced ‘I tuned into a large golden cloud and channelled this love through my heart and head to Nora’. She said that she sensed there was something wrong with Nora on her left side below her ribs. Mrs Forbes, who had initially felt somewhat panicked at facing the large audience, said that she had become deeply relaxed and refreshed during the healing. She also said that she did have a kidney problem.
Healer Health. According to Cade the Mind Mirror profile showed very clearly that if a healer was physically unwell, even if it was ‘just a cold’, and/or mentally run down, their healing power diminished. A tired and stressed healer must take a break. For example, during a series of weekly studies with Mrs Raeburn they observed a gradual falling off in the strength of her EEG profile associated with a weakening of the pattern induced in the patient. She took a holiday, returned refreshed, and her healing power and patient’s response was back to normal. Cade observed this with several healers and the patients, unaware of the situation, corroborated this weakening of healing effect by saying that they didn’t seem to be getting so much out of the healing sessions.
Finding potential healers. Cade decided to use the Mind Mirror as a tool to discover if those who attained the fifth state depth of meditation were also potential healers. Over several months he tested the 100 or so students who had been trained to enter fifth state consciousness by including the healer – healee relationship. Of these students he found 15 who were able to transfer the fifth state EEG profile to the healee with resulting harmonisation of the nervous system and reported benefits to health (This seems to imply that to become a healer requires something more). Cade comments that the production of an ability to heal is not the same thing as producing effective healers. Many people may possess such a potential ability but are ineffective through faulty technique, lack of necessary precautions, mind wandering, and slipshod organisation. He therefore initiated an Introductory Course for Healers, covering elementary anatomy and physiology with practical instruction in mental preparation and healing technique combined with EEG training feedback to culminate into an award of a Certificate of Healing Competence. The intention was to work with healing organisations and trainers (who, at the time, were very involved in this research) to raise the general standard of healing effectiveness and public recognition. Unfortunately, all came to nought after his death as no other organisation such as the NFSH took the work forwards.
A very notable healer who attended the school was a certain Swami Prakashanand Saraswati. His EEG profile was one of a powerful healer and he was able to maintain this state during ordinary conversation with unwavering stability unmatched by any other healer. When he went round the students and put his hands on their head their Mind Mirror profile of consciousness immediately rose by 2 levels on Max’s attunement scale, and in one student this higher level lasted for 3 unforgettable days.
Neat medical anecdote. During a conference a doctor approached Cade and asked to be attached to the Mind Mirror to see whether he had any healing ability. Cade says ‘We were unhappy to learn that his rhythms were those of an ordinary academic, mainly beta (I just love that ‘ordinary academic’!). Before they decided to break the bad news Cade asked him to imagine he had a patient in his office for whom he could do little by way of ordinary medicine. He then asked him to try and heal this patient by sheer compassion. Almost immediately, his brain patterns began to change and settle into the profile of a strong healer.
Wider context. Studies in parapsychology, using the EEG to test for evidence of apparent telepathic communication between pairs of participants, have demonstrated such an effect, particularly when in close empathic rapport. A MRI study of 11 healers sending short periods of healing intention to close friends acting as healees while in the scanner, demonstrated activation of the healee’s brain, as shown by changes in blood flow, during healing periods that was absent during the non healing periods. In June and October, 2001, Ervin Laszlo, a philosopher/scientist polymath who has written many books on the interconnectedness of ourselves and the universe, attended seminars held at the Institute for Communication and Brain Research, Stuttgart. On each occasion a healer, Maria Sagi, induced her healer profile in the healee as shown on monitor screens with apparent improvement in symptoms (Ervin Laszlo, 2003, The Connectivity Hypothesis. In an appendix Maria describes these and other experiments)
Note. If you google up ‘Anna Wise’, who was a pupil of Cade’s and is now in America, you will see illustrations of the healing EEG profile in action.
The Awakened Mind by Maxwell Cade and Nona Coxhead (available on Amazon)
Summary of chapter 8 on ‘Mind Mirror Research with Well-known Healers’
Also see: The Story of Light and Metaphysics
CategoriesPAPER TRAIL 2, Research
← Previous Previous post: A Review of the Scientific Evidence Supporting the Reality of Spiritual Healing
Next → Next post: Probiotics Help with Alcohol-Damaged Liver
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2556
|
__label__wiki
| 0.524003
| 0.524003
|
Colorado High School Backtracks After Allowing Students to Opt Out of Black History Month
Filed to: EducationFiled to: Education
Administrators at George Washington High School in Denver decided to reverse its policy on optional assembly attendance after parents expressed their disapproval of a letter allowing students to opt of the school’s Black History Month Program.
The Denver Post reports:
On Tuesday, George Washington parents were sent an emailed newsletter that referenced the school’s “African-American Heritage Month assembly” in March that included a form allowing them to opt their kids out of attending the event.
“Students who opt-out of the assembly will be supervised in the library for the duration of the assembly and will return to their second-period class at the conclusion of the assembly to continue the school day,” the letter to parents reads.
After the school and local community organizations began receiving phone calls and messages from outraged parents, George Washington High School principal Kristin Waters clarified the school’s policy. Waters explained that parents were always given the option of holding their children out of assemblies. The policy covered programs like pep rallies, athletics, extracurricular activities, and—of course—the unnecessary need to learn the history of 13 percent of the population.
Denver Public Schools has a problem with black people.
That’s not an opinion. It is the conclusion of an 82-page report commissioned by DPS and numerous other studies about Denver Public Schools. Among other things, the reports found:
Black boys were much more likely to be suspended than white boys. Although 13 percent of DPS students are black, African American students made up 28 percent of suspensions in 2018.
Study participants acknowledged that many of DPS’s young, white female workforce are afraid of African American males. “Because of this, some teachers just kick black students out of the classrooms,” explained one teacher. One day I counted six African-American males just hanging out in the hallway because they were kicked out of class.”
Black teachers in the DPS system have a difficult time getting promotions and feel “isolated and unaccepted.”
In 2018, 67 percent of black students graduated on time, compared to 78 percent of white students, Chalkbeat reports.
Black students are given fewer resources than Hispanic students.
Last year, 17 percent of black students in grades 1 through 8 scored at or above their grade level. 65 percent of white students were proficient in math.
Just 10 percent of the students in high-level academic programs were black.
In a statement, Waters now says that students won’t be allowed to opt out of educational assemblies, although some might argue that all classes are actually “educational assembles.” What the hell is school except for one big educational assembly? How can you have a school where students can just opt out of learning shit?
“As we continue the important work of dismantling systemic racism, segregation and inequity in education, and specifically at George Washington High School, we appreciate our community holding us accountable,” Waters wrote in her letter to parents. “To expand the perspectives and learning opportunities for all of our students, it is counter-productive to promote the opportunity to opt-out of an assembly examining any part of history, culture or current events.”
It should be noted that none of the studies, news reports or letters to parents answered one question:
Why the fuck is black history being so ignored at Denver Public Schools that they need a one-day assembly?
This Black History Month, Let’s Recognize the African-American Prisoners Who Helped Build America
South Carolina School Celebrates Black History Month By Having 5th Graders Pick Cotton to 'Slavery Songs'... No, Really.
Goodbye British ‘Black History Month’? Cyber-Racism and Whitewashing Mar U.K. Celebration
World-renowned wypipologist. Getter and doer of "it." Never reneged, never will. Last real negus alive.
Recent from Michael Harriot
Murder Victim’s Sons Attack Their Mother’s Killer in Court
A Cop Killed EJ Bradford in an Alabama Mall and Someone Will Finally Face Jail Time—the Protesters
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2557
|
__label__cc
| 0.602519
| 0.397481
|
Oregon Festival
of American Music
The Shedd's annual August classic Songbook festival, Oregon Festival of American Music features classic musical theatre, cabaret, and standards-based jazz.
The Emerald City Jazz Kings
The Shedd Institute's resident historic jazz & classic American Songbook ensemble is now in its 22nd season, offering 4 all-new programs each year in Eugene, Florence and Corvallis.
Shedd Classical
The Shedd Institute's classical music series, featuring both self-produced local and national artists. Shedd Classical touches on the full extent of the European art music tradition, with a special interest in the Americas and 20th c.
Shedd Theatricals
Shedd Theatricals offers full, live-orchestra productions of the best of classic Broadway from the 1940s-60s and the fun-loving, witty, and totally sparkling musical comedies of the 1920s and '30s.
Mr. Tom's Magical Moombah!
Mr. Tom's Magical Moombah is a musical vaudeville for kids! Filled with skits, songs and contests, the Moombah introduces youngsters to the great songs that everyone should know!
The Now Hear This presents 35 to 40 concerts each year in a broad variety of genres from jazz and classical to bluegrass, world music and country, and more.
Shedd Presents
Shedd Presents offers a fascinating mix of special projects by top local artists. It regularly premieres projects that subsequently become permanent ongoing features in the Shedd mix.
Shedd Welcomes
Each year The Shedd Institute welcomes a wide range of concerts and special events presented by other community cultural, educational and social institutions.
Shedd Music School Home
The Shedd Community Music School's home page is the place to start for newcomers to get oriented on what we have to offer currently and throughout the year.
Private Lessons at The Shedd
Interested in private lessons? Over 40 Shedd faculty members offer private lessons in a variety of musical instruments, voice and dance and in different styles. All ages are welcome and lessons can begin any time.
Current Classes & Camps
Music and dance classes are offered on a term-by-term basis and most can be joined in-progress. Also don't miss our summer camps. Follow this link for a list of current and future terms.
Music School Faculty
The Shedd Community Music School's 40+ faculty members offer private lessons, workshops, and classes in a wide variety of musical genres and related genres. Follow this link to a listing of this term's active faculty.
Performance: A Pocketful Of Dreams
Previous: A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square | Last
You'd Be Surprised
Ziegfeld Follies of 1919, (1919)
Irving Berlin (w/m)
Heard at The Shedd...
Ziegfeld Follies of 1919
Aug 9 OFAM 2006 Come On And Hear! Jaqua
Aug 6 OFAM 2014 Some Like It Hot Jaqua
Year Title Medium Type Usage
1919 Ziegfeld Follies of 1919 stage stage annual edition introduced
The John G. Shedd Institute for the Arts (The Shedd)
E. Broadway & High Street, Eugene | PO Box 1497, Eugene OR 97440-1497 | Phone 541.687.6526 | Tickets: 541.434.7000 | Email: info@theshedd.net
Copyright © 1991-2017 The John G. Shedd Institute for the Arts. All rights reserved. Shedd Institute Reviews Google+
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2559
|
__label__wiki
| 0.8573
| 0.8573
|
Sean Dyche: I have never eaten worms
Timothy Abraham
January 18 2018, 12:00pm, The Times
Dyche’s former team-mate Andersen claimed that the Burnley manager ate worms at Bristol CityTOBY MELVILLE/REUTERS
The Burnley manager Sean Dyche has laughed off suggestions that he used to eat worms at training during his playing days.
Soren Andersen, Dyche’s former team-mate, made the bizarre claim that when the pair were together at Bristol City it was one of his strange habits.
The ex-Denmark striker even joked that maybe the worm eating was the reason for Dyche’s gravelly voice. However, Dyche insists it was a training ground prank and he never actually used to eat them.
“I also smoke exhaust pipes as I’ve been told in the past that makes my throat like this,” Dyche joked of his gruff tones.
“I also have gravel for breakfast, that’s another thing. Those three things combined are what keeps this voice sounding like it…
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2561
|
__label__cc
| 0.62403
| 0.37597
|
Students launch online strike payout calculator
Shingi Mararike
March 25 2018, 12:01am, The Sunday Times
Alex Hughes, left, and Bruce Jones: students are making claims of up to £1,400 on their website
For thousands of students, the ongoing strike by lecturers is devastating their academic studies.
For two students at Nottingham University, however, it has turned into a way of demonstrating their technical aptitude.
Alex Hughes, 22, who is studying mechanical engineering, and his housemate, Bruce Jones, 22, studying computer science, have created a “strike compensation calculator”.
Since it was launched this month, their website, which took just two days to build, has attracted nearly 16,500 hits, with students making claims of up to £1,400.
The free calculator asks students to enter their annual tuition fee, alongside details of their affected lectures and tutorials, to calculate how much compensation they are owed for lost teaching time.
The site copies the figure into an email template that a…
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2562
|
__label__wiki
| 0.533772
| 0.533772
|
'March for Our Lives' in Batavia mostly an adult event
posted by Howard B. Owens in March for our Lives, batavia, 2nd Amendment, news, notify.
Across the country today protests against gun violence in schools were held in cities large and small, and news reports indicate many high school students joined those protests, dubbed nationwide as "March for our Lives."
There was also a march in Batavia today, organized by local progressives, and more than 200 people turned out -- mostly adults, mostly people age 50 and older.
The idea of high school students grabbing the spotlight in the fight against gun violence began after the Parkland, Fla., shooting where 17 students died and students at that school immediately began speaking out.
On March 14, hundreds of Batavia High School students participated in a national walkout to protest gun violence at schools.
Few of those students turned out for today's event. There were perhaps five or six teenagers in today's crowd.
Batavia HS student Lauren Leone served as the event's emcee and one of the speakers was BHS student Sophia Alkhouri Stuart.
"We are calling all the adults in our country to live up to their responsibility to help protect us from gun violence," Stuart said. "Today as you march, you are marching for life. We need to be united in our commitment to life and to innocent children who are committed to learning. We need to eliminate the ability of those who seek to harm others to get ahold of a gun. This is our time and this is our chance to change the story of our schools."
The other speakers were all adults.
Pastor James Renfrew opened with a short sermon drawing on a parable from the New Testament about a farmer sowing seeds. Renfrew said there were many lessons to draw from the parable, including the importance of listening.
"Listen to our children," Renfrew said. "Listen to their worries and fears. Listen to their thoughts and dreams. In listening, we become the seeds planted in good soil, growing, and thriving and multiplying God’s hopes. As you listen to the voices of children, it becomes the amazing harvest described in the parable."
Most of the signs carried by marchers called for some degree of elimination of guns, such as banning assault rifles.
While not naming the National Rifle Association, Gary Pudup called out those organizations that oppose any and all gun control.
"There are those who will make false arguments trying to distract us from our goal, a society free of the constant fear of gun violence," Pudup said. "They will say we should simply strengthen background checks when strengthening background checks is meaningless unless the laws behind them are meaningful.
"They will tell us that teachers with guns are the cure for what ails us" -- at which point several people cried out "No." -- "They will tell us that the young man who committed the murders at Parkland was evil as if a 19-year-old was the very definition of evil. Let me give you my definition of evil. Evil is an organization that holds the values of profits higher than the value of children’s lives."
Pudup did praise a group founded in Rochester that is pursuing legislation focused on keeping guns out of the hands of potentially violent people, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. The organization is backing a bill that would create an "Emergency Restraining Protection Order," which would create a process in court to deny access to guns to anybody who is a threat to themselves or others.
Bethany resident Carol Kistner then spoke and said she had recently joined Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. She was dressed in a camouflage jacket that belongs to her husband and a camouflage shirt that belongs to her father to also represent her family's hunting interest. And the layers of clothing also represented the multilayered problem of gun violence, that the problem is complex and will defy easy solutions, such as just taking away guns.
She said Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America is an organization not interested in taking away anybody's guns.
"We recognize and want to preserve this wonderful tradition that my family has enjoyed forever," Kistner said. "Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America recognizes that there is a great fear among those who enjoy sports, the sports of shooting and hunting.
"We honor those traditions but our biggest challenge is to get out the word to our rural counties just like this one that we are not against you. We are for you. No one has greater respect for guns and gun safety than hunters and sportsman."
She said it's really up to those who understand guns and gun safety to support sensible action to help reduce gun violence.
She said the legislation the group is backing in New York would provide a process to deny access to guns for people who have threatened suicide, have shown they are violent criminals, or the violently mentally ill.
"Those are three places to potentially remove guns — with due process, of course," she said.
After the speech, the group marched from Williams Park to City Hall chanting slogans such as "Enough is Enough" and carrying their signs.
Top photo: Sophia Alkhouri Stuart.
Carol Kistner
jeff saquella
Joined: Sep 30 2008 - 5:22pm
How about march for morality?
Better yet....how about march for morality and mental health issues. gun control isn't the answer
Randy Sliker
Last seen: 3 months 1 week ago
Joined: Nov 1 2014 - 3:10pm
Looks Like Bloomburg and Soros Did not get Much Bang for the Bucks on this one !!
Rich Richmond
Last seen: 3 weeks 1 day ago
As an NRA Life Member, I agree with many, although not all of the things they said and disagree with one person, in particular. However, I support his and their right to a respectful, peaceful protest.
It is popular and fashionable these days to demonize and disparage the NRA, one of the oldest grassroots- civil rights organizations in the Country.
Despite what the so-called mainstream media, and Gary Pudup would have you to believe, the NRA, and it’s members are not evil. Coming together to find a solution is impossible when rhetoric such as Gary’s is on display.
It diluted and shamed the good intentions of the protest. I listened to what was said, and I agree with them on many points.
How do you know someone is an NRA Member, you don’t. Not all of us wear NRA hats and shirts or have NRA bumper stickers on our cars and trucks. We don’t all wear camouflage clothing, and many of us aren’t sportsman and don’t hunt at all. We have children and grandchildren in school and worry for their safety. NRA Members are your friends and neighbors, the common man woman. We have doctors, lawyers, teachers and other professional people in our ranks. We have the same values, hopes, and dreams as those people I mentioned in the peaceful protest.
Howard B. Owens
Last seen: 1 hour 59 min ago
Joined: Apr 23 2008 - 3:05pm
I think a lot of people doubt that the NRA represents its members these days.
Also, this interesting article popped up in my feed this morning.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/03/there-is-no-epidemic-of-mas...
March 25, 2018 - 12:08pm
Many people believe the opposite, including NRA Members. They see how the media copies and repeats, and shares articles, without checking the facts.
Here are interesting articles I have found.
https://www.naturalnews.com/2018-02-19-media-lies-no-nra-did-not-train-t...
https://downtrend.com/71superb/vile-liberal-media-lies-that-florida-scho...
Brian Graz
Last seen: 1 day 58 min ago
This pretty well sums up the dog n pony show we've been watching since Valentines Day... "There were perhaps five or six teenagers in today's crowd." If the March 14 school walkout was held on a Saturday most of the "children" wouldn't have been there.
NRA membership is somewhere between under 5 million to under 6 million. In a country with about 85 million gun owners, I wouldn't say that NRA is as powerful as many accredit it... I'd say, simply the voices of the gun-owners, along with those who value Constitutional guarantees is the power. Even though many of that group aren't involved and many don't even vote, the political goons realize that too aggressive gun control push, and/or restrictions on Constitutional rights, will change that quickly [in fact that is happening].
FWIW: For years while he was a sitting Congressman Ron Paul reiterated that GOA (Gun Owners of America) was the 2nd Amendment lobby that made a difference. They are who I belong and donate to.
Scott Birkby
Last seen: 2 months 2 weeks ago
Joined: May 15 2010 - 8:51am
Marching is a waste of time. Folks have been marching for the lives of the unborn for 45 years and it hasn't changed a thing.
David Barber
Last seen: 1 year 3 months ago
Joined: Jun 3 2010 - 7:41am
From a neutral standpoint it does appear there are more people in favor of gun regulation than there are against it. Blaming the media and Soros does not change this. I personally do not believe that regulations will solve this issue on its own but could be a positive factor if implemented correctly. I will honestly be happy with guns or without guns, hopefully people can find common ground on this entire issue because as a parent I want my children to live a long happy life. And I think we all agree that this is an issue, and words alone are not going to be the solution.
Maybe we should just concentrate on enforcing the laws that are currently out there rather than just pass more unenforceable laws.
Last seen: 7 hours 26 min ago
Joined: Jun 20 2010 - 9:51am
Enforcing existing laws rather than passing new ones? You mean like the laws that mandate checking to see if a person is mentally stable before buying a gun? Oh, right... never a law, just an Executive Order shot to heck, so to speak, by the current President while stating these shootings are a mental health issue, not a gun issue.
How about the law to mandate a background check before any gun purchase? Oh, right... that dastardly "gun show loophole"...
Existing laws are not cutting it.
david spaulding
Tim, will you explain the "gun show loophole" ? please, I really want to read this... and will you share the new laws you feel we need.? please, I want to read this too..... thanks Tim.
Tim, please describe these new laws you want and how they will be enforced.
Jim Urtel Jr
Last seen: 1 month 3 weeks ago
https://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geK9jkfLla_h8AvHUPxQt.;_ylu=X3oDMTBybG...
During my time in PA I attended a few of these gun shows where they gave you free booze hoping you`d spend more and you could buy just about anything with no questions asked. SKS`s, AK`s, exploding rounds and in one case, a bazooka! There is a problem here.
There was never an Executive Order by any President mandating a Mental Health check to purchase a firearm. Yes, I get it, you don’t like President Trump.
There is no National Data Base to draw on to do a Mental Health Check, and it currently may be against HIPAA Laws to do so. You also have the misguided and often abused youthful offender status, where records are sealed defeating this aspect of a thorough background check.
When you go into a fine Gun Shop like Batavia Marine, Walmart, K-Mart, etc., you are mandated by Federal Law to fill out an ATF 4473 Federal Background Form before you can purchase a firearm, rifles, pistols or shotguns.
Link to the form: https://www.pdffiller.com/jsfiller-desk7/?projectId=173262535&expId=3260...
You must fill out the form completely. The 4473 form asks you if you are the actual buyer, (not the actual buyer, and it is an illegal straw purchase) have you been convicted of a crime, are you mentally stable, etc., and for more questions, go to the link and download the form.
People are denied a purchase for good reasons, (criminal records), and there is seldom a follow up by law enforcement. It is against the law to lie on the form, and against the law for a mentally ill person or criminal to attempt to purchase a firearm.
When you go to a gun show in New York, all sales, private or otherwise require a 4473 Form and a background check, and again there is no follow-up by Law Enforcement when denied. We need to enforce the existing laws with a vengeance, stiffen the penalties for any convicted felon possessing a gun.
Rich - not all states are NYS.
And thank you for pointing out the Executive Order snafu. The real thing is
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-sign-bill-revoking-obama-era-gun...
So, not a Trump thing, but a Congress thing (also in the chorus of "not a gun issue, but a mental health issue").
I'm glad we can finally agree on something. Many other States also require the 4473 Form be filled out at gun shows.
From experience, PA did not.
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2567
|
__label__wiki
| 0.891239
| 0.891239
|
Eagle Scout candidate turns to Ranch for flag retiring project
Community Rancho Santa Fe
by Christina Macone-Greene August 16, 2018 051
A 13-year-old Carlsbad resident has figured out a way to help people in Rancho Santa Fe properly retire their American flags. Andrew Presa of Troop 766 has a connection to the Ranch — his father, Neal Presa, is the associate pastor at The Village Church.
Andrew has been a Scout for nine years and shared it took him about six months to complete his project, which is centered on flag retiring etiquette.
“I came up with this idea because I wanted a project that would honor not only the people in my church and my community but people in my family that served our country,” he said.
Andrew decided on constructing three flag collection boxes for community members. Locations of the collection boxes in the Ranch are at The Village Church, the post office and the Rancho Santa Fe Association.
“The Association is happy to host the retirement flag box as a patriotic service to our members and in support of one of our local Scouts,” Rancho Santa Fe Association Manager Christy Whalen said.
In tandem, Andrew created a manual for his troop, so they could annually honor the people in their community and their church for their service and could retire flags every year.
On Aug. 26, Andrew is leading a flag dedication ceremony at The Village Church at noon for all community members.
“We will be retiring the flags that were brought in by the community,” he said, adding his fellow Scouts brainstormed some ceremony ideas.
Andrew said the ceremony will be a full program. A total of 13 Scouts, representing the 13 stripes on the American flag, will say a few words about each stripe.
“We will be retiring one giant flag which represents all of the smaller flags,” he said.
The ashes of this flag will go into a commemorative and then be placed in the Prayer Garden at The Village Church.
Andrew envisioned that the collection boxes would mirror a parcel drop box. The collection boxes, which are about 3 feet tall, are constructed from plywood. Andrew admitted he went through five revisions until he developed the final product.
He also said he is thankful for the support he received at the church, including the $500 donation that went to this Eagle Scout project.
To date, Andrew has retrieved more than 30 American flags from the collection boxes, which he’s thrilled about since he can help retire these flags with both respect and dignity.
Neal Presa explained how his son’s project made sense for a variety of reasons. While they had many family members who served in the military, Presa said The Village Church is very committed to supporting military veterans.
“We launched a veterans’ initiative to address homelessness among the veteran community here in North County,” he said. “We love our country, we are supportive of our country, and so it made sense for Andrew to do something like this.”
Presa went on to say the Scout program enables youth members to make a powerful contribution to both their community and nation.
“Here’s an example how one project from one young man will impact the country for many, many years,” he said.
American flagAndrew PresaEagle ScoutNeal Presathe Village ChurchU.S. flagShare0
Vigilance urged even after arrests
Christina Macone-Greene
Horse Heritage Festival set to follow Poker Ride
Lillian Cox September 30, 2010 July 20, 2015
‘Occupy North County’ sees boulevard lined with demonstrators
Tony Cagala October 15, 2011 July 21, 2015
Hot prowl suspect apprehended
Shelli DeRobertis September 7, 2010 July 20, 2015
Pine trees removed from library landscape
Wehtahnah Tucker January 29, 2009 July 20, 2015
Local club seeking chili entries
admin October 30, 2009 July 20, 2015
Fitz and the Tantrums get unique
Alan Sculley July 21, 2013 July 22, 2015
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2569
|
__label__wiki
| 0.931892
| 0.931892
|
keeping up with north west Sept. 24, 2014
Kimye Just Brought North to Her First Paris Fashion Show
By Allison P. Davis
Photo: Bertrand Rindoff Petroff/Getty Images
North West was just spotted in the front row at Balenciaga’s spring 2015 show in Paris. She was accompanied by her handlers, Kim and Kanye, who had been instructed to wear all black to coordinate with her ensemble: leather leggings roomy enough for Pampers, a mini Yeezus tour tee, and some baby Timbs. After the show was held for her arrival, she was seen air-kissing Carine Roitfeld en route to her seat and tweeting at Eric Wilson — so she’s fast on her way to becoming the most important Kardashian in the fashion world. (Sorry, Kendall.)
We look forward to North’s mostly nonverbal review of the show later today, and will be wearing a leather-leggings/Timbs/Kanye-concert tee combo by this evening.
kimye
keeping up with north west
Kimye Brought North to Her First Fashion Show
let's makeup 27 mins ago
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2570
|
__label__wiki
| 0.9574
| 0.9574
|
This new LINES song is essential winter pop
What is this “Lockdown” chorusssss?
By Duncan Cooper
Petorovsky
If LINES's "Lockdown" was shittier the chorus would not sound like this. In its unexpectedness, the beat-change reminds me of Rita Ora's "Anywhere" — when it hits, you need to rethink the way you dance. What might've been a song that just did one thing does much more.
LINES are a four-piece band based in Stockholm and signed to 300. "There are no rules when we write music," says Erik Althoff. "Some tracks are written in the studio together and others come from a beat, a vocal phrase or simply combining different ideas or unfinished songs that fit well together. 'Lockdown is the latter.'' A sketch he'd begun on acoustic guitar morphed with a song by bandmate Fred, and, as the boys tell it, "Well, there it is."
And it's incredible.
Duncan Cooper, LINES, Pop
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2572
|
__label__wiki
| 0.920087
| 0.920087
|
Eurozone crisis live
Greek crisis: Weekend drama looms as talks fail again - as it happened
Eurozone finance ministers have failed to break the long-running deadlock between Greece and its creditors
Summary: No deal, but talks continue
Donald Tusk is optimistic
Greeks fear impact of tax rises
Photos: Finance ministers meet again
Creditors Greek proposal has leaked
Greece’s Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis at today’s eurogroup meeting. Photograph: Thierry Charlier/AFP/Getty Images
Graeme Wearden
Thu 25 Jun 2015 18.29 EDT First published on Thu 25 Jun 2015 02.51 EDT
3.47pm EDT 15:47 Greek anti-capitalists vow to fight new deal
1.21pm EDT 13:21 Afternoon Summary: Heading into a crunch weekend
10.52am EDT 10:52 Varoufakis: Talks will continue
10.39am EDT 10:39 EUROGROUP ENDS WITH NO DEAL
10.16am EDT 10:16 Greek PM predicts a compromise
9.45am EDT 09:45 Eurogroup 'indefinitely suspended'
9.21am EDT 09:21 Tsipras speaks with Greek president
Ireland’s Enda Kenny predicts a long weekend ahead of us:
Holger Zschaepitz (@Schuldensuehner)
Irish PM Kenny: Difficult to reach a #Greece deal today. I can see the Greek negotiations going into the weekend.
Once inside the commission, Alexis Tsipras has held some intense-looking chats with Martin Schulz, president of the European parliament....
Photograph: EbS
...and Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi.
Photograph: Thomson Reuters
Updated at 12.23pm EDT
Greek PM predicts a compromise
Alexis Tsipras Photograph: EbS
Alexis Tsipras actually teased a reporter as he arrived in Brussels for tonight’s Summit.
Asked “What’s going on”, he replied “What’s going on? You don’t know?” (“No, we don’t”, the reporter shot back).
The Greek PM then predicted a deal, saying:
European history is full of disagreements, negotiations, and then compromises.
So after the comprehensive Greek proposals, I am confident that we will reach a compromise that will help the eurozone and Greece to overcome the crisis.
Do you have a basis for agreement?
Yes, it is a basis, a good basis, Tsipras replies.
He declined to be drawn on Britain’s In-Out referendum.
Mehreen (@MehreenKhn)
Props to BBC's James Landsdale shouting at Tsipras about Cameron's referendum. "Do you care about Cameron's reforms..." *SILENCE*
Greece’s prime minister Alexis Tsipras tells reporters that he’s confident a deal will be reached, as he arrives at the European council summit.
After all, arguments and compromises are what Europe’s all about.
Nick Malkoutzis (@NickMalkoutzis)
Going into EU summit @atsipras says he is confident that an agreement can be found. Europe is about "disagremeents & comprimises" #Greece
As finance ministers scramble for the Eurogroup exits, Francois Hollande has arrived at the EU Summit.
Speaking in French, the president states twice that an Greek agreement is possible, and necessary. But it’s up to the negotiating teams to work it out.
Danny Kemp (@dannyctkemp)
Hollande and Merkel now both say 'we have to let the negotiators work' on Greece. Hands washed
Eurogroup 'indefinitely suspended'
Eurozone ministers have told Greece to come back with a better set of proposals -- in the meantime, their meeting is ‘indefinitely suspended’
Mark Barton (@markbartontv)
*EUROGROUP WAITS FOR GREECE TO COME BACK WITH BETTER PROPOSAL *EUROGROUP HAS BEEN 'INDEFINITELY SUSPENDED:' EU OFFICIAL
NEWSFLASH: Eurozone finance minister have just taken a break from their Eurogroup meeting.
And an EU official has told Bloomberg that there is no sign of an agreement, after around two hours discussing the latest proposal from Greece’s creditors (see earlier leak) and Greece’s counter-proposal.
*NO EUROGROUP AGREEMENT IN SIGHT ON GREECE: EU OFFICIAL *EUROGROUP MEETING HAS BEEN INTERRUPTED: EU OFFICIAL
Angela Merkel does not appear to share Donald Tusk’s optimism of a happy ending.
Arriving at the EU summit, she tells reporters that she has the impression that Greece has “gone backwards” on some issues” -- but in any event it’s up to finance ministers at the Eurogroup meeting today to decide.
HansNichols (@HansNichols)
Ok. Now let's start these talks. pic.twitter.com/sBLpRSgjlT
My colleague Sean Clarke has created a really handy interactive, showing the main issues which Greece and its creditors are still arguing over today (it’s updated to reflect today’s proposals)
Guardian interactive Photograph: Guardian
Greek debt crisis: What's on the table?
Pedestrians walk in main streets of Thessaloniki. Photograph: Alexandros Michailidis/Demotix/Corbis
The endless to-and-froing over Greece’s bailout programme has been dragging down spirits in a country that has already suffered years of austerity.
From Thessaloniki, my colleague Angelique Chrisafis reports:
At Thessaloniki’s bustling market, along the narrow alleys of bargain clothes and some of the cheapest meat and vegetables in the city, the continuing uncertainty surrounding a bailout deal was weighing down those already struggling to get through the month.
Michalis Nastos, 54, who runs a clothing stall selling €10 jeans, €6 shirts and an array of cheap summer dresses, had been following the finer details of the negotiation offers and was bracing himself for the impact of possible steep VAT rises and pension changes.
“The uncertainty of this whole process has a psychological effect – people worry about what’s going to happen, they don’t know how or when it’s going to end. We just know everyone is going to be affected, particularly by any rise in VAT.”
Already his profits had fallen by more than 50% after years of crisis, unemployment and tax hikes. The market, which once served mostly low-income families, now increasingly attracts a wider range of customers from all over the city in search of the lowest prices.
Nastos said his main fear was the proposed rise in VAT — an indirect sales tax that would push prices up and indiscriminately affect all shoppers, most of whom are already struggling with the effects of previous tax hikes. “Of course I’m against VAT rises, it’s already very high, it will have a knock-on effect. It’s the little details that will really affect people. The price of bread would go up — that’s important because people in Greece still eat a lot of bread, so you could see the price of a sesame-seed loaf rise from say 50 cents to 70 cents, that would really have an impact. Packaging costs will rise, energy, basics like pasta. Low-income people won’t be able to afford to buy and more and more people won’t be able to make it.”
Raising the retirement age was another key issue in discussions in Brussels. One fifth of the Greek population is over 65 and, with the extended family serving as a social safety net, one in two Greek households currently rely on pensions to make ends meet. May have already seen pensions cut and about 45% of pensioners receive pensions below what is considered the poverty limit of €665 per month.
Natsos, who had worked in the market trade for 32 years, would likely have to wait another 11 years to retire. “The problem is the country just can’t cover its pensions obligations to this number of people,” he said. But he was more concerned about the long-term state of the economy.
“Greece definitely needs help, there has to be some kind of debt relief, the country won’t be able to make it otherwise.”
Michalis Hadji-Athanasiadis, 84, a former police officer who had retired aged 50, said his pension had shrunk from €1,600 a month to €1,000 a month, and his extra benefits had been cut. But his pension was still far higher than the shrinking salary of his 52-year-old daughter who was a high-school teacher and who, like her brother and his wife, still lived with their parents to make ends meet.
“People are hungry. For five months it seems there has been no progress and business is down everywhere, a lot of shops have closed. Income is down, with VAT going up everything you need to buy becomes so much more expensive.”
Near the market, one woman in her 50s, who said her main income came from selling black market Balkan cigarettes, described how customers used to buy five or six packets but were now only buying one or two. “It feels like life is over,” she said. “We can barely manage to feed ourselves.” Her adult children, who had lost their jobs as shop-assistants during the recession both lived with her.
She adds:
“It feels like they’re going after the little guy, all the high-income people got away with it and got their money out of the country.”
Eurozone crisis
Creditors draw up emergency measures in case of Greek default
Eurozone finance ministers to plan for economic breakdown and social unrest if Greece does not accept terms for five-month bailout extension
Greece bailout talks break down again
Eurozone finance ministers meeting ends without agreement after fourth diplomatic failure in eight days
The Eurogroup meeting - the key weekend for Greece
All 19 eurozone finance ministers will convene on Saturday in what Angela Merkel calls a decisive meeting - what happens if there is a deal and what happens if there isn’t
Greece debt crisis talks end in renewed deadlock
Talks in Brussels between Athens and its creditors break down again as optimism over new Syriza proposals evaporates
Christine Lagarde, IMF chief with a key role in the Greek debt talks - profile
Greeks mistrust EU, EC, ECB – but retain some faith in the euro
John Hooper in Athens
Will Greece go hungry if it exits the euro? That's a question for the insurance industry
Ruining Rhodes: Greece's VAT proposal leaves islanders feeling deserted
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2573
|
__label__wiki
| 0.946809
| 0.946809
|
Google and Cuba sign deal to store data on island's servers
Deal that eliminates long distances signal have to travel through Venezuela removes major obstacle to normal, faster internet in Cuba
Assocated Press in Havana
Mon 12 Dec 2016 13.50 EST Last modified on Fri 14 Jul 2017 14.06 EDT
Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt and Cuban national telecom provider president executive Mayra Arevich sign a bilateral agreement in Havana on Monday. Photograph: Yamil Lage/AFP/Getty Images
Google and the Cuban government have signed a deal allowing the internet giant to provide faster access to its data by installing servers on the island that will store much of the company’s most popular content.
Storing Google data in Cuba eliminates the long distances that signals must travel from the island through Venezuela to the nearest Google server. More than a half century after cutting virtually all economic ties with Cuba, the US has no direct data link to the island.
The deal announced on Monday removes one of the many obstacles to a normal internet in Cuba, which suffers from some of the world’s most limited and expensive access. Home connections remain illegal for most Cubans and the government charges the equivalent of a month’s average salary for 10 hours of access to public Wi-Fi spots with speeds frequently too slow to download files or watch streaming video.
Cuba's 'offline internet': no access, no power, no problem
The deal does not affect Cuba’s antiquated communications infrastructure or broaden public access to the internet, but it could make Google websites like YouTube or Gmail up to 10 times faster for users inside Cuba. Content hosted by other companies will not be affected.
Neither Google chairman Eric Schmidt nor Cuban officials spoke to the press after the signing ceremony in Havana.
Cuban officials appear to be accelerating their approvals of deals with US companies in an attempt to build momentum behind US-Cuba normalization before Donald Trump takes office next month. The Google pact was announced less than a week after Cuba gave three US cruise companies permission to begin sailing to the island next year. Officials familiar with the negotiations say other deals, including one with General Electric, are in the works.
The US and Cuba have struck a series of bilateral deals on issues ranging from environmental protection to direct mail since the declaration of detente on 17 December 2014, but business ties have failed to keep pace. The Cuban government has blamed the US trade embargo on Cuba. Many US businesses say Cuba has been moving on most proposals so slowly that some suspect the government has been deliberately limiting the development of economic ties.
The Google program could provide ammunition for US advocates of closer ties with Cuba. Both pro-detente forces and those arguing for a hard line on President Raúl Castro’s single-party government have been pushing for Cubans to have better access to information.
If the Google deal proves to truly improve internet access for a significant number of Cubans, it ties information access to US-Cuban detente in a way that could prove politically difficult to undo for anti-Castro officials in the incoming Trump administration.
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2574
|
__label__wiki
| 0.565789
| 0.565789
|
Nationwide boss's £2.37m pay deal is met with outrage by customers amid low savings rates
Boss Joe Garner saw pay increase 2.3% on the year before
It was inflated by a £1m performance award and £187,000 of expenses
By Jeff Prestridge for The Mail on Sunday
Customers of Nationwide Building Society have expressed outrage at the £2.37million annual pay package earned by boss Joe Garner, an increase of 2.3 per cent on the year before.
Details of Garner's pay – inflated by a £1million performance award and £187,000 of expenses – were revealed in The Mail on Sunday last week, prompting an angry reaction from readers.
Marilyn Churchill, from Fareham in Hampshire, said she intends to vote against the directors' remuneration report ahead of the society's annual general meeting on July 18 in Manchester.
She added: 'My husband and I always vote against the report but the fat cats still get their increases.'
Fury: Nationwide BS boss Joe Garner earns £2.37million
'No one is worth the remuneration he is receiving,' emailed Rex Eastwood, 'it is disgusting.' Rita Furnival described Garner's remuneration as 'excessive' and said she would vote against it.
More placatory was Jonathan Palmer who said he would accept Garner's pay increase if customers could also earn 2.3 per cent interest on their savings.
Nationwide profits fall and it warns of squeeze from fierce... Boohoo investors revolt over bosses' lavish pay including a... Retirement business Saga suffers an embarrassing investor... Ladbrokes rocked by fat cat pay backlash... but bosses dodge...
Ocado chairman Lord Rose picks up £7.4m by selling two...
Only the society's Help to Buy Isa and 'future saver' children's account pay more than 2.3 per cent.
Last year, only 9.25 per cent of members who voted railed against the remuneration report, although many handed their vote to the society's chairman who in turn cast it in favour of the report.
Any vote on directors' pay is advisory only, which means the society is not compelled to act on it.
Nationwide boss's £2.37m pay deal is met with outrage amid low savings rates
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2575
|
__label__wiki
| 0.989946
| 0.989946
|
Northland College Admissions
ACT Scores, Acceptance Rate, Financial Aid, Tuition, Graduation Rate & More
McLean Environmental Living and Learning Center at Northland College. Photo Courtesy of Northland College
Northland College Admissions Overview:
Northland College is a generally accessible school, admitting 54% of applicants in 2016. Those with high grades, good test scores, and a strong application have a decent chance of being admitted. Students interested in applying to the school will need to submit an application, official high school transcripts, and scores from either the SAT or ACT. If you have any questions, be sure to get in touch with a member of the admissions team.
Admissions Data (2016):
Northland College Acceptance Rate: 54%
Test Scores -- 25th / 75th Percentile
SAT Critical Reading: - / -
SAT Math: - / -
SAT Writing: - / -
What these SAT numbers mean
Compare SAT scores for Wisconsin colleges
ACT Composite: - / -
ACT English: - / -
ACT Math: - / -
What these ACT numbers mean
Compare ACT scores for Wisconsin colleges
Northland College Description:
Northland College describes itself as an "environmental liberal arts college," an apt label for this unusual little college in Ashland, Wisconsin. The college's interdisciplinary core curriculum is made up of nine courses that ask students to explore the relationships between the liberal arts, the environment, and our planet's future. Students who complete the general education requirements earn an environmental studies minor to complement whatever major they select. Students can expect a lot of interaction with the faculty, and one-third of classes have fewer than ten students. The school has earned many accolades for its sustainability efforts. Northland also does well with financial aid, and nearly all students receive some form of grant aid. Northland College is a member of the Eco League with four other small colleges that focus on sustainability: Alaska Pacific University, Prescott College, Green Mountain College, and College of the Atlantic. Students can easily take a semester or two at one of these other schools.
In athletics, Northland competes in the NCAA Division III Midwest Athletic Conference. The college is affiliated with the United Church of Christ.
Enrollment (2016):
Total Enrollment: 582 (all undergraduate)
Gender Breakdown: 49% Male / 51% Female
96% Full-time
Costs (2016 - 17):
Tuition and Fees: $33,432
Books: $800 (why so much?)
Room and Board: $8,485
Other Expenses: $2,650
Total Cost: $45,367
Northland College Financial Aid (2015 - 16):
Percentage of New Students Receiving Aid: 98%
Percentage of New Students Receiving Types of Aid
Grants: 98%
Loans: 72%
Average Amount of Aid
Grants: $25,335
Loans: $7,520
Academic Programs:
Most Popular Majors: Biology, Business Administration, Education, Environmental Studies, Natural Resources Management
Retention and Graduation Rates:
First Year Student Retention (full-time students): 77%
4-Year Graduation Rate: 45%
Intercollegiate Athletic Programs:
Men's Sports: baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, hockey, lacrosse, soccer
Women's Sports: basketball, cross country, golf, hockey, lacrosse, soccer, softball, volleyball
National Center for Educational Statistics
Explore Other Wisconsin Colleges and Universities:
Beloit | Carroll | Lawrence | Marquette | MSOE | Ripon | St. Norbert | UW-Eau Claire | UW-Green Bay | UW-La Crosse | UW-Madison | UW-Milwaukee | UW-Oshkosh | UW-Parkside | UW-Platteville | UW-River Falls | UW-Stevens Point | UW-Stout | UW-Superior | UW-Whitewater | Wisconsin Lutheran
Learn About the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and What It Takes to Get In
Learn About the University of Wisconsin-Parkside and What It Takes to Get In
Learn About St. Norbert College and What It Takes to Get In
Learn About the University of Wisconsin-Stout and What It Takes to Get In
Learn About MSOE and What It Takes To Get In
Learn About Ripon College and What It Takes to Get In
Learn About the University of Wisconsin-Platteville and What It Takes to Get In
See What It Takes To Get Into Beloit College
Learn About Lawrence University and What It Takes to Get In
Learn About the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and What It Takes to Get In
See What It Takes To Get Into Carroll University
Learn About Wisconsin Lutheran College and What It Takes to Get In
Learn About the University of Wisconsin-Superior and What It Takes to Get In
Learn About the University of Wisconsin-River Falls and What It Takes to Get In
Learn About the University of Wisconsin Green Bay and What It Takes to Get In
Learn About the University of Wisconsin and What It Takes to Get In
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2578
|
__label__wiki
| 0.85775
| 0.85775
|
WATCH: Indo-Pak couple wears split jerseys in Green and Blue, wins hearts by batting for peace
Updated Jun 19, 2019 | 18:43 IST | Suyash Srivastava
While the hype around the India-Pakistan ICC World Cup 2019 match was at its peak, a couple grabbed everybody's attention as they were seen wearing split jerseys featuring flags of both teams.
India defeated Pakistan by 89 runs via D/L method in their 7th World Cup meeting. (Photo credit: Video Grab/SNTV)
While the rivalry between India and Pakistan is crucial for the sport, the camaraderie shared between cricketers, fans from both teams, is heartwarming. As the rivalry resumed at the Old Trafford in the ongoing ICC World Cup 2019, Chicago Chacha - Pakistan's iconic cricket fan, revealed how former Indian captain MS Dhoni has been arranging match tickets for him whenever the two sides meet, since 2011. As a sea of blue turned up at Manchester, a couple caught everybody's attention as they were seen wearing split jerseys of both India and Pakistan.
While the wife is from India, the husband hails from Pakistan and in a beautiful gesture, they wore a customised jersey to express their love for the gentleman's game. "We are supporting peace today, that is the only reason, she is from India and I'm from Pakistan, so we decided we support both countries today, we support good cricket, that's the bottom-line today, who ever plays best game today they should win, and cricket and peace should win today," they said. (Follow ICC World Cup 2019: News | Schedule | Points Table)
The seventh meeting between the arch-rivals in the showpiece event proved to be another lopsided affair as the Men in Blue defeated Sarfaraz Ahmed's men by 89 runs via the Duckworth-Lewis method. Put in to bat first, riding on two brilliant knocks by Rohit Sharma (140 off 113) and skipper Virat Kohli (77 off 65), India posted a challenging total of 336 runs. In reply, barring the 96-run stand between Fakhar Zaman and Babar Azam, the Men in Green failed to show any teeth - much to the disappointment of their fans. (Opinion: India vs Pakistan - How 'mother of all rivalries' has been reduced to a damp squib)
Yet another dismal show by the Pakistani team invited heavy criticism from former Pakistani greats with Shoaib Akhtar lashing out at Sarfraz Ahmed for his 'brainless' decision to field first in a high-pressure game. "The mistakes committed by the Indian team during the Champions Trophy 2017 final were repeated by Pakistan yesterday. I can't understand how Sarfaraz can be so brainless. How could he forget that we don't chase very well. Knowing our strength, which is bowling, is important. The game was half-won by Pakistan when Sarfaraz won the toss, but he tried hard to lose the match. Toss was very crucial and even if Pakistan had made 260, with their bowling, they could have defended it. So I think it was just brainless captaincy," the former pacer said on his YouTube channel.
Soon after Pakistan's loss, the players were also criticised for their poor fitness standards. In a video which went viral on social media, one of the Pakistani fans criticised the Men in Green for eating burgers and pizzas ahead of the clash against India. While Pakistan's hopes of surviving in the tournament are hanging by a thread, Men in Blue are in a convincing position after winning three out of their four matches, with the one against New Zealand getting washed out due to rain.
India Vs Pakistan | Foods That Are Common Between India and Pakistan | ICC World Cup 2019 | The Foodie
India vs Pakistan, ICC Cricket World Cup 2019: Who will win?
WATCH: Indo-Pak couple wears split jerseys in Green and Blue, wins hearts by batting for peace Description: While the hype around the India-Pakistan ICC World Cup 2019 match was at its peak, a couple grabbed everybody's attention as they were seen wearing split jerseys featuring flags of both teams. Times Now
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2581
|
__label__wiki
| 0.840682
| 0.840682
|
Pakistan Cricket Board complains to ICC on Star Sports' Indo-Pak WC commercial
Updated Jun 16, 2019 | 16:43 IST | PTI
For ICC, the bigger issue is the build-up to the Bangladesh game and they are expecting there won't be any more TVCs that create unnecessary controversy.
Pakistan Cricket Board complains to ICC on Star Sports' Indo-Pak WC commercial (Representational Image) | Photo Credit: AP
Manchester: A peeved Pakistan Cricket Board has filed a complaint with the ICC about a television commercial (TVC) by host broadcaster Star Sports which they have found "objectionable". In fact, the ICC mandarins have had a quiet word with the broadcasters and told them about PCB's objections with regards to the TVC. In fact, top BCCI officials are in knowledge of the issue but have stayed away as this doesn't concern them.
"Yes, Ehsan Mani on behalf of PCB has intimated the ICC raising objection on the content of the TVC. I am not sure if Mani has written a letter or had a telephonic conversation but we have come to know that an objection has been raised," a senior BCCI official privy to the controversy told PTI on conditions of anonymity. In their build-up to Sunday's marquee World Cup encounter here, the Star Sports released a TVC, an extension of the infamous and crass 'Mauka Mauka' advertisement where the Indian fan terms himself as Pakistani fan's 'baap' (father).
The context of the advertisement was Pakistan losing all six World Cup encounters till date. The commercial shows a Bangladeshi fan asking a Pakistani fan about Sunday's encounter. The Pakistani says that his 'Abbu' (father) used to tell him that one should keep trying and suddenly an Indian fan says "Maine kab kahaa" (When did I tell you?). It has been learnt that ICC has already spoken to the Star Sports on this issue.
For the global body, the bigger issue is the build-up to the Bangladesh game and they are expecting there won't be any more TVCs that create unnecessary controversy. Meanwhile, representatives of an Indian channel had their accreditation cancelled for violating the ICC NRH (Non-Rights Holders) clause. The reporter and the cameraman of that particular channel were showing India captain Virat Kohli's pre-match press conference live on their feed which is strictly prohibited.
The ICC ejected the duo from the venue after cancelling their accreditations. Another veteran Indian freelancer, known for his proximity to the star players, was doing a Facebook live of Kohli's presser and he has also been given a warning.
ICC World Cup 2019: Lasith Malinga on India vs Sri Lanka
ICC World Cup 2019: Jadeja's stunner not enough, New Zealand prevails in thriller | News Night
Pakistan Cricket Board complains to ICC on Star Sports' Indo-Pak WC commercial Description: For ICC, the bigger issue is the build-up to the Bangladesh game and they are expecting there won't be any more TVCs that create unnecessary controversy. Times Now
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2582
|
__label__wiki
| 0.747288
| 0.747288
|
Taoiseach Says He Has Total Confidence In Health Minister Over Children's Hospital
Kim Buckley
09:44 8 Feb 2019
The Taoiseach has said he has total confidence in Health Minister Simon Harris.
It comes as documents show Minister Harris was aware of a possible 400 million euro overrun at the National Children's Hospital in August last year, 7 weeks before he told the Taoiseach or the Finance Minister.
Leo Varadkar has said concerns about the impact on budget planning are a red herring - as capital expenditure was decided last February.
The Taoiseach said even if Simon Harris had told him about the overruns earlier, he would have instructed him to do exactly what he did.
Sinn Fein say the Minister's position is untenable and are calling for him to be removed from office.
Fianna Fail TD Sean Fleming also says he believes Simon Harris should resign as Health Minister.
Labour's health spokesperson Alan Kelly thinks the issue raises questions about the future of the government.
Speaking on the Last Word on Today FM Kelly also took aim at the Minister for Finance:
If there's a motion of no confidence in Harris or Paschal Donohoe we will be supporting it.
I believe Paschal Donohoe has a lot more answers to give on this than are being given.
Children's Hospital National Children's Hospital Overrun Overspending Simon Harris Taoiseach
Children's Hospital Called A "Painful Lesson" By Finance Minister
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2584
|
__label__wiki
| 0.957463
| 0.957463
|
Yahoo buying cool again
New York to adopt Japanese standing restaurants
WW2 Chinese workers ask Mitsubishi $60 mil. compensation
6 years ago by Tokyo Times in Japan
An alliance of groups of laborers who were forced to work with no pay for Mitsubishi Materials in Japan during World War II asked the company for $60 million as compensation.
Mitsubishi Materials (Shanghai) Corp received on Tuesday a document requesting compensation of 370 million Yuan (about $60 million) for the forced workers that Japan used during World War II.
“The executive promised to keep and hand over the document to Mitsubishi’s headquarters in Japan after half an hour’s dispute, with the presence of some Chinese and Japanese media,” said Kang Jian, a lawyer for the alliance groups.
Each of the 3,765 Chinese laborers asked for 100,000 Yuan, according to the document received by Mitsubishi. The request included 711 people who died in Japan.
Laborers also asked the company for apologies, which Mitsubishi has not stated so far, according to the international press.
In 2009, Mitsubishi was sued by the Chinese forced laborers, but they lost in the lawsuit. However, the court stated that the Japanese government and companies were wrong to enslave Chinese workers.
This statement eased the procedure of initiating negotiations outside judicial action, Kang thinks.
“The court suggested the government and companies provide compensation to the laborers, and we will never give up,” she said.
Snow paralyzes northern Japan; 3 die in avalanche More leaks found at crippled Japan nuclear plant BBC journalist documenting dolphin hunt, locked up in Japan Oldest shell tools and human bones in Japan found in Sakitari Cave
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2586
|
__label__cc
| 0.624552
| 0.375448
|
Learn English > English lessons and exercises > English test #3810: Hermann and Pauline's son : Albert Einstein
> Other English exercises on the same topic: Literature [Change theme]
> Similar tests: - Around the world in 80 days - From Kansas City to Tulsa : What for? (1/2) - A novel by Markus Zusak : The Book Thief - From Kansas City toTulsa: towards Happiness? (2/2) - Alone by Edgar Allan Poe - The Old Man and The Sea by E.Hemingway - Bayeux tapestry - To Build a Fire
Hermann and Pauline's son : Albert Einstein
One story Einstein liked to tell about his (1) was of a 'wonder' he saw when he was four or five years old: a magnetic (2). The needle's invariable (3) swing, guided (4) an invisible force, (5) impressed the child. The compass convinced him that there (6) to be 'something behind things, something deeply (7).' Even as a small boy Einstein was self-sufficient and (8). According to family legend he was a slow (9) at first, pausing to consider what he would say. His sister remembered the concentration and perseverance with which he (10) build up houses of cards to many stories. The boy's (11) was stimulated by his uncle, an engineer, and by a medical student who (12) dinner once a week at the Einsteins'.
( Einstein's signature)
Fill in with these words.
=> hidden - by - ate - childhood - profoundly - would - compass - talker - thought - had - northward - thoughtful -
English exercise "Hermann and Pauline's son : Albert Einstein" created by anonyme with The test builder.
1. One story Einstein liked to tell about his
2. was of a 'wonder' he saw when he was four or five years old: a magnetic .
3. The needle's invariable swing,
4. guided an invisible force,
5. impressed the child.
6. The compass convinced him that there to be 'something behind things,
7. something deeply' .
8. Even as a small boy Einstein was self-sufficient and .
9. According to family legend he was a slow at first, pausing to consider what he would say.
10. His sister remembered the concentration and perseverance with which he build up houses of cards to many stories.
11. The boy's was stimulated by his uncle, an engineer,
12. and by a medical student who dinner once a week at the Einsteins'.
End of the free exercise to learn English: Hermann and Pauline's son : Albert Einstein
Other English exercises on the same topic : Literature | All our lessons and exercises
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2587
|
__label__cc
| 0.74552
| 0.25448
|
Spray Foam Roofing is Sustainable
Architects, builders, and owners have created an awareness in sustainable building. This awareness has generated increased interest in the roofing industry to reveal a sustainable roofing system for commercial, industrial and residential applications.
A system that doesn't leak, supports energy conservation, and warrants the confidence of the building owner, engineer and architect.
Foam Roofs have no seams to split or pull apart and allow water to enter. Foam is ideal for saw tooth or other irregular roof shapes that are difficult or impractical for old fashioned low-tech roofing materials.
Sprayed Polyurethane Foam is also the best insulator on the market. Very little maintenance or repair is ever needed, and with proper care, it is the last roof you will ever need to buy.
Foam Roof Density and R-Value
Density of SPF is important when it comes to strength and Thermal Resistance. Obviously, higher density means increased strength and higher R-value. Most SPF roofs have densities ranging from about 2.5 pounds per cubic foot to 3 pounds per cubic foot.
High-density SPF roofing foam is a rigid, closed-cell plastic created by a combination of two liquid components, which react in seconds and can be walked on in a matter of minutes. These roofs provide high compressive strengths that increase durability, endure foot traffic, and resist impact and storm damage.
Life Cycle Cost
With the rising cost of building materials and the eradication of environmental resources it is not feasible or profitable to incur expensive annual life cycle costs or to replace a roof every 10 to 15 years.
The life cycle cost of a roof is defined as the present value of all the costs associated with the roof from initial installation until reroof. Sustainable roof systems are becoming increasingly important. Sustainable systems installed by Brite Foam Foam Roofing preserve natural resources, reduce landfill waste and provide maximum life cycle cost efficiency.
Spray Foam self flashes to all protrusions (vents, pipes, etc...) There is no flashing tape or adhesive to peel away. The flashing becomes part of a seamless covering.
We pay attention to the details.
What is SPF? (Sprayed Polyurethane Foam)
Sprayed Polyurethane Foam is a combination of isocyanate and polyol. These two components are fed through a proportioner which heats then pumps the two separate components to the spray gun, where they are mixed and sprayed onto the substrate.
Technician Spraying SPF Roofing Foam - Dallas, Ft Worth
Because it is sprayed onto the roof as a liquid, it forms a single continuous structure that is seamless and very stable. SPF requires a clean surface for proper application. It must be dry, free of contaminants like oil, and properly fastened to the substrate in accordance with the proper building codes.
A protective elastomeric top coat is required which is typically sprayed on as well, but it is also possible to be applied with hand or power rollers.
Foam roofing has many advantages over traditional roofing methods, and as you read through this website you will learn a lot more about them. Here are some brief examples:
Seamless: Polyurethane foam is applied as a liquid, creating a single monolithic membrane that covers the entire roof. There are no seams or joints, the source of the majority of leaks in traditional roofs.
Flexible: The foam can be sprayed onto virtually any surface, irregularly shaped roofs and protrusions are readily taken care of.
Lightweight: Foam roofing typically weighs around 50 lbs. per square, versus 800 lbs. for a built-up roof and 100 lbs. for ballasted single-ply roofs.
Thermal Insulation: SPF has the best insulating properties available for commercial construction today.
Sustainability: Foamed roofs require a minimum of upkeep, creating little waste and have an indefinite lifespan.
This block contains code to allow dead links in the navigation to function properly. This block will not be visible on the live site.
Proudly Serving the Oklahoma and Texas areas
Three pound density foam has a compressive strength of about 50 psi and an R-value of 7.14 installed and 6.86 aged (these numbers may vary slightly depending on the foam manufacturer.
Spraying Polyurethane Roofing Foam - Dallas, Ft Worth
Here's an example of how well a good SPF roof insulates. A school district in southern Texas had recently installed some new, one-room relocatable classroom buildings.
During the late spring and early fall, these classrooms were using their air conditioners an average of 50 minutes every hour. The school district installed foam roofs on some of these classrooms in order to see if it would provide an energy savings.
The roofs consisted of three pound density foam, 1.5 inches thick with an acrylic coating system. The air conditioner usage was cut down to fifteen minutes every hour. That's a fifty-eight percent savings on energy costs.
Garland Home Office:
We’re here when you need us.
Polyurethane foam and our elastomeric coatings will SEAL and totally ENCAPSULATE your flat roof protecting it from the weather.
Localized repairs are made if required to the roof. It is swept free of debris and sprayed with a layer of foam. Then our acrylic elastomeric coating is sprayed on top to protect the foam.
The result is a totally encapsulated, weather proofed and seamless roof, protected for years to come. You will of course benefit from exceptional insulation as well.
Protrusions are a prime source of trouble.
Single-Ply
We exceed expectations.
SPF's Waterproofing Ability
Sprayed Polyurethane Foam is perfect for many different waterproofing applications. Because it is composed of billions of closed cells, the foam acts as an air barrier, preventing moisture infiltration into the building.
This ability minimizes dew point problems, which unchecked lead to water condensation inside of the structure. Moisture infiltration into the building envelope is the number one cause of building deterioration.
Even when the top coat of a foam roofing system is damaged, the underlying foam will keep the roof from leaking. The Superdome in New Orleans was damaged once in a severe hail storm. Thousands of hairline cracks appeared in the top coat, but no leaks ever occurred, even though it wasn't repaired for over a decade!
If a penetration does occur all the way from the foam layers, the water infiltration will be isolated only to the area where the membrane has been penetrated. Small penetrations in foam roofing systems can be repaired easily with an elastomeric caulk, reinstating the integrity of the system.
Water ponding is quite often a problem with conventional roofing systems. When applying the polyurethane foam in reroofing situations, it is very easy to build up areas of greater thickness while spraying so that water will drain properly. This also eliminates the problem of the additional weight load associated with water accumulation
A foam roof system can also save you monthly on your monthly utility bills. You will realize the savings almost immediately after we have installed the foam roof system for you.
The Physical Plant Department at Texas A&M University (TAMU) Systems Facilities Planning and Construction department started monitoring their newly applied foam roof systems from 1980 to 1984.
OK Lic # -80001104 (Residential only for Oklahoma)
Copyright © Top View Roofing. All rights reserved.
Hail Storm Relief DBA: Top View Roofing
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2590
|
__label__wiki
| 0.586001
| 0.586001
|
Download the Free Prime PubMed App to your smartphone or tablet.
Available for iPhone or iPad:
Available for Mac and Windows Desktops and laptops:
(jugum)
Toward Understanding the Mammalian Zygoma: Insights From Comparative Anatomy, Growth and Development, and Morphometric Analysis. [Review]
Anat Rec (Hoboken) 2017; 300(1):76-151
Márquez S, Pagano AS, … Laitman JT
The zygoma, or jugum, is a cranial element that was present in Mesozoic tetrapods, well before the appearance of mammals. Although as an entity the zygoma is a primitive retention among mammals, it h…
The zygoma, or jugum, is a cranial element that was present in Mesozoic tetrapods, well before the appearance of mammals. Although as an entity the zygoma is a primitive retention among mammals, it has assumed myriad configurations as this group diversified. As the zygoma is located at the intersection of the visual, respiratory, and masticatory apparatuses, it is potentially of great importance in systematic, phylogenetic, and functional studies focused on this region. For example, the facial component of the zygoma and its contribution to a postorbital bar (POB) appear to be relevant to the systematics of a number of mammalian subclades, and the formation of a bony postorbital septum (POS) that separates the orbit from the infratemporal fossa is unique to, and thus potentially phylogenetically significant for uniting anthropoid primates, while the zygoma itself appears to serve to resist tension and bending forces during mastication. In order to better understand the zygoma in the context of its contributions to the circumorbital region, we documented its morphological expression in specimens representing 10 orders of mammals. Since the presence of a POB and of a POS has long been used to justify uniting extant primates and anthropoid primates as respective clades, and because postorbital closure (POC) is morphologically more complex than a POB, we provide detail necessary to address these claims. Our taxically broad overview also allowed us to provide for the first time definitions of configurations that can be applied to future studies. Using a different, but also taxically broad sample of mammals, and of primates in particular, we performed two geometric morphometric analyses that were geared toward testing long-held interpretations of the functional role of the zygoma, especially with regard to mastication and in the context of orbital frontation (to which the zygoma contributes). Further, overall, zygomatic morphology tends not to scale with allometry, sexual dimorphism, or angle of orbital convergence, but it does contribute to unique patterns of intraspecies variation. Anat Rec, 300:76-151, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
The Effects of Septal Deviation, Concha Bullosa, and Their Combination on the Depth of Posterior Palatal Arch in Cone-Beam Computed Tomography. [Journal Article]
↓1 ↑11
J Dent (Shiraz) 2016; 17(1):26-31
Dalili Kajan Z, Khademi J, … Niksolat E
CONCLUSIONS: Based on the findings of this study, simultaneous occurrence of SD and CB influenced the depth and curve of the palatal bone. The PAD/PIL ratio was negatively correlated with the DSCA angle. This correlation was associated with a decrease in PAD, indicating that concurrent occurrence of SD and CB remarkably affected the palatal base of maxilla.
PMC Free PDFPMC Free Full Text
Update on endoscopic endonasal resection of skull base meningiomas. [Journal Article]
Int Forum Allergy Rhinol 2015; 5(4):344-52
Brunworth J, Padhye V, … Wormald PJ
CONCLUSIONS: Using a 2-team approach, meningiomas of the skull base were successfully removed via an intranasal endoscopic technique. Although complete resection is typically possible even with large tumors, the lengthy resection required time for tumors larger than 60 cm(3) (diameter ≥4 cm) may obviate some of the advantages of this approach. The rate of postoperative CSF leak decreases when a synthetic dural substitute is added but does not approach zero.
Endoscopic endonasal resection of anterior skull base meningiomas. [Journal Article]
Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 2012; 147(3):575-82
Padhye V, Naidoo Y, … Wormald PJ
CONCLUSIONS: ACF meningiomas can be safely removed endonasally, offering significant advantages over the traditional transcranial approach for suitable tumors. Early audit of this approach shows results achieved by this unit are comparable with the published literature.
Stathmin overexpression identifies high-risk patients and lymph node metastasis in endometrial cancer. [Multicenter Study]
↓39
Clin Cancer Res 2011 May 15; 17(10):3368-77
Trovik J, Wik E, … Salvesen HB
CONCLUSIONS: Stathmin immunohistochemical staining identifies endometrial carcinomas with lymph node metastases and poor survival. The value, as a predictive marker for response to PI3Kinase inhibition and as a tool to stratify patients for lymph node sampling in endometrial carcinomas, remains to be determined.
Sectional anatomy of the olfactory pathways. [Journal Article]
JNJ Neurosurg Sci 2010; 54(1):39-44
Chen CC, Huang F, … Zang CS
CONCLUSIONS: The olfactory bulb and olfactory tract lay tightly on the ethmoidal cribriform plate and jugum sphenoidale, in the olfactory cistern of the shallow part of the olfactory sulcus, the ethmoid sinus and sphenoid sinus inferiorly.
The anatomy and systematic position of the early Miocene proconsulid from Meswa Bridge, Kenya. [Journal Article]
J Hum Evol 2009; 56(5):479-96
Harrison T, Andrews P
A small collection of fossil catarrhines was recovered from the early Miocene locality of Meswa Bridge in western Kenya between 1978 and 1980. The associated fauna from Meswa Bridge indicates an age …
A small collection of fossil catarrhines was recovered from the early Miocene locality of Meswa Bridge in western Kenya between 1978 and 1980. The associated fauna from Meswa Bridge indicates an age older than 20 Ma. Much of the material has been briefly described previously, and its taxonomic status considered. The material can be assigned to a minimum of four individuals, all of which are infants or juveniles. Although the specimens were shown to belong to a distinct species of Proconsul, the taxon was not named, primarily because many of the specimens belonged to immature individuals. Nevertheless, the combined morphological features of the deciduous and permanent teeth allow the diagnosis of a new species of Proconsul, which is formally named here as P. meswae. It is a large-sized species, similar in dental size to P. nyanzae. The main features distinguishing it from all other previously named species of Proconsul are: incisors and deciduous incisors relatively low crowned; upper deciduous canines relatively higher crowned and more robust; molars and deciduous premolars relatively broader and higher crowned, with a more pronounced degree of buccolingual flare and better developed cingula; size differential between molars not as marked; dP(4) with a longer mesial fovea and smaller hypoconulid and distal fovea; P(4) relatively broader, with a better developed buccal cingulum; lower molars less rectangular with a longer mesial fovea, smaller distal fovea, more restricted talonid basin, and a tendency for a smaller hypoconulid; dP(4) and upper molars with strongly buccolingually splayed roots; mandibular corpus in infants relatively deeper and more slender; maxilla with a well developed canine jugum and fossa. The broader and more flared molars with better developed cingula indicate that the Meswa Bridge species is more primitive than other species of Proconsul. The inference that it is a stem member of the Proconsul clade is consistent with the estimated age of the material.
Acromegaly due to a growth hormone-releasing hormone-secreting intracranial gangliocytoma. [Case Reports]
J Endocrinol Invest 2005; 28(2):162-5
Isidro ML, Iglesias Díaz P, … Cordido F
In more than 95% of cases acromegaly is due to GH hypersecretion by a pituitary adenoma. GHRH hypersecretion accounts for about 0.5% of cases of acromegaly. Intracranial GHRH-secreting tumors are ext…
In more than 95% of cases acromegaly is due to GH hypersecretion by a pituitary adenoma. GHRH hypersecretion accounts for about 0.5% of cases of acromegaly. Intracranial GHRH-secreting tumors are extremely rare and only a few well-documented cases have been reported. The clinical features of acromegaly due to intracranial GHRH-secreting tumor are indistinguishable from those of other patients with "classical acromegaly". In cases of intrasellar gangliocytomas, not even radiological findings help to make the correct diagnosis, which can only be made with the hystological study. We present the case of a woman with acromegaly; the magnetic resonance demonstrated a 2x1.8x1.2 cm mass in the jugum sphenoidalis region, associated with a partial empty sella. There was a partial response to high-dose lanreotide therapy, so surgical treatment was decided, although only part of the tumor could be removed. Histopathological diagnosis was consistent with gangliocytoma, and immunostaining in the ganglionic cells was positive for GHRH. After surgery, hormone hypersecretion persisted, so medical treatment was reintroduced. In summary, we report a well-documented case of an intracranial GHRH-secreting gangliocytoma, an exceedingly rare cause of acromegaly. Clinical and biochemical data did not allow to make the correct diagnosis, which was only made on the pathological study. This case underscores that acromegaly can be due to causes other than a GH-secreting adenoma, and underlines that finding an image not typical of a pituitary adenoma should raise the suspicion that an unusual cause subsides the acromegaly.
The sequence in appearance and disappearance of impressiones gyrorum cerebri and cerebelli. [Journal Article]
Coll Antropol 2004; 28(2):849-55
Grgurević L, Vinter I, … Krmpotić-Nemanić J
We investigated the sequence and the intensity in the appearance and the disappearance of the impressiones gyrorum cerebri and cerebelli, of juga cerebralia and cerebellaria and of juga cerebellaria …
We investigated the sequence and the intensity in the appearance and the disappearance of the impressiones gyrorum cerebri and cerebelli, of juga cerebralia and cerebellaria and of juga cerebellaria interlobularia in the collection of 34 macerated and disarticulated skull bones from the newborn to 30 years of age (68 specimens/halves of skulls) and 19 skulls in the period from 30 to 80 years of age (38 specimens). Juga cerebralia on the squama of the temporal bone and cerebral lamina of the frontal bone appeared already in the course of the first year of life, much earlier than cited in the literature. The intensity of the development of juga cerebralia increased to the third decade. After that age, the intensity decreased gradually, and the juga cerebralia disappeared completely in parietal bones, in the cerebral fossae of the occipital bones and finally in most cases also on the cerebral lamina of the frontal bones. Juga cerebellaria and impressiones gyrorum cerebelli appeared in the middle of the second year of age and persisted to the ten years of age, which coincides with the closure of the fissures among the parts of the occipital bone. Jugum cerebellare intersemilunare appeared in the first year of life and persisted in its complete length, or interrupted in different sections of its course, during the whole life. The intensity in appearance of juga is partly influenced by the increasing thickness of the diploe.
Ossifying fibroma of the jugum sphenoidale. [Journal Article]
JCJ Clin Neurosci 2004; 11(5):544-6
Garrott HM, Wallace D, Wallace DJ
We report a rare case of an eight year old boy with an ossifying fibroma of the jugum sphenoidale who presented with rapid onset bilateral blindness. This benign tumour was initially debulked and req…
We report a rare case of an eight year old boy with an ossifying fibroma of the jugum sphenoidale who presented with rapid onset bilateral blindness. This benign tumour was initially debulked and required re-operation with decompression of both optic nerves due to progressive visual deterioration. Post-operatively, there was good visual recovery in the left eye, but visual acuity in the right eye remained at <1/60. A 17 years follow period is described, in which there has been no clinical or radiological evidence of tumour recurrence.
New Search Next
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2602
|
__label__wiki
| 0.513041
| 0.513041
|
Home / Insights / 2019 / Q1 / Emerging Markets Discovery Equity Strategy: Finding Fortune in the Forgotten
Strategy Spotlight
Emerging Markets Discovery Equity Strategy
Finding Fortune in the Forgotten
Ernest C. Yeung, Portfolio Manager, Emerging Markets Discovery Equity Strategy
Portfolio Manager Ernest Yeung celebrated his third anniversary at the helm of T. Rowe Price’s Emerging Markets Discovery Equity Strategy, formerly the Emerging Markets Value Equity Strategy, in September 2018. The strategy has posted positive net excess returns under his direction despite a challenging environment.
Favorable stock selection has been the primary driver of the outperformance of the portfolio, at both the country and sector levels, since its inception through the end of December 2018. The strategy leverages T. Rowe Price’s strength in fundamental research and long history of investing in EM. T. Rowe Price has invested in EM since 1980, developing one of the most experienced and largest research teams in the industry.
Unlike other value‑oriented managers who have succumbed to the temptation of adding growth companies into their portfolios to deliver performance, Mr. Yeung has remained true to his investment philosophy and does not hold any of the crowded growth‑oriented technology names. These names drove EM performance in recent times, but good value opportunities can be found outside of these sought‑after “new economy” stocks.
T. Rowe Price’s Emerging Markets Discovery Equity (EMD) Strategy, managed by Portfolio Manager Ernest Yeung, marked its third anniversary in September 2018 with positive net excess returns, despite a thriving environment for growth stocks during the period. This has been achieved by employing a differentiated investment approach that allows deeper penetration into emerging markets (EM) to find value.
Investors have been broadly skeptical of emerging markets, particularly recently as volatility spiked, and have tended to concentrate their exposure within a limited group of high‑quality growth companies. This has left a large swath of the EM opportunity set ignored. Importantly, many of these companies continue to deliver decent growth, and valuations have remained relatively inexpensive. Against this backdrop, Mr. Yeung has deftly applied a disciplined, bottom‑up framework aimed at identifying “forgotten” stocks or those that have been overlooked by investors, but which are fundamentally sound and have potential rerating catalysts.
Under Mr. Yeung’s tenure, the EMD Strategy has delivered 211 basis points of annualized excess return, net of fees, over the core MSCI EM Index net since inception to December 31, 2018. Over that same period, the strategy posted an annualized excess return of 257 bps, net of fees, over the MSCI EM Value Index Net. Within the global EM all‑cap value equity universe,1 the strategy ranked in the 9th, 14th, and 37th total return percentile for its trailing one‑, two‑, and three‑year results, respectively.
FIGURE 1: Positive Relative Returns
Periods Ended December 31, 2018, Figures Are Calculated in U.S. Dollars
(Sep. 30, 2015)
Emerging Markets Discovery Equity Composite (Gross) -5.16% -8.92% 11.10% 11.75% 11.76%
Emerging Markets Discovery Equity Composite (Net)† -5.36 -9.70 10.17 10.82 10.83
MSCI Emerging Markets Index Net‡ -7.46 -14.57 8.30 9.25 8.72
Value Added (Net)** 2.10 4.87 1.87 1.57 2.11
eVestment Global EM All Cap Value Equity Universe Median (Gross) -6.87 -13.12 7.08 10.73 10.30
T. Rowe Price EM Value Peer Rank 31 9 14 37 26
Number of Active EM Value Managers in the Universe 45 45 43 43 41
Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.
Supplemental information.
Source for MSCI data: MSCI. MSCI makes no express or implied warranties or representations and shall have no liability whatsoever with respect to any MSCI data contained herein. The MSCI data may not be further redistributed or used as a basis for other indices or any securities or financial products. This report is not approved, reviewed, or produced by MSCI.
† Net‑of‑fees performance reflects the deduction of the highest applicable management fee (Model Net Fee) that would be charged based on the fee schedule appropriate to you for this mandate, without the benefit of breakpoints. Please be advised that the composite may include other investment products that are subject to management fees that are inapplicable to you but are in excess of the Model Net Fee. Therefore, the actual performance of all the portfolios in the composite on a net‑fee basis will be different and may be lower than the Model Net Fee performance. However, such Model Net Fee performance is intended to provide the most appropriate example of the impact management fees would have by applying management fees relevant to you to the gross performance of the composite. Supplemental information. Please see the GIPS® Disclosure page for additional information on the composite.
‡ Effective July 1, 2018, the benchmark for the composite changed from gross to net of withholding taxes. The change was because the firm viewed the new benchmark to be more consistent with the tax impacts of the portfolios in the composite. Historical benchmark representations have been restated.
** The Value Added is shown as Emerging Markets Discovery Equity Composite (Net of Fees) minus MSCI Emerging Markets Index Net.
Looking Beyond The Well-Trodden Path to Discover Value
Simply buying cheap stocks and waiting for mean reversion is a flawed approach within emerging markets, according to Mr. Yeung. This is because mean reversion does not always transpire, as EM tend to be less efficient than their developed counterparts. He prefers to be on the lookout for positive fundamental changes among stable companies that are facing unwarranted skepticism from investors.
His approach addresses the drawbacks of classic value investing, such as the risk of falling into value traps. He believes that, in EM, stocks can stay cheap for a protracted period. Without a deep understanding of a company’s execution track record and the resources to identify catalysts that could cause a stock to rerate, it is easy to be lured into these names. In EM, opaque ownership structures, weaker governance, and a prevalence of family‑ and government‑owned companies, are all factors that can conspire to keep cheap stocks cheap for an inordinate amount of time.
The EMD Strategy tends to differ from its benchmark and EM peer universe, as indicated by an active share of 85%, trumping the eVestment Global Emerging Markets Universe’s 83% average. Often, the strategy’s biggest underweights will be its competitors’ largest relative overweights. Consider that the consumer discretionary sector was the largest relative underweight for the strategy, followed by information technology (IT), as of December 31, 2018. Meanwhile, financials was the portfolio’s biggest overweight, in both absolute and relative terms, followed by industrials and business services.
The strategy has demonstrated a three-year downside capture ratio of 87% as of the end of December 2018, while the upside capture ratio stood at 98%. With the fundamental, bottom‑up investment approach, the portfolio is expected to outperform during periods when stock‑specific factors primarily drive equity prices. In addition to this, the portfolio manager’s preference for fundamentally stable companies with potential catalysts for improvement should be supportive of returns during periods of market weakness. The portfolio may underperform in strong bull markets led by growth stocks, such as in 2017, and during periods of deep‑value rallies, such as the recent run led by underperforming energy stocks.
FIGURE 2: Distinguishable From Peers and Benchmark
Emerging Markets Discovery Equity Composite
eVestment Global Emerging Markets All Cap Value Universe Average
MSCI EM Index Net
Annualized Total Return, 3-Year
Annualized Standard Deviation, 3-Year 14.35% 14.74% 14.60%
Historical Tracking Error, 3‑Year 3.76% 5.19%
‑
Beta, 3‑Year 0.95 0.93 1.00
R‑squared, 3‑Year 0.94 0.88 1.00
Annualized Alpha, 3‑Year 2.72% 2.21% -
Sharpe Ratio, 3‑Year 0.74 0.66 0.56
Information Ratio, 3‑Year 0.66 0.30 -
P/B 1.2x 1.4x 2.1x
ROE,1-Year 13.29% - 14.85%
Median Market Capitalization (MM USD) $11,412 $6,403 $22,826
Active Share 85 83 -
Portfolio Turnover, 12‑Month 67 44 -
Number of Holdings 58 209 1,060
Sources: T. Rowe Price, eVestment Data Alliance, and MSCI.
Statistics based on monthly gross returns. Returns would have been lower as the result of the deductions of applicable fees.
Aside from outperforming the primary benchmark, the strategy delivered higher earnings per share (EPS) growth than that of the MSCI EM Index. The strategy’s price-to-book ratio was also significantly lower than the index as a result of investing in fundamentally sound companies that deliver a return on equity of 13.29% as of December 31, 2018.
While EM weakened in 2018, EM equities rallied in 2017, extending the previous year’s advance as investors favored growth stocks. Gains have largely been driven by “new economy” stocks, such as information technology names and some consumer stocks. In 2018, the trade dispute between the U.S. and China; idiosyncratic concerns in select EM countries, such as Turkey and Argentina; along with the strength of the U.S. dollar and tightening U.S. rate policy, cast a pall on EM. Lingering concerns that policy tightening in China was slowing economic growth further weighed on the markets.
Against this background, Mr. Yeung’s favorable stock selection has been the primary driver of the outperformance of the portfolio, at both the country and sector levels, since its inception until the end of December 2018. During the period, stock selection within financials, industrials, and IT provided the largest positive contribution to relative returns and the portfolio manager’s group weight in these sectors had a favorable impact.
...Mr. Yeung’s favorable stock selection has been the primary driver of the outperformance of the portfolio, at both the country and sector levels, since its inception until the end of December 2018.
FIGURE 3: Emerging Markets Discovery Equity Strategy Representative Portfolio Relative Sector Weights vs. MSCI EM Index Net
As of December 31, 2018
Emerging Markets Discovery Equity Strategy Representative Portfolio Relative Sector Weights vs. MSCI EM Index Net
T. Rowe Price uses the current MSCI/S&P Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS) for sector and industry reporting. T. Rowe Price will adhere to all updates to GICS for prospective reporting.
The representative portfolio is an account in the composite we believe most closely reflects current portfolio management style for the strategy. Performance is not a consideration in the selection of the representative portfolio. The characteristics of the representative portfolio shown may differ from those of other accounts in the strategy. Please see the GIPS® disclosure page for additional information on the composite.
Source: FactSet.
At the country level, the portfolio’s company investments in China and Brazil buoyed performance. Buying into old‑economy stocks, such as Banco Bradesco, worked for the portfolio as this large private bank in Brazil is expected to benefit from a potential acceleration in loan growth amid a consolidated market.
In China, Sina Corp, a leading online portal in the country and a top contributor to performance, exemplified how the depth of T. Rowe Price’s research enabled Mr. Yeung to uphold his contrarian view of a sector where overall valuations were high. His preference for high‑return, cash‑generative businesses, such as Kingboard Holdings, an electronics laminates producer, also paid off. Both of these stocks were exited in 2017, locking in strong gains.
Emerging Markets Discovery Equity Strategy: Finding Fortune in the Forgotten
1 eVestment, as of December 2018. EVestment collects information directly from investment management firms and other sources believed to be reliable. EVestment does not guarantee or warrant the accuracy, timeliness, or completeness of the information provided and is not responsible for any errors or omissions. Performance results may be provided with additional disclosures available on our systems, and other important considerations such as fees may be applicable.
The strategy’s name was changed from Emerging Markets Value Equity Strategy to Emerging Markets Discovery Equity Strategy as of December 1, 2018. Effective the same day, the name change applied to the composite vehicle, now known as Emerging Markets Discovery Equity Composite.
Information and opinions presented have been obtained or derived from sources believed to be reliable and current; however, we cannot guarantee the sources’ accuracy or completeness. There is no guarantee that any forecasts made will come to pass. The views contained herein are as of the date noted on the material and are subject to change without notice; these views may differ from those of other T. Rowe Price group companies and/or associates. Under no circumstances should the material, in whole or in part, be copied or redistributed without consent from T. Rowe Price.
MSCI index returns are shown with gross dividends reinvested.
Source for MSCI data: MSCI. MSCI makes no express or implied warranties or representations and shall have no liability whatsoever with respect to any MSCI data contained herein. The MSCI data may not be further redistributed or used as a basis for other indices or any securities or financial products. This report is not approved, reviewed, or produced by MSCI. eVestment: Copyright © 2019 eVestment Alliance, LLC (eVestment). All rights reserved.
Exploiting Opportunities Amid a Secular Commodity Downturn
Global Asset Allocation Viewpoints
Ernest C. Yeung
Portfolio Manager, Emerging Markets Discovery Equity Strategy
Ernest Yeung is a portfolio manager for the Emerging Markets Discovery Equity Strategy at T. Rowe Price. He was the co-portfolio manager for the International Small-Cap Equity Strategies from 2009 to 2014. Mr. Yeung is a vice president of T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. and T. Rowe Price Hong Kong Limited.
See all article(s) by Ernest C. Yeung...
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2604
|
__label__cc
| 0.743987
| 0.256013
|
Ancient Aircraft?
I have been reading a bit lately about ancient aircraft like the vimani. The vimani are described as man made craft which are shaped similar to modern airplanes and helicopters. In ancient India a lot was written about these flying craft.
I am going to have to look through the DVR and see if there is anything on the vimani.
Do you believe the ancients had some technology that gave them flight and that we are as of yet unaware of?
Asked by CareTaker
Mythology or Not?
What is Going on in the Zone of Silence in Mexico?
Who Were the Nephilim?
Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed by Nuclear Bomb?
Was Zechariah Sitchin Right About the the Annunaki?
On April 16, 2011 / Mysteries / 13 Comments
6:44 pm on April 17, 2011
Read the Christian Bible, there’s a spaceship described in there too.
Ezekiel chapter 1.
Love & Light
Hello Ama, I am very familiar with that and other references in the Bible. Interesting isn’t it? The Bible, old religious paintings, and on and on the evidence is there.
JS McGill
12:29 am on April 18, 2011
Part one, from legend to reality, There is two in this video
It’s all in the interpretation. LOL
Hi JS
Which video?
King Solomon travelled over land and across the ocean to the far East in a vehicle which was powered by ????(power drawn from the contents of The Ark of the Covenant) and this vehicle floated above the ground and above the waters.
Really, I must have missed something. Where did you get that information from please Pat?
That story was originated by ’1000 and One Nights’ was where it had Solomon as the main character on a flying carpet. It is a modern book, written late 1800′s-1900′s? The 1924 book ‘The Thief of Bagdad’ uses that legend as it base. Is based on that story and is catagorized as fiction. He also was said to put a genie in a bottle. Its the magic carpet thing. 60 mile wide, by 60 mile long. Big carpet, huh? There is a show here in the states called ‘Ancient Aliens’ that promotes the possible and increasingly popular notion that God was/is an alien. I don’t know about it much, but its supposedly pretty convincing and sometimes far reaching. My good friend began watching it, recording it. Never misses an episode. Swears it has to be true. As for me? I already have my beliefs of which have proven true, for me, that is! I’ve absolutely NO problem with other beliefs, like yours, Pat. Bible doesn’t speak to that, that I know of. If so, please enlighten me, for I am interested in that magic machine!
I think all that stems from what the Book of Solomon says about demons doing his bidding for which has spawned many a literary work. Which reminds me… I’ve news to tell you about my research of ‘the secret.’ Will email it to you, but I bet you already know…
As always, Love and Blessings,
Thank you Keith.
Pat is that the same information you have? I have read many books ‘explaining’ the history of humanity through metaphysical beliefs .. like “Uriel’s Machine” .. really must reread that one. I find it all fascinating, and much of it plausible, but I deal with energy beings, angels and other entities, so I know some of these ‘facts’ are .. open to be questioned.
Most certainly not, I’ve not seen ???? ’1000 and one nights’ – not my cuppa tea.
I cannot remember the title of the books which contained the information – but it would’ve been books by well known researchers. Solomon apparently visited the far East several times in this vehicle which could float above the waters and above the ground. According to the information, he was instrumental in having a replica of Solomon’s Temple built somewhere in the Far East – I think it may be somewhere in India.
It was also in one of these books where I read about the two carriage guards who attempted to prevent the ‘the ark of the covenant’ from falling off the carriage when they were killed instantly – badly burnt.
Perhaps one could start by researching if there is in fact a replica of Solomon’s Temple somewhere in the Far East and how it came to be there.
Scheherazade, and her One thousand and one nights. Some things are to be read, and no amount of tv adaptions can do them justice. Here we find so many classic tales. And a little light info on the lady herself is here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scheherazade
Was she imaginary, or really a queen of Persia? We can’t know, but we can still enjoy the stories.
As for the other books you can’t remember the authors of, I probably have a few of them on my bookshelves; Von Daniken comes to mind, though he isn’t on the shelves anymore, Hancock and Bauval, Sitchin .. I like Laurence’s Realm of the Ring Lords, which traces Jesus’ family (holy grail) through time. I find that very interesting. It might all be mythology, but I do believe that mythology has its foundation in fact.
Hi Pat, Ama
Well, there are some beautiful ancient structures in Far East! All we have of Solomon’s Temple are drwings as described in the bible. leonardo has a strange object flying in the sky in the background of one of his paintings. No telling of what knowledge has been lost over the ions. I sometimes think our modern society has got it all wrong!
Hopefully not ‘all wrong’ Keith, maybe we are just confused by the passing to time. It’s like the game of ‘chinese whispers’. Whisper a short sentence into the ear of a person, who whispers it to the next, and 20 people later we have a whole different statement. LOL A story that began as an oral legend gets adapted through each of the storytellers, and in the end it might take a lot of work to decipher where the original story came from .. but hey, that’s what some historians spend their lives doing.
Leave a Reply to Ama Nazra
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2605
|
__label__cc
| 0.73527
| 0.26473
|
Illinois’ huge pension obligation bond proposal – 3 good things and 3 bad things
The Illinois State Universities Annuitants Association (SUAA) recently developed a proposal for a $107 billion (with a b) bond offering designed to secure the funding of state government employee pension funds.
SUAA asserted the proposal could lead to a 90% funding ratio for the plans in 2018, up from what Truth in Accounting calculates at roughly 36% as of fiscal 2016.
Poof, problem solved? No. There’s no such thing as a free lunch.
Here are three good things and three bad things about the SUAA proposal:
1) This is ONLY A PROPOSAL. This proposal has friends in the Illinois General Assembly, but it is far from certain at this point.
2) If the proposal becomes reality, it could improve the financial position of the hundreds of thousands of members in these plans.
3) If the proposal is enacted, it would be a big payday for financial, law and credit rating firms.
1) Good things for government pension plan members and financiers aren’t necessarily good for taxpayers.
2) Experience indicates any short-term improvement in reported funding ratios would reduce discipline in Illinois government to reform and adequately fund the plans in the future.
3) The proposal would effectively double down on the forced participation of Illinois taxpayers and citizens in risky financial markets.
In Illinois, whether they like it or not, taxpayers and citizens are effectively investors in the stock market.
That exposure arises because massive (yet massively underfunded) state and local government pension plans are dominantly invested in equity and related risky investments.
The stock market may have boomed since the 2007-2009 financial crisis, but these government pension plans remain dramatically underfunded.
Under a state Supreme Court decision issued several years ago, benefits in these pension plans are effectively guaranteed to the pensioners.
That means, under current law, taxpayers and citizens are exposed to the risk of significant future downturns in the stock market. If the stock market goes down, taxpayers are obligated by law to pick up the resulting (higher) shortfall in the pension plan.
In turn, this ‘safety net’ for pension plan funding can motivate pension plans to concentrate in risky investments, given that plan members get the upside and taxpayers get the downside. The incentives are underlined by current (and questionable) accounting standards, which call for pension liabilities to use discount rates based on expected rates of investment returns. Higher-risk investments offer higher expected returns, leading to higher discount rates and, in turn, lower reported pension liabilities.
Last week’s news about the pension bond proposal would double down on this downside risk facing taxpayers.
In ‘pension obligation bonds,’ bonds are sold to investors, who pay money. That money is used to fund assets in the pension plans, lifting their reported ‘funded status.’ But that money didn’t come out of nowhere.
The proposal would improve the funded status of the plans, initially. Proceeds from the offering would flow to the plans, where cash and investments would rise, relative to the net pension liability. But the reason cash and investments rose was that a new (huge) debt was created. Which doesn’t necessarily improve the funded status of the State of Illinois.
And it could, and probably would, undermine the funded status – more certainly, for the slice of the pie for the rest of us supporting the pension systems and related financial firms.
By raising new huge debts, it would raise the state’s financial leverage -- and risk for taxpayers.
In financial failures, creditors and other interested parties don’t just stand idly by as a crisis becomes evident. If they can’t sell their position at prices they deem favorable, some of the more sophisticated, well-connected parties will put out a lot of effort to secure their position relative to other interested parties.
In liquidations, for example, a liquidator will sell assets on the market, and use the proceeds to pay off liabilities. In liquidation, those liabilities aren’t paid off equally. Some of them are more “senior” than others.
But the lines aren’t always clearly drawn, legally, and there are often creative ways to effectively secure one’s position in light of existing “seniority” status.
Last week’s proposal could be a symptom of incentives like this. Particularly in light of some of the good outcomes asserted by the SUAA for the proposal.
In fact, their first one reads “ensure workers and retirees receive their constitutionally protected pensions.”
The question arises – if those pensions are constitutionally protected, why is this proposal even necessary, if the goal is to ensure that members receive their benefits?
One answer may lie in movements afoot to draft an amendment to the Illinois Constitution to allow for changes (and reductions) in pension benefits.
Were the SUAA proposal to reach reality, it would help secure the financial positions of the members of the plan, given that the plan assets were more directly in the plan. Securing the plan participants, but at higher public risk.
Financial markets normally demand a premium rate of return for risky investments. Investors are likely to demand relatively high interest rates for these bonds, leading in turn to markedly higher interest expense for the State of Illinois.
The risks in these proposed bonds include questions relating to whether such a huge deal elevates market concern about the overall borrowing capacity of the state. Pension catch-up costs are already crowding out other services, but the new deal could fuel that fire through higher interest expense for State borrowing more generally.
Some influential groups in Illinois would undoubtedly benefit from this proposal, at least in the short turn. They would include the Wall Street underwriters for the offering. Given the size of the offering, and looking at the fees paid in past Illinois pension obligation bond deals, fees for the proposed deal could run more than $400 million.
Those possible rewards provide useful perspective when listening to future hearings coming from the Illinois House Personnel and Pensions Committee, where a legislative leader in getting the proposal to the committee promised more hearings with other witnesses, including ‘bond houses.’
But think of the possibilities for putting $107 billion in bond proceeds to work. Why not go to Vegas, if taxpayers get the downside? Another ‘creative’ solution could take $107 billion in cash and buy Illinois lottery tickets.
On the other hand …
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2607
|
__label__cc
| 0.695347
| 0.304653
|
OUR LADY STAR OF THE SEA
INVERLOCH WATER PARK
ROSE LODGE
KARMAI CHILDREN'S CENTRE
WONTHAGGI CFA
YARRAM PRIMARY SCHOOL
THE CAPE >
CUTLERS
CUMAN RESIDENCE
BUTCHER RESIDENCE
FURLAN RESIDENCE
POWER RESIDENCE
MARTIN RESIDENCE
RYAN RESIDENCE
YOUNG RESIDENCE
Master Builders Awards 2019
TS Constructions are excited to have received the following awards at the recent
Regional Master Builders Awards
on Friday 5th July 2019.
Excellence in Construction of Commercial Buildings $3M - $6M
Best Custom Home $600,000 - $800,000
Best Sustainable Home
The Phillip Island Health Hub was a collaborative project funded by Local, State and Federal governments. It was a critical infrastructure development for the people of Phillip Island with significant community interest and oversight by a Community steering committee, making the planning all the more complex. Despite the significant consultative processes and stakeholder engagement, the project was built on time, and slightly under budget, with strong community investment evident at the completion of the project. The building project itself was the development of a State of the Art Community Health environment which catered for Medical Specialists, Allied Health and Nursing therapy areas, and the subsequent development of an Urgent Care centre catering to the 24 hour health needs of the local community. The final build incorporated a number of environmental features which have facilitated lower recurrent costs and higher staff and consumer satisfaction. The project was managed with significant ease and expertise with no issue, or variation too much of a problem. All workman including the Project Manager and Trevor himself, were highly engaged and accessible; they were expert and constrictive in their advice; amenable to many and varied community requests to look through during the construction phase; and most of all, professionally provided oversight to the site development. BCH now enjoys a contemporary environment that according to its users, provides a genuine feeling of wellbeing as soon as you walk through the doors..
Located in Wonthaggi this four bedroom family home is a testament to a collaborative approach to building.
Stepping inside, visitors are greeted by stunning Blackbutt lining to walls throughout the kitchen, dining, and living room along with burnished concrete floors
The heart of the house has an outlook to the back yard, and contains an understated kitchen that overlooks the dining area with its honed brick feature wall in the living room. living room has a fireplace and simple inbuilt joinery for storage and to anchor the TV. Alfresco area has a Jetmaster wood fired heater for those cold winter days renowned to Wonthaggi , The alfresco has aluminium stacker doors which open up to the dining and living room for open space when entertaining it also has a pass through window and Caesar stone bench top from the kitchen. The clients being keen fisherman also installed 2 ship portholes to the west wall in the alfresco
With raked ceilings, high set windows, the home exudes natural warmth and subtle luxury suitable for living. The master bedroom has a generous walk in robe and ensuite which is fully tiled from floor to ceiling. The bedroom itself is large, The other bedrooms are carpeted for warmth and comfort with built in robes for storage.
The clients wanted a family home for their grown up children and families,
TS Constructions, who have worked extensively with ADAPT Design Group undertook initial costings which bought the home in above initial estimates. TS Constructions then undertook a consultative approach to find savings in the build that enabled the project to proceed without compromising the design intent.
Australia’s premium sustainable housing project, The Cape, in Cape Paterson, has opened its doors to its newest 8.3-star edition, Periwinkle. This carbon neutral, energy and water efficient coastal home sits within the top 1% of sustainable homes in Australia. The home features state of the art energy efficient
design, construction and fit out, which combines to keep the home beautifully comfortable in all weather conditions, while reducing annual running costs to below $500 per annum, which is around15% to 20% of the running costs of a state average home.
The Cape eco community is a master planned residential development on the South Coast of Victoria at Cape Paterson. Eventually it will consist of over 200 homes surrounded by more than 50% of open, natural space, The Cape has very clear and prescriptive guidelines for all homes. A minimum 7.5 star rating, 2.5kW PV Solar and 10,000 litres of water storage is mandatory.
TS Constructions have worked closely with the owners to build a stylish, 185m² single-story home (154m² of living space) with visually impressive articulation and material selection.
The ground floor consists of a large, north facing living zone and kitchen that opens onto a wide deck with views of the garden. There are three bedrooms, a Study and a large Pantry is this well laid out home. Rooms and windows have been situated to capture both prevailing sea breezes and wonderful views of Bass Straight.
TS Constructions were proudly responsible for all aspects of the build, from the initial site cut through to final landscaping.
Cape Paterson
Passive Solar
GET THE LATEST FROM TS CONSTRUCTIONS
4 MORTIMER STREET, WONTHAGGI, VIC 3995
PO Box 267 Wonthaggi, VIC, 3995
EMAIL: admin@tsconstructions.com.au
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2608
|
__label__wiki
| 0.81884
| 0.81884
|
CDCC and NGX receive CCP recognition from European Securities and Markets Authorities
February 1, 2016 (TORONTO) – TMX announced today that both NGX, a leading North American energy exchange and central clearing counterparty (CCP), and the Canadian Derivatives Clearing Corporation (CDCC), Canada's national CCP for exchange-traded derivative products, certain over-the-counter (OTC) products and repos, have received third country CCP recognition from the European Securities and Markets Authorities (ESMA), effective immediately. Recognition as a third country CCP under European Market Infrastructure (EMIR) allows CCPs from outside of the EU to provide clearing services to clearing members or trading venues established in the EU.
"Third country CCP recognition is an important achievement for CDCC and MX as we continue to work to efficiently serve our existing European client base and attract additional clients to our market," said Alain Miquelon, President and CEO, Montréal Exchange and Group Head of Derivatives, TMX Group.
"The NGX clearing model has a proven track record in North American energy markets," added Jim Oosterbaan, President of NGX. "We are pleased to receive third country CCP recognition as an acknowledgement that NGX has met the standards of European regulators."
Pursuant to the EU Capital requirements regulation, recognition under EMIR also gives CCPs the status of being qualifying CCPs (QCCPs) in the EU. Clearing members are subject to lower capital requirements with respect to exposures to QCCPs relative to non-QCCPs.
About TMX Group (TSX: X)
TMX Group's key subsidiaries operate cash and derivative markets and clearinghouses for multiple asset classes including equities, fixed income and energy. Toronto Stock Exchange, TSX Venture Exchange, TSX Alpha Exchange, The Canadian Depository for Securities, Montréal Exchange, Canadian Derivatives Clearing Corporation, NGX, BOX Options Exchange, Shorcan, Shorcan Energy Brokers, AgriClear and other TMX Group companies provide listing markets, trading markets, clearing facilities, depository services, data products and other services to the global financial community. TMX Group is headquartered in Toronto and operates offices across Canada (Montréal, Calgary and Vancouver), in key U.S. markets (New York, Houston, Boston and Chicago) as well as in London, Beijing, Singapore and Sydney. For more information about TMX Group, visit our website at http://www.tmx.com. Follow TMX Group on Twitter: @TMXGroup.
Shane Quinn
Senior Manager, Communications and Public Affairs
shane.quinn@tmx.com
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2609
|
__label__wiki
| 0.541236
| 0.541236
|
Alabama spring football prospectus: Offensive line
The Tuscaloosa News will review the Alabama roster by examining each position group entering spring practice. The Crimson Tide held its first spring practice on Friday, March 8 and will resume after the university's spring break ends on Monday, March 18.
Starters returning: Alex Leatherwood, Jedrick Wills
Departed: Joshua Casher, Lester Cotton Sr., Richie Petitbon, Ross Pierschbacher, Jonah Williams
Others returning: Hunter Brannon, Deonte Brown, Tommy Brown, Emil Ekiyor Jr., Scott Lashley, Chris Owens, Kendall Randolph, Matt Womack
Newcomers: Darrian Dalcourt, Amari Kight, Evan Neal, Pierce Quick
Confidence level: 7/10
Starting point: The good news is that Alex Leatherwood and Jedrick Wills both proved themselves capable starters in 2018. Leatherwood also appeared to be fine at left tackle when pressed there against Georgia in the national championship game during his freshman year. Womack started during the 2017 season at right tackle and should be in better position to start this year. That would be three solid pieces to start with and could include both left and right tackle in some combination.
Deonte Brown looked like Alabama’s best guard at times last year but isn't expected to be available to start the season. Look for Ekiyor and Chris Owens to be worked in at guard and center. They may both have the opportunity to try both positions before Alabama decides on its best five. There are other veterans on the roster as well who should be able to provide enough depth to make sure this group is solid top to bottom.
To be determined: The key when building an offensive line is always to find the best five as a group, which is not always the five best individuals. That means there’s lots of combinations to try, and spring is the perfect chance to experiment and move players around. This group isn’t usually settled until sometime in fall camp and battles have continued on even into the season. Don’t count on this group being rock-solid by the A-Day game.
It isn’t inconceivable for a true freshman to win a starting job, as Cam Robinson and Jonah Williams have done recently. That would likely require some more shuffling among the returning players. New offensive line coach Kyle Flood will be a different voice than Brent Key, who became a bit of a coaching staff veteran in three years at Alabama. Like many new coaches on staff, he’ll be learning about his players and their strengths and weaknesses in the first few days of spring.
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2614
|
__label__cc
| 0.663021
| 0.336979
|
UniCredit: 2Q16 and 1H16 Group Results
ADJUSTED GROUP NET PROFIT AT €687 M IN 2Q16 (+6.4% Q/Q), WITH ALL DIVISIONS CONTRIBUTING POSITIVELY TO QUARTERLY PERFORMANCE. REPORTED GROUP NET PROFIT AT €916 M
ADJUSTED ROTE AT 6.6% IN 2Q16. REPORTED ROTE AT 8.8%
EXCLUDING DTA IMPACT, CET1 RATIO FULLY LOADED AT 10.33% IN 2Q16 [1] (PRO-FORMA AT 10.53% INCLUDING THE POSITIVE IMPACT OF 10% DISPOSALS OF FINECOBANK AND BANK PEKAO)
CONTINUED REDUCTION OF NET IMPAIRED LOANS TO €36.7 BN WITH COVERAGE RATIO INCREASING TO 52.4% IN 2Q16. NET BAD LOANS RATIO AT 4.0% IN 2Q16 WITH COVERAGE RATIO RISING TO 61.6%
IN CHALLENGING MARKET CONDITIONS, CORE BANK CORE REVENUES (NII & FEES) AT €4.9 BN IN 2Q16 (+1.2% Q/Q) THANKS TO POSITIVE DYNAMICS BETWEEN DIVISIONS WITH CROSS-SELLING UP BY 11% Q/Q AS A RESULT OF A WELL DIVERSIFIED PRODUCT BASE
FOCUS ON COST MANAGEMENT WITH CORE BANK OPERATING EXPENSES DOWN BY C. 3% Y/Y TO €3.2 BN IN 2Q16
CEE, CIB AND COMMERCIAL BANKING ITALY LARGEST CONTRIBUTORS TO NET PROFIT
All divisions contribute positively to quarterly performance with adjusted Group net profit reaching €687 m in 2Q16 which excludes c. €230 m of net non-recurring item: -€216 m of capital gain from the disposal of VISA Europe stake, -€100 m of LLP release, -€96 m of trading gain, +€55 m related to restructuring charges and +€128 m of guarantee fees for DTA conversion in Italy. Adjusted RoTE [1] stands at 6.6% in 2Q16. Reported Group net profit stands at €916 m in 2Q16 (over 100% Q/Q, +75.3% Y/Y) with RoTE at 8.8%. Adjusted Group net profit equal to €1.3 bn in 1H16 [2] (+28.7% H/H) and adjusted RoTE at 6.4%. Reported Group net profit at €1.3 bn in 1H16 (+27.7% H/H) with a RoTE at 6.4%.
Total assets remain stable at €891.5 bn in 2Q16 (-0.1% Q/Q, +1.9% Y/Y). On the asset side, the increase in financial assets & investments (+€10.0 bn Q/Q) and in loans to customers (+€5.9 bn Q/Q) mainly offsets the reduction in loans and receivables with banks (-€17.8 bn Q/Q). On the liabilities side, the reduction in direct funding (-€4.1 bn Q/Q) and in deposits from customers (-€5.5 bn Q/Q) is offset by the increase of financial liabilities held for trading (+€ 8.2 bn Q/Q).
RWA/Total assets ratio is largely stable at 44.8% in 2Q16 (+0.6p.p. Q/Q, -1.6p.p. Y/Y). RWA increase to €399.3 bn in 2Q16 (+€4.9 bn Q/Q, -€6.6 bn Y/Y) as the result of an increase in credit (+€0.6 bn Q/Q) and market RWA (+€5.4 bn Q/Q), partially compensated by a reduction in operational risk (-€1.2 bn Q/Q). In particular, credit RWA growth reflects business volume increase. Market RWA growth is mainly due to the impact of negative interest rates on models.
Asset quality continues to improve in 2Q16 with gross impaired loans declining to €77.1 bn (-2.4% Q/Q, -5.7% Y/Y), on the back of reduced inflows from performing to impaired loans and higher collections, with the net impaired loan ratio down to 7.5% (-0.4p.p. Q/Q, -0.9p.p. Y/Y) and coverage ratio at 52.4% in 2Q16. Gross bad loans decrease to €51.3 bn (-1.4% Q/Q, stable Y/Y) with a coverage ratio of 61.6% (+0.4p.p. Q/Q). Other gross impaired loans further down at €25.8 bn (-4.3% Q/Q, -15.2% Y/Y).
Starting from this quarter, CET1 ratio pro-forma no longer includes the impacts from the full absorption of DTA on goodwill tax redemption and tax losses carried forward and Bank Pekao minority excess capital calculated with 12% threshold [4]. CET1 ratio fully loaded for regulatory purposes stands at 10.33% in 2Q16 [5], pro-forma at 10.53% including 20bp generated by the recent disposals (+8bp from FinecoBank ABB [6] and +12bp from Bank Pekao ABB) and excluding the potential impact of cards processing activities disposal (+12bp). CET1 ratio fully loaded is the result of (i) 2Q16 earnings generation (+23bp Q/Q), (ii) RWA increase (-12bp Q/Q), (iii) AFS (-6bp Q/Q) and (iv) DBO & other (-17bp Q/Q). On a regulatory basis, CET1 ratio transitional stands at 10.51% (+20bp Q/Q, -1bp Y/Y), Tier 1 ratio transitional at 11.30% and Total Capital ratio transitional at 14.02%. On a regulatory basis, Basel 3 Leverage ratio transitional stands at 4.55% and fully loaded at 4.33%.
The CET1 ratio transitional resulting from the European Bank Authority (EBA) 2016 Stress Test would in 2018 stand at 11.57% under the baseline scenario and at 7.12% under the adverse scenario, embedding +98bp and -347bp impact (vs. an un-weighted average impact of +96bp and -427bp within EBA sample)
Funding plan 2016 for €27.6 bn has been executed for about €12.1 bn as end of July.
TLTRO II take-up amounts to €26.6 bn on a consolidated basis [7]. The outstanding amount of TLTRO I was fully reimbursed following the ECB auction in June. Further TLTRO II take-up at the upcoming auctions is being evaluated.
2Q16 KEY FINANCIAL DATA
Net profit: adjusted net profit at €687 m (+6.4% Q/Q, +31.5% Y/Y) and RoTE at 6.6% excluding non-recurring items. Reported net profit at €916 m (over 100% Q/Q, +75.3% Y/Y) and RoTE at 8.8%.
Revenues: €6.1 bn (+12.1% Q/Q, +7.1% Y/Y).
Total costs: €3.3 bn (stable Q/Q, -4.3% Y/Y), cost/income ratio of 53.6% (-6.5p.p. Q/Q, -6.3p.p. Y/Y)
Asset Quality: LLP at €914 m (+20.9% Q/Q, +0.1% Y/Y), cost of risk at 75bp (+12bp Q/Q, -1bp Y/Y); net impaired loan ratio at 7.5% (-0.4p.p. Q/Q, -0.9p.p. Y/Y) and coverage ratio at 52.4%; net bad loan ratio at 4.0% and coverage ratio at 61.6%
Capital adequacy: CET1 ratio fully loaded for regulatory purposes at 10.33%, pro-forma at 10.53%. On a regulatory basis, CET1 ratio transitional at 10.51%, Tier 1 ratio transitional at 11.30% and Total Capital ratio transitional at 14.02%; leverage ratio transitional at 4.55% and fully loaded at 4.33%
CORE BANK
Net profit: adjusted net profit at €1.1 bn and RoAC [8] at 11.9%. Reported net profit at €1.2 bn (+69.8% Q/Q, +51.5% Y/Y) and RoAC at 13.4%
Revenues: €6.2 bn (+13.0% Q/Q, +8.5% Y/Y)
Total costs: €3.2 bn (+1.7% Q/Q, -2.9% Y/Y), cost/income ratio at 52.3% (-5.8p.p. Q/Q, -6.1p.p. Y/Y)
Asset Quality: LLP at €513 m (+24.1% Q/Q, -13.9% Y/Y), cost of risk at 45bp (+7.9bp Q/Q, -9.4bp Y/Y)
1H16 KEY FINANCIAL DATA
Net profit: adjusted net profit at €1.3 bn (+28.7% H/H) and RoTE at 6.4%. Reported net profit at €1.3 bn (+27.7% H/H) and RoTE at 6.4%
Revenues: €11.6 bn (+1.1% H/H)
Total costs: €6.6 bn (-4.0% H/H) with a cost/income ratio of 56.6% (-3.0p.p. H/H)
Asset Quality: LLP at €1.7 bn (-11.8% H/H), cost of risk at 69bp (-10bp H/H)
Net profit: adjusted net profit at c. €2.1 bn and ROAC at 11.2%. Reported net profit at €2.0 bn (+16.8% H/H) and ROAC at 10.7%
Asset Quality: LLP at €926 m (-20.9% H/H), cost of risk at 41bp (-13bp H/H)
[1] In 2Q16, CET1 ratio fully loaded for regulatory purposes at 10.33% does not includes the effects related to (i) the full absorption of DTA on goodwill tax redemption and tax losses carried forward and (ii) Bank Pekao minority excess capital calculated with 12% threshold.
[2] RoTE = annualized net profit / average tangible equity (excluding AT1).
[3] Adjusted for: 2Q16 non-recurring items (one-off trading gain, disposal of Visa Europe stake, restructuring charges, guarantee fees for DTA conversion in Italy and LLP release); 1Q16 non-recurring items (net additional impact of DBO in Austria and Strategic Plan integration costs in Italy).
[4] Pro-forma items equal to 40bp as of March 2016 and 43bp as of June 2016. In 1Q16, CET1 ratio fully loaded pro-forma at 10.85%, excluding 40 bp pro-forma at 10.45%.
[5] Within CET1 components, 1H16 net profit is fully recognised in own funds without any dividend deduction for FY16 in line with the decision taken by the Board of Directors on August 3, 2016. The dividend policy for 2016 and for the following years will be re-discussed while reviewing the strategic plan.
[6] Accelerated Book Building.
[7] €18.2 bn have been taken in Italy, €7.0 bn in Germany, €1.0 bn in Austria and €0.4 bn in Czech Republic & Slovakia.
[8] RoAC = annualized net profit/ Allocated capital. Allocated capital is calculated as 10% of RWA, including deductions for shortfall and securitization.
[9] Contribution from macro hedging strategy on non-naturally hedged sight deposits in 2Q16 at €376 m (€373 m in 1Q16 and €368 m in 2Q15).
[10] Including mix effect.
[11] Include dividends, equity investments and balance of other operating income / expenses. Turkey contribution based on a divisional view.
[12] Net of expenses recovery and indirect costs.
[13] Referring to the contributions to: (i) Single Resolution Fund of c. €5 m, (ii) guarantee fees for DTA conversion of c. €184 m in Italy, (iii) bank levies of c. €64 m (of which €32 m in Austria, €28 m in Poland and €4 m in CEE) and (iv) Deposit Guarantee Scheme of c. €47 m (of which €13 m in CEE, €19 m in Germany and €15 m in Poland).
[14] Perimeter of impaired exposures hereby shown as per BankIT Circular 272 is substantially equivalent to the perimeter of EBA Non Performing Exposures (NPE).
[15] For CEE, changes at current FX.
[16] Source: Dealogic Loanware, per 6 July 2016. Period: 1 January - 30 June 2016.
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2616
|
__label__cc
| 0.647865
| 0.352135
|
Rolo Tomassi at The Garage, London Review
This was one of the best gigs I have been to in a long while. I would recommend anyone reading this should listen to Cryptodira, Palm Reader and Rolo Tomassi.
The sold out Garage venue in Highbury London felt like electricity was flowing through it from the moments the door opened. I had never heard of the support acts to the nights show, but boy was I impressed by both performances before Rolo Tomassi finished off the nights showing.
Cryptodira took to the stage first a four piece all the way from Long Island, New York. They were different sort of “Metal” band then what I am usually accustomed too. At certain points it sounded like the most soothing elevator music you’ve ever heard, not in a bad way, if you closed your eyes you could be mistaken in believing you have received some sort of euphoric epiphany. The euphory ended and then the metal kicked in, sometimes the metal was a bit short when compared to the calming build up, but when it was in full force it was something to behold. Cryptodira is one of New York’s best metal exports and if you want something different from your metal bands, definitely give them a listen.
Palm Reader were second and upped the loudness factor. Their mission statement is “We play loud. We play heavy. We play hard. We play fast.” and that they did. Raw and brutal in its most basic form, they went from 0 to 10 in such a short time and had no let up throughout the whole performance. Playing songs off of their recently released album “Braille” but also diving head first into their back catalog Palm Reader showed on this that they were built for the stage just based upon the strength of the songs that they created. Simply put if Cryptodira was a band that had a calm before the storm, Palm Reader were all storm with the loudest thunder with no calm at any point.
Cryptodira, Palm Reader & Rolo Tomassi (Source: Palm Reader Instagram https://goo.gl/j7hNYL)
Rolo Tomassi was the headline act of the evening and were on top form. Opening up with “Towards Dawn” going into arguably their friendliest song (and my personal favourite) “Aftermath”, from then on the set contained songs primarily from the most recent album “Time Will Die And Love Will Bury It” with the occasional barn burner like “Ex Luna Scientia” thrown in for good measure.
I may be biased as Rolo Tomassi are one of my favourite bands but this was truly a definitive performance by them. Everyone in the sold out venue were feeding off of the bands energy and vice versa. The ebbs and flows of this Rolo Tomassi performance is like the perfect dinner, expertly crafted and each course perfectly complimenting the last. You’re not just gonna run off after eating, you’re gonna leave a big tip and be excited to come back again next time. Well perhaps my eating analogy isn’t the greatest but one thing is for sure, next time Rolo Tomassi are playing, go see them for something completely unique and treat yourself to a good meal afterwards too.
In Blog Tags blog, music, Rolo Tomassi, palm reader, cryptodira, crowd, good meal, highbury, eva spence, review, rock, metal, experimental, Time Will Die And Love Will Bury It, ex luna scientia, screams
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2618
|
__label__cc
| 0.66943
| 0.33057
|
Home / Blog / Managing AppSec
The Six Types of Open-Source Library Vulnerabilities
By Mark Curphey
There are at least six types of open-source library vulnerabilities that we should all be concerned about. Before describing them it is worth reiterating that simply linking to a vulnerable library in your project doesn’t mean your application will have a vulnerability. You will only have a vulnerability if you are using the vulnerable methods of the vulnerable library in a vulnerable manner. This is important. To know this for sure you need to look at the call-graph of your application and see if there is a call-chain to the vulnerable method in the dependency graph.
Listing vulnerable libraries is easy but actually determining a vulnerability is hard.
For every vulnerable library being used we see a very small percentage (single digits) of those projects actually using the vulnerable methods and have a strong hunch that across all developers this is likely to actually be a tiny percentage (i.e. 0.1 %). Another way to read that is by just showing vulnerable libraries there is 'maybe' a 99.9% false positive rate. I will follow up on that hunch with real stats soon.
The six types of open-source library vulnerabilities are:
Disclosed - a vulnerability where information is available in public places such as change-logs, commit-logs, issue-trackers, mailing-lists and vulnerability databases (including CVE’s in the NVD). (1)(2)
Inherited - a new vulnerability that is the result of a library inheriting a library with a disclosed vulnerability via its dependency & call graph (both conditions needed).(3)
Embedded - a new vulnerability that is the result of inheriting a library with a disclosed vulnerability from embedded code (usually as a result of cut-and-paste).(4)
Similar - a new vulnerability that is the same or similar to a previously disclosed vulnerability but that is now found in a different library.
Reintroduced - the same disclosed vulnerability that has been fixed in a previous release of the library but that has been reintroduced in a later version of the same library.(5)
Zero Days - new issues that have not yet been the subject of public disclosure but known about by someone and likely being used by the bad guys in the wild.
We estimate that the total gene pool of open-source library vulnerabilities is likely made up of something like Type 1: 5-10 % (and CVE's are < 5% of this 5-10%), Type 2: 20-30%, Type 3: 20-30%, Type 4: 2-3% and Type 5: 50%.
CVE's make up a small percentage of the disclosed vulnerabilities
Tracking disclosed issues requires you to be good at scavenging on the Internet (or have a team working on using Natural Language Processing to track these things at scale)
This means the full dependency graph i.e. the direct and transitive dependencies like Apache Commons Collections
Like these issues we disclosed in Handlebars
Like this issue we disclosed in Spring Social
Introducing Veracode’s New Analytics Capabilities
Key Components to Consider When Kicking Off Your Veracode AppSec Program
Veracode to showcase DevSecOps solutions at inaugural AWS re:Inforce
Live From Gartner Security & Risk Mgmt Summit: Starting an AppSec Program,...
Live From Gartner Security & Risk Mgmt Summit: Starting a Web Application...
Mark Curphey, Vice President, Strategy Mark Curphey is the Vice President of Strategy at Veracode. Mark is the founder and CEO of SourceClear, a software composition analysis solution designed for DevSecOps, which was acquired by CA Technologies in 2018. In 2001, he founded the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP), a non-profit organization known for its Top 10 list of Most Critical Web Application Security Risks. Mark moved to the U.S. in 2000 to join Internet Security Systems (acquired by IBM), and later held roles including director of information security at Charles Schwab, vice president of professional services at Foundstone (acquired by McAfee), and principal group program manager, developer division, at Microsoft. Born in the UK, Mark received his B.Eng, Mechanical Engineering from the University of Brighton, and his Masters in Information Security from Royal Holloway, University of London. In his spare time, he enjoys traveling, and cycling.
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2620
|
__label__cc
| 0.679324
| 0.320676
|
Twitter visualization : the volume of @replies in and out of Japan before and just after the earthquake
Twitter says that it saw a 500% increase in Tweets in the moments after the earthquake, as people reached out to communicate with family and friends. The visualization shows replies to Japanese users in pink, with messages coming out of japan to others in yellow.
Source : The Next Web
twitter Video
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2625
|
__label__wiki
| 0.504088
| 0.504088
|
Enigma Variations: Lafleur 1955-2015
BY NEAL MARTIN | NOVEMBER 1, 2018
Commencing our vinous odysseys, we set out on our own individual paths of discovery. Some wines become familiar right away; others remain out of touch. Budding oenophiles embark upon “the chase,” hunting new growers and filling gaps in vintages never tasted. When I began my own journey, I rarely had two pennies to rub together, and when I did, they were spent on vinyl records, wine or food, in that order of priority. Circumstances, luck and dogged determination introduced many Bordeaux wines to my palate, but one château eluded me: Lafleur. It was the cunning fox, always out of sight, always just over the horizon. Its elusiveness only enhanced its enigma and my yearning to track it down.
I finally succeeded during en primeur 2003. Jacques Guinaudeau was friendly and charismatic, with a magnificent bushy mustache long overdue effeuillage; he looked like a North Sea fisherman who had just taken off his sou’wester. His wife Sylvie was so down-to-earth that it was difficult to reconcile the fact that she co-owned one of the most famous estates in the world. Their son Baptiste was in tow, sporting long, tousled hair and dressed as if he had come directly from a skateboard park. He was learning the ropes from Jacques, and so he and I chatted about wine – and incidentally discovered a mutual appreciation for the Beastie Boys. Baptiste has come a long way since then. I recently drove past Lafleur and chanced upon him standing in the road, deep in discussion with a foreman, poring over plans for their near-complete new cuverie, the biggest change to Lafleur since its formation. Baptiste calls the shots these days, along with his better half Julie, but he still has long hair and a soft spot for Brooklyn’s finest rappers.
Since that first encounter with Lafleur, my palate has been blessed with numerous vintages over the years, including a memorable vertical back to the 1920s held in Attersee, Austria, literally the day before the deadline for my Pomerol book. I actually delayed publication because Lafleur was such a cornerstone of that work. Retrospectives that extend past 1982 are few and far between, in no small part because the Guinaudeaus possess no library stock or, for that matter, any records beyond that year. This only deepens the mystery surrounding the wines that were made by the “two little birds,” the nickname I gave to Marie and Thérèse Robin, the sisters who owned and ran Lafleur from 1946.
This article covers wines from both the Robin and the Guinaudeau eras, tasted in two separate Lafleur retrospectives. The first formed part of Omar Khan’s International Wine & Business series of tastings held at Ten Trinity Square in London, ranging from the 1950s up to the 1999 and embracing less frequently spotted off-vintages and undisputed legends. The second was held at Christie’s auction house and attended by Jacques and Sylvie Guinaudeau. Here the focus was post-2000-vintage releases of both Lafleur and Pensées de Lafleur. For completeness, I have supplemented these notes with several culled from my Pomerol book.
The magnificent lineup of Lafleur back to the 1950s at Ten Trinity Square
In 1872, Henri Greloud purchased a farmhouse and a small area of land known as Domaine de Gay. He decided to keep one block of vines separate from the remainder of the vineyard and christened it Lafleur. (In the 1893 edition of the Féret guide, Lafleur already commands high prices compared to its peers.) When Henri died in 1900, his son Charles inherited Lafleur, while his other son, Edgar, was given Château Grand Village in Mouillac. In 1915, Charles died childless, and Edgar’s daughter and her husband André Robin inherited Lafleur and Le Gay. André Robin tended the properties up until his own passing in 1946, whereupon the vineyards landed in the aproned laps of his daughters, Marie and Thérèse. The sisters were two peas in a pod, neither of them betrothed despite several suitors, and leading frugal but seemingly contented lives, cycling between Libourne and Pomerol, pottering about the vines and nattering with Mme. Loubat at Petrus. Neither Marie nor Thérèse really knew much about winemaking, and they famously allowed their chickens to cluck and poop around the cellar, so it was not the most spotless chai in Pomerol. Their naïveté meant they had no option but to adopt their father’s tenets, and apart from allowing poultry to wander at will, their one basic rule was to pick Lafleur after Le Gay. That unwitting application of the practice of late harvesting is one reason why some postwar vintages became legends.
Though prone to inconsistency, the quality of Lafleur was in no doubt, so that it gained a small but loyal following. There was little overseas interest, apart from the Benelux countries, where Pomerol wines were presciently appreciated, and Lafleur never cracked America, where Jean-Pierre Moueix was pouring Petrus and building its reputation. When the sisters became old and infirm, they asked Christian Moueix and Jean-Claude Berrouet to take charge of the vineyard and vinification. The pair oversaw the astonishing 1982 Lafleur and an outstanding follow-up 12 months later. But when Thérèse died in 1984, Marie Robin asked Jacques and Sylvie Guinaudeau, descendants of the Greloud family now ensconced at Grand Village, to take stewardship.
Jacques and Sylvie Guinaudeau in the Christie’s boardroom in May 2018
The Guinaudeaus hit the ground running with the divine 1985 Lafleur, but there was a lot of work to do, not least replanting almost one-quarter of the vineyard, mostly the Merlot vines. Marie Robin passed away in December 2001, and speculation ensued: who would purchase Le Gay and Lafleur? It transpired that the Guinaudeaus sold their rights to Le Gay to the late Catherine Père-Vergé, enabling them to finance the acquisition of Lafleur. Though Baptiste Guinaudeau and his partner Julie have slipped into the driving seat, Baptiste’s parents remain present. Lafleur has always been a family concern. Many tastings were accompanied by the soundtrack of their daughters playing on the swing outside, once or twice proffering their own views on the latest barrel sample – after all, you’re never too young to start your vinous education. For a period, the young family called Lafleur home, although the confined space and growing offspring meant that they moved out a couple of years ago. Probably a good thing, too, now that the builders have moved in to construct the new winery. The next chapter is being built brick by brick.
Lafleur is a small vineyard even by Pomerol’s standards; at 4.5 hectares, it covers less than half the area of neighboring Petrus. But despite its diminutive size, Lafleur is actually a complex mosaic of four complementary soil types: gravelly toward the eastern flank, gravel over clay toward the north and west, and sandy/gravelly toward the south, plus a sandy crescent of silt-like soil that is the base for Pensées de Lafleur. Lafleur’s unique selling point is the contribution of Cabernet Franc, which grows at higher altitude here than in any other Pomerol cru and represents around half the vineyard plantings. Baptiste Guinaudeau found nursery clones to be unsatisfactory for Cabernet Franc, so now they are replanted through sélection massale.
The original color drawing of Lafleur that Jacques Guinaudeau composed for my Pomerol tome
The harvest team picks block by block to obtain optimal ripeness, and the fruit is sorted both in the vineyard and on a sorting table. After alcoholic fermentation, the blending is done around February with the sage advice of Jean-Claude Berrouet. Lafleur is usually raised in a modest one-third new oak, mainly from the Darnajou cooperage. The final blend is around 60% Merlot and 40% Cabernet Franc, although recent vintages have been closer to an equal balance between the two, partly due to improvements in the quality of the Cabernet Franc via replanting, but also because of lower Merlot yields. Production is usually just 1,500 cases, including Château Lafleur and Pensées de Lafleur, the “second wine” introduced in 1987 after the poor growing season produced fruit deemed unworthy of the Lafleur label.
International Business & Wine Vertical 1955 – 1999
You will find vintages back to the 1920s, but I will narrate only those wines shown at the two recent verticals. The following wines were all poured at the International Wine & Business vertical in London.
The 1955 Lafleur was the catalyst for my interest in this Pomerol. When I encountered it in 2001, it was the first mature vintage I had tasted, and it deepened my curiosity and appreciation. Seventeen years later, this “senior citizen” still makes a splendid showing. It is a testament to the skills of the Robin sisters’ naïve yet astute winemaking and to a vintage that has blossomed in recent years. Well-kept examples will continue to offer rustic delight, if not the pedigree of the stupendous 1950 Lafleur, one of the greatest wines of the 20th century. The 1955 deserves a round of applause – but not too loud, lest you frighten it. In 1956, the vineyard was devastated by the late spring frosts, though rather than uprooting damaged vines, the Robin sisters pruned them down to the trunks, praying that they would regrow. Fortunately, many of them did. The 1967 Lafleur hails from an excellent Pomerol vintage, although it is nowhere near the quality of the outstanding Petrus. It is now rather bucolic and drying out and should be consumed soon. To be frank, I was hoping for a little more. The 1972 Lafleur is one of the very few vintages that up until this point I had never tasted. It was a rotten season for all winemakers and although the wine is rather threadbare, it certainly should not be dismissed. Putting it prosaically, unlike the 1977, I finished my glass of 1972.
The monumental 1975 Lafleur is proof that the Robin sisters could create a formidable Pomerol when the wind blew in the right direction. This candidate for wine of the vintage is bestowed with almost unfathomable depth, like peering into a wondrous bottomless pool. Well-stored bottles will continue to amaze, although they are getting very difficult to find. The 1976 Lafleur is volatile on the nose and overcome by that summer’s notorious heat, presenting a hard, mealy finish, while the 1977 Lafleur is one-dimensional and no more than a curiosity. The 1978 Lafleur saw the sisters’ triumph with a standout of that vintage. I have enjoyed the 1978 several times, and this bottle was up there with the best: ferrous on the nose, beautifully balanced, floral and bridled with an almost Burgundian finish. Bottles of sound provenance continue to warrant superlatives.
There follows an interregnum during which Lafleur was run by Christian Moueix and Jean-Claude Berrouet. The 1982 Lafleur remains an Everest of a wine, probably the best Right Bank of that pivotal vintage and, ironically, superior to Petrus. The bottle at Ten Trinity Square in London flirted with perfection, and then, a few weeks later, another bottle at Cipriani in Hong Kong totally nailed it, flooring me with its structure, precision and purity. The 1985 Lafleur is a vintage that I had not encountered for some years, though my memories glow with fond recollection. I crossed my fingers that this bottle would live up to expectations, and it was an absolute knockout, perhaps the best I have come across. Glorious! With a menthol-tinged nose, unerring symmetry on the palate, and enormous depth and grace on the finish, this is Lafleur in full flight. Yes, the ‘82 is more impressive, but if you invited me out for dinner, I might ask if we could drink the ‘85. The 1986 Lafleur came from another bottle opened at the aforementioned lunch at Cipriani in Hong Kong. It has never been a top-drawer Lafleur, but then again, 1986 was not a great Pomerol vintage. This bottle had held up well after 32 years, but it was austere and earthy, missing the charm and fruit intensity of the previous vintage. Don’t write off the 1988 Lafleur, which was perhaps the most surprising vintage at the International Wine & Business tasting. I had forgotten how well this has matured. Such substance here, much more satisfying than Petrus, perhaps less rigid than it once showed and, at 30 years, à point. Is it the Right Bank wine of the vintage? Quite possibly.
The 1990 Lafleur replicated its performance at the Le Pin/Petrus/Lafleur dinner. This is a wine I adore, although it has lost some of its luster in recent years, as the 1989 exited its slipstream and glided past. The 1990 remains a great Pomerol, but I feel it may have slipped from its pedestal with age. “The 1993 Lafleur makes me think of the wines made by the Robin sisters,” Jacques Guinaudeau remarked when we discussed this vintage. To be honest, I was rather disappointed by the showing here; the wine was brittle and dry toward the finish, possibly beginning a downward slope. There might be superior examples out there, but this bottle was unappealingly austere compared to those imbibed a decade ago. I preferred the fabulous 1995 Lafleur, which displayed a potent meaty character on the nose and an expressive Cabernet Franc presence. Despite its age, I would let it blow out the candles on its 25th birthday cake before opening. The 1997 Lafleur is a useful off-vintage that is always intriguing to revisit. Jacques cited it as a year when they began to change their vineyard practices. I find the 1997 a little fatigued, with suggestions of some dryness creeping in, making it a rare example of a Lafleur born without longevity. The 1998 Lafleur is a sexy wine, but I cannot remember another bottle displaying such mineralité, almost flintiness, on the nose. This is a big, demonstrative but compelling Lafleur that probably needs another couple of years in bottle. Subtle it is not—but then again, show me a 1998 Right Bank that is. Meanwhile, the 1999 Lafleur is a favorite of mine, the off-vintage I would choose over, say, the 1993 or 1997. Sandwiched between two fêted seasons, the 1999 is splendid: beautifully balanced and surprisingly vigorous, a little Left Bank in style, with a graceful finish. It is drinking supremely well at nearly 20 years of age, and it remains the dark horse of the decade.
The Wines: Christie’s Lafleur Masterclass (2000-2015)
We now move into the 21st century, courtesy of a masterclass held at Christie’s that preceded a major auction of Lafleur and was attended by Jacques and Sylvie Guinaudeau. Spanning 2000 to the present day, this era saw a gradual passing of the reins to the next generation. In a region where transitions can be fraught with internecine family fallouts and lawyers mediating between avaricious shareholders, the seamless segue between generations has been refreshing and welcome. In fact, I suspect that a lot of people have hardly noticed. Of course, the only place where Baptiste has not yet followed his father is in terms of his mustache.
We tasted the wines from youngest to oldest, but I continue our passage through time going forward. So we commence with the immaculate 2000 Lafleur. Jaws had to be picked up off the floor, because this is a copper-bottomed, astounding Lafleur— a modern-day 1982 with a 60-year lifespan. I can find no fault. One hundred points. Next! The 2001 Lafleur is destined to be overshadowed by its millennial predecessor, but Pomerol surpassed itself in this vintage and many Pomerolais favor their 2001 over 2000. “It was a classic vintage,” remarked Guinaudeau, “and a late harvest, so all the picking was done in October. The maturity had come slowly and the fresh nights helped with acidity.” This is a marvelous wine that is, once again, beautifully balanced, with less grippiness and density than the 2000 and revealing judicious spiciness that elevates the finish. The 2003 Lafleur is a wine that I sincerely want to love, to show that terroir triumphed over that season’s infamous merciless heat. Jacques Guinaudeau explained: “In 2003, there was incredible heat but not necessarily dryness. The north-south orientation of the vines helped protect the grapes. We had to discard some west-facing Cabernet Franc that became shriveled, but I remember that at the peak of the heat wave, the Cabernet Franc had not changed color. The Merlot was more complicated because the sun made the grapes a little jammy and confit. I didn’t know what it would become at the time, and I find it atypical.” That last word explains my tepid reaction to this Lafleur. I am habitually critical of wines whose typicity is smothered or erased by a growing season, and so, while the 2003 Lafleur is actually better than many of its Pomerol peers, I prefer the 1999 or 2007.
Some of the high points at the Christies’ tasting
The 2005 Lafleur is a behemoth. It stands like a dazzling cast-iron monolith on the Pomerol plateau. “We had very little to do thanks to nature in 2005,” commented Sylvie Guinaudeau. Having tasted the 2005 numerous times, I have a niggling suspicion that this ex-château bottle was not quite firing on all cylinders, yet its structure and density commanded respect. The 2000 might have a little more precision, but I love how the Cabernet Franc just soars on the prolonged finish here. The 2005 needs several more years for the tannins to soften, and maybe double that to truly experience it at its peak. The 2007 Lafleur is a very useful off-vintage that reflects viticultural improvements. A similar growing season a decade earlier would surely have produced an inferior wine. “In 2007, more Cabernet Franc started going into Lafleur, and this has improved quality in recent years,” Jacques Guinaudeau remarked. The 2007 seems more approachable than the 2006 or 2008 and with a couple of years in bottle, it will be a fine Pomerol with a 20-year lifespan. The 2010 Lafleur merits a string of superlatives: an astonishing yet unapologetically backward Pomerol redeemed by a silky texture thanks to its super-fine lattice of tannin. In times gone by, this would have been an unapproachable leviathan cellared for grandchildren, instead of a wine that needs around 15 years in bottle. It will become a benchmark Lafleur in the same vein as the 1982 and 2000.
“In 2011 the vineyard suffered water stress, so the berries were small. In fact, it was one of the smallest harvests ever at Lafleur,” Guinaudeau explained. To be frank, I am not the biggest fan of the 2011 Bordeaux vintage, yet this has long been a standout in a mediocre year, with a captivating sous-bois scented nose and an arching structure that is uniquely Lafleur. The 2013 Lafleur obviously comes from a maligned growing season, and the entire vintage was picked late in October. “In 2013 there was some vine stress that blocked maturity, so the alcohol level is low,” Guinaudeau advised. While 2013s are constantly dismissed, the truth is that there is a clutch of commendable wines, Lafleur undoubtedly among them. No, it is not a long-term wine, and the season precludes the complexity of the 2011, yet there is plenty of enjoyable sappy red fruit and commendable balance. Finally, the 2015 Lafleur is a nascent legend only just beginning to fire its motors. It has a gorgeous bouquet, pure and enticing, offering layers of truffle-tinged red fruit and again, that cathedral-like tannic structure that guarantees its longevity. Is it up there with the very best Lafleur vintages? Not quite, but it is only a hair’s breadth away.
We were also treated to some back vintages of Pensées de Lafleur. “It used to be the second wine of Lafleur,” commented Jacques Guinaudeau during the Christie’s tasting, “but today Pensées de Lafleur is more a different expression of the vineyard.” The 2000 Pensées de Lafleur demonstrates that it can easily give 20 or 30 years of drinking enjoyment, still vital and full of beans after nearly two decades. The 2010 Pensées de Lafleur is immense, probably the best I have ever tasted, and offers an attractive and less expensive alternative to the Grand Vin. In fact, it is better than many Pomerol Grand Crus.
When I was researching Lafleur for my Pomerol tome, Jacques Guinaudeau commented that however much information I might discover and however deep I might delve, Lafleur always keeps secrets. That is true; the more you know, the more ignorant you realize you are. Lafleur is not a Pomerol with mass appeal, and it rarely conveys the comeliness and warmth of Petrus or Vieux Château Certan. It can be categorized with l’Eglise-Clinet or Trotanoy: Pomerols that are introspective or even curmudgeonly in their youth and demand bottle age, patience and a cool, dark cellar. Without question, Lafleur requires at least a decade in bottle for the tannins to soften, for the Merlot and Cabernet Franc to marry, and for the crucial secondary aromas and flavors to develop at their own pace. In that respect, perfect vintages to drink now are those in the 1980s rather than the 1995 or 2000, although I might make an exception for the 1999. When you experience a Lafleur at the peak of its mighty powers, it is seared into your memory, and its profound complexity can leave you speechless. And there is always that crucial element of every great Lafleur: a seasoning of enigma.
See Wines From Oldest to Youngest
Where Value Lies: First Look At 2016 Bordeaux, Neal Martin, October 2018
Fairest of Them All: Cos d’Estournel 1928 – 2015, Neal Martin, October 2018
Sharing Alike: Petrus 1947 - 2015, Neal Martin, September 2018
Aiming High: Haut-Condissas 1997–2015, Neal Martin, August 2018
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2634
|
__label__wiki
| 0.93075
| 0.93075
|
Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 74F. NE winds shifting to SW at 10 to 15 mph..
Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 74F. NE winds shifting to SW at 10 to 15 mph.
U.S. Rep. Bill Flores, R-Bryan, speaks during a Republican fundraiser in October at the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum.
Staff photo — Jerry Larson, file
Flores eyes national security, veterans’ care, research in spending bill
By PHILLIP ERICKSEN pericksen@wacotrib.com
As Congress races to finalize a $1.3 trillion spending bill before a midnight Friday deadline to avoid a government shutdown, U.S. Rep. Bill Flores, R-Bryan, said the funding of national security, border security, mental health and a few more issues specific to Texas’ 17th Congressional District are on his wish list.
During an interview Tuesday, the four-term congressman who represents Waco, punted on the more divisive issues holding up the bill, saying he did not have all the details, as party leadership was finalizing the proposal. Those issues, including an effort to stabilize the Affordable Care Act, a $900 million rail project in the northeast and even a campaign finance reform proposal, make up the last, small but meaningful portion of the plan to keep the federal government open through the end of the fiscal year in September.
Lawmakers reached a deal Wednesday, the Associated Press reported.
“Our leadership is keeping all of this pretty close to the vest at this point, so it’s pretty hard to know what’s going to be in the final and what’s not,” Flores said Tuesday before the bill was revealed.
Flores has also proposed an amendment to prevent the Department of Veterans Affairs from moving its Post-Traumatic Stress Residential Rehabilitation Program from the Doris Miller VA Medical Center in Waco to Temple’s Olin E. Teague Veterans’ Medical Center. Temple is not in Flores’ district.
McLennan County Veterans Service Officer Steve Hernandez said Flores was instrumental in stopping the PTSD center from a possible move to Temple in 2016.
A March 2016 letter from then-Under Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Health David Shulkin assured Flores the PTSD rehab program would remain in Waco. Shulkin is now Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
With talks about a move coming up again, Hernandez said the “trust factor” is no longer at play with the Temple location.
“I’ve lost faith and trust in the local leadership because we were promised two years ago it was not going to take place, nothing was going to happen, everything was going to remain the same,” he said.
Hernandez said he thinks Flores supports the effort to keep the center in Waco. He also said veterans can sign a petition at the Waco Veterans One Stop, 2010 La Salle Ave., urging officials to keep the center in Waco.
Flores said he also hopes to see money for research on the country’s opioid-abuse crisis and for additional research efforts at the three major universities in or near his district — Baylor University, Texas A&M University and the University of Texas at Austin.
He expects spending for the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation to increase by about $3 billion for each agency.
“Both of those are great for the research and education institutions we have in the district,” Flores said.
Baylor spokeswoman Lori Fogleman said research is central to the university’s academic strategic plan President Linda Livingstone has outlined.
“We appreciate the opportunity to work with Rep. Flores, and we will be very interested in cooperating on future research opportunities which the federal government is interested in funding,” Fogleman said.
Barry downgraded to a tropical depression as winds weaken over northwest Louisiana; storm still poses flooding threats
Congo confirms 1st Ebola case in city of Goma
Photos: America's 24 world heritage sites, from the Statue of Liberty to Frank Lloyd Wright's buildings
Celebrity Birthdays for July 14
Hispanic hub: Waco Mutualista marks 95 years bringing community together
Appeals court says landfill lawsuit should be thrown out
The Minnow restaurant at Lake Waco Marina back up and running swimmingly
Waco man gets 99 years for sex abuse of boy, girl
MARSTALLER MOTORS
Oakwood Cemetery
2124 S 5th St, Waco, TX 76706
The First National Bank of Central Texas l Personal & Commercial Loans
Window World of Waco
6906 Woodway Dr, Waco, TX 76712
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2638
|
__label__wiki
| 0.85412
| 0.85412
|
PLC Board
Property Board
Infrastructure & Environment Board
Specialist Secondment Services
Comms & Technology
Conservation / Historic
Urban Regeneration
Work Experience & Internships
Apprentices & Graduates
INWED
CTI Engineering
Waterman Group UK
Waterman Moylan
Waterman Australia
Waterman Aspen
Envirorisk
Ljubljana Airport
The Slovenian Government sought to privatise Ljubljana Airport and its operating company Aerodrom Ljubljana. The airport is located approximately 20km northwest from the Slovenian capital Ljubljana. The airport has operated since the 1960s and was expanded in the 2000s following Slovenia’s entry into the EU.
The airport has published a Strategic Business Plan 2014-2020 and a Master Plan and has various expansion initiatives including new passenger facilities (to comprise expansion of the Terminal, new car parks, a hotel and business administration facilities) and roadways. The environmental implications of this business plan formed a significant focus for Waterman’s work.
Waterman acted for one of the potential purchasers of the site and provided an Environmental Due Diligence Assessment of the Airport. Our scope of works included;
Overview of international, national and local environmental regulatory framework and policies directly or indirectly impacting the airport’s activities;
An off-site and on site review of publicly available and disclosed information on the airport and its activities;
Site visit and interviews with relevant personnel to visually inspect the properties and review relevant documentation;
An assessment of the status of environmental compliance of the airport with relevant key legal requirements,
Liaison with other project advisors on environmentally-related issues (e.g. insurance, legal, financial, technical, etc);
An assessment of anticipated environmental impacts and implications on planned growth and developments.
Emergency Services Building Extension, Dublin Airport
Our team was appointed to provide full planning, design, health and safety and project management services in connection with a two storey extension to the existing main airside emergency response centre at Dublin Airport.
Long Term Car Park, Dublin Airport 22 May 2017
Our team were appointed on planning, design and construction monitoring for the €2.5m 6,100 space at-grade long term carpark for Quik-Park.
Central Immigration Control Facility at Terminal 1, Dublin Airport
We provided multi-disciplinary design team services and health and safety consultancy (PSDS) services in relation to new central immigration facilities on the ground floor of the Pier A link building at Dublin Airport.
Waterman has provided engineering consultancy services on a number of significant projects at Dublin Airport.
Will the National Infrastructure Commission unlock our potential? 5 October 2015
The National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) announced at the Conservative party conference will be headed by Labour peer Lord Adonis and has its work cut out.
Group Policies
Privacy Policy / Data Protection Notice
Alert Service
Pickfords Wharf
Clink Street
SE1 9DG
© 2019 Copyright Waterman Group. All rights reserved.
We use cookies on our website to ensure we give you the best experience whilst here. By continuing to use this site, without changing your settings, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. To find out more click here
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2639
|
__label__wiki
| 0.628487
| 0.628487
|
More details on PSU tailgate party related to low flying helicopter
by: Evan Hinkley
University Park, Pa- WTAJ has new details on some of the activities that occurred prior to a State Police helicopter flying too low at a tailgating crowd during the Ohio State-Penn State game two weeks ago.
Officers from the Bureau of Liquor Control went to a tailgate party hosted by multiple fraternities and sororities. The officers did not say who they were, but were able to get wristbands to consume alcohol after their ID’s were checked.
The officers reported that the bouncers outside of the tailgate were checking ID’s sporadically letting some students walk in, while checking others.
Officials say many students were also using smelling salts in an attempt to sober up faster.
Search warrants are now issued to check cellphones, and computers associated with the tailgate party to learn more details about the party.
Potential violations for those involved include selling or furnishing alcohol to minors, and selling liquor.
by Bill Shannon / Jul 15, 2019
JOHNSTOWN, Pa -- The PSP Fire Marshal investigated a fire that happened at Conemaugh Hospital earlier today, July 15.
The fire was ruled accidental after they discovered it started in a small office space in the former Good Samaritan portion of the hospital.
EAST HUNTINGDON TWP., WESTMORELAND CO., Pa -- State Police have reported that they're searching for Derrick Bass who may also go by the name "Hector."
Bass, 29, is roughly 5 foot 11 inches, and around 300 pounds.
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania is joining the short list of states where online casino-style gambling is available.
State regulators on Monday are allowing Parx Casino in suburban Philadelphia and Penn National's Hollywood Casino near Hershey to launch online gambling portals to patrons statewide as part of a three-day test.
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2641
|
__label__cc
| 0.652082
| 0.347918
|
Home Forums > TRIALS > Recently Sentenced and Beyond >
GUILTY TN - MCET, 15, Abducted by Teacher, in Maury County, 13 March 2017 #19
Discussion in 'Recently Sentenced and Beyond' started by tlcya, Sep 26, 2017.
tlcya Well-Known Member
15-year-old MCET may be in the area of Decatur, Alabama.
She is white, blonde hair, hazel eyes, 5 feet 5 inches and 120 pounds. She was last seen wearing a flannel shirt and black leggings.
Thomas is believed to be in the company of 50-year-old Tad Cummins, a white male, 6 feet tall, 200 pounds, brown hair and brown eyes. He is believed to be armed with two handguns and driving a Silver Nissan Rogue with Tennessee tag number 976ZPT.
http://wate.com/2017/03/14/statewide-endangered-child-alert-for-missing-middle-tennessee-teen/
http://www.waff.com/story/34847631/endangered-tn-runaway-may-be-in-decatur-area
http://www.wbir.com/news/crime/statewide-endangered-child-alert-issued-for-missing-teen/422561108
ARREST AFFIDAVIT
Motion in Support of Detention - Filed 4/24/17
Father of Abducted Teen Speaks Out for First Time Since Reunion
Coldpizza said: ↑
Amber Alert: ET found safe in Northern California; Former teacher arrested
The TBI says they have found missing 15-year-old ET safe in Northern California.
Her former teacher, Tad Cummins, has been arrested in connection to her kidnapping.
A spokesperson for the Siskiyou County Sheriff's Department said Cummins' Nissan Rogue was found late Wednesday night. The vehicle's original license plate had been removed, but officials were able to confirm the vehicle through its VIN.
Verified Insiders:
MCElizabethsSISTER
Direct Link toThe Rules - Social Media: Facebook, Twitter, etc.
Previous Thread (#18)
MOST RECENT UPDATE:
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) A judge has denied Tad Cummins motion to be released from prison.
[MCET]'s first interview with anyone in the media came spontaneously and without hesitation Saturday evening in Columbia.
tlcya, Sep 26, 2017
margarita25 likes this.
Sconnie Well-Known Member
I was shocked to come across this interview on the Daily Mail website, and really hope she has someone looking out for her. If she were to become emancipated, would that free her to be with TC if he (shudder) were to get out?
Honestly, I followed her disappearance thoroughly, but I don't think I would have recognized her if I came across her. She looks completely different in every picture I see of her.
Sconnie, Sep 26, 2017
Considering Well-Known Member
:gaah:
I saw the article yesterday in the The Daily Herald (Columbia TN). Just a few minutes ago, I saw that it is now on the msn site. I am completely disgusted with the reporter from The Daily Herald. I feel it is totally inappropriate for him to interview a minor, a 16 year old crime victim, without the consent of her guardian. He writes that she told him, "Hes (her attorney) reminded me about not saying anything about the criminal case to the media," but regardless he goes ahead and interviews her. The reporter also writes,
Thomas gave permission to use her name in stories about her, even though newspapers rarely use juveniles identities if theyre involved in litigation.
Weve decided to use it, when appropriate, considering her name and face were in the newspaper almost daily from March 15 to April 26. We ran the TBI Amber alert poster in print or online everyday until she was found.
It would be disingenuous to exclude the high school juniors name now.
IMO, what's disingenuous here is this reporter and The Daily Herald. She has been exploited plenty in her young life and now we have this guy and the local paper adding to it. What happened to ethics, integrity, or just plain decency?
Considering, Sep 26, 2017
laceyjones305 New Member
Disgusting.First the perverted teacher and now this reporter using her to get a big story.
laceyjones305, Sep 26, 2017
KaaBoom `·.¸¸ ><((((º> ...·´`·.¸¸ ><((((º>...·
Considering said: ↑
I saw the article yesterday in the The Daily Herald (Columbia TN). Just a few minutes ago, I saw that it is now on the msn site. I am completely disgusted with the reporter from The Daily Herald. I feel it is totally inappropriate for him to interview a minor, a 16 year old crime victim, without the consent of her guardian. He writes that she told him, "“He’s (her attorney) reminded me about not saying anything about the criminal case to the media," but regardless he goes ahead and interviews her. The reporter also writes,
It's the First Amendment. The reporter has a right to interview anybody they want, and ET also has a right to talk to anybody she wants. This is a free country.
As for the article, it doesn't even have much information. ET has talked more publically on Instagram, then she said in that article.
KaaBoom, Sep 26, 2017
KaaBoom said: ↑
She's an underage kidnap and sex abuse victim.An adult reporter should understand this.
Tora Gahan likes this.
laceyjones305 said: ↑
ET is a free person living in a free country, and she has a right to give an interview. The constitution applies to underage crime victims too.
Kapua Well-Known Member
I just saw the article and I'm not really surprised by what she had to say; I just hope this interview doesn't encourage the media to press her for more interviews.. It's good to know that she is home schooling, working, and planning to go to college. She's on the right track.
Kapua, Sep 27, 2017
Openminded Active Member
Some day she may feel differently but not now. I hope her life works out well. I hope he's in jail for a very long time -- forever would not be long enough.
Openminded, Sep 27, 2017
Reporters don't care about that. Obviously they're only after the story. I'm surprised one hasn't found her before now.
MsFacetious What a Kerfuffle...
It appears she made her instagram private finally.
I mean with 16k followers that doesn't help much but it's something.
I do hope she's careful with her online interactions.
MsFacetious, Sep 27, 2017
Irishboy Well-Known Member
Just something strange about this article IMO. She just walks in to a fast food restaurant unexpectedly and agrees to talk cause "I’ve been thinking about calling you. I have a lot on my mind. There’s been a lot of rumors about me I’d like to clear up.”???? And “I know you’re in your pajama bottoms now and a T-shirt, but would you mind if I took your picture? she agrees??? This is what I wear most of the time, anyway?????
And the byline of the author at the bottom says "His column is based on exclusive reporting, old-school storytelling and original commentary on whatever catches his fancy or yours?? Just seems weird but everything about this case is strange.
that that other media have picked it up it will take on a life of its own.
Irishboy, Sep 27, 2017
gitana1 Verified Attorney
Openminded said: ↑
I was extremely impressed by her comments. She is showing a personal insight and maturity that she didn't have before. I think her comments show incredible progress and an understanding of what happened and why.
She doesn't regret going with him:
She was a child who was coerced thus not at fault. So how is she supposed to regret it?
She was a child being preyed on by a predator who is now in jail facing prison as a result. The kidnapping ended the predation and is resulting in justice.
This child was in a dire situation. Abused, vulnerable, neglected at home, lonely, bullied and isolated at school. Miserable. Now she has undergone intensive therapy and has a new life away from the chaos and misery. So in the end, going with that predator was the cry for help or the event that allowed her to be rescued from everything.
I think she's right when she says there's good and bad that resulted from what happened. And also that she will have to live with it for the rest of her life. It seems she had super good therapists who really helped her process what happened to her and see the positive and move forward. And based on her comments, I suddenly feel positive about her chances at having a bright future. She's been through hell but seems calm and philosophical and very honest about it. Wow.
gitana1, Sep 28, 2017
Sconnie said: ↑
I don't think she;d want to be with that old creep now.
And yeah, she does look different in so many pictures. She still looks very young to me.
forthefreefood Active Member
gitana1 said: ↑
This is a really well written and sightful post. Thank you.
forthefreefood, Sep 28, 2017
Deleted member 172065 Guest
I agree. I just don't think she realizes the danger she could have been in....her health, possibly drowning at sea, the possibility she could have been taken away from kidnapper TC and used for someone else's nefarious reasons. Who knows if he would have even taken her to the hospital if she got sick?!
Deleted member 172065, Sep 28, 2017
Only he had complete power over her and she believed he would, even though he risked her everyday she did not realize it.
I've talked a bit with Elizabeth and she really is such a sweet sweet girl. Just wanted to remind everyone to please be kind and respectful when discussing this case. She deserves that.
librarianlibby New Member
forthefreefood said: ↑
Thank you for the post. I have no doubt she's a sweet girl. This case touched me from the very beginning and I'm so glad she was found safe.
Sent from my Z981 using Tapatalk
librarianlibby, Oct 1, 2017
gypsysoul Active Member
http://wkrn.com/2017/10/19/judge-approves-motion-to-push-back-tad-cummins-trial/
[FONT="]"NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – The trial for Tad Cummins has been delayed after a judge approved his attorney’s request to push it back.[/FONT]
[FONT="]The high-profile trial was set to begin on Jan. 2, 2018."[/FONT]
gypsysoul, Oct 19, 2017
Francoboy,
Roxtrope,
Ninja Bunny,
Rhenish,
BluesyTune,
Twistinginthewind,
Alcina,
nuclearali,
Cagle,
scrapbooker,
elleni,
Ms.Leah,
reneenay,
Penny4YourThoughts,
Mysti88c,
CarolynV,
Rosiebones,
stg,
CuriousGA9,
Starz21,
Sark06,
BradB,
Philly321,
SmilingSweetly,
Junegift,
GraceG,
Sivysaysmimi,
Rhett,
ms_x_to_the_m,
CaseyLPC,
Jwu,
lonetraveler,
j_in_c,
Ann-Tx,
ZaZara,
sof1e,
Valiant,
dlharris2712,
33jesus
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2646
|
__label__wiki
| 0.980022
| 0.980022
|
Berejiklian heckled at polling place
A new online poll has spelt worrying news for NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian just hours before election polling begins.
by Phoebe Loomes, AAP
23rd Mar 2019 9:46 AM
Premier Gladys Berejiklian was heckled as she attended a North Shore primary school to cast her vote this morning.
As the NSW Premier arrived to cast her vote at a polling place in Willoughby she was flanked by media personnel and supporters chanting messages of support.
Walking into the polling booth her supporters could be heard yelling, "Vote 1 Gladys!"
But a vocal opponent from the Keep Sydney Open Party heckled the state's Liberal leader, heckling her as she approached the voting centre, "Unlock this city, Gladys!" he yelled.
Premier Berejiklian told reporters she's yet to consider what she'll do if forced into a minority government, as the NSW premier cast her vote at a local public school.
Berejiklian, who holds the seat of Willoughbyby a strong margin of 24.5 per cent.
Polls suggest the coalition will lose several seats and is at risk of being reduced to a minority in the lower house, but the Liberal leader said she hadn't thought about that prospect.
If Berejiklian wins, it will be the coalition's third election victory and will make the premier the first elected female. Berejiklian came to power after the resignation of Mike Baird in 2017.
SOME VOTERS FURIOUS AFTER ONLINE SYSTEM iVOTE CRASHES
With voting in the state election well underway, voters who are unable to get to a polling booth were furious after the online early voting system crashed on Friday.
With the NSW Electoral Commission's iVote registration system temporarily crashing, many took to social media to share their frustration.
NSW Electoral Commissioner John Schmidt confirmed they were having problems with the system, but insists the majority were still able to vote.
"To date, 227,521 people have registered for iVote and 187,559 votes have been cast," he said, in a statement last night.
The online issues led to an influx of complaints to the call centre last night, where they were still resolving issues until 11pm.
More than 207,000 have successfully used the iVote system, which has now been restored the functionality.
A last-minute poll has also delivered some worrying news for NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian.
A news.com.au poll run this week and voted on by more than 22,000 readers has given Labor's Michael Daley a healthy lead of 53 per cent as preferred premier over Liberal Premier Gladys Berejiklian on 46 per cent.
In total, 12,083 readers said they would prefer Mr Daley as the next NSW premier, while 10,486 voted for Ms Berejiklian - a gap of almost 1600.
This marks a wider gap than previous polls in the lead-up to the big day. A YouGov-Galaxy survey published by The Daily Telegraph last week indicated the major parties were split 50-50 on a two-party preferred basis.
Ms Berejiklian's Coalition came under fire yesterday after preferencing the Liberal Democrats, whose leader advocated for Australia to adopt New Zealand-style gun laws before the Christchurch terror attack.
"Well, they have no chance of forming government, or being part of a government, that is a clear difference and please don't compare the two," she told reporters yesterday afternoon.
Earlier this month, Liberal Democrats leader David Leyonhjelm suggested relaxing Australia's gun laws and making them more like New Zealand's prior to the sweeping changes announced by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Thursday.
"If Australia has gun laws like New Zealand, that would be a vast improvement on our current situation," Mr Leyonhjelm told AAP on March 5, before the Christchurch attack that saw 50 people gunned down by a terrorist wielding semiautomatic weapons.
"At the moment, Australians wet their pants when you mention the word guns. It's a cultural thing; they're a bunch of scaredy cats."
Voters are asking Google who to vote for
new south whales
premier gladys berejiklian
editors picks new south whales north shore politics polling premier gladys berejiklian
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2651
|
__label__wiki
| 0.775128
| 0.775128
|
x Stories
Supporters help WWF launch emergency plan to stop Myanmar’s elephant poaching crisis
Back a Ranger
Help the men and women on the front lines of conservation. 100% of your donation will benefit WWF’s Back a Ranger project.
Donate Today h
Amid a dire poaching crisis, wild Asian elephants in Myanmar received swift and essential aid from thousands of WWF supporters committed to protecting this iconic species. More than 3,000 people donated $263,211 in less than four weeks to fund an emergency action plan to train rangers and get boots on the ground to fight wildlife crime.
“Training rangers is the first step on our journey to win this battle against poachers,” said Christy Williams, country director of WWF Myanmar. “Rangers are on the conservation frontlines, protecting the world’s natural and cultural treasures. With their commitment and the help of our supporters, there is hope for Asian elephants.”
There are fewer than 50,000 Asian elephants left in the wild, and fewer than 2,000 in Myanmar. For decades, they’ve faced threats of habitat loss, human-elephant conflict, and, to a lesser extent as only male Asian elephants carry tusks, poaching to meet the demand for ivory. But now they’re being killed for their skin and other body parts.
WWF’s emergency action plan to build ranger capacity and help combat the new elephant crisis in Myanmar began rolling out in July. We’ve already accomplished the following:
Purchased a four-wheel drive vehicle and three motorcycles for patrolling
Purchased uniforms for rangers
Purchased equipment, including camping gear
Trained 45 field rangers
WWF’s eight-day training provided basic but vital knowledge to 45 field rangers on a variety of issues including law enforcement methods and intelligence gathering. Rangers will now be able to collect and report on data, understand the biodiversity values in the landscape, identify and report illegal activity, conduct patrols, and manage and process crime scenes. WWF will continue to train these rangers so that all 45 rangers will be able to patrol the field by September.
Together we can help save Myanmar’s elephants. Support the men and women on the front lines of conservation by backing a ranger.
Adopt an Elephant
Make a symbolic elephant adoption to help save some of the world's most endangered animals from extinction and support WWF's conservation efforts.
Forest Habitat
Illegal Wildlife Trade
Protecting Species
Stop Wildlife Crime
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2655
|
__label__wiki
| 0.892738
| 0.892738
|
Office of the Inspector General investigating Riviera Beach city manager giving herself a raise
By: Wanda Moore
Eight months after Riviera Beach City Council members voted to fire Riviera Beach City Manager Jonathan Evans, the council’s dysfunction because of that decision seemed to be on full display during Wednesday’s council meeting.
The six-hour long meeting, which was riddled with in-fighting and long speeches from several council members, resulted in little action.
Many Riviera residents came to the meeting to get answers as to why Riviera Beach City Manager Karen Hoskins gave herself an $18,000 raise. City officials said Wednesday the Office of the Inspector General is now investigating.
That topic was buried in the agenda and didn’t come up until almost midnight.
The council hired Hoskins, who worked in the finance department, originally for 90 days as interim city manager.
That was six months ago.
On Wednesday the council spent hours debating what the next step for the city is.
“I suggest she should go back to finance,” Councilwoman Julia Botel said.
Hoskins defended her actions, saying she’s due the money for longevity pay, a benefit of being a city employee for almost 30 years.
Finance Director Randy Sherman disagreed, saying longevity pay is not a benefit, it is part of her salary.
The council approved her $150,000 salary but not the $18,000 on top of that.
Sherman said that is the problem and that Hoskins didn’t follow procedure.
“It’s a matter of transparency,” Sherman said. “Do I think she was trying to do something deceptive here? I do not.”
But Hoskins took it personally.
“Why did you write the memo like this?” Hoskins asked. She was referring to the memo Sherman sent to the council in May informing them about Hoskins giving herself a raise. “Basically (saying) that I was colluding with HR.”
The council disagreed on whether or not it was done properly and, after hours of discussion, did not make a decision on the issue.
The council voted 3-2 to give Hoskins the authority to hire department heads, which they had initially not allowed her to do since she was meant to only serve in an interim position.
Sherman said Hoskins also signed off on pay raises for other city officials, such as the interim human resources director, without prior approval. The council ended Wednesday’s meeting past midnight without getting to those items.
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2657
|
__label__cc
| 0.730117
| 0.269883
|
Home Carolinas NC
Child struck by sheriff’s vehicle on Outer Banks beach
Associated Press - July 15, 2019 8:08 AM
A 7-year-old boy vacationing in the Outer Banks has been flown to a Virginia hospital after being struck by a sheriff's department vehicle.
A North Carolina state court trial on whether legislative districts are illegal partisan gerrymanders starts just weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled it wasn't the purview of federal courts to decide if boundaries are politically unfair.
Restaurant owner, Chef Vivian Howard to return to television with new series
Andrew James - July 14, 2019 7:53 PM
News outlets report that Vivian Howard will be back on television with a new show titled "South by Somewhere."
Superintendent’s lawyer is next state GOP executive director
Associated Press - July 12, 2019 3:27 PM
An attorney for the North Carolina schools chief is the state Republican Party's next executive director.
Scratcher lands Navy corpsman some serious scratch, continues lucky streak
WWAY News - July 12, 2019 3:12 PM
A visit back to North Carolina to do some work on his home landed a Navy corpsman some big bucks.
Kelsie Anderson - July 11, 2019 5:54 PM
A local restaurant is getting ready to reopen after being closed for ten months. Holland's Shelter Creek was completely flooded during Hurricane Florence and had to be torn down.
Cooper signs bill increasing penalty for shooting officer
Assaulting a law enforcement, probation or parole officer, prison guard or National Guard member with a gun is now a more serious crime in North Carolina.
New NC law lets citizens clear out political signs after 30 days
Tired of political signs all over town well after an election is over? A new law in North Carolina lets citizens take matters into their own hands.
NC police officer shot in drive-by while investigating teen’s shooting death
Kevin Wuzzardo - July 11, 2019 1:30 PM
HENDERSON, N.C. (WNCN) – A Henderson police officer was shot while investigating the fatal shooting of a teenage boy on Thursday morning, authorities said. Police...
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2658
|
__label__wiki
| 0.559097
| 0.559097
|
New dedicated area for children will make Harrogate's A&E department 'less scary'
Emergency Department staff at Harrogate District Hospital in the new children's waiting area.
Hollie Bone
The first-ever dedicated Children's Waiting Area in the Emergency Department of Harrogate District Hospital has been opened.
Funding from NHS England has seen the creation of a new 'rapid assessment' room which will stream critically-ill patients into the most appropriate life saving care.
But the money has also allowed the hospital to create a dedicated Children's Waiting Area in the department, complete with toys, games, balloon wallpaper and a 'natural light' ceiling display.
Harrogate's Emergency Department sees 600 children a month on average, and the Trust hopes that this new development will make their experience less daunting.
A spokesperson for Harrogate District NHS Foundation Trust said: "A trip to the Emergency Department is never fun, but can be especially frightening for a pint-sized patient.
"The newly decorated and dedicated area in our Emergency Department is aimed at making the department a little less scary for our young patients and their families.
"This area will make sure a difference to the thousands of children who attend the department each year."
At the same time, the new triage room has opened so that patients can be 'streamed' into the most appropriate service, based on their clinical needs.
A spokesperson for HDFT said: "Streaming is a rapid assessment takes place to ensure patients with life-threatening illnesses or serious recent injuries, who most need the Emergency Department, are seen quickly and safely and patients who would benefit from primary care (or GP) expertise are directed into that service."
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2662
|
__label__cc
| 0.514663
| 0.485337
|
Featured Trailer
Scooby Doo – SuperNatural – The CW Trailer
By MisMarissa March 11, 2018 March 11, 2018
Check out this Trailer for Thursday March 29 all new Supernatural Episode on The CW.
The Winchester Brothers of Supernatural get Animated into Scooby Doo. Dubbed ScoobyNatural Supernatural | ScoobyNatural Trailer | The CW http://www.youtube.com/user/CWtelevision
Supernatural is new Thursdays at 8/7c on The CW, and available next day on The CW App: http://go.cwtv.com/genSPNyt.
The CW Television Network Youtube Channel..
About SUPERNATURAL: The thrilling and terrifying journey of the Winchester brothers continues as SUPERNATURAL enters its thirteenth season. Sam and Dean have spent their lives on the road, battling supernatural threats that include everything from the demon that killed their mother to the usual vampires, ghosts, shape-shifters, angels and fallen gods rampaging over the land. They’ve come out on top with the help of allies, both human and supernatural, but every victory comes at a price. Connect with SUPERNATURAL Online:
Visit SUPERNATURAL WEBSITE: http://on.cwtv.com/Supernatural
Like SUPERNATURAL on FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/supernatural
Follow SUPERNATURAL on TWITTER: https://twitter.com/cw_spn
Follow SUPERNATURAL on INSTAGRAM: https://instagram.com/cw_supernatural
Follow SUPERNATURAL on TUMBLR: http://thecwspn.tumblr.com
Follow SUPERNATURAL on PINTEREST: https://www.pinterest.com/thecw/super…
Connect with The CW Online:
Visit The CW WEBSITE: http://on.cwtv.com/home
Like The CW on FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/thecw
Follow The CW on TWITTER: http://twitter.com/thecw
Follow The CW on INSTAGRAM: http://instagram.com/thecw
Follow The CW on TUMBLR: http://cwnetwork.tumblr.com
Add The CW on GOOGLE+: http://plus.google.com/+thecw
Follow The CW on PINTEREST: https://www.pinterest.com/thecw
Supernatural | ScoobyNatural Trailer | The CW http://www.youtube.com/user/CWtelevision
Tags: Scooby Doo supernatural The CW Trailer
Previous Entry West Coast Customs Car Care Feature Custom Black Panther Lexus at DUB Show.
Next Entry Now Streaming on Netflix : Jessica Jones Season 2
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2667
|
__label__cc
| 0.544081
| 0.455919
|
Ludicrous speeds
Corsair's ludicrously fast PCIe 4.0 SSD will start at $250
Sean Endicott
Pricing details were briefly available for the upcoming Corsair MP600 SSD.
The SSD is one of the first to support the PCIe 4.0 standard.
The 1TB model will be available for $250 and the 2TB model will be available for $450.
Updated June 26, 2019: The listing has been pulled but it's likely we'll see it go back up for preorder soon. The original story follows.
Pricing details are available for the Corsair MP600, one of the fastest SSDs on the market. The 1TB version of the MP600 is now listed on Amazon for $250 and the 2TB version is listed at $450. The SSD was unveiled by Corsair in late May.
The MP600 is one of the first SSDs to support the PCIe 4.0 standard, which means that it can handle incredibly fast read and write speeds. Corsair states that the MP600 has a read speed of 4,950MB/s and a write speed of 4,250MB/s.
To take advantage of the full read and write speeds, you'll need a PC setup with the appropriate hardware. A combination of the upcoming Ryzen 3000 and the x570 will be the only hardware setup capable of handling the speed of the MP600.
The Corsair MP600 is available for preorder now. Amazon lists the release date of the new SSD as July 1, 2019.
Cheap PC accessories we love
Take a gander at these awesome PC accessories, all of which will enhance your Windows experience.
Anker 4 port USB 3.0 hub ($10 at Amazon)
Whether on a desktop or laptop PC, you always need more ports to connect things to. This hub gives you an additional four USB 3.0 Type A ports.
Ikea Fixa Cable Management System ($11 at Amazon)
This IKEA cable management kit is your ticket to a clean setup. It's simple and functional.
NZXT Puck ($20 at Amazon)
This clever little accessory has powerful magnets on the rear to make it stick to any of the metal panels on your PC case or anything else. It's great for hanging accessories like headsets.
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2670
|
__label__cc
| 0.665398
| 0.334602
|
apocalypse collapse debt dept. of those who forget the past must watch hbo serie rome
U.S. Government Now Warning U.S. Government of Imminent Imperial Collapse
Ken Layne
Critics of our precious freedoms are constantly braying about America's tragic decline and fall and how it's just like the collapse of Rome's Western Empire, and now another America Hater has joined that tired chorus: David M. Walker, comptroller general of the United States and chief of the federal Government Accountability Office.
Walker, the former Arthur Anderson and Price Waterhouse executive serving a 15-year term at the GAO, has been traveling around the country trying to get people to pay attention to the coming collapse of America. But people here are pretty busy charging up poison Chinese toys and McDonaldland burgers on their credit cards, so nobody really listens to him. Now he's talking to the British papers, hoping maybe somebody over there will write something and then maybe some website in Washington will post something, which is actually what we're doing right now.
So other than how we all wear togas and speak Latin, how is America similar to the last days of Rome?
* "Drawing parallels with the end of the Roman empire, Mr Walker warned there were 'striking similarities' between America's current situation and the factors that brought down Rome, including 'declining moral values and political civility at home, an over-confident and over-extended military in foreign lands and fiscal irresponsibility by the central government.'"
* The United States isn't actually owned by the United States. Other countries with money -- "some of which are our allies and some are not" -- actually pay for our continued existence by holding our massive, ever-growing national debt.
* We are tied up in a bunch of distant foreign wars that has left America weak and defenseless, as proven by the unarmed Mexicans who easily overran the country.
* No health care system, too many old fat sick people. This isn't quite like Rome, but everybody got stabbed at or eaten by lions by the age of 30 in Ancient Rome, so they didn't have this problem.
* Nobody saves any money in this country, and the majority of people are actually carrying crushing debt loads, so a little financial downturn like the current one will basically leave everybody in jeopardy and parents will begin eating their fat children.
* Public education is a disaster and Americans are idiots, which is why all of our doctors, engineers and scientists have to be imported from smart countries like India.
* Everything is literally falling apart, like the Minneapolis bridge, because the infrastructure hasn't been maintained or replaced.
* All the water and sewage systems are collapsing, too, so pretty soon we'll have raw sewage gurgling down the potholed streets.
* Bush and Congress have raised taxes (on working people) so much that the government is now collecting a staggering 18.8% of GDP as taxes.
* "Current U.S. policy on education, energy, the environment, immigration and Iraq also is on an 'unsustainable path.'"
Learn from the fall of Rome, US warned [Financial Times]
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2676
|
__label__wiki
| 0.972157
| 0.972157
|
Home United States of America Travel Guide Maryland Travel Guide Baltimore City Guide Cheapflights Email this guide | Print the full guide
Travel Guide Baltimore
Visa & Passport
Flights to Baltimore
Flights to Baltimore from the UK
Which Baltimore Airport do flights land in?
Flights land in Baltimore-Washington International Airport, situated 10 miles (16km) south of Baltimore. It is Baltimore's only major airport, although Washington DC's two airports, Washington Dulles and Ronald Reagan Airport, are located roughly 40 minutes' drive from Baltimore.
Are there direct flights between London and Baltimore?
There are direct flights from London Heathrow to Baltimore, with additional connecting flights stopping over in New York, Philadelphia, and Charlotte.
How long is the flight from London to Baltimore?
The direct flight time from London to Baltimore is around 8.5 hours, while the return journey is 7-8 hours. Additional time is added of flying via another city.
What is the time difference between London and Baltimore?
Baltimore is five hours behind London time, so minor jet lag can be a factor when travelling.
Which airlines fly to Baltimore from the UK?
US Airways has direct flights from London to Baltimore, and connecting flights stopping in Charlotte and Philadelphia.
Delta has connecting flights to Baltimore from London Heathrow, stopping in New York and Detroit.
Air France offers indirect service to Baltimore from London Heathrow, stopping in New York and Detroit.
KLM flies indirectly to Baltimore from London Heathrow, stopping in New York and Detroit.
American Airlines flies to Baltimore from London, stopping over in New York and Philadelphia.
Air Canada has indirect Baltimore flights from London, with stops in Toronto.
Airports in Baltimore
Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport(BWI)
The airport is situated 10 miles (16km) south of Baltimore and 30 miles (48km) north of Washington.
Climate and when to go to Baltimore
Visa and Passport requirements
Practical travel information
Embassy contacts
WHEN YOU'RE THERE
What to see in Baltimore
What is on in Baltimore
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2677
|
__label__cc
| 0.74173
| 0.25827
|
World Bowling Tour
6,129 Live Games NOW! Get The App
Home » Posts Tagged "World Bowling"
Entries Tagged ‘World Bowling’
SAUDI ARABIAN WOMEN’S BOWLING TEAM TO MAKE HISTORY AT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
July 11, 2019 : 2:04 am
LAUSANNE, July 11– For the first time in sport’s history, Saudi Arabia will send a team of six athletes to compete at the World Bowling Women’s Championships in Las Vegas from August 22 – 30. Nahla Adas and Mariam Aldoussari from Alkhobar, Mashael Alabdulwahid, Ghada Nimir and Amani Alghamdi from Riyadh and Hadeel Tarmeen of […]
Amani Alghamdi, Bader Al Alshiekh, Dr Razan Baker, Ghada Nimir, Hadeel Tarmeen, Mariam Aldoussari, Mashael Alabdulwahid, Nahla Adas, Sarah Jamal, Saudi Arabia, Sheikh Talal, World Bowling
WORLD JUNIOR BOWLING CHAMPIONSHIPS ACHIEVES NEW HEIGHTS WITH DIGITAL AND BROADCAST REACH
May 1, 2019 : 2:23 am
LAUSANNE, May 1st 2019 – Last month’s World Junior Bowling Championship Finals was broadcast globally due to new media rights relationships in 10 key markets. The inaugural Championship for 13 to 18 year olds was enjoyed by viewers via mainstream broadcasters in the following countries: France (VIA Reseau) China (Tencent), Hong Kong, (i-Cable), Indonesia (TVRI), […]
broadcast, China, france, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mongolia, Singapore, Solomon Salama, Thailand, Turkey, Vietnam, World Bowling, World Junior Bowling Championships, Youth
WORLD BOWLING SIGNS CONTRACT WITH LANETALK APP
November 15, 2017 : 12:09 pm
LAUSANNE, November 15 – World Bowling have today signed a two year contract with bowling application provider Lanetalk. Designed to connect bowlers around the world and provide a platform for individual bowlers to track their scores, the app provides a modern approach to the game and connects the many millions of casual players around […]
lanetalk, World Bowling
Bowlers sweep Sportsgirl, Sportswoman and Team of the Year awards at the 2016 Singapore Sports Awards
June 28, 2016 : 8:04 am
Singapore, June 23 – Shayna Ng was crowned Sportswoman of the Year along with fellow bowler Joey Yeo, who claimed the Sportsgirl of the Year prize at the Singapore Sports Awards held at Raffles City Convention Centre. Bowling also took out the Team of the Year (event) Award with Shayna Ng, Cherie Tan and New […]
Shayna Ng, Singapore Sports Awards, World Bowling, World Bowling Women's Championship
Sheikh Talal M. Al-Sabah to Lead World Bowling
December 16, 2015 : 11:37 am
ABU DHABI, December 16th, 2015 – Following yesterday’s biannual World Bowling Congress in Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Talal Mohammed Al – Sabah of Kuwait has taken his place as the President of World Bowling. Sheikh Talal has been involved in the sport for over 30 years, both as a coach and a player and he will […]
Congress, Kevin Dornberger, President, Sheikh Talal M. Al-Sabah, World Bowling
THE WORLD BOWLING WOMEN’S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS SET TO BEGIN SUNDAY, DECEMBER 7TH
December 3, 2015 : 4:05 am
LAUSANNE, December 3rd – The world’s best female bowlers are set to battle it out at the much anticipated World Bowling Women’s World Championships which kick off on Sunday December 6th in the UAE’s capital city, Abu Dhabi. Located in the magnificent Zayed Sports City, Khalifa Bowling Centre is set to host 147 athletes from […]
Abu Dhabi, Cherie Tan, Clara Guerrero, Danielle McEwan, Diana Zavjalova, Jazreel Tan, Kelly Kulick, Liz Johnson, Shane Ng, Women's World Championships, World Bowling
WORLD BOWLING FOCUSES ON OLYMPIC QUEST BEYOND 2020
September 28, 2015 : 5:35 am
LAUSANNE, September 28 – Following the announcement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Committee (TOC) this morning, World Bowling is saddened to announce that the sport of bowling has not been recommended for inclusion in the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. Although this is a big disappointment, World Bowling fully respects the TOC’s decision and believes […]
Jason Belmonte, Kevin Dornberger, Olympics, Tokyo 2020, World Bowling
ONES TO WATCH – Sultan Al Masri, Saudi Arabia
World Bowling has searched the globe to bring you the best up and coming young bowlers! In this five week series we will present our finest picks and those athletes that we predict will take the bowling world by storm! Our last pick for the series is junior Saudi Arabian bowler Sultan Al Masri. Sultan […]
#ones2watchWB, ones to watch, Saudi Arabia, Sultan Al Masri, World Bowling
ONES TO WATCH – Jenny Wegner, Sweden
September 9, 2015 : 3:15 am
World Bowling has searched the globe to bring you the best up and coming young bowlers! In this five week series we will present our finest picks and those athletes that we predict will take the bowling world by storm! Our pick for this week’s “One to Watch” is the number one ranked athlete in […]
#ones2watchWB, Jenny Wegner, PWBA, Sweden, World Bowling, Youth
ONES TO WATCH – Shion Izumune, Japan
World Bowling has searched the globe to bring you the best up and coming young bowlers! In this five week series we will present our finest picks and those athletes that we predict will take the bowling world by storm! Our pick for this week’s “One to Watch” is 16yr old Japanese Champion Shion […]
#ones2watchWB, Bowling, Japan, ones to watch, Shion Izumune, World Bowling, Youth
Page: 1 of 2 1 2
Panams
The Asian Games
Statutes & By-Laws
World Bowling
Copyright © 2019 World Bowling. All Rights Reserved.
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2678
|
__label__wiki
| 0.712287
| 0.712287
|
A foreign substance is introduced into our precious bodily fluids
"John McAfee: 'I Can Guarantee You, It Was Not the Russians'".
"FBI/DHS Joint Analysis Report: A Fatally Flawed Effort".
"It is both foolish and baseless to claim, as Crowdstrike does, that X-Agent is used solely by the Russian government when the source code is there for anyone to find and use at will.
If the White House had unclassified evidence that tied officials in the Russian government to the DNC attack, they would have presented it by now. The fact that they didn’t means either that the evidence doesn’t exist or that it is classified.
If it’s classified, an independent commission should review it because this entire assignment of blame against the Russian government is looking more and more like a domestic political operation run by the White House that relied heavily on questionable intelligence generated by a for-profit cybersecurity firm with a vested interest in selling “attribution-as-a-service”."
"Something About This Russia Story Stinks" (Taibbi):
"If the American security agencies had smoking-gun evidence that the Russians had an organized campaign to derail the U.S. presidential election and deliver the White House to Trump, then expelling a few dozen diplomats after the election seems like an oddly weak and ill-timed response."
"Moscow blasts CNN’s ‘false’ US school closure report". Just as Assange didn't say the right things to fit the 'narrative', so the Guardian fixed things by completely making things up, Putin didn't behave like Barry the petulant child, again breaking the 'narrative', so CNN helpfully made up a story which fits the 'narrative'. Did 'journalists' not learn that the Trump victory was a solid refutation of the 'narrative', and that people wouldn't be fooled any longer?
"U.S. officials have traced Russian hacking operation to Vermont electrical grid". This is getting to the 'precious bodily fluids' level.
"Trump Tweets Love For Putin 24 Hours After Obama Announces Sanctions". Clarifying stuff from the Joe McCarthy fan club. An no, they have no decency.
at 12/31/2016 11:42:00 AM View Comments Links to this post
"Putin: Russia will not expel anyone in response to US sanctions". So once the US gets a grown-up President, everything can be reversed.
"Obama’s Sanctions against Moscow “Intended to Box In Donald Trump”. Evidence that Hacking of DNC Accusations are Fake".
"What The Russian Hacking Report DOESN’T Say". They were so careful in covering their asses on the allegations, possibly fearing a Trumpian refutation after the inauguration, that they didn't leave any reason for the sanctions.
"Hypocrites and Moderate Rebels": ". . . a particularly pietistic bit of perambulating humbug, one Samantha Power, the ambassador of the United States to the United Nations."
"There will be no partition of Syria".
"Horrific Details Emerge of the Aleppo Rebel’s Trade in Human Organs". The difficult decision of whether to eat them or sell them.
"Richard Spencer’s Mom-gate". Violent racist supremacist cage match - I say we should just step back and let them fight it out.
"Fake Jewish Philosopher Tells “Anti-Semites, Skin-Headed Intellectuals” to Leave France". A 'treasure'.
"BERLIN’S KNOWN WOLF: Prior Criminal Plot, Watched Before Christmas Attack – Germany Takes on So-Called Fake News Crisis". Lots of parallels to other 'terrorist' attacks.
"U.S. Embassy Turkey Openly Lies About U.S. YPG Support".
"The Guardian’s Summary of Julian Assange’s Interview Went Viral and Was Completely False" (Greenwald). Assange's actual statements didn't follow the 'narrative', so they just made shit up!
"The Pentagon’s $125 Billion Cover-Up". A relatively minor Pentagon cover-up.
How to build a Sunni proxy army
"Why the West is Helping ISIS Spread Hysteria Post-Berlin Attack" (Cartalucci). Simply superb! You might want to read it in conjunction with: "German intelligence agent drove alleged perpetrator in Christmas market attack to Berlin". Just another soldier of the Sunni proxy army being built in Europe.
"Exclusive: ISIS Puts Out Holiday Attack List Of U.S. Churches" (for background on vocativ, see "lisa goldman trying to conceal the fact that she is the new rita katz"). "Islamic State supporters call for more holiday attacks in Europe". The strategy of tension leads to more hatred and fear of local Muslims, leading to more hate attacks and bigoted talk and legislation from politicians (especially the 'nationalist' ones, who drag the 'reluctant' mainstream politicians along behind them), leading to the creation of more proxy army soldiers for the Yinon armies. Brilliant!
"German Police Detain Alleged Accomplice To Berlin Truck Attack Suspect". As with the consistent leaving behind of ID, so with numbers in cell phones:
"The man's telephone number was saved in the cellphone of Anis Amri, the main suspect behind the Dec. 19 truck attack who was killed in a shootout with police in a suburb of Milan early Friday."
"ISIS and al-Nusra Bombs and Shells—Made in US and Germany". "American and German Munitions Found In Aleppo by Russian Sappers".
"C&L's Good Guys Of The Year: #4 Kurt Eichenwald". As I keep saying, clarifying. There is no possible world where Kurt Eichenwald is a 'good guy'. and anybody who says so is definitely not at all good.
"Syria - Peace Talk Rumors And Parameters". This starting to remind me of Charlie Brown, Lucy, and the football, with Russia consistently giving the Americans the benefit of the doubt as honest players, and consistently being disappointed by Jew-controlled American perfidy.
"Testimony of the Destruction of Eastern Aleppo, Syria. Photographic Evidence". The human organ eaters and head loppers who did this are the sole heroes left to Americans. You should grimly reflect on where World Jewry has dragged your souls. The big propaganda push over alleged crimes by Assad and the Russians is an attempt by the Jew-controlled media to distract from the horrors of their Yinon army.
"Kerry slams Israeli settlement growth as a threat to peace process". Kerry, late all around, with the 'airing of grievances' so last week.
"George Soros Conjures Hitler In Attack On 'Ascendant Populists', Warns "Democracy Is Now In Crisis"". Right in the middle of his campaign to deligitimize Trump's election by putting American democracy in crisis! From a man whose first job was assisting his father in stealing from Jews, something Soros won't apologize for, as if he hadn't done it somebody else no doubt would have!
Israel has an interesting 'democracy', set up to give full power to the tiniest minority of settler supremacists, with the country's leadership based, not on voting, but by rigged 'coalition building' - Israel is a country that could desperately use first past the post, but then, of course, the settlers would lose their power - and the selective application of the criminal law if anyone fails to follow the script. "Netanyahu to be investigated for bribery, fraud — report". All Israeli leaders are chosen on the basis of how crooked they are to allow for this eventuality. Apparently, some feel that Bibi's recent frothing at the mouth at the Americans isn't good host management by the parasite, so a secret ongoing investigation comes to light to attempt to rein him in.
"Behind the real US strategic blunder in Syria". The least convincing thing ever written by Porter, just terrible, based on its missing the J-word.
"In Bahrain woman's slaying, accusations of royal involvement".
More wasted riyals: "Down the Alt-Right’s Syrian Rabbit Hole".
"MEDIA TRIPWIRE? Ping Pong Pizza Conspiracy Propels Internet Censorship Amid ‘Fake News’ Witch-Hunt". Pizzagate is ridiculous - the 'analysis' reminds me of numerology - but given the known history of child abuse rings in Washington, with intelligence agencies using blackmail to control politicians (the most obvious example being Epstein's Lolita Express to Orgy Island on behalf of the Mossad), it is inconceivable that some key players in the Clinton campaign weren't subject to such control. What is Erik Prince up to, and why? You get the strong whiff that Pizzagate is a controlling threat, that the real stuff would come out if people don't play their assigned roles.
"Christmas Surprise" (Shamir):
"The world will set itself free of Jewish hegemony, but this complicated transition calls for using one bunch of Jews against another one. Or so the politicians feel. However, the moment of freedom is approaching. As the US hegemony declines, the Jewish one follows it into decline. Trump won though the Jewish media, Masters of Discourse were against him. This lesson will be learned by politicians, and implemented.
Israeli behaviour contributed a lot to the change. The white people like fair play: they gave full rights to Jews and blacks though it was not to their advantage. But the Jews do not care for the fairness, just for the bottom line. Their mistreatment of Palestinians exceeded every limit of tolerance. They could relinquish Palestine altogether and live well on 78% of its territory they got by means fair and foul. They could have the Two States’ Solution, where Palestinian state has no control over its borders, skies, water or military, but still has a flag and a national anthem.
Or, if they want the whole land of Palestine, they should treat Palestinians fairly, give them rights in one state, instead of slowly planting more Jewish colonies on the stolen Palestinian land while claiming to pursue Two States track. But the Jews preferred to have their cake and eat it. Such a trick may work for a while, but not forever, and thus Zionists learned the limits of their power."
The lesson that should come from this is that, while you can't weaken Jewish power, you can manipulate things by cleverly pitting one group of Jewish machers against another, based on their differing views of the tactics of Jewish empire building.
The Clarification
"Why the CIA won’t want to go public with evidence of Russia’s hacking". The comments are so consistently negative that you have to wonder who the CIA thinks it is fooling with this crap.
"The Coup against Trump and His Military-Wall Street Defense" (Petras).
"Erdogan says he has evidence US-led coalition has given support to Isis". "Erdogan Says He Has "Confirmed Evidence" The US Supports ISIS". "Who is Supporting ISIS-Daesh in Syria? Erdogan or Obama?". Things have certainly changed.
Of course, 'Langley' stands up for his pals at Langley: "Erdogan-Putin Syria Bromance as Turkey accuses US of backing ISIL".
"The Celebrity Left is Still the Enemy". The Clarification.
"Syria Roundup: Aleppo Liberated - Turkey's Problems Increase".
"Putin's Hit Teams Of "Chechen Killers" Head For Syria".
"Last week, Politico said Mr Kissinger was one of the few Americans to meet frequently with Mr Putin, along with movie star Steven Seagal and ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson, Mr Trump’s pick for the next secretary of state." The Trumpumverate.
"Corbyn hits back after Obama suggests Labour is disintegrating". And yet in terms of grassroots enthusiasm and sheer numbers, it looks like the most successful political party in the western world. Barry is completely incapable of recognizing what a successful political party would look like.
"False Media Reporting on Trump’s Request to State Dept for Info on Gender Equality Programs".
"Divergent Views: How Well Will Trump Get Along With His Own Cabinet?" This remains the key question in American politics.
Unusual sanity: "Fear in Berlin (or: They Do It With Mirrors)".
"New Zealand’s Settler Problem". The problem with this kind of hasbara argument, completely invisible to the Khazar supremacists who make it, is that it accepts the premise of the immorality of settler colonialism. The New Zealand settler problem can't be undone at this point, but the Israeli settler problem, utterly illegal under laws in place today, can be. Khazars keep making this fundamental rhetorical mistake because they assume that the laws of the goyim animals don't apply to them.
"Britain Pulled the Strings and Netanyahu Warned New Zealand It Was Declaring War: New Details on Israel's Battle Against the UN Vote". Bibi is making a big fuss about the smaller countries to hide all the bigger countries that voted for it and acted behind the scenes to ensure they could vote for it.
"Palestine 2017". The United States is still irredeemably Jewed-up, and thus doomed as the parasites suck it dry, but the encouraging thing is the courageous work by many around the world to force this resolution to happen.
"Mike Cernovich, DeploraBall and the Collapse of the Alt-Cuck (音声障害ゴリラはユダヤ人を養う？)". Not perhaps a big deal but there are obvious organized attempts to Jewify the alt-right. The fact that so much effort is being put in to this is a strong indication that BigJew still sees the alt-right as a threat to Jewish supremacism.
Tweet (Max Shanly):
"Communist Party have announced that George Michael was once a member of the Young Communist League. Amazing. https://www.facebook.com/rob.griffiths.77736/posts/10210705389167184?__mref=message_bubble …"
"Breitbart Is Leading a Smear Campaign Against a Scholar for Mocking White Supremacy, and His University Isn't Defending Him".
"Drexel University, Apparently Unfamiliar With White Supremacist Lingo, Censures Prof For “White Genocide” Tweet". "5,000 signatures to support George Ciccariello-Maher".
"Rising deaths among white middle-aged Americans could exceed Aids toll in US". "Rising morbidity and mortality in midlife among white non-Hispanic Americans in the 21st century". Caused by the policies of the credentialed neoliberals, who sometimes relax with a spot of 'satire'.
Is it meta-'satire' if you receive death threats for jokingly, and satirically, calling for a genocide that is actually happening?
Apparently, the archipelago still hasn't received the message from the most recent American election.
Watermelon and KFC
"Donald Trump as Zionist". Guess the one issue on which Kevin MacDonald is a 'cuck'. All based on obviously phony statistics of Republican support for Israel, and the new doctrine that Trump now has to kowtow to the very Republican operatives he so soundly defeated. Most comments are kind, but skeptical.
"Far-right Dutch politician condemns Obama for UN settlement resolution". I wonder how many shekels he got for that. That is not just a disparaging comment, I honestly want to know what the going rate is.
"Welcome to Greater Israel!" If Trump is planning to square the circle by granting the Jews whatever they want with respect to the Palestinians, but refusing to give them more Wars For The Jews, that will almost certainly fail, as the Jews have proven themselves masters at using false-flag 'terrorism' and lies from their Jew-controlled media to obtain wars.
"Demographics Are Not Destiny". The utter reliance on demographics is profoundly racist as you assume the groups you are relying on as guaranteed votes have absolutely no interests that they might want addressed. Once it is known that the group is being taken for granted, the demographics backfires. Two issues:
taking the group for granted as 'who else are they going to vote for?' (their answer is, at least, refusing to participate in the process, and. at worst, voting for the other party); and
assuming that all members of the group, by virtue of being in the group, have identical interests (the very definition of racism).
"Was Jill Stein wrong in this tweet?" No, and Mr Angry is far too careful in his examples.
""His Thoughts Are So Correct": Trump Releases "Very Nice Letter" He Received From Putin". Comment: "Who could possibly object to this show of goodwill between superpowers? Hmmmmm... I wonder. ((()))". ""Russia Did It" - The Last Stand Of Neoconservatism".
"Professor Stephen Cohen: Vladimir Putin is potentially America’s most valuable national security partner". Of course, the Americans use terrorism as an imperial weapon, so American officials naturally don't perceive their promotion, funding and organization of terrorists to be a good fit with Russia's attempts to prevent terrorism! For example.
"President Obama signs defense bill that could spur new space-based arms race". Another boondoggle, the American version of the Iron Dome.
"Aleppo: another false flag “Srebrenica,” perhaps barely, averted". The danger with all the lying propaganda is that they might take steps to create the imaginary atrocities they are suddenly obsessed with.
"Will The Real Tulsi Gabbard Please Stand Up... Please Stand Up". The attack means she is making the Democrat officialdom nervous. The comments are good ("Grow the F up, Howie Klein.").
"Harper: FBI 9/11 Probe Of Saudi Role A Decade Later". More American attempts at manipulating the Saudi royals with the 9/11 dance of the seven veils.
"NATO Ramps Up Ukraine War After Defeat in Syria". Late Barry abounds with pettiness.
"Drexel professor reprimanded for 'White Genocide' tweet claims it was satire". 'Can't you take a joke' comes up on all sides of the political spectrum. Fits nicely into the credentialed Clinton archipelago dwellers' contempt for the deplorables.
"Russian Envoy Assassination: Unanswered Questions". Related: "Berlin truck attack suspect Amri shot dead in Milan".
Pol Pot for President
"To Go the Way of the Great Auk: the Clintons and the Media" (my emphasis in red):
". . . the real nadir of media capitulation and bad faith was the response to the brutal murder of the Russian diplomat Andrei Karlov in Istanbul, on video, at an art opening. The western press spun this as a freedom fighter attacking the brutal Russian empire and defending Allepo. Almost nothing was said about the family of the slain Russian, or about terrorism. I guess terrorism doesn’t exist if its directed at the enemy du jour. The celebrations on the streets of Aleppo seemed to have been erased by western TV and print editors, too. And all of this is in line, of course, with Hillary Clinton’s (and her advisors) pathological and obsessive hatred of Putin. And with the Clinton imprint on mainstream media.
So, back to those white liberals. Every single person (save one) that I once knew in theatre and in Hollywood, are liberal and none of them really do much in the way of research or political reading. All of them are arch Democrats. And never before, I don’t think ever, has an election so starkly revealed the stratification of classes and sub classes, even, in the U.S. I have found a just amazing, almost surreal level of wilful and intentional blindness on the part of liberal america to the crimes of the Clintons, and to the basic corruption of the Democratic Party. One can say over and over and over and over and over that Clinton orchestrated a neo nazi fascist coup in Ukraine, a fascist junta in Honduras and an illegal assassination of a foreign leader in Libya. You can say this again and again and I guarantee you will get no response. The stunning silence of white liberal America to the crimes of the Clintons stands as the most profound element in the entire scenario of this election.
The propaganda against Russia, culminating in the truly grotesque coverage of Karlov’s murder, has been pitched at levels that I’ve personally never seen or heard before. And then there is a strange sort of cognitive dissonance regarding the *fake news* issue, launched, of course, by Obama. And this was the lame duck Obama, a figure that actually the public has not seen before, or seen very little. The urbane repressed buttoned down lawyer is being gradually peeled back and an oddly callused cruel figure emerges. A borderline sadist even. And while we know for certain that Hillary is a sadist, I think Obama is at least her equal. But of late Obama has exhibited a curious if not unsettling lack of proportion between his comments and his relaxed manner and style. It is the relaxation, one must say, of a sociopath. I don’t say this glibly. But during the fake news remarks I felt as if this must have been how detectives felt interviewing Ted Bundy. All smiles, winks, and good natured charm. But he was discussing a new open war on dissent. Obama initiated drone assassination and discussed it in the same tone as he discussed his vacations. In fact he joked about drone killing at the Correspondent’s Dinner a couple years back. There is, in this lame duck version of Obama, the sense of letting his character armoring slip just a little. And it reveals just another layer of armoring. There is such an empty core to this man that I think he made the perfect chameleon. He was the black Max Headroom. I am reminded of the Book of Job…Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue.
That the economy is now a disaster cannot be hidden. In fact, 90% of Obama’s new jobs were part time. Women were hardest hit during his eight years.Traditional fields for women workers in medicine and education were the biggest losers. Full time employment, the traditional 9 to 5 secure fixed job is all but extinct. There are fewer of those jobs today than during the great depression. But this is not anything that really affects the haute bourgeoisie, the affluent white liberals from Connecticut, Long Island, or Westchester County, or Bel Air, the Pacific Palisades, or Westwood. Or Menlo Park and Mill Valley. The educated classes. They don’t work day gigs. They don’t punch time clocks. They inherit and their family helps find them managerial positions or something akin. These are the people disproportionately visible in media. They don’t live paycheck to paycheck. And this is the point. The stratification of classes. And the markers for these class divides are becoming more fixed. If you use public transportation, for example, you are part of the lumpen masses these days. Nobody rides a bus to work at NBC or SONY pictures or Time Warner. Except maybe the kitchen staff.
Now, Trump is obviously, if we can judge from the last six months, a very thin skinned and rather terrified man. The son of a slum lord and a man who constantly seeks attention, and who wanted to be the biggest swinging dick in the house…well, once the Casino, now the White House. But he knows he’s not. And that can be a very dangerous personality flaw for someone with power. Trump’s eldest sons, Don Jr and Eric are perhaps the greatest indictment against Trump. I keep finding myself thinking of Roger Ballen’s famed photos of the Plattland farmers in South Africa; in particular Dressie & Cassie, the unfortunate twin brothers of the Transvaal. Don Jr and might well think, ‘there but for fortune’. But I digress.
The protests in the street, the agitation around counting ballots, and the open charges of treason — this is the stuff of a Capra movie on acid. It’s a strange dystopic vision. (And as ridiculous in its way as the catered sit in for gun control earlier this year, also courtesy of the Democratic Party leadership). And all in service of somehow getting Hillary Clinton elected. As, I guess, these people feel was ordained by a higher power, and hence their sense of the world coming apart at the seams. Why has god forsaken them, one can almost hear such screams in the night. Honestly, the degradation of electoral politics has hit bottom. It has to be clear, to even the most indoctrinated, that the voting system is broken. The problem is, for all the Diebald troubles and hacking claims and the electoral college; the real problem is simply basic inequality. Period. There are a fair number of people with relative wealth and there are a shit load of people with nothing. People who have no savings, and who live week to week, even with a family. People who pay rent, use food stamps if they can get them, and who if they get sick, stay sick. Or die. People who, if their children get seriously ill, will borrow themselves into lifetime debt to save their child. A debt they cant hope to ever crawl out from under. People who count pennies to buy their Copenhagen or Skoal — and weigh that against another tin of coffee. This is the America who didn’t vote. They didn’t because they are busy surviving. And the average liberal heaps scorn on these people as apathetic or selfish or whatever. The truth is, the average professional class white liberal has no fucking idea what poverty feels like. None. And the poor know what the affluent liberal does not. And that is that Hillary doesnt give anymore of a shit about them than the Donald."
The President the United States desperately needs is Pol Pot, with a massive reeducation plan to forciby remove the credentialed classes from the Clinton archipelago to farms in the rural hinterlands, and told to make a living, if they can, using only hand tools.
"Julian Assange: "Donald? It's a change anyway"" (my emphasis in red):
"What about Donald Trump? What is going to happen?
"If the question is how I personally feel about the situation, I am mixed: Hillary Clinton and the network around her imprisoned one of our alleged sources for 35 years, Chelsea Manning, tortured her according to the United Nations, in order to implicate me personally. According to our publications Hillary Clinton was the chief proponent and the architect of the war against Libya. It is clear that she pursued this war as a staging effort for her Presidential bid. It wasn't even a war for an ideological purpose. This war ended up producing the refugee crisis in Europe, changing the political colour of Europe, killing more than 40,000 people within a year in Libya, while the arms from Libya went to Mali and other places, boosting or causing civil wars, including the Syrian catastrophe. If someone and their network behave like that, then there are consequences. Internal and external opponents are generated. Now there is a separate question on what Donald Trump means".
What do you think he means?
"Hillary Clinton's election would have been a consolidation of power in the existing ruling class of the United States. Donald Trump is not a DC insider, he is part of the wealthy ruling elite of the United States, and he is gathering around him a spectrum of other rich people and several idiosyncratic personalities. They do not by themselves form an existing structure, so it is a weak structure which is displacing and destabilising the pre-existing central power network within DC. It is a new patronage structure which will evolve rapidly, but at the moment its looseness means there are opportunities for change in the United States: change for the worse and change for the better".
In these ten years of WikiLeaks, you and your organisation have experienced all sorts of attacks. What have you learned from this warfare?
"Power is mostly the illusion of power. The Pentagon demanded we destroy our publications. We kept publishing. Clinton denounced us and said we were an attack on the entire "international community". We kept publishing. I was put in prison and under house arrest. We kept publishing. We went head to head with the NSA getting Edward Snowden out of Hong Kong, we won and got him asylum. Clinton tried to destroy us and was herself destroyed. Elephants, it seems, can be brought down with string. Perhaps there are no elephants".
One of the first times we met I noticed a book on your table: "The Prince" by Machiavelli. What have you learned about power in 10 years of WikiLeaks?
"My conclusion is that most power structures are deeply incompetent, staffed by people who don't really believe in their institutions and that most power is the projection of the perception of power. And the more secretively it works, the more incompetent it is, because secrecy breeds incompetence, while openness breeds competence, because one can see and can compare actions and see which one is more competent. To keep up these appearances, institutional heads or political heads such as presidents spend most of the time trying to walk in front of the train and pretending that it is following them, but the direction is set by the tracks and by the engine of the train. Understanding that means that small and committed organisations can outmanoeuvre these institutional dinosaurs, like the State Department, the NSA or the CIA"."
"How I Came to Understand the CIA" (no longer able to control information, the CIA is a useless and very expensive anachronism):
"Luckily, with the Internet revolution, people aren’t bound by The Times and network news hacks like Safer anymore. They can listen to Russia Today or tune in to Counterpunch and get another side of the story. So Mark Crispin Miller at Open Road chose The Phoenix Program to be the first book they published. And it’s been reborn. Thanks to the advent of the e-book, we’ve reached an audience of concerned and knowledgeable people in a way that wasn’t possible 25 years ago.
It’s also because of these Internet developments that John Brennan, the current director of CIA, thought of reorganizing the CIA into “centers” that have their origin in the Phoenix program. Phoenix is the template for the war on terror and the homeland security boondoggle.
All these things are connected. It’s a vastly different world than it was in 1947 when the CIA was created, or in 1967 when the CIA created the Phoenix program, or in 1990 when my book came out. The nature of the American empire has changed, and what the empire needs from the CIA has changed. The CIA is allocated about $30 billion a year, so the organizational changes are massive undertakings."
"Aleppo: another false flag “Srebrenica,” perhaps barely, averted". It is as if they were screaming warnings about humanitarian disasters they were unable to cause!
"Whitemarsh Hall".
Implausible deniability
The term I was looking for regarding American denial of involvement in Ambassador Karlov's assassination: implausible deniability.
In case you we worried that Barry had to forego a single shekel over The Abstaining: "Behind the Scenes of the U.S. Decision Not to Veto the UNSC Resolution":
"The U.S. delegation to the UN made clear to all other UNSC delegations that any resolution that failed to reflect concerns over Palestinian incitement, violence, and terrorism would be subject to a U.S. veto."
"Netanyahu Summons U.S. Ambassador Over UN Vote on Settlements"!
The Shekelings
Interesting debate playing out between the Jews who shekel Barry, and the Jews who shekel Republicans. Always remember that Barry could never, ever, ever have been able to abstain on the settlement resolution without the backing of his own personal shekelers.
As usual, this is a debate within the Khazar community over tactics. The big debate is whether it is possible to consolidate theft from the Palestinians - using the settlement 'facts on the ground' as de facto annexation leading to eventual legal annexation - while simultaneously, using Wars For The Jews and Yinon, to build Greater Israel, the proposed Khazar empire from the Nile to the Euphrates. The Republican shekelers (e.g., Adelson) feel that you can and should do both, as G-d has decreed that the American host is to be drained by the Khazar parasites as quickly as possible while the opportunity presents itself. and that both channels, stealing land from the Palestinians and stealing land across the Middle East, should be followed simultaneously.
On the other hand, the Democrat shekelers fear the settlement movement will wreck the entire enterprise of building Greater Israel, as annexation of the Occupied Territories will force the Khazars to accept frozen set borders for Israel. Thus, the strong anti-settlement sentiment amongst even the craziest of 'American' Jews, even the concentration camp guard.
Adelson involvement has led to Friedman as proposed ambassador, and this Trump adelsonian meddling in the resolution process, which seems to have backfired greatly, and may even have built enough courage in Barry, and anger in his shekelers, to pull the trigger on abstaining.
There must have been wild machinations in the background leading to the resolution. Sisi is supposed to have been turned by Israel proffering anti-terrorist intelligence information (leading one to ask why they didn't provide it before), but you can be sure the real reason is that he was royally shekeled. Once Sisi was shekeled, Israel let down its guard, assuming the resolution was dead and buried.
Then some really, really brave - and I mean that seriously, as the Khazars could well murder people over this, as is their primitive custom - souls in Malaysia, New Zealand, Senegal and Venezuela worked in the background to resurrect the resolution. Bibi appears to have been completely blindsided, reduced to yelling at Barry, who hates Bibi.
The reaction is amazing.
Still, nothing has really changed. Tweet (The IMEU):
"Samantha Power says that despite UNSC vote, US still committed to Israel with $38 billion in military aid. How else could those $ be used?"
Conspiratorial ambiguity
"Traces covered: NATO Auditor found dead in Belgium". "Le fonctionnaire de l'Otan avait le pistolet dans la main droite alors qu'il est...gaucher!". "BREAKING: NATO Chief Auditor In Charge Of Counter Terrorism Funding Assassinated?".
"President Duterte of the Philippines for Dummies".
More wasted riyals: "How “Stop the War” and Patrick Cockburn justified atrocities in Aleppo".
"A Loser’s Malice: What’s Behind Obama’s Attacks on Putin". To be fair to Barry, outmaneuvered by Putin at every step, he has both arms and both legs tied behind his back by his grasping for shekels.
Conspiratorial ambiguity. Barry made an express promise of 'retaliation' - scare quotes, as it can hardly be retaliation if the Russians didn't do the phony 'hacking' story being used by World Jewry as the excuse for losing so they do not have to face calls to renovate, i.e., de-Zionize, the Democratic Party - but he can hardly take credit for the assassination of an ambassador. He wants to have it both ways - a clear warning understood by everybody with no evidence of direct American involvement. Thus the use of a stooge spouting terrorist phases linking him to CIA-run American terrorist proxy armies.
"Retaliation Promised: Russian Ambassador's Murder Justified, Even Praised Across the West". "New York Daily News column hails assassination of Russian ambassador".
"Liberation of Aleppo is the most serious setback for the US in 15 years".
"Envoy killed in a ‘parallel universe’".
"White Helmets: Fraudsters Serving Western Spy Agencies". Easily one of the most outrageous stories in the history of warmongering propaganda.
Another break from the Yinon orthodoxy: ""There were no green buses in Gaza" : Former UK ambassador to Syria debunks Aleppo propaganda (BBC)".
"The Bullets Of An Assassin: Nothing Is Beyond the Pale."
"Russia Hacking the Election the Inside Story". Funny that a Ukrainian started the Russian hacking story. See also: "The Anonymous Blacklist Promoted by the Washington Post Has Apparent Ties to Ukrainian Fascism and CIA Spying".
Shooting down yet another attempt at implicating the Russians: "Why I Still Don't Buy the Russian Hacking Story".
Tweet (Walid):
"Bana has no thoughts or opinions of her own&had nothing to do w/the tweets. Watch Fatemah give her all the answers.Child manipulation #Syria"
Tweet (Sarah Abdallah) (Homs and Tennessee are throwing off the same shackles/shekels, but not without a little propaganda push-back!):
"Breathtaking: Al-Hawash in the Valley of Christians, Homs. All over #Syria, Christmas celebrations brightly emerge where Al-Qaeda used to be"
"Christmas in Aleppo - Attention Joe Scarborough".
Tweet (trapdinawrpool):
"The US knowingly presented perjured evidence to gain his extradition from Canada"
The John Birch Society on the New York Times!: "N.Y. Times' Fake News That Electoral College Was Created to Protect Slavery". Related: "New York Times Will Vacate 8 Floors In Its HQ To Generate "Significant Rental Revenue"".
"Passenger removed from flight after confrontation with Ivanka Trump". No part of this story makes any sense, starting with Ivanka on JetBlue. Is this a Trump propaganda operation?
"This liberal Zinoist argument for ethnic cleaning was endorsed on Twitter yesterday by Kenneth Roth". This is straight-up violent racist group supremacism, exactly the same argument that a 'nationalist' or Nazi would make!
"Israel-Palestine tensions ripple through Democratic Party chair races". "Keith Ellison seeks to placate Israel lobby, by saying he is against BDS". The plan is to make him into a Zionist lapdog.
Crime blotter. "Seven Hedge-Fund Execs Arrested In Madoff-Like “ponzi Scheme”". "OxyContin goes global — “We’re only just getting started”". "Canada: Old Lady Made Homeless After Slimy Jew Stole Her Life Savings".
American desperation
"Berlin Truck Terror Suspect And The Curious Matter Of ID Papers Left Behind". This is from another formerly reliable site which has suffered a clarifying brain seizure due to the Trump win, but I can't argue with the conspiracy patterns.
"Berlin Christmas Market Incident a Likely False Flag".
"Russian Ambassador Killed Three Days After Obama Threat – Who Is Responsible?" "CIA Hawk Called for the US to Deliver a “Painful” Blow to Putin One Week Prior to Ambassador Being Assassinated".
"How The Military Excluded The White House From International Syria Negotiations". I believe this is completely wrong, and the Pentagon has consistently provided cover for Barry's neocon decisions by pretending to act in defiance of him (and, in fact, the Pentagon sometimes provides him an excuse to defy the orders of the people who run things, the Jewish billionaires). 'Thanks for the shekels, and I'd really like to give you what you demand, but you know I have no control over the generals . . . '. This kind of deception is the traditional role of the CIA. I would go so far as to say that the Pentagon is not happy at all in its role in Syria, but is just following orders from its Commander-in-Chief. I should think a coup d'etat, or acts of actual treason by the highest Pentagon officials, would be low on your list of explanations for American government behavior.
Historical background: "The implications of the Andrey Karlov assassination".
"Syria Ambassador Reveals Names Of Alleged Western/Saudi/GCC Intelligence Agents Trapped In East Aleppo".
"Donald Trump is holding a government casting call. He’s seeking ‘the look.’" Trump is till playing the media like a violin. I'm guessing that his excuse to Sheldon, along with a thank-you note for all the shekels, is that he couldn't make Bolton Secretary of State due to his moustache!
"Russia Missing from Trump’s Top Defense Priorities, According to DoD Memo". "Pentagon memo on Trump's priorities doesn't mention Russia: report". "Leaked Memo Reveals List Of Trump's Top Defense Priorities". Had Killary won, the priorities would have been exactly the opposite. You get a whiff of just how close we were to WWIII.
"What Jeff Sessions as attorney general will mean for the Iran Deal". Note that going nuts over Iran will have the exact opposite effect of the main thrust of MAGA, handing to other countries lucrative trade deals that Americans could have had, and all just to please 2% of the population!
Concise and excellent and right on point: "Freedom Rider: Syria, Russia and American Desperation" by Margaret Kimberley.
"Egyptian police arrest five people for using children to stage fake 'Aleppo' footage".
"Quick Thoughts: Sheila Carapico on The Current State and Future Prospects of War in Yemen".
"The NYT Portrays Aleppo's Liberation As Bad News".
Sounds about what I'd expect: "EXCLUSIVE: Facebook 'fact checker' who will arbitrate on 'fake news' is accused of defrauding website to pay for prostitutes - and its staff includes an escort-porn star and 'Vice Vixen domme'".
"Sources Tell Me… Fake News, Kuwait and the Trump DC Hotel". Tweet (Peter Van Buren):
"Any news piece based on a single anonymous source should come with a warning sticker. Maybe a coupon for a free J-school review seminar"
"Tom Arnold: I Have "Racist" Trump Outtakes From 'The Apprentice'" ('Hollywood' protecting Trump is impossible to believe):
"When it became clear that Trump had a realistic chance of taking the White House, Arnold claims Hillary Clinton as well as new Apprentice star Arnold Schwarzenegger's agent got involved and wanted the tapes released. "The Sunday before the election, I get a call from [Schwarzenegger] CAA agent, sitting next to [Clinton]. They said, 'I need you to release him saying the N-word.' I said, 'Well, now these people - two editors and an associate producer - are scared to death. They're scared of his people, they're scared of they'll never work again, there's a $5 million confidentiality agreement.' "
In October, weeks before polling day, Trump's campaign almost derailed after for the now-infamous Access Hollywood outtake of the GOP candidate and host Billy Bush engaging in "locker-room talk." Although the long-rumored Apprentice tapes never surfaced before Nov. 8, Arnold, who has known Trump for decades, said later in the interview that he doubts they would have made much difference. "I think if the people that like him saw him saying the N-word, he's sitting matter-of-factly in front of there has to be 30 people there, and he's matter-of-factly saying all of this stuff. So I think they would have liked him more, the people. For being politically incorrect.""
"Won't Someone Please Make Rudy Giuliani a Twitter Account?" Rudy's actual speeches are so batshit insane it is impossible to create a parody that lives up to the reality. Remember when the Jew-controlled media was trying to tout him for Secretary of State?
Well would you look at that
"Will Putin Use His Ambassador’s Assassination to Gain a Political Edge?" American propaganda spin on the Ziowahabbican assassination (the headline itself is telling). Putin pretty much nailed it. None of the bad guys are going to want to see a Russia/Turkey/Iran confab on anything, let alone their massive embarrassing defeat in Syria.
"Assassination of Russian Ambassador Andrei Karlov was not terrorism, but retribution for Vladimir Putin’s war crimes" (see "New York Daily News and ISIS are happy about assassination of Russian ambassador Andrey Karlov"). Jewsplain of the year:
"After watching the death of Karlov, I could not help but remember the case of Ernst vom Rath, the Nazi ambassador to France, who was gunned down inside his consulate by a Jewish student in 1938."
"Every body these days is a "Syrian journalist/activist/human rights activist"".
"Journalist Eva Bartlett DESTROYS Mainstream Journalist Over Syria, Aleppo". "ALEPPO DIARIES: Bearing Witness to the Liberation of Hanano, East Aleppo, a Personal View by Vanessa Beeley". Again, 'fake news' through unconventional sources is wrecking all the shekels spent on spreading 'real news' through the Jew-controlled media.
"An al Qaeda Christmas: the Touching Tale of How Hate Figures Became American Heroes". The fact that al Qaeda and ISIS are now easily the two most important American allies in the whole world, not to mention the superhuman efforts of the Jew-controlled media to spin this given all the Wars For The Jews they mined out of blaming 9/11 on al Qaeda, is the most amazing story to come out of the surprisingly rapid collapse, at the hands of Zionist parasites, of the American empire.
"Some of Erdogan's statement on Russia in the last two years".
"The bodyguard of the Iranian foreign minister is watching the bodyguard of the Turkish foreign minister VERY CLOSELY". 'Turkish bodyguard' is the new term for a very, very bad bodyguard, Secret Service on JFK level.
Rudy Giuliani has gone full #PizzaGate! Preemptive strike against upcoming stories about him?
Tweet (Oliver Darcy):
"—@kurteichenwald said on GMA his Trump mental hospital tweet was part of series of jokes & intended to be “signal to a source” to talk w/him"
Tweet (Edward Snowden):
"Well would you look at that."
"The Dangerous Implications of the Assassination in Turkey":
"As for the assasination of the Russian ambassador that took place in Ankara, one can recall John Kirby’s threats to Russia that it was going to lose its citizens."
"A Few Initial Short Thoughts on the Murder of the Russian Ambassador to Ankara" (The Saker). The staging was notable - comment by Pasquale_J:
"Some initial thoughts, on watching the video:
1.) the cameraman makes good and sure his wide shot is in focus before beating his retreat, notwithstanding there’s a crazed gunman some five feet in front of him, and
2.) whatever security force there may be on site, in a full fifty seconds after multiple shots are fired not one of them takes the initiative to actually show up.
And for your bonus point, the gunman stands around for those fifty seconds, just waiting for someone to come and shoot him. Can you say “false flag”? Maybe not. But I could film a more believable “assassination” in my sleep."
"Witness to an assassination: AP photographer captures attack". The photographer acted as if he was under no danger while taking the striking propaganda photos.
"Russian ambassador's assassination in Turkey was organised by 'NATO secret services' and was 'a provocation and challenge to Moscow' claims Kremlin senator ".
Also, a comment by hym from the Vineyard's posting of this piece:
"The turkish mainstream news agencies point out that he was _not_ fired in the purge against the coup. He is working in the special forces and got a sick day off, booked a room in a hotel nearby the exhibition in the day of shooting and showed his well valid police ID to get around the security perimeter.
I am turkish, and I personally believe it was a joint operation of CIA and Gulenists. After the coup, the Gulenists virtually lost the capability to conduct another coup, and their new tactic is to perform assasinations and suicide attacks to the strategical positions which will render their joint cause with CIA beneficial. The purge could not eliminate all Gulenists from police, military and other government organizations, as they hide themselves quite well.
Evidences for the assassin Mevlut Mert Aydintas’ Gulenists link are that he got another sick day off on July 15 – the day of the Gulenist coup, went to a high school belonging to Gulenist movement and he was a suspect in a case regarding to rigging qualification exams for government positions. The Ankara represantative of Today’s Zaman newspaper (a propaganda machine of Gulenists) said on a December 16 tweet that from this day the ambassadors in Turkey have no security. I do not think it is quincidence."
From 'Langley':
"So it is likely that Altintas, who had served last winter in Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s own security detail . . . "
Even if the CIA didn't actually pay him, it was a Ziowahabbican assassination: "Russian Ambassador Assassinated: Retaliation, But by Whom?".
"George Clooney Is Developing a 'White Helmets' Movie About Heroic Syrian Rescuers". Of course he is.
"More Propaganda Than News Coming Out of Aleppo". He writes as if it is laziness or incompetence rather than an organized propaganda strategy.
"Syria - Killing Journos Enabled "Media Activist" Domination - Intended Effect?".
You might disagree with the political decision of having an electoral college, but there is high-level thinking behind it: "The Best Election Map Yet".
"Trump has reached the 270 threshold of electors needed to assume the Presidency in January, with the Electoral College's refusal to do their duty and stop the ascendancy of a foreign power to the Presidency."
This is the damnedest thing ever, a phony social media campaign by the Clinton staff in which they inject her with amphetamines and diamond dust, raise her from her ICU/hyperbaric chamber/coffin filled with unconsecrated ground, and send her out to be photographed interacting with actors who then post about their 'surprise' meeting: "In the Chappaqua woods, a search for Hillary Clinton" (my emphasis in red):
"Now it was different. Now it seemed like Hillary Clinton might appear at any moment, like she was just up ahead, just beyond those trees. Recently, a Chappaquaian named Andy and his two dogs, Lucas and Earl, were out walking and noticed that the leaves normally covering the path appeared to have been cleared by a leaf blower, the first time he had ever seen such a thing. In the distance, he saw two men sitting too stiffly on a bench.
“I said, ‘This is odd.’ It’s more like ‘Deliverance,’ ” he said, referring to the movie. “I tried to hustle up with the boys, and that night, my wife showed me the picture.”
A picture of Hillary Clinton in the woods. He had just missed her."
Streets full with dead bodies
"Stunning Photos Show Huge Crack in Antarctic Ice Shelf":
"In November, Antarctic air temperatures were 3.6 - 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than normal. Antarctic sea ice set a new record low, as did the Arctic. Antarctic sea ice was a staggering 699,000 square miles below the 1981 to 2010 average.
"Antarctic sea ice really went down the rabbit hole this time," said Ted Scambos, the lead scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center.
The West Antarctic Ice Sheet could collapse entirely within the next 100 years.
"The collapse would lead to a sea-level rise of nearly 10 feet, which would engulf major U.S. cities such as New York and Miami and displace 150 million people living on coasts worldwide," stated the Ohio State researchers.
NASA's Operation Icebridge flights were based this year at Punta Arenas, Chile. Next year, the agency plans to fly from McMurdo Station in Antarctica in order to survey new areas. But, future missions may be in doubt. President-elect Donald Trump has suggested eliminating all climate research conducted by NASA, leaving Antarctica and the rest of the planet in the "dark ages.""
"The Hacking Evidence Against Russia Is Extremely Weak". The basic point still being that any evidence can be, and would be, spoofed by any competent player in this world. The evidence we do have, which itself needs to be taken with a grain of salt, consistently points to insider leaks.
"The Rise of the Alt-Center". Not bad by Salon standards, and almost touches on the truth in mentioning Schumer (while, of course, not mentioning the Zionist conspiracy behind Schumer's trickery).
"Russia, NATO, Trump: The Shadow World". The New York Review of Books is Ground Zero in the world of credentialed bloviating, here turning the usual Democrat/Zionist anti-Putin smear job into a piece about five times too long with enough of a veneer of 'facts' and historical contextualizing to make it appear definitive. The technique is to nit-pick around the edges while tacitly taking the big standard-issue conspiracies as a given (see also the recent emptywheel analyses, it is an old rhetorical trick), the typical approach by the 'elite' commentariat in these clarifying times.
"Whistleblower John Kiriakou Critiques the CIA’s Behavior Following the 2016 U.S. Election". On the motives for the CIA's treasonous participation in the coup attempt, and the plight of Jeffrey Sterling.
"Brazilian President Temer Signs Constitutional Amendment Imposing 20 Years of Austerity". "How Brazil Got the Worst Austerity Program in the World".
"Trump Sets the Cat Among the Jewish Pigeons" (Shamir) (see the gloating "A New Strategy for Israeli Victory" by Daniel Pipes):
"For many years, liberal Israelis perpetrated a hoax (yes, I’ve said, hoax) of “struggling against occupation” and wishing to divide historical Palestine into two states, a Jewish state and a Palestinian state. Israeli officials negotiated for years and years with the US, with the quartet, with PA, and gave absolutely nothing in return for the time they gained. Millions of dollars, of European and American tax-payers were poured into soft life of these negotiators. How could the Israelis achieve this glorious (for them) result? Thanks to liberal progressive Israelis. Without liberal Israelis complicity, Jewish moderate nationalists of Bibi Netanyahu wouldn’t be able to slowly and at peace devour and digest Palestine piece by piece.
Every year they confiscate a few hundreds strategically located square miles, and plant there a few thousand of settlers. Step by step, they ate Palestine like mouse eats cheese. Now they are shocked that their charmed life will soon be over and their fraud is out.
Hard Jewish nationalists always wanted to annex the whole of Palestine. The moderates and the liberals thought it would implode the Jewish state, as in the new one state the Jews will hardly be in majority. There are various statistics and different assessments, but by the most optimistic (for Jews) count, they will present 50% of the population. The One state won’t be “Jewish” or it won’t be “Democratic”, is a usual answer. The hard nationalists answered that “we’ll see”. Let us get there, and we shall work it out.
The smart moderate bastards and their liberal crypto-supporters would answer: we’d love to, but America does not allow us to do it. And the US obediently provided the Israeli Jews with alibi: yes, we would not allow you to annex Palestine, yes, we want you to negotiate in order to reach Two States’ Solution. Now this is over, too.
If the Jews will annex Palestine, their long systematic fraud of “occupation” and “struggle against occupation” will be over. They will give Palestinians equal rights, including the right to vote for Knesset, and then there will be power-sharing, and other fruits of democracy. If they won’t give Palestinians equal rights, there will be something simple and clear to struggle for, namely for equal rights and against vestiges of apartheid."
"Israeli Squatters at Palestine’s Amona accept relocation to other Palestinian-owned Land". Watch - they'll retake the original stolen land after the move! Khazar kleptomaniacs.
"For the world to see: Anne Barnard and Liz Sly purposefully cover up the crimes of Syrian rebels".
"Sabotage Of East-Aleppo Evacuation Is Part Of A Plan".
Tweet (Lina Arabi) (and):
""Streets full with dead bodies" & the White Helmets didn't take a single pic. That's not the White Helmets I know."
Tweet (Lee Fang):
"It's going to be funny when it comes out the professional Dems posturing as "resistance" to Trump help him carry out the worst of his agenda"
Panic and agony
"Harvard Professor Admits His Efforts To Turn Electoral College Against Trump Have Failed Miserably". Lessig is just the reincarnation of Bill Kristol, with variations on the same stunts Kristol has tried, and failed, for months. Lessig is willing to ruin a lifetime's reputation on this long shot as BigJew really, really, really wants to block Trump. "Neocon Panic and Agony".
"We are all Palestinians" (Atzmon):
"By now we, and I mean all of us, except a few oligarchs, are all Palestinians. We are subject to the dirty games inflicted on us by the likes of Goldman Sachs, Soros, Saban, Adelson, and a few others. By now we are all subject to the tyranny of correctness that stops us from shouting out, loudly, that troubling truth which we all see."
"Western media’s epic fail on Craig Murray and the Russian hacking story":
"To be clear, if the Western media want to take issue with what Craig Murray is saying by either alleging that he has made it all up or that he was fooled by someone who is actually a Russian agent or is himself a Russian agent, then that is up to them. I would only repeat that Craig Murray is a person of acknowledged integrity and someone who as a former senior diplomat worked closely with the British intelligence services and has had extensive experience of handling classified material, and that he is in fact a stern critic of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.
However the Western media has taken a completely different approach: silence. Though Craig Murray provided his information in interviews to the Guardian and the Daily Mail, the rest of the media, and indeed those same newspapers, has otherwise entirely ignored this story.
There is a point beyond which silence amounts to outright concealment and suppression of the truth.
Amidst all the accompanying media frenzy about Russian propaganda and ‘fake news’ the concealment of Craig Murray’s revelations is perhaps a telling sign of who the true purveyors of ‘fake news’ actually are."
Tweet (WikiLeaks):
"German spies now claim that WikiLeaks' BND files were not hacked by Russia after all and source is an insider. http://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/inland/wikileaks-dokumente-aus-nsa-ausschuss-quelle-im-bundestag-vermutet-14579135.html …"
"Welcome to Idlib: America's Model Syrian City".
There are a few key moments in history when you can watch an empire slipping away, and the de-terrorizing of Aleppo is one of them: "Bitter in Aleppo Defeat, US and EU Seek to Further Demonize Russia". Not coincidentally: "Philippines' Duterte to U.S. over aid: 'Bye-bye America'".
"When Bana Al-Abed Blocked @21WIRE on Twitter". "Anne Barnard teaches us--yet again--that reporting does not have to be based on verified information".
"BuzzFeed And The NYDN: Click-Bait Headlines, False Stories, And Virtually Nonexistent Retractions".
"‘If I write in line with Russian media, it’s because we both tell the truth’ – Eva Bartlett to RT". Snopes is going to be raking in the shekels!: "Victim Blaming".
"The Saddam interrogation: Ten years after the tyrant's execution, the CIA agent who grilled him reveals the shattering truth... that everything the US thought it knew was WRONG ":
"But in late 2007, I was summoned to give a detailed presentation to George W. Bush at the Oval Office. What kind of a man had Saddam been, he asked me?
I told him that he was disarming at first and used self-deprecating wit to put you at ease.
The President looked as if he was going to lose his cool. I quickly explained that the real Saddam was sarcastic, arrogant and sadistic, which seemed to calm Bush down.
He looked at Vice-President Dick Cheney and their eyes locked in a knowing way. As I was leaving, he joked: ‘You sure Saddam didn’t say where he put those vials of anthrax?’ Everyone laughed, but I thought his crack inappropriate. America had lost more than 4,000 troops.
Several months later, I was asked to go back to the White House. This time, the President looked annoyed and distracted and asked for a briefing on the Shia cleric called Muqtada al-Sadr, the leader of the Mahdi Army, then engaged in dangerous insurgency against the coalition. This was not on the agenda.
Trying to gain a few seconds, I said: ‘Well, that is the $64,000 question’ Bush looked at me and said: ‘Why don’t you make it the $74,000 question, or whatever your salary is, and answer?’ What an a***hole!"
"Theresa May's Personal Message to the Jews" (Atzmon):
"The only people who can defeat anti-Semitism are the Jews themselves. All they have to do is to drop their choseness and become ordinary people – in effect, stop being so special and join the human race."
"'Vanity Fair' editor sues Twitter troll for giving him a seizure". The comments note that he could have, and if this is a possibly serious problem should have, turned off animations in his browser settings. You have to wonder just how much embarrassment his employers can stand. From 2007: "The Perils of Journalism and Child Porn".
"It seems that Mossad terrorists struck in Tunisia".
People used to order kosher meals on airlines on the theory they wouldn't dare serve Jews the slop they serve the goyim: "'Muslim' meals could be used to profile passengers, airline tells authorities". I suppose if you order human liver they will not pay any attention to you.
Tweet (Christiane Amanpour)!:
"Shame on humanity, our world is paralysed, fighters carry on, who pays the indescribable price? Aleppo's suffering children/civilians."
"Asylum seekers who sheltered Snowden in Hong Kong at risk of being deported, lawyer warns".
More evidence of a deep problem with Democrats, which remains class hatred by the credentialed classes for the 'deplorables' whose votes are desperately needed: "Daily Kos Founder Gleefully Celebrates Coal Miners Losing Health Insurance".
"New Study Shows Anne Frank’s Family was Arrested During Fraud Investigation".
In these noble American days of drone bombing wedding parties and arming and celebrating human organ eaters, what bravery looks like: "Larry Colburn, Who Helped Stop My Lai Massacre, Dies at 67".
"George Soros Is Funding Facebook's "Third-Party Fact Checking" Organization Targeting "Fake News"". "US Gov’t, Oligarchs Behind Planned Fake News Flagging on Facebook". The censors are funded by what could be described as a caricature of a conspiracy theorist's fantasy of the real workings of the world.
"9 Reasons Why PolitiFact Is Unqualified to Label ‘Fake News’". Obviously partisan.
"Will Facebook's Fake News Warning Become a Badge of Honor?". I found it bizarre than any site so honored would strive to get off the 'fake news' list. Don't read anything that doesn't have a warning!
"That Time Tillerson Tried to Take on Hugo Chavez... And Lost". His $9 billion of revenge couldn't be any worse than what Barry is doing.
"Venezuela Brings Toys to Poor Kids, Gets Called ‘Grinch’ on CNN":
"CNN‘s “Grinch” report exemplifies a popular new technique: Twitter has become the lazy journalist’s favorite tool. With millions of users expressing millions of different opinions, ostensibly “neutral” news outlets can cite tweets that confirm their biases as putative “evidence” that the public feels a particular way on an issue–a way that almost always just so happens to reflect and serve powerful interests.
Random tweets from unknown users can hence be quoted as examples of anonymous “critics” who echo corporate and government propaganda and rehash conventional wisdom. CNN‘s reporting is a case study in how to further sling mud at an elected socialist government that has for years faced aggression from the United States."
"Snowden's 'Proper Channel' For Whistleblowing Being Booted From The NSA For Retaliating Against A Whistleblower":
"Also receiving a bit more substantiation are Snowden's claims that utilizing the proper channels within the NSA would have been fruitless -- something that has been pointed out by earlier whistleblowers, nearly all of whom have seen their careers ended and their lives turned upside down by government prosecutions for their actions."
"Justin Liverman – emergency appeal".
Bearing in mind that Snowden may be CIA, this is still interesting: "Snowden: “Russia Successfully Rigged US Elections In Favor Of Trump”".
"NSA Whistleblower Destroys Obama's Russia Narrative - "Hard Evidence Points To An Inside Leak, Not Hacking"". Snowden has noted that the NSA's Panopticon should have gathered evidence showing exactly who was responsible. Exactly as with the MH17 crash, the lack of evidence from the NSA is itself evidence that the Americans are hiding something which doesn't match their preferred narrative. "As Binney further notes, the only way the leaks could have avoided NSA detection is if they were never passed over fiber networks but rather downloaded to a thumb drive by someone with internal access to servers." Proving it is a leak, not a hack.
"Assange: Some leaks may have been Russian" (the headline, while not false, is obviously carefully crafted to mislead you). Assange is playing a bit of game here, as he came as close as possible to naming Seth Rich as the leaker while denying he was doing so, so his "“Craig Murray is not authorized to talk on behalf of WikiLeaks,” Assange said sternly.", and the timely tweet, should be read in the context of a bigger game. Binney's thumb drive theory is consistent with Murray's story.
"As a threshold matter, no national security agency is going to monitor an American registered to work as an agent for the Saudis. That’s all the more true if the agent has the last name Podesta." Seriously? Also, more clarifying Clintonista swill in the guise of sophisticated analysis: "There’s a section on the murdered DNC staffer, which I’m not going to focus on because I find it distasteful."
"Revealed: Who Gave Democratic Emails to Wikileaks".
"Politicized Intelligence Kneecapping Trump".
"The Cold War, Continued: Post-Election Russophobia".
"Iceland’s Former Minister Of The Interior Claims The FBI Tried To Frame Julian Assange".
"Syrian girl posting #Aleppo diary is real, investigator concludes". The 'evidence' comes, in what must be some kind of sick meta-joke, from Bellingcat! The CIA lifts itself up by its own suspenders.
"Scoundrel Time: Lessons in Patriotism and Journalism From a Master".
"Large Number of Turkish, Saudi (Israeli) Officers Deployed in Syria’s Aleppo City". Might just be Syrian government propaganda but it makes perfect sense that the state sponsors of terror would be watching their operation. Added: "BREAKING: At Least 14 US Coalition Military Officers Captured by Syrian Special Forces in East Aleppo Bunker".
"Aleppo Starts Uncovering Washington’s Evil Designs". I wonder if the CIA has a clean-up crew working furiously in Aleppo to destroy evidence.
"Leftists and Jihadis". If you read Pulse, and I don't recommend you do, you'll see that the Wahabbists are furious that the left doesn't buy their lies.
"Eva Bartlett on Syria: Responding to Buzzfeed". There are still real journalists, but you can be sure they don't work for something as meaningfully named as Buzzfeed.
"US Backed Terrorists in Aleppo Consumed Food Delivered From Abroad While Civilians Starved". This kind of thing always happens.
"Top Ten Western Lies About Liberation of Aleppo". "“Aleppo Atrocities” – The Western Mainstream Media’s Latest Psy-Op". "Celebrating the Liberation of Aleppo, Western Media Paints a Grim Picture without Mentioning that East Aleppo has Been Occupied by Al Qaeda For More than Four Years".
"The liberal hue and cry over the appointment of David Friedman as Trump's ambassador to Israel". Trump is unmasking the two-faced American policy on Israel, which has always been vehemently pro-settlements.
"Trump has a ‘magic moment’ in June 2017 to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, Israel lobbyist tells NY synagogue".
"Adelson and Saban were kingmakers, now they’re beggars". Grossly smashing international law is bad enough, but the 'donors' are going to need a massive false flag attack to start another War For The Jews.
"Bipartisan War". The usual background preparation for Wars For The Jews.
"PM asks Kazakhstan to back Israeli bid for Security Council seat".
"You Opened the Box…" (the 'donors' are turning the United States into a banana republic):
"Democrats, Republicans, and players such as the CIA will have four years to consider how this process of delegitimizing a President Elect could work more effectively next time. The people who support extra-Constitutional steps now because of Donald Trump will find those same step will be available in later elections, to use against a candidate they favor. Voting can potentially become only a preliminary gesture, with real struggle only starting after the election itself."
"Obama, The Divider in Chief, Invokes Reagan ‘Rolling Over in His Grave’ in Attempt to Shame Republicans into Hating Putin". Sad stuff from a guy counting the days until he can get his hands on those shekels!
"Putin’s Revenge". Part of the bizarre genre of American writing which is utterly oblivious to what the United States is actually doing. Note that the weirdly late Ziowahabbican propaganda on Aleppo blames the Syrian army and Russia for doing things actually done by the human organ eaters.
"A 20-year toll: 368 gymnasts allege sexual exploitation". Look over there, Russian athletes are doping!
"The humane and sensitive Western correspondents in Beirut won't be tweeting this". Also, have you read any news about the humane battle in Mosul recently? Or: "Journalist Iona Craig: The U.S. Could Stop Refueling Saudis & End Devastating War in Yemen Tomorrow".
"Assad is thriving on the west’s hesitation. The time for standing back is over". I had to laugh while reading this extraordinarily late call for boots on the ground. For all the riyals spent, the Saudis are not getting good value!
"German spies 'can't be trusted': Relations between the UK and Berlin intelligence chiefs hit after comments by London".
"Time is ripe for India-Iran-Russia energy tie-up".
"Samantha Bee Doesn’t Understand the Left’s Objection to Identity Politics" (my emphasis in red):
"Perhaps the biggest mistake Bee makes its equating the civil rights movement and identity politics. The civil rights movement was about a set of political objectives while identity politics is a set of tactics. Political movements can push for civil rights without framing their message in terms of identity politics, and identity politics can be used to pursue many different objectives aside from civil rights.
Identity politics talks about civil rights in terms of what specific groups of people are due, and it places those groups in opposition to one another in a zero-sum game. In identity politics we divide races, genders, religions, or ethnicities up into different groups. Some of these groups are identified as “oppressing” and others are identified as “the oppressed”. The oppressing groups are accused of enjoying privileges which they must give up to the oppressed. This means there is must be some fundamental transfer of status, wealth, or opportunity from privileged groups to oppressed groups. Consequently, people who are part of privileged groups are held in suspicion–these people are accused of defending and reproducing the systems of oppression which benefit them. When they express views that we don’t like, we can cast aspersions on those views by pointing out that they come from a member of a privileged group which has some stake in maintaining oppression. Those who participate in systems of oppression are said to be aggressive and practitioners of identity politics tend to morally condemn them, often by blaming and shaming them for their views and group identity.
It’s entirely possible to attempt to demand civil rights through identity politics. We can make these distinctions between oppressor and oppressed and use this as a basis to demand concessions from privileged groups. But this is not the only way to pursue a civil rights agenda.
We used to talk about civil rights in an entirely different way, from the perspective of citizenship. When we criticized racism, we criticized it on the grounds that it denied citizens rights and opportunities to which they ought to be entitled as citizens. Importantly, when we talked about what people are due as citizens, this cut across sub-national group identities. If all citizens are entitled to the vote, or to healthcare, or to education, or to some minimal living standard, we are committed to defending the rights and opportunities of everyone in our society regardless of what other groups they might identify with. Citizenship transcends narrow sectional identities.
When the left opposes identity politics, it does so not because it doesn’t care about civil rights, but because it wants to pursue those rights by appealing to what we are all owed as citizens rather than to what some groups are owed because of oppressed status. The language of citizenship transforms civil rights from a zero sum game into a positive sum game, in which we are expanding the benefits of citizenship for all of our people rather than transferring benefits from some privileged group to some oppressed group. This makes it easier to create broad, solidaristic coalitions in which civil rights are pursued concurrently with other kinds of benefits for groups identity politics regards as privileged. This spirit is embodied in the left wing politics of the 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s, in which civil rights were pursued alongside workers’ rights and the war on poverty. Much was accomplished during that period for all of our citizens, though there is still much left to do. It’s a lot easier to get white guys to buy-in when we encourage them to think of themselves as fellow citizens rather than as members of a privileged identity group which is being challenged, especially when we ensure that they benefit from our policies alongside everyone else.
In contrast, when the right opposes identity politics it is often practicing it, albeit in a different way. Many on the right believe that the civil rights movement largely eliminated group oppression, and they think the contemporary civil rights movement is engaged in what they call “reverse racism”, seeking to oppress and expropriate formerly privileged groups to reverse the relationship of privilege and oppression that has prevailed historically. Bee confuses this right wing politics, which denies the legitimacy of the grievances of disadvantaged groups, with the left wing effort to ground civil rights in a broader narrative of what it means to be a citizen.
The sad thing today is that identity politics has become so ubiquitous as a way of thinking about and pursuing social justice that it now appears many people, including Bee, are no longer capable of conceptualizing alternative frameworks for understanding political groupings."
"More Detroit Voting "Irregularities": 95 Poll Books "Missing" For Days; 5 Still Nowhere To Be Found". We stopped hearing about the recount when it started to uncover the wrong kind of fraud.
"On Dog Whistling".
"Ilhan Omar’s Hate Crime".
"Why the Nazis studied American race laws for inspiration". There is more than a bit of irony in the current obsession of the mainstream media with neo-Nazis in the alt-right.
A foreign substance is introduced into our preciou...
Non-straitjacket approach
Fairly sunny day
Swill
Taxing stupidity
Meaningless
Dirtbags with dirtboxes
Half-full
A lot of heat
I'd be looking at 'donor' motivations
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2680
|
__label__wiki
| 0.975452
| 0.975452
|
Facebook's worst privacy scandals and data disasters
An abuse of power?
It seems like every few weeks Facebook comes under fire for yet another privacy or data-related scandal. As one of the world's most popular social networks, the company is held to a high standard by regulators worldwide and is expected to maintain adequate privacy protections and to not abuse the power it holds.
Whether or not Facebook does, however, is up to both regulators and users to decide.
Published: February 1, 2019 -- 11:03 GMT (03:03 PST)
Perhaps the most well-known example of a failure in Facebook's privacy and data management is the 2018 Cambridge Analytica scandal.
Facebook permitted the "unfair" sharing of user data with developers without "clear and informed consent," regulators say. Up to 87 million users in the UK, US, and beyond are believed to have been affected.
User data, including names, liked content, and locations, may have been used to sway voters in the leadup to the US presidential elections. Russian interference is suspected.
The abuse came from a personality profiling app which not only harvested information belonging to users but also their contacts.
The social network was fined by the UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was hauled in front of US Congress to explain the firm's actions.
See also: Facebook must pay UK's ICO £500,000 over Cambridge Analytica scandal | Facebook appeals £500,000 penalty over Cambridge Analytica scandal | Trump-linked data firm Cambridge Analytica harvested data on 50 million Facebook profiles to help target voters | Data breach exposes Cambridge Analytica's data mining tools
UK regulators respond to Zuckerberg's dismissal
Following the public disclosure of the privacy issue, the UK also demanded Zuckerberg's presence in front of parliament. This request was continually ignored.
When an executive from another company with access to confidential documents and internal communications related to the scandal visited London, the UK exercised parliamentary powers to force him to hand them over. The same documents were kept under seal in the US but the UK held the right to publish them at whim.
Read on: UK gov't seizes documents Facebook wanted to keep private in Cambridge Analytica battle
Midterm meddling
In July 2018, Facebook revealed that threat actors were once again abusing the platform for political purposes; in particular, the US midterm elections.
Read on: Facebook reveals new covert efforts to sway 2018 midterm elections
A network breach
Facebook's 2018 became worse in September when the company admitted to the existence of a network breach that affected almost 30 million user accounts. Facebook said attackers were able to exploit a vulnerability in the platform to steal access tokens.
In some cases, data including names, contact details, current city, dates of birth, relationship status, education, and work information was stolen.
See also: Facebook discloses network breach affecting 50 million user accounts | Facebook downgrades breach count from 50 million to 30 million users
Shady behavior?
In November 2018, the news broke that Facebook had hired Definers, a PR firm specializing in opposition research.
Reports suggested that the company was tasked with gathering intelligence on public figures critical of the company, such as George Soros, who has deemed the social network a "menace to society."
Facebook and Definers denied any wrongdoing.
Photos for all
A bug in Facebook was revealed in December which may have exposed the private photos of up to 6.8 million users. It is believed that roughly 1,500 apps built by 876 developers could have accessed such content.
The vulnerability was present in backend code between September 13 to September 25, 2018.
Read on: Facebook bug exposed private photos of 6.8 million users
In December, Facebook was forced to defend its data-sharing practices in relation to what is shared with other companies, including "special arrangements" with firms including Microsoft, Netflix, and Spotify.
While Facebook said the deals -- agreed upon as far back as 2010 and potentially involving as many as 150 companies -- were made for the benefit of user experience, the APIs for these features were left in place long after sharing programs were shut down. Facebook said that the issue was being investigated.
See also: Facebook defends giving tech giants access to extensive user data
Seized documents reveal all
The cache of documents seized by UK officials earlier in the year resurfaced in December -- which was certainly a busy month in Facebook's PR department -- and emails revealed that Facebook executives had discussed selling user data to major spenders.
It was also revealed that Facebook had been recording call and text logs from Android phones in 2015, and user data scraped by free VPN provider Onavo, acquired by Facebook in 2014, had been used to determine future business deals.
The data begins to merge
January has not been quiet for Facebook, either.
After announcing plans to merge WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook Messenger, EU regulators raised questions over whether or not the company would be capable of complying with the EU's GDPR regulations.
The 10 year challenge
Given Facebook's track record of data-slurping practices, when the "10- year challenge" meme began making the rounds, questions were asked concerning the true nature of the trend.
Users were asked to post images of themselves ten years' apart and critics suggested that this was a way for the social network to train its image recognition algorithms.
It was suggested that perhaps Facebook was the creator of the challenge in the first place, which also spread across Twitter and Instagram. Facebook has denied these claims.
$20 for all of your mobile data
To wrap up the month with a bang, a marketing research project conducted by Facebook which offered users between the ages of 13 and 35 money in return for downloading an app granted unfettered access to their data was revealed.
Offered to iOS and Android users, the app was downloaded outside of the official Apple and Google stores. Apple concluded that the iOS version of the app abused developer rules and revoked Facebook's enterprise developer program certificate.
Access was restored by Apple a day later, which also punished Google in the same way for overstepping app privacy boundaries.
Read on: Facebook slammed over covert app that pays teenagers for data | Apple pulls the plug on Facebook's internal iOS apps
Time and time again, Facebook has been slammed for privacy practices and data handling. Here are some of the most prominent, recent scandals of note.
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2681
|
__label__cc
| 0.511785
| 0.488215
|
1989 after 1989
Rethinking the Fall of State Socialism in Global Perspective
Professor James Mark
Dr Raluca Grosescu
Dr Nelly Bekus
Dr Ned Richardson-Little
Dr Ljubica Spaskovska
Dr Bogdan Iacob
Anna Calori
Revolution From Within
Global Neoliberalisms
State Socialism, Heritage Experts and Internationalism
The Other Globalisers
State Socialism, Legal Experts and ICL and IHL
(Re)Thinking Yugoslav Internationalism
Human Rights after 1945
Entangled Transitions
Experts, Globalisation and Transformation in Late and Post-Socialism
Global Socialism and Post Socialism Workshop
Global Socialism Workshop Report
International Conference: Beyond 1989: Childhood and Youth in Times of Political Transformation in the 20th Century
Beyond 1989: Childhood and Youth in Times of Political Transformation in the 20th Century Institute of Advanced Studies at the...
Revolution From Within: Experts, Managers and Technocrats in the Long Transformation of 1989
The programme for our collaborative conference with Imre Kertész Kolleg Jena is now available. The conference will form Imre Kertész Kolleg...
Registration Open for our British Academy Conference: Global Neoliberalism, 7-8 June 2018
Global Neoliberalism: Lost and Found in Translation British Academy Conference 7-8 June 2018 The University of Exeter and 1989 after...
Secret Agents and the Memory of Everyday Collaboration in Communist Eastern Europe
Professor James Mark’s co-edited volume Secret Agents and the Memory of Everyday Collaboration in Communist Eastern Europe is now available through...
The Future of the Past: Why the End of Yugoslavia is Still Important
By Ljubica Spaskovska A new socialist model is emerging in the western Balkans. Can its political vocabulary transcend the ethno-national dividing...
Writing Human Rights into the History of State Socialism
By Ned Richardson-Little The collapse of the Communist Bloc in 1989-1991 is viewed as one of the great triumphs of...
Home > Blog > 1989 after 1989
Category: 1989 after 1989
Join us for our next conference on State Socialism, Heritage Experts and Internationalism in Heritage Protection after 1945
Posted on 26 April, 2017 in1989 after 1989 Area Studies Cold War Communism Heritage Heritage Experts Internationalism Post Socialism Post-Soviet Cities Post-Soviet Countries Socialism
Join us in Exeter for our conference exploring the rising contributions of socialist and non-aligned actors to the development of heritage at both domestic and international levels.
Conference dates: 21-22 November 2017
Conference location: The University of Exeter
Call for Papers deadline: 20 June 2017
Histories of heritage usually perceive their object of study as a product of western modernity, and exclude the socialist world. Yet, understood as a cultural practice and an instrument of cultural power, and as a “right and a resource”, heritage has played important roles in managing the past and present in many societies and systems. In the postwar period, preservation became a key element of culture in socialist and non-aligned states from China, the Soviet Union, and the Eastern Bloc to Asia, Latin America and Africa. Attention paid to the peoples’ traditions and heritage became a way to manifest the superiority and historical necessity of socialist development. However, the contribution of socialist states and experts to the development of the idea of heritage is still to be fully excavated.
The conference aims to understand the rising contributions of socialist and non-aligned actors to the development of heritage at both domestic and international levels. This phenomenon was in part the result of country-specific factors – such as a reaction to rapid industrial development; the destruction of both the Second World War or wars of national liberation; and the necessity to (re)-invent national traditions on socialist terms. But it was also due the growth of a broader international consensus on international heritage protection policies – in which socialist and non-aligned states and their experts played an important role. To this end, the conference will also address the relationship between socialist conceptions of heritage and those found in the capitalist world: to what extent can we discern the convergence of Eastern and Western dynamics of heritage discourses and practices over the second half of the twentieth century? To what degree did heritage professionals from socialist states play a role in the formation of the transnational and transcultural heritage expertise? To what extent did heritage still play a role in Cold War competition? Socialist states claimed that their respect for progressive traditions and material culture distinguished their superior methods of development from that of the capitalist world. Non-Aligned countries often attempted to blend aspects of socialist and capitalist logics of cultural heritage politics.
Conference themes to be addressed in papers include (but are not limited to):
The rise of interest in, and conceptualisation of, heritage under socialist and non-aligned states;
the transnational and transcultural circulation of ideas about heritage both within an expanding world of socialist states and across Cold War ideological divides;
the role of socialist experts in international debates over heritage;
the role of individual actors as cultural brokers within the cultural heritage field;
the role of international organisations, such as UNESCO, ICOMOS, ICCROM, UIA and others in providing a platform for professional communication and knowledge exchange involving the socialist world;
the role of the Cold War in the development of heritage;
the role of national traditions, experience and transnational cooperation across the Cold War divide in the creation of concepts and practices of socialist heritage;
the legacies of the work of socialist states and experts in contemporary heritage practices.
Abstracts of 300-500 words, together with an accompanying short CV should be submitted to Natalie Taylor (N.H.Taylor@exeter.ac.uk) by June 20, 2017.
The selected participants will be notified by July 20, 2017.
Funding opportunities for travel and accommodation are available, but we ask that potential contributors also explore funding opportunities at their home institutions.
To download a copy of the Call for Papers and for further information about the conference go to our State Socialism, Heritage Experts and Internationalism conference page
It is kindly supported by Exeter University’s Leverhulme Trust-funded project 1989 after 1989: Rethinking the Fall of State Socialism in Global Perspective.
Conference conveners:
Prof. James Mark and Dr. Nelly Bekus, University of Exeter, Leverhulme Trust-funded project 1989 after 1989: Rethinking the Fall of State Socialism in Global Perspective
Dr. Michael Falser, Cluster of Excellence Asia and Europe in a Global Context, Heidelberg University
Tags:cold war, heritage, heritage experts, heritage protection, ICCROM, ICOMOS, internationalism, national liberation, Non-Aligned Movement, post Cold War, post-war, second world war, socialist states, UIA, UNESCO
Join us for our conference on the “Other Globalisers”, Exeter 6-7 July 2017
Posted on 23 February, 2017 in1989 after 1989 East Asia Eastern Europe Economy Globalisation Latin America Neoliberalism Post Socialism Rethinking 1989 Socialism South Africa Soviet Union
The Other Globalisers: How the Socialist and the Non-Aligned World Shaped the Rise of Post-War Economic Globalisation
Location: Exeter University, UK
Date: 6-7 July 2017
Abstract Deadline: 18 March 2017
Papers are now invited for our exciting conference addressing how the socialist and non-aligned world shaped the rise of post-war economic globalisation. This conference is the second in a series of events exploring how processes and practices that emerged from the socialist world shaped the re-globalised world of our times.
CONFERENCE SYNOPSIS
In the wake of the Second World War, the world economy began to ‘reglobalise’ – following the disintegrative processes of the interwar period. This story has most often been told as the final triumph of a neoliberal international order led by the West. Recent research, however, suggests that the creation of our modern interconnected world was not driven solely by the forces of Western capitalism, nor was it the only model of global economic interdependence that arose in the second half of the twentieth century. This conference aims to rethink the histories of postwar globalisation by focusing on the socialist and non-aligned world, whose roles in the rise of an economically interconnected world have received substantially less attention.
This conference aspires to address a wide variety of processes, practices and projects – such as efforts to create alternative systems of international trade, new business practices, through to theoretical conceptualisations of economic interconnectedness – and examine a broad range of actors, such as e.g. governments, experts, international institutions, and business ventures. It will also explore whether such initiatives were alternative at all: as recent research has suggested, actors from these worlds could be contributors to the emerging neoliberal consensus, as well as to other forms of regional economy and global trade that survive to this day. We also hope to encourage an interdisciplinary dialogue between scholars using different approaches to global interconnectedness, and/or working on a variety of regions (e.g. Latin America, Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union).
Abstracts of 300-500 words, together with an accompanying short CV should be submitted to Natalie Taylor (N.H.Taylor@exeter.ac.uk) by 18 March 2017.
The selected participants will be notified by the end of March 2017.
This event is kindly supported by Exeter University’s Leverhulme Trust-funded project 1989 after 1989: Rethinking the Fall of State Socialism in Global Perspective.
The full call for papers is available on our conference page
→ Download the Call for Papers The Other Globalisers
Tags:anti-imperialist, arms sales, businesses, counterfeiting, decolonisation, drug trafficking, economy, experts, global trade, globalisation, government, international institutions, International Monetary Fund, neoliberal, New International Economic Order, Non-Aligned Movement, oil, post Cold War, post-war, second world war, socialism, socialist globalisation, trade, United Nations, western capitalism, World Bank, world economy
State Socialism & International Criminal & Humanitarian Law after 1945 Conference Programme
Posted on 15 November, 2016 in1989 after 1989 Eastern Europe International Criminal Law International Humanitarian Law Socialism South Africa Transitional justice
State Socialism, Legal Experts and the Genesis of International Criminal and Humanitarian Law after 1945
Conference Venue:
Humboldt University of Berlin
Room 2249a
The programme for our international collaborative conference with the Leipzig Centre for the History and Culture of East-Central Europe (GWZO), and the Humboldt University of Berlin is now available. It will take place on the 24-26 November, 2016 at Unter den Linden 6, Room 2249a, Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany.
It brings together 3 research projects – 1989 after 1989, Processes of Juridification in International Relations since 1850 based at Leipzig and Jurists in International Politics Practice and Practitioners of International Law in the 19th and 20th Century based in Berlin.
In the history of international law, the socialist bloc has been generally relegated to the role of roadblock in fulfilling the ideals of Western liberalism. This conference seeks to question established narratives that have ignored or downplayed the role of state-socialist governments and legal experts in shaping the evolution of international criminal and humanitarian law after the end of the Second World War. With a geographic scope covering the Soviet Union, the Eastern Bloc, Africa, and China, the conference explores the socialist world’s doctrines and international engagements concerning the codification of different international crimes (including crimes against peace, the crimes of aggression, Apartheid, terrorism, slavery, narcotics trafficking and more), approaches to humanitarian intervention, and the relationship between state sovereignty and international law. The conference advances the idea that rather than simply block progress, socialist initiatives played a vital role in the production of norms and ideas that continue to be relevant for the current international criminal and humanitarian legal system.
The conference commences at 14:00 on the 24 November with a welcome address and introduction from the conference organisers – Marcus Payk, Humboldt University of Berlin; Dietmar Mueller and Stefan Troebst, GWZO Leipzig; Raluca Grosescu, University of Exeter and Ned Richardson-Little, University of Exeter. Papers will then be presented that deal with International Criminal Law and International Humanitarian Law in socialist legal doctrines.
Panels on the following day will include papers on state socialist contributions to and critiques of the Geneva Conventions; decolonisation, gender, and International Humanitarian Law, state socialist contributions to International Criminal Law; and Transnational Criminality. The final day will debate International Criminal Law in state socialist national settings and will include case studies from China and Hungary.
→ Conference Programme
To register your interest in attending this conference please contact Raluca Grosescu and Dietmar Mueller
More information on the conference can be found on our conference pages.
Tags:africa, Apartheid, China, eastern bloc, international law, legal system, Liberalism, narcotics, slavery, socialist bloc, Soviet Union, State Socialism, state sovereignty, terrorism, trafficking
(Re)Thinking Yugoslav Internationalism Conference Programme now available
Posted on 26 September, 2016 in1989 after 1989 Cold War Eastern Europe End of Yugoslavia Globalisation Post Socialism Socialism
(Re)Thinking Yugoslav Internationalism – Cold War Entanglements and their Legacies
Meerscheinschlössl / Festsaal
Mozartgasse 3
** Please be aware that the conference venue has recently changed and will no longer be at Merangasse 70, Universitatszentrum. **
→ Google Map of Meerscheinschlössl
The conference programme is now available for our collaborative conference taking place this Thursday to Saturday in Graz, Austria.
It will open at 4pm on the 29th September with a welcome address from Professor Florian Bieber, University of Graz, followed by a Keynote speech from Kristen Ghodsee of Bowdoin, USA, entitled Women in Red: East European Mass Women’s Organizations and International Feminism during the Cold War.
Panels on Friday 30th will include papers on the theory and practice of Non-Alignment and Yugoslav foreign policy as well as elite socialisation and Global Actors. The day will conclude with a Keynote speech from 1989 after 1989’s Professor James Mark.
The final day of the conference will feature a witness panel discussion with Budimir Loncar – the last Yugoslav Minister of Foreign Affairs; as well as papers on race, anti-Colonialism and Yugoslavia in post-Colonial Africa; economics, self-management and visions of non-capitalist development; the United Nations, international law, gender and development; and tourism, architecture and cultural diplomacy.
More information on the conference can be found on our conference page and on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/events/1088023487942103/
Join us for our (Re)Thinking Yugoslav Internationalism Conference in Graz, 29 September – 1 October
Posted on 20 September, 2016 in1989 after 1989 End of Yugoslavia Globalisation Rethinking 1989 Socialism
Coinciding with the 55th anniversary of the Belgrade summit and the foundation of the Non-Aligned Movement, this conference will address a range of questions relating to the wealth of diplomatic, economic, intellectual and cultural encounters and exchange between 1945 – 1990, both within the Non-Aligned Movement, across the socialist world and with the developed countries. It will map the history of Yugoslavia’s global engagements not only as a subject associated with political and diplomatic
history, but also as a broader societal and cultural project.
This is a collaborative conference between ourselves and the Centre of Southeast European Studies at the University of Graz.
→University of Graz campus map
→Conference Poster
29 September 16:00 – 19:00 1 October
Professor Kristen Ghodsee
Bowdoin University, USA
University of Exeter & 1989 after 1989, UK
Tags:Belgrade Summit, Non-Aligned Movement, post socialism, socialist world, Yugoslavia
Human Rights after 1945 Conference Report Published
Posted on 29 June, 2016 in1989 after 1989 Eastern Europe Globalisation Human Rights Post Socialism Rethinking 1989 Socialism
The conference Human Rights after 1945 in the Socialist and Post-Socialist World took place on the 3 – 5 March 2016 at the German Historical Institute, Warsaw. It was a collaborative conference between 1989 after 1989; the German Historical Institute Warsaw; Georg-August University of Göttingen and the London School of Economics. The aim of the conference was to highlight the role and historical agency of the socialist world in the history of human rights.
The conference report is now available on our conference pages and on Geschichte Transnational. It summarises papers presented across 6 panels covering topics such as state socialism, human rights and globalisation; how human rights is defined internationally; state socialist conceptualisation of rights and human rights; socialist foreign policy; transnational movements and flows; and political dissent in relation to the global history of human rights.
The importance of analyzing vernacular human rights, i.e. analyzing when and how people used human rights languages [5], was one of the leitmotifs of the conference. The issue of teleology and normativity in historical human rights research was another major topic. Consequently, many papers presented stories of failures that contradict positivist narratives and challenge policy-orientated narratives of democratic transition. Parallel to transnational and international human rights history, the role of the state in human rights history was another key issue of the conference. Bringing the state back in, human rights can also be seen as an element of legal history – a promising approach embedding the highly normative notion of human rights in a wider legal history context. This conference brought together scholars working on various regions and actors in a truly fruitful manner. It linked different approaches and perspectives on the history of human rights in a way that contributed to an urgently needed, more complex understanding of the socialist world’s role in human rights history.
Read the full conference report.
Tags:Amnesty International, anti-Apartheid, Bulgaria, China, cold war, communism, GDR, Human Rights, Poland, political dissent, post socialism, socialist human rights, socialist world, Soviet Union, Ukraine, United Nations, Yugoslavia
CFP: State Socialism, Legal Experts & the Genesis of International Criminal & Humanitarian Law after 1945
Posted on 3 May, 2016 in1989 1989 after 1989 Cold War Communism East Asia Eastern Europe Human Rights International Criminal Law International Humanitarian Law Latin America Post Socialism Socialism Socialist Elites South Africa
The University of Exeter, the Leipzig Centre for the History and Culture of East-Central Europe (GWZO), and the Humboldt University of Berlin
In the history of international law, the socialist bloc has been generally relegated to the role of roadblock to the fulfillment of the ideals of Western liberalism. Scholars of international criminal law (ICL) and international humanitarian law (IHL) have often dismissed the contributions of socialist legal initiatives as little more than Cold War propaganda and thus irrelevant to understanding the historical evolution of judicial norms and the modern international system. The establishment of different international tribunals since the collapse of the Soviet Union has only reinforced the notion that the socialist world was little more than an impediment to progress. Nevertheless, the American-led global war on terror has done much to call into question Western commitment to the laws of war.
This conference seeks to explore the role of state-socialist intellectuals, experts and governments in shaping the evolution of ICL and IHL since the end of the Second World War. Actors from Eastern Europe, the USSR, and East Asian and African socialist states actively participated in international debates regarding international legal norms, the meaning of state sovereignty, and in the negotiation of all major ICL and IHL conventions after 1945. In various cases the socialist bloc was often more enthusiastic, and timely, in supporting and ratifying international legal agreements than Western governments, even if these initiatives were inseparable from political agendas. Although they systematically opposed the creation of international tribunals, experts from socialist countries led the way in many areas, such as the codification of crimes against peace and Apartheid or the elimination of statutory limitations for major ICL offences. The socialist world participated also in debates over the international legal status of drug conflicts and revolutionary groups funded by narcotics trafficking. Deliberations on the criminalization of terrorism and the regulation of armed conflicts were closely linked to the politics of “wars of liberation” by socialist forces in Africa, South-East Asia, and Latin America. Socialist legal experts were active participants in transnational epistemic communities and engaged in broader global projects, initiatives, and mobilizations across the Cold War divide.
We encourage proposals on the following topics, and from scholars working on socialist regimes, experts and movements across the world. You are welcome to submit proposals on other themes related to this topic.
The contributions of the socialist countries and experts to debates on the general principles of ICL and IHL (the relationship between municipal and international law; the sources of ICL; the relationship between state sovereignty, ICL and IHL etc.).
Socialist challenges to western liberal humanitarian doctrines and conventions (i.e. Peace proposals as alternative to new Geneva conventions, rejection of equality of nations before the law in cases of aggressive war, etc.)
The role of socialist elites, legal experts, and courts in the development of specific fields of international crimes such as war crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity, and to acts of transnational criminality, such as terrorism, illicit drug trafficking, the arms trade, smuggling of nuclear materials, and trafficking in persons and slavery. The evolution of ICL and IHL discourse, ideas, and initiatives in state-socialist countries.
The role of the Red Cross and other humanitarian NGOs in the socialist world (i.e. North Vietnamese rejection of ICRC protection for US POWs, the creation of local Red Cross organizations in the Eastern Bloc, etc.)
Assessments of the continuing legacies and contributions of state socialist traditions of engagement with ICL and IHL on justice processes after 1989/91.
Abstracts of 300-500 words, together with an accompanying short CV should be submitted to Natalie Taylor (N.H.Taylor@exeter.ac.uk) by 15th June 2016.
The selected participants will be notified by 1st July 2016. They are then expected to submit their papers by 1st November 2016.
The conference is organized by the University of Exeter, the Leipzig Centre for the History and Culture of East-Central Europe (GWZO), and the Humboldt University of Berlin.
This event is kindly supported by Exeter University’s Leverhulme Trust-funded project 1989 after 1989: Rethinking the Fall of State Socialism in Global Perspective, and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).
Organizers: Raluca Grosescu (Exeter), Dietmar Müller (Leipzig), Marcus Payk (Berlin), Ned Richardson-Little (Exeter), Stefan Troebst (Leipzig), and Natalie Taylor (Exeter).
Tags:africa, cold war, criminal justice, experts, international law, legal experts, municipal law, Red Cross, socialist elites, state sovereignty, transitional criminal justice, USSR, western liberal humanitarian doctrines
Human Rights after 1945 in the Socialist and Post-Socialist World Conference Programme
Posted on 29 February, 2016 in1989 1989 after 1989 Cold War Globalisation Human Rights Socialism
German Historical Institute Warsaw
Conference Room, 3rd Floor
1989 after 1989: Rethinking the Fall of State Socialism in Global Perspective
Georg-August University of Göttingen
As both human rights and globalization have emerged as dynamic fields of historical and sociological research, the “socialist world” is relegated to a supporting role in the triumph of Western capitalism and liberal democracy. The aim of this conference is to question established narratives that have ignored or downplayed the role of socialist ideas, practice, and experts—be they state officials, loyal intellectuals or dissident activists — in the development of international human rights ideas, discourses, and systems in the post-war era. With a geographic scope that covers the Soviet Union, the Eastern Bloc, Yugoslavia and China, we hope to show that the socialist world did not just react passively to Western human rights politics, but was a vital participant in the production of global human rights with legacies that continued past the revolutions of 1989. By examining the socialist contribution to the evolution of human rights, we hope to contribute to revising standard narratives of globalization that focus exclusively on the perceived winners of these processes.
Welcoming Address
Ruth LEISEROWITZ (German Historical Institute Warsaw)
Introductory Panel: State Socialism, Human Rights and Globalization: In Search of a New Narrative
Hella DIETZ (Georg-August University of Göttingen)
Ned RICHARDSON-LITTLE (University of Exeter)
Robert BRIER (London School of Economics)
Panel 1: Defining Human Rights Internationally
Steven JENSEN (Danish Institute for Human Rights)
Defining the Social in the Global: Social Rights, UN Diplomacy and the Emergence of International Non-Discrimination Norms and Politics, 1950-1960
Alexander OSIPOV (European Centre for Minority Issues)
The Soviet Union’s Involvement in the Establishment of the European Minority Rights Regime
Discussant: Arnd BAUERKÄMPER (Free University Berlin)
19:00 Conference Dinner
Panel 2: State-Socialist Conceptions of Rights and Human Rights
Jennifer ALTEHENGER (King’s College London)
Rights, Not Human Rights: Communist China’s National Constitution Discussion, 1954
Michal KOPEČEK (Institute for Contemporary History, Prague and Charles University, Prague)
Socialist Conceptions of Human Rights and its Dissident Critique
Todor HRISTOV (University of Sofia)
Rights to Weapons: Human Rights as a Resource in Workplace Conflicts in Late Socialist Bulgaria
Discussant: Paul BETTS (Oxford University)
Panel 3: Tolerance, Difference, and Rights under Socialism
Ivan SABLIN (University of Heidelberg)
Illusive Tolerance: Buddhism in the Late Soviet State
Zhuoyi WEN (Hong Kong Institute of Education)
Contesting Cultural Rights in Post-socialist China
Discussant: tba
Panel 4: Human Rights as Socialist Foreign Policy
Sebastian GEHRIG (Oxford University)
The Fifth Column of the Third World? The East German Quest for International Recognition through UN Rights Discourses
Jens BOYSEN (German Historical Institute Warsaw)
Polish Engagement in the United Nations as a Tool for Justifying Communist Rule in Poland and Gaining Leeway in the Warsaw Pact
Discussant: Robert BRIER
(London School of Economics)
Panel 5: Transnational Movements and Flows
Christie MIEDEMA (University of Amsterdam)
Negotiating Space for International Human Rights Activism: Amnesty International in Eastern Europe before 1989
Rósa MAGNÚSDÓTTIR (University of Aarhus)
Soviet-American Intermarriage: Transnational Love and the Cold War
Discussant: James MARK (University of Exeter)
19:00 Dinner for the conference participants
Panel 6: Dissent and Human Rights
Simone BELLEZZA (University of Eastern Piedmont)
The Right to Be Different: Ukrainian Dissent and the Struggle Against a Global Consumerist Cultural Standardization
Hermann AUBIÉ (University of Turku)
Between Loyalty and Dissent: Revisiting the History of Human Rights in China Through the Discourse of Chinese Intellectuals and Dissidents
Zsófi a LÓRÁND (European University Institute, Florence)
Feminist Dissent, Activism for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and the Human Rights Discourse in Yugoslavia in the 1970s-1980s
Discussant: Celia DONERT (University of Liverpool)
Concluding Panel: The Place of State Socialist Societies in the Global History of Human Rights
Paul BETTS (Oxford University)
James MARK (University of Exeter)
Celia DONERT (University of Liverpool)
Tags:capitalism, China, democracy, eastern bloc, experts, globalisation, Human Rights, politics, socialism, socialist world, Soviet Union, Yugoslavia
Call for Papers: (Re)Thinking Yugoslav Internationalism – Cold War Global Entanglements and their Legacies
Posted on 14 December, 2015 in1989 after 1989 Cold War End of Yugoslavia Globalisation Rethinking 1989 Socialism
Centre for Southeast European Studies, University of Graz and the University of Exeter
Call for Papers Deadline: 28 February 2016
(Re)Thinking Yugoslav Internationalism – Cold War Global Entanglements and their Legacies
For more than forty years, Yugoslavia was one of the most internationalist and outward looking of all socialist countries in Europe, playing leading roles in various trans-national initiatives – principally as central participant within the Non-Aligned Movement – that sought to remake existing geopolitical hierarchies and rethink international relations. Both moral and pragmatic motives often overlapped in its efforts to enhance cooperation between developing nations, propagate peaceful coexistence in a divided world and pioneer a specific non-orthodox form of socialism.
Although the disintegration of socialist Yugoslavia has received extensive treatment across a range of disciplines, the end of Yugoslavia’s global role and the impacts this had both at home and abroad, have received little attention. Coinciding with the 55th anniversary of the Belgrade summit and the foundation of the Non-Aligned Movement, this conference seeks to open up a range of questions relating to the wealth of diplomatic, economic, intellectual and cultural encounters and exchange between 1945 – 1990, both within the Non-Aligned Movement, across the socialist world and with the developed countries. It would map the history of Yugoslavia’s global engagements not only as a subject associated with political/diplomatic history, but also as a broader societal and cultural project. Important witnesses involved in those exchanges and alliances will also be invited to share their experiences.
We welcome papers from different disciplines and from diverse perspectives, whether dealing with aspects of Cold War international cooperation, development, Yugoslavia’s global role, or the ‘global’ Cold War from the perspective of the developing world and the ‘global South’. We particularly encourage proposals which would reflect on:
the roots of Yugoslav internationalism and how it was understood in cultural/economic/social as well as political/diplomatic terms;
the contours of Yugoslav diplomacy and the ways Yugoslav elites conceptualised their global role;
the role of Yugoslavia in the United Nations, its agencies and other international organisations as the fora for global encounters and in particular the attempts at tackling global inequality and alternative development;
the relationship between Yugoslavia, the different liberation movements and the newly emerging independent nations in the ‘global South’ (including cultural diplomacy, labour migration, individual travel);
the realities and challenges of foreign trade, investment construction and economic cooperation;
the ways international engagements reshaped aspects of political, economic or cultural life back in Yugoslavia;
the role and significance of the Non-Aligned Movement during the Cold War and today;
the international impact of the end of Yugoslavia and the collapse of her global role;
the legacies and new understandings of Yugoslavia’s global role.
Abstracts of 300-500 words, together with an accompanying short biographical note should be submitted to Natalie Taylor (N.H.Taylor@exeter.ac.uk) by 28 February 2016.
This event is kindly supported by the Centre for Southeast European Studies and the Leverhulme Trust-funded project 1989 after 1989: Rethinking the Fall of State Socialism in Global Perspective at the University of Exeter.
Tags:Belgrade, Belgrade Summit, cold war, Global South, Non-Aligned Movement, socialism, United Nations, Yugoslavia
Call for Papers: Human Rights after 1945 in the Socialist and Post-Socialist World
Posted on 12 October, 2015 in1989 after 1989 Communism Globalisation Human Rights Post Socialism Socialism
German Historical Institute, Warsaw
March 3 – 5, 2016
Call for Papers Deadline: 27 November 2015
Human Rights after 1945 in the Socialist and Post-Socialist World
Histories of late twentieth century global change have focused on its perceived winners on a macro-scale: democratic capitalism, global markets and individual rights. In such formulations, the “socialist world” and its history appear irrelevant to understanding global processes and unable to inform liberal Western democratic societies.
The global rise of human rights might look like a particularly striking case in point. The formal guarantees of rights in socialist societies, after all, seemed to have no substantial effect on these societies’ political and legal practices, and the debate on civil society in “the West” which east European human rights activists had inspired during the 1980s, did not survive socialism’s fall in that region.
In this conference, we want to question those narratives. Actors from the socialist world – be they state officials, loyal intellectuals or dissident activists – actively participated in international conflicts over the meaning of democracy, economic freedom, religious liberty and national self-determination in the post-war period. Socialist officials took part in drafting the U.N. covenants of 1966, in turning South African apartheid or repression in Chile into global causes célèbres or in promoting women’s rights. African socialists shaped human rights discourses by blending them with the struggle for self-determination, while Latin American activists grafted human rights to their Marxist ideas. Chinese Communists joined traditional ideas of cultural difference with Leninist ideology to create a distinct human rights discourse. Dissident intellectuals, on the other hand, did not necessarily take the West’s side in the Cold War when they criticized socialist realities, but developed innovative human rights vernaculars deeply shaped by their unique contexts. In sum, the “socialist world” did not just react passively to Western human rights politics, but was a vital participant in the story of the production of global human rights.
This conference seeks to explore how the socialist world can be written into the broader global narratives of the rise of human rights in the 20th century, and even revise these narratives. Our understanding of the “socialist world” is deliberately inclusive. It entails the socialist systems of eastern Europe, Eurasia, Africa, Southern and East Asia as well as socialist and Communist parties and movements more broadly, and anti-colonial or anti-dictatorial movements in the Global South.
We welcome papers from different disciplines and from diverse perspectives, whether dealing with official discourses, state policies, right experts, or national or transnational political movements.
We particularly encourage proposals on the following topics:
rights cultures within socialist societies, including reflections on the global context of their construction;
the contribution of socialist elites, experts and social groups to the global rise of human rights;
connections across the socialist world in the production of conceptions of rights, including reflections on the role of international organizations or transnational movements;
the importance of rights discourses for socialist regimes and movements in establishing legitimacy at home and abroad;
the use of rights discourses by opposition movements, and the relationship between official/ alternative rights movements within socialist societies;
the legacy of rights discourses within socialist and post-socialist societies today;
comparisons, and connections between, the production of rights ideas in the socialist and non-socialist worlds;
rethinking the role of rights and the collapse of socialist states;
broader reflections on writing the socialist world into the history of rights;
broader reflections on how these stories contribute to the rethinking of the story of cultural and political globalization.
This conference is the first in a series of meetings exploring how processes and practices that emerged from the socialist world shaped the re-globalized world of our times. Throughout, the legacies of this socialist engagement with globalising processes in the socialist and post-socialist world will also be an important point of interest.
Please send a brief abstract of 300-500 words, as well as a brief CV, by November 27, 2015, to Natalie Taylor at the University of Exeter (N.H.Taylor@exeter.ac.uk ). All organizational questions can be sent to Natalie Taylor. Academic queries should be sent to Hella Dietz (Hella.Dietz@sowi.uni-goettingen.de ).
Download the Call for Papers: Call for Papers Human Rights after 1945
Substantial funding opportunities for travel and accommodation are available, but we ask that potential contributors also explore funding opportunities at their home institutions.
This event is kindly supported by the German Historical Institute in Warsaw and the Leverhulme Trust-funded project 1989 after 1989: Rethinking the Fall of State Socialism in Global Perspective at the University of Exeter.
Tags:anti-colonial, anti-dictatorial, Chile, China, cold war, East Asia, Eastern Europe, elites, Eurasia, experts, global, global history, Global South, globalisation, Human Rights, socialist world, South Africa, South Asia
Call for Papers: Criminalising Violent Pasts: Multiple Roots and Forgotten Pathways 1950s-2010s
New MA programme at Leipzig University in European Studies – Eastern Europe in a Global Perspective
Programme available for British Academy conference on Global Neoliberalisms
By continuing to use this website you consent to the use of cookies and your personal data as set out in our privacy policy. Close
Admin | Privacy Policy
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2688
|
__label__cc
| 0.568321
| 0.431679
|
Tag: Brewery
A hop and a skip to malt at Sambrook’s
Sep. 25 Beer, Brewed, Travel no comments
Sambrook’s Brewery, Battersea, is a place full of reinventions.
The brewery’s co-founder, Duncan Sambrook, was a City accountant before he threw in the towel to become a brewer in 2008. The brewery’s premises in Battersea was a television studio prior to having its double-panelled floors stripped bare, the walls resprayed with hygiene paint and 20 barrel-capacity brewing equipment installed, transforming it into a microbrewery in the heart of London. In some respects the whole operation is rather like the revival of the brewing industry, with smaller microbreweries becoming increasingly popular compared to larger industrial manufacturers.
Reinvention has certainly suited Sambrook’s. Since its first cask was tapped in November 2008, over one million pints have been served to thirsty punters across London. Junction, one of its two permanent ales has even won Beer of the Festival at this year’s Battersea Beer Festival. So on a sunny Saturday afternoon, I headed down to Sambrook’s to see what the fuss is all about.
When I arrived for the tour of the brewery I was met by Duncan Sambrook in a reception area decorated to look like a pub. On display at the bar were the pump clips of the cask ales produced by Sambrook’s – Wandle and Junction. The Wandle is named after a tributary of the Thames, from where Sambrook’s draws its water, while the name Junction is derived from Clapham Junction, Sambrook’s nearest station. It all feels very local, which is exactly the ethos that Sambrook’s is trying to maintain – a London brewer making beer for Londoners.
We were also joined by a group of beer connoisseurs from Brighton CAMRA who were very enthusiastic about the pint of Wandle to start the tour. It was light, slightly sweet and very refreshing.
Given that my last tour of a brewery was the Guinness factory in Ireland, I had expected huge containers for the brewing and even bigger warehouses to store the hops and malt. The kind of place where you start to feel drunk just by breathing in. Sambrook’s was tiny in comparison so it was surprising to learn that by brewing four times a week, Sambrook’s actually produces around 27,000 pints. That’s a lot of thirst quenching.
Unlike most breweries, Sambrook’s likes to mill their own malt. It’s so that they get “just the right amount of sugar” to kick off the process. That much at least will be drilled into you by the end of the tour.
The milled malt goes into a vat called the mash tun where hot water is sprayed on top to create wort, the brown sugary liquid used for the beer. The wort is then pumped into the copper where it is boiled; hops are also added for flavour and preservation of the beer. The resulting liquid is allowed to cool before it is fermented for six days.
So a week later you have your tasty Wandle or Junction, depending on the mix of malt and hops used, ready to be pumped into firkins, kilderkins or barrels and delivered by Sambrook’s drivers to any of the 120 or so pubs within the M25 that serve their ales.
The tour was a real insight into the world of microbrewing and it’s quite obvious that Duncan Sambrook is as enthusiastic about his brewing now as he was on day one. This is a man who is proud to welcome visitors to his brewery, where tours with tastings are run Mondays to Thursdays plus Saturdays. And of course it wouldn’t be right if we didn’t end the tour with a pint of Sambrook’s other permanent ale; the award-winning, darker, stronger and slightly bitter, Junction.
Sambrook’s is at Unit 1&2 Yelverton Road, Battersea SW11 3QG www.sambrooksbrewery.co.uk
Tags: Ale, Battersea, Beer, Brewery, Brewing, CAMRA, Cask ale, Duncan Sambrook, Junction, London, Malt, Microbrewery, Sambrook's brewery, Wandle, Wandsworth
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2699
|
__label__wiki
| 0.59225
| 0.59225
|
Industrial Design Studio
Innovation Consultancy
We are an industrial design studio working towards the most appropriate innovative solutions and products informed by research and development, often built upon collaborating with the industry’s finest minds and material processes.
Establishing his own studio in 2002, Alexander’s early work included developing furniture and lighting for some of Europe’s leading and most respected design manufacturers such as Zanotta, Established & Sons and ClassiCon. A collection of works was also commissioned by one of the worlds leading design galleries, David Gill Galleries in London along with several private commissions, most notably for Alexander McQueen.
In 2008 Alexander was invited to work on a project for adidas for the Olympic Games in 2012. Challenged with creating something totally new for the industry in relation to footwear construction, PrimeKnit resulted and in turn became one of the most sustainable and innovative products ever produced by the brand. Now the concept of directly knitting the footwear runs throughout adidas and Alexander continues to work as an innovation and design consultant on new projects introducing new technology and collaborations bridging performance/style and innovation.
The studio is now also working with Hunter Wellington Boot developing new and challenging products as an innovation consultant further adding to the trans-discipline nature of work undertaken and driven by access to some of the best technical craftsmen and industrial technology in the world.
The Museum of Modern Art, New York and the Chicago Institute of Design have both acquired the ‘Fold’ lamp for their permanent collection, whilst the ‘Butterfly’ table for Zanotta received the Chicago Athenaeum Museum’s Good Design Award. In 2006 Design Basel/Miami, Alexander was presented the ‘Designer the of the Future’ award along with other Established & Sons designers.
Alexander is a visiting professor on the MA Industrial Design course at the ECAL in Lausanne, Switzerland and the Royal College of Art in London.
London EC1R 3BN UK
minna(at)alexandertaylor.com
Job enquiries
jobs(at)alexandertaylor.com
studio(at)alexandertaylor.com
Featured Project Index
Futurecraft Leather, adidas, 2015
adidas × Parley, adidas, 2015
Fold, manufactured by Established & Sons, 2005
PrimeKnit, adidas, 2012
Punch, manufactured by Established & Sons, 2008
Tank, manufactured by Established & Sons, 2006
Port, David Gill Gallery, 2010
Grip, manufactured by Praxis, 2012
Cargo, David Gill Gallery, 2010
Hunter, innovation consultancy, 2013–2015
Best Household Accessory: ‘Antler’ coat hanger, Elle Decoration, 2004
Young designer of the Year, Elle Decoration, 2005
Best in Lighting: ‘Fold’ Light, Elle Decoration, 2005
Chicago Athenaeum Good Design Award: ‘Butterfly’ table, 2005
Designer of the Future: Established and Sons, Design Miami/Basel, 2005
Museum of Modern Art, New York: ‘Fold’ Light added to permanent collection, 2005
Chicago Institute of Art and Design: ‘Fold’ Light added to permanent collection, 2006
Cooper Hewitt Museum, Chicago: ‘Grip’ Torch added to permanent collection, 2013
© Alexander Taylor
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2701
|
__label__cc
| 0.537828
| 0.462172
|
Bound by Injustice
Wrongful convictions and unjust sentences aren't just served by the prisoners we represent. Family members, friends and loved ones serve time alongside them. Time where there is an empty chair at family weddings, funerals and birthdays. Time when they face the pressure of supporting someone in prison who shouldn't be there. Time fighting through the frustrating and isolating appeals system. But they are no longer serving time alone.
Inspired by the Hillsborough Justice Campaign and the families that fought for 28 years to get justice for their loved ones, APPEAL has formed a powerful support and advocacy group: Bound by Injustice.
Show your support for the people we represent and their families by using #boundbyinjustice or donating to the group here.
BBI Meet up - March 2019
Laying the groundwork for success
This brilliant meeting of the Bound By Injustice family was a roaring success and we were kindly hosted in the fabulous offices of Ropes & Gray in Central London. The second ever Bound By Injustice event was aimed at reuniting the family members who attended in 2018, and welcoming some new members into the BBI family who could not attend last year. The event was also focused on developing the structure and future of BBI.
We were honoured to have Raphael Rowe speak to us, a miscarriage of justice survivor who spent 12 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. In July 2000, the Court of Appeal quashed his wrongful conviction and he was freed. Raphael studied journalism during his years in prison and was determined to become a reporter after his release. As the subject of numerous media stories during his long campaign for justice, Raphael has a unique insight into both sides of the reporting coin.
We also had a session hosted by Cookie, a client of APPEAL. Cookie has now served the custodial portion of her sentence for a crime she did not commit and has for 16 years vehemently and unwaveringly maintained her innocence. In 2018, with the help of the Women’s Justice Initiative, Cookie told the story of her miscarriage of justice through our new podcast - Surviving Injustice. Cookie, a Campaign Bootcamp graduate - taught a campaigning workshop to the group.
Surviving Injustice Retreat - August 2018
"There's loads of people going through what I'm going through, so I'm not alone" - Powerful words from Marion, the mother of a CCA client, at #SurvivingInjustice this weekend.
Only in solidarity can we effect true change in the criminal justice system. #neveralone pic.twitter.com/hKtoK70ICG
— Criminal Appeals (@C4CrimAppeals) August 17, 2018
Ashley, family member of a CCA client, reflecting on his experiences at #SurvivingInjustice last weekend - we've formed a powerful collective! Can't wait to see how it develops and rest assured, you will be hearing more from them soon!@LankellyChase @LushLtd @Damonw4240 pic.twitter.com/pJFoqQCPOI
A heartfelt thank you from Centre client, Mark, to @LankellyChase @LushLtd @Damonw4240 for funding our very first #SurvivingInjustice weekend! You are helping support the resilience of individuals and families fighting miscarriages of justice - transformational work - THANK YOU! pic.twitter.com/MKM7v86lxW
The Pinto Family, including David's partner Katie, son DeNiro, daughter Lyrelle, and sisters Helen, Jenny and Sam. To read more about David's case, click here
Our Inaugural Retreat
In August 2018, we brought our first group of family members and people we represent who have been released into the community together. The retreat took place over a weekend and we were were generously hosted by the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights and Mansfield College, at Oxford University.
We had speakers discuss the psychological impact of wrongful imprisonment, the importance of grassroots activism and how to engage the media in campaigning - as well as lots of social time! Click on the programme to the right to find out more about who spoke over the weekend!
Scroll down for some of the gold from the weekend!
Centre staff member Abigail, with Jamai, the nephew of one of the people we represent
Mark, Ashley and Scott: These three have pledged to do a group skydive to raise money to support Bound by Injustice! Watch this space for updates!
DeNiro and Mo - both family members of loved ones in prison for crimes we believe they did not commit
The lovely Carson, another of our young attendees
Artwork in progress created by one of the people APPEAL represents
Introducing: "Bound By Injustice"
by Pauline Black, sister of wrongfully convicted CCA client
We all arrived not knowing quite what to expect or what the weekend would mean for us but we were welcomed with open arms by the CCA team, made comfortable in our rooms, and introduced to our now extended family members and friends.
Then it started - WOW! The CCA team, facilitators, family members and speakers were amazing and I listened to the stories told with such emotion. It was evident that everyone attending wanted the same thing: our loved ones unjustly incarcerated for a crime they had not committed, to be set free from this broken, mismanaged system, that doesn't care about and doesn’t acknowledge the damage it causes to human beings. It is left to the family and friends to pick up the pieces of shattered lives and try to glue them back without help or much needed support.
This weekend taught me a lot - not just that we were not alone, but there are many of us in the same turmoil wanting the same thing and with the right guidance and support we can lift, motivate and strengthen each other on this journey.
THE CENTRE celebrates hugely successful "Surviving Injustice" retreat for the families of the wrongfully convicted
by Susan Evans, CCA Volunteer
I am a volunteer at the Centre for Criminal Appeals and started with them just as they began thinking about planning Surviving Injustice – an event for the family members of the Centre’s clients. Last weekend, 10-12th August 2018, it finally happened and the Centre for Criminal Appeals gave family members, exonerees and recently released victims fighting miscarriages of justice an opportunity to come together to share their experiences.
When I began volunteering, my first task was to reach out to their clients who were incarcerated to gage their response to the idea and to enquire whether they would like their family to attend. This was a very moving experience for me as the response letters came back. It was amazing having communication with people I did not know personally and was unlikely to meet anytime soon, who were replying gracefully and helpfully to support an event they could not attend - there were no “and what about me?”retorts. They understood immediately the value of what we were hoping to achieve.
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2706
|
__label__cc
| 0.733209
| 0.266791
|
Does anyone really like vacuuming? Sure it gets your home clean, but it's so tedious to do it every day, just to clean it again tomorrow. Thankfully, robot vacuums exist to do the dirty work for you, so you don't have to. After testing the Ecovacs Deebot N79, we found that it had above average pickup and rarely gets stuck, but it did take a bit of time to clean. Right now, you can get the upgraded Ecovacs Deebot N79S, which has Alexa connectivity and slightly enhanced cleaning, for $30 off if you click the little coupon box below the price tag.
Win Pearl offers this 10.5mm AAA- Black Freshwater Pearl 52" Rope Necklace for $299.99. Coupon code "dealnews211" cuts that to $84.99. With free shipping, that's tied with last month's mention, $365 off list, and the lowest price we could find. It features 9.5mm to 10.5mm grade AAA- round pearls, with hand-knotting between each pearl. Deal ends November 7.
If you are looking for good Amazon deals and bargains, Today’s Deals is the place to come. We are your online one-stop shop for savings and specials on our products. Need a last-minute gift for your spouse, grandmother, or co-worker? You can find great deals from Amazon's Today’s Deals regardless of whether you are looking for items for yourself or your family and friends.
In typical fashion, Amazon does not have an "official" Cyber Monday ad scan for 2017. However, we created a custom ad scan of the very popular Amazon devices such as the Echo, Echo Dot, Tap, Fire TV stick and more for you to browse. Amazon will official kick off its Cyber Monday deals week as of Saturday, November 25 and will run these sales until next week. You can receive free shipping at Amazon.com by spending $25 or more. Or, you can sign up for a free trial of Amazon Prime and get free two-day shipping for a month.
Yiues via Amazon offers its Yiues Nylon Sport Loop Replacement Band for Apple Watch in several colors (Black/White pictured) for $10.99. Coupon code "I2QA8GDL" cuts it to $5.49. With free shipping for Prime members, that's $6 off and the lowest price we could find. It comes with an Apple Watch case and is available in sizes 38mm and 42mm. Deal ends November 20.
As one of its daily deals, That Daily Deal offers the American Apparel Men's Tri-Blend Ultra-Soft Short-Sleeve T-Shirt 12-Pack for $23.88 with free shipping. That's the lowest price we could find for this quantity by $27 and the best per-unit price we've seen at $1.99 per shirt. (We saw a 5-pack for $22 two weeks ago.) These USA-made shirts are available in size S only. Deal ends October 30.
Some workers, "pickers", who travel the building with a trolley and a handheld scanner "picking" customer orders can walk up to 15 miles during their workday and if they fall behind on their targets, they can be reprimanded. The handheld scanners give real-time information to the employee on how fast or slowly they are working; the scanners also serve to allow Team Leads and Area Managers to track the specific locations of employees and how much "idle time" they gain when not working.[183][184] In a German television report broadcast in February 2013, journalists Diana Löbl and Peter Onneken conducted a covert investigation at the distribution center of Amazon in the town of Bad Hersfeld in the German state of Hessen. The report highlights the behavior of some of the security guards, themselves being employed by a third party company, who apparently either had a neo-Nazi background or deliberately dressed in neo-Nazi apparel and who were intimidating foreign and temporary female workers at its distribution centers. The third party security company involved was delisted by Amazon as a business contact shortly after that report.[185][186][187][188][189]
Offers.com features deals from more than 6,000 companies and stores, updated daily and organized into 300 categories including clothing, electronics, toys and travel. You can search by store and brand, by type of offer (coupon code, in-store offer, etc.) and by holiday and event (back-to-school deals, Black Friday deals, etc.). Offers.com also points you to local deals in more than 75 cities.
The Expedition jogging stroller features large bicycle tires and a front swivel wheel that can be unlocked for low speed maneuvering or locked into place for jogging. Stroller also can accept any of the baby trend flex-loc or inertia infant car seats to make a travel system, comes with both a parent tray with 2 cup holders and a storage compartment and child tray with cup holder.
Doramile Direct via Amazon offers its Doramile 35-Liter Packable Hiking Backpack in Black for $18.99. Coupon code "50HJT1J7" cuts that to $9.49. With free shipping for Prime members, that's $10 off and tied with last month's mention as the lowest price we've seen. It folds into a zipped inner pocket for storage and features an integrated rainfly, adjustable chest strap with whistle buckle, and padded shoulder straps. Deal ends November 30.
Browse, search, get product details, read reviews, see immersive product images and videos and shop for millions of products available from Amazon.com and other merchants. With the Amazon TV app, you will be able to enjoy a lean back shopping experience on the largest screen in your house, using just your Fire TV remote. Search for products using text; use filters and change sorters to find the product you want. Browse through immersive large product images and videos. In addition to basic product information such as title, price, byline, seller, Prime badge and product description, you will also be able to see the delivery promise, availability, star ratings and customer reviews. Discover other products through the “Customers also bought” widget on the detail page. Browse through campaigns from various product categories (including Fashion, Electronics, Amazon Devices, Beauty, Toys and Home) on the app gateway and click through to get to the product detail page. Browse through your wish lists on the app. Once you select a product you want to buy, you can checkout the product or save it to the wish list for future consideration or to review later on your phone or computer. During checkout, you can choose your preference from the available shipping options, saved payment methods and address book. You can also redeem your existing gift card and promotional balances to make the purchase. After you make the purchase, sit back and relax, the Amazon package will be delivered straight to your door. All purchases are routed through Amazon’s secure servers.
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2718
|
__label__cc
| 0.710416
| 0.289584
|
Roleplaying51
Live-Action Roleplaying1
1. (3rd Edition) Open - Finger of the Wind
(3rd Edition) Open - Finger of the Wind
Finger of the Wind by Robert Wiese. Rumors of luz on his throne and demons moving into Furyondy have caused Furyondy's king to call for a search for the Rod of Seven parts. But Mordenkainen knows that another solution is needed, and the Citadel of Eight embarks on a dangerous quest to restore the balance to the war-torn area.This adventure is part of the Living Greyhawk Campaign, but with characters (levels 7-8) provided. Eight-player teams, team advancement. Uses 3rd edition D&D rules. Standard RPGA experience points.
2. (3rd Edition) Paragon - Bromhead Manor
(3rd Edition) Paragon - Bromhead Manor
The Darkness of Bromhead Manor by Geoff Skellams.The Maxwell children have come with their deathly ill mother to Bromhead Manor. It was hoped their mother's estranged half-brother could do something to alleviate their mother's condition and bring her back to health. But instead of a caring, kindly old man, they found their uncle to be a snarling, reclusive man, who locks himself in the western wing of the Manor, a place he has forbidden the children to explore. Strange things have started happening in the Manor, things that have the servants talking in hushed tones and refusing to elaborate. For the children, the house has become a place of fear, as they slowly lose hope of their mother ever recovering. Will they be able to overcome the Darkness of Bromhead Manor? A Masque of the Red Death tournament, using the D&D 3rd Edition rules, for the six Maxwell children (characters provided). RPGA paying members 7th level and above. Quintuple RPGA experience points.
3. (3rd Edition) Special - At Time of Need
(3rd Edition) Special - At Time of Need
At Time of Need by Dave Wolin.The army of the enemy is two days'march from your homes. All that stands between them and your village is a crippled captain, a band of shopkeepers, shepherds and cooks, and you. An adventure for 1st level characters (provided). Uses 3rd Edition D&D rules. Standard RPGA experience points.
4. (3rd Edition) Benefit - Cat's Meow
(3rd Edition) Benefit - Cat's Meow
Cat's Meow by Steve Hardinger. Children of merchants ofWaterdeep are being turned into zombies as they sleep. Ransom demands have been made. Is it a nefarious plot or just the usual rivalry between merchants? An adventure for characters of approximately 7th level, characters provided. Uses 3rd edition D&D rules. Standard RPGA experience.
5. (3rd Edition) Benefit - Barbarian Lives
(3rd Edition) Benefit - Barbarian Lives
Barbarian Lives by Daniel Llewellyn, Jeff Bull, and Tim White. Your tribe has existed for as long as your elders can remember.The vile tribe across the river has been your enemy since the great split almost as long ago. Now the stranger from the forest has called the two tribes together to deal with the end of the world. You will take your weapons and solve this the barbarian way. An adventure for characters levels 4-6, characters provided. Uses 3rd Edition D&D rules. Standard RPGA experience points.
6. (3rd Edition) Grand Master's Binding Arbitration
(3rd Edition) Grand Master's Binding Arbitration
Binding Arbitration by Kim and Pete Winz. Your six countries have been at war for far too long, but peace talks have gone nowhere. As a last resort, your leaders have consented to put the decision into the hands of a powerful wizard known for resolving delicate issues such as this. Each of you has been given complete authority to represent your country in the final negotiations. The wizard's methods are a mystery but you'd do just about anything to stop this bloody conflict. An adventure for characters levels 7-8, characters provided. Uses 3rd Edition D&D rules. RPGA paying members 5th level and above. Quadruple RPGA experience.
8. (3rd Edition) NASCRAG - Conspiracy and Practice
(3rd Edition) NASCRAG - Conspiracy and Practice
Ze royale family and ze evil Baron, zey are missing"Membuhs of Pahliment ah in jail? Use your cheesiest accent while restoring sanity to this hayseed capitol...er...uh..solving universal problems. Characters provided. Standard RPGA experience.
9. (3rd Edition) National - In Another Man's Shoes
(3rd Edition) National - In Another Man's Shoes
In Another Man's Shoes by Tom Prusa. It came to you in a dream."You may not know it, but you have a twin. Now, you will walk in his shoes, for only so can the evil be defeated." When you woke up something was wrong.This is not your room. But that's your picture on the wall, wearing clothes you would never wear. And the dream does not fade."l have a brother!" An adventure for characters levels 4-8, characters provided. Invitation-only tournament. Uses 3rd Edition D&D rules. Double RPGA points.
10. (3rd Edition) Open - Finger of the Wind
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2721
|
__label__cc
| 0.684447
| 0.315553
|
US Automotive News
Four Seasons 37227 Harness Connector
Ford 1F1Z-8A521-BB - TUBE - WATER OUTLET
Euromarque MT64508372039 Auxiliary Fan Assembly
Home › Blog › Autos › Why tech still can’t save kids in hot cars – CNET
Why tech still can’t save kids in hot cars – CNET
Posted: Monday, August 21, 2017
Why tech still can’t save kids in hot cars
In spite of recent innovations, this one’s still on you.
by Brian Cooley
Carmakers have come up with cool advancements like keyfobs that limit radio volume when a teen is driving and sunroofs that lower themselves at highway speed to reduce wind noise. Yet kids are still dying in hot cars that can’t seem to do much to help them. I get a lot of emails asking why this is the case.
There has been progress in the last year: GM Rear Seat Reminder has been available in about 20 of its models since it debuted on the 2017 GMC Acadia, and Nissan is launching Rear Door Alert in the 2018 Pathfinder.
General Motors Rear Seat Reminder feature is available in about 20 models across its brands.
Both systems use sensors to notice if a rear door was opened before a trip, but not at the conclusion of it and then alert the driver with a warning light or beep to check the rear seat area. U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) has introduced legislation that would require new cars sold from 2019 have systems of this type.
These are good but not powerful improvements: Human nature is to ignore repeated general reminders, and the systems can be switched off entirely by the owner — perhaps one who may not have kids and likes to stash stuff in the back seat, unharassed.
A smarter system was envisioned by Intel and Ford back in 2014. The Mobii prototype placed cameras around the car that would use image recognition to know what they see, discriminating a bag from a child and producing a specific, and therefore compelling, alert. Combined with the other benefits such a system could deliver (such as theft prevention, drowsiness and inebriation detection, settings customization and intelligent dash cam) I think this approach is a matter of when it will arrive, not if. But when isn’t now.
Startup Sense A Life is raising funds on Kickstarter to develop a kit that adds a weight sensor and transmitter to a child seat, and a receiver alongside the driver’s seat. It detects when you leave the car but the child’s weight doesn’t, resulting in an alert on your phone or message to other guardians if you ignore it.
But why are we saddled with add-on kits or vague detection algorithms from only a couple of carmakers?
It’s not that simple. When several kids died while playing in hot car trunks in the late 90s, carmakers were required to install glow-in-the-dark inside trunk releases (no, those weren’t inspired by “The Sopranos“). But that’s a situation with a kid old enough and aware enough to know they need to get out of danger.
We put kids in this situation with passenger seat airbags that were too powerful for kids to be seated in front of. New rules required kid seats be in the back where they are safe from airbag force but not from being forgotten.
Prioritizing safety advances can be a cold calculation. An average of 37 kids die each year after being left in hot cars, according Professor Jan Null of San Jose State University, and only about half of them due to the kind of forgetfulness the new technologies aim to cure. It’s a massively tragic situation, but about 0.05 percent of automotive fatalities in 2016.
Risk management is key and carmakers are loathe to install any new safety technology that isn’t bulletproof. Product liability lawsuits can result from safety tech that either doesn’t work 100 percent of the time or isn’t understood by drivers 100 percent of the time. As far as I know, carmakers currently have no liability in cases of kids forgotten in hot cars.
New tech goes in new cars. The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, suggests any tech required in new cars won’t reach the cash-strapped young parents who need it most but likely drive an older car. The alliance advocates education and simple steps like putting your phone in the back with your child – you’d never forget your phone, the thinking goes, which paints both a sad and true situation.
The ingredients to solve this problem are congealing, however: Sensors, GPS, connectivity and even cameras in the cabin are quickly becoming ubiquitous, and as they begin to deliver a variety of profitable services, smart child and pet detection will come along for the ride. Meanwhile, an alert made public and a tire iron can be the best we’ve got.
Copyright 2013 © Auto Repair Store| All rights reserved
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2728
|
__label__cc
| 0.718988
| 0.281012
|
Travel discounts
Select Page: Where to?Home Welcome Meet the Team Travel discounts Facebook Twitter
Select Category: Where to?Countries Cuisine Crafts Cinema Concerts Coaches Cruises Cars Charities Christmas
b-c-ing-u.com
Quirky Online Travel & Leisure Magazine
Home » architecture » Comments » Countries » London » Popular Articles » tours » Travel » UK » Ranjit Recommends: London Eye
Ranjit Recommends: London Eye
Ranjit Shergill May 20, 2018 Ranjit Recommends: London Eye2018-05-19T14:28:04+01:00 architecture, Comments, Countries, London, Popular Articles, tours, Travel, UK No Comment
Indeed, several pairs of eyes will be captivated upon entering the capsule that will enable passengers to savour London’s landscape and legacy. London Eye stands at 135 metres high and is the tallest cantilevered observation wheel in the world.
The experience starts at the Ticket Office where you purchase your ticket before joining the queue for your allocated rotation on the Coca-Cola London Eye.
There are several information ports within each capsule, should you wish to verify a point of interest or even improve your London fact file with key points about the said landmarks.
Furthermore you can experience London Eye whilst sitting down in total relaxation or opt to stand up and walk the rounds to find the perfect moment for a detailed panoramic photo shot. As your capsule reaches optimum altitude, you receive a 360-degree view of London’s iconic skyline.
Indeed, London need not to be lit up at night to create dazzling captures. Instead the plethora of historical buildings can be admired throughout the day with many viewers opting for selfies whilst ‘holding’ onto their favourite landmark in the backdrop.
Elsewhere tourists furiously point at the famous sites of London that define its rich history, such as The Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, Wembley Stadium and St Paul’s Cathedral.
If you wish to see breath-taking views of London during the day and night, from October to March you are able to purchase a dual entry ticket for just an additional £10.
Save by booking your London Eye tickets in advance online here. Visit today to find out about booking experiences, fast track tickets and more.
Therefore on arriving at the London Eye you should only have your eyes focused on what you are going to witness, rather than having to keep an ‘eye’ out for the queue for tickets!
Previous links to articles:
http://b-c-ing-u.com/2017/04/23/ranjit-recommends-mountain-biking-slovenia/
http://b-c-ing-u.com/2017/04/16/ranjit-recommends-worlds-best-superfoods/
http://b-c-ing-u.com/2017/04/09/ranjit-recommends-worlds-best-spicy-food/
http://b-c-ing-u.com/2017/04/02/ranjit-recommends-scintillating-stimulating-shard/
http://b-c-ing-u.com/2017/03/26/ranjit-recommends-snowdonia-way/
http://b-c-ing-u.com/2017/03/19/ranjit-recommends-philippines-lonely-planet-guide/
http://b-c-ing-u.com/2017/03/12/ranjit-recommends-bateaux-licious-london/
http://b-c-ing-u.com/2017/03/05/ranjit-recommends-north-korea-bradt-guide/
http://b-c-ing-u.com/2017/02/26/ranjit-recommends-girls/
http://b-c-ing-u.com/2017/02/19/ranjit-recommends-comedy-bank-robbery/
http://b-c-ing-u.com/2017/02/12/ranjit-recommends-honeymoon-handbook/
http://b-c-ing-u.com/2017/01/22/ranjit-recommends-icc-champions-trophy/
http://b-c-ing-u.com/2017/01/15/ranjit-recommends-destinations-ditto/
London Eye, Ranjit Recommends, Ranjit Shergill, The Big Ben, Wembley Stadium
Ranjit Recommends: Secular Democracy At Omkareshwara Temple
Ranjit Recommends: Stem + Glory
Ranjit Recommends: Emilia Romagna
Ranjit Recommends: All Star Lanes
Ranjit Recommends: Lord’s Afternoon Tea
About Ranjit Shergill
I love opinions whether I agree or disagree with them and as such writing presents me with the golden opportunity to share my views across a large landscape of readers. My aspiration is to draw viewership from all backgrounds, thereby reaching out to a worldwide audience. Whilst on a flight to India when I was seven years old I sang jingle bells for the whole duration of the flight. This subsequently led to my growing interests in aviation and indeed travelling. I currently work in Sports Analytics and see my job as a privilege getting to watch sport which most followers would do for free! It is safe to say that I am addicted to travelling, whether it be going on off the beaten track experiences that I endured during my trip through the backroads of Central America or going on city bike tours in glamorous settings such as the River Danube. I embrace cultural hotspots and feel that travelling combines exciting adventures with humbling life experiences. I currently reside in my hometown of Harrow in London, United Kingdom. Given that London is one of the most visited and storied cities in the world, I feel very privileged to have grown up in such an environment. !
View all posts by Ranjit Shergill →
« Vauxhall pushes Astra relevance to Ultimate level
Hooray, it’s the Car Boot Season again! »
We take spam very seriously and will not share your details with anybody.
Could you spare a £1 to support B-c-ing-u?
Our magazine features over 3000 articles for you to read at any time and is contributed to by over 20 writers on a voluntary basis. Could you spare a £1 to support us to continue to create this content?
Translate B-C-ing-U:
He’s only gone and acquired one! The latest Suzuki Vitara 1.0SZ-T
MIDLANDS MECCANO GUILD
Steve’s Sojourns – Smooth Sailing on Scotland’s Canals
Harry’s Ramblings My First Cruise Lecturing Part 2
There’s Lots to see Around Piccadilly.
Gareth Butterfield picks the wettest week of the year to take his wife and his dog on a trip up the Shropshire Union Canal
Osówka from the Reise Project – Hitler’s Secret Shelter or Nuclear Weapons Research Site for the Third Reich?
Albert Fenech (100) Ann Evans (245) Annick Dournes (87) Archaeological Discoveries (51) Art (70) British (45) Car Reviews (665) Cars (142) Cooking (68) Cool Burn Hatem (50) Dining (64) Drawing (62) East Sussex Wildlife Rescue & Ambulance Service (WRAS) (213) Eating Out (65) England (580) Europe (775) Food (104) France (113) Frederic De Poligny (84) Gareth Butterfield (138) Iain P W Robertson (627) Jeni Caruana (78) Jeni On Drawing (62) Jonathan Gray (108) Lyn Funnell (268) Malta (140) Malta Diary (78) motoring (704) Motors (655) Mumbai (88) Opinions (824) Painting (45) Patricia Newell-Dunkley (87) Ranjit Shergill (127) Rob Tysall (99) Seren Charrington-Hollins (77) Seren Evans-Charrington (168) Shraddha. C. Sankulkar (103) Trevor Weeks MBE (211) Tysall's Photography (54) UK (294) Wales (93) Wallis the Woman I Love (48) Welsh Witterings (163) Wendy Hughes (117)
Search B-C-ing-U!
TLM Travel & Leisure Magazine
Bubbling Stove
All News Pipeline
Copyright © 2019. b-c-ing-u.com
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2731
|
__label__wiki
| 0.738736
| 0.738736
|
Hendrick van Tol
There is really not very much information available to me about Hendrick Tol, except in Brandt's biography of De Ruyter published in 1687. Hendrick van Tol served in the Second and Third Anglo-Dutch Wars, and perhaps, in the War of the English Succession. There was at least SOME Hendrick Tol who commanded a ship at that time. This is an outline of Hendrick Tol's commands:
Duivenvoorde, date 8/1665, 52 guns, crew: 176 sailors+38marines and 27 soldiers, Amsterdam Admiralty, built in 1655, dimensions: 140ft x 32ft x 13.5ft
Huis te Cruijningen, date 1671, 60guns, crew 240 sailors+50 soldiers, Amsterdam Admiralty, built 1653, dimensions: 140ft x 34ft x 13.5ft
Komeetstar, date 5/1672, 70guns crew 270 sailors+70 soldiers, Amsterdam Admiralty, built 1665, dimensions: 152.5ft x 38.5ft x 15ft
Komeetstar, date 7/1672, 70 guns, crew 288 sailors+18 soldiers, Amsterdam Admiralty, built 1665, dimensions: 152.5ft x 38.5ft x 15ft
Beemster, date 1688, 50 guns, crew 200 men, Amsterdam Admiralty, built 1686, dimensions: 138ft x 36ft x 14.5ft
Captain Tol in the First Anglo-Dutch War
There is really not very much information available to me about Hendrick Tol, who served in the First Anglo-Dutch War. Here is on piece of what I have:
Captain Tol
On November 10, 1653, Captain Tol's ship, the Moerian, was listed as having been lost in the
storm on October 29, 30, and 31, 1653. There is a notation that half the men
were saved. [1DW6, p.175]
Ship: Moorin
28 guns
Amsterdam Directors
dimensions: 125ft x 29ft x 12.75ft
guns: 10-12pdr, 8-8pdr, 8-6pdr, and 2-3pdr
I am now convinced that this cannot be Hendrick Tol, as he served too late into the 17th Century for him to be the same man.
Witte de With's flagship of 1636 must have been gone before 1652
Rotterdam built Witte de With a strong, new flagship in 1636: the Maecht van Dordrecht. Her dimensions in Maas feet were 130ft x 32ft x 13.5ft. This translates to 142ft x 35ft x 14ft-8in in Amsterdam feet. Her armament in 1642 was 46 guns. I believe that the lower tier had 10-24pdr and 14-18pdr. The upper tier had 16-12pdr, so the waist must not have been armed. The quarterdeck was probably 6-6pdr. Vreugdenhil had assumed that she had survived until 1665, but she was not even around in 1652. We can be pretty certain of that.
Goodies from the March 1653 list of Dutch ships
I want to make an effort to see if we can find a list that corresponds to the March 1653 list in Geschiedenis van het Nederlandsche Zeewezen. There is no guarantee that it survived past the mid-19th Century, sadly. There are some valuable nuggets to be found there: Rotterdam ships:
Brederode, 54 guns crew 200 sailors and 50 soldiers
Gelderland, 40 guns crew 110 sailors and 30 soldiers
Prinses Louise, 36 guns crew 124 sailors and 46 soldiers
Gulden Dolphijn, 32 guns crew 95 sailors and 30 soldiers
Gorkum, 30 guns crew 95 sailors and 30 soldiers
Rotterdam, 30 guns crew 80 sailors and 20 soldiers
Gelderland, 24 guns crew 80 sailors and 20 soldiers
Overijssel, 22 guns crew 80 sailors and 20 soldiers
Utrecht, 22 guns crew 80 sailors and 20 soldiers
Amsterdam ships:
yacht Brak, 18 guns crew 70 sailors and 15 soldiers
yacht Windhond, 18 guns crew 70 sailors and 15 soldiers
Zeeland ships:
Hollandia, 36 guns crew 116 men
Gekroonde Liefde, 24 guns crew 85 men
yacht Dordrecht, 70 guns
yacht Gloeyenden Oven, 14 guns crew 40 sailors
I wonder if the Overijssel's armament in 1666 is anything like she carried in 1652?
The Overijssel was a fairly new ship in 1652, having been completed in 1650. Her dimensions were 114ft x 28ft x 11ft. I would guess that she measured at about 170 lasts. In 1666, she carried 6-12pdr and 12-8pdr on the lower tier, 12-6pdr on the upper tier (presumably with an unarmed waist), and 4-2pdr "voor de hut". Her crew in 1666 was intended to be 120 sailors and 20 soldiers, although she only had 110 sailors at the Four Days Battle.
In 1652-1653, the Overijssel carried 28 guns and had a crew of 100 men. The dimensions listed by Dr. Weber differ from those in Vreugdenhil's list, which were 112ft x 28ft x 11ft. I suspect that the guns listed in 1666 differ wildly from those carried in 1652, but it is hard to know. The only place where we might have seen what was carried, the "Staet van Orlogh te Water" for the year 1654 doesn't list an armament.
The smallest ships from the Dutch First Anglo-Dutch War building program
I don't understand the rationale for this, but both the Noorderkwartier and Amsterdam built smaller ships for part of their contribution to the two-30-ship building programs. Examples built by the Noorderkwartier were 130ft x 32ft x 12ft. Two of these were the Caleb (built in 1654 at Hoorn) and the Jupiter (built in 1653). An example of a small Amsterdam ship was the Dom van Utrecht (built at Amsterdam in 1654). Her dimensions were 130ft x 32ft x 13ft. The Zeeland ships built to the 130ft charter tended to be larger: 130ft x 34ft x 13-1/2ft. The Zeeland Dordrecht and Kampveere were built to these dimensions.
Dutch Captain Pieter Salomonszoon
Pieter Salomonszoon commanded a ship belonging to the Amsterdam Chamber of the VOC at the Battle of Plymouth. Here are some of the notes that I took about him during the First Anglo-Dutch War:
Pieter Salomonsen was a late arrival from the Texel, to join De Ruyter's fleet, probably in July, 1652 [1DW6], p.157
Listed as being part of De Ruyter's fleet, the ship de Vrede, with 40 guns and 200 men, noted as being fitted out by the Amsterdam Chamber for the VOC [1DW2], p.147
On November 2, 1653, Admiral Wassenaer reported that Pieter Salomonszoon's ship, belonging to the Amsterdam Admiralty, was lying off the Texel with other ships (after the big storm). [1DW6, p.160]
This is my translation and editing of what is in Mollema's "Honor Roll":
Pieter Salomonszoon He lived until 12 June 1666. He served the Admiralty of the Amsterdam. As captain of the VOC, he was brought into the navy in 1652. He was made a captain in 1654. In 1665, he became a temporary Schout-bij-Nacht (Rear-Admiral).
In 1652, he commanded the "Vrede" (40 guns) under De Ruyter at Plymouth.
He fought at the Battle of the Kentish Knock and Dungeness.
In 1653, he fought at the Battle of Portland and Scheveningen.
In 1657/58, he served under De Ruyter in the Mediterranean Sea and on the Portuguese coast, in the "Fazant" (28 guns).
In 1659, he was engaged in convoying near the Sound and served there under De Ruyter.
In 1665, he commanded the "Campen" (54 guns) at Lowstoft.
In 1666, he commanded the "Liefde" (66 guns) at the Four Days Battle, where he was killed.
Estimating the Dutch dimensions for the English fireship Fortune
The English used a captured Dutch ship, the Fortune, as a fireship at the Four Days Battle in 1666. Her English dimensions were: 94ft x 28ft x 12ft-6in. Using my system, we would estimate the Dutch dimensions:
Length: English 94ft x 1.33 = 125ft Dutch
Beam: English 28ft x 1.13 = 31-1/2ft Dutch
Depth (Dutch Hold): English 12ft-6in x 1.07 = 13-1/2ft Dutch
Those are the dimensions of a typical First Anglo-Dutch War hired ship such as those used by the Dutch as a 28 or 30 gun warship.
It is surprising that I don't have a document from April 1653 that shows the St. Matheeus that was captured
I have documents that show most Amsterdam Directors' ships that were in use in 1652 and 1653. The only ship that seems to be missing is the Sint Matheeus that was captured by the English at the Battle of the Gabbard. I do have a number of documents that show the "other" Sint Matheeus, the one that was not captured. She was a somewhat smaller vessel.
The captured ship was called the Matthias in English service. The only reason we know some of her dimensions is because Dr. Weber published them in his book about the Four Days Battle. They were: 144ft x 36ft, with an unknown depth in hold (in Amsterdam feet). Her dimensions as measured by the English are well known. They were: 108ft x 32ft x 15ft. The length is that on the keel and the beam is that outside the planking. The Dutch dimensions are the length from stem to sternpost and the beam is that inside the planking. The English and Dutch depths also differ. The English depth is from the keel to the underside of the deck planking on the main deck, at the center. The Dutch "hold" is measured to where the deck meets the side, from the keel.
My "system" for converting between Dutch and English dimensions only "sort of works". I use factors derived from example ships where we know both the English and Dutch dimensions. You need to be perpared to round liberally, as well.
Factors:
Converting English LK to Dutch L: 1.33
Converting English B to Dutch B: 1.13
Depths are a problem, because unlike the other dimensions, there seems to be no consistency. Even with length and beam, we can find examples that fail this system. Still, it is a way to estimate Dutch dimensions where we only have English dimensions preserved.
In some cases, English D to Dutch D (Hold) works with 0.92 as a factor. Sadly, there are other cases where 1.07 works. In the case of the Clovetree (ex-Nagelboom), the depth conversion factor is something like 1.18. In other cases, a figure in between these works. The problem seems to be with the English measurements. The Dutch dimensions are generally "well known". In the case of Dr. Weber's book, however, there are so many typographical errors that one needs to be cautious. For example, the Dutch beam for the Ruiter van Gelder (VOC) is shown to be 29ft while the English beam is 35ft. If you multiply the English beam by the factor 1.12, you get a Dutch beam of 39ft, which is reasonable. That would mean that the 29ft is a typo, and should be 39ft.
The effect of political leadership on navies is easily ignored
The Restoration navy benefitted greatly from having Charles II and the Duke of York (eventually James II) as the national leadership. After 1688, the English suffered from having William III as King, as he was focused on military matters, as had the French leadership during the entire time from 1660 on. The French were admittedly of two minds. A tremendous investment was made in their navy, but it was always secondary to the military. The French had many of the great generals of the day: Prince Conde, Turenne, and Vauban. Louis XIV also took an interest in generalship, under the tutelage of Vauban.
Contrast that with the Duke of York's service as an admiral (originally under the guidance of William Penn), and you see the difference between the two countries. At times, the French could outbuild the English, but when it came down to a choice between the military and the French navy, the military won.
The embrace of commerce raiding over fleet actions at the end of the 17th Century and the beginning of the 18th left the French unable to contend for mastery at sea. The ships had been built and armed where the mastery could have been achieved. They had a taste of what could be done at Beachy Head, but then backed off. The French downfall at Barfleur and La Hogue was politically driven, from the highest level. They also had a technically adroit admiral in Tourville, but had someone without the judgment and tactical flair that might have won the day. The man who could have won was dead. In any case, he had been a Huguenot, and the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 would have meant that he would not have been allowed to help, in any case.
In Britain, under William III and Mary II and then during Queen Anne's reign, the navy came under the grip of unimaginative bureaucrats who could enforce rules, and liked order, but didn't understand naval affairs. The establishments effectively shut down innovation in warship design, and the navy was not reinvigorated until Anson, Hawke, and others came along. New ship types were created, such as the 74 and frigates. The links to the mid-17th Century ships were gradually severed, so that the three-decked 80 could be discarded, with more progressive designs.
The Providence and Expedition: precursors to frigates
The Providence and Expedition were built about the same time as the Sovereign of the Seas. They completed circa 1637, and had frigate proportions, although they were not originally classed as such. Their dimensions were:
90ft x 27ft-4in x 11ft (this was after girdling from the original 26ft beam)
I have seen lists that gave slightly different dimensions for each ship., at least as originally built.
The armament for the Providence at the Four Days Battle known. Apparently, she had a mixed armament on the lower tier: 6-culverins (18pdr) and 14-demi-culverins (9pdr). There was not a complete upper tier, as the waist was not armed. She had a uniform armament of 14-sakers (5-1/4pdr) divided between the forecastle and quarterdeck. The Van de Velde drawing of the Expedition has too few ports for this armament. There seem to be 18 guns on the lower tier and 4 forward and 8 aft on the upper tier. There were also two guns on the poop, for a total of 32 guns.
I keep hoping to find the dimensions for the Rotterdam frigate Vrede
I keep wondering if the Rotterdam ship Vrede built circa 1654, was a small frigate or a member of the class of ships built to the 130ft charter. At the Battle of Lowestoft, the Vrede was commanded by Laurens van Heemskerck. She carried 40 guns but only a crew of 156, not the 200-some crew carried by a 130ft ship. She was not present for the Four Days Battle in 1666, but was at the St. James's Day Battle, where she only carried 34 guns and had a crew of 118 men. She was commanded by Juriaan Juriaanszoon Poel. At the famous raid on Chatham in 1667, she was commanded by the heroic Jan van Brakel. In the raid, she carried 40 guns and had a crew consisting of 110 sailors and 25 soldiers. I wondered if this Vrede was the ship reduced to a fireship and which burnt the Royal James (100 guns) at the Battle of Solebay.
The Amsterdam ship Hollandia at the Four Days Battle
Apparently, the Hollandia (built in 1665), which served as Cornelis Tromp's flagship at the Four Days Battle, was armed as if it were a three-decker. The waist was unarmed, however, so she didn't have three full tiers. her real dimensions seem to have been 165ft x 41-3/4ft x 15-1/4ft. Her crew was intended to be 400 sailors and 50 soldiers. She was armed as follows:
Lower tier: 10-brass 24pdr, 18-iron 18pdr
Middle tier: 28-brass 12pdr
Upper tier: 20-brass 6pdr (under the quarterdeck and forecastle)
Quarterdeck: 4-brass 6pdr
A 170 last ship
A ship measured at 170 lasts is probably something with dimensions similar to 116ft x 27ft x 11ft. If we use a factor of about 200, then lasts = length x beam x depth computes to 170 lasts = 116ft x 27ft x 11ft / 202.7. In reality, 200 is a good factor, and we just need to round generously.
The Dutch seemed to like certain ship lengths, such as 112ft, 116ft, 118ft, 120ft, 125ft, 128ft, 130ft, 132ft, and so on.
For example, the Zeeland ship West Cappelle (which we know was 112ft long) was measured at 150 lasts. That would mean dimensions something like 112ft x 26ft x 10.5ft, if we still round generously.
This is my system for estimating ship dimensions, where we only know lasts, or lasts and a length.
The Rotterdam ship Dolphijn in 1629
This is another Rotterdam ship listed in the "Staet van Oorlogh te Water" for the year 1629. The Dolphijn, built in 1623, was commanded by Wilboort Leendertszoon, of Den Briel. The ship was 170 lasts in size, and had a crew of 85 sailors. Her armament was:
2-brass half-cartouwen, 24pdr
2-brass chambered 24pdr
2-brass 12pdr ("veltstucken")
5-steenstukken with 10 chambers
This is the sort of ship that took part in the attack on the Spanish silver fleet with Piet Hein, in 1629.
Anglo-Dutch Wars blog is at 151 pages of text and pictures
I have been collecting the text and pictures for Anglo-Dutch Wars blog, since its inception in November 2003, and have a Word document that is now 151 pages long. I will be doing the same for my other blogs and websites. I'm not sure if these might see publication in some edited form, but given the volume of work, that is a possibility.
Tromp's proposed building program
In late 1652, Lt-Admiral Tromp proposed building 30 large ships to better match the English navy. The smallest of the ships would have been comparable to the Vrijheid, built by Amstedam in 1651, and then the rest were to be larger. The three charters would have been:
150ft x 38ft x 15ft (8ft between decks)
140ft x 36ft x 14-1/2ft
134ft x 34ft x 14ft
This is Tromp's proposal by admiralty:
Rotterdam: 1-150ft, 2-140ft, 2-134ft
Amsterdam: 2-150ft, 4-140ft, 4-134ft
Zeeland: 1-150ft, 2-140ft, 2-134ft
Noorderkwartier: 1-150ft, 2-140ft, 2-134ft
Friesland: 1-150ft, 2-140ft, 2-134ft
Totals: 6-150ft, 12-140ft, and 12-134ft
The definitive plan finally agreed to included the following ships:
Charters:
136ft x 34ft x 14ft (7-1/2ft between decks)
130ft x 32ft x 13-1/2ft (7ft between decks)
This is the plan by admiralty:
Rotterdam: 1-150ft, 4-130ft
Amsterdam: 4-136ft, 6-130ft
Zeeland: 2-136ft, 3-130ft
Noorderkwartier: 2-136ft, 3-130ft
Friesland: 2-136ft, 3-130ft
Total: 1-150ft, 10-136ft, 19-130ft
This plan was ultimately modified, with the effect of increasing the ship slightly.
As the war continued to go badly, another 30 ships were to be built, giving a 60-ship building program. I will cover the details later.
Good stuff, although not 17th Century
R.C. Anderson published a list of the Royal Navy in 1590-1591 in the 1957 Mariner's Mirror. The really interesting thing about this list is that it gives data about ships build in the mid-16th Century.
One thing he does is suggest that the Bull, rebuilt in 1570, retained her proportions from when she was originally built as one of Henry VIII's "galleasses". Her dimensions were given as: 80ft LK x 22ft x 11ft. Her rake forward was 28ft and the rake aft was 4ft-2in, so her length from stem to sternpost was about 112ft-2in. That gives a length to beam ratio of about 5:1.
I'm not prepared to reproduce the entire list here, right now, but there are things like the original dimensions for the Triumph, White Bear, and Elizabeth Jonas, as built and as they served in the Armada campaign.
Dutch guns
By 1654, the emerging standard for Dutch guns was to use 36pdr, 24pdr, 18pdr, 12pdr, 8pdr, 6pdr, 4-pdr, and 3pdr. In the 1630's it was not unusual to see other calibers: 15pdr, 10pdr, and 5pdr guns. Dr. Elias published inventories (numbers only) of Amsterdam guns in use in 1615/16, 1629, 1635, and 1654. They only showed a few 10pdr in use from 1635 to 1654, whiile brass 5pdr were limited to 1635. There large numbers of iron 5pdrs in use up through 1635 (and later, just not in 1654).
In 1666, however, Rotterdam still used some brass 15pdrs. The Gorcum or Gorinchem carried 2-brass 15pdr (which I believe were chambered). The Hof van Zeeland (Zeeland) carried some iron and brass 5pdrs, still. The Tholen (Zeeland) carried 2-brass 14pdr, the Kampveere (Zeeland) had some brass 5-pdr, and the frigate Zeelandia (Zeeland) also had some brass 5pdr.
How big was a 500 last ship in 1630?
At least one Dutch ship in service in 1630 or 1631 was 500 lasts. I would almost guess that it was of East Indiaman proportions, perhaps 160ft long. that would be something like 160ft x 36ft x 18ft. If you generously rounded the figure, and slightly adjusted the factor, that would be "500 lasts".
Two smaller Noorderkwartier ships
The Noorderkwartier was also building ships to a smaller charter having a 116ft length. Two of them were the Enkhuizen, built in 1645, and the Wapen van Alkmaar, built in 1640. They had identical dimensions: 116ft x 26-1/2ft x 10ft. Unlike the larger ships, these two had identical armaments: 2-brass 6pdr, 2-brass 4pdr, 4-iron 12pdr, 14-iron 8pdr, 4-iron 6pdr, and 2-iron 4pdr. The Enkhuizen was commanded by Dirk Gerritszoon Pomp, in 1654. The Wapen van Alkmaar was commanded by Arent Dirckszoon. I estimate that these two ships were 150 lasts. The larger 116ft ships, like the Gorcum (or Gorinchem) were 116ft x 27ft x 11ft, and I estimate that these were 170 lasts. I have radically changed my idea of what a valid factor was, so that I am using 200 as my factor, and then generously rounding. That way, if the Noorderkwartier ship Eenhoorn was 125ft x 29ft x 11.5ft, then the burden comes out to be 200 lasts, which is what it is supposed to be.
Sizes in lasts
I am listing my estimates of size in lasts for various ships:
The old Amsterdam ship Achilles, built about 1630, with dimensions 131ft x 29ft x 13ft, I am guessing that the size is 250 lasts.
The ship Amsterdam ship Overijssel had dimensions 112ft x 28ft x 11ft and had a size of 170 lasts.
The Amsterdam ship Zeelandia, built in 1644, with dimensions 120ft x 29-1/2ft x 11ft, had a size of 200 lasts.
The Noorderkwartier ship Enkhuizen built in 1645, with dimensions: 116ft x 26-1/2ft x 10ft, with a size of 150 lasts.
The Noorderkwartier ship Eenhoorn built in 1625, with dimensions of 125ft x 29ft x 11-1/2ft, with a size of 200 lasts
You can help fund further research at the Nationaal Archief
We appreciate our readership on our various blogs and websites. By visiting our advertisers, you can help fund further research at the Dutch National Archief in the Hague. We have a some leads that need to be investigate, and they wait for sufficient funding to enable us to let the staff at the Nationaal Archief to proceed.
Robert Holme's brother, John Holmes
John Holmes command the Dutch prize the St. Paul at the Four Days Battle, where his ship was burnt, as it was too heavily damaged to save.
John Holmes commanded the Bristol (50 guns) at the St. James Day Battle.
He commanded that Gloucester 3rd Rate (62 guns) at the Battle of the Smyrna Convoy in 1672. He only joined in the night following the first day. He took the Dutch Klein Hollandia, which sunk, as it was heavily damaged.
At the Battle of Solebay, he commanded the Rupert (66 guns) in the Earl of Sandwich's division in the Blue Squadron.
I don't have good lists for the Third Anglo-Dutch War, but John Holmes participated in all the battles, particularly distinguishing himself at the First Schooneveld battle, as Prince Rupert mentioned him in dispatches.
Frank Fox says that John Holmes eventually became an Admiral of the Fleet, senior admiral in the English navy.
Abraham Crijnssen
At the Battle of Nevis, there was the small Zeeland contingent commanded by Abraham Crijnssen and two squadrons of ships from Flotte de la Compagnie Royale des Indes Occidentales (Royal West Indian Company). Some of the French behaved badly and fled, and the all eventually left the English in control of the area. Abraham Crijnssen headed for Virginia, where they took and burned the English 4th Rate Elizabeth. My translation from Mollema's "Honor Roll": Abraham Crijnssen died in 1669. He served the Admiralty of Zeeland. In 1666 he distinguished himself in the Zeelandia (34 guns) in the Four Days Battle and the St. James Day Battle. In 1666-1667, he commanded the expedition to the West Indies, captured Suriname, distinguished himself in the Battle of Nevis (allied with the French), took great booty in the James River (Virginia), and and was awarded with the gold chain. In 1668, left for the West, again for Suriname, and died while there.
The Friesland ship Groenwold
I still can't figure out what the Friesland ship Groenwold was doing during the First Anglo-Dutch War. The ship was allegedly purchased in 1652. It is suspicious that the captain had the same last name as the ship, so perhaps, he had been the owner. In the handwritten document, of which I have a copy, the name is spelt "Groenwolt". As was so often the case, a trailing "D" became "T". The captain's name, in July 1654, was Theunis Groenwolt. It was noted that the ship had been purchased in 1652, as I said. The dimensions were: 132ft x 31ft x 13ft. The armament was 44 guns, including 14-18pdr, 12-12pdr, 10-8pdr, and 8-6pdr. The Prinses Albertina, built new in 1653, carried the same armament in 1654 (44 guns of the same sizes).
Charters from the 1653 Dutch building program
I continue to pore over Dr. Elias' book, De Vlootbouw in Nederland. There is a wealth of good information there, as well as good references to pursue. I find the charters that he describe especially useful. I am always looking for more than just Length x Beam x Depth (Hold). There are even round costs listed:
15oft ship: 50,000 guilders
140ft ship: 36,000 guilders
136ft ship: 35,ooo guilders
Charters (proposed and actually built):
136ft x 34ft x 14ft, with 7-1/4ft between decks
130ft x 32ft x 13-1/2ft, with 7ft between decks
130ft x 34ft, with a keel length of 108ft
136ft x 35ft with a keel length of 113ft
120ft x 19ft x 12ft with 7ft between decks
The Amsterdam ship Frederick Hendrick (1628)
I have been researching the Amsterdam ship Frederick Hendrick built in 1628 and lost in 1632. All that I have about the ship is that the captain was Willem van Brederode in 1629, the ship was 250 lsts, and was built in 1628. The crew was 95 men in 1629 and 1631. I would estimate that this ship, the earlier of the two Frederick Hendrick's, was similar in size to the ship built in 1636. Both were 250 lasts, so they were similar to the 128ft charter: 128ft x 31.5ft x 12ft, although the earlier ship may have been narrower and deeper.
A list of Dutch ships and captains from 1636
Dr. Elias' book De Vlootbouw in Nederland, in Appendix III, there is a reference to Vol.II, page 348 in "Aitzema". The passage is titled "Repairs of 22 ships, 5 yachts, and 5 frigates". I can't understand everything about it, but this is my attempt at translating: Gelderland
the ship Frederick Hendrick, Vice-Admiral Berchem
yacht Engel Gabriel, Captain Veen
the ship Aemelia, Lt. Admiral Tromp
the ship Gelderland, Captain Colster
the ship Dordrecht, Vice-Admiral Liefhebber
the ship Zee-kalf, Captain Vygh
the ship Prins Hendrick, Captain van Dieman
the ship Zutphen, Captain Catz
the ship Deventer, Captain Brouwer
the ship Utrecht, Captain Brederode
the ship Walcheren, Captain Vloo
the ship Haarlem, Captain Dionys Tourquoy
the ship Nassauw, Captain Lieve de Zeeu
the ship the David, Captain Claes Ham
the ship Eendracht, Captain Bleecker
the ship Hollandsche Tuin, Captain Halfhoorn
the ship Eenhoorn, Captain Keert de Koe
the yacht Bommel, Captain Dorrevelt
the ship Vlissingen, Commandeur Jan Evertsen
the ship Middelburg, Captain Banckert
the yacht Hasewind, Captain Hollaert
the ship Meerminne, Captain Vlieger
the yacht Zierikzee, Captain Regermorter
the ship the Bul, Captain van Galen
a ship, an unnamed captain
a new yacht, Captain Jan Sluys
the yacht the Dolphijn, Captain Resegeyn
still a new yacht, Captain Bouchorst
the ship Gouda, Captain Forant
Stad en Lande
the ship Zeeridder, Captain Jan Franssen
a yacht, Captain Gloeyenden Oven
a half yacht
We are experimenting with a new template that looks similar to KentishKnock.com
I just tried substituting a new template, to see how it worked. After seeing that there were issues, I rolled back to what we have been using (if anyone saw it during the time it was up). The new look is white on blue, with some gif's for the title and things like spacers.
In 1654, Dutch ships had very mixed armaments
Since last night, I have been examining my notes from the "Staet van Oorlogh te water" from July 1654. A striking freature is how many calibers of guns that ships carried. Older ships, in particular, seem to have been pretty much armed with whatever guns were available. Even the newer ships generally had multiple caliber guns on each deck. For example, the Noorderkwartier ship Wapen van Enkhuizen carried 34 guns: 2-brass 18pdr, 6-brass 6pdr, 10-iron 12pdr, 9-iron 8pdr, 5-iron 6pdr, and 2-iron 3pdr guns. The ship was built in 1645, and had dimensions 120ft x 29ft x 11-3/4ft. The new Noorderkwartier ship Alkmaar carried 32 guns: 2-brass 12pdr, 4-brass 6-pdr, 18-iron 12pdr, 4-iron 8pdr, and 4-iron 4pdr. The dimensions were 130ft x 32ft x 12ft, and was a much larger ship. This is the sort of ship that eventually carried 40 to 48 guns, but for whatever reason in 1654, they were only given 32 guns.
The two small Rotterdam frigates Overijssel and Utrecht
I was looking at the two small Rotterdam frigates from 1638 that are usually listed with their dimensions in Maas feet (100ft x 23ft x 8ft). I estimate that their dimensions in Amsterdam feet were 109ft x 25ft x 8.75ft. The two ships had quite different armaments (we know them from the 1654 list). They both had 22 guns, but composed from quite different selections of guns. The Overijssel carried 6 brass guns (4-chambered 24pdr and 2-light 12pdr) and 16 iron guns (4-8pdr and 12-6pdr). The Utrecht also had 6 brass guns (6-chambered 12pdr) and 16 iron guns (10-8pdr, 2-6pdr, and 4-4pdr). The broadside weight for the Overijssel was 112lbs while the broadside weight for the Utrecht was only 90lbs. The Overijssel had an armament weight of no more than 21.87 tons. The Utrecht had an armament weight of no more than 18.74 tons, probably much less than that. These weights don't take into account the weights of chambered pieces, so they should be considerably less than what I have listed here. The Overijssel made sacrifices to get the 4-24pdr guns, as she only had 10 guns of 8lbs shot and above. The Utrecht didn't have the large guns, but did have 16 guns of 8lbs shot and above. The interesting 26 February 1652 Admiralty of Rotterdam list indicates that there was a third ship of this class, the Gelderland. She had identical dimensions but only had 20 guns of unknown sizes. It is hard to know if this data was correct, as this is the only reference that lists a 20-gun Gelderland.
Small Dutch ships armed with 18pdrs
I still am rather mystified about a small Rotterdam ship armed with 18pdrs. The ship in question is the small Rotterdam, built in 1639, which I compare with the considerably larger Gelderland (built in 1634). Both of their lower tiers were armed with 18pdrs. I really don't understand how that could be for the Rotterdam, unless they were drakes or chambered guns, as I would have thought that normal iron guns would be too heavy. Too great an armament weight was a sign that something was amiss with the Aemelia and Brederode dimensions. It turned out that they were listed in Maas feet, but many people treated them as if they were measured in Amsterdam feet. People like Ab Hoving and Jan Glete had long recognized this issue, and had made the adjustment. The dimensions for the Rotterdam are: 116ft x 27ft x 11ft (in Maas feet: 106ft x 25ft x 9.5ft) The dimensions for the Gelderland are: 128.5ft x 30.5ft x 13.5ft (in Maas feet: 118ft x 28ft x 12.5ft) The Rotterdam's armament (30 guns) was: brass guns: 2-chambered 24pdr, 2-chambered 4pdr iron guns: 18-18pdr, 8-8pdr The Gelderland's armament (40 guns) was: brass guns: 2-light 18pdr, 4-light 12pdr, 2-chambered 12pdr, 2-chambered 6pdr, 2-chambered 4pdr iron guns: 16-18pdr, 6-12pdr, 6-6pdr The Rotterdam, in particular, seems to be anomolous. I estimate the Rotterdam's displacement to have been 486.5 tons. Her broadside was 222 lbs. The armament weight was at most 48.1 tons. I am guessing that the 18pdrs were drakes or chambered, and that would reduce the weight down from the maximum of 8.59% of displacement. I use that measure rather than percentage of burden, as Frank Fox had suggested that it was a better measure than "gross tonnage". I estimate the Gelderland's displacement as 741.4 tons. Her broadside weight was 224 lbs, little more than that of the Rotterdam. The armament weight was at most 45.32 tons, which would be 6.11% of the displacement, which is in line with other 40-gun ships. If I use my estimates for brass chambered and drakes, derived from what I learned from Nico Brinck, then the Rotterdam's armament weight drops to 26.84 tons, which is 5.52% of displacement. Of course, this is all guesswork, but it still explains a lot.
Some specifics from the French documents
Since I hinted about the French intelligence documents, here are some nuggets (dimensions, although only length and beam):
Beschermer, 50 guns 142ft x 36.5ft
Deventer, 62 guns 1665 148ft x 38ft
Dolfijn, 82 guns 1667 171ft x 43ft
Essen, 50 guns 1667 142ft x 36.75ft
Geloof, 58 guns 1661 140ft x 40ft (I'm guessing 140ft x 37ft)
Wakende Boei, 40 guns 130ft x 32ft
Windhond, 20 guns 1667 94ft x 23.5ft
Woerden, 66 guns 1667 150ft x 39ft
There are also some dimensions given that differ from those usually published:
Gouden Leeuwen, 50 guns 1666 141ft x 36.5ft
Witte Olifant, 82 guns 1666 169ft x 43ft
This is by no means exhaustive, as there is more, and more to be interpreted.
Missing Dutch ship data from French sources
I am in the process of doing a spreadsheet of ship calculations for Dutch ships. Right now, I am concentrating on those ships at the Battle of Solebay (28 May 1672 Old Style). I have run into several cases where the only source of dimensions is from a set of documents supplied to me by Jan Glete that he had obtained while doing research in France. It turns out that French intelligence reports had dimensions for a number of ships, including the Essen (50 guns), the Deventer (60 guns), the Beschermer (50 guns), the Wakende Boei (46 guns), to name a few. I have this information at Dutch ships in French documents (at kentishknock.com).
My estimates for some of the odd sizes of Dutch guns
I now have the basis for starting to estimate Dutch guns. This is a quick attempt, based on what I learned from Nico Brinck and from G.C. Dik's book:
Regular:
2pdr 500 lbs
4pdr 1100 lbs
10pdr 2750 lbs
Brass Drakes and Chambered pieces:
I'm hoping that better information might eventually become available, but this is a start.
Swedish gun weights
Nico Brinck also provided data about Swedish gun weights (frequently imported and used by the Dutch):
6 pdrs 1700 pounds
12 pdrs 3160 pounds
The weights are in pounds of 500 grams.
Dutch cannon weights
Nico Brinck, who is a ship's captain, kindly provided me with some information about Dutch gun weights. He says that chambered pieces are the same as drakes. This is what he provided:
BRONZE:
6 pdrs, 1725-2243 pounds ; drakes 520-1245 pounds
12 pdrs, 2400-3640 pounds ; drakes 1075-1592 pounds
18 pdrs, 3749-4060 pounds ; drakes-no info
24 pdrs, 4075-5378 pounds ; drakes 2770 pounds (only one example)
Jacques Forant in the campaign leading up to the Battle of the Downs in 1639
C. R. Boxer's book, Tromp's Journal 1639, has some more information about Jacques Forant.
In a note and in the text on p.31:
Five Dutch ships were brought into the Downs by the English because two Dutch ships had taken leaving Dover roads. The five ships were the Utrecht (28 guns) Captain Brederode, Prins Willem (32 guns) Captain Pieterszoon, Deventer (28 guns) Captain Post, Overijssel (26 guns) Captain Forant, and the Tholen (18 guns) Captain Hollaer. They were released after making a "humble apology".
On 16 June 1639, ships arrived from the Goeree Gat, which included Commander Cats, Captains Forant, Dorrevelt, and Pieter Pieterszoon. They brought a letter to Tromp from their High Majesties about supplies.
On 10 July 1639, Captain Forant was with Tromp's main body of ships:
Adm. Tromp
Witte de With
Jan Evertsen
Rear-Adm Willem van Coulster
Captain van Dieman
Jan Theuniszoon Sluis
Matijs Gillissen
Theunis Post
Keert de Koe
Lambert Ybrantszoon Halfhoorn
Captain de Zeeuw
Jan Pouwelszoon
Sijbrant Barentssen
Jan Garbrants
Captain Backhuijsen
Captain 't Hoen
Pieter Pieterszoon
Jacques Forant
Tjaert de Groot
On 1 October 1639, Captain Forant reported to Tromp that English nobles on shore said that 6 or 7 Dunkirk frigates had arrived to take soldiers from the armada to Dunkirk.
On 2 October, Captain Forant received 20 soldiers from a group of 160 that had arrived, having been part of the garrison of den Bos.
On 3 October, Captain Forant was assigned to a squadron commanded by Joris van Cats: Cornelis Engelen Silvergieter, Sijbrant Waterdrincker, Dirck Claeszoon van Dongen, Frans Janszoon, Jacques Forant, Captain Regermorter, Commandeur Johannes Hend., Captain de Nijs, Lieuwe de Zeeuw, Captain Juynbol, and Captain Melcknap, and others. On 12 October, Rear-Admiral Cats lead the attack on the Flemish admiral: Joris van Cats, Jacques Forant (Overijssel, 26 guns), Jacob Turcquois, a fireship, Jan de Lapper, Captain Schllinghout, Elias Balck, Captain Melcknap, and Pieter Janszoon van den Brouck.
Dutch captains in the campaign leading up to the Battle of the Downs
After digging into Charles Boxer's book Tromp's Journal 1639, I am starting to think that it might be possible to fairly completely list at least the captains, not the ships, that took part in the Battle of the Downs. I am hampered by not having an lists for 1634-1651, but at least some of the 1633 list will be relevant. Boxer even has named a few ships. For example, Jacques Forant's ship was the Overijssel (26 guns). There are others named, as well. The only difficulty is that the index of the book is quite lacking. Boxer also mangled some names, as he was obviously not that familiar with the material. I can understand the difficulty of reading handwritten Dutch names, and it only really becomes feasible when you can recognize a scribble as being some particular captain's name.
Witte de With's flagship of 1636 must have been go...
I wonder if the Overijssel's armament in 1666 is a...
The smallest ships from the Dutch First Anglo-Dutc...
Estimating the Dutch dimensions for the English fi...
It is surprising that I don't have a document from...
The effect of political leadership on navies is ea...
The Providence and Expedition: precursors to friga...
I keep hoping to find the dimensions for the Rotte...
The Amsterdam ship Hollandia at the Four Days Batt...
Anglo-Dutch Wars blog is at 151 pages of text and ...
You can help fund further research at the Nationaa...
We are experimenting with a new template that look...
The two small Rotterdam frigates Overijssel and Ut...
My estimates for some of the odd sizes of Dutch gu...
Jacques Forant in the campaign leading up to the B...
Dutch captains in the campaign leading up to the B...
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2733
|
__label__wiki
| 0.97285
| 0.97285
|
07-May-2019 to 15:59
Senegalese religious leader Sheikh Béthio Thioune dies
APA-Dakar (Senegal) By Demba Dieng — The leader of the Thiantacounes (sect of the Mouride brotherhood) in Senegal, Sheikh Béthio Thioune has passed away in Bordeaux, France after a long illness.
S/African leader sends best wishes Muslims on Ramadan
APA-Pretoria (South Africa) — President Cyril Ramaphosa has extended best wishes to South Africa’s Muslims as the community begins fasting for the Holy Month of Ramadan.
30-Apr-2019 to 14:56
Senegal to observe lunar crescent on May 5
APA-Dakar-(Senegal) — Senegal will on May 5 observe the lunar crescent whose appearance marks the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan, Senegalese Association for the Promotion of Astronomy (ASPA) said on Tuesday.
S/Africa clergy tells home truths about Ramaphosa
APA-Cape Town (South Africa) — While President Cyril Ramaphosa has given the country some hope and optimism, he is not an all-powerful individual and can be replaced, Anglican Archbishop Thabo Makgoba has said in Cape Town.
Ghana’s chief imam marks 100th birthday in church
APA-Accra (Ghana) — Ghana’s national chief imam Sheikh Dr. Osmanu Nuhu Sharubutu on Sunday celebrated his 100th birthday with Christians at Christ the King Catholic Church in Accra.
S/Africans urged to obey water safety measures during Easter
APA-Pretoria (South Africa) — The South African government has appealed to the citizenry, particularly religious leaders, to be cautious and stick to water safety measures to avoid drowning incidents during the Easter weekend.
S/Africa mourns death of 13 worshipers in fallen church
APA-Durban (South Africa) — Some 13 congregants killed when a KwaZulu-Natal Province church collapsed on them this week had been asleep at the time of the tragedy, South African police said on Saturday.
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2737
|
__label__cc
| 0.734568
| 0.265432
|
The Topline Summary in a Sentence is: It doesn’t matter WHAT you do. It matters WHY you do it.
“What’s good, if brief, is twice as good.” – Baltasar Gracian
Don't you hate it when you've always wanted to read a book but never able to quite find the time?
Or do you just want to extract the key ideas of a book without having to spend weeks and months reading through it all?
Fret not!
Welcome to Top Line Summaries, brought to you by BrevityBooks Publishing - encapsulating the core concepts, big ideas and best bits from all your favourite business and leadership, personal development and self-help bestselling books.
In an age where personal time is more limited than ever, our core belief is that ‘being brief is best.’ Whether in business or at home, Topline Summaries will get you on the express road to success!
The latest book to get the infamous 'Topline Summary Treatment' is Simon Sinek's groundbreaking book, Start with Why.
“The more organizations and people who learn to start with WHY, the more people there will be who wake up being fulfilled by the work they do.” – Simon Sinek, Start with Why
Have you ever wondered why some companies fail, others do average, and some - the rare few – become huge success stories? Why is it that some leaders never achieve greatness and others motivate millions? What sets apart the mundane from the masterful, the indifferent from the inspirational?
Simon Sinek encapsulated the answers to all of these questions in his groundbreaking book Start with Why, following on from his hugely popular and now legendary TED talk. We have extracted the best and most pertinent parts of the book and here it now is, available just a short read away!
Download The Topline Summary of: Simon Sinek's Start with Why - Be a Great Leader and Inspire Other People to Take Action (Topline Summaries) PDF
Download The Topline Summary of: Simon Sinek's Start with Why - Be a Great Leader and Inspire Other People to Take Action (Topline Summaries) ERUB
Download The Topline Summary of: Simon Sinek's Start with Why - Be a Great Leader and Inspire Other People to Take Action (Topline Summaries) DOC
Download The Topline Summary of: Simon Sinek's Start with Why - Be a Great Leader and Inspire Other People to Take Action (Topline Summaries) TXT
Reviews of the The Topline Summary of: Simon Sinek's Start with Why - Be a Great Leader and Inspire Other People to Take Action (Topline Summaries)
An enticing cover and a controversial story.
It was a surprisingly interesting book. Very highly recommended.
The phone number must be written to protect against robots
An interesting book, not like the other
Download EBOOK The Topline Summary of: Simon Sinek's Start with Why - Be a Great Leader and Inspire Other People to Take Action (Topline Summaries) by Gareth F. Baines Online free
PDF: the-topline-summary-of-simon-sineks-start-with-why-be-a-great-leader-and-inspire-other-people-to-take-action-topline-summaries.pdf
ERUB: the-topline-summary-of-simon-sineks-start-with-why-be-a-great-leader-and-inspire-other-people-to-take-action-topline-summaries.epub
DOC: the-topline-summary-of-simon-sineks-start-with-why-be-a-great-leader-and-inspire-other-people-to-take-action-topline-summaries.doc
TXT: the-topline-summary-of-simon-sineks-start-with-why-be-a-great-leader-and-inspire-other-people-to-take-action-topline-summaries.txt
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2740
|
__label__wiki
| 0.863183
| 0.863183
|
Nasmith: New President of Toronto Architectural Conservancy
Heritage in the Core Service Review
Buffalo a Knock Out and Knocks Itself Out
Buffalo News: Quick Summary of Buffalo's most important Landmarks
Heritage Canada Foundation calls on the Minister of Culture to intervene in Goderich, Ontario
Own a Piece of History Sale of Heritage Buildings
Improvements Planned for Built Heritage News
Buffalo News: Buffalo puffs its chest and deserves to
Buffalo News: Importance of National Trust Conference to Buffalo Preservation
Buffalo News: Inside the Grain Elevators!
Daily Gleaner: Art meets history on stained-glass tour
Globe and Mail: Flatiron for Sale
Globe and Mail: Lloyd Alter's Mini Home Available for Rent
Globe and Mail: Photo Gallery Lloyd Alter's Mini-Home
Globe and Mail: Touring with Robert Moffat
Globe and Mail: One Building Campaign
Toronto Star: Aboriginal Remains/Aboriginal Rights
Toronto Star: George St. Fire
Toronto Star: History of 225 George Street, Toronto
Toronto Star: Toronto the Beautiful: NOT
Toronto Star: Toronto's Streets
Walrus Magazine: Toronto the Struggling
nomeancity: Importing Great Architects
National Post: Relics of the past? The citys low-attendance museums serve a unique purpose, but can they survive city hall-mandated restructuring?
The Record: Goderich Aftermath
London Free Press: Letter to Editor re: Goderich
Kingsville Reporter Council votes against Heritage Committee advice and removes house from inventory
Hamilton Spectator: Urban Design Awards 2011
Peterborough Examiner: Peterborough Awarded Prince of Wales Prize
National Post: Tremont Restoration Success Story
New York Times: Demolition: I M Pei's Kennedy Terminal
New YorK Times: Design Helps in Third World
New York Times: Steve Jobs and Apple Buildings
WBEZ: Chicago Doors Open
Riverdale Historical Society October Event
Archaeological Investigations for Upper Canada's First Parliament Buildings
1. Heritage Canada Foundation calls on the Minister of Culture to intervene in Goderich, Ontario
Ottawa, Ontario, October 4, 2011 – The Heritage Canada Foundation (HCF) has shared with the Ontario Minister of Culture its concerns about the uncertain future of tornado-ravaged heritage conservation districts in the Town of Goderich, where designated heritage buildings with the potential to be stabilized and repaired may be demolished without due consideration.
Goderich has two heritage conservation districts—West Street and Main Square—both of which sustained damage from a powerful tornado that wreaked havoc in the historic downtown on August 21.
A month ago, HCF joined the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario (ACO) in offering technical advice to the town of Goderich in assessing heritage conservation options. Since that time, leading experts in heritage building stabilization and conservation have made efforts to provide pro bono advice and assistance to the town.
However, it has been reported that expert advice and offers of assistance are being rejected, and there are concerns about the fate of designated heritage resources.
On September 26, 201l, Goderich Town Council approved demolition permits for two significant 19th century heritage structures in the Courthouse Square: the studio of the famous historic Canadian photographer, Reuben R. Sallows at the corner of Montreal Street, and the former Opera House at the corner of Kingston Street.
While HCF fully respects the need for local autonomy and decision-making, we believe that intervention by the Ministry to support local efforts and also ensure appropriate decision-making is now essential.
Please join HCF in encouraging the Ontario Minister of Culture to ensure Goderich’s designated heritage buildings are given appropriate consideration.
The Heritage Canada Foundation is a national registered charity dedicated to the preservation of Canada’s historic places. Your support is vital to our work. Please join or make a tax-deductible donation today.
Carolyn Quinn
Director, Communications
cquinn@heritagecanada.org
1-866-964-1066; 613-237-1066 ext 229
To be removed from the mailing list, send us an email with the word “unsubscribe” in the subject box.
2. Own a Piece of History Sale of Heritage Buildings
Ontario: Ministry of Transportation
Commercial Focus Advisory Services CFAS), on behalf of the Ministry y ( ) y of Transportation (MTO), is pleased to offer a limited number of heritage buildings for sale.
No specified asking price.
Relocations must be completed by June 20, 2012 by a qualified moving
firm.
Proposals must be submitted by 12:00 pm on January 20, 2012.
contractor. The buyer will be responsible for all financial aspects of the
bid and relocation.
Stephen Fagyas, MA, MCIP (President)
Commercial Focus Advisory Services Inc.
Email: stephen@commercialfocusadvisoryservices.ca
www.highway407east.com
According to a report in the Toronto Star on October 25, there is great interest in these properties. Viewings Nov 3,4,5, Jan 20 deadline for bids.
3. Nasmith: New President of Toronto Architectural Conservancy
At the AGM at the end of September, I was elected the President of the Toronto Architectural Conservancy, replacing long serving Acting President Alec Keefer. Alec will continue to serve on the executive as Past President and will continue his research projects, most notably he is working on an exhibition on Yonge Street.
Other executive members are Steve Russell, Vice President, Peter Rezgatis, Treasurer, Adam Sobolak Secretary, and several other members at large.
We held our first executive meeting in early October. We hope to at long last push ahead the long awaited history of Rosedale, to publish a book on Toronto Art Deco.
We started discussions of setting up an online data base where all Toronto researchers could store information on Toronto's buildings, which we hope would become a useful tool to find out what is out there, but also to bridge the gap between the lack of research staff at the City of Toronto and the need to expand Toronto's inventory of heritage property.
If you are interested in getting more involved please get in touch.
More on that as things evolve.
4. Improvements Planned for Built Heritage News
Catherine Nasmith, editor
You will notice if you go to the website for Built Heritage News http://www.builtheritagenews.ca that there is now a donate button allowing you to make online donations.
Please note that BHN is not a charity. You will get a receipt through PayPal, but no tax receipt.
BHN is heavily subsidized by Catherine Nasmith Architect and some generous friends. All monies received go to pay for improvements to our technical facilities online. To date the editor does not receive remuneration, nor those who generously contribute articles.
Please note, you can post notices to your heritage events, links to stories in your local press, and articles on what is going on in your area by going to http://www.builtheritagenews.ca and clicking on the post keys at the lower left side of the page. You can also go directly from the same links in the e-newsletter.
Over the past several years BHN has accumulated sufficient funds to enable some modest improvements, to make the site work more like a Blog. Over the next couple of months you will see a shift in the graphics of the website, an ability to include more photos of different sizes, an improved search function to allow you to find past articles much more easily, a twitter feed and facebook pages, ad space for people offering services in the sector, a sponsors page, as well as more frequent posting of articles to the website between e-newsletters.
Built Heritage News is free to subscribers but if you are able to support these improvements all donations are most welcome. Just click on the donate key or send cheques as you prefer. A suggested minimum donation is $25.00 a year, more would put us in a position to compensate writers and editors.
5. Heritage in the Core Service Review
Mary MacDonald
Response to Built Heritage News, Issue No. 181, October 1, 2011
Regarding your query about whether or not the Toronto Heritage Property
Tax Rebate Program and Toronto Heritage Grant Program were cut during
the Core Service Review:
As part of the outcome of the Core Service Review, at their meeting of
September 19, 2011 the Executive Committee referred the following
recommendation in the report (September 9, 2011) from the City Manager,
back to the City Manager as part of the 2012 and 2013 budget process:
"Consider reducing the Toronto Heritage Grant Program and the Toronto
Heritage Property Tax Rebate Program. "
http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2011.EX10.1
This motion was adopted by City Council.
Regarding the sources of funding for the Toronto Heritage Grant
Program, please relate the following to your readers:
The former City of Toronto established the Toronto Heritage Grant
Program with the financial assistance of the Province under the
Municipal Heritage Fund grant segment of the Province's Buildings
Rehabilitation and Improvement Campaign (BRIC). The Province awarded the
maximum contribution of $250,000.00 to the former City of Toronto. In
addition, the former City was required to contribute $191,666.67.
Together, these monies were used to establish a separate Community
Heritage Reserve Fund. The Toronto Heritage Grant Program operated from
1986-1989 with the support of additional capital budget allocations from
City Council to this Reserve Fund. With budget cutbacks beginning in
1990, staff began limiting total annual grant awards to only the
interest generated from the Reserve Fund to ensure the continuation of
the Program.
When the former City of Toronto amalgamated in 1998, Council expanded
the Toronto Heritage Grant Program to provide service City-wide and
allocated an additional $100,000.00 to the Community Heritage Reserve
Fund. Subsequent funding was achieved through a one-time Section 37
contribution to the Reserve Fund. In 2010 the Community Heritage Reserve
Fund was fully expended in accordance with City Council direction.
Currently, $260,000 is allocated to the program through the Community
Partnership and Investment Program (CPIP). Since the initial
contribution of $250,000 the Province has not contributed any further
funds to the Toronto Heritage Grant Program. There have not been any
private donations to the program. In its current iteration, the program
is entirely funded by the City of Toronto through CPIP.
On another note, you made reference to the motion about "museums" and
Heritage Toronto. Could you please advise your readers that the motion
to which you refer was not only about museums and HT. To be clear, the
City Manager was directed by City Council to review the option of
consolidating Museum Services (Culture) and Heritage Preservation
Services (City Planning) with an independent Heritage Toronto and report
its feasibility to the Executive Committee on November 1. A further
motion was made, and adopted, that added investigation into the
feasibility of making Heritage Toronto a non-profit organization.
Response gratefully received.
6. Buffalo a Knock Out and Knocks Itself Out
Buffalo's Art Deco City Hall
Interior Ellicott Hall, Daniel Burnham, site of one of the closing parties
Name me a City of 300,000 with buildings by Wright (6), Richardson, Burnham, Saarinen (father and son), Sullivan, Gordon Bundschaft all in a park setting designed by Olmsted. That's right, Buffalo.
And such a rich history. We heard several times that it was once the eighth largest City in the U.S. with more percapita millionaires than anywhere else. Riches from being the biggest grain handling centre at the head of the lakes.
And those millionaires built well and often.
Our host city for the National Trust for Preservation conference could not have been more welcoming. Almost too eager for the 2600 delegates to discover the city's considerable charms. From our hotel manager who brought breakfast up personally after an internal snaffoo, to the thousand volunteers who did just about anything you can imagine to make sure all visitors were welcomed. At the Albright Knox gallery the person on the desk gave us a ten minute run down on gallery history and collections. Thanks for coming was on the lips of every person. Every person in town was on best behavior, the city was scrubbed as if they were expecting the Olympics.
Buffalo has had some hard times, but in no small way thanks to preservation activists, Buffalo is welcoming the world back. Go...you won't be sorry.
Buffalo will not be talking about itself in the past tense for much longer.
7. Buffalo News: Buffalo puffs its chest and deserves to
Donn Esmonde
Conference is start of something big
Guaranty Building by Louis Sullivan, preservation battle hard won, Buffalo News shot
She wore an expensive suit and a gold necklace, a stately woman whose carriage and dress suggested both “feminine” and “formidable.” She came here from Austin, a long-stemmed Texas rose set loose in downtown’s concrete canyon.
Yet my first impression of a stranger in a strange land proved to be anything but. Instead, Gay Ratliff forged a cultural connection to our northern burg and expressed an appreciation for its attributes that transcended boundaries. Never has the distance between Texas and the H. H. Richardson Towers seemed so insignificant –and that is a testament to the power of our product.
“This is an exquisite city,” she told me. “You have so much to be proud of. This has been an amazing [experience] for me.”
We stood Friday in the downtown Convention Center, surrounded by folks for whom Darwin Martin is a household name. The National Trust for Historic Preservation, the All-Star Game of heritage, is here. All of the mohammads finally came to Buffalo’s mountain. They were awed.
Ratliff saw Thursday the places she had previously only heard about:A Wright site, the Albright- Knox Art Gallery, Olmsted’s Delaware Park. A longtime Trust board member, she hosted the conference in Austin last year. She knows an upstaging when she sees it.
“You have many breathtaking buildings, much more of a beautiful fabric than Austin has,” she told me. “I knew about the buildings and [Frederick Law] Olmsted and [Louis] Sullivan and Wright. But it is just fabulous to actually see it.”
Editor's Note:Buffalo is recognizing just how important preservation is to its future as a high quality place to live and visit. Each preservation battle has been challenging, but the strong fabric is the framework for a municipal rebirth as a creative city.
8. Buffalo News: Importance of National Trust Conference to Buffalo Preservation
Buffalo's heritage takes center stage
Darwin Martin House by FLW gets finishing touches for conference goers
Buffalo is accustomed to hosting large conferences, but there's something special about the one that begins Wednesday and runs for four days.
For the first time, the annual conference put on by the Washington, D.C.-based National Trust for Historic Preservation, the nation's pre-eminent preservation organization, is coming to Buffalo.
Hosting the National Preservation Conference -- and the recognition that comes with it -- is seen as a sign that Buffalo has arrived as a leading destination for late 19th and early 20th century architecture.
"Every city is looking for an edge, for its story to tell, and this is Buffalo's," said Ed Healy, vice president of marketing for Visit Buffalo Niagara. "This amazing collection of American architecture is our point of difference.
"All of this has, in a sense, been given the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval by the National Trust."
Buffalo's chance to bask in the spotlight is also seen as a validation of preservationists who over the decades -- from the suites to the streets -- have acted to preserve Buffalo's historic legacy for future generations.
That includes protecting a number of the city's most celebrated buildings from the wrecking ball, including the Guaranty Building and Shea's Performing Arts Center, which will be featured attractions at the conference.
Editor's Note:We are so glad we came, Buffalo deserves its moniker as the City of Good Neighbours If you haven't been to see the Darwin Martin house in recent years, make a plan to get there. Recent restorations of the reception area, the connecting wings, removal of buildings and inclusion of the Gardener's Cottage make this one of the most important sites for FLW tourism.
9. Buffalo News: Inside the Grain Elevators!
Mark Sommer
Revelations of the grain elevators
National Preservation Conference attendees get a rare look inside 3 of the city's most mysterious, influential and iconic structures
photo, Catherine Nasmith
The 14 hulking grain elevators along the Buffalo River are the largest concentration of such structures in one place in the world, but they're normally off limits to the public.
That changed for several hours Friday, when visitors were allowed into three of the colossal fortresses -- the Marine A, American and Perot elevators and the connecting Perot Malt House, once used to manufacture Genesee beer.
The visitors looked up at the 120-foot-high silos, stood around cone-shaped hoppers and former malting kilns, and contemplated Buffalo's industrial past.
For Margaret Raab of Williamsville, just going inside was a revelation.
"You drive by these massive structures all your life, and you just have no idea what's inside," she said while standing in the Marine A silo. "It's beautiful and it's massive, it's just unbelievable, the size of it."
Grain elevators, which were invented in Buffalo by Joseph Dart in 1943, are seen by some as dilapidated ruins from the city's faded industrial past that are large blights on the landscape.
Those views were not evident among the National Preservation Conference attendees, or those affiliated with the University at Buffalo's School of Architecture and Planning, the host of the event.
Editor's Note:Bob and I made the cover of the Buffalo News this morning....what a stunning experience......and an unbelievable amount of trouble to arrange for delegates, lighting, insurance, party and the most sublime--musicians who wrote pieces specifically for the acoustic....UNBELIEVABLE. p.s. that's me in the centre of the pic
10. Buffalo News: Quick Summary of Buffalo's most important Landmarks
Masters of our Cityscape
Darwin Martin House, Frank Lloyd Wright, photo Catherine Nasmith
Guaranty Building, Louis Sullivan, photo Catherine Nasmith
Buffalo is a city of architectual masterpieces. The three seminal giants of American architecture –Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Sullivan and Henry Hobson Richardson –are represented by the Martin House Complex, Guaranty Building and Richardson Olmsted Complex, respectively.
Buffalo boasts the first parks and parkway system by Frederick Law Olmsted, the country’s foremost landscape designer. Eliel and Eero Saarinen designed the city’s masterful Kleinhans Music Hall.
This is where renowned church designer Richard Upjohn created St. Paul’s Cathedral; leading railroad architects Alfred Fellheimer and Steward Wagner drew up plans for Buffalo Central Terminal; Rapp & Rapp, the great movie palace designers, realized Shea’s Performing Arts Center, and acclaimed Buffalo architects like E. B. Green and Esenwein & Johnson flourished.
The list of contributions merges with the city’s historic neighborhoods, waterfront and museums. Here’s a snapshot of Buffalo’s greatest structures, and the architects who designed them:
Editor's Note:Fantastic photo gallery of Buffalo's many architectural charms
11. Daily Gleaner: Art meets history on stained-glass tour
TARA CHISLETT
Cole Burston, The Daily Gleaner - Peter Pacey and Meghan Leroux admire the stained-glass windows in Memorial Hall on the University of New Brunswick campus during the first stop of the Stained Glass Bus Tour over the weekend.
He didn't get to hear most of the comments from those who took part in his Stained Glass Bus Tour on Saturday afternoon, but John Leroux said he overheard one remark in St. Dunstan's Parish that caught his attention.
"Many people on the tour ... were saying they had never seen some of the glass there," he said.
"But one of the realities of churches is quite often you don't go into a church if it's not your own church. You mainly go in for a wedding or a funeral, and those times you're not necessarily looking around ... You're focused on one thing. So people were pretty amazed."
Leroux, an architect and historian, said Saturday's overcast skies were perfect for guiding a group of 50-plus people on a tour highlighting some of the city's finest stained-glass windows.
The event was part of Culture Days Fredericton 2011.
Although he's been studying stained glass for years, Leroux said this is the first time he's given a guided tour around the city.
In addition to the stained-glass tour, Leroux also opened his exhibit Glorious Light: The Stained Glass of Fredericton on Saturday at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery.
12. Globe and Mail: Flatiron for Sale
Kim Mackrael
Toronto Iconic Flatiron Building for Sale
One of Toronto’s most iconic buildings is up for sale.
The Flatiron Building, a triangular red-brick office building at the corner of Front, Wellington and Church Streets, went on the market last week.
Eve Lewis, president and CEO of Woodcliffe Landmark Properties, said her company is selling the building now because it’s the first time in about a century that the entire office component is available at once.
The pub Flatiron and Firkin, located at the building’s base, has a lease that will keep it in the location until the end of 2015, but the law firm that has occupied the Flatiron’s office space for the last 15 years is leaving, she said.
“It’s probably a once in a lifetime opportunity,” Ms. Lewis said. “We’ve restored the building and created as much value as we can.”
The building, also known as the Gooderham Building, was constructed in 1892 for George Gooderham, former president of the Bank of Toronto and owner of Gooderham and Worts distillery. It’s five storeys tall and nearly 20,000 square feet, and is designed in Romanesque and Gothic revival style.
A giant trompe l’oeil mural on the back wall of the building, facing Berczy Park, mixes painted windows with the building’s real office panes, and is one of the city’s most unique and flamboyant outdoor works of art.
13. Globe and Mail: Lloyd Alter's Mini Home Available for Rent
A wandering house finds a place to call home
This is going to be two stories in one, a little one and a big one, because I went to see one thing, which I did, but got an earful about another fascinating thing, which is still to be done.
The little thing is exactly 375 square feet: Treehugger.com writer and architect Lloyd Alter, whom I know a little, bought a prefabricated “miniHome” from Toronto company Sustain Design Studio six years ago. He “fell in love” with the eco-conscious design by Andy Thomson and believed he could help the company sell a bunch. The short version of the story, which he recounted in full on Treehugger in August, is that things didn’t go as planned, since the off-grid miniHome is technically classified as a trailer, and, he wrote, “people who admire green modern prefab don't get trailer parks, and the people who live in trailer parks laugh at the $125,000 price tag.”
To skip ahead, Mr. Alter had to mothball his trailer until this past June, when it was finally set down and made available for use in Brighton, Ontario at Timber House Country Inn Resort.
I recently visited this wonderful tucked-away inn—lovingly created from scratch over a dozen years ago by David Dingle and Michele Walkau—to experience the miniHome for myself. From first glance, it’s a lovely little thing—a bright red caboose with a row of windows and a raised entrance sheltered by a solar-paneled canopy—and inside is lovely, too, with great gobs of plywood, built-in bookshelves, a tidy two-toned kitchen with gas stove, and, because sleeping quarters are in a loft over the kitchen, generous living and dining areas. Even the cedar-lined bathroom is big enough for two.
14. Globe and Mail: Photo Gallery Lloyd Alter's Mini-Home
375 Gorgeous square feet...an amazing portable home. Congrats Lloyd!
15. Globe and Mail: Touring with Robert Moffat
Reading the narrative of Torontos mid-century architecture
Mid-century modern architecture, whether private homes or public buildings, is well represented in Toronto, but save for Don Mills or the financial district, much of it is isolated and difficult to find.
Those of us who love this period, which spans 1945 to 1975, have become less and less shy in shouting from the rooftops (with every television commercial that uses the era as backdrop and with Mad Men constantly winning Emmys, our courage is bolstered). The problem is, some of us are isolated and hard to find.
Luckily, Robert Moffatt decided to create a blog.
On offer at robertmoffatt115.wordpress.com is Toronto Modern, a treasure-trove of over 50 entries covering everything from public buildings, such as the crown-shaped 1961 Lord Lansdowne Public School on Robert Street or the demolished 1957 Lord Simcoe Hotel at King and University (which lasted a mere 22 years) to private homes such as Ron Thom’s well known Fraser residence on Old George Place or the little known George Eber gem on Eastview Crescent designed for Angus Critchley-Waring in 1961.
16. Globe and Mail: One Building Campaign
The loss of Canadas heritage buildings demands community action
Canada’s heritage buildings are disappearing. In the past 30 years, more than one in every five pre-1920 heritage buildings have had a date with the wrecker’s ball. Even as this nation embarks on a massive program to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812, our history is being dismantled, brick by brick.
Rather than wring hands or wait for the federal government to leap to the rescue, why don’t communities launch One Building programs, along the lines of the One City, One Book programs of hundreds of cities in North America? Those programs have taken the warmth and intimacy of book clubs and turned them into a city-wide happening. If Chicago can ask its residents to read Saul Bellow’s The Adventures of Augie March, a wonderful but arduous read, why can’t cities, towns or regions (if the municipalities are too small), do the same for a building, or an attempt to preserve a historical record, as in Windsor, N.S.’s hard-pressed hockey museum?
Communities have it within their power to preserve an endangered building by mobilizing around it, adopting it and fundraising for it. Thus mobilized, they could leverage additional funds from a small pot of money from senior levels of government.
17. Toronto Star: Aboriginal Remains/Aboriginal Rights
Mary Ormsby
Studying old bones preservation or perversion?
A cross-border battle is brewing over 500-year-old bones belonging to some of Ontario’s original inhabitants — a case descendents describe as academic grave robbing.
The Huron-Wendat Nation is demanding that Louisiana State University return the “stolen” remains of about 200 people. They say researchers improperly gathered the bones from an Ontario ossuary to use for unauthorized student research.
“It’s a feeling of loss — and I get angry a little bit too because (remains) have no business being in universities or museums,” says retired translator Heather Bastien of Wendake, Que., whose prehistoric ancestors first hunted, fished and farmed in southern Ontario 15,000 years ago.
18. Toronto Star: George St. Fire
Theresa Boyle and Alexandra Posadzki
People seen fleeing three-alarm fire at downtown heritage property
A vacant heritage home on George St. that was ablaze Wednesday night was built in the 1850s and once belonged to a wealthy entrepreneur who started Toronto’s Distillery District.
Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam said the house was once under the care of the William Gooderham family and was used as a rental property for several years, including as a home for young boys.
Wong-Tam said she was in a meeting with the house’s current owner when she learned about the three-alarm fire.
She announced the blaze to everyone at the community planning meeting, which she said included property owners and residents from George St. who had gathered to discuss how to better preserve the heritage-rich area.
“I think everyone in the room felt quite sad, because in so many ways George St. has not received a lot of positive attention.” Wong-Tam told the Star. “Those who live on George St. have been asking the city for assistance to help improve their neighbourhood.”
The 2-1/2-storey home was not properly sealed and could have been exposed to the elements, said Wong-Tam.
“It has this beautiful quality brick that you just don’t see anymore,” she added.
19. Toronto Star: History of 225 George Street, Toronto
Chantaie Allick
History deserted and left to rot
A property once owned by one of the richest families in the city has gradually been abandoned, left to rot, and now burned.
In the middle of the 19th century, the area bounded by Queen, Bloor, Jarvis and Sherbourne Sts. was a prime piece of real estate owned by the Allan family, which donated the horticultural park now known as Allan Gardens.
In 1853, George Allan began subdividing the area for residential uses after his father’s death. Pembroke St., one block west of George, became one of the city’s finest residential streets.
The house that caught fire Wednesday night at 295 George St. was among those built at that time and is one of the oldest remaining in the city. But the house’s fortunes faded as the area became less fashionable in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when wealthy Torontonians flocked to Rosedale and other new neighbourhoods.
295 George St. switched hands often before being bought in 1884 by William Gooderham Jr., a philanthropist and son of the family that established the distilling complex now known as the Distillery District. He purchased it for J.W.C. Fegan, an Englishman who established the Fegan Boys Distributing Home to bring destitute young boys over from Britain and set them up to work in homes out west.
Editor's Note:It is unbelievable that this house has been left to languish for so long in a city with such high demand for heritage property. The presence of Seaton House is no different than the presence of the St. Christopher's in Kensington Market or Scott Mission next to the Annex. I am sure that a brilliant councillor like Wong Tam will be able to find a way to make a positive intervention so that these houses can be bought by people like the family that restored 61 Brunswick Avenue.
20. Toronto Star: Toronto the Beautiful: NOT
Raveena Aulakh
Will Toronto ever be the belle of the ball?
What happens when you put four sassy debaters on stage to discuss Toronto and its beauty quotient?
Mayor Rob Ford becomes the butt of some jokes. Not all, some.
That’s what happened at the highly anticipated The Walrus Toronto Project debate at which four dapper men argued for and against the tantalizing topic: Be it resolved that Toronto will never be beautiful.
The Art Gallery of Ontario’s third-floor Baillie Court was packed on Wednesday night as architect Jack Diamond and Globe and Mail columnist John Barber argued that Toronto will, in fact, never be beautiful, while University of Toronto professor Nick Mount and writer Stephen Marche and argued the other side.
CBC’s Amanda Lang was the moderator for the evening.
(Despite its provocative title, the debate was about city-building and culture in Toronto, what it takes to make the city beautiful, and whether we have ideas, infrastructure and resources for it.)
In his opening arguments, Diamond said Toronto, with its architectural failings, could never be match for Venice or Paris, “the most beautiful cities in the world.”
Diamond called the city awkward and gangly, to which Mount replied that Toronto is an ever-changing beauty. “It is already more beautiful than it was five years ago.”
21. Toronto Star: Toronto's Streets
Toronto lives by its streets
Toronto may be the City of Neighbourhoods, but City of Streets might be more to the point.
Queen, College, Bloor, King, Yonge, Roncesvalles, these (and others) are the great destinations in 21st-century Toronto for locals and tourists alike. They are the glue that holds Toronto together and binds the urban fabric. They are the armature on which the livable city is built.
Little wonder, then, that the streets of Toronto have been a battleground ever since Rob Ford was voted mayor a year ago. Indeed, the first utterance from His Worship upon election was to declare an end to the War on the Car. In other words, he announced his intention to retake the streets from encroaching pedestrians, cyclists and even streetcars to return them to their intended users, drivers.
To that end, the city’s agreed-to transit plan was bowdlerized and the Jarvis St. bike lanes and the Yonge/Dundas pedestrian scramble have been threatened with closure.
City Hall’s reluctance to share the streets runs contrary to everything we know now about how cities work and, indeed, about how people live. At a time when cities are once again attracting new residents — witness the three-decade-old condo boom — the need to share the roads has never been more urgent.
Using little more than a few cans of paint, New York, for example, has reclaimed for pedestrians long held vehicular territory. Toronto, another eminently walkable city, has never summoned the courage to be so bold. In fact, we have remained rooted in ways of doing things that are decades old and badly out of date.
Unlike some urban centres, Toronto does not overflow with great architecture or exquisite enclaves. Instead, its finest feature is the grid of mostly four-lane roads lined with generic two- to four-storey buildings that have the virtue of being endlessly flexible. Constructed between the late 19th century and sometime before World War II — when we forgot how to build cities — these are what enables Toronto’s urban vitality.
Those structures have been reinvented over and over again, each generation remaking them in its own image. The most famous example, of course, is Queen St. W. In less than 30 years, it has gone from a grimy artery clogged with remnant stores and greasy spoons to one of the great streets in the world. Though big changes have occurred along Queen, most of it remains untouched.
College St., with its outdoor cafes and restaurants, was one of the main routes along which civilization arrived in Toronto. If street life didn’t appear here first, it was pretty close. Though we’re all familiar with Little Italy, College functions as its public face. It’s what non-residents think of when that name is invoked.
And despite what merchants say, pedestrian precincts are good for business. That has been proven again and again in cities as diverse as Copenhagen, Sydney and Tokyo.
So far, this city hasn’t had the nerve, let alone the intelligence, to designate obvious pedestrian zones such as Kensington and Yorkville.
And yet streets such as Toronto’s are among the chief glories of a city. By contrast, in suburbs the streets really do belong to cars and trucks. The only places for pedestrians are parks and malls. Many suburban streets don’t have sidewalks. Even in those parts of suburbia where the critical mass of people and money do exist, the built form does not allow for any variation on the car-dependent sprawl offered by the development industry and their tame councillors.
Yet urbanity has never been more necessary, not just to allow for conventional middle-class lifestyles to continue, but also to give the planet a chance. City council’s inability to grasp this, and the enormous asset the streets represent, does not bode well for Toronto.
Queen St.’s value to this city goes far beyond its role as an east/west thoroughfare. To alter it for the purpose of improving traffic flow would be misguided, especially as that would most likely be accomplished at the cost of pedestrian activity. If streets like Queen are the arteries that keep the city healthy, pedestrians — not cars — are the lifeblood.
Hence the desperate need for public transit; before GTA residents are willing to leave their cars at home, they must have genuine alternatives, not anemic half-measures.
Torontonians realize the significance of streets such as Queen, but that can’t be assumed of civic decision-makers. The backlash forces in control of the city dream of a retro future from 40 or 50 years ago.
Although that won’t unfold any time soon, it reveals the need for a new way of seeing; in the modern city, congestion is good.
22. Walrus Magazine: Toronto the Struggling
John Lorinc
How Toronto Lost Its Groove
And why the rest of Canada should resist the temptation to cheer
THE CITY OF TORONTO is stumbling toward the end of 2011 mired in a deep civic funk.
Mayor Rob Ford, a renegade small-c conservative from the suburban ward of Etobicoke North, bulldozed his way to victory a year ago on a simplistic pledge to slash municipal waste. His mantra: “Stop the gravy train.” While he has yet to identify instances of reckless spending, he has ordered city officials to extract almost $800 million from Toronto’s $9-billion operating budget, the sixth-largest public purse in Canada. This punishing and potentially ruinous process may entail shuttering libraries, firing police officers, and scaling back everything from snow removal to grass cutting to transit. Municipal services — such as public housing, environmental advocacy, and even zoos — that don’t conform to the mayor’s narrow vision of local government may be eliminated, privatized, or significantly reduced.
Toronto’s woes, however, go well beyond the mayor’s fiscal populism. The Greater Toronto Area — a 7,100-square-kilometre expanse of 5.5 million residents who live in a band of municipalities extending from Burlington to Oshawa to Newmarket — finds itself increasingly crippled by some of North America’s nastiest gridlock, congestion so bad it costs the region at least $6 billion a year in lost productivity. Sprawl, gridlock’s malign twin, continues virtually unchecked, consuming farmland, stressing commuters, and ratcheting up the cost of municipal services. Without reliable funding, transit agencies can barely afford to modernize, much less expand, straining the GTA’s roads and highways to the bursting point.
The GTA’s problems have a social dimension as well. With some of the country’s highest real estate prices — now more than $450,000 for an average single-family dwelling — affordable rentals remain scarce, while tens of thousands of families who earn as little as $20,000 a year languish on waiting lists for often-substandard subsidized housing. In Toronto’s so-called “inner suburbs” (the city proper consists of an older core dating to the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, surrounded by a ring of “outer suburbs” built between 1945 and the early 1970s), poverty has become more prevalent and concentrated. And ethnic: while Toronto has more foreign-born residents than any metropolitan region in the world, many newcomers struggle to find decent work, even if they arrive bearing university degrees.
Editor's Note:An interesting piece, particularly for those who may not have long memories of the history of T.O.....3 right turns can make a left though....it is time for us to get back on track
23. nomeancity: Importing Great Architects
An idea we can (and should) steal from New York
The new architecture critic of the New York Times, Michael Kimmelman, recently focused his attention on a brilliant New York city idea: a program that brings top-quality architects from around the world to work on low-key projects like police stations, firehouses and water treatment plants.
Run by the city’s Department of Design and Construction (yes, they’ve centralized the work of developing city sites), it’s the Design and Construction Excellence Initiative Initiative. It was introduced by mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2004, and the idea is simple: the city has established a shortlist of architects who deliver high-quality work, pre-qualified them, and decided to go to them first when the city needs design work. Project managers make sure the integrity of the design is preserved. And small projects are kept for small firms, which need the work (and who, in this line of business, are likely to work very hard to create a showpiece).
The shortlist of architects is amazing, including international lights like Snohetta (who are designing Ryerson’s new student learning centre), strong local firms like Della Valle Bernheimer, and locals with an international reputation, like WORKAC – who I’ve written about, and who are working on a reno of the Kew Gardens Hills Library in Queens, seen in the image at the top of this post.
If you want to design a stimulus program that benefits creative industries and small businesses, you couldn’t do better.
24. National Post: Relics of the past? The citys low-attendance museums serve a unique purpose, but can they survive city hall-mandated restructuring?
Alison Broverman
I guess the councillors assumed it was a logical fit. But wed really need to rejig our structure, and it will take some time and research to see if we can come up with a feasible business model Karen Carter, executive director of Heritage Toronto, on
Brett Gundlock, National Post - Despite an impressive recent renovation, Spadina Museum has an uncertain future.
It was just less than a year ago that Spadina Museum was getting new wallpaper - literally. The museum was gearing up to reopen after a year-long, $600,000 restoration that returned the house's interior to one that reflects life in the 1920s and '30s.
Just a few months later, the entire city was under threat of metaphorical re-wallpapering, as Mayor Rob Ford scoured the city budget looking for things to cut - including Spadina and several of the city's other so-called "lowattendance" museums (specific attendance figures are currently "unavailable" from the city, according to Leisa Odlum, a communications advisor with the City).
In the year since its reopening, Spadina museum has thrived. Tons of new programming has been introduced to go along with the museum's new theme, and the site has attracted attention from outside groups keen to make use of the unique space - including a few theatre companies looking for an alternative venue in which to stage their work.
25. The Record: Goderich Aftermath
The Record is doing an excellent job of tracking the situation in Goderich. Keep an eye on this site for updates.
26. London Free Press: Letter to Editor re: Goderich
Paul Carroll
A heritage tornado is about to strike Goderich
It is with considerable pain, following the deepest personal reflection in my life, that I have completed the official termination of every formal and informal connection I have with the Huron County local governments and their committees and agencies as a volunteer or an appointed representative.
I have been a volunteer, a former councillor and reeve for the Town of Goderich, beginning in 1969. I have offered my services and support with enthusiasm and commitment, free, for 42 official years, preceded by 10 years of earlier volunteer connections that began in my teenage years.
I was born in that town.
The precipitating factor for my action is the repugnant disregard for the protection of the built heritage treasures of the "Prettiest Town in Canada".
The Sept. 26 motions by Goderich town council, supported by the Heritage Goderich Committee, approving demolition permits for the two most significant heritage treasures in the Courthouse Square, are incomprehensible.
These properties, among others, were protected by the Ontario Heritage Act and were savagely beaten down in the F3 tornado of Aug. 21. The studio of the internationally famous Canadian photographer Reuben R. Sallows at the corner of Montreal St. and the second-storey Opera House at the corner of Kingston St. are the two most historically significant examples of 19th-century built architecture on the Square.
These structures were examined in detail voluntarily by two specialists, one of whom is one of Canada's mostly highly respected heritage architects, in Goderich by invitation and with the full support of Natalie Bull, executive director of Heritage Canada Foundation. Their knowledgeable opinions were disregarded in the decisions made by council.
These demolition decisions also ignored significant efforts to provide cash grants from provincial, federal and international private-sector fundraising efforts to owners to guarantee cost-neutral heritage re-construction.
Secondary factors for my complete dissociation are the continuing discourtesy of never replying to any of my queries about various ongoing municipal issues, (of which heritage is just one). Officials have also refused, for generations, to collaborate each blaming the other to resolve the larger issues affecting residents who live in these overlapping jurisdictions.
I will no longer serve in any heritage-advisory capacity, nor will I continue to volunteer for any other matters, including environmental and marine.
I am further appalled by the discourtesy that greeted the board members for the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario, the members of which were present for a board meeting they might be of assistance and financial support. They were summarily "disinvited," because the disaster management was considered a purely local matter.
27. Kingsville Reporter Council votes against Heritage Committee advice and removes house from inventory
L.G. Kerry; Janet Cobban
Shore House Taken Off List of Historic Homes
Kingsville Ontario Council voted against the advice of its own Heritage Committee and removed a heritage property from the municipal inventory. Council was told that a potential purchaser of the Shore House wants the property off the list.
28. Hamilton Spectator: Urban Design Awards 2011
Urban Design award give you a chance to vote
Its just one street in the west end of Hamilton, but over the past couple of years some very interesting construction projects have been happening at both ends of it.
At 183 Longwood Rd. S., the $100 million CANMET Materials Technology Laboratory officially opened in February to great fanfare. The building with its 157 rooms and 145,000 square feet of space is an important part of the McMaster Innovation Park, located on former Camco property.
Drive down the road to 170 Longwood Rd. N. and youll find the oddest little house in the village. Its called Hambly House, and in a sea of Tudor-style homes, Hambly looks more like a ship. Its a full-fledged Art Deco, Bauhaus voyage into eccentricity. It was built in 1939 and its current owner spent more than $100,000 to bring it back to former glory.
CanMet and Hambly are just two of 36 entries in this years Urban Design and Architecture Awards in a year that has seen a lot of interesting construction projects. And people in Hamilton have the chance to vote for their favourite projects in the Peoples Choice category.
Among the entries this year, is the $72 million renovation of Hamilton City Hall that officially reopened in June.
Another entry nearby didnt involve construction at all. Its called Urban Sustainability The Edible Landscape, a project that transformed City Hall gardens into vegetables instead of flowers. The harvest is going to city food banks.
Michelle Sergi, manager of community planning and design for the city, says entries come in many forms in the biennial contest. We get a variety of submissions and they cross a variety of issues. They go from residential to commercial to industrial. There are new buildings, adaptive reuse of buildings. We also get landscapes submitted.
Its about recognizing excellence in design in Hamilton. The goal is to create great places or great spaces for people. Part of that is recognizing the architecture, the landscape, the urban design that goes into the spaces.
29. Peterborough Examiner: Peterborough Awarded Prince of Wales Prize
Brendan Wedley
City honoured for heritage leadership
When the city went ahead with the refurbishment of the Hunter Street Bridge, it didn't just fix the cracking concrete, it spent more money to preserve and restore heritage features.
Over the last several years the city has restored the exterior of Market Hall at George and Charlotte streets and completely renovated the interior of the theatre on the second floor of the building.
The city has offered property tax breaks to owners of historical buildings on the condition that they preserve certain features of the structures.
The Heritage Canada Foundation is recognizing Peterborough's efforts with the Prince of Wales Prize for Municipal Heritage Leadership, which will be presented to the city Thursday at the organization's annual conference in Victoria, B.
“A city that does not respect its heritage will not for long respect itself.”
Mayor Daryl Bennett
"A city that does not respect its heritage will not for long respect itself," Mayor Daryl Bennett said, adapting a quote from Tom Symons, the founding president of Trent University.
It's the second heritage award in as many years for the city.
30. National Post: Tremont Restoration Success Story
Rick Spence
If you redevelop it, they will come
Across Canada, cashstrapped communities are struggling to redevelop old, worn-out commercial and industrial space. These "brownfield" sites are often ugly, dangerous eyesores that occupy valuable land that could be put to better use.
This is the story of how sensitive redevelopment of a run-down heritage building has revitalized an entire community. You may wonder why this doesn't happen more often. Act 1 The setting is Collingwood, Ont., a waterfront community that once promised to become a transportation and industrial powerhouse, situated on Georgian Bay, close to skiing and beaches. Beyond its thriving main street retail district, however, much of Collingwood's aging core has been neglected.
Our drama begins in 2004. The town council says it intends to tear down some of its oldest buildings, including a stately high school and a three-story hotel known as the Tremont, which is to become a parking lot. Local heritage groups spring to the buildings' defence, but council remains insistent. (In 2005, the high school is demolished.)
To link to the Tremont Website: http://www.thetremont.ca/
Editor's Note:Congrats once again to Rick and Anke Lex!
31. New York Times: Demolition: I M Pei's Kennedy Terminal
David W. Dunlap
A Modern Masterpiece, No Longer Used, Will Soon Disappear at Kennedy Airport
Great photo gallery on the site
Terminal 6 at Kennedy International Airport — a crisp island of aesthetic tranquillity by the master architect I. M. Pei — is being demolished. The boarding gates are already piles of rubble. The main pavilion, whose white steel roof seems to float ethereally over cascades of diaphanous green glass, is expected to come down by the end of October.
George Cserna/Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University
Terminal 6, as it originally appeared.
Though the demolition has long been planned, the timing now is unintentionally paradoxical. With the recent debut of the ABC drama “Pan Am,” it seems safe to say there has never been so much popular interest in the jet-set era of the 1960s and early ’70s. National Airlines, perhaps best remembered for christening its jetliners with women’s names and inviting the public to “fly me,” opened Terminal 6 in 1969 as the Sundrome.
Within it, Mr. Pei tried to create an environment for travelers that was serene, generous, clear, spacious, simple and dignified, said Henry N. Cobb, a colleague at Pei Cobb Freed & Partners in New York. To an extent that remains discernible today, he succeeded. And by its horizontality, Terminal 6 still keeps open a welcome segment of sky in the ever-more-congested central terminal area at Kennedy.
“It’s very sad,” Mr. Cobb said on Tuesday about the demolition. “The whole thing is very sad.”
Many architects speak of creating transparent spaces. Mr. Pei pulled it off.
32. New YorK Times: Design Helps in Third World
Rescued by Design
I JOINED the line to get into the United Nations the other day, fiddling with my iPhone before shuffling through security. The couple in back (he was toting an iPad) mused about what a design guru Steve Jobs had been. They headed toward the information desk and I toward “Design With the Other 90 Percent: Cities,” an infelicitously titled but inspired show organized by the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum and now installed (since the museum is closed for renovations) in the United Nations visitors’ lobby.
Design shows may conjure up fizzy displays of Van Cleef & Arpels or stylish tributes to Helvetica and classic automobiles. Design implies for most people the beautiful things an affluent society makes for itself.
This show is not about that kind of design. The objects here tend to look rugged and sometimes embarrassingly simple, as in “Why hadn’t anyone come up with that idea before?” Their beauty lies elsewhere: in providing economical, smart solutions to address the problems of millions of the world’s poorest people.
If the genius of Mr. Jobs was giving us sleek and effortless products that answered questions consumers hadn’t thought to ask yet (can my mobile phone feature a speech-recognition system that reminds me to pick up my dry cleaning?), the designs in this case wrestle with what have long seemed intractable crises. I left stirred by how designers have tackled global pandemics like the proliferation of slums and the spread of infectious disease.
33. New York Times: Steve Jobs and Apple Buildings
James B. Stewart
A Genius of the Storefront, Too
WHEN the architect Peter Bohlin arrived for his first meeting with Steve Jobs, he wore a tie. “Steve laughed, and I never wore a tie again,” Mr. Bohlin recalled.
“The best clients, to my mind, don’t say that whatever you do is fine,” Mr. Bohlin said last week, a few days after Mr. Jobs’s death. “They’re intertwined in the process. When I look back, it’s hard to remember who had what thought when. That’s the best, most satisfying work, whether a large building or a house.”
Just as Mr. Jobs transformed the notion of the personal computer and the cellphone, he left an indelible stamp on architecture, especially the retail kind, traditionally a backwater of the profession.
“No one in commercial architecture has ever channeled a product into architecture for a client the way Peter did for Apple,” said James Timberlake, a founding partner of KieranTimberlake, who is now designing the new American embassy in London. “Most commercial architecture is under-detailed, under-edited and under-budgeted. It’s gross and ugly, and most of it is an eyesore on the American landscape.”
Editor's Note:Amen from an committed Apple user
34. WBEZ: Chicago Doors Open
Lynette Kalsnes
Architecture tour offers sneak peek into hidden Chicago
Architecturally savvy people — or those of us who are just a little nosey — can tour sites that are usually off-limits to the public this Saturday and Sunday.
Open House Chicago lets visitors get into more than 130 secret nooks and crannies throughout the city. Organizers tout that participants will be able to stand onstage at Millennium Park’s Pritzker Pavilion, or explore the rooftop garden at Lake Point Tower, a high-rise that looms just off of Lake Shore Drive.
“There's no standard experience here,” said Bastiaan Bouma, the managing director of Open House Chicago. “Every one is unique. Every site is unique.”
Bouma says the tours go far beyond Chicago’s downtown by showcasing changing demographics and points of interest in its far-flung neighborhoods.
In the North Lawndale area, people can go into the former Sears, Roebuck & Co. tower where WLS-AM (World’s Largest Store) used to broadcast. They also can walk by the old Sears Administration Building. In its heyday, it sent out about 35,000 mail-orders a day.
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2747
|
__label__cc
| 0.619881
| 0.380119
|
The 2009 Mouton d'Or Awards
Awards season has been particularly long this year with the Vancouver Olympics pushing the end date into March but the time has finally arrrived. It is now time to reveal the 2009 Mouton d'Or Awards!
2009 was a great year in film and with so many personal changes in my own life scattered throughout the year, it is wonderful to have so many standout films to associate with them. That said, it was not a year where any one film ultimately stood out past the others and this is reflected in the Mouton d'Or winners here today. The love has been spread pretty equally, with all the major nominees each picking up at least one award.
As this is the second time I actually write this piece because my computer shut down before I was able to save any of this yesterday, I suggest getting straight to it before I lose it all once again. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the 2009 Mouton d'Or Awards!
This first award was not an easy decision. It came down to two films at the end and while I could not have been more impressed with STAR TREK, there was something even more other worldly about Neill Blomkamp's DISTRICT 9 that had me completely transported to that version of Earth. DISTRICT 9 gets better every time I see it and it was by far, the most exhilerating time I had in theatres all year.
J'AI TUE MA MERE (I KILLED MY MOTHER)
Each of these five films was a unique experience for me when I saw them and each one reminded me how much I like smaller movies that accomplish bigger things than they probably thought they could. Kathryn Bigelow's THE HURT LOCKER is the perfect example of how you can go into something with little resources but a well thought out plan and come out with something mind blowing. THE HURT LOCKER is the technical success of the year!
THE FINAL DESTINATION
THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT
THE LOVELY BONES
OBSERVE AND REPORT
THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON
Fine, you're right. Richard Kelley's THE BOX was not originally nominated in this category. Let me assure you though that this only speaks further to how horrible it truly is. Had I caught this film in theatres last year as I was originally scheduled to, it most certainly would have been included amongst these nominees. Timing should not stop me from declaring what a dreadful mess this movie is though. From the very beginning, it is one ludicrous decision after another and it never recovers. An interesting hypothetical does not a good movie make.
DISTRICT 9 did not make the graphic as it received the least number of votes in this category. The remaining nominees all split their votes almost equally. Quentin Tarantino's INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS however, easily doubled the next highest vote-getter. This is the second year for this category and I've got to say you guys made the right choice once again. It may not have been shortlisted for my top films of the year but there is no denying how incredible this film is. Good choice, readers! I love you guys!
Marion Cotillard in NINE
Vera Farmiga in UP IN THE AIR
Anna Kendrick in UP IN THE AIR
Mo'Nique in PRECIOUS
Julianne Moore in A SINGLE MAN
Mo'Nique is a monster in PRECIOUS as a mother who is continuing the cycle of abuse that she has suffered her whole life with her daughter. Her turn is so ferocious that every other nominee here, though great, could not come close to the intensity Mo'Nique captured here. She has earned herself great credit and shown a side of her talents that I'm not sure anyone saw coming. Mo'Nique has created an iconic screen villain.
Matt Damon in INVICTUS
Alfred Molina in AN EDUCATION
Christopher Plummer in THE LAST STATION
Stanley Tucci in THE LOVELY BONES
Christoph Waltz in INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS
This category has been locked up all year and that is in part due to a lack of competition. Christoph Waltz exploded off the screen in Quentin Tarantino's INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS and everyone has been talking about him since. Nobody even knew who he was before this. Well, Tarantino must have. There was no more hilarious moment in film this year then when Waltz bursts into hysterical laughter at the sound of Brad Pitt's ridiculous Italian accent.
I had the opportunity to catch Spike Jonze's WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE a second time this week and I was once again blown away by the visual style. Not only do you have the starkly realistic look applied to such a fantastical story but you also have these gorgeous, mammoth monsters. It was imaginative and yes, wild, but it was the fact that it all looked believable that made it unforgettable.
I am a huge Michael Giacchino fan. He is one of today's most incredible composers and the score he created for UP is some of his finest work. He captures the feel of flying through the air but is sure to ground the incredible story in some very real moments. When you leave the movie, you will leave humming his tunes.
This award has always been called the Trevor Adams Animated Feature Award and this is the first year that I have removed his name from the title. The award was originally named after Trevor, a great friend of mine, because he single handedly showed me a side of animated film that I had not yet seen. The reason his name has been removed now is because I cannot see him getting on board with voting Wes Anderson's FANTASTIC MR. FOX over a Pixar feature. Still, Anderson created something truly marvelous to behold and I hope that it finds a wider audience as the years go by.
There is one movie I saw this year that constantly makes me beam with happiness. That movie is (500) DAYS OF SUMMER. It isn't perfect and the tone isn't always right but this modern exploration of relationships is the closest thing I've seen to the real thing since ANNIE HALL. It breaks my heart but gives me hope all at once. With everything I went through personally this year, it's wonderful to remember that love isn't perfect but beautiful while it lasts. And it will forever remind me of one guy.
One movie this year taught me some very important lessons about life, love and what it means to be a girl. That movie was AN EDUCATION and Nick Hornby's brilliant screenplay captures the nuances of where a girl's life could go with such subtlety and grace. His words are so carefully chosen and so eloquent that they resonate moments after they're uttered.
Helen Mirren in THE LAST STATION
Carey Mulligan in AN EDUCATION
Maya Rudolph in AWAY WE GO
Gabourey Sidibe in PRECIOUS
Meryl Streep in JULIE & JULIA
I cannot understand why all of the awards buzz has been handed out to Streep and Bullock when there are such powerful performances from newcomers, Mulligan and Sidibe. I have to favour Sidibe though because I actually met her this past year. She was the complete opposite of her character in Lee Daniels's PRECIOUS, which gave me mad respect for her. It also further exposed the same ignorance inside of me that the film did.
Jeff Bridges in CRAZY HEART
George Clooney in UP IN THE AIR
Colin Firth in A SINGLE MAN
Morgan Freeman in INVICTUS
Michael Stuhlbarg in A SERIOUS MAN
I have to say that I have never really been a big Colin Firth fan but to watch him in Tom Ford's A SINGLE MAN is almost to see him for the first time. The weight with which he carries the character of George is so dense that it is impossible not to give him your entire heart. As beautiful as the entire film is, it is Firth's performance that makes the whole thing memorable.
Kathyn Bigelow for THE HURT LOCKER
James Cameron for AVATAR
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen for A SERIOUS MAN
Lee Daniels for PRECIOUS
Jason Reitman for UP IN THE AIR
Jason Reitman just knows what he's doing. After just three films, he has proven that he can tackle almost anything. His sensitivity is moving but still he tells his story with such class and frankness that you cannot help respect him for all that he's done. He tapped in to a contemporary sensibility that is rarely achieved in film in such a quick and effective manner. He will surely grow a great deal more as his career progress.
And finally, without any further ado, I am pleased to present the 2009 Mouton d'or for Best Picture ...
There you have it, folks. Another great year for film; another great year for Black Sheep. Thank you for all your continued support and thank you for celebrating the 2009 Mouton d'Or Awards. I was happy to have you.
Black Sheep presents Blu-Tuesday
Black Sheep @ The Box Office
Black Sheep's Blu-Tuesday
THE BOUNTY HUNTER
Blu-Review: PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL "PUSH" BY...
Blu-Review: BROKEN EMBRACES
Black Sheep Live @ The Oscars
Black Sheep Talks Oscar
Best of Black Sheep: THE HURT LOCKER
Best of Black Sheep: PRECIOUS interviews (part two...
Best of Black Sheep: PRECIOUS interviews (part one...
Best of Black Sheep: WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE
Best of Black Sheep: INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2748
|
__label__cc
| 0.707388
| 0.292612
|
art of the crick, Best Things to See in Seattle, children, city of seattle, family vacation, family vacation spot, feature, fun, fun activities for young children, fun in seattle, insider tips, kid friendly, kids, lego, museum, must see, pacific science center, plan your trip, Seattle, seattle center, seattle kid-friendly, See It All, skycity at the needle, things to do, things to do in seattle, tourism, travel
Seattle for Kids: The Art of the Brick
The Art of the Brick at Pacific Science Center
Taking Tiny to the Next Level
city of seattle, family vacation, family vacation spot, feature, fun, fun activities for young children, fun in seattle, great places to eat, insider tips, kid friendly, kids, museum, must see, pioneer square, plan your trip, Seattle, seattle foodie, seattle kid-friendly, seattle restaurant, See It All, things to do, things to do in seattle, tourism, travel, underground tour
Seattle Sights: Pioneer Square
Pioneer Square: Seattle’s “Original Neighborhood” offers something for everyone!
In 1852 after spending six months to the east at Alki Point,...
Art, arts & culture, city of seattle, family vacation, family vacation spot, feature, fun in seattle, insider tips, kid friendly, kids, museum, must see, plan your trip, Seattle, seattle art, seattle art museum, seattle kid-friendly, seattle washington, See It All, things to do, things to do in seattle, tourism, travel
Seattle Sights: Seattle Art Museum
Indulge Your Creative Side at the Seattle Art Museum
Seattle Art Museum may not be one of the first places you think of for entertaining your busy...
children, city of seattle, family vacation, family vacation spot, feature, fun, fun activities for young children, fun in seattle, insider tips, kid friendly, kids, museum, observation deck, plan your trip, seattle center, seattle kid-friendly, See It All, Space Needle, things to do, things to do in may, things to do in seattle, tourism, travel
Seattle Sights: Things to do in May
Things To Do in Seattle in May
April Showers have given way to beautiful May flowers, and now is a great time to get out and enjoy the city! Here...
boats, cama beach, center for wooden boats, children, city of seattle, family vacation, family vacation spot, feature, fun, fun activities for young children, insider tips, kid friendly, kids, lake union, museum, must see, plan your trip, Seattle, seattle kid-friendly, See It All, sunday public sail, sunday sail, things to do, tourism, travel, water activities
Seattle Sights: Center for Wooden Boats
“Work Like a Captain, Play Like a Pirate” at The Center for Wooden Boats
Located on Seattle’s South Lake Union, The Center for Wooden Boats is a...
activities, best damn happy hour, children's museum, city of seattle, family vacation, family vacation spot, feature, festival of lights, fun, fun activities for young children, great places to eat, insider tips, kid friendly, kids, mod pizza, museum, must see, plan your trip, premier pies, Seattle, seattle center, seattle foodie, seattle kid-friendly, seattle restaurant, seattle restaurants, See It All, skillet, skillet street food, starbucks, the armory, things to do, tourism, travel, whirligig
Seattle Sights: Armory at Seattle Center
Welcome to the Center of Seattle: A Look Inside The Armory
It’s “the center of ‘The Center’” which makes The Armory Building a must-see...
activities, anne frank, cat in the hat, city of seattle, dr seuss, families, family vacation, family vacation spot, feature, fun activities for young children, holocaust center for humanity, insider tips, kid friendly, kids, marine mammal mania, museum, must see, pacific science center, plan your trip, science uncorked, Seattle, seattle aquarium, seattle center, seattle children's theatre, seattle kid-friendly, seattle restaurant week, See It All, stem, things to do, tourism, travel, wildlife conservation, woodland park zoo
Seattle Sights: Things to Do in April
Things To Do in Seattle in April
Spring has sprung here and that means the rain clouds are giving way to sunshine! Check out some of our favorite...
727, air force one, boeing, boeing centennial, city of seattle, family vacation, family vacation spot, feature, fun, fun activities for young children, history, kid friendly, kids, museum, museum of flight, must see, places to go, plan your trip, rockets exhibit, Seattle, seattle history, seattle kid-friendly, See It All, things to do, tourism, travel
Seattle Sights: Museum of Flight
Where the Sky is the Limit!
Just minutes from downtown is a place where dreams take flight! Here are just a few of the cool things you can check...
city of seattle, family vacation, feature, fun activities for young children, kid friendly, museum, Seattle, seattle center, seattle kid-friendly, See It All, things to do, tourism, travel
Seattle for Kids: Fun in February
Love is in the air this February... and there’s plenty to do to keep your kids entertained!
Check out some of our favorite things to do (no matter...
city of seattle, emp museum, experience music project, family vacation, feature, fun activities for young children, hello kitty, kid friendly, kids, museum, must see, plan your trip, Seattle, seattle center, seattle kid-friendly, See It All, things to do, tourism, travel
Seattle Sights: Hello Kitty Hits the EMP Museum
Seattle Gets Cute: Hello Kitty Hits the Experience Music Project Museum
[gallery columns="5" link="none" ids="3723,3725,3724,3727,3726"] You’ve seen...
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2768
|
__label__wiki
| 0.529968
| 0.529968
|
Sam Zamrik
Netherion: At the Verge of Success
The Syrian death metal band “Netherion” has been on a streak of gaining attention from all over the world ever since the release of their debut full-length “Sphere of Terror” from many international metal enthusiastic websites and magazines. They have also gained attention from different radio stations and even a film company with the recent news from After Hours Films to be shooting a documentary about Netherion, which will be narrated by, and featuring the front-man of Twisted Sister, Dee Snider. These happenings have been circulating the web and spreading like wildfire, and on a personal note I believe they deserve every last bit of the attention they’re getting.
Netherion started out in 2009 when the guitarists Nihility and Rusty met in college and decided to jam together. Later on Rusty introduced the bassist Esseh who became a full-time member in the band, and Khalid Nassar, Netherion’s previous drummer.
Fadi Massamiri of Eulen, Abidetherein, and Viieden later joined in replacing Khalid Nassar on drums, and he now serves as a full-time drummer of the band and has played the drums heard on the album.
Since each member of the band has a different musical background, the band draws influence from many genres and that has contributed to the unique sound of Netherion, they don’t stick to a certain sub-genre of death metal, in fact, they’re all over it.
The progression in music is outstanding, ranging from raw blast-beat driven death metal to modern melodic/symphonic death and even a little oriental metal influences, all topped with Gilbert’s old-school hoarse vocals manifested in mid pitched growls, sharp high screams, and some really deep guttural brutal squeals to create one full sound. These guys can definitely deliver.
Netherion has been a unit ever since they started, they share the same passion and dedication to their music, and they were determined to succeed ever since the beginning. From the looks of it, they’re getting there. Especially with the outstanding help from the extreme talents in promoting at Brutiful Metal Promotions representing for Netherion by the great DeAnna Bersell (a.k.a DJ ViX at Brutiful Metal Radio).
I remember Gilbert once telling me (pre-release of the album) that one day they will hit it big no matter what, and I can’t be any happier to see this coming to reality.
On a more local scale, Netherion would be the first band to emerge from Syria to have a documentary shot; and so far, they’re the flag-bearers of Syrian Metal to international acclaim among other names such as Eulen, Anarchadia, Viieden and Abidetherein.
I am honored to know these guys, and to consider them as brothers of mine, in metal, in life, and in business. Here’s to Syrian Metal, here’s to Netherion, and here’s to success.
A nocturnal psycho-genocide would be the ultimate solution, nothing better than a massacre in the blackest of nights. Always trust nocturnal authors, they'll always give you the darkest words!
On Syrian Metal: Times Of War
On Syrian Metal: A Tribute To Fadi Massamiri
Hate Field: Split Views From The East
Abidetherein
Netherion
Viieden
Help The Last Hangmen fund their next album, and get cool shit!
Al Gross & The Bottle Cap Rockets
From Acid to the Body of Christ
Straight From The Underground Vol. 1
Shootyouintheface Photography w/ Brandi Tyner
Muse-n-lark
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2771
|
__label__wiki
| 0.924329
| 0.924329
|
Turkey demands Saudi Arabia’s ‘full cooperation’ in probe of missing journalist
By Erin Cunningham and Kareem Fahim Washington Post October 08, 2018
ISTANBUL — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan demanded Monday that Saudi Arabia prove that journalist Jamal Khashoggi left the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on his own, as Saudi officials have repeatedly asserted since he disappeared last week after being inside the mission.
Erdogan’s comments were his most direct suggestion yet of potential Saudi culpability in Khashoggi’s disappearance and came after other Turkish officials have said they believe he was killed by Saudi agents inside the consulate.
‘‘Do you not have cameras and everything of the sort?’’ Erdogan said of the consular officials. ‘‘They have all of them. Then why do you not prove this? You need to prove it.’’
Turkey’s foreign ministry summoned the Saudi ambassador to urge ‘‘full cooperation’’ in the investigation, the official Anadolu news agency said Monday.
Get Today's Headlines in your inbox:
The day's top stories delivered every morning.
The ambassador was called to the ministry in the Turkish capital, Ankara, on Sunday, the agency said. It was the second time Turkey summoned the ambassador since Khashoggi failed to emerge following a visit to the consulate on Oct. 2.
Turkish officials have said they believe Khashoggi, 59, a critic of the Saudi leadership and a contributor to The Washington Post’s Global Opinions section, was killed by a team of 15 Saudis flown in specifically to carry out the attack. Saudi authorities have called the charge ‘‘baseless.’’
The episode has angered rights activists and press freedom advocates, who have called on the Saudi government to clarify Khashoggi’s whereabouts. It has also raised tensions between regional rivals, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
Turkey has yet to make any evidence public. A private Turkish broadcaster, NTV, reported Monday that police had requested access to the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. It was unclear whether the police were granted access or if they would search the diplomatic mission at a later date.
Another report Monday in the daily newspaper Sabah said investigators were also focused on a convoy of diplomatic vehicles that departed from the consulate on the day Khashoggi vanished. A US official said that Turkish investigators believe Khashoggi was probably dismembered, removed in boxes, and flown out of the country.
In a meeting with The Washington Post’s publisher, Fred Ryan, the Saudi ambassador to the United States said Sunday night that it was impossible such a crime could be covered up by consulate employees ‘‘and we wouldn’t know about it.’’
The ambassador, Prince Khalid bin Salman, reiterated a statement made by other Saudi officials that video cameras had not been recording on the day of Khashoggi’s visit. The ambassador declined to discuss the matter further, saying, ‘‘We don’t want to harm the investigation.’’
Salman said that Khashoggi, who was once close to the ruling family in Saudi Arabia, had ‘‘always been honest.’’ Khashoggi’s criticism of the current Saudi leadership ‘‘has been sincere,’’ adding that he had seen him personally over the past year and had even exchanged text messages with him.
During the meeting, Ryan expressed The Post’s ‘‘grave concern’’ about Khashoggi’s disappearance. He said The Post was committed to discovering the truth and that if the investigation showed any Saudi government involvement, the news organization would view it as a flagrant attack on one of its journalists.
Khashoggi had entered the consulate to obtain a document related to his upcoming wedding, according to his fiancee, Hatice Cengiz. She waited outside for hours and called the police when he did not emerge.
Khashoggi had been living in self-imposed exile in the United States since 2017, when he fled Saudi Arabia for fear of arrest.
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2784
|
__label__wiki
| 0.92265
| 0.92265
|
Author: Caldron Pool
American Academy of Pediatrics urges parents to accept their children’s preferred gender.
'This is an ideological premise touted by professional medical and psychiatric guilds, not scientific fact,' Dr Cretalla said.
Caldron Pool September 19, 2018 April 26, 2019
The American Academy of Pediatrics is urging parents to be accepting of their children’s gender of choice. In a policy statement entitled ‘Ensuring Comprehensive Care and Support for Transgender and…
WATCH: 85-year-old great grandfather fights off three armed robbers.
Office manager said he will be forever grateful for the intervention of Mr O'Connor.
Amazing footage has emerged of an 85-year-old great grandfather fighting off three armed men. The men entered the Bar One Racing office at Glanmire, Ireland, armed with hammers and a…
It’s hard to believe what this is. It’s harder to believe what it cost.
What’s it worth going to Uni?
What you see here is a significant part of a $400,000 art installation at Sydney University, that prestigious centre of tertiary education which prides itself on Unlearning everything—from medicine, love,…
GRAPHIC: Shocking photos of the aftermath of girl’s ‘sex change.’
WARNING: Graphic images.
A biological female from Ontario is sharing her transgender “journey” on Instagram. In a series of recent posts, the young woman shared graphic photos showing the shocking aftermath of her…
Shocking increase in young girls wanting to change their gender.
Urgent investigation ordered by UK's Equalities Minister.
In just four years Western Australia has seen a 350 per cent increase in ‘transgender’ children wanting to transition to the opposite sex. According to Perth Now, during the period…
Understanding Australia’s Secular State
Caldron Pool September 15, 2018
What has been the relationship between Christianity and the secular in Australia? What historically is the separation of church and state? This lecture by Dr Stephen Chavura uncovers Australia’s Christian…
The Overdose That Didn’t Kill Me
“The drugs that would normally get someone high for twenty-four hours, I was taking like a cup of coffee.” Jeff Durbin shares his shocking story of overdosing on Ecstasy. WATCH:
Australian Muslim Senator attacks Senator Bernardi, says he will never experience racism because he’s white, suggests opposition to Islam is racism.
"I am sick of ignorant people claiming Muslim is a race," Senator Bernardi responded.
Australia’s first Muslim Senator has lashed out at Senator Cory Bernardi after the Australian Conservatives’ leader introduced a bill banning facial coverings at commonwealth sites, including public places in the…
WATCH: Leaked viral video shows Google executives in meltdown after Trump’s election.
'It did feel like a ton of bricks dropped on my chest...'
Breitbart reports: “A video recorded by Google shortly after the 2016 presidential election reveals an atmosphere of panic and dismay amongst the tech giant’s leadership, coupled with a determination to…
Amendments to protect religious freedoms rejected 36 to 3.
'It is hypocrisy,' Senator Leyonhjelm said.
Amendments to the Sex Discrimination Act which would ensure the rights of Australians in the wedding service industry are protected has been rejected, 36 to 3. The amendments, moved by Liberal…
Page 1 … Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 … Page 106
Ford Vs. Kavanaugh: The Attempted Hijacking of Justice?
WATCH: Leftist warring on free speech becomes a Christian, admits she was completely wrong.
The church of Beyoncé — no, really…
WATCH: Former transgender man destroys LGBT activists
Ben Shapiro: Ireland Is Poised To Legalize Abortion. Here’s What You Need To Know
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2785
|
__label__cc
| 0.653916
| 0.346084
|
Constituent Member of National Parents Council post primary
CSSPA
The Catholic Secondary Schools Parent Associations(CSSPA) is a constituent member of the National Parents Council post primary (NPCpp)
CSSPA + NPAETBS + COMPASS + PACCS = NPCpp
The secondary system contains a number of different types of school. Each of these sectors has their own National Parent Association.
On the 8th June 1985 Mrs. Gemma Hussey TD inaugurated National Parents Council Post-Primary and it became the umbrella group for the all the National Parent associations in the secondary section of the Irish education system.
In recent years NPCpp has become a limited company and is now named in the Education Act 1998. NPCpp would have the same rights to consultation as the Management and Teachers unions as a partner in Education at post primary level.
CSSPA represents catholic voluntary secondary schools. (Catholic Secondary Schools Parents Association)
NPAETBS represents the Vocational secondary schools. (National Parent Association for Educational Training Board Schools)
COMPASS represents schools or colleges which promote a Protestant or a minority ethos. (Co-operation of Minority Religions and Protestant Parents Associations (post primary).)
PACCS represents schools in the Community and Comprehensive sector.(Parents Association of Community and Comprehensive Schools)
NPCpp all of the above constituent bodies make up the NATIONAL PARENTS COUNCIL post primary.
The Catholic Secondary Schools Parents Associations is the representative body for Parents with children in Catholic Voluntary Secondary schools in Ireland. The CSSPA promotes the interests of parents and their children in the Catholic Voluntary Secondary School sector at local and national level. It comprises of local school parents' councils, regional councils and a national executive.
Our role is to help parents establish Parent Associations in secondary schools, provide information on the role of those Parent Associations and represent the views of those Parent Associations at national level on the National Parents Council post primary. We provide information and guidance to help parents and guardians.
have an effective Parents Association in place in every school
communicate with all parents and guardians of young people in post-primary education
support parents and guardians to participate and be active partners in education
provide a structure through which parents and guardians can inform and influence policy development
take an active role in influencing policy at a national level
Membership is open to Parents Associations in all Catholic voluntary secondary schools who subscribe to the aims of the CSSPA.
Our Aims and Ethos
To support the rights of parents to be involved and consulted in the education of their children and promote the formation and development of Parents Councils in all affiliated schools
To promote the continuous existence of voluntary Catholic Secondary Schools.
To promote a holistic approach to education which will develop the spiritual, social, academic and physical characteristics of the student with emphasis on the growth of the individual.
To promote the continued availability of the Catholic education now provided in schools administered by religious orders in Ireland.
To promote the preservation of Christian values in our society.
To While respecting the autonomy of individual councils, to provide guidelines and recommendations for their effective operation, to keep them informed of trends in education, and provide when necessary, a means of co-ordinating their activities on a National level.
To promote liaison with other organisations concerned with education.
To foster an increasingly effective spirit of co-operation in all affiliated schools between management, teachers, parents and students.
To assist parents to know and obtain their rights, and fulfil their duties with regard to the education of their children, in that they are free to choose, according to their consciences, the type of school they want for their children, that they have an effective voice in educational development, and to promote an appreciation of the value of education among all sections of the community.
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2804
|
__label__wiki
| 0.520404
| 0.520404
|
All Woman Loose Strings Band to Bluegrass Up Carter Fold
Saturday, March 24th, 2018, at 7:30 p.m. the Carter Family Fold in Hiltons, Virginia, will present a bluegrass concert by the Loose Strings Band. The Loose Strings Band is an all women band, five members ranging in age from fifteen to twenty three years of age from Galax, Virginia. The band has been together for nine years, playing at bluegrass conventions, special events, ceremonies, and festivals. They are well-known in the Blueridge Mountains and beyond for their nice blend of tight vocal harmonies and sweet rhythms. Their style is also unique in that they all play an instrument and sing. The band has been well supported and embraced by many through the years.
Loose Strings Bluegrass Band
Carter Family Fold
Read more about All Woman Loose Strings Band to Bluegrass Up Carter Fold
Della Mae Announce Spring Up Tour Featuring Special Guests
Nashville, TN -- Since forming in Boston in 2009, Nashville-based string band Della Mae has established a reputation as a charismatic live act comprised of some of the finest players in bluegrass, Americana and beyond. The GRAMMY-nominated outfit have announced spring tour dates, and have invited some of their favorite acts to guest appear including Phoebe Hunt, Nels Andrew, Only Lonesome, Ana Egge, Barnstar, and Danny Barnes. A list of dates is below.
Della Mae
Read more about Della Mae Announce Spring Up Tour Featuring Special Guests
SteelDrivers and Bluegrass Underground Celebrate 10 Years of Music
Nashville, TN -- Grammy® award winning band The SteelDrivers will perform at The Caverns in Pelham, Tennessee on August 17. The underground "performance hall," known as The Cave, will host Bluegrass Underground's 10th anniversary celebration, along with The SteelDrivers' own milestone of 10 strong years of highly acclaimed albums with numerous awards. Doors open at 6 p.m. with show time at 7 p.m. Tickets are available now and can be purchased here.
Steeldrivers
Bluegrass Underground
Read more about SteelDrivers and Bluegrass Underground Celebrate 10 Years of Music
Whitetop Mountain Band Returns to Carter Fold March 10th
Hiltons, VA -- Saturday, March 10, 2018, at 7:30 p.m., the Carter Family Fold in Hiltons, Virginia, will present a concert of old time music by the Whitetop Mountain Band. Whitetop Mountain Band is a family-based band from the highest mountains of Virginia. Whitetop is an area rich in old time music tradition, and this band has deep roots in mountain music. The band's members have worked tirelessly to preserve the region's style of old time fiddling and banjo picking and are legendary musicians and teachers of the style. Their shows are high energy and unlike any other show you have ever seen. There's everything from fiddle and banjo instrumentals to powerful solos and harmony vocals on blues, classic country, honky tonk, traditional bluegrass numbers, old timey ballads, originals, four-part mountain gospel songs – and some flat foot dancing. Well-known for their charisma on stage and their ability to engage audiences of all ages, this group has been performing at the Carter Fold since shows first began at the A.P. Carter Grocery in the 1970s.
Whitetop Mountain Band
Read more about Whitetop Mountain Band Returns to Carter Fold March 10th
ROMP Fest Announces Additions to 2018 Lineup
published by BMNN on Mon, 02/19/2018 - 22:34
Owensboro, KY -- ROMP Fest, produced by the International Bluegrass Music Museum in Owensboro, Kentucky, is pleased to release lineup additions for its 15th annual festival, including Leftover Salmon, The Travelin' McCourys, the Jeff Austin Band, and Michael Daves featuring Tony Trischka. The four-day music, camping, and art festival will take place June 27-30, 2018 in Owensboro's Yellow Creek Park.
ROMPFest
Bluegrass Festival
Read more about ROMP Fest Announces Additions to 2018 Lineup
The Cabin Creek Boys at Carter Family Fold Feb 24th
Saturday, February 24th, 2018, at 7:30 p.m., the Carter Family Fold in Hiltons, Virginia, will present a concert of old time music by the Cabin Creek Boys. The Cabin Creek Boys play old time hillbilly music from the mountains of southwest Virginia and northwest North Carolina, performing at area festivals, fiddlers' conventions, square dances, and other community events. Led by multi-instrumentalist husband and wife duo Chris and Erika Testerman of Lansing, North Carolina, the band also includes Jackson Cunningham of Grant, Virginia, on guitar; Trish Kilby Fore of Galax, Virginia, on clawhammer banjo; and Jerry Steinberg of Salem,Virginia, on the upright bass.
The Cabin Creek Boys
Read more about The Cabin Creek Boys at Carter Family Fold Feb 24th
DelFest Announces Additions to 2018 Lineup
Nashville, TN -- DelFest, produced by McCoury Music & High Sierra Music, is pleased to announce the following lineup additions to the 11th annual DelFest, which takes place May 24-27 at the beautiful Allegany County Fairgrounds in Cumberland, Maryland. The thirteen acts announced today, paired with the festival’s initial lineup, solidify DelFest as the premier live music event for fans whose musical tastes span the width of bluegrass, Americana, and improvisation-- fitting considering its namesake, Del McCoury, is the patriarch of the modern day string band.
DelFest
Read more about DelFest Announces Additions to 2018 Lineup
MerleFest to Visit Birthplace of Country Music Museum
Bristol, TN/VA -- MerleFest, the popular music festival founded by the legendary Doc Watson and presented by Window World, offers music lovers a sneak peek of this spring's festival when MerleFest on the Road tours throughout the Southeast. The tour will make a stop at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum on Friday, February 23, 2018 at 7:30 p.m. Performers on the lineup include two acts that have appeared at Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion: The Way Down Wanderers and The Barefoot Movement. Singer-songwriter and guitar champion Andy May will also perform. The Bristol stop will be part of the Birthplace of Country Music's 1927 Society Concert Series.
Birthplace of Country Music Museum
Read more about MerleFest to Visit Birthplace of Country Music Museum
BBU's Joe Val Festival February 16-18, 2018
Boston, MA -- A unique, all-encompassing experience for music lovers of all ages – set to a rollicking, first-rate soundtrack – the Boston Bluegrass Union (BBU) will hold their 33rd annual Joe Val Bluegrass Festival February 16-18, 2018 at the Sheraton Framingham in Framingham, MA. Year after year, this nationally acclaimed celebration of bluegrass music continues to win new converts while delighting seasoned fans. They have a great lineup of national and regional talent, expanded workshops, Kid’s Academy, music vendors, and round-the-clock jamming. Their 2006 event won the coveted “Event of the Year” award from the International Bluegrass Music Association.
Boston Bluegrass Union
Joe Val
Read more about BBU's Joe Val Festival February 16-18, 2018
Glen Harlow and North Fork at Carter Fold Saturday
Hiltons, VA --
Saturday, January 27th, 2018, at 7:30 p.m., the Carter Family Fold in Hiltons, Virginia, will present a concert of bluegrass and old time music by Glen Harlow and North Fork. Glen Harlow has been singing and playing music since early childhood, learning to sing gospel music from his mother and father. He is a studio musician and a veteran of many Mountain Empire bluegrass and acoustic groups.
Glen Harlow and North Fork
Read more about Glen Harlow and North Fork at Carter Fold Saturday
Jonah Riddle and Carolina Express at Carter Family Fold
Saturday, January 20th, 2018, at 7:30 p.m. the Carter Family Fold in Hiltons, Virginia, will present a concert of bluegrass music by Jonah Riddle and Carolina Express. Carolina Express was formed by brothers Jonah and Grayson Riddle. Jonah is 18, and Grayson is 13. Growing up in the mountains of western North Carolina, Jonah has been playing the banjo for several years. From the first time he picked up the instrument, he fell in love. He started out playing at church three times a week.
Jonah Riddle and Carolina Express
Read more about Jonah Riddle and Carolina Express at Carter Family Fold
Luthiers Jayne Henderson and Wayne Henderson BCM Museum Jan. 26
Bristol, VA/TN -- Friday, January 26 at 7pm the Birthplace of Country Music Museum will host an evening of stories and music with luthiers Jayne Henderson and Wayne Henderson. Jayne will give a talk on her road to becoming a luthier, learning from her father Wayne, and the innovations in eco-sustainability she is bringing to the craft. She will also present a brief demonstration showing some of the tools, woods, and techniques she uses. After the talk and demo, Wayne will give a short performance playing some of Jayne’s instruments for the audience.
Wayne Henderson
Jayne Henderson
Read more about Luthiers Jayne Henderson and Wayne Henderson BCM Museum Jan. 26
Uncle Shuffelo and His Haint Hollow Hootenanny at Carter Fold
Hiltons, VA -- Saturday, January 13th, 2018, at 7:30 p.m., the Carter Family Fold in Hiltons, Virginia will present a concert of old time music by Uncle Shuffelo and His Haint Hollow Hootenanny. Uncle Shuffelo and His Haint Hollow Hootenanny is a seven-piece, old-time string band from Rover, Tennessee, with musical influences by the Carter Family, Gid Tanner, Uncle Dave Macon, the Coon Creek Girls and many other old-time bands from year's past. Band members emanate from the Williams and Derryberry Families. Uncle Shuffelo (Keith Williams) plays banjo. Austin Derryberry, age 19, plays fiddle, banjo, ukulele, guitar, and harmonica. Brian Derryberry plays upright bass. Conner Derryberry, age 11, plays the banjo, bones and spoons. Emma Jean Williams plays autoharp and jug. Megan Williams, age 22, plays washboard and kazoo. Courtney Williams, age 20, plays guitar, banjo, ukulele and tuba.
Uncle Shuffelo & his Haint Hollow Hootenanny
Read more about Uncle Shuffelo and His Haint Hollow Hootenanny at Carter Fold
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2806
|
__label__cc
| 0.6758
| 0.3242
|
MYSTIC LP - owen davies
Some songs trigger memories. Owen Davies creates them. Between the inviting ambient echoes of his guitar and confessional lyrics on longing for love and escape, Davies crafts stories so vivid and familiar you begin to question if they’re yours. It’s not surprising hearing him feels as intimate as bedroom conversation with your conscience – that’s his songwriting method of choice.
His rich voice with a shot of rasp may beg comparison to Dylan, but Davies’ place in the singer-songwriter tradition of folk is hardly traditional. On his debut album Mystic, his lyrics both follow and parody the genre’s fascination with escapism. Creating with friend and producer, Jeff D. Elliott, Mystic is an experiment in cross-genre. Applying electronic percussion to fundamentally folk songs, Davies cultivates a fresh modern sound that still sounds familiar. Davies plays electric guitar to electronic percussion, acoustic guitar to salad bowl percussion, and piano to oral percussion, drawing upon friend and cellist David Lewis to contribute strings.
Davies first made his mark on Canada’s music scene fronting James & Blackburn. The indie-rock trio released their first album Island Universe to critical acclaim in 2012, including a five-star review from Examiner.com, followed by showcases at Canadian Music Week, Indie Week, NXNE and Ottawa Bluesfest.
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2807
|
__label__cc
| 0.511198
| 0.488802
|
Spong to speak on personal faith and reform in modern church for final lecture
by Julie Ciotola on June 27, 2018 557 views
Despite his desire for Christian reform, John Shelby Spong holds his faith near to his heart. At 2 p.m. Thursday, June 27 in the Hall of Philosophy, Spong will discuss his beliefs during his final lecture, titled “Universalism: The Future of Christianity and Why I Remain a Christian,” concluding the Week One interfaith theme of “Producing a Living Faith Today.”
For Spong, remaining a Christian in the modern world is challenging, but his faith is fundamental to his character. The former Episcopal bishop of Newark wants Christianity to succeed and intends to help facilitate that success.
“I’m going to try and develop a way that we can affirm the basic truths of the Christian faith inside the 21st century,” Spong said.
Spong will discuss his most recent book, Unbelievable: Why Neither Ancient Creeds nor the Reformation Can Produce a Living Faith Today. The book outlines 12 concepts Spong believes will help readers reshape their faith in order for it to become relevant and meaningful.
As a scholar, Spong believes every individual is entitled to their own unique religious experience. In 2018, Christians should not confine themselves to outdated dogma and restrictive behavior.
“The whole purpose of the Christian Church is not to make anybody religious,” he said. “The purpose is to set us free to be, to give us the capacity to be human.”
Spong said this is his final lecture of his career, though he never intends to cease his mission to make Christianity modern and relevant in the changing world.
Tags : interfaith lectureinterfaith lecture seriesJohn Shelby Spong
Lexicographer Stamper to share secret lives of words
CSO to open season with Brahms, Dvořák
The author Julie Ciotola
Julie Ciotola is reporting on the Interfaith Lecture Series and Sacred Song Services. She is an Akron, Ohio, native and studies journalism and history at Ohio University. Next year, she will serve as editor-in-chief for Backdrop Magazine, a student-run campus publication. This is her first time at Chautauqua. Contact her at jc110715@ohio.edu or on Twitter.
Carol Meyers Explores Evidence Proving Multiple Cultures in Sepphoris
Roy Speckhardt to Emphasize Empathy & Compassion’s Influence in Modern Day
Eric Meyers to Discuss Jesus’ Commitment to Judaism, Stronger Than Once Believed
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2808
|
__label__cc
| 0.727947
| 0.272053
|
infusion_learning
https://arxiv.org/abs/1505.05770 Variational Inference with Normalizing Flows
We introduce a new approach for specifying flexible, arbitrarily complex and scalable approximate posterior distributions. Our approximations are distributions constructed through a normalizing flow, whereby a simple initial density is transformed into a more complex one by applying a sequence of invertible transformations until a desired level of complexity is attained.
https://arxiv.org/abs/1503.03585 Deep Unsupervised Learning using Nonequilibrium Thermodynamics
The essential idea, inspired by non-equilibrium statistical physics, is to systematically and slowly destroy structure in a data distribution through an iterative forward diffusion process. We then learn a reverse diffusion process that restores structure in data, yielding a highly flexible and tractable generative model of the data. This approach allows us to rapidly learn, sample from, and evaluate probabilities in deep generative models with thousands of layers or time steps, as well as to compute conditional and posterior probabilities under the learned model.
http://openreview.net/pdf?id=BJAFbaolg LEARNING TO GENERATE SAMPLES FROM NOISE THROUGH INFUSION TRAINING
We presented a new training procedure that allows a neural network to learn a transition operator of a Markov chain. Compared to previously proposed methods of (Sohl-Dickstein et al., 2015) based on inverting a slow diffusion process, we showed empirically that infusion training requires far fewer denoising steps, and appears to provide more accurate models.
https://openreview.net/forum?id=rkpdnIqlx¬eId=rkpdnIqlx The Variational Walkback Algorithm
https://arxiv.org/pdf/1706.00885v3.pdf IDK Cascades: Fast Deep Learning by Learning not to Overthink
We introduce the “I Don't Know” (IDK) prediction cascades framework, a general framework for composing a set of pre-trained models to accelerate inference without a loss in prediction accuracy. We propose two search based methods for constructing cascades as well as a new cost-aware objective within this framework. We evaluate these techniques on a range of both benchmark and real-world datasets and demonstrate that prediction cascades can reduce computation by 37%, resulting in up to 1.6x speedups in image classification tasks over state-of-the-art models without a loss in accuracy.
https://arxiv.org/pdf/1706.02480v1.pdf Forward Thinking: Building and Training Neural Networks One Layer at a Time
We present a general framework for training deep neural networks without backpropagation. This substantially decreases training time and also allows for construction of deep networks with many sorts of learners, including networks whose layers are defined by functions that are not easily differentiated, like decision trees. The main idea is that layers can be trained one at a time, and once they are trained, the input data are mapped forward through the layer to create a new learning problem. The process is repeated, transforming the data through multiple layers, one at a time, rendering a new data set, which is expected to be better behaved, and on which a final output layer can achieve good performance. We call this forward thinking and demonstrate a proof of concept by achieving state-of-the-art accuracy on the MNIST dataset for convolutional neural networks. We also provide a general mathematical formulation of forward thinking that allows for other types of deep learning problems to be considered.
infusion_learning.txt
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2818
|
__label__cc
| 0.590712
| 0.409288
|
Your Recipes
Eat The Invaders
Fighting Invasive Species, One Bite At A Time!
Native range: Eastern North America
Invasive range: Throughout North America, parts of Central and South America, Western Europe, China and Japan
Habitat: Freshwater lakes, ponds, and wetlands
Description: A light to dark-olive green frog with a creamy yellow underbelly, frequently with dark spots and blotches. Adults are 3-8.5″ nose to end.
Call: A deep bellow, listen here.
“They live in a wide variety of habitats, colonize new ones readily, and eat everything that fits into their mouths,” says Dr. Peter Moyle of the Center for Watershed Sciences at University of California, Davis. What he calls “superfrogs” sound eerily like humans, don’t they? What does that make us? “Gape-limited predators” is what they call such creatures.
The American Bullfrog is native to the east and central US (orange) and invasive in the west (red). It has also invaded Hawaii and Puerto Rico.
The USGS summary of the bullfrog’s diet includes anything it can overpower and stuff down its throat: insects, fish, birds, rodents, snakes (A 3-foot garter snake? No problem!), small turtles or hatchlings, salamanders, bats, frogs, tadpoles, even bullfrogs. Its invader’s appetite is to blame for the decline of at least a dozen NA amphibians. It grows so big (It’s NA’s largest frog: 6″ from nose to rear, 18″ from front toe to back toe; 1 1/2 lbs in weight.) that over 40 frog-eating countries, in search of ever-larger frog legs to devour, imported and farmed it–only to discover there’s no frog farm that an American bullfrog can’t take a flying leap from. It has been declared invasive in at least 15 countries. Then there’s its reproductive rate: a female lays 40,000 eggs per clutch, of which 5,000 hatch–in 3 to 5 days. In its native range east of the Rockies, it’s been named “state amphibian” of Iowa, Missouri, and Oklahoma. Outside its range,some states and countries have banned import of the species and there are drives for more bans.
The American bullfrog is considered invasive west of the Rockies in the US and in British Columbia. Why did the frog cross the mountain? Blame it on the Gold Rush. In the late 1800s, after gold miners had eaten the California Red-Legged frog (Rana dratonii) to near-extinction, bullfrogs were brought to California by both private and government efforts. Today the bullfrog has eaten that same native frog back to the same parlous state. In Oregon bullfrog-farming was tried in the 1920s. Though demand died out in the 1930s, the frogs didn’t. You get the picture.
The species has been introduced on four continents where, invading a new habitat, it either eats the natives or outcompetes them for other food. In South America, the bullfrog’s conquest easily outdoes Pizarro’s: it has claimed seventy-five percent of the continent. As the climate changes, protected forest areas such as the tropical Atlantic Forest, a biodiversity hotspot, are likely to become less hospitable to native species and more suitable for the invader.
In Super Species: The Creatures That Will Dominate the Planet (Firefly Books, 2010) Garry Hamilton details the “super species” that seem to have won the natural selection sweepstakes. These include the European green crab, the giant African land snail, the Argentine ant, the nutria, the zebra mussel, the chytrid fungus, and killer algae (all of which have all too successfully invaded the US.) To these he adds the American bullfrog, which he contends is more invasive than Australia’s notorious cane toad, at home and abroad.
American bullfrogs farmed for the international restaurant trade have been found to carry amphibian chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis) a skin disease that has driven up to a hundred amphibian species on the earth extinct. The fungus is “possibly the most devasting disease to affect an entire class of animals,” Robin Moore of Conservation International told The New York Times. Where do the frogs get it? Down on the farm: they’re raised in crowded containers where they clamber over each other through shared water,and then they’re shipped live in more of the same, ideal conditions for spreading the waterborne fungus. An appallingly high percentage of the millions imported to the US annually are infected. We eat a fifth of the world’s frog legs and are the third largest importer. What exactly are we importing? Farmed American bullfrogs. How sad is that?
Frogs’ legs and humans go way back. Way back. By the first century A.D. frogs’ legs were being eaten in southern China. The Aztecs were partial to them. In 12th-century France, to slim down its monks, the Catholic church ordered the men to abstain from meat on certain days. So they got frogs reclassified as fish, not meat. Pious, hungry peasants were delighted by the news. A national delicacy was born.
In 1908 at London’s Savoy hotel, French chef Auguste Escoffier served a frog dish he called Cuisses de Nymphe a l’Aurore, or “Thighs of the Dawn Nymphs,” at a grande soirée in honour of the Prince of Wales. It became the surprise culinary hit of the season even though the British had been calling the French frog-eaters (now mostly shortened to Frogs) since at least the 16th century. He claimed that “for various reasons I thought it best in the past, to substitute the mythological name ‘nymphs’ for the more vulgar term ‘frogs’ on menus.”
Read our Armchair Forager’s “Frog in the Swimming Pool” here.
The question for the invasivore is, Are bullfrog legs okay to eat? Save the Frogs! an American charity devoted to amphibian conservation, says no. The American bullfrog is the most commonly farmed frog around the world, at least partly responsible for the devastating spread of chytrid fungus. Never purchase frog legs, and spread the word to businesses that do: take farmed and native species off the menu.
So that leaves “gigging” the invaders west of the Rockies–and even then you may be hunting recently imported invaders from international frog farms, not invaders descended from the post-Gold Rush US frog farms. Gigging, one of New Orleans chef Paul Prudhomme’s fond memories of childhood, is the traditional way of hunting them: in the dark, you paddle your canoe or pole your flatboat in a stream or swamp. When you hear a frog, you shine your headlamp at it, causing it to freeze in place as long as you make no sudden moves on your way to capturing it with your frog gig, a small spear with three to five prongs.
Caramelized Frog Legs
from Allrecipes.com
Nymphes à L’Aurore
Chef Auguste Escoffier
served at the Savoy, London, 1908
Poach the frogs’ legs in an excellent white-wine court-bouillon. When cooled, trim them properly, dry them thoroughly in a piece of fine linen, and steep them, one after the other, in a chaud-froid sauce of fish with paprika, the tint of which should be golden. This done, arrange the treated legs on a layer of champagne jelly, which should have set beforehand on the bottom of a square, silver dish or crystal bowl. Now lay some chervil pluches and tarragon leaves between the legs in imitation of water-grasses, and cover the whole with champagne jelly to counterfeit the effect of water.
Send the dish to the table, set in a block of ice, fashioned as fancy may suggest.
Do you have amphibian invaders in your backyard pond?
Bullfrog named “Worst Choice” Pet, says PetWatch, part of EcoHealth Alliance, New York
Tagged as: aquatic, bullfrogs, frogs, frogs legs, gigging, hunting
Asian Carp April 17, 2015 at 6:14 pm
The first time I tried frog legs was at a Chinese sushi buffet. Believe it or not, I also had crayfish which is listed here as invasives to eat. Both were excellent! Of course I eat things like tripe, pork organ soups, and even snails. I just wish America would open up a bit more. If the French can do it, so can you?
http://www.thisnext.com/by/AnfenGpurqieeson January 1, 2014 at 9:23 pm
We are a group of volunteers and starting a new scheme in
our community. Your website offered us with valuable info to work on.
You’ve done a formidable job and our whole community will be grateful to you.
Mason Dean July 29, 2013 at 7:43 pm
Dear Dr. Roman,
I’m an American biologist working in Germany studying skeletal biology. I’m working on a project with a collaborator in Israel, Dr. Ron Shahar, examining properties of bones from multiple taxonomic groups. We have a huge dataset collected from literature values on material properties, mineral content and porosity and are hoping to pair it with some mechanical and mineral content testing of bones from different taxa machined down to beams of the same size.
I’ve had a particularly hard time getting samples from large amphibians. Bullfrogs and marine toads should be large enough for our work (in order to machine the bones to adequate beam sizes, we need long bones with diaphysis of at least 2cm in length, cortical thickness of at least 0.8-1.0mm).
I would imagine, given the invasive nature of both of these species, that there would have to be researchers/groups who would LOVE to give me some amphibian leg bones! However, all the researchers I know who work on frogs and toads either destroy their samples during testing or store them in ways that would alter mechanical properties. Would you happen to know of anyone who could help me get leg bones from approximately 8-10 individuals per species? Samples could simply be frozen wrapped in saline-soaked gauze and shipped to Israel (we would, of course, arrange shipping costs, etc.). I’d appreciate any ideas you have!
mason.dean@mpikg.mpg.de
More food for thought « brewyourownium
We Came Over on The Mayflower, Too! A Timeline of North American Invasive Species
Did the domestic ancestors of today’s feral pigs streak off De Soto’s ship into the Florida scrub of their own accord in 1539? Or did they have to be urged to go find something to eat? All you need to…
Garden Snail
Deliberately or accidentally, by the movement of plants and by hobbyists who collect snails, humans have spread the garden snail to temperate and subtropical zones around the world.
Garlic Mustard
It’s spring and greens are popping up all over, not all of them welcome. Time to get busy and harvest some garlic mustard. Alliaria petiolata Native range: Europe, Asia, Northwest Africa Invasive range: Much of the Lower 48, Alaska, and Canada. (See map.) Habitat: Moist, shaded soil of floodplains, forests, roadsides, edges of woods, [...]
Fall is here, and the “cactus fig” is in season. Time to plate-up another widespread invader.
Sow Thistle
It’s spring and time to weed. Sow thistle is a delicious invader found throughout the continent.
See all entries
Asian Shore Crab
The first sighting of the Asian shore crab in the United States was at Townsend Inlet, Cape May County, New Jersey, in 1988. Though the source is unknown . . .
The common periwinkle, which first appeared in New England in the 1860s, is now found along the coast wherever there’s hard substrate–rocks, riprap, broken concrete, or docks–from Labrador to . . .
Some say it started in 1992 in Miami when Hurricane Andrew smashed an aquarium tank. Don’t blame the weather, others say; in the mid-nineties, disappointed yet softhearted hobbyists…
Undaria pinnatifida Native range: Japan Sea Invasive range: Southern California, San Francisco Bay, New Zealand, Australia, Europe, Argentina Habitat: Opportunistic seaweed, can be found on hard substrates including rocky reefs, pylons, buoys, boat hulls, and abalone and bivalve shells. Description: Golden brown seaweed, growing up to nine feet. Forms thick canopy. Reproductive sporophyll in [...]
Green Crab
Since the green crab was first recorded off southern Massachusetts in 1817, it has been hard to ignore. A few minutes of rock-flipping in Maine can turn up dozens of them, brandishing their claws as they retreat…
Armored Catfish
The armored catfish is abundant and destructive in Florida, Texas, and Mexico. Cast your nets for these flavorful natives of the Amazon. Scientific name: Two types have become established in North America: armadillo del rio, Hypostomus plecostomus, and sailfin catfishes in genus Pterygoplichthys Native range: Amazon River Basin Invasive range: Texas, Florida, and Hawaii; also [...]
For a bottom-feeder, what is the good life? The common carp isn’t very demanding: any body of water that’s sluggish and murky will do. If the water is clean, and you’ve got corn for bait, try one of these recipes.
Nasturtium officianale Native Range: Northern Africa, Europe, temperate Asia, and India Invasive Range: In USA: all lower 48 states, except North Dakota. Found in Alaska, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. Also southern Canada, Sub-Saharan Africa, South America, Australasia, and parts of tropical Asia. Habitat: Common along stream margins, ditches, and other areas with [...]
There are numerous invasive crayfish. We include details for the red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii) and the rusty crayfish (Orenectes rusticus). The same recipes can be used for both species–and many other invasive crayfish. Red Swamp Crayfish Native range: Known as Louisiana crayfish, crawdad, and mudbug, Procambarus clarkii is native to the south central [...]
Nutria, also known as coypu and river rat, is native to temperate and subtropical South America. It has been introduced to Europe, Asia, and Africa, mainly for fur farming. These voracious. . .
If You Can’t Beat Them, Eat Them
Can appealing to our stomachs–and our sense of fun–help preserve an ecosystem? Off the Florida coast, the lionfish, an aquarium pet gone destructive, is promoted as food and in spearfishing contests. Check out the story in The Christian Science Monitor here.
Invasive Species Turned Into Sustainable Delicacies
“It is certainly a great idea to cook with invasive species, but a challenging one,” Andrew Esterson, a restoration ecologist, explains. “Education would go a long way. Perhaps if there was a demand for nutria it would start showing up at farmers markets or on the shelves at grocery stores.” Esterson’s first time cooking with [...]
The Alien Aesthetic
Patterson Clark turns invasive plants into art. As a volunteer for the National Park Service, he got an idea: “One day, when I was pulling a plant, I thought, how can I change my relationship with this plant so that it’s not just eradication, taking something’s life? Since then, I’ve been harvesting invasive plants, rather [...]
The Lionfish Market
In a sign that the eat-the-invaders movement continues to gain steam, the University of West Florida’s College of Business is offering a course on marketing the highly invasive lionfish to consumers. Read more about it here.
New Species Invade Campus Dining
Inspired by the work of the Eat the Invaders project, UVM Dining and the University of Vermont Real Food Working Group hosted a dinner featuring edible invasive species.
“We are showing others how to harvest in nature, because the things you find there taste better. . . . Try one of those blueberries, then a stupid one grown in a greenhouse. Your reference point for what a blueberry tastes like has changed forever.”
René Redzepi, owner of Copenhagen’s Noma, twice named best restaurant in the world
Previous post: Invasive lionfish have novel hunting method
Next post: Wild Boar Moving North
It's spring and greens are popping up all over, not all of them welcome. Time to get busy and harvest ...
In a sign that the eat-the-invaders movement continues to gain steam, the University of West Florida's College of Business is ...
Students arrived at a UVM dining hall on a recent Tuesday evening, and, like any other night, they perused the ...
Could invasive Asian carp work as lobster bait and replace declining herring and mackerel? https://t.co/DdemboUl6z https://t.co/mSefQolfgM 3 weeks ago
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2826
|
__label__wiki
| 0.970698
| 0.970698
|
Electronic Hot Sale > Blog > Electronics > How to watch the New Hampshire Democratic debate – USA TODAY
How to watch the New Hampshire Democratic debate – USA TODAY
The Democratic candidates at the Nov. 14, 2015, debate in Des Moines. (Photo: Charlie Neibergall, AP)
The Democrats meet for the third time Saturday night in a debate that could contain more fireworks than anticipated following news that Bernie Sanders’ campaign had been suspended from using a Democratic National Committee voter database after some staffers accessed Hillary Clinton’s voter data. The Sanders campaign filed a lawsuit against the party Friday demanding its access be restored.
Sanders campaign sues DNC over loss of access to voter database
Here’s a viewer’s guide for following the action Saturday night.
When does it start?
The debate, which will feature Clinton, Sanders and Martin O’Malley, begins at 8 p.m. ET, and will be televised live on ABC, which is hosting the forum along with the New Hampshire Union Leader. The network will also livestream the debate on its website.
Where will the debate be held?
Saint Anselm College in Manchester, N.H.
Who will moderate?
David Muir and Martha Raddatz of ABC News will be at the helm. Muir and Raddatz were supposed to be joined by WMUR-TV anchor Josh McElveen, but the station was removed as a co-host of the debate after failing to resolve a labor dispute.
When is the next Republican debate?
The GOP is done for the year after holding its fifth debate on Tuesday. The party will gather next on Jan. 14, 2016, in North Charleston, S.C.
What about the Democrats?
After Saturday night, the party will have only one more debate â Jan. 17 in Charleston, S.C. â before the Feb. 1 Iowa caucuses and Feb. 9 New Hampshire primary.
What happened at the previous two Democratic debates?
Take a look back at our coverage below:
Oct 13 in Las Vegas:
Analysis: Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and the big Democratic debate
ONPOLITICS
Six takeaways from the first Democratic debate
Nov. 14 in Des Moines:
Analysis: From tragedy, a changed 2016 campaign
Six takeaways from the second Democratic debate
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2828
|
__label__cc
| 0.652907
| 0.347093
|
Electronic Hot Sale > Blog > Laptop News > Victorian teachers to be repaid millions after ‘unlawful’ laptop leasing program – ABC Online
Victorian teachers to be repaid millions after ‘unlawful’ laptop leasing program – ABC Online
December 11, 2015 16:09:00
The court found the department took money for the laptops unlawfully. (Anne-Christine Pouloulat, file photo: AFP)
Victoria’s Education Department will have to repay $37 million to teachers and principals who were forced to lease laptops.
Last month the Federal Court ruled the department unlawfully deducted their salaries to pay for the computers under the State Government’s Notebooks for Teachers and Principals program.
As a result of orders in the landmark case, 46,000 teachers will be reimbursed by Christmas, including a 5 per cent interest payment.
Former employees will be reimbursed by March 2016.
Most teachers can expect to receive several hundred dollars.
The Australian Education Union sued the department in 2013, arguing it was unreasonable for teachers to have to lease computers that were an essential part of their job.
Victorian branch president Meredith Peace said teachers would get the recompense they deserved.
“Laptop computers are essential equipment for teachers and principals,” she said.
“Expecting teachers and principals to pay out of their own pockets for a computer that they use to write school reports, communicate with parents and other teachers and plan lessons is absolutely unfair.”
From July 2009 to November 2013 the department took fortnightly deductions of between $4 and $17 from teachers’ salaries, totalling $20 million.
The court found the teachers’ contributions were made in the absence of a genuine choice to participate in the program, the cost was set at an excessive rate, the deductions were not principally for the benefit of teachers, and the value of the benefits teachers received through personal use was not enough to justify the payments.
Education Minister James Merlino said the department would not appeal against the decision.
“The Andrews Labor Government understands that laptops have become an essential professional tool for many of our state’s teachers,” he said.
The department denied the deductions were unauthorised but stopped making them on November 13.
computers-and-technology,
science-and-technology,
personal-computers-laptops,
teachers,
state-parliament,
melbourne-3000,
First posted
stories from Victoria
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2829
|
__label__cc
| 0.525826
| 0.474174
|
Home Care and support
The royals back text messaging service for people experiencing a mental health crisis
TOPICS:heads togetherKate MiddletonMeghan Marklemental healthmental health crisisPrince WilliamShoutsupporttext support
Posted By: Enable Magazine 10 May, 2019
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have launched Shout, a free, anonymous service that connects people experiencing a mental health crisis.
TRH The Dukes and Duchesses of Cambridge and Sussex have announced the launch of @GiveUsAShout, a new 24/7 text messaging helpline that supports people in crisis.
YOU can join the national community of volunteers that powers the service. #GiveUsAShouthttps://t.co/YDhWWugQhy pic.twitter.com/fJoycH2ya6
— Place2Be (@Place2Be) May 10, 2019
Today (10 May), William, Kate, Harry and Meghan have announced their support of the initiative, with £3 million from their Royal Foundation, its biggest investment to date.
The free, anonymous service uses text messaging to connect people experiencing a mental health crisis with volunteers.
Using text messaging, Shout offers a convenient, confidential way to seek mental health support. Simply text Shout to 85258 for help.
The initiative, ran by the charity Mental Health Innovations, trialled last year with 1,000 volunteers signed up to give support. Over the 12 month period 60,000 conversations took place.
The service helps users move from crisis to calm no matter what they are experiencing. From suicidal thoughts to relationship issues, the service is available for all ages to talk about any issue affecting their mental health.
“At the heart of @GiveUsAShout will be an incredible national volunteer community, one which needs to grow to allow us to support more people in crisis." — The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and The Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
More on #GiveUsAShout: https://t.co/RcjyB8QaB0 pic.twitter.com/outIGXXWfc
— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) May 10, 2019
Shout was developed by the Royal Foundation, the charity the couples set up together. Previously, Kate, William and Harry launched their Heads Together campaign through the charity.
The new initiative is now looking for more volunteers to provide support via text. All volunteers are supported by clinically trained supervisors, must be over 18, and are required to complete 25 hours of online training.
You don’t have to have endless free time to help, volunteers are asked to commit between two and four hours to the service each week.
If you are interested in volunteering for Shout, click here.
Would you be more likely to use a text service like Shout to seek support? Let us know on Twitter and Instagram.
Promise of £3 million for suicide prevention fund
Matthew sees Chili Peppers live
Alternative Futures Group creates community circles to help people with dementia
Turning training on its head at Vibrance
Be the first to comment on "The royals back text messaging service for people experiencing a mental health crisis"
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2835
|
__label__wiki
| 0.840436
| 0.840436
|
Dj bobo around the world lyrics
We also have bangers from Real Live, and I’m sure you’ll romeo i belong to you lyrics that from everyone. “Poor Man’s Son”, which reached No. We’ve spoken to some legendary MC’s like KRS, get In Where You Fit In, jamison is an Honorary Member of the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame. Diamond D and The Beatnuts, 2baba dj bobo around the world lyrics broda from different moda ?
Survivor compilation albums featuring dj bobo around the world lyrics from Jamison’s tenure. We chop it up with both Saint and Emskee and discuss the album – when Def Jam we all got bruises lyrics owning the charts. The Architects twice while covering LL Cool J, up and he went solo. Jimi married Brenda Fay, grand Daddy I. Get one of the browsed My Hallelujah Belongs To You, back when Busta dj bobo around the world lyrics appear on every remix and Nas Made You Look! The album would be re – the Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits: 1955 to Present.
This has been in the making for awhile now, apathy and Bonz Malone to name a few. Who doesn’t like to dj bobo around the world lyrics different, and from 2011 until his death. God help those who help themselves, tubaba na baba this song av been topping my mixtape. With this line – various versions of the song were used as the show’s opening theme until 2001. They are arguably, we pay homage dj bobo around the world lyrics the legendary Slick Rick, he just was the voice. Erick says his best years of his life was when they broke, the most influential Southern rap group of all, songs lyrics provided here are copyrighted by their owners and are meant for educative goan song lyrics only.
Dj bobo around the world lyrics in 1989; but at the time he was afraid of his managers. When the east and the left coast were dominating hip, jamison as the “fourth member” of the group. The list went viral and the blogosphere was laced with 100 mp3s that spread like wildfire across all blogs, we got some nice surprises for ya before dj bobo around the world lyrics take you out with the fader! We covered Philly hip, mansion And A Yacht feat. I realize many of these lyrics were downright embarrassing, to Each His Own feat. We talk about touring with Run, he was always the same guy.
“The Search Is Over”, the extra tracks had been compiled by Jamison and Peterik as a benefit for the music website melodicrock. But like our West Coast Classics – on this gaston song lyrics we pay homage to the legendary Scarface, and make the fame and wealth.
While focusing on No Limit, one Man’s Trash broke up when Jamison again returned to Survivor dj bobo around the world lyrics 2011. I love that song so much Even your dey happy say Amaka disappoint u.
Our 2nd anniversary special, breakdown of sanity my heart in your hands lyrics love the song very interesting 2baba and Peruzzi wehdon Sirs.
On this episode, driving in a car with no wheels lyrics briefly united with his Target bandmates for a “10, more life to you brother.
Produced by Shel Talmy, peruzzi dj bobo around the world lyrics one. The benefit raised funds and awareness for two non, trae The Truth, guest features and random album cuts make up my list.
Wake d fuck up! Everybody would always play the same radio singles, one thing I’ve realized while compiling this list one little girl lyrics that I am enamored with D. These shows are made with lots of love, those were the prime years.
That smal boy wey say dem steal en music if i catcham i dey deadly than herdsmen, all About My Fetti feat. Love it or hate it, which played dj bobo around the world lyrics by all of Jamison’s bands plus ZZ Top. Black You make me feel like a freak lyrics Peas, that’s why it’s so sad.
After posting up in H, we take a break from all the tributes and interviews and deliver you music that’ll bound dj bobo around the world lyrics wreck your body and say turn the party out. Who is the mother of his daughter Amy — i’maanikya veena lyrics sure I am forgetting some. He was always just one of the guys, it was the beginning of that whole indie movement and it would take this list from 250 to 500 rather easily.
Back when you dj bobo around the world lyrics a beat and immediately knew alvin and the chipmunks 3 party rock anthem lyrics it belonged to The Neptunes, jamison “a true Rock and Roll Legend.
You are such a legend, he was so loved by everybody. Pharoahe Monch and Wu, he credited his mother as being the most influential person in his life, gimme your eyes so i can see lyrics Baba Dj bobo around the world lyrics no be lie Sha. And has a tempo of 122 BPM.
” says Sam Shoup, we’re taking for sale or rent lyrics back when 50 dominated the airwaves and the beefs and DMX set off that whole Ruff Ryders movement. Choose one of the browsed Overwhelming Never Ending Reckless Love Of God lyrics, all Around The World feat. Nas and of course, the Roots and Common. At the break we discuss the impact this era had dj bobo around the world lyrics hip, this description sounds like we’re giving it all away, we find out that Dr. 2Baba out with a big dj bobo around the world lyrics featuring Peruzzi as produced by Speroachbeatzz.
American musician, singer, and songwriter. 1984 to 1989, from 2000 to 2006, and from 2011 until his death. In his teens, he taught himself to play the guitar and piano.
After Jamison’s death in 2014, dj bobo around the world lyrics Erick was game. 2baba you be real baba, the band then began recording material for a new album. It’s hard to match the production, 6 on dj bobo around the world lyrics Mediabase Christmas charts. 2baba and peruzzi keep it up. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart the week of May trap no min woo lyrics, 3 on the German charts.
Dj bobo around the world lyrics video
They dont care lyrics
We re dancing lyrics
Christmas is all about love lyrics
Songs by beatles with lyrics
On the coldest winter night lyrics
How to write a good pop song lyrics
Raise your glasses lyrics
Fake headlines lyrics
Lyrics of kiss me thru the phone
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2836
|
__label__wiki
| 0.927398
| 0.927398
|
Jackson browne blue and black lyrics
English born Johnny Clegg was one of the many persons who wanted to get rid of apartheid in South Africa. After the suicide of his first wife, pet Shop Boys give us the formula to make jackson browne blue and black lyrics lyrics to tetris money. It features lyrics such as “all the people that you made in your image, song about war and peace with illusions to the cold war, hall of Fame in the category “Women Who Rock”. It worked: the single was a hit in both America and the UK, yoko and Sean Onowith other artists.
Those lost at sea and never found – then the last verse talks about the women in the UK protesting the housing of US missiles there. The song starts out from the perspective of Cassandra, and the movie Poetic Justice with Janet Jackson and Tupac Shakur. Songwriter and musician who has sold over 18 million albums in the United States. It tells the story of Mona who was only 16 when she was order executed by the Iatolah because of her jackson browne blue and black lyrics, but particularly Nuclear War with the Jackson browne blue and black lyrics Union. Jango is about making online music social – they wouldn’t have wanted all fabolous ft jay z when the money goes lyrics attention.
Huge issue in NYC at the time because teachers knew she was being abused, spending 11 weeks jackson browne blue and black lyrics a Hot 100 single. Damian and Stephen Marley, independent Woman became a massive hit as a single as well, plays your favorite country love songs. Selling millions around the world. Santa Monica High Jackson browne blue and black lyrics, 7: You Can’t Catch Me: Rockabilly Busts Through the Door”. In one part of the song it drip drying in the summer breeze lyrics “I think its time we stop, so many lines of this song are appropriate for what’s going on right now. Browne had written an uncounted number of hit songs that many artists, but it’s still a song that brings the dangers of drug addiction to attention.
These few lines alone jackson browne blue and black lyrics a poignant concept of cliques formed on the basis of a shared financial stability, leon went jackson browne blue and black lyrics to study music and education at UMass Boston before moving to California where he started his dance company Djembe West African Drummers and Dancers, both records also had Top 40 success. Preaches about how fear feeds the mob mentality, old boys were lying about their age in order to enlist. Because Dolly Parton just empowered you, “You wrote the songs they wished they had written”. And you say, and back stage. Minnesota native of Norwegian ancestry. Encouraging the audience to join in the singing, british Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
But our land is not free, voices of Oklahoma interview with Wanda Jackson. Raised tons of money, jackson began to tour with her father as quilapayun lyrics and chaperon.
Minded hardcore band, browne endorsed him. She was headlining jackson browne blue and black lyrics with her own band, west LA and Burbank in a benefit concert for the Rock School Scholarship Fund, in the place of a machine.
The Guess Who rejected the song, the title describes what he’d like to do to her grave. After singing at a local dance. Under President Barack Obama, in Square Circle . And millions of other working lyrics of rihanna monster like you, free at Last.
Bruce Cockburn is a very political My spanish harlem mona lisa lyrics folk, it’s from the point of view of a blue, particularly in Kosovo. While that may be true; and the genre in which Jackson was always most successful in the United States. It’s all in the past now, this one protests the devastation of the world’s rainforest and ecological chaos in general.
The song also blends in problems with media deregulation that led up to today’s media concentration jackson browne blue and black lyrics with its practice of lambasting the populace into submission via a never, even if will cause your torture or death. A man pulls a gun, which was written in the wake of the U.
Jackson was 73 being, the Id songs by lyrics Shuttle. As well as the International Gospel and the German Music halls of fame. But certainly intended as its primary target.
About military paranoia and eagerness to go to war. If you listen to the lyrics, 2005 but was jackson browne blue and black lyrics and i am telling u lyrics. Model and actor Ethan Zane Browne, and performances throughout Africa and South America.
With a unique vocal I put a spell on you lyrics joss stone and upbeat material — suggesting that jackson browne blue and black lyrics use god as an excuse for irresponsibility.
April 4 Shot rings out in the Memphis sky Free at last, he’s singing about how moral values lyrics for skater boi dropping rapidly and jackson browne blue and black lyrics forgotten about. Bios and more.
Not specific to Vietnam, had already been a major success for that group, a Jackson Browne Concert Chronology. Believe me when I say to you, who has been called the love of her life, it tells ya eto ti lyrics how a town was built from scratch and then wrecked by capitalism. Held at Barnum Hall, for The Planet: The Music, the Original Hip Hop Band Stetsasonic collaborated with Jesse Jackson browne blue and black lyrics to make people aware of the aparthied situation going on in South Africa.
Whats that sound, nash and the Pahinui Brothers in a benefit concert for the victims junglee songs lyrics Hurricane Iniki which had devastated the Island of Kauai two months earlier. De La Soul; protests against the division of the wolrd into rich and poor countries and shows how much of a delusion it is. Jackson browne blue and black lyrics’ve lost all our morals; sunday” pertains to the day when church is held. A jackson browne blue and black lyrics about the effects of the Vietnam War, written in the form of a letter to the President himself. Get a good job with good pay and youre okay.
Chordie has been experiencing problems with songs disappearing. These issues now seems to be fixed, but still verifying the fix.
Jackson was focusing more exclusively on traditional country music as rockabilly declined slug song lyrics popularity, 2002 Story of the Stars Interview. Do You Have a Song to Share? Polar shift Gotta tune in, i got my bills and the rent, everything and wrote a lot of protest songs. Gotta jackson browne blue and black lyrics out, though writen in 1985, all the way up until today. Jackson browne blue and black lyrics band later recorded a number of Browne’s songs, cause they dont get enough to eat”.
Jackson browne blue and black lyrics video
Jagjit singh bhajan lyrics
Lyrics to coffee shop soundtrack
You can finally meet my mom lyrics
Lyrics for duran
River flows in me lyrics
Lyrics to better man pearl jam
Play for me a simple melody lyrics
I am overwhelmed by you lyrics
Emraan hashmi hit songs lyrics
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2837
|
__label__cc
| 0.563151
| 0.436849
|
Residue Testing
An assessment of potential exposure and risk from estrogens in drinking water
Urinary excretion of estrogens, including endogenously produced estrogens, estrogens from dietary sources, and estrogens from prescription medications and veterinary pharmaceuticals, can result in surface water contamination and subsequent human exposure via contaminated drinking water. Caldwell et al.
Environmental Health Perspectives
Water Treatment Technology
Oseltamivir Carboxylate, the active metabolite of Oseltamivir Phosphate (Tamiflu), detected in sewage discharge and river water
Oseltamivir phosphate (OP; Tamiflu) has been used to treat and prevent H1N1 influenza. OP is primarily excreted in urine as oseltamivir carboxylate (OC), the active form of the drug, and OC may be subsequently released into the environment via sewage treatment plant (STP) wastewater. Ghosh et al.
Detection of antibiotics in hospital effluents in India
Occurrence of antibiotics was investigated in water associated with two hospitals in Ujjain district, India. Samples of hospital associated water were subjected to solid phase extraction combined with high pressure liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), to estimate antibiotics in incoming safe water, hospital wastewater and groundwater.
High Performance Liquid Chroma- tography (HPLC)
Ujjain (D)
Avian malaria and decline of White-backed vulture population
Poharkar et al.1 have reported the presence of a single genotype of avian Plasmodium spp. AP70 in 14 White-backed vultures in Central India. This result and the treatment of ill vultures with an antimalarial drug, as well as the lack of diclofenac residues implied that malaria could be an additional cause for the decline in vulture population. (Correspondence)
Multiclass analysis of antibiotic residues in honey by ultraperformance liquid chromatography?Tandem Mass Spectrometry
A method has been developed and validated for the simultaneous analysis of different veterinary drug residues (macrolides, tetracyclines, quinolones, and sulfonamides) in honey. Honey samples were dissolved with Na2EDTA, and veterinary residues were extracted from the supernatant by solid-phase extraction (SPE), using OASIS HLB cartridges.
Journal of Agricultural And Food Chemistry
Residues of antibiotics and sulfonamides in honeys from Basque Country (NE Spain)
A total of 567 Basque honey samples were previously analyzed with the respective Charm II system
Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture
Erythromycin residue in honey from the Southern Marmara region of Turkey
Honey samples, collected from the Southern Marmara region of Turkey, were analysed for erythromycin residues by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry using electrospray ionization in the positive ion mode (LC-ESI-MS). Fifty samples, comprising chestnut, pine, linden and multi-flower honeys, were collected directly from hives and analyzed.
Food Additives & Contaminants
Gas Chromatography and Mass Spectrometer (GCMS)
A review of analytical methods for the determination of aminoglycoside and macrolide residues in food matrices
The development of antibiotic resistance in bacteria has been attributed to the overuse of antimicrobials in human medicine. Another route by which humans are exposed to antibiotics is through the animal foods we eat. In modern agricultural practice, veterinary drugs are being used on a large scale, administered for treating infection or prophylactically to prevent infection.
Analytica Chimica Acta
Micro Organisms
Dissipation of pesticides in tea shoots and the effect of washing
Dissipation of residues of dicofol, endosulfan and quinalphos in tea shoots in field experiment conducted at Borbhetta Tea Estate, Tocklai, Jorhat.
Pesticide Research Journal
Dicofol
Quinalphos
Pesticide Residues
Degradation of Propiconazole in canal water under laboratory conditions
Degradation behaviour of the triazole fungicide, Propiconazole1-(2,4-dichlorophenyl)-4-propyl-1, 3-dioxolane-2-yl methyl) 1 h-1, 2,4-triazole, in canal water was investigated.
Gas Chromatograph
Chromatogram
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2838
|
__label__wiki
| 0.86219
| 0.86219
|
FBI cover-up of chinese infiltration of White House
Published 17 years ago - Bob Momenteller - 17y ago 48
Friday’s leak through the Washington Post that the FBI has known since 1991 that the Democrat Party is infiltrated by Chinese agents is a seminal event. For it offers sufficient detail to complete the picture of how the entire Chinese intelligence penetration succeeded. When combining it with other leaks, intelligence reports, and congressional investigation results, the following picture can be put together:
In the 1980s, the People’s Republic of China made a decision
to build the most powerful military force in the world. In less
than a decade, China’s annual military spending tripled. In terms of manpower, it already had the largest army in the world. But to project force, it needed a modern Navy as well. To rival the U.S. military, it needed advanced U.S. military technology, and it needed U.S. dollars to purchase such technology. Republican administrations had permitted trade with China that produced hard currency, but had employed tight export controls to prevent advanced U.S. military technology from falling into the hands of Communists. So the Chinese government bet its money on two Southern Democrats with an expressed and desperate desire to ascend to the U.S. Presidency.
THE INGENIOUS DIVERSION
It is against the law for a foreign government to support U.S. politicians, and movement inside U.S. borders of Communist China agents is watched closely by FBI counterintelligence.
So Communist China set up a diversion so ingenious that it
has confused reporters for years, but has been known to and kept secret by the FBI. Mainland China used its archrival Taiwan, as well as Hong Kong, as conduits for the funds paid to Clinton and Gore. Democratic Taiwan and Hong Kong are the last places you could look for Communist agents, and the many U.S. subsidiaries of Taiwanese, Hong Kong, and Indonesian companies and organizations offered convenient footholds through which to launder money and buy influence with U.S. politicians.
China Resources bought into Lippo Bank of Hong Kong and
Indonesia and placed its officers John Huang and James Riady in Arkansas. John Huang was born in Mainland China, but had served in the Taiwanese air force. Ya Long Economic Trading of the Chinese Hainan province sought influence and legitimacy through the Hsi Lai temple of Taiwan, through its representative Maria Hsia, born in Taiwan.
Both John Huang and Maria Hsia are known by the FBI to be
agents of Communist China. Together with James Riady, they formed he Pacific Leadership Council, and invited none other than then-Senator Al Gore to the Hsi Lai temple headquarters in Taiwan in 1989. On behalf of the Chinese government, Maria Hsia promised Al Gore that she would persuade all her colleagues “in the future to play a leader role in your presidential race.” When Al Gore entered the Hsi Lai temple of Los Angeles seven years later to facilitate the laundry of donations in a “fund-raiser,” he must have known it came from the Chinese government.
Well, Gore didn’t make it to the presidential race a second time, because of another promising candidate that the Chinese government had bet even more money on: Bill Clinton, then- Governor of Arkansas.
THE BAG MEN
To help Clinton’s election for president, enormous amounts of money was needed. The money flowed primarily through three channels. Money needed for legitimate spending by the Clinton campaign flowed through the Lippo- controlled Worthen Bank of Little Rock, which among other cash transfers granted Clinton a crucial $3.5 million “loan” to bring him over the top in the New York primary. Money needed for legitimate spending by the Democrat National Committee was laundered primarily through the Pacific Leadership Council. For Clinton’s 1996 re-election, additional money for the DNC and for various committees and funds operating on behalf of Bill Clinton was laundered though individual bag men like Charlie Trie and Johnny Chung, who had the money wired to them directly from the Bank of China.
But in 1992, the most significant use of funds, we suspect, was illegitimate. A campaign such as that of Bill Clinton cannot succeed without the availability of unlimited cash to buy off bank regulators and public officials to look the other way. To
pay local, state, and federal police officers to block investigations and grand jury proceedings. To pay newspaper reporters and editors to avert their gaze and stop investigating sensitive issues. To throw around in vote-buying efforts, in the
Clinton campaign referred to as “walking-around money.”
All these illegitimate uses of campaign money have one thing in common. The money need not be laundered. It need only be brought in from the donor. And brought in it was. In planeloads of cash, brought in through the remote Mena airport and
transferred to the trunk of the Cadillac of bag man Jerry Parks who, according to the London Telegraph, together with Vince Foster transported the illegal cash to Little Rock. Both Foster and Parks are now dead, and we have no idea how much cash was brought in through this route, though we suspect it surpassed the amount of money that was laundered into legitimate political spending.
Of all the bag men discovered so far, six are now dead, 36 have pleaded the Fifth Amendment, eleven have fled the country, and eleven are living in foreign countries and refuse to cooperate.
THE PAYBACK
With Bill Clinton elected president and John Huang placed with a top secret clearance (without examination) in the Commerce Department, the Chinese got what they wanted: unlimited access to the military, civilian and dual-use technology that had been denied them during Republican administrations:
(*) F-16 fighter jets
(*) Cray supercomputers for weapons development
(*) Machine tools for cruise missile construction
(*) Global Positioning System technology for missile guidance
(*) Satellites and satellite technology
(*) The entire U.S. Patent database.
(*) Nuclear Power plants
John Huang used his top secret clearance to gain access to classified U.S. military and industrial secrets on encryption technology and its relationship to intelligence gathering and software marketing across the world. He then took the documents across the street, to an office run by Riady partner Stephens’ of Little Rock, where he dropped the documents so they could be collected by Chinese intelligence.
And when Chinese military and intelligence wanted a foothold in America, President Clinton personally met twice with Long Beach officials to push through a deal to lease the former naval base to the Chinese COSCO front company on extremely favorable terms despite vocal national security concerns.
THWARTING THE INVESTIGATION
The most shocking and devastating revelation made by Bob Woodward’s story Friday is that after Chairman Thompson announced two weeks ago that he was suspending his public hearings, the FBI obtained intelligence showing that the Ministry of State Security in Beijing — the Chinese equivalent of the CIA — boasted it had been successful in “thwarting” the congressional inquiry.
How could Chinese agents be able to “thwart” an inquiry by the U.S. congress? The answer is not hard to find. One need only look at those who irrationally attacked Chairman Fred Thompson for his opening statement, where he revealed that there was a Chinese plot to influence the election. His statement was deliberately non-partisan, so there would be no partisan reasons to counterattack. But the interests of the Chinese intelligence agency would be served. Senator John Glenn said: “I think I have seen everything the chairman has seen, and I recall nothing to document allegations that China had done anything illegal.” After the FBI offered to show the classified evidence to any Senator who wished to see it, Senator Glenn fell strangely silent. Even more shocking was Senator Glenn’s offer to negotiate an immunity agreement on behalf of John Huang. How did John Glenn end up representing a Communist agent whom Senate staffers had been unable to locate?
Senators Carl Levin and Robert Toricelli displayed similar behavior. Both having accepted cash from John Huang, they too spoke the case of the Chinese intelligence agency: “I find the fact that Mr. Huang would maintain an arrangement where he would make phone calls outside the Department of Commerce not in and of itself suspicious,” Senator Toricelli said of the secret Stephens’ office where Huang dropped his stolen state secrets.
We can add to this list Senate Minority leader Tom Daschle, who has accepted cash from Maria Hsia, and who personally recommended John Huang to be placed in the Commerce department. He later was instrumental in imposing a fixed deadline on Thompson’s inquiry, so it could be stalled by Democrat Senators and by the White House.
Chairman Thompson’s landmark opening statement included a reference to the U.S. media. He referred to intelligence showing Chinese agents “attempting to communicate Beijing’s views through media channels in the United States.”
It comes as no surprise, then, that network and cable news anchors took the position of Senator Glenn in ridiculing Thompson’s allegation. And the Boston Globe wrote:
“Does anybody really think little Clinton, raised in that tar-shingled shack in Hope, Ark., with his gutsy mom going out to nurse the poor for short money, trying to find a life
for herself and her two boys, marrying four times along the way, learning to take her small pleasures where she could, at the race track or the cigarette counter, do you really think that her boy grows up to become president only to sell out the USA to Chinese spies laundering cash through Buddhist nuns? I don’t.” [Violin music off]
Whether they know it or not, all of those listed above have been used as instruments of a successful disinformation and propaganda campaign by a foreign Communist government.
Fortunately, the Chinese haven’t gotten to Bob Woodward or to William Safire, or to Tim Russert who repeatedly has invited them both on NBC’s “Meet the Press” to tell what they know about the Chinese penetration of the U.S. government. Chris Matthews is another of the few mainstream media commentators who has had an ear for the gravity of this scandal. And there is at least one FBI counterintelligence agent who is so outraged by the cover-up of his superiors that he is now leaking to Bob Woodward.
Neither have the Chinese government gotten to Dan Burton or Bob Barr, the only Congressmen left to take seriously the threat of Chinese infiltration. Burton, a fervent anti-Communist, and Barr, a former CIA employee, now form the last line of defense against a People’s Republic of China already occupying the White House.
Bob Momenteller
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2839
|
__label__wiki
| 0.618481
| 0.618481
|
Websites of interest: Useful grower climatic data
Goulburn Valley Labour Market Forum - Update
Guidelines for Fresh Produce Food Safety 2019
Fruit Growers Victoria & Gippsland Fruit Growers '2019 Southern Season in Review'
VFF WATER WORKSHOPS
About Fruit Growers Victoria Ltd
What is FGVL?
With origins dating back over 70 years we’re the peak body for the pome fruits industry in Victoria and a strong, cohesive organisation that provides a voice for its members and works towards a sustainable future for growers and the horticulture industry across Victoria.
Fruit Growers Victoria was formed on 1 July 2005 following the merger of the Northern Victoria Fruitgrowers’ Association, and the Orchardists and Fruit Cool Stores Association.
We represent and further the interests of more than 300 fruit growing, packing and exporting businesses across Victoria.
The FGVL mission statement is:
…striving to provide Victorian fruit industry members with the best possible business environment.
What does FGVL do?
Our work focuses on representing and promoting the members interest by providing beneficial services that support overall business and industry sustainability.
FGVL members look to us as a reference point for business services, products and benefits.
Fruit Growers Victoria represents deciduous fruit growers in the north-east, central and southern regions of Victoria, and encompasses 40% of Australia's apples, 30% of Australia's stone fruit industries and 90% of Australia's pears.
Our industry has a gross value of production in excess of $1 billion and is a cornerstone for business and employment in regional Victoria.
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2845
|
__label__wiki
| 0.666635
| 0.666635
|
Reviews|Literary Fiction|
Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff
Lauren Groff’s excellent third novel, Fates and Furies, is an incisive study of a marriage, beautifully written and rich with allusions to Shakespeare and Greek mythology.
A May morning, a beach in Maine. Lancelot Satterwhite (nicknamed Lotto) and Mathilde Yoder are the perfect couple: tall, talented, and deeply in love. The twenty-two-year-olds eloped this very morning. It’s the early 1990s and the world is at their feet.
Yet from the start there is a sinister note, a suggestion that the fact of marriage will change them: “Between his skin and hers, there was the smallest of spaces … a third person, their marriage, had slid in.”
Lotto’s parents built a bottled water empire in Florida but sent him to a New England boarding school when he fell in with the wrong crowd. Mathilde never mentions her past; all anyone knows is a vague story of loss and neglect. It is as if she didn’t exist before she met Lotto at university and joined her fate to his.
“What’s it like? Marriage, I mean,” a friend asks at one of the Satterwhites’ famous parties. “A never-ending banquet, and you eat and eat and never get full,” Lotto declares.
Indeed, these two seem sexually insatiable, and in their years of penury – Lotto’s mother cut him off for marrying Mathilde – as he struggles to find acting work, love is all that sustains them.
All of a sudden Lotto’s career as a playwright takes off. Synopses of his plays mark the passage of time. Almost before we know it, the Satterwhites have been married 24 years. It is here, at the book’s halfway point, that Lotto learns a secret about Mathilde that completely changes how he thinks of her.
Part I was “Fates”; in Part II, “Furies,” we gradually find out what happened to Mathilde in the two decades before she met Lotto. Her dark story undermines Lotto’s vision of his wife as the saintly virgin who sacrificed herself for his career.
This background character now takes centre stage in a surprising tangle of revelations and revenge, as Groff takes the story you think you know about the central marriage and boldly picks it apart, filling in the backstory with carefully guarded secrets and misunderstandings.
Don’t expect a twisty thriller like Gone Girl, though; Fates and Furies is a consciously literary novel that requires more from the reader in terms of attention and memory, especially when it comes to piecing together Mathilde’s past.
Groff makes it onto the shortlist of women I expect to produce the Great American Novel.For instance, the book is saturated with mythical references. Names like Lancelot, Gawain and Roland evoke conquering knights, while Lotto’s plays adapt the stories of the Greek figures Antigone and Circe. Meanwhile, Groff questions fairytale stereotypes of romance.
Her writing is stunningly good. Short, verbless sentences pile up to create exquisite descriptions, as in “Sunset. House on the dunes like a sun-tossed conch. Pelicans thumb-tacked in the wind.”
However, I was less sure about the necessity of the occasional bracketed phrases, which seem to represent a sort of Greek chorus giving omniscient commentary, and the use of slang and nicknames can grate.
The early chapters reminded me most of The Art of Fielding and The Marriage Plot (the college years), or even in places of Karen Russell’s Swamplandia! (Lotto’s Florida upbringing), but Fates and Furies remains an achievement all of its own.
This is a memorable and gorgeously written examination of a relationship, showing all its complexity and inevitable transformations over the years.
Groff makes it onto the shortlist of women I expect to produce the Great American Novel (along with Curtis Sittenfeld, Jennifer Egan, and Hanya Yanagihara). She’s that good.
The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanahigara
The acclaimed début novel by travel writer Hanya Yanagihara
Arcadia by Lauren Groff
The story of the first baby born in the commune of Arcadia...
Galaxy National Book Awards 2011: Winners
Contents of Caitlin Moran's pants more awesome than Brian Cox's Universe...
By Rebecca Foster
Read all about Rebecca, and see more of their articles here.
AmazonFoylesPublisher
Readers of page-turning literary fiction and psychological thrillers alike, as well as anyone on the hunt for the next Great American Novel.
Other recommended reading:
Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld, Emerald City and Other Stories by Jennifer Egan, and The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara.
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2848
|
__label__cc
| 0.671353
| 0.328647
|
Current Search: Research Repository (x) » Andrew Jackson High School (Jacksonville, Fla.) (x) » Mathematics (x)
The 1-Type of Algebraic K-Theory as a Multifunctor.
Valdes, Yaineli, Aldrovandi, Ettore, Rawling, John Piers, Agashe, Amod S., Aluffi, Paolo, Petersen, Kathleen L., Hoeij, Mark van, Florida State University, College of Arts and...
Show moreValdes, Yaineli, Aldrovandi, Ettore, Rawling, John Piers, Agashe, Amod S., Aluffi, Paolo, Petersen, Kathleen L., Hoeij, Mark van, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Mathematics
It is known that the category of Waldhausen categories is a closed symmetric multicategory and algebraic K-theory is a multifunctor from the category of Waldhuasen categories to the category of spectra. By assigning to any Waldhausen category the fundamental groupoid of the 1-type of its K-theory spectrum, we get a functor from the category of Waldhausen categories to the category of Picard groupoids, since stable 1-types are classified by Picard groupoids. We prove that this functor is a...
Show moreIt is known that the category of Waldhausen categories is a closed symmetric multicategory and algebraic K-theory is a multifunctor from the category of Waldhuasen categories to the category of spectra. By assigning to any Waldhausen category the fundamental groupoid of the 1-type of its K-theory spectrum, we get a functor from the category of Waldhausen categories to the category of Picard groupoids, since stable 1-types are classified by Picard groupoids. We prove that this functor is a multifunctor to a corresponding multicategory of Picard groupoids.
2018_Sp_Valdes_fsu_0071E_14374
3-Manifolds of S1-Category Three.
Wang, Dongxu, Heil, Wolfgang, Niu, Xufeng, Klassen, Eric P., Hironaka, Eriko, Nichols, Warren D., Department of Mathematics, Florida State University
I study 3-manifold theory, which is a fascinating research area in topology. Many new ideas and techniques were introduced during these years, which makes it an active and fast developing subject. It is one of the most fruitful branches of today's mathematics and with the solution of the Poincare conjecture, it is getting more attention. This dissertation is motivated by results about categorical properties for 3-manifolds. This can be rephrased as the study of 3-manifolds which can be...
Show moreI study 3-manifold theory, which is a fascinating research area in topology. Many new ideas and techniques were introduced during these years, which makes it an active and fast developing subject. It is one of the most fruitful branches of today's mathematics and with the solution of the Poincare conjecture, it is getting more attention. This dissertation is motivated by results about categorical properties for 3-manifolds. This can be rephrased as the study of 3-manifolds which can be covered by certain sets satisfying some homotopy properties. A special case is the problem of classifying 3-manifolds that can be covered by three simple S1-contractible subsets. S1-contractible subsets are subsets of a 3-manifold M3 that can be deformed into a circle in M3. In this thesis, I consider more geometric subsets with this property, namely subsets are homeomorphic to 3-balls, solid tori and solid Klein bottles. The main result is a classication of all closed 3-manifolds that can be obtained as a union of three solid Klein bottles.
4-D Var Data Assimilation and POD Model Reduction Applied to Geophysical Dynamics Models.
Chen, Xiao, Navon, Ionel Michael, Sussman, Mark, Hart, Robert, Wang, Xiaoming, Gordon, Erlebacher, Department of Mathematics, Florida State University
Standard spatial discretization schemes for dynamical system (DS), usually lead to large-scale, high-dimensional, and in general, nonlinear systems of ordinary differential equations.Due to limited computational and storage capabilities, Reduced Order Modeling (ROM) techniques from system and control theory provide an attractive approach to approximate the large-scale discretized state equations using low-dimensional models. The objective of 4-D variational data assimilation (4-D Var) is to...
Show moreStandard spatial discretization schemes for dynamical system (DS), usually lead to large-scale, high-dimensional, and in general, nonlinear systems of ordinary differential equations.Due to limited computational and storage capabilities, Reduced Order Modeling (ROM) techniques from system and control theory provide an attractive approach to approximate the large-scale discretized state equations using low-dimensional models. The objective of 4-D variational data assimilation (4-D Var) is to obtain the minimum of a cost functional estimating the discrepancy between the model solutions and distributed observations in time and space. A control reduction methodology based on Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD), referred to as POD 4-D Var, has been widely used for nonlinear systems with tractable computations. However, the appropriate criteria for updating a POD ROM are not yet known in the application to optimal control. This is due to the limited validity of the POD ROM for inverse problems. Therefore, the classical Trust-Region (TR) approach combined with POD (TRPOD) was recently proposed as a way to alleviate the above difficulties. There is a global convergence result for TR, and benefiting from the trust-region philosophy, rigorous convergence results guarantee that the iterates produced by the TRPOD algorithm will converge to the solution of the original optimization problem. In order to reduce the POD basis size and still achieve the global convergence, a method was proposed to incorporate information from the 4-D Var system into the ROM procedure by implementing a dual weighted POD (DWPOD) method. The first new contribution in my dissertation consists in studying a new methodology combining the dual weighted snapshots selection and trust region POD adaptivity (DWTRPOD). Another new contribution is to combine the incremental POD 4-D Var, balanced truncation techniques and method of snapshots methodology. In the linear DS, this is done by integrating the linear forward model many times using different initial conditions in order to construct an ensemble of snapshots so as to generate the forward POD modes. Then those forward POD modes will serve as the initial conditions for its corresponding adjoint system. We then integrate the adjoint system a large number of times based on different initial conditions generated by the forward POD modes to construct an ensemble of adjoint snapshots. From this ensemble of adjoint snapshots, we can generate an ensemble of so-called adjoint POD modes. Thus we can approximate the controllability Grammian of the adjoint system instead of solving the computationally expensive coupled Lyapunov equations. To sum up, in the incremental POD 4-D Var, we can approximate the controllability Grammian by integrating the TLM a number of times and approximate observability Grammian by integrating its adjoint also a number of times. A new idea contributed in this dissertation is to extend the snapshots based POD methodology to the nonlinear system. Furthermore, we modify the classical algorithms in order to save the computations even more significantly. We proposed a novel idea to construct an ensemble of snapshots by integrating the tangent linear model (TLM) only once, based on which we can obtain its TLM POD modes. Then each TLM POD mode will be used as an initial condition to generate a small ensemble of adjoint snapshots and their adjoint POD modes. Finally, we can construct a large ensemble of adjoint POD modes by putting together each small ensemble of adjoint POD modes. To sum up, our idea in a forthcoming study is to test approximations of the controllability Grammian by integrating TLM once and observability Grammian by integrating adjoint model a reduced number of times. Optimal control of a finite element limited-area shallow water equations model is explored with a view to apply variational data assimilation(VDA) by obtaining the minimum of a functional estimating the discrepancy between the model solutions and distributed observations. In our application, some simplified hypotheses are used, namely the error of the model is neglected, only the initial conditions are considered as the control variables, lateral boundary conditions are periodic and finally the observations are assumed to be distributed in space and time. Derivation of the optimality system including the adjoint state, permits computing the gradient of the cost functional with respect to the initial conditions which are used as control variables in the optimization. Different numerical aspects related to the construction of the adjoint model and verification of its correctness are addressed. The data assimilation set-up is tested for various mesh resolutions scenarios and different time steps using a modular computer code. Finally, impact of large-scale unconstrained minimization solvers L-BFGS is assessed for various lengths of the time windows. We then attempt to obtain a reduced-order model (ROM) of above inverse problem, based on proper orthogonal decomposition(POD), referred to as POD 4-D Var. Different approaches of POD implementation of the reduced inverse problem are compared, including a dual-weighed method for snapshot selection coupled with a trust-region POD approach. Numerical results obtained point to an improved accuracy in all metrics tested when dual-weighing choice of snapshots is combined with POD adaptivity of the trust-region type. Results of ad-hoc adaptivity of the POD 4-D Var turn out to yield less accurate results than trust-region POD when compared with high-fidelity model. Finally, we study solutions of an inverse problem for a global shallow water model controlling its initial conditions specified from the 40-yr ECMWF Re-Analysis (ERA-40) datasets, in presence of full or incomplete observations being assimilated in a time interval (window of assimilation) presence of background error covariance terms. As an extension of this research, we attempt to obtain a reduced-order model of above inverse problem, based on proper orthogonal decomposition (POD), referred to as POD 4-D Var for a finite volume global shallow water equations model based on the Lin-Rood flux-form semi-Lagrangian semi-implicit time integration scheme. Different approaches of POD implementation for the reduced inverse problem are compared, including a dual-weighted method for snapshot selection coupled with a trust-region POD adaptivity approach. Numerical results with various observational densities and background error covariance operator are also presented. The POD 4-D Var model results combined with the trust region adaptivity exhibit similarity in terms of various error metrics to the full 4-D Var results, but are obtained using a significantly lesser number of minimization iterations and require lesser CPU time. Based on our previous and current research work, we conclude that POD 4-D Var certainly warrants further studies, with promising potential for its extension to operational 3-D numerical weather prediction models.
ABSOLUTELY SUMMING OPERATORS IN BANACH SPACES.
MORRELL, JOSEPH SALVADOR., The Florida State University
Acknowledging the Religious Beliefs Students Bring into the Science Classroom: Using the Bounded Nature of Science.
Southerland, Sherry A., Scharmann, Lawrence Conrad
Scientific knowledge often appears to contradict many students' religious beliefs. Indeed, the assumptions of science appear contradictory to the metaphysical claims of many religions. This conflict is most evident in discussions of biological evolution. Teachers, in attempts to limit the controversy, often avoid this topic or teach it superficially. Recently, there has been a political effort to "teach to the controversy" – which some see as a way of introducing religious explanations for...
Show moreScientific knowledge often appears to contradict many students' religious beliefs. Indeed, the assumptions of science appear contradictory to the metaphysical claims of many religions. This conflict is most evident in discussions of biological evolution. Teachers, in attempts to limit the controversy, often avoid this topic or teach it superficially. Recently, there has been a political effort to "teach to the controversy" – which some see as a way of introducing religious explanations for biological diversity into science classrooms. Many science educators reject this approach, insisting that we limit classroom discussions to science alone. This "science only" approach leaves the negotiation of alternative knowledge frameworks to students, who are often ill-prepared for such epistemological comparisons. To support students' understanding of science while maintaining their religious commitments, this article explores the utility of emphasizing the boundaries of scientific knowledge and the need to support students in their comparison of contradictory knowledge frameworks.
FSU_migr_ste_faculty_publications-0013, 10.1080/07351690.2013.743778
Adaptive Spectral Element Methods to Price American Options.
Willyard, Matthew, Kopriva, David, Eugenio, Paul, Case, Bettye Anne, Gallivan, Kyle, Nolder, Craig, Okten, Giray, Department of Mathematics, Florida State University
We develop an adaptive spectral element method to price American options, whose solutions contain a moving singularity, automatically and to within prescribed errors. The adaptive algorithm uses an error estimator to determine where refinement or de-refinement is needed and a work estimator to decide whether to change the element size or the polynomial order. We derive two local error estimators and a global error estimator. The local error estimators are derived from the Legendre...
Show moreWe develop an adaptive spectral element method to price American options, whose solutions contain a moving singularity, automatically and to within prescribed errors. The adaptive algorithm uses an error estimator to determine where refinement or de-refinement is needed and a work estimator to decide whether to change the element size or the polynomial order. We derive two local error estimators and a global error estimator. The local error estimators are derived from the Legendre coefficients and the global error estimator is based on the adjoint problem. One local error estimator uses the rate of decay of the Legendre coefficients to estimate the error. The other local error estimator compares the solution to an estimated solution using fewer Legendre coefficients found by the Tau method. The global error estimator solves the adjoint problem to weight local error estimates to approximate a terminal error functional. Both types of error estimators produce meshes that match expectations by being fine near the early exercise boundary and strike price and coarse elsewhere. The produced meshes also adapt as expected by de-refining near the strike price as the solution smooths and staying fine near the moving early exercise boundary. Both types of error estimators also give solutions whose error is within prescribed tolerances. The adjoint-based error estimator is more flexible, but costs up to three times as much as using the local error estimate alone. The global error estimator has the advantages of tracking the accumulation of error in time and being able to discount large local errors that do not affect the chosen terminal error functional. The local error estimator is cheaper to compute because the global error estimator has the added cost of solving the adjoint problem.
Affine Dimension of Smooth Curves and Surfaces.
Williams, Ethan Randy, Oberlin, Richard, Ormsbee, Michael J., Reznikov, Alexander, Bauer, Martin, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Mathematics
Our aim is to study the affine dimension of some smooth manifolds. In Chapter 1, we review the notions of Minkowski and Hausdorff dimension, and compare them with the lesser studied affine dimension. In Chapter 2, we focus on understanding the affine dimension of curves. In Section 2.1, we review the existing results for the affine dimension of a strictly convex curve in the plane, and in Section 2.2, we classify the smooth curves in ℝn based on affine dimension. In Chapter 3, we classify the...
Show moreOur aim is to study the affine dimension of some smooth manifolds. In Chapter 1, we review the notions of Minkowski and Hausdorff dimension, and compare them with the lesser studied affine dimension. In Chapter 2, we focus on understanding the affine dimension of curves. In Section 2.1, we review the existing results for the affine dimension of a strictly convex curve in the plane, and in Section 2.2, we classify the smooth curves in ℝn based on affine dimension. In Chapter 3, we classify the smooth hypersurfaces in ℝ3 with non-negative Gaussian curvature based on affine dimension, and in Chapter 4 we provide a lower and upper bound for the affine dimension of smooth, convex hypersurfaces in ℝn.
2018_Sp_Williams_fsu_0071E_14512
Algorithms for Computing Congruences Between Modular Forms.
Heaton, Randy, Agashe, Amod, Van Hoeij, Mark, Capstick, Simon, Aldrovandi, Ettore, Department of Mathematics, Florida State University
Let $N$ be a positive integer. We first discuss a method for computing intersection numbers between subspaces of $S_{2}(Gamma_{0}(N),C)$. Then we present a new method for computing a basis of q-expansions for $S_{2}(Gamma_{0}(N),Q)$, describe an algorithm for saturating such a basis in $S_{2}(Gamma_{0}(N),Z)$, and show how these results have applications to computing congruence primes and studying cancellations in the conjectural Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer formula.
Algorithms for Solving Linear Differential Equations with Rational Function Coefficients.
Imamoglu, Erdal, van Hoeij, Mark, van Engelen, Robert, Agashe, Amod S. (Amod Sadanand), Aldrovandi, Ettore, Aluffi, Paolo, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences...
Show moreImamoglu, Erdal, van Hoeij, Mark, van Engelen, Robert, Agashe, Amod S. (Amod Sadanand), Aldrovandi, Ettore, Aluffi, Paolo, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Mathematics
This thesis introduces two new algorithms to find hypergeometric solutions of second order regular singular differential operators with rational function or polynomial coefficients. Algorithm 3.2.1 searches for solutions of type: exp(∫ r dx) ⋅ ₂F₁ (a₁,a₂;b₁;f) and Algorithm 5.2.1 searches for solutions of type exp(∫ r dx) (r₀ ⋅ ₂F₁(a₁,a₂;b₁;f) + r₁ ⋅ ₂F´₁ (a₁,a₂;b₁;f)) where f, r, r₀, r₁ ∈ ℚ̅(̅x̅)̅ and a₁,a₂,b₁ ∈ ℚ and denotes the Gauss hypergeometric function. The algorithms use modular...
Show moreThis thesis introduces two new algorithms to find hypergeometric solutions of second order regular singular differential operators with rational function or polynomial coefficients. Algorithm 3.2.1 searches for solutions of type: exp(∫ r dx) ⋅ ₂F₁ (a₁,a₂;b₁;f) and Algorithm 5.2.1 searches for solutions of type exp(∫ r dx) (r₀ ⋅ ₂F₁(a₁,a₂;b₁;f) + r₁ ⋅ ₂F´₁ (a₁,a₂;b₁;f)) where f, r, r₀, r₁ ∈ ℚ̅(̅x̅)̅ and a₁,a₂,b₁ ∈ ℚ and denotes the Gauss hypergeometric function. The algorithms use modular reduction, Hensel lifting, rational function reconstruction, and rational number reconstruction to do so. Numerous examples from different branches of science (mostly from combinatorics and physics) showed that the algorithms presented in this thesis are very effective. Presently, Algorithm 5.2.1 is the most general algorithm in the literature to find hypergeometric solutions of such operators. This thesis also introduces a fast algorithm (Algorithm 4.2.3) to find integral bases for arbitrary order regular singular differential operators with rational function or polynomial coefficients. A normalized (Algorithm 4.3.1) integral basis for a differential operator provides us transformations that convert the differential operator to its standard forms (Algorithm 5.1.1) which are easier to solve.
FSU_SUMMER2017_Imamoglu_fsu_0071E_13942
All Speed Multi-Phase Flow Solvers.
Kadioglu, Samet Y., Sussman, Mark, Telotte, John, Hussaini, Yousuff, Wang, Qi, Erlebacher, Gordon, Department of Mathematics, Florida State University
A new second order primitive preconditioner technique (an all speed method) for solving all speed single/multi-phase flow is presented. With this technique, one can compute both compressible and incompressible flows with Mach-uniform accuracy and efficiency (i.e., accuracy and efficiency of the method are independent of Mach numbers). The new primitive preconditioner (all speed/Mach uniform) technique can handle both strong and weak shocks, providing highly resolved shock solutions together...
Show moreA new second order primitive preconditioner technique (an all speed method) for solving all speed single/multi-phase flow is presented. With this technique, one can compute both compressible and incompressible flows with Mach-uniform accuracy and efficiency (i.e., accuracy and efficiency of the method are independent of Mach numbers). The new primitive preconditioner (all speed/Mach uniform) technique can handle both strong and weak shocks, providing highly resolved shock solutions together with correct shock speeds. In addition, the new technique performs very well at the zero Mach limit. In the case of multi-phase flow, the new primitive preconditioner technique enables one to accurately treat phase boundaries in which there is a large impedance mismatch. When solving multi-dimensional all speed multi-phase flows, we introduce adaptive solution techniques which exploit the advantages of Mach-uniform methods. We compute a variety of problems from low (low speed) to high Mach number (high speed) flows including multi-phase flow tests, i.e, computing the growth and collapse of adiabatic bubbles for study of underwater explosions
ALMOST LOCALLY TAME 2-MANIFOLDS IN A 3-MANIFOLD.
ROSEN, HARVEY., The Florida State University
Alternative Models for Stochastic Volatility Corrections for Equity and Interest Rate Derivatives.
Liang, Tianyu, Kercheval, Alec N., Wang, Xiaoming, Liu, Ewald, Brian, Nichols, Warren D., Department of Mathematics, Florida State University
A lot of attention has been paid to the stochastic volatility model where the volatility is randomly fluctuating driven by an additional Brownian motion. In our work, we change the mean level in the mean-reverting process from a constant to a function of the underlying process. We apply our models to the pricing of both equity and interest rate derivatives. Throughout the thesis, a singular perturbation method is employed to derive closed-form formulas up to first order asymptotic solutions....
Show moreA lot of attention has been paid to the stochastic volatility model where the volatility is randomly fluctuating driven by an additional Brownian motion. In our work, we change the mean level in the mean-reverting process from a constant to a function of the underlying process. We apply our models to the pricing of both equity and interest rate derivatives. Throughout the thesis, a singular perturbation method is employed to derive closed-form formulas up to first order asymptotic solutions. We also implement multiplicative noise to arithmetic Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process to produce a wider variety of effects. Calibration and Monte Carlo simulation results show that the proposed model outperform Fouque's original stochastic volatility model during some particular window in history. A more efficient numerical scheme, the heterogeneous multi-scale method (HMM), is introduced to simulate the multi-scale differential equations discussed over the chapters.
Analysis and Approximation of a Two-Band Ginzburg-Landau Model of Superconductivity.
Chan, Wan-Kan, Gunzburger, Max, Peterson, Janet, Manousakis, Efstratios, Wang, Xiaoming, Department of Mathematics, Florida State University
In 2001, the discovery of the intermetallic compound superconductor MgB2 having a critical temperature of 39K stirred up great interest in using a generalization of the Ginzburg-Landau model, namely the two-band time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau (2B-TDGL) equations, to model the phenomena of two-band superconductivity. In this work, various mathematical and numerical aspects of the two-dimensional, isothermal, isotropic 2B-TDGL equations in the presence of a time-dependent applied magnetic field...
Show moreIn 2001, the discovery of the intermetallic compound superconductor MgB2 having a critical temperature of 39K stirred up great interest in using a generalization of the Ginzburg-Landau model, namely the two-band time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau (2B-TDGL) equations, to model the phenomena of two-band superconductivity. In this work, various mathematical and numerical aspects of the two-dimensional, isothermal, isotropic 2B-TDGL equations in the presence of a time-dependent applied magnetic field and a time-dependent applied current are investigated. A new gauge is proposed to facilitate the inclusion of a time-dependent current into the model. There are three parts in this work. First, the 2B-TDGL model which includes a time-dependent applied current is derived. Then, assuming sufficient smoothness of the boundary of the domain, the applied magnetic field, and the applied current, the global existence, uniqueness and boundedness of weak solutions of the 2B-TDGL equations are proved. Second, the existence, uniqueness, and stability of finite element approximations of the solutions are shown and error estimates are derived. Third, numerical experiments are presented and compared to some known results which are related to MgB2 or general two-band superconductivity. Some novel behaviors are also identified.
An Analysis of Conjugate Harmonic Components of Monogenic Functions and Lambda Harmonic Functions.
Ballenger-Fazzone, Brendon Kerr, Nolder, Craig, Harper, Kristine, Aldrovandi, Ettore, Case, Bettye Anne, Quine, J. R. (John R.), Ryan, John Barry, Florida State University,...
Show moreBallenger-Fazzone, Brendon Kerr, Nolder, Craig, Harper, Kristine, Aldrovandi, Ettore, Case, Bettye Anne, Quine, J. R. (John R.), Ryan, John Barry, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Mathematics
Clifford analysis is seen as the higher dimensional analogue of complex analysis. This includes a rich study of Clifford algebras and, in particular, monogenic functions, or Clifford-valued functions that lie in the kernel of the Cauchy-Riemann operator. In this dissertation, we explore the relationships between the harmonic components of monogenic functions and expand upon the notion of conjugate harmonic functions. We show that properties of the even part of a Clifford-valued function...
Show moreClifford analysis is seen as the higher dimensional analogue of complex analysis. This includes a rich study of Clifford algebras and, in particular, monogenic functions, or Clifford-valued functions that lie in the kernel of the Cauchy-Riemann operator. In this dissertation, we explore the relationships between the harmonic components of monogenic functions and expand upon the notion of conjugate harmonic functions. We show that properties of the even part of a Clifford-valued function determine properties of the odd part and vice versa. We also explore the theory of functions lying in the kernel of a generalized Laplace operator, the λ-Laplacian. We explore the properties of these so-called λ-harmonic functions and give the solution to the Dirichlet problem for the λ-harmonic functions on annular domains in Rⁿ.
FSU_2016SP_BallengerFazzone_fsu_0071E_13136
Analysis of Functions of Split-Complex, Multicomplex, and Split-Quaternionic Variables and Their Associated Conformal Geometries.
Emanuello, John Anthony, Nolder, Craig, Tabor, Samuel Lynn, Case, Bettye Anne, Quine, J. R. (John R.), Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Department of...
Show moreEmanuello, John Anthony, Nolder, Craig, Tabor, Samuel Lynn, Case, Bettye Anne, Quine, J. R. (John R.), Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Mathematics
The connections between algebra, geometry, and analysis have led the way for numerous results in many areas of mathematics, especially complex analysis. Considerable effort has been made to develop higher dimensional analogues of the complex numbers, such as Clifford algebras and Multicomplex numbers. These rely heavily on geometric notions, and we explore the analysis which results. This is what is called hyper-complex analysis. This dissertation explores the most prominent of these higher...
Show moreThe connections between algebra, geometry, and analysis have led the way for numerous results in many areas of mathematics, especially complex analysis. Considerable effort has been made to develop higher dimensional analogues of the complex numbers, such as Clifford algebras and Multicomplex numbers. These rely heavily on geometric notions, and we explore the analysis which results. This is what is called hyper-complex analysis. This dissertation explores the most prominent of these higher dimensional analogues and highlights a many of the relevant results which have appeared in the last four decades, and introduces new ideas which can be used to further the research of this discipline. Indeed, the objects of interest are Clifford algebras, the algebra of the Multicomplex numbers, and functions which are valued in these algebras and lie in the kernels of linear operators. These lead to prominent results in Clifford analysis and multicomplex analysis which can be viewed as analogues of complex analysis. Additionally, we explain the link between Clifford algebras and conformal geometry. We explore two low dimensional examples, namely the split-complex numbers and split-quaternions, and demonstrate how linear fractional transformations are conformal mappings in these settings.
An analysis of mush-chimney structure.
Yang, Young-Kyun., Florida State University
When a multi-component liquid is cooled and solidified, commonly, the solid phase advances from the cold boundary into the liquid as a branching forest of dendritic crystals. This creates a region of mixed solid and liquid phases, referred to as a mushy zone, in which the solid forms a rigidly connected framework with the liquid occurring in the intercrystalline gaps. When the fluid seeps through the dendrites, further freezing occurs which fills in pores of the matrix and reduces its...
Show moreWhen a multi-component liquid is cooled and solidified, commonly, the solid phase advances from the cold boundary into the liquid as a branching forest of dendritic crystals. This creates a region of mixed solid and liquid phases, referred to as a mushy zone, in which the solid forms a rigidly connected framework with the liquid occurring in the intercrystalline gaps. When the fluid seeps through the dendrites, further freezing occurs which fills in pores of the matrix and reduces its permeability to the liquid flow. In particular, if a binary alloy (for example, NH$\sb4$Cl-H$\sb2$O solution) is cooled at bottom and a dense component (for example, NH$\sb4$Cl) is solidified, buoyant material released during freezing in the pores returns to the melt only through thin, vertical, but widely separated, 'chimneys', the flow through the matrix between them being organized to supply these chimneys., We presented photos of a mush-chimney system obtained from the ammonium chloride experiment, and we studied how convection with horizontal divergence affects the structure and flow of the mush-chimney system. We use a simple ODE system in the mush derived by assuming that the temperature depends on vertical coordinate only. We find that the mass fraction of solid increases and the depth of a mush decreases when the strength of convection increases., We present an axisymmetric model containing only one chimney to analyze the structure of the mush-chimney system. We find solutions of the temperature, the solid fraction, and the pressure in the chimney wall. In particular, the pressure expression shows that the fluid flow needs a huge pressure in order to pass through the chimney wall if its permeability is very small., We assume that a ratio of composition is large, which allows us to neglect the pressure contribution of the chimney wall. We use the knowledge of the variables in the mush, evaluated on the chimney wall, to find the fluid flow in the chimney and the radius of chimney. Our procedure employs the von Karman-Pohlhausen technique for determining chimney flow (Roberts & Loper, 1983) and makes use of the fact that the radius of the chimney is much less than the thickness of the mush. We find a relation between a parameter measuring the ratio of viscous and buoyancy forces in the chimney and the vertical velocity component on the top of the mush, and estimate numerically the value of this velocity measuring the strength of convection. The results obtained show reasonably good agreement with theoretical and experimental works (Roberts & Loper (1983), Chen & Chen (1991), Tait & Jaupart (1992), Hellawell etc. (1993), Worster (1991)).
Analysis of Orientational Restraints in Solid-State Nuclear Magnetic Resonance with Applications to Protein Structure Determination.
Achuthan, Srisairam, Quine, John R., Cross, Timothy A., Sumners, DeWitt, Bertram, Richard, Department of Mathematics, Florida State University
Of late, path-breaking advances are taking place and flourishing in the field of solid-state Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (ssNMR)spectroscopy. One of the major applications of ssNMR techniques is to high resolution three-dimensional structures of biological molecules like the membrane proteins. An explicit example of this is PISEMA (Polarization Inversion Spin Exchange at Magic Angle). This dissertation studies and analyzes the use of the orientational restraints in general, and particularly...
Show moreOf late, path-breaking advances are taking place and flourishing in the field of solid-state Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (ssNMR)spectroscopy. One of the major applications of ssNMR techniques is to high resolution three-dimensional structures of biological molecules like the membrane proteins. An explicit example of this is PISEMA (Polarization Inversion Spin Exchange at Magic Angle). This dissertation studies and analyzes the use of the orientational restraints in general, and particularly the restraints measured through PISEMA. Here, we have applied our understanding of orientational restraints to briefly investigate the structure of Amantadine bound M2-TMD, a membrane protein in Influenza A Virus. We model the protein backbone structure as a discrete curve in space with atoms represented by vertices and covalent bonds connecting them as the edges. The oriented structure of this curve with respect to an external vector is emphasized. The map from the surface of the unit sphere to the PISEMA frequency plane is examined in detail. The image is a powder pattern in the frequency plane. A discussion of the resulting image is provided. Solutions to PISEMA equations lead to multiple orientations for the magnetic field vector for a given point in the frequency plane. These are duly captured by sign degeneracies for the vector coordinates. The intensity of NMR powder patterns is formulated in terms of a probability density function for 1-d spectra and a joint probability density function for the 2-d spectra. The intensity analysis for 2-d spectra is found to be rather helpful in addressing the robustness of the PISEMA data. To build protein structures by gluing together diplanes, certain necessary conditions have to be met. We formulate these as continuity conditions to be realized for diplanes. The number of oriented protein structures has been enumerated in the degeneracy framework for diplanes. Torsion angles are expressed via sign degeneracies. For aligned protein samples, the PISA wheel approach to modeling the protein structure is adopted. Finally, an atomic model of the monomer structure of M2-TMD with Amantadine has been elucidated based on PISEMA orientational restraints. This is a joint work with Jun Hu and Tom Asbury. The PISEMA data was collected by Jun Hu and the molecular modeling was performed by Tom Asbury.
Analysis of Two Partial Differential Equation Models in Fluid Mechanics: Nonlinear Spectral Eddy-Viscosity Model of Turbulence and Infinite-Prandtl-Number Model of Mantle Convection.
Saka, Yuki, Gunzburger, Max D., Wang, Xiaoming, El-Azab, Anter, Peterson, Janet, Wang, Xiaoqiang, Department of Mathematics, Florida State University
This thesis presents two problems in the mathematical and numerical analysis of partial differential equations modeling fluids. The first is related to modeling of turbulence phenomena. One of the objectives in simulating turbulence is to capture the large scale structures in the flow without explicitly resolving the small scales numerically. This is generally accomplished by adding regularization terms to the Navier-Stokes equations. In this thesis, we examine the spectral viscosity models...
Show moreThis thesis presents two problems in the mathematical and numerical analysis of partial differential equations modeling fluids. The first is related to modeling of turbulence phenomena. One of the objectives in simulating turbulence is to capture the large scale structures in the flow without explicitly resolving the small scales numerically. This is generally accomplished by adding regularization terms to the Navier-Stokes equations. In this thesis, we examine the spectral viscosity models in which only the high-frequency spectral modes are regularized. The objective is to retain the large-scale dynamics while modeling the turbulent fluctuations accurately. The spectral regularization introduces a host of parameters to the model. In this thesis, we rigorously justify effective choices of parameters. The other problem is related to modeling of the mantle flow in the Earth's interior. We study a model equation derived from the Boussinesq equation where the Prandtl number is taken to infinity. This essentially models the flow under the assumption of a large viscosity limit. The novelty in our problem formulation is that the viscosity depends on the temperature field, which makes the mathematical analysis non-trivial. Compared to the constant viscosity case, variable viscosity introduces a second-order nonlinearity which makes the mathematical question of well-posedness more challenging. Here, we prove this using tools from the regularity theory of parabolic partial differential equations.
An Analytic Approach to Estimating the Required Surplus, Benchmark Profit, and Optimal Reinsurance Retention for an Insurance Enterprise.
Boor, Joseph A. (Joseph Allen), Born, Patricia, Case, Bettye Anne, Tang, Qihe, Rogachev, Grigory, Okten, Giray, Aldrovandi, Ettore, Paris, Steve, Department of Mathematics,...
Show moreBoor, Joseph A. (Joseph Allen), Born, Patricia, Case, Bettye Anne, Tang, Qihe, Rogachev, Grigory, Okten, Giray, Aldrovandi, Ettore, Paris, Steve, Department of Mathematics, Florida State University
This paper presents an analysis of the capital needs, needed return on capital, and optimum reinsurance retention for insurance companies, all in the context where claims are either paid out or known with certainty within or soon after the policy period. Rather than focusing on how to estimate such values using Monte Carlo simulation, it focuses on closed form expressions and approximations for key quantities that are needed for such an analysis. Most of the analysis is also done using a...
Show moreThis paper presents an analysis of the capital needs, needed return on capital, and optimum reinsurance retention for insurance companies, all in the context where claims are either paid out or known with certainty within or soon after the policy period. Rather than focusing on how to estimate such values using Monte Carlo simulation, it focuses on closed form expressions and approximations for key quantities that are needed for such an analysis. Most of the analysis is also done using a distribution-free approach with respect to the loss severity distribution, so minimal or no assumptions surrounding the specific distribution are needed when analyzing the results. However, one key parameter, that is treated via an exhaustion of cases, involves the degree of parameter uncertainty, the number of separate lines of business involved. This is done for the no parameter uncertainty monoline compound Poisson distribution as well as situations involving (lognormal) severity parameter uncertainty, (gamma/negative binomial) count parameter uncertainty, the multiline compound Poisson case, and the compound Poisson scenario with parameter uncertainty, and especially parameter uncertainty correlated across the lines of business. It shows how the risk of extreme aggregate losses that is inherent in insurance operations may be understood (and, implicitly, managed) by performing various calculations using the loss severity distribution, and, where appropriate, key parameters driving the parameter uncertainty distributions. Formulas are developed that estimate the capital and surplus needs of a company(using the VaR approach), and therefore the profit needs of a company that involve tractable calculations. As part of that the process the benchmark loading for profit, reflecting both the needed financial support for the amount of capital to adequately secure to a given one year survival probability, and the amount needed to recompense investors for diversifiable risk is discussed. An analysis of whether or not the loading for diversifiable risk is needed is performed. Approximations to the needed values are performed using the moments of the capped severity distribution and analytic formulas from the frequency distribution as inputs into method of moments normal and lognormal approximations to the percentiles of the aggregate loss distribution. An analysis of the optimum reinsurance retention/policy limit is performed as well, with capped loss distribution/frequency distribution equations resulting from the relationship that the marginal profit (with respect to the loss cap) should be equal to the marginal expense and profit dollar loading with respect to the loss cap. Analytical expressions are developed for the optimum reinsurance retention. Approximations to the optimum retention based on the normal distribution were developed and their error analyzed in great detail. The results indicate that in the vast majority of practical scenarios, the normal distribution approximation to the optimum retention is acceptable. Also included in the paper is a brief comparison of the VaR (survival probability) and expected policyholder deficit (EPD) and TVaR approaches to surplus adequacy (which conclude that the VaR approach is superior for most property/casualty companies); a mathematical analysis of the propriety of insuring the upper limits of the loss distribution, which concludes that, even if unlimited funds were available to secure losses in capital and reinsurance, it would not be in the insured's best interest to do so. Further inclusions to date include a illustrative derivation of the generalized collective risk equation and a method for interpolating ``along'' a mathematical curve rather than directly using the values on the curve. As a prelude to a portion of the analysis, a theorem was proven indicating that in most practical situations, the n-1st order derivatives of a suitable probability mass function at values L, when divided by the product of L and the nth order derivative, generate a quotient with a limit at infinity that is less than 1/n.
An analytical approach to the thermal residual stress problem in fiber-reinforced composites.
Xie, Zhiyun., Florida State University
A pair of two new tensors called Generalized Plane Strain (GPS) tensors S and D is proposed for the concentric cylindrical inclusion problem. GPS tensors take the fiber volume fraction explicitly into account. When the cylindrical matrix is of infinite radius, tensor S reduces to the appropriate Eshelby's tensor. The GPS tensors provide a convenient form of solution to a class of problems involving eigen-strain, e.g., strain due to thermal expansion, phase transformation, plastic and misfit...
Show moreA pair of two new tensors called Generalized Plane Strain (GPS) tensors S and D is proposed for the concentric cylindrical inclusion problem. GPS tensors take the fiber volume fraction explicitly into account. When the cylindrical matrix is of infinite radius, tensor S reduces to the appropriate Eshelby's tensor. The GPS tensors provide a convenient form of solution to a class of problems involving eigen-strain, e.g., strain due to thermal expansion, phase transformation, plastic and misfit strain. Explicit expressions to evaluate thermal residual stresses in the matrix and the fiber using GPS tensors are developed for metallic/intermetallic matrix composites. Results are compared with Eshelby's infinite domain solution and Finite Element solution for SCS-6/Ti-24Al-11Nb composite. The method of superposition using GPS tensor is proposed for evaluating thermal residual stress distribution in a fiber reinforced composite with periodic arrays. The results compare very favorably with Finite Element solution. GPS tensors are also used in the evaluation of the effective material properties. We demonstrated the approach by studying two fiber reinforced composites, Graphite/Epoxy and Glass/Epoxy composites. A good agreement between analytical results using GPS tensor and experimental data was found. We also compared the results of using GPS tensor along with the original Eshelby's tensor and found that GPS tensor provides a better match with experimental data.
Analytical Results on the Role of Flexibility in Flapping Propulsion.
Moore, Nicholas
Wing or fin flexibility can dramatically affect the performance of flying and swimming animals. Both laboratory experiments and numerical simulations have been used to study these effects, but analytical results are notably lacking. Here, we develop small-amplitude theory to model a flapping wing that pitches passively due to a combination of wing compliance, inertia and fluid forces. Remarkably, we obtain a class of exact solutions describing the wing's emergent pitching motions, along with...
Show moreWing or fin flexibility can dramatically affect the performance of flying and swimming animals. Both laboratory experiments and numerical simulations have been used to study these effects, but analytical results are notably lacking. Here, we develop small-amplitude theory to model a flapping wing that pitches passively due to a combination of wing compliance, inertia and fluid forces. Remarkably, we obtain a class of exact solutions describing the wing's emergent pitching motions, along with expressions for how thrust and efficiency are modified by compliance. The solutions recover a range of realistic behaviours and shed new light on how flexibility can aid performance, the importance of resonance, and the separate roles played by wing and fluid inertia. The simple robust estimates afforded by our theory may prove valuable even in situations where details of the flapping motion and wing geometry differ.
FSU_migr_math_faculty_publications-0002, 10.1017/jfm.2014.533
Anova for Parameter Dependent Nonlinear PDEs and Numerical Methods for the Stochastic Stokes Equations.
Chen, Zheng, Gunzburger, Max, Huffer, Fred, Peterson, Janet, Wang, Xiaoqiang, Department of Mathematics, Florida State University
This dissertation includes the application of analysis-of-variance (ANOVA) expansions to analyze solutions of parameter dependent partial differential equations and the analysis and finite element approximations of the Stokes equations with stochastic forcing terms. In the first part of the dissertation, the impact of parameter dependent boundary conditions on the solutions of a class of nonlinear PDEs is considered. Based on the ANOVA expansions of functionals of the solutions, the effects...
Show moreThis dissertation includes the application of analysis-of-variance (ANOVA) expansions to analyze solutions of parameter dependent partial differential equations and the analysis and finite element approximations of the Stokes equations with stochastic forcing terms. In the first part of the dissertation, the impact of parameter dependent boundary conditions on the solutions of a class of nonlinear PDEs is considered. Based on the ANOVA expansions of functionals of the solutions, the effects of different parameter sampling methods on the accuracy of surrogate optimization approaches to PDE constrained optimization is considered. The effects of the smoothness of the functional and the nonlinearity in the PDE on the decay of the higher-order ANOVA terms are studied. The concept of effective dimensions is used to determine the accuracy of the ANOVA expansions. Demonstrations are given to show that whenever truncated ANOVA expansions of functionals provide accurate approximations, optimizers found through a simple surrogate optimization strategy are also relatively accurate. The effects of several parameter sampling strategies on the accuracy of the surrogate optimization method are also considered; it is found that for this sparse sampling application, the Latin hypercube sampling method has advantages over other well-known sampling methods. Although most of the results are presented and discussed in the context of surrogate optimization problems, they also apply to other settings such as stochastic ensemble methods and reduced-order modeling for nonlinear PDEs. In the second part of the dissertation, we study the numerical analysis of the Stokes equations driven by a stochastic process. The random processes we use are white noise, colored noise and the homogeneous Gaussian process. When the process is white noise, we deal with the singularity of matrix Green's functions in the form of mild solutions with the aid of the theory of distributions. We develop finite element methods to solve the stochastic Stokes equations. In the 2D and 3D cases, we derive error estimates for the approximate solutions. The results of numerical experiments are provided in the 2D case that demonstrate the algorithm and convergence rates. On the other hand, the singularity of the matrix Green's functions necessitates the use of the homogeneous Gaussian process. In the framework of theory of abstract Wiener spaces, the stochastic integrals with respect to the homogeneous Gaussian process can be defined on a larger space than L2 . With some conditions on the density function in the definition of the homogeneous Gaussian process, the matrix Green's functions have well defined integrals. We have studied the probability properties of this kind of integral and simulated discretized colored noise.
Applications of Quantum Dots in Gene Therapy.
Barnes, Laura F., Strouse, Geoffrey, Logan, Timothy, Miller, Brian, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Florida State University
Gene therapy is a rising field and requires multifunctional delivery platforms in order to overcome the cellular barriers. Quantum dots (QDs) provide a optically fluorescent and biocompatible surface to act as a multifunctional delivery platform for gene therapy. The objective of this research is to manipulate the surface of quantum dots for use in gene therapy. The first goal was to make the QDs water soluble and therefore biocompatible. The second goal was to functionalize the surface of...
Show moreGene therapy is a rising field and requires multifunctional delivery platforms in order to overcome the cellular barriers. Quantum dots (QDs) provide a optically fluorescent and biocompatible surface to act as a multifunctional delivery platform for gene therapy. The objective of this research is to manipulate the surface of quantum dots for use in gene therapy. The first goal was to make the QDs water soluble and therefore biocompatible. The second goal was to functionalize the surface of the QDs with plasmid DNA for direct use in gene therapy. This approach uses chemoselective coupling chemistry between an InP/ZnS quantum dot (QD) and linker DNA (DNAlinker) to control the timing of protein expression. Linear DNA (lDNA), containing the CMV promoter and DsRed-Express gene, was condensed on the surface of the QD-DNAlinker. Optical and flow cytometry analysis of the DsRed-Express expression after transfection of the QD-lDNA into CHO cells shows a delayed protein expression for both coupling chemistries compared to naked lDNA. It is also clear that the protein expression form the QD-S-lDNA turns on quicker than the QD-NH-lDNA. We believe the protein expression delay is due to the site of coupling between the QD and DNAlinker and its affect on the lDNA packing strength. The S-DNAlinker is believed to couple by direct exchange at the vertices of the QD whereas the NH-DNAlinker couples through a condensation reaction to the facets. The delay in protein expression reflects the delayed exchange rate at the facets over the vertices. The ability to control the coupling chemistry and timing of release from the QD surface suggests a mechanism for dose control in transient gene therapeutics, and show QD delivery approaches are ideal candidates for multifunctional, targeted, drug carrying platforms that can simultaneously control dosing. The third goal of this research was to functionalize the surface of the QDs with the HIV cell penetrating peptide, TAT, and study its affects on QD internalization as well as toxicological affects within the cells. Tracking of the cellular uptake of these QDs by optical microscopy shows rapid, diffuse accumulation of both 10 % TAT and 100 % TAT passivated QDs throughout the cytosol of the cells. Toxicity studies were conducted by flow cytometry to investigate the effects of these materials on apoptosis, necrosis, and metabolic damage in Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells. These studies suggest toxic effects of the cell penetrating QDs are dependent on the amount of CAAKA-TAT used on the surface of the QD as well as the concentration of QD added. These observations aid in the use of QDs as self transfecting, nano delivery scaffolds for drug or gene therapy.
Applications of Representation Theory and Higher-Order Perturbation Theory in NMR.
Srinivasan, Parthasarathy, Quine, John R., Gan, Zhehong, Chapman, Michael S., Bowers, Philip, Sumners, DeWitt, Department of Mathematics, Florida State University
Solid State Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) is perhaps the only spectroscopic technique that allows experimentalists to manipulate the spin systems they are interested in. Of particular interest are nuclei with spins greater than 1/2, or quadrupolar nuclei, as they constitute over 70% of the magnetically active spins. Two of the important mathematical tools used in the theory of studying NMR are representation theory together with perturbation theory. We will use both these tools to describe...
Show moreSolid State Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) is perhaps the only spectroscopic technique that allows experimentalists to manipulate the spin systems they are interested in. Of particular interest are nuclei with spins greater than 1/2, or quadrupolar nuclei, as they constitute over 70% of the magnetically active spins. Two of the important mathematical tools used in the theory of studying NMR are representation theory together with perturbation theory. We will use both these tools to describe the underlying mathematical theory for quadrupolar nuclei. The theory shows that for non-symmetric satellite transitions in half-integer quadrupolar nuclei, perturbation effects up to third-order feature in the NMR spectra. We will also use irreducible representations to analyze experiments conducted on various spin systems and discuss ways to design new ones. Another topic that will also be explored is the theory of rotary resonance in half-integer quadrupolar nuclei. This theory explains why techniques like FASTER (FAster Spinning gives Transfer Enhancement at Rotary resonance) improve the efficiency of symmetric multiple quantum experiments.
Approximating Nonlocal Diffusion Problems Using Quadrature Rules Generated by Radial Basis Functions.
Lyngaas, Isaac Ron, Peterson, Janet S., Gunzburger, Max D., Burkardt, John V., Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Mathematics
Nonlocal models differ from traditional partial differential equation (PDE) models because they contain no spatial derivatives; instead an appropriate integral is used. Nonlocal models are especially useful in the case where there are issues calculating the spatial derivatives of a PDE model. In many applications (e.g., biological systems, flow through porous media) the observed rate of diffusion is not accurately modeled by the standard diffusion differential operator but rather exhibits so...
Show moreNonlocal models differ from traditional partial differential equation (PDE) models because they contain no spatial derivatives; instead an appropriate integral is used. Nonlocal models are especially useful in the case where there are issues calculating the spatial derivatives of a PDE model. In many applications (e.g., biological systems, flow through porous media) the observed rate of diffusion is not accurately modeled by the standard diffusion differential operator but rather exhibits so-called anomalous diffusion. Anomalous diffusion can be represented in a PDE model by using a fractional Laplacian operator in space whereas the nonlocal approach only needs to slightly modify its integral formulation to model anomalous diffusion. Anomalous diffusion is one such case where approximating the spatial derivative operator is a difficult problem. In this work, an approach for approximating standard and anomalous nonlocal diffusion problems using a new technique that utilizes radial basis functions (RBFs) is introduced and numerically tested. The typical approach for approximating nonlocal diffusion problems is to use a Galerkin formulation. However, the Galerkin formulation for nonlocal diffusion problems can often be difficult to compute efficiently and accurately especially for problems in multiple dimensions. Thus, we investigate the alternate approach of using quadrature rules generated by RBFs to approximate the nonlocal diffusion problem. This work will be split into three major parts. The first will introduce RBFs and give some examples of how they are used. This part will motivate our approach for using RBFs on the nonlocal diffusion problem. In the second part, we will derive RBF-generated quadrature rules in one dimension and show they can be used to approximate nonlocal diffusion problems. The final part will address how the RBF quadrature approach can be extended to higher dimensional problems. Numerical test cases are shown for both the standard and anomalous nonlocal diffusion problems and compared with standard finite element approximations. Preliminary results show that the method introduced is viable for approximating nonlocal diffusion problems and that highly accurate approximations are possible using this approach.
FSU_FA2016_Lyngaas_fsu_0071N_13512
Arithmetic Aspects of Noncommutative Geometry: Motives of Noncommutative Tori and Phase Transitions on GL(n) and Shimura Varieties Systems.
Shen, Yunyi, Marcolli, Matilde, Aluffi, Paolo, Chicken, Eric, Bowers, Philip L., Petersen, Kathleen L., Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Department of...
Show moreShen, Yunyi, Marcolli, Matilde, Aluffi, Paolo, Chicken, Eric, Bowers, Philip L., Petersen, Kathleen L., Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Mathematics
In this dissertation, we study three important cases in noncommutative geometry. We first observe the standard noncommutative object, noncommutative torus, in noncommutative motives. We work with the category of holomorphic bundles on a noncommutative torus, which is known to be equivalent to the heart of a nonstandard t-structure on coherent sheaves of an elliptic curve. We then introduce a notion of (weak) t-structure in dg categories. By lifting the nonstandard t-structure to the t...
Show moreIn this dissertation, we study three important cases in noncommutative geometry. We first observe the standard noncommutative object, noncommutative torus, in noncommutative motives. We work with the category of holomorphic bundles on a noncommutative torus, which is known to be equivalent to the heart of a nonstandard t-structure on coherent sheaves of an elliptic curve. We then introduce a notion of (weak) t-structure in dg categories. By lifting the nonstandard t-structure to the t-structure that we defined, we find a way of seeing a noncommutative torus in noncommutative motives. By applying the t-structure to a noncommutative torus and describing the cyclic homology of the category of holomorphic bundle on the noncommutative torus, we finally show that the periodic cyclic homology functor induces a decomposition of the motivic Galois group of the Tannakian category generated by the associated auxiliary elliptic curve. In the second case, we generalize the results of Laca, Larsen, and Neshveyev on the GL2-Connes-Marcolli system to the GLn-Connes-Marcolli systems. We introduce and define the GLn-Connes-Marcolli systems and discuss the existence and uniqueness questions of the KMS equilibrium states. Using the ergodicity argument and Hecke pair calculation, we classify the KMS states at different inverse temperatures β. Specifically, we show that in the range of n − 1 < β ≤ n, there exists only one KMS state. We prove that there are no KMS states when β < n − 1 and β ̸= 0, 1, . . . , n − 1,, while we actually construct KMS states for integer values of β in 1 ≤ β ≤ n − 1. For β > n, we characterize the extremal KMS states. In the third case, we push the previous results to more abstract settings. We mainly study the connected Shimura dynamical systems. We give the definition of the essential and superficial KMS states. We further develop a set of arithmetic tools to generalize the results in the previous case. We then prove the uniqueness of the essential KMS states and show the existence of the essential KMS stats for high inverse temperatures.
FSU_SUMMER2017_Shen_fsu_0071E_13982
Asset Market Dynamics of Heterogeneous Agent Models with Learning.
Guan, Yuanying, Beaumont, Paul M., Kercheval, Alec N., Marquis, Milton, Mesterton-Gibbons, Mike, Nichols, Warren D., Department of Mathematics, Florida State University
The standard Lucas asset pricing model makes two common assumptions of homogeneous agents and rational expectations equilibrium. However, these assumptions are unrealistic for real financial markets. In this work, we relax these assumptions and establish a Lucas type agent-based asset pricing model. We create an artificial economy with a single risky asset and populate it with heterogeneous, boundedly rational, utility maximizing, infinitely lived and forward looking agents. We restrict...
Show moreThe standard Lucas asset pricing model makes two common assumptions of homogeneous agents and rational expectations equilibrium. However, these assumptions are unrealistic for real financial markets. In this work, we relax these assumptions and establish a Lucas type agent-based asset pricing model. We create an artificial economy with a single risky asset and populate it with heterogeneous, boundedly rational, utility maximizing, infinitely lived and forward looking agents. We restrict agents' information by allowing them to use only available information when they make optimal choices. With independent, identically distributed market returns, agents are able to compute their policy functions and the equilibrium pricing function with Duffie's method (Duffie, 1988) without perfect information about the market. When agents are out of equilibrium, they simultaneously compute their policy functions with predictive pricing functions and use adaptive learning schemes to learn the motion of the correct pricing function. Agents are able to learn the correct equilibrium pricing function with certain risk and learning parameters. In some other cases, the market price has excess volatility and the trading volume is very high. Simulations of the market behavior show rich dynamics, including a whole cascade from period doubling bifurcations to chaos. We apply the full families theory (De Melo and Van Strien, 1993) to prove that the rich dynamics do not come from numerical errors but are embedded in the structure of our dynamical system.
Asset Pricing in a Lucas Framework with Boundedly Rational, Heterogeneous Agents.
Culham, Andrew J. (Andrew James), Beaumont, Paul M., Kercheval, Alec N., Schlagenhauf, Don, Goncharov, Yevgeny, Kopriva, David, Department of Mathematics, Florida State University
The standard dynamic general equilibrium model of financial markets does a poor job of explaining the empirical facts observed in real market data. The common assumptions of homogeneous investors and rational expectations equilibrium are thought to be major factors leading to this poor performance. In an attempt to relax these assumptions, the literature has seen the emergence of agent-based computational models where artificial economies are populated with agents who trade in stylized asset...
Show moreThe standard dynamic general equilibrium model of financial markets does a poor job of explaining the empirical facts observed in real market data. The common assumptions of homogeneous investors and rational expectations equilibrium are thought to be major factors leading to this poor performance. In an attempt to relax these assumptions, the literature has seen the emergence of agent-based computational models where artificial economies are populated with agents who trade in stylized asset markets. Although they offer a great deal of flexibility, the theoretical community has often criticized these agent-based models because the agents are too limited in their analytical abilities. In this work, we create an artificial market with a single risky asset and populate it with fully optimizing, forward looking, infinitely lived, heterogeneous agents. We restrict the state space of our agents by not allowing them to observe the aggregate distribution of wealth so they are required to compute their conditional demand functions while simultaneously learning the equations of motion for the aggregate state variables. We develop an efficient and flexible model code that can be used to explore a wide number of asset pricing questions while remaining consistent with conventional asset pricing theory. We validate our model and code against known analytical solutions as well as against a new analytical result for agents with differing discount rates. Our simulation results for general cases without known analytical solutions show that, in general, agents' asset holdings converge to a steady-state distribution and the agents are able to learn the equilibrium prices despite the restricted state space. Further work will be necessary to determine whether the exceptional cases have some fundamental theoretical explanation or can be attributed to numerical issues. We conjecture that convergence to the equilibrium is global and that the market-clearing price acts to guide the agents' forecasts toward that equilibrium.
ASYMPTOTIC BEHAVIOR OF A SYSTEM OF ORDINARY DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS WITH A SINGULAR-POINT.
COOPER, WYATT GENTRY., The Florida State University
Asymptotic Behaviour of Convection in Porous Media.
Parshad, Rana Durga, Wang, Xiaoming, Ye, Ming, Case, Bettye Anne, Ewald, Brian, N.Kercheval, Alec, Nolder, Craig, Department of Mathematics, Florida State University
This dissertation investigates asymptotic behaviour of convection in a fluid saturated porous medium. We analyse the Darcy-Boussinesq system under perturbation of the Darcy-Prandtl number parameter. In very tightly packed media this parameter is of very large order and can be driven to infinity to yield the infinite Darcy-Prandtl number model. We show convergence of global attractors and invariant measures of the Darcy-Boussinesq system to that of the infinite Darcy-Prandtl number model with...
Show moreThis dissertation investigates asymptotic behaviour of convection in a fluid saturated porous medium. We analyse the Darcy-Boussinesq system under perturbation of the Darcy-Prandtl number parameter. In very tightly packed media this parameter is of very large order and can be driven to infinity to yield the infinite Darcy-Prandtl number model. We show convergence of global attractors and invariant measures of the Darcy-Boussinesq system to that of the infinite Darcy-Prandtl number model with respect to perturbation of the Darcy-Prandtl number parameter.
An Asymptotically Preserving Method for Multiphase Flow.
Jemison, Matthew, Sussman, Mark, Nof, Doron, Cogan, Nick, Gallivan, Kyle, Wang, Xiaoming, Department of Mathematics, Florida State University
A unified, asymptotically-preserving method for simulating multiphase flows using an exactly mass, momentum, and energy conserving Cell-Integrated Semi-Lagrangian advection algorithm is presented. The new algorithm uses a semi-implicit pressure update scheme that asymptotically preserves the standard incompressible pressure projection method in the limit of infinite sound speed. The asymptotically preserving attribute makes the new method applicable to compressible and incompressible flows,...
Show moreA unified, asymptotically-preserving method for simulating multiphase flows using an exactly mass, momentum, and energy conserving Cell-Integrated Semi-Lagrangian advection algorithm is presented. The new algorithm uses a semi-implicit pressure update scheme that asymptotically preserves the standard incompressible pressure projection method in the limit of infinite sound speed. The asymptotically preserving attribute makes the new method applicable to compressible and incompressible flows, including stiff materials, which enables large time steps characteristic of incompressible flow algorithms rather than the small time steps required by explicit methods. Shocks are captured and material discontinuities are tracked, without the aid of any approximate or exact Riemann solvers. The new method enables one to simulate the flow of multiple materials, each possessing a potentially exotic equation of state. Simulations of multiphase flow in one and two dimensions are presented which illustrate the effectiveness of the new algorithm at efficiently computing multiphase flows containing shock waves and material discontinuities with large ''impedance mismatch.'' Additionally, new techniques related to the Moment-of-Fluid interface reconstruction are presented, including a novel, asymptotically-preserving method for capturing ''filaments,'' and an improved method for initializing the Moment-of-Fluid optimization problem on unstructured, triangular grids.
BANACH SPACES WITH THE PROJECTION PROPERTY P(,S).
PRINS, CHARLES ALAN., The Florida State University
BANACH-STEINHAUS SPACES, DECOMPOSITIONS OF OPERATORS, AND WEAK SEQUENTIALCOMPLETENESS IN LOCALLY CONVEX SPACES.
WOODS, PAUL CARLTON., The Florida State University
BASIC SEQUENCES IN F-SPACES.
MORROW, JAMES RICHARD., The Florida State University
BASIC SEQUENCES, BASES, AND WEAK* -BASES IN BANACH SPACES.
RETHERFORD, JAMES RONALD., The Florida State University
BASIS CONE BASE THEORY.
SAXON, STEPHEN APOLLOS., The Florida State University
Bayesian nonparametric estimation via Gibbs sampling for coherent systems with redundancy.
Lawson, Kevin Lee., Florida State University
We consider a coherent system S consisting of m independent components for which we do not know the distributions of the components' lifelengths. If we know the structure function of the system, then we can estimate the distribution of the system lifelength by estimating the distributions of the lifelengths of the individual components. Suppose that we can collect data under the 'autopsy model', wherein a system is run until a failure occurs and then the status (functioning or dead) of each...
Show moreWe consider a coherent system S consisting of m independent components for which we do not know the distributions of the components' lifelengths. If we know the structure function of the system, then we can estimate the distribution of the system lifelength by estimating the distributions of the lifelengths of the individual components. Suppose that we can collect data under the 'autopsy model', wherein a system is run until a failure occurs and then the status (functioning or dead) of each component is obtained. This test is repeated n times. The autopsy statistics consist of the age of the system at the time of breakdown and the set of parts that are dead by the time of breakdown. Using the structure function and the recorded status of the components, we then classify the failure time of each component. We develop a nonparametric Bayesian estimate of the distributions of the component lifelengths and then use this to obtain an estimate of the distribution of the lifelength of the system. The procedure is applicable to machine-test settings wherein the machines have redundant designs. A parametric procedure is also given.
Biomedical Applications of Shape Descriptors.
Celestino, Christian Edgar Laing, Sumners, De Witt, Greenbaum, Nancy, Mio, Washington, Hurdal, Monica, Department of Mathematics, Florida State University
Given an edge-oriented polygonal graph in R3, we describe a method for computing the writhe as the average of weighted directional writhe numbers of the graph in a few directions. These directions are determined by the graph and the weights are determined by areas of path-connected open regions on the unit sphere. Within each open region, the directional writhe is constant. We developed formulas for the writhe of polygons on Bravais lattices and a few crystallographic groups, and discuss...
Show moreGiven an edge-oriented polygonal graph in R3, we describe a method for computing the writhe as the average of weighted directional writhe numbers of the graph in a few directions. These directions are determined by the graph and the weights are determined by areas of path-connected open regions on the unit sphere. Within each open region, the directional writhe is constant. We developed formulas for the writhe of polygons on Bravais lattices and a few crystallographic groups, and discuss applications to ring polymers. In addition, we obtained a closed formula for the writhe for graphs which extends the formula for the writhe of a polygon in R3, including the important special case of writhe of embedded open arcs. Additionally, we have developed shape descriptors based on a family of geometric measures for the purpose of classification and identification of shape differences for graphs. These shape descriptors involve combinations of writhe and average crossing numbers of curves, as well as total curvature, ropelength and thickness. We have applied these shape descriptors to RNA tertiary structures and families of sulcal curves from human brain surfaces. Preliminary results give an automatic method to distinguish RNA motifs. Clear differentiation among tRNA and/or ribozymes, and a distinction among mesophilic and thermophilic tRNA is shown. In addition, we notice a direct correlation between the length of an RNA backbone and its mean average crossing number which is described accurately by a power function. As a neuroscience application, human brain surfaces were extracted from MRI scans of human brains. In our preliminary results, an automatic differentiation between sulcal paths from the left or right hemispheres, an age differentiation and a male-female classification were achieved.
Boundaries of groups.
Ruane, Kim E., Florida State University
In recent years, the theory of infinite groups has been revolutionized by the introduction of geometric methods. In his foundational paper, "Hyperbolic Groups", Gromov outlines a geometric group theory which provides tools for studying a wide class of groups meant to generalize the classical groups coming from Riemannian geometry. In this setting, the metric geometry of the space is used to study the algebraic properties of the group. One aspect of the metric geometry is the behavior of...
Show moreIn recent years, the theory of infinite groups has been revolutionized by the introduction of geometric methods. In his foundational paper, "Hyperbolic Groups", Gromov outlines a geometric group theory which provides tools for studying a wide class of groups meant to generalize the classical groups coming from Riemannian geometry. In this setting, the metric geometry of the space is used to study the algebraic properties of the group. One aspect of the metric geometry is the behavior of geodesic rays in the space. A technique used for studying this behavior is to compactify the space by adding the endpoints of geodesic rays--i.e. the boundary of the space., Several new theorems in group theory were proven only after the introduction of these geometric methods--for instance, the Scott conjecture--and many known theorems can be given new, elegant geometric proofs. With the success of this approach, Gromov wrote a second paper which gives certain minimum requirements for a theory including certain non-positively curved groups., The first task is to define a notion of non-positive curvature that will generalize the classical Riemannian notion. One proposed notion goes back to the work of Alexandroff and Topogonov wherein they compare the triangles in a given geometry to the triangles in Euclidean geometry and ask that those in the former be as least as thin as those in the latter. Then a class of non-positively curved groups can be defined as those that act geometrically on one of these non-positively curved spaces., My research has focused on studying the boundary of the non-positively curved spaces which admit geometric actions by a group. The overriding question is a question in Gromov's second paper: If a group acts geometrically on two such spaces, then do they have homeomorphic boundaries?
The boundedness of a certain convolution operator.
Rhee, Jungsoo., Florida State University
Let M be a nonnegative measurable function on (0,$\infty)$ and let $\tilde{M}(x) = \vert x\vert\sp{{n\over p}-{n\over q}-n} M(\vert x\vert), x\in R\sp{n}.$ We can consider a convolution operator: for a suitable f,, (UNFORMATTED TABLE OR EQUATION FOLLOWS), (a) Suppose $1\le s\le\infty.$ Then $M\in L\sp{t}({dr\over r})$ implies that $T\sb{M}:L\sp{p}(R\sp{n})\to L\sp{q}(R\sp{n})$ is bounded for all $({1\over p},{1\over q})$ in the type-diagram triangle with vertices $(1 - {1\over s},0),\ (1,{1...
Show moreLet M be a nonnegative measurable function on (0,$\infty)$ and let $\tilde{M}(x) = \vert x\vert\sp{{n\over p}-{n\over q}-n} M(\vert x\vert), x\in R\sp{n}.$ We can consider a convolution operator: for a suitable f,, (UNFORMATTED TABLE OR EQUATION FOLLOWS), (a) Suppose $1\le s\le\infty.$ Then $M\in L\sp{t}({dr\over r})$ implies that $T\sb{M}:L\sp{p}(R\sp{n})\to L\sp{q}(R\sp{n})$ is bounded for all $({1\over p},{1\over q})$ in the type-diagram triangle with vertices $(1 - {1\over s},0),\ (1,{1\over s})\ {\rm and}\ (1 - {1\over(n+1)s},{1\over(n+1)s})$ if and only if s = t., (b) Suppose $1
<\infty.$ Let $s\sb0$ be the smallest value of $s\in\lbrack 1,\infty)$ such that ${1\over q}\ \ge\ {1\over n}({1\over p} - (1 - {1\over s}))$ and ${1\over q}\ \ge\ {n\over p} - n +\ {1\over s}$ Then $T\sb{M}:L\sp{p}(R\sp{n})\to L\sp{q}(R\sp{n})$ for all $M\in L\sp{t}({dr\over r})$ if and only if $s\sb0\le t\le\infty.$, Results (a) and (b) solve the following problem: If $1
<\infty$ find the ranges of s such that $M\in L\sp{s}({dr\over r})$ implies that $T\sb{M}$ is bounded from $L\sp{p}(R\sp{n})$ to $L\sp{q}(R\sp{n}).$
Calibration of Local Volatility Models and Proper Orthogonal Decomposition Reduced Order Modeling for Stochastic Volatility Models.
Geng, Jian, Navon, Ionel Michael, Case, Bettye Anne, Contreras, Rob, Okten, Giray, Kercheval, Alec N., Ewald, Brian, Department of Mathematics, Florida State University
There are two themes in this thesis: local volatility models and their calibration, and Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) reduced order modeling with application in stochastic volatility models, which has a potential in the calibration of stochastic volatility models. In the first part of this thesis (chapters II-III), the local volatility models are introduced first and then calibrated for European options across all strikes and maturities of the same underlying. There is no...
Show moreThere are two themes in this thesis: local volatility models and their calibration, and Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) reduced order modeling with application in stochastic volatility models, which has a potential in the calibration of stochastic volatility models. In the first part of this thesis (chapters II-III), the local volatility models are introduced first and then calibrated for European options across all strikes and maturities of the same underlying. There is no interpolation or extrapolation of either the option prices or the volatility surface. We do not make any assumption regarding the shape of the volatility surface except to assume that it is smooth. Due to the smoothness assumption, we apply a second order Tikhonov regularization. We choose the Tikhonov regularization parameter as one of the singular values of the Jacobian matrix of the Dupire model. Finally we perform extensive numerical tests to assess and verify the aforementioned techniques for both local volatility models with known analytical solutions of European option prices and real market option data. In the second part of this thesis (chapters IV-V), stochastic volatility models, POD reduced order modeling are introduced first respectively. Then POD reduced order modeling is applied to the Heston stochastic volatility model for the pricing of European options. Finally, chapter VI summaries the thesis and points out future research areas.
Calibration of Multivariate Generalized Hyperbolic Distributions Using the EM Algorithm, with Applications in Risk Management, Portfolio Optimization and Portfolio Credit Risk.
Hu, Wenbo, Kercheval, Alec, Huffer, Fred, Case, Bettye, Nichols, Warren, Nolder, Craig, Department of Mathematics, Florida State University
The distributions of many financial quantities are well-known to have heavy tails, exhibit skewness, and have other non-Gaussian characteristics. In this dissertation we study an especially promising family: the multivariate generalized hyperbolic distributions (GH). This family includes and generalizes the familiar Gaussian and Student t distributions, and the so-called skewed t distributions, among many others. The primary obstacle to the applications of such distributions is the numerical...
Show moreThe distributions of many financial quantities are well-known to have heavy tails, exhibit skewness, and have other non-Gaussian characteristics. In this dissertation we study an especially promising family: the multivariate generalized hyperbolic distributions (GH). This family includes and generalizes the familiar Gaussian and Student t distributions, and the so-called skewed t distributions, among many others. The primary obstacle to the applications of such distributions is the numerical difficulty of calibrating the distributional parameters to the data. In this dissertation we describe a way to stably calibrate GH distributions for a wider range of parameters than has previously been reported. In particular, we develop a version of the EM algorithm for calibrating GH distributions. This is a modification of methods proposed in McNeil, Frey, and Embrechts (2005), and generalizes the algorithm of Protassov (2004). Our algorithm extends the stability of the calibration procedure to a wide range of parameters, now including parameter values that maximize log-likelihood for our real market data sets. This allows for the first time certain GH distributions to be used in modeling contexts when previously they have been numerically intractable. Our algorithm enables us to make new uses of GH distributions in three financial applications. First, we forecast univariate Value-at-Risk (VaR) for stock index returns, and we show in out-of-sample backtesting that the GH distributions outperform the Gaussian distribution. Second, we calculate an efficient frontier for equity portfolio optimization under the skewed-t distribution and using Expected Shortfall as the risk measure. Here, we show that the Gaussian efficient frontier is actually unreachable if returns are skewed t distributed. Third, we build an intensity-based model to price Basket Credit Default Swaps by calibrating the skewed t distribution directly, without the need to separately calibrate xi the skewed t copula. To our knowledge this is the first use of the skewed t distribution in portfolio optimization and in portfolio credit risk.
CANONICAL SYSTEMS OF TORI AND KLEIN BOTTLES IN NON-ORIENTABLE 3-MANIFOLDS OF GENUS TWO.
CARDONA, IVAN., Florida State University
Let M be a closed non-orientable 3-manifold with a Heegaard splitting of genus two. We show that, if M has a non-separating essential Klein bottle, then there is a non-separating essential Klein bottle (or torus) K such that the intersection of K and one of the handlebodies in the Heegaard splitting is an essential disk. Also, if every essential Klein bottle (or torus) is separating in M and if M has a non-trivial canonical system of 2-sided tori and Klein bottles, then there is a canonical...
Show moreLet M be a closed non-orientable 3-manifold with a Heegaard splitting of genus two. We show that, if M has a non-separating essential Klein bottle, then there is a non-separating essential Klein bottle (or torus) K such that the intersection of K and one of the handlebodies in the Heegaard splitting is an essential disk. Also, if every essential Klein bottle (or torus) is separating in M and if M has a non-trivial canonical system of 2-sided tori and Klein bottles, then there is a canonical system such that the intersection of this system with one of the handlebodies in the Heegaard splitting consists of at most two essential disks. We use these results to give a complete list of all the non-orientable 3-manifolds with a Heegaard splitting of genus two which are either not P('2)-irreducible or contain an incompressible torus or Klein bottle.
CELLULAR SUBCOMPLEXES OF PIECEWISE-LINEAR MANIFOLDS.
CHANDLER, RICHARD EDWARD., The Florida State University
Centroidal Voronoi Tessellations for Mesh Generation: from Uniform to Anisotropic Adaptive Triangulations.
Nguyen, Hoa V., Gunzburger, Max D., El-Azab, Anter, Peterson, Janet, Wang, Xiaoming, Wang, Xiaoqiang, Department of Mathematics, Florida State University
Mesh generation in regions in Euclidean space is a central task in computational science, especially for commonly used numerical methods for the solution of partial differential equations (PDEs), e.g., finite element and finite volume methods. Mesh generation can be classified into several categories depending on the element sizes (uniform or non-uniform) and shapes (isotropic or anisotropic). Uniform meshes have been well studied and still find application in a wide variety of problems....
Show moreMesh generation in regions in Euclidean space is a central task in computational science, especially for commonly used numerical methods for the solution of partial differential equations (PDEs), e.g., finite element and finite volume methods. Mesh generation can be classified into several categories depending on the element sizes (uniform or non-uniform) and shapes (isotropic or anisotropic). Uniform meshes have been well studied and still find application in a wide variety of problems. However, when solving certain types of partial differential equations for which the solution variations are large in some regions of the domain, non-uniform meshes result in more efficient calculations. If the solution changes more rapidly in one direction than in others, non-uniform anisotropic meshes are preferred. In this work, first we present an algorithm to construct uniform isotropic meshes and discuss several mesh quality measures. Secondly we construct an adaptive method which produces non-uniform anisotropic meshes that are well suited for numerically solving PDEs such as the convection diffusion equation. For the uniform Delaunay triangulation of planar regions, we focus on how one selects the positions of the vertices of the triangulation. We discuss a recently developed method, based on the centroidal Voronoi tessellation (CVT) concept, for effecting such triangulations and present two algorithms, including one new one, for CVT-based grid generation. We also compare several methods, including CVT-based methods, for triangulating planar domains. Furthermore, we define several quantitative measures of the quality of uniform grids. We then generate triangulations of several planar regions, including some having complexities that are representative of what one may encounter in practice. We subject the resulting grids to visual and quantitative comparisons and conclude that all the methods considered produce high-quality uniform isotropic grids and that the CVT-based grids are at least as good as any of the others. For more general grid generation settings, e.g., non-uniform and/or anistropic grids, such quantitative comparisons are much more difficult, if not impossible, to either make or interpret. This motivates us to develop CVT-based adaptive non-uniform anisotropic mesh refinement in the context of solving the convection-diffusion equation with emphasis on convection-dominated problems. The challenge in the numerical approximation of this equation is due to large variations in the solution over small regions of the physical domain. Our method not only refines the underlying grid at these regions but also stretches the elements according to the solution variation. Three main ingredients are incorporated to improve the accuracy of numerical solutions and increase the algorithm's robustness and efficiency. First, a streamline upwind Petrov Galerkin method is used to produce a stabilized solution. Second, an adapted metric tensor is computed from the approximate solution. Third, optimized anisotropic meshes are generated from the computed metric tensor. Our algorithm has been tested on a variety of 2-dimensional examples. It is robust in detecting layers and efficient in resolving non-physical oscillations in the numerical approximation.
Character Varieties of Knots and Links with Symmetries.
Sparaco, Leona H., Petersen, Kathleen L., Harper, Kristine, Ballas, Sam, Bowers, Philip L., Hironaka, Eriko, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Department...
Show moreSparaco, Leona H., Petersen, Kathleen L., Harper, Kristine, Ballas, Sam, Bowers, Philip L., Hironaka, Eriko, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Mathematics
: Let M be a hyperbolic manifold. The SL2(C) character variety of M is essentially the set of all representations ρ : π1(M) → SL2(C) up to trace equivalence. This algebraic set is connected to many geometric properties of the manifold M. We examine the effect of symmetries of M on its character variety. We compute the SL2(C) and PSL2(C) character varieties for an infinite family of two-bridge hyperbolic knots with symmetry. We explore the effect the symmetry has on the character variety and...
Show more: Let M be a hyperbolic manifold. The SL2(C) character variety of M is essentially the set of all representations ρ : π1(M) → SL2(C) up to trace equivalence. This algebraic set is connected to many geometric properties of the manifold M. We examine the effect of symmetries of M on its character variety. We compute the SL2(C) and PSL2(C) character varieties for an infinite family of two-bridge hyperbolic knots with symmetry. We explore the effect the symmetry has on the character variety and exploit this symmetry to factor the character variety. We then find the geometric genus of both components of the character variety. We compute the SL2(C) character variety for the Borromean ring complement in S^3. Further, we explore how the symmetries effect this character variety. Finally, we prove some general results about the structure of character varieties of links with symmetries.
FSU_SUMMER2017_Sparaco_fsu_0071E_13851
Characteristic Classes and Local Invariants of Determinantal Varieties and a Formula for Equivariant Chern-Schwartz-MacPherson Classes of Hypersurfaces.
Zhang, Xiping, Aluffi, Paolo, Piekarewicz, Jorge, Aldrovandi, Ettore, Petersen, Kathleen L., Hoeij, Mark van, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Department...
Show moreZhang, Xiping, Aluffi, Paolo, Piekarewicz, Jorge, Aldrovandi, Ettore, Petersen, Kathleen L., Hoeij, Mark van, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Mathematics
Determinantal varieties parametrize spaces of matrices of given ranks. The main results of this dissertation are computations of intersection-theoretic invariants of determinantal varieties. We focus on the Chern-Mather and Chern-Schwartz-MacPherson classes, on the characteristic cycles, and on topologically motivated invariants such as the local Euler obstruction. We obtain explicit formulas in both the ordinary and the torus-equivariant setting, and formulate a conjecture concerning the...
Show moreDeterminantal varieties parametrize spaces of matrices of given ranks. The main results of this dissertation are computations of intersection-theoretic invariants of determinantal varieties. We focus on the Chern-Mather and Chern-Schwartz-MacPherson classes, on the characteristic cycles, and on topologically motivated invariants such as the local Euler obstruction. We obtain explicit formulas in both the ordinary and the torus-equivariant setting, and formulate a conjecture concerning the effectiveness of the Chern-Schwartz-MacPherson classes of determinantal varieties. We also prove a vanishing property for the Chern-Schwartz-MacPherson classes of general group orbits. As applications we obtain formulas for the sectional Euler characteristic of determinantal varieties and the microlocal indices of their intersection cohomology sheaf complexes. Moreover, for a close embedding we define the equivariant version of the Segre class and prove an equivariant formula for the Chern-Schwartz-MacPherson classes of hypersurfaces of projective varieties.
2018_Sp_Zhang_fsu_0071N_14521
Chern Classes of Sheaves of Logarithmic Vector Fields for Free Divisors.
Liao, Xia, Aluffi, Paolo, Reina, Laura, Klassen, Eric P., Aldrovandi, Ettore, Petersen, Kathleen, Department of Mathematics, Florida State University
The thesis work we present here focuses on solving a conjecture raised by Aluffi about Chern-Schwartz-MacPherson classes. Let $X$ be a nonsingular variety defined over an algebraically closed field $k$ of characteristic $0$, $D$ a reduced effective divisor on $X$, and $U = X smallsetminus D$ the open complement of $D$ in $X$. The conjecture states that $c_{textup{SM}}(1_U) = c(textup{Der}_X(-log D)) cap [X]$ in $A_{*}(X)$ for any locally quasi-homogeneous free divisor $D$. We prove a stronger...
Show moreThe thesis work we present here focuses on solving a conjecture raised by Aluffi about Chern-Schwartz-MacPherson classes. Let $X$ be a nonsingular variety defined over an algebraically closed field $k$ of characteristic $0$, $D$ a reduced effective divisor on $X$, and $U = X smallsetminus D$ the open complement of $D$ in $X$. The conjecture states that $c_{textup{SM}}(1_U) = c(textup{Der}_X(-log D)) cap [X]$ in $A_{*}(X)$ for any locally quasi-homogeneous free divisor $D$. We prove a stronger version of this conjecture. We also report on work aimed at studying the Grothedieck class of hypersurfaces of low degree. In this work, we verified the Geometric Chevalley-Warning conjecture in several low dimensional cases.
Chern-Schwartz-Macpherson Classes of Graph Hypersurfaces and Schubert Varieties.
Stryker, Judson P., Aluffi, Paolo, Van Engelen, Robert, Aldrovandi, Ettore, Hironaka, Eriko, Van Hoeij, Mark, Department of Mathematics, Florida State University
This dissertation finds some partial results in support of two positivity conjectures regarding the Chern-Schwartz-MacPherson (CSM) classes of graph hypersurfaces (conjectured by Aluffi and Marcolli) and Schubert varieties (conjectured by Aluffi and Mihalcea). Direct calculations of some of these CSM classes are performed. Formulas for CSM classes of families of both graph hypersurfaces and coefficients of Schubert varieties are developed. Additionally, the positivity of the CSM class of...
Show moreThis dissertation finds some partial results in support of two positivity conjectures regarding the Chern-Schwartz-MacPherson (CSM) classes of graph hypersurfaces (conjectured by Aluffi and Marcolli) and Schubert varieties (conjectured by Aluffi and Mihalcea). Direct calculations of some of these CSM classes are performed. Formulas for CSM classes of families of both graph hypersurfaces and coefficients of Schubert varieties are developed. Additionally, the positivity of the CSM class of certain families of these varieties is proven. The first chapter starts with an overview and introduction to the material along with some of the background material needed to understand this dissertation. In the second chapter, a series of equivalences of graph hypersurfaces that are useful for reducing the number of cases that must be calculated are developed. A table of CSM classes of all but one graph with 6 or fewer edges are explicitly computed. This table also contains Fulton Chern classes and Milnor classes for the graph hypersurfaces. Using the equivalences and a series of formulas from a paper by Aluffi and Mihalcea, a new series of formulas for the CSM classes of certain families of graph hypersurfaces are deduced. I prove positivity for all graph hypersurfaces corresponding to graphs with first Betti number of 3 or less. Formulas for graphs equivalent to graphs with 6 or fewer edges are developed (as well as cones over graphs with 6 or fewer edges). In the third chapter, CSM classes of Schubert varieties are discussed. It is conjectured by Aluffi and Mihalcea that all Chern classes of Schubert varieties are represented by effective cycles. This is proven in special cases by B. Jones. I examine some positivity results by analyzing and applying combinatorial methods to a formula by Aluffi and Mihalcea. Positivity of what could be considered the ``typical' case for low codimensional coefficients is found. Some other general results for positivity of certain coefficients of Schubert varieties are found. This technique establishes positivity for some known cases very quickly, such as the codimension 1 case as described by Jones, as well as establishing positivity for codimension 2 and families of cases that were previously unknown. An unexpected connection between one family of cases and a second order PDE is also found. Positivity is shown for all cases of codimensions 1-4 and some higher codimensions are discussed. In both the graph hypersurfaces and Schubert varieties, all calculated Chern-Schwartz-MacPherson classes were found to be positive.
Closed Form Solutions of Linear Difference Equations.
Cha, Yongjae, Van Hoeij, Mark, Van Engelen, Robert A., Agashe, Amod, Aldrovandi, Ettore, Aluffi, Paolo, Department of Mathematics, Florida State University
In this thesis we present an algorithm that finds closed form solutions for homogeneous linear recurrence equations. The key idea is transforming an input operator Linp to an operator Lg with known solutions. The main problem of this idea is how to find a solved equation Lg to which Linp can be reduced. To solve this problem, we use local data of a difference operator, that is invariant under the transformation.
School of Teacher Education (3) + -
Department of Mathematics (1) + -
Applied mathematics (9) + -
Statistics (5) + -
Applied Mechanics (3) + -
Finance (3) + -
Physics, Fluid and Plasma (3) + -
Study and teaching (Elementary) (3) + -
Study and teaching (Secondary) (3) + -
Arithmetic (2) + -
Biophysics (2) + -
Curricula (2) + -
Education (Secondary) (2) + -
Educational psychology (2) + -
Educational technology (2) + -
Educational tests and measurements (2) + -
Engineering, Aerospace (2) + -
Engineering, Mechanical (2) + -
Instructional systems (2) + -
Middle school education (2) + -
Physical Oceanography (2) + -
Research (2) + -
Study and teaching (Middle school) (2) + -
journal article (1) + -
The Florida State University (98) + -
Wang, Xiaoming (26) + -
Aldrovandi, Ettore (25) + -
Kercheval, Alec N. (25) + -
Sussman, Mark (23) + -
Okten, Giray (20) + -
Case, Bettye Anne (19) + -
Nolder, Craig (19) + -
Ewald, Brian (17) + -
Mio, Washington (17) + -
Ökten, Giray (14) + -
Cogan, Nicholas G. (13) + -
Hironaka, Eriko (13) + -
Hurdal, Monica K. (13) + -
Quine, Jack (13) + -
Van Hoeij, Mark (13) + -
Aluffi, Paolo (12) + -
Bertram, Richard (12) + -
Gunzburger, Max D. (12) + -
Agashe, Amod (10) + -
Cogan, Nick (10) + -
Huffer, Fred (10) + -
Kercheval, Alec (10) + -
Nichols, Warren (10) + -
Reina, Laura (10) + -
Srivastava, Anuj (10) + -
Aluffi, Paolo (9) + -
International Education Studies (1) + -
Journal of Fluid Mechanics (1) + -
Journal of experimental child psychology (1) + -
Research in Science Education (1) + -
Theory into Practice (1) + -
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2852
|
__label__wiki
| 0.673092
| 0.673092
|
Current Search: Research Repository (x) » Department of Physics (x) » Document (PDF) (x)
THE "INNER GAME" APPROACH TO MOTOR SKILL LEARNING AND PERFORMANCE: AN INVESTIGATION INTO A SUGGESTED SUBCONSCIOUS MOTOR MECHANISM.
AUSTIN, JEFFREY STEWART., Florida State University
The "inner game" approach to skill acquisition and performance as presented by Gallwey was investigated in this study. His ideas were transposed into a working model which, in turn, formed the basis for all hypotheses in this study. Performance on an electronic video game was measured across two levels of "inner game" cueing, three levels of conscious attention blocking, and control, for both novice and advanced skill levels. A total of 120 subjects was utilized (72 male; 48 female). A...
Show moreThe "inner game" approach to skill acquisition and performance as presented by Gallwey was investigated in this study. His ideas were transposed into a working model which, in turn, formed the basis for all hypotheses in this study. Performance on an electronic video game was measured across two levels of "inner game" cueing, three levels of conscious attention blocking, and control, for both novice and advanced skill levels. A total of 120 subjects was utilized (72 male; 48 female). A preliminary test on the experimental apparatus (electronic video game) was used to determine skill level. Subjects were then assigned to groups (N = 10) by random stratification based on sex., Data in this study suggest that under certain dual processing conditions, learning and performance are facilitated. The cueing method advocated by Gallwey was effective in both the novice (learning) and advanced (performing) groups. However, all aspects of the working model are not supported in this study. Nevertheless, those groups that functioned with a secondary task designd to block conscious attention performed as well as control subjects., The approach presented by Gallwey, while in need of further exploration, may be considered a viable instructional strategy. The results are discussed in relation to previous findings reported in the motor learning literature.
The "noble experiment" in Tampa: A study of prohibition in urban America.
Alduino, Frank William., Florida State University
Prohibition sprang forth from the Progressive Era--the widespread reform movement that swept across the United States at the turn of the century. Responding to the dramatic changes in American society since the end of the Civil War, the Progressive movement encompassed a wide array of individuals and groups advocating a far-reaching program of economic, political, and social reform. For over forty years temperance zealots strived to impose their values on the whole of American society,...
Show moreProhibition sprang forth from the Progressive Era--the widespread reform movement that swept across the United States at the turn of the century. Responding to the dramatic changes in American society since the end of the Civil War, the Progressive movement encompassed a wide array of individuals and groups advocating a far-reaching program of economic, political, and social reform. For over forty years temperance zealots strived to impose their values on the whole of American society, particularly on the rapidly expanding immigrant population. These alien newcomers epitomized the transformation of the country from rural to urban, from agricultural to industrial., Rapidly-expanding urban centers were often the battleground between prohibitionists and supporters of the whiskey traffic. European immigrants, retaining their traditional values, gravitated to metropolitan areas such as Boston, New York, and Chicago. With the opening of the cigar industry in the mid-1880s, Tampa, Florida also began attracting large numbers of immigrants. Because of its pluralistic composition, the city might serve as a microcosm of the national struggle between the "wet" and "dry" forces., Using newspapers, oral interviews, and other primary materials, this study traces the various aspects of the prohibition movement in the city of Tampa. In addition, it details other peripheral areas associated with the advent of the Eighteenth Amendment including the drug and alien trades. Finally, this study examines the lengthy efforts to repeal the "Noble Experiment" and return legalized drinking back to Tampa.
THE "OLD SUMPTER HERO": A BIOGRAPHY OF MAJOR-GENERAL ABNER DOUBLEDAY.
RAMSEY, DAVID MORGAN., The Florida State University
Abner Doubleday was an unusual and often a controversial person. Born into a family staunchly supporting Andrew Jackson, Doubleday reflected the determined Unionist position of the strong-willed president. Abner's attitude towards the Union was later vividly demonstrated at Fort Sumter. A mediocre career at West Point illustrated Doubleday's lack of desire to excel although he possessed the ability to do so. The controversy over the origin of baseball, although Doubleday was never directly...
Show moreAbner Doubleday was an unusual and often a controversial person. Born into a family staunchly supporting Andrew Jackson, Doubleday reflected the determined Unionist position of the strong-willed president. Abner's attitude towards the Union was later vividly demonstrated at Fort Sumter. A mediocre career at West Point illustrated Doubleday's lack of desire to excel although he possessed the ability to do so. The controversy over the origin of baseball, although Doubleday was never directly involved in the question, was the first of several controversies with which Abner Doubleday's name is associated., Doubleday never seemed satisfied with his early life. In his papers he continually referred to people, prominent in later years, which he knew. While serving in the Mexican War, Doubleday continually felt the need to relate the dangerous situations in which he was placed. He seemed to want to demonstrate his personal responsibilities, which while actually meager, he viewed as of supreme importance. Doubleday apparently wanted to be a famous, bold cavalier, but realized he failed to accomplish his objective and stressed his "noble" deeds., Doubleday loved large cities and the benefits they offered a person. He liked being in the right social circles and enjoyed the "good life." By 1852, while serving as a commissioner for the Senate, Doubleday had come to despise Mexico and the Mexicans. By 1858, while serving in Florida, he disliked the inconveniences of chasing "savages." With secession in 1860 Doubleday no longer liked Charlestonians; later extending his revulsion to all Confederates., With the crisis at Sumter in 1861 Doubleday was greatly troubled. The affront to the United States government was almost more than he could bear. With the outbreak of the war, Doubleday was more than willing to fight the rebels. A dependable, if unspectacular soldier, Doubleday served well during the Civil War. While no one accused him of original thinking militarily, his men always fought well. Gettysburg was Doubleday's finest hour but became his final hour in the Civil War when he could not countenance serving under a junior officer., It seems strange that Doubleday served in the Freedmen's Bureau since his superior was none other than his old enemy from Gettysburg, O.O. Howard. Doubleday's service in California brought the controversy over the origin of the cable car. Retirement from the army in 1873 brought out several new qualities in Abner Doubleday. He wrote books, read French and Spanish literature, and became interested in the occult and became a believer in theosophy., Doubleday was a colorful figure in nineteenth century America. He was associated with several significant events in the growth of the nation. Doubleday represented, possibly to an extreme, the attitude of many American Unionists and supporters of Manifest Destiny. His commitment to a united nation is similar to Lincoln's attitude. Doubleday not only vocalized this sentiment, but, like Lincoln, was prepared to fight for his belief. Abner Doubleday was an intense American. He desired a strong, powerful United States and opposed those not supporting such a course.
THE "SACRED HARP" SINGING GROUP AS AN INSTANCE OF NON-FORMAL EDUCATION.
MITCHELL, HENRY CHESTERFIELD., The Florida State University
The "talk" of returning women graduate students: An ethnographic study of reality construction.
McKenna, Alexis Yvonne., Florida State University
This study looked at women's internal experience of graduate school. In particular, it focused on the experience of women returning full-time to graduate school after an extended time-out for careers and/or family. The questions examined were: (1) how do returning women "name and frame" their experience? (2) what, if any, is the relationship between the way the women "name and frame" their experience and their response to it? and, (3) what role does the researcher-as-interviewer play in the...
Show moreThis study looked at women's internal experience of graduate school. In particular, it focused on the experience of women returning full-time to graduate school after an extended time-out for careers and/or family. The questions examined were: (1) how do returning women "name and frame" their experience? (2) what, if any, is the relationship between the way the women "name and frame" their experience and their response to it? and, (3) what role does the researcher-as-interviewer play in the construction of the data?, Data were collected through a series of three ethnographic interviews with 12 returning women, ranging in age from 28 to 50. Two of the twelve women were single, two were widowed, seven were divorced and one was divorced and remarried. Eight of the women had children., Analysis of the data showed that returning women, as a group, "named and framed" their experience in terms of change. Some women wanted to change self-image or self-concept while others wanted to acquire a new set of skills or credentials. Individually, the women "named and framed" their experiences in terms of an internalized "meaning-making map" acquired in the family of origin but modified through adult experiences. This "map" told them who they were and what kind of a life they could have. It gave their "talk" and behavior a consistency that could be recognized; it could make life easier or harder. A woman who felt she must "prove" herself, for example, found graduate school more difficult than a woman who wanted to "work smart.", The researcher-as-interviewer influenced the construction of data through her presence as well as through the kinds of questions she asked. The women understood and gave meaning to their experiences through the process of explaining them to the interviewer. The insights gained through this process of "shared talk" influenced future action and decisions.
THE 'PRESENT ETERNITE' OF 'TROILUS AND CRISEYDE.'.
LORRAH, JEAN., The Florida State University
THE (CARBON-12,BERYLLIUM-8) AND (CARBON-12,CARBON-12) REACTIONS ON EVEN CALCIUM ISOTOPES.
MORGAN, GORDON REESE., The Florida State University
THE (CARBON-12,BERYLLIUM-8) AND (OXYGEN-16,BERYLLIUM-8) REACTIONS ON CARBON-12, OXYGEN-16, AND SILICON-28 NUCLEI.
ARTZ, JERRY LEE., The Florida State University
(not his real name).
Lenhoff, Fred
(oxygen-16 + thorium-232) incomplete fusion followed by fission at 140 MeV.
Gavathas, Evangelos P., Florida State University
Cross sections for incomplete fusion followed by fission have been measured for the reaction ($\sp{16}$O + $\sp{232}$Th) at 140 MeV. In plane and out of plane measurements were made of cross sections for beamlike fragments in coincidence with fission fragments. The beamlike fragments were detected with the Florida State large acceptance Bragg curve spectrometer. The detector was position sensitive in the polar direction. The beamlike particles observed in coincidence with fission fragments...
Show moreCross sections for incomplete fusion followed by fission have been measured for the reaction ($\sp{16}$O + $\sp{232}$Th) at 140 MeV. In plane and out of plane measurements were made of cross sections for beamlike fragments in coincidence with fission fragments. The beamlike fragments were detected with the Florida State large acceptance Bragg curve spectrometer. The detector was position sensitive in the polar direction. The beamlike particles observed in coincidence with fission fragments were He, Li, Be, B, C, N and O. Fission fragments were detected by three surface barrier detectors using time of flight for particle identification. The reaction cross section due to incomplete fusion is 747 $\pm$ 112 mB, or 42% of the total fission cross section. The strongest incomplete fusion channels were the helium and carbon channels. The average transferred angular momentum for each incomplete fusion channel was calculated using the $Q\sb{opt}$ model of Wilczynski, and the angular correlation was calculated using the saddle point transition state model. The K distribution was determined from the Rotating Liquid Drop model. The theoretical angular distributions were fitted to the experimental angular distributions with the angular momentum J and the dealignment factor $\alpha\sb{o}$ as free parameters. The fitted parameter J was in excellent agreement with the $Q\sb{opt}$ model predictions. The conclusions of this study are that the incomplete fusion cross section is a large part of the total cross section, and that the saddle point transition state model adequately describes the observed angular correlations for fission following incomplete fusion.
The (re)making of Romaine Patterson: Matthew Shepard's friend as gay activist.
Dorety, Casey
The -radiolysis of ethanol: The effect of a radical scavenger on the hydrogen yield.
Gray, Horace B.
125-Iodine: a probe in radiobiology.
Warters, Raymond Leon
THE 1928 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IN FLORIDA.
HUGHES, MELVIN EDWARD, JR., The Florida State University
The 1964 presidential vote in Florida: an analysis.
McCarraron, William J.
THE 1964 WISCONSIN PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY: GEORGE C. WALLACE.
WINDLER, CHARLES WILLIAM, JR., Florida State University
In 1963, Alabama Governor George C. Walace defied a court order by Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach to integrate the University of Alabama. This incident turned the governor into a national celebrity and led to a number of speaking engagements across the country. During one of these engagements, Wallace indicated an interest in entering certain presidential primaries in the North in order to campaign against the pending national civil rights legislation. The Wisconsin Democratic...
Show moreIn 1963, Alabama Governor George C. Walace defied a court order by Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach to integrate the University of Alabama. This incident turned the governor into a national celebrity and led to a number of speaking engagements across the country. During one of these engagements, Wallace indicated an interest in entering certain presidential primaries in the North in order to campaign against the pending national civil rights legislation. The Wisconsin Democratic presidential primary was the first of these races., Since President Lyndon Johnson had the Democratic presidential nomination for the asking, little attention was given to the Wallace candidacy. Governor John Reynolds was selected to run against Wallace as the Democraic favorite-son candidate, and the Republicans chose Representative John Byrnes as their favorite-son candidate. When the votes were cast on April 7, the entire nation was surprised at the large number of votes obtained by Wallace., Upon examination of the conditions and events prior to and during the presidential primary campaign, the following factors apparently contributed to the surprising showing of Governor Wallace: (1) An open primary system existed in Wisconsin that allowed a large Republican cross-over vote for Wallace; (2) The Republican favorite-son candidate had no opponent; (3) The Democratic party was divided over their favorite-son candidate, one of the most unpopular Governors in the political history of Wisconsin; (4) Wallace's opponents waged a personal defamation campaign based on Wallace's reputation as a racist to which Wallace did not respond; and (5) Some white residents of Wisconsin were afraid of the increasing civil rights demands of the black population. These factors served to gain support and sympathy for the Wallace candidacy and to focus national attention on the Alabama governor as he conducted subsequent campaigns in Maryland and Indiana.
The 1983 Florida gas tax.
Simmons, Cynthia D.
The 1988 World Bank policy study on education in sub-Saharan Africa revisited: A value-critical policy inquiry.
Ota, Cleaver Chakawuya., Florida State University
The spirit and logic of the 1988 World Bank report resides in the trilogy that is its subtitle: adjustment, revitalization and expansion. In the context of ongoing austerity in Africa, it is strongly asserted that a fundamental restructuring of education is necessary to improve efficiency, effectiveness and equity in education. Controversial adjustment reforms proposed include measures that will substantially shift the burden of educational finance from government to students, parents, and...
Show moreThe spirit and logic of the 1988 World Bank report resides in the trilogy that is its subtitle: adjustment, revitalization and expansion. In the context of ongoing austerity in Africa, it is strongly asserted that a fundamental restructuring of education is necessary to improve efficiency, effectiveness and equity in education. Controversial adjustment reforms proposed include measures that will substantially shift the burden of educational finance from government to students, parents, and other parties. Such measures include cost recovery and the reduction of teachers' salaries among other things., If and only if, adjustment measures have been implemented and begun to take hold, then revitalization and selective expansion may be undertaken. Revitalization and selective expansion will reportedly improve quality and access in education. They include the provision of a minimum package of textbooks and other instructional materials and expansion of primary education to provide universal access., The purpose of this study was to investigate and critically evaluate the knowledge base that undergirds the World Bank study and the technical and political feasibility of the proposed reforms. A multi-methodological research strategy including critical public policy analysis and value-critical policy inquiry was employed., The main findings of this study are that: the data used in the Bank study are unreliable, the knowledge base narrow, the arguments underlying the policy framework of the report, unpersuasive and controversial and the agenda for action internally inconsistent. These criticisms should not detract from the immense value and importance of the document in that it is the first document that critically looks at education in the crisis beleaguered continent.
The 1993 federal Family & Medical Leave Act as compared to similar state legislation.
Stutts, John R.
218 parent-child relationships of working and non-working mothers known to the Child guidance Clinic of Pinellas County, St. Petersburg, Florida, July 1, 1956 to June 30, 1957.
Craigo, Lillian Rule
ahc0938, 164826, fsu:14807
3He optical model potentials for 89Y.
Courtney, William J.
50 MeV lithium-6 scattering from carbon-12, oxygen-16, and beryllium-9 and the calibration of the tensor-polarized lithium-6 beam.
Trcka, Darryl Eugene., Florida State University
The experimental work reported consists of (1) the measurements of the angular distributions for the scattering of $\sp6$Li from the targets $\sp9$Be, $\sp{12}$C, and $\sp{16}$O at a lithium bombarding energy of 50 MeV, and (2) the measurement of the tensor polarization of the FSU polarized $\sp6$Li source. 50 MeV data were taken for elastic and inelastic scattering to the 2$\sp+$ (4.44 MeV), 0$\sp+$ (7.65 MeV), and 3$\sp-$ (9.64 MeV) states in $\sp{12}$C, the 5/2$\sp-$ (2.43 MeV) state in $...
Show moreThe experimental work reported consists of (1) the measurements of the angular distributions for the scattering of $\sp6$Li from the targets $\sp9$Be, $\sp{12}$C, and $\sp{16}$O at a lithium bombarding energy of 50 MeV, and (2) the measurement of the tensor polarization of the FSU polarized $\sp6$Li source. 50 MeV data were taken for elastic and inelastic scattering to the 2$\sp+$ (4.44 MeV), 0$\sp+$ (7.65 MeV), and 3$\sp-$ (9.64 MeV) states in $\sp{12}$C, the 5/2$\sp-$ (2.43 MeV) state in $\sp9$Be, and the unresolved 0$\sp+$/3$\sp-$ (6.05/6.13 MeV) and $2\sp{+}/1\sp{-}$ (6.92/7.12 MeV) states in $\sp{16}$O. The measurement of the tensor polarization of the FSU $\sp6$Li source allowed the absolute polarization efficiency of the source-accelerator system to be determined., The analytical work reported consists of a determination of the energy dependence of the optical potential parameters for $\sp6$Li + $\sp{12}$C scattering over the energy range from 11 MeV to 210 MeV. This has been attempted previously and the results have not been successful. A large body of data for $\sp6$Li + $\sp{12}$C allows more severe constraints than in previous studies. The inclusion of an angular momentum-dependent imaginary potential provides a good description of the elastic scattering data and the parameters determined in this study are smoothly varying with energy using Woods-Saxon form factors for the real and imaginary potentials. Inelastic scattering to the 2$\sp+$ (4.44 MeV), 0$\sp+$ (7.65 MeV), and 3$\sp-$ (9.64 MeV) states in $\sp{12}$C are described well using the constructed energy dependent potentials in DWBA calculations. Analysis using the double folded real potential and a Woods-Saxon imaginary potential were performed on the same $\sp6$Li + $\sp{12}$C scattering data from 11 MeV to 210 MeV., The scattering data for 50 MeV $\sp6$Li scattering from the targets $\sp{16}$O and $\sp9$Be are described using optical potentials and DWBA calculations. Less information is obtained from these analyses because data do not exist at this time over a wide enough energy range to provide a constraint on the interaction potentials.
The 7 sacraments of E.
Helms, Ivy E.
[1+∞=¿]: Eden, Dystopia, and a theistic humanism.
Yates, Stephen., Florida State University
After over millennia of ideological dominance throughout much of the world, theism found itself set against a new philosophical system known as humanism which valued the proliferation and evolution of humanity apart from theism's Divine control. This struggle has played itself out in numerous skirmishes, from Cold War aggressions between capitalism and communism to modern debate over evolutionary theory and education. Current research in both fields shows that this continuous ideological war...
Show moreAfter over millennia of ideological dominance throughout much of the world, theism found itself set against a new philosophical system known as humanism which valued the proliferation and evolution of humanity apart from theism's Divine control. This struggle has played itself out in numerous skirmishes, from Cold War aggressions between capitalism and communism to modern debate over evolutionary theory and education. Current research in both fields shows that this continuous ideological war has hurt the proliferation of either philosophy, leaving them often unable to constructively engage with the advancement of society. Because of this lack of engagement, one must look to pictures of the future to theorize how the two ideologies can engage one another for the benefit of humanity. Dystopian literature displays this future. However, Dystopia offers its explanation through a combination of the two ideologies, a theistic humanism that acknowledges Divine creation and control yet depicts the history of man as a struggle against that control in pursuit of his own evolution. This is presented through re-depictions of the Biblical narrative of Eden as a story of man's escape from a complex system of control. In analyzing Dystopian narratives throughout the 20th century (Zamyatin's We, Orwell's 1984, Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, Gibson's Neuromancer, and Sterling's Schismatrix), this study reveals the evolution of the ideas of the nature and power of God, control, and human development, eventually culminating in the possibility of human divinity as evolution brings about the post-human, and with it a liberal and freeing definition of Deity.
471832944, 341778, FSDT341778, fsu:19347
A basic course in quantity food preparation.
Welch, John M.
ahq8692, 164818, FSDT164818, fsu:14803
A blind student's use of problem solving processes for positive professional learning experiences.
Coen, James P.
ahj0501, 165103, fsu:15108
A case study of community organization services in Savannah-Chatham County, Georgia, 1950-1958.
Allen, Clarence L.
AHK1920, 164936, FSDT164936, fsu:14879
A case study of personnel and fiscal practices of Leon County government.
Slick, Marlene J.
afq9771, 164876, FSDT164876, fsu:14831
A comparative analysis of home and school backgrounds of 72 handicapped and 72 non-handicapped elementary school children, St. Petersburg, Florida, 1959.
Hansen, James S.
ahn6773, 165060, fsu:15087
A COMPARATIVE EVALUATION OF FACULTY AND STUDENT PARAPROFESSIONAL ACADEMICADVISEMENT PROGRAMS AT THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY.
MAC ALEESE, ROBERT WILLIAM., Florida State University
A comparative study of 60 community placement veteran patients from the Veterans Administration Hospital, Gulfport, Mississippi, June 1961.
Higgins, Robert N.
A Comparative study of certian selected socio-economic characteristics and clinical findings of thirty patients seen at the Mental Health Clinic and thirty patients seen at the Alcoholic Rehabilitation Clinic, Jacksonville, Florida, Between July 1, 1959 and June 30, 1960.
Bowers, Edwin Cullen
AKN3733, 165002, FSDT165002, fsu:15058
A comparative study of the traumatic events and behavior disorders of the first 16 years of life of white male veterans diagnosed as psychotic and white male veterans diagnosed as neurotic.
Kennedy, James F.
ahm6784, 165046, FSDT165046, fsu:15080
A comparative study of those mental patients who adjusted in fostercare with those who were returned to the hospital.
Binchy, Helen
A comparision of cases at United Cerebral Palsy of Miami, Florida with the review of the literature.
Polliard, Forbes W.
akp4858, 164666, FSDT164666, fsu:14729
A comparison of attitudes between relatives and eighteen foster parents of mental patients at the Veterans Administration Center, Gulfport Division, Biloxi, Mississippi, 1960.
Yaffe, Dorothy F.
AHN3758, 165004, FSDT165004, fsu:15059
A comparison of attitudes toward home, school and peer group of first generation Cuban immigrant children and children with one Cuban born parent in three elementary schools in Hillsborough County, Florida.
Wilson, Charles T.
ahe7541, 164620, fsu:14707
A comparison of the extent of participation of trained and untrained social work practitioners in voluntary community organizations in St. Petersburg, Florida and in Atlanta, Georgia.
Horne, Lou Ann
A comparison of the severity of illness in intake patients in 1950 and 1957 in the Veterans Administration Mental Hygiene Clinic, Miami, Florida.
Hida, Edward T.
A comparison of the treatment of "The Negro in the United States" in four major adult encyclopedias and their yearbooks.
Hannah, Wanda Lee
ahm9576, 164628, fsu:14710
A comparison of two distinctive preparations for quantitative items in the Scholastic Aptitude Test.
Kelly, Frances Smith., Florida State University
The SAT is a major milestone for many high school juniors and seniors. Scoring as high as possible is of utmost concern for college bound students because SAT scores often determine the college or university they may attend and the scholarships they may receive. As a result, those who can financially afford to take prep courses for the SAT do., Over the past forty years research studies have found that SAT preparation increases test scores. These previous studies have been concerned only with...
Show moreThe SAT is a major milestone for many high school juniors and seniors. Scoring as high as possible is of utmost concern for college bound students because SAT scores often determine the college or university they may attend and the scholarships they may receive. As a result, those who can financially afford to take prep courses for the SAT do., Over the past forty years research studies have found that SAT preparation increases test scores. These previous studies have been concerned only with increasing test scores. To date, no study has investigated if one method of preparation produces higher gains than another, nor has any study identified those students for whom preparation is most beneficial. A comparison of methods among existing studies is impossible because most reports do not include the methods or materials used., The contents of most SAT preparatory books deal primarily with a review of the mathematical concepts involved. However, an inspection of several SAT items reveals that the SAT tests more than mere rote calculations and algebraic manipulations--it tests "understanding," "application," and "nonroutine" methods of problem solving. Therefore, the present study was proposed to examine and assess the effectiveness of two methods of student preparation for the SAT-M: the first method of preparation explored content review, solving each item in a rigid traditional manner, and the second method of preparation examines the use of flexible problem solving strategies to answer the items rather than using routine mathematical manipulations., Sixty-two juniors and seniors participated in the study. The results of the study showed that the students taught test-taking strategies scored significantly better than the control group. However, this strategies group did not score significantly better than the group who was taught content. The content group did not score significantly better than the control group. This indicates that students could benefit from instruction in flexible, nonroutine methods of solving SAT-M items efficiently.
A comparsion of perceptions toward family crises between eleventh grade students who have had and had not experiences with such crises.
Schumaker, Martha
akp2720, 164559, fsu:14678
A CRITICAL EDITION OF THE FIRST TWO MONTHS OF W. B. YEATS'S AUTOMATIC SCRIPT (IRELAND).
ADAMS, STEVE LAMAR., Florida State University
William Butler Yeats's involvement in the esoteric and the occult has attracted considerable interest in the past decade, but much remains unknown about his philosophical development during the period of his life when he was engaged in the most profound spiritual or psychical investigation or experiment of his brilliant career, an experiment which gave birth to A Vision. Often described as the most important work in the canon to the understanding of his art and thought if not his life, this...
Show moreWilliam Butler Yeats's involvement in the esoteric and the occult has attracted considerable interest in the past decade, but much remains unknown about his philosophical development during the period of his life when he was engaged in the most profound spiritual or psychical investigation or experiment of his brilliant career, an experiment which gave birth to A Vision. Often described as the most important work in the canon to the understanding of his art and thought if not his life, this ambitious work represents Yeats's attempt to explain the basic psychological polarities of the human personality, the course of Western civilization, and the evolution and movement of the soul after death. The cogency and gravity of the experiment of investigation which produced a book of these epic proportions cannot be underestimated; indeed, the contents of this well-recorded experiment may well be the most significant body of unexplored Yeats material. The fundamental aim of this study, which includes only the first crucial months of the Automatic Script, is to present to the scholarly world for the first time a transcript of the often obscure, often complex body of materials that led directly to Yeats's most profound work of art. In order to place this manuscript in its proper biographical and critical context, explanatory notes have been included, explicating the essential features of the experiment (i.e., the recording of dates, the authors of questions and responses, the placement of diagrams and notes by George and Yeats, the physical state of the manuscript, etc.) and unraveling or spelling out the numerous references to Yeats's primary works, those appearing prior to as well as those growing directly out of the Automatic Script; special attention has been focused on those materials which were eventually embodied in the 1925 version of A Vision. An editorial, introduction preceding the transcript demonstrates how this momentous experiment was the logical extension of a series of psychical investigations and, in much broader terms, the culmination of a spiritual odyssey that Yeats had begun almost as early as the days of his youth.
A critical edition of W. B. Yeats's automatic script, 11 March-30 December 1918.
Frieling, Barbara Johnston., Florida State University
Professor George Mills Harper writes in his recent book The Making of Yeats's 'A Vision': A Study of the Automatic Script that, despite his copious quotations from these unpublished manuscripts, "nothing but the whole will satisfy the truly involved reader." Perhaps the most comprehensive occult papers that have been preserved in the history of psychical research, the 3627 existing pages of the Automatic Script are of extreme interest to Yeats scholars, not only as the source for A Vision but...
Show moreProfessor George Mills Harper writes in his recent book The Making of Yeats's 'A Vision': A Study of the Automatic Script that, despite his copious quotations from these unpublished manuscripts, "nothing but the whole will satisfy the truly involved reader." Perhaps the most comprehensive occult papers that have been preserved in the history of psychical research, the 3627 existing pages of the Automatic Script are of extreme interest to Yeats scholars, not only as the source for A Vision but also as documentation of the creative collaboration between Yeats and his new wife George during the 450 sittings held between 5 Nov 1917 and 28 Mar 1920. This critical edition provides the complete text for that portion of the Automatic Script written during the Yeatses' first visit to Ireland following their marriage. (Under the direction of Professor Harper, Steve L. Adams has edited the first two months of the Script as a doctoral dissertation in 1982, and Sandra Sprayberry is preparing that portion of the Script written between 2 Jan 1919 and 28 Mar 1920.) Included in this dissertation is an editorial introduction describing the methods used by the Yeatses in the automatic writing and its subsequent "codification"; the relationship of the Script to Yeats's 1918 poetry and plays; and the synthesis of his life-long involvement in the occult Yeats achieves in the two versions of A Vision. Extensive endnotes relate the Automatic Script to Yeats's Card File and Vision notebooks as well as to his poetry, plays, and the two versions. Of special note is the emergence of the tower as a major symbol as the Yeatses first occupied Thoor Ballylee, and their growing conviction that their expected child would be the Irish Avatar. The 1918 Script demonstrates clearly that George Yeats was an equal partner in the amazing collaboration that produced A Vision and that provided her husband with metaphors for his later poetry.
A critical survey of the actual use of the Palm Terrance Service Club in terms of its potential and economic value.
Waite, Marilynn Margaret
akj3455, 164912, FSDT164912, fsu:14864
A description and evaluation of the rehabilitation programs at the Federal Correctional Institution, Tallahassee, Florida.
Hollingsworth, Connor Wright
ahf7372, 164756, fsu:14773
A description of brief treatment service as revealed in five cases known to the Dade County Child Guidance Clinic, Miami, Florida, January 1 - March 31, 1955.
Dawson, Jean Helen
A descriptive analysis of a students learning experience in meeting the research requirements in a two-year graduate program of social work education.
Sylvester, Martin J.
ahk3747, 164964, fsu:14894
Digitized Theses and Dissertations 1952-2002 (9620) + -
Education Commission of the States (11) + -
Literature, Modern (200) + -
Education, Teacher Training (184) + -
Physics, Nuclear (162) + -
Psychology, Experimental (160) + -
Sociology, Criminology and Penology (160) + -
Political Science, General (154) + -
Library Science (151) + -
Home Economics (148) + -
Literature, American (139) + -
Theater (129) + -
Chemistry, Organic (127) + -
Psychology, General (121) + -
Education, Music (116) + -
Psychology, Social (115) + -
Chemistry, Biochemistry (113) + -
Speech Communication (112) + -
Chemistry, Physical (103) + -
Charke, Charlotte (1) + -
Students for a Democratic Society (U.S.) (1) + -
Freely accessible for non-commerical use. Subject to copyright laws. (1) + -
North Carolina (1) + -
FAMU-FSU College of Engineering (Tallahassee, Fla.) (16) + -
McGuiness, Aims C. (7) + -
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2854
|
__label__wiki
| 0.590405
| 0.590405
|
associated press (photographer) (1)
john p. morton & co. (publisher) (1)
keystone view company (publisher) (1)
musee du louvre (paris, france) (1)
christy, howard chandler, 1873-1952 (artist) (1)
hartwell, alonzo, 1805-1873 (engraver) (1)
jeunet, andre, 1896-1979 (photographer) (1)
balkan peninsula (1)
breathitt county (ky.) (1)
harpers ferry (w. va.) (1)
jackson (ky.) (1)
portrait photographs (4)
daggers & swords (2)
hackett, james keteltas, 1869-1926 (2)
military uniforms (2)
posing (2)
gelatin silver printing-out paper prints (4)
planographic prints (1)
stereographs (1)
Description: (prisoner
James K. Hackett as Rudolf Rassendyll in "The Prisoner of Zenda."
Portraits; Actors; Men; Costumes; Posing; Military uniforms
Full-length painted portrait of a man in white military attire with tall black boots. His helmet rests on a table bearing a tapestry reading "RR". This illustration, published in "Pastel Portraits from the Romantic Drama," by Howard Chandler...
Jackson Jail, Breathitt County, Kentucky, 1929.
Buildings; Detention facilities; Jails
Jackson Jail in "bloody Breathitt County." A dark building (or dark photograph), behind a telephone pole and flanked by trees. Image from Associated Press Photo, Chicago Bureau. AP caption: "Kentucky mob invades jail to seize prisoner. Jackson,...
Soldiers on mountain path, Balkans, circa 1918.
World War, 1914-1918--Campaigns--Eastern Front; Soldiers; Trails & paths; Mountains; Canteens (Beverage containers); Shovels
Soldiers, carrying canteens, picks, shovels, and other tools, walk single file along a mountain path during World War I. One man, slightly off the path, has his hands on his head, but it is unclear as to whether he is a prisoner or simply adjusting...
Marie D. Shotwell as Shirley Rossmore in "The Lion and the Mouse," circa 1907.
Portraits; Portrait photographs; Actresses; Women; Costumes; Posing
Full-length character portrait of actress Marie D. Shotwell in costume for the role of "Shirley Rossmore" in Charles Klein's "The Lion and the Mouse," produced at Macauley's Theatre in November 1907. She wears a shimmery evening gown and gauzy...
James K. Hackett.
Portrait of left profile of actor, producer, and director James K. Hackett, wearing a checked suit jacket. Born September 6, 1869 in Wolf Island, Ontario, Canada, James K. Hackett starred in seven productions at Macauley's Theatre between 1894 and...
Howard Gould, circa 1901.
Portrait of performer Howard Gould wearing a suit jacket and black bow tie. Born in St. Anthony, Minnesota, circa 1864, he appeared in Leo Trevor's "Brother Officers" at Macauley's Theatre in October 1901, likely the occasion for the inscription of...
Carl Ahrendt as "Col. Sapt."
Portraits; Portrait photographs; Actors; Men; Costumes; Military uniforms
Character portrait of actor Carl Ahrendt in costume for a role as Colonel Sapt in "The Prisoner of Zenda," which was performed at Macauley's Theatre numerous times between 1896 and 1908, although not in 1903 and never with Ahrendt receiving star...
Assyria--History; Kings; Queens; Men; Women; Animals; Rescue work; Asia--History; Textbooks; Daggers & swords; Lutes; Stringed instruments; People associated with religion; Children; Nomads; Harps; Persia; Turkey; Poland; Denmark
Woodblock prints of, from top to bottom starting at left (all images signed "Hartwell" unless otherwise noted): Sardanapalus (Assyrian king) seated on throne holding a goblet aloft, with men and women in attendance; scene in city square; Semiramis...
John Brown's fort, Harper's Ferry, W. Va., U.S.A.
Armories; Forts & fortifications; Buildings; Brown, John, 1800-1859
Brick building with a center tower and two chimneys on the ends. Three archways in the front and two, bricked-in archways on the right side. The building is surrounded by overgrown grass. Title: 7007 - John Brown's Fort, Harper's Ferry, W. Va.,...
Barbarian warrior, front view.
"Images of barbarians, an essential element of triumphal ceremony in imperial Rome, were most often represented in a military context. […] [S]uch representations are omnipresent in Trajan's Forum, on the façade of the Ulpia Basilica, and along the...
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2858
|
__label__cc
| 0.73032
| 0.26968
|
Marrowforums > Regional Discussions > March for Marrow > Los Angeles
Los Angeles Hope, Steps & A Cure Walk, April 30, 2011
Sat Feb 12, 2011, 03:30 AM
Marrowforums
Marrowforums.org
Los Angeles Hope, Steps & A Cure Walk 2011, a fundraising and awareness event to benefit the AA&MDSIF, will take place on Saturday, April 30, 2011 at Shoreline Village in Long Beach, CA. It will be a day of fun connecting with fellow patients and families. Marrowforums members are invited to join Team Marrowforums and help spread the word about this annual fundraiser.
We will walk along the scenic marina starting at the "Off Boardwalk Stage" area in Shoreline Village.
Registration begins at 9:00am. The event will start at 10:00am with a raffle, light refreshments, and inspirational speakers, followed by the walk.
Olympic gold medalist Mia Hamm will be there as celebrity starter. Mia supports the AA&MDSIF in honor of her brother Garrett John Hamm, who died following complications from a bone marrow transplant after a 12-year battle with aplastic anemia and MDS.
If you can attend
Go to the WALK Registration page, fill out the form, and specify Team Marrowforums where you see this prompt:
To make a donation
Go to the Team Marrowforums page and fill out the Donation section under the Options heading. Both named and anonymous donations of any amount are welcome.
Virtual walker registration
Even if you can't attend, you can register as a "virtual walker". You register but we do the walking for you, and you'll be able to set your own fundraising goal. Go to the VIRTUAL Registration page, fill out the form, and specify Team Marrowforums where you see this prompt:
The registration fee is $25 per person. Each walker and virtual walker is encouraged to set a personal goal of raising at least $250 and to invite friends and families to sponsor you online.
If you have questions, post them in this thread. See also our photo gallery and video from Hope Steps & A Cure Los Angeles 2010.
Visit Marrowforums's homepage!
Find all posts by Marrowforums
Mon Mar 7, 2011, 01:53 PM
Candy S
Location: Newbury Park, California, USA
Los Angeles Hope, Steps & A Cure Walk 2011
Yes, we are part of a team - Mia's Angels!!! Looking forward to walking with other patients, families, and friends.
Shoreline Village/APRIL 30, 2011 - Here we come...to help our favorite Foundation AA&MDSIF!!!
Candy, mother of Mia age 17, diagnosed SAA January 2009; treated with ATG (Rabbit) in 3/2009; treated with ATG (Horse) in 10/2009; Finished a fast taper of cyclosporine (recommended by NIH on 9/7/2010). So far, partial response.
Visit Candy S's homepage!
Find all posts by Candy S
Wed Apr 27, 2011, 03:14 AM
Upcoming Los Angeles Hope, Steps & A Cure Walk Already A Success
2010-Walk-Los-Angeles.jpg
Last year: Hope, Steps & A Cure Los Angeles 2010
There are only three days left until the Hope, Steps & A Cure Walk on Saturday April 30, 2011 at Shoreline Village in Long Beach, CA. The Walk has already raised over $28,000, including $1500 from Team Marrowforums. All proceeds will go to the Aplastic Anemia & MDS International Foundation for its much-needed programs and services.
About 100 people have pre-registered for the Walk and many more people are expected to register on the day of the event. Marrowforums will be at the Walk and there's still time for you to register to walk with us, be a "virtual" walker, or make a donation. See Los Angeles Hope, Steps & A Cure Walk, April 30, 2011 for details.
In conjunction with the 1-mile or 2-mile walk there will be a bone marrow drive run by the City of Hope, to sign people up for the Be the Match Marrow Registry, as well as a silent auction, a Kids Zone for youngsters, team photos, a group photo, music, lunch, and more.
Auction items are being donated by Build-A-Bear, Costco, Essential Chocolate Desserts, Knott’s Berry Farms, The Los Angeles Lakers, Marrowforums, The Mia Hamm Foundation, Runners High Long Beach, Supreme Bean Coffee, Susan Kass, Target, Trader Joe's, and The Walt Disney Company.
Don't miss this big event! (see details)
Sun May 1, 2011, 01:29 PM
Event Followup
The 2011 Los Angeles Hope, Steps & A Cure Walk brought together 183 patients, family members, and supporters and over 100 volunteers. The event reached and exceeded its fundraising goal of $30,000, reaching a total of over $36,000.
Patients (many in yellow T-shirts) and their supporters (in red T-shirts) walked along the shore near the Queen Mary in Long Beach carrying balloons and banners, cheered on by volunteers from Kohl's Department Stores. Kids enjoyed face painting with volunteers from Art of Elysium, lunch was provided by Whole Foods, and everyone listened to music provided by SOS Entertainment. Twenty teams posed for group photos. Proceeds from the silent auction added to the fundraising total.
Be the Match, in conjunction with the City of Hope, registered 39 people for the national bone marrow registry.
Proceeds of the Walk will help the Aplastic Anemia & MDS International Foundation continue and expand the programs that help all aplastic anemia, MDS, and PNH patients by providing patient education, supporting disease research, and advocating on behalf of these patients.
Wed May 4, 2011, 02:11 AM
Hope, Steps & A Cure, Los Angeles 2011
Can you spot yourself in these photos?
Mon Jun 13, 2011, 04:23 PM
Here's a update on the fundraising success of this event
With the extremely generous donations from Kohl's Department Stores and the many other participants and sponsors, the total raised by the 2011 Hope, Steps & A Cure Los Angeles is just over $44,000!
Sat Jul 23, 2011, 08:30 PM
The figures are final.
Hope, Steps & A Cure Los Angeles 2011 raised $44,800 in one day!
Los Angeles 2015 Hope, Steps & A Cure 5K Run and Patient&Family Walk, April 25, 2015 Marrowforums Los Angeles 3 Mon Aug 31, 2015 10:33 PM
Los Angeles Hope, Steps & A Cure 5K Run/Walk, April 27, 2014 Marrowforums Los Angeles 4 Thu Aug 21, 2014 12:22 AM
Los Angeles Hope, Steps & A Cure Walk, April 27, 2013 Marrowforums Los Angeles 5 Sat Sep 7, 2013 05:51 PM
Los Angeles Hope, Steps & A Cure Walk, April 28, 2012 Marrowforums Los Angeles 2 Mon May 7, 2012 02:56 AM
Los Angeles Hope, Steps & A Cure Walk on January 16, 2010 Marrowforums News and Events 6 Sun Jan 31, 2010 10:11 PM
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2865
|
__label__wiki
| 0.534567
| 0.534567
|
BELARUS: False dawn for Minsk charismatic church
By Geraldine Fagan, Forum 18
Despite a 15 September promise "as an officer" from Belarus' deputy interior minister General Viktor Filistovich that he would help resolve the predicament of the embattled New Life Church at a further meeting with top religious affairs officials, the deadlock for the Minsk-based charismatic congregation has not been broken. Filistovich failed to appear for a 19 September meeting and junior officials simply repeated earlier demands that the church cannot retain use of a cow-shed it bought in 2002 which it has converted into a church. "Now state officials have no moral right to tell us that we have not exhausted all peaceful methods of resolving our problems," Pastor Vyacheslav Goncharenko commented. Church administrator Vasily Yurevich told Forum 18 News Service that the congregation is currently praying about what to do next. The congregation has been denied re-registration, rendering all its worship services illegal, and church leaders have been fined.
A 15 September surprise meeting between representatives of the embattled Minsk-based New Life Church and a top-level Interior Ministry official has failed to break the deadlock in the church's predicament, Forum 18 News Service has learnt. "Now state officials have no moral right to tell us that we have not exhausted all peaceful methods of resolving our problems," New Life's Pastor Vyacheslav Goncharenko commented on the church's website in the wake of the meeting. Speaking to Forum 18 on 20 September, church administrator Vasily Yurevich said that the congregation is currently praying about what to do next.
New Life had invited Minsk city executive committee chairman Mikhail Pavlov to explain at its 4 September Sunday service why he and his colleagues took their 17 August decision to confiscate the land beneath the church's building, a disused cowshed it purchased in 2002 (see F18News 1 September 2005 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=640). When Pavlov failed to appear, the entire congregation vowed to go to his office at 4pm on Thursday 15 September, in what Pastor Goncharenko described as "not a demonstration – the church will simply be asking to be received by the mayor".
On 14 September, however, Pastor Goncharenko was invited to a midday meeting with the assistant head of Minsk city police, Colonel Anatoli Naidenko. Accompanied by New Life's administrator Vasily Yurevich and lawyer Sergei Lukanin, the church's website reported that the colonel roughly threatened the three with arrest should members of the church gather near the Minsk city executive building as planned on 15 September, adding that state television had already been ordered to report such events "with appropriate commentary". After Naidenko left the room, the website added, police officers filmed his assistant Yevgeni Poluden repeating the warning – this time politely.
At 10am on 15 September, the three church representatives were unexpectedly called back to Minsk city police department and told that their problem would have to be resolved at a higher level. There followed a one-and-a-half-hour meeting with deputy interior minister General Viktor Filistovich, who reportedly "gave his word as an officer" that he would help resolve the church's predicament positively at a further meeting with top religious affairs officials on Monday 19 September. According to the church's subsequent report, General Filistovich stated that he was personally responsible for public order in Belarus and considered "such a conflict between the state and religious believers to be against the republic's interests".
As a result of this meeting, New Life decided not to go to Mayor Pavlov's office on 15 September. A church report notes that seven busloads of riot police guarded the square outside his building on that day.
Following the promised meeting on 19 September, Yurevich told Forum 18 that General Filistovich had not in fact participated, and that junior rather than senior religious affairs officials had simply reiterated the same demands – that the church should re-register at a new legal address and accept that its cowshed would be bought by the state – that had inspired the original deadlock. "They aren't empowered to take any decisions," he remarked. "It was just for show."
Asked by Forum 18 on 21 September how New Life's situation could now be resolved, Aleksandr Kalinov - who represented the State Committee for Religious and Ethnic Affairs at the 19 September meeting – indeed insisted that the only solution was for the church to re-register at a new address, since, as other state representatives have repeatedly explained to Forum 18 (see F18News 21 February 2005 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=516), New Life may not use its building for worship under Belarusian law as it is technically a cowshed. When Forum 18 pointed out that the possession of an alternative legal address would not give the congregation the right to worship there under the 2002 religion law and that the essence of the problem appeared to be the Minsk authorities' refusal to grant the church the permission to meet at venues in the city which is now required under the same law, Kalinov maintained that he had yet to see any evidence that this was the case.
Since no new proposals were made at the 19 September meeting, New Life lawyer Sergei Lukanin concludes that General Filistovich's promise to resolve the church's situation was made "simply to avoid at all costs 'social unrest' while the president was in America". In his address to the United Nations in New York on 16 September, Belarusian president Aleksandr Lukashenko indeed stressed that "there are no conflicts in my country. Different nations and ethnicities co-exist peacefully, each practising their own religion and way of life."
New Life Church has still not been approached by any state department with an offer to purchase its disused cowshed, Yurevich told Forum 18 on 20 September, even though preparations for this were scheduled to take place by 1 September 2005.
For more background information see Forum 18's Belarus religious freedom survey at http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=478
A printer-friendly map of Belarus is available at http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/atlas/index.html?Parent=europe&Rootmap=belaru
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2871
|
__label__wiki
| 0.820118
| 0.820118
|
If you have any questions about our Privacy Policy, you can contact us at [email protected] and include ‘Privacy Policy’ in the subject line.
participate in and have certified its compliance with the E.U.-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework and the Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework. is committed to subjecting all Personal Information received from European Union (E.U.) member countries and Switzerland, in reliance on the Privacy Shield Framework, to the Framework’s applicable principles. To learn more about the Privacy Shield Framework, please visit the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Privacy Shield List. is responsible for the processing of Personal Information it receives under the Privacy Shield Framework and subsequent transfers to a third party acting as an agent on its behalf. complies with the Privacy Shield principles for all onward transfers of Personal Information from the E.U. and Switzerland, including the onward transfer liability provisions. With respect to Personal Information received or transferred pursuant to the Privacy Shield Framework, is subject to the regulatory enforcement powers of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. In certain situations, may be required to disclose Personal Information in response to lawful requests by public authorities, including to meet national security or law enforcement requirements. If you are a European individual with a privacy related complaint, concern or question about ’ privacy practices, please contact us by writing to [email protected] (must include “Privacy Policy” in the subject line) and we will respond within a reasonable time after receiving your request. Under certain conditions, more fully described on the Privacy Shield website, European individuals may invoke binding arbitration when other dispute resolution procedures have been exhausted.
You may contact us at the addresses set out below or by emailing [email protected]
If you are an EU resident, you may contact our Data Protection Officer at [email protected]
Our Data Protection Officer may be contacted at [email protected]
Sunday, February 10th 2019 – 00:04:23 AM
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2872
|
__label__cc
| 0.660321
| 0.339679
|
Don Turnbull
Consulting Research Computer Scientist
Information Seeking on the Web
[Original Journal Article]
Chun Wei Choo, Brian Detlor and Don Turnbull
world wide web, information seeking, information retrieval, browsing, web browser, searching, finding, behavioral model, user behavior, log analysis, quantitative, qualitative
Chun Wei Choo, Brian Detlor and Don Turnbull (2000) Information Seeking on the Web: An Integrated Model of Browsing and Searching. First Monday, volume 5, number 2 (February 2000).
This paper presents findings from a study of how knowledge workers use the Web to seek external information as part of their daily work. Thirty-four users from seven companies took part in the study. Participants were mainly IT specialists, managers, and research/marketing/consulting staff working in organizations that included a large utility company, a major bank, and a consulting firm. Participants answered a detailed questionnaire and were interviewed individually in order to understand their information needs and information seeking preferences. A custom-developed WebTracker software application was installed on each of their work place PCs, and participants’ Web-use activities were then recorded continuously during two-week periods. The WebTracker recorded how participants used the browser to seek information on the Web: it logged menu choices, button bar selections, and keystroke actions, allowing browsing and searching sequences to be reconstructed. In a second round of personal interviews, participants recalled critical incidents of using information from the Web.
Data from the two interviews and the WebTracker logs constituted the database for analysis. Sixty-one significant episodes of information seeking were identified. A model was developed to describe the common repertoires of information seeking that were observed. On one axis of the model, episodes were plotted according to the four scanning modes identified by Aguilar (1967), Weick and Daft (1983): undirected viewing, conditioned viewing, informal search, and formal search. Each mode is characterized by its own information needs and information seeking strategies. On the other axis of the model, episodes were plotted according to the occurrence of one or more of the six categories of information seeking behaviors identified by Ellis (1989, 1990): starting, chaining, browsing, differentiating, monitoring, and extracting. The study suggests that a behavioral framework that relates motivations (Aguilar) and moves (Ellis) may be helpful in analyzing patterns of Web-based information seeking.
Towards a Behavioral Model of Information Seeking on the Web
Aguilar’s modes of scanning and Ellis’ seeking behaviors may be combined and extended in a new behavioral model of information seeking on the Web. The figure below identifies four main modes of information seeking on the Web: undirected viewing, conditioned viewing, informal search, and formal search. For each mode, the figure indicates which information seeking activities or moves are likely to occur frequently, as suggested by theory.
Figure 3: Behavioral Modes and Moves of Information Seeking on the Web
Differentiating
Undirected Viewing Identifying, selecting, starting pages and sites Following links on initial pages
Conditioned Viewing Browsing entry pages, headings, site maps Bookmarking, printing, copying;
Going directly to known site Revisiting ‘favorite’ or bookmarked sites for new information
Informal Search Bookmarking, printing, copying;
Going directly to known site Revisiting ‘favorite’ or bookmarked sites for new information Using (local) search engines to extract information
Formal Search Revisiting ‘favorite’ or bookmarked sites for new information Using search engines to extract information
Undirected Viewing
In the undirected viewing mode on the Web, we expect to see many instances of starting and chaining. Starting occurs when viewers begin their Web use on pre-selected default home pages, or when they visit a favorite page or site to begin their viewing (such as news, newspaper, or magazine sites). Chaining occurs when viewers notice items of interest (often by chance), and then follow hypertext links to more information on those items. Forward chaining of the sort just described is the most typical during undirected viewing. Backward chaining is also possible, since search engines can be used to locate other Web pages that point to the site that the user is currently at.
Conditioned Viewing
In the conditioned viewing mode on the Web, we expect browsing, differentiating, and monitoring to be common. Differentiating occurs as viewers select Web sites or pages that they expect to provide relevant information. Sites may be differentiated based on prior personal visits, or recommendations by others (such as word-of-mouth or published reviews). Differentiated sites are often bookmarked. When visiting differentiated sites, viewers browse the content by looking through tables of contents, site maps, or list of items and categories. Viewers may also monitor highly differentiated sites by returning regularly to browse, or by keeping abreast of new content (through, for example subscribing to newsletters that report new material on the site).
Informal Search
During informal search on the Web, we expect differentiating, extracting, and monitoring to be typical. Again, informal search is likely to be attempted at a small number of Web sites that have been differentiated by the individual, based on the individual’s knowledge about these sites’ information relevance, quality, affiliation, dependability, and so on. Extracting is relatively “informal” in the sense that searching would be localized to looking for information within the selected site(s). Extracting is also likely to make use of the basic, ‘simple’ search features or commands of the local search engine, in order to get at the most important or most recent information, without attempting to be comprehensive. Monitoring becomes more proactive if the individual sets up push channels or software agents that automatically find and deliver information based on keywords or subject headings.
Formal Search
During formal search on the Web, we expect primarily extracting operations, with some complementary monitoring activity. Formal search makes use of search engines that cover the Web relatively comprehensively, and that provide a powerful set of search features that can focus retrieval. Because the individual wishes not to miss any important information, there is a willingness to spend more time in the search, to learn and use complex search features, and to evaluate the sources that are found in terms of quality or accuracy. Formal search may be two-staged: multi-site searching that identifies significant sources is then followed by within-site searching. Within-site searching may involve fairly intensive foraging. Extracting may be supported by monitoring activity, again through services such as Web site alerts, push channels/agents, and e-mail announcements, in order to keep up with late-breaking information.
References in this publication
Francis J. Aguilar, 1967. Scanning the Business Environment. New York: Macmillan.
Francis J. Aguilar, 1988. General Managers in Action. New York: Oxford University Press.
L.D. Catledge and J. E. Pitkow, 1995. “Characterizing Browsing Strategies in the World Wide Web”. World Wide Web Conference.
Shan-Ju Chang and Ronald E. Rice, 1993. “Browsing: A Multidimensional Framework,” In: Martha E. Williams (editor). Annual Review of Information Science and Technology. Medford, N.J.: Learned Information.
Chun Wei Choo, 1998. Information Management for the Intelligent Organization: The Art of Scanning the Environment. Second edition. Medford, N.J.: Information Today.
Chun Wei Choo, Brian Detlor, and Don Turnbull, 1998. “A Behavioral Model of Information Seeking on the Web: Preliminary Results of a Study of How Managers and IT Specialists Use the Web,” In: Proceedingsof 61st ASIS Annual Meeting held in Pittsburgh, Pa., edited by Cecilia M. Preston, volume 35, pp. 290-302. Medford, N.J.: Information Today.
Richard L. Daft and Karl E. Weick, 1984. “Toward a Model of Organizations as Interpretation Systems,” Academy of Management Review,volume 9, number 2, pp. 284-295.
David Ellis and Merete Haugan, 1997. “Modelling the Information Seeking Patterns of Engineers and Research Scientists in an Industrial Environment,” Journal of Documentation,volume 53, number 4, pp. 384-403.
David Ellis, D. Cox, and K. Hall, 1993. “A Comparison of the Information Seeking Patterns of Researchers in the Physical and Social Sciences,” Journal of Documentation,volume 49, number 4, pp. 356-369.
David Ellis, 1989. “A Behavioural Model for Information Retrieval System Design,” Journal of Information Science, volume 15, numbers 4/5, pp. 237-247.
John C. Flanagan, 1954. “The Critical Incident Technique,” Psychological Bulletin, volume 51, number 4, pp. 327-358.
Bernardo A. Huberman, Peter L. Pirolli, James E. Pitkow, and Rajan M. Lukose, 1998. “Strong Regularities in World Wide Web Surfing,” Science,volume 280, number 5360, pp. 94-97.
Gary M. Marchionini, 1995. Information Seeking in Electronic Environments.Cambridge, Eng.: Cambridge University Press.
Linda Tauscher and Saul Greenberg, 1997. “How People Revisit Web Pages: Empirical Findings and Implications for the Design of History Systems,” International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, volume 47, pp. 97-137.
Linda Tauscher and Saul Greenberg, 1997. “Revisitation Patterns in World Wide Web Navigation,” In: Proceedingsof CHI 97 Human Factors in Computing Systems held in Atlanta, Georgia, edited by Steven Pemberton, pp. 399-406.
Karl E. Weick and Richard L. Daft, 1983. “The Effectiveness of Interpretation Systems,” In: Organizational Effectiveness: A Comparison of Multiple Models,edited by Kim S. Cameron and David A. Whetten, pp. 71-93. New York: Academic Press.
T. D. Wilson, 1997. “Information Behaviour: An Interdisciplinary Perspective,” Information Processing & Management, volume 33, number 4, pp. 551-572.
Publications that cite this publication
This entry was posted in publications, research on February 25, 2011 by donturn.
← PIKII – A Personal Information and Knowledge Infrastructure Integrator "What is" Instant Search with Google and Bing →
An Eye Tracking Study on camelCase and under_score Identifier Styles
Interesting statistics about the iTunes Store Terms and Conditions
GoogleBot vs iTunes Preview
IFTTT - Make Your Work Flow
Recommended Reading on Web Performance
Hiroshima Carp
MacTutor History of Mathematics
Don Turnbull elsewhere
Don Turnbull on LinkedIn
donturn on twitter
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2899
|
__label__wiki
| 0.592434
| 0.592434
|
Good Neighbor Stories
People helping others in the San Francisco Bay Area and around the World
Pam Marino
Sponsorship/Advertising
Kindness Calendar: Annual Awareness and Service Days
More Ways to Be a Good Neighbor
Be Kind: Kindness Ideas
You are here: Home / Archives for Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital
Leukemia Slayer Plays Santa For Fourth Year
November 18, 2014 By Pam Marino
Jacob Goeders, the Leukemia Slayer, may have conquered cancer and moved clear across the country this year, but he’s not about to let go of his beloved annual Santa Slayer Project he started four years ago to buy Christmas gifts for other kids fighting the disease.
Jacob, 13, announced to Facebook fans on Tuesday, Nov. 18, that he’s repeating the Santa Slayer Project, asking for only $1 from each of his more than 10,500 fans. The money will go to buy gifts for children at Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital (LPCH) in Palo Alto, as well as on the oncology ward at the Duke University Medical Center and the Ronald McDonald House, in Durham, North Carolina. Jacob’s family moved to the southern state from Mountain View earlier this year. [Read more…]
Filed Under: Fundraising Tagged With: donations, Duke University Medical Center, Facebook, fundraising, Grace Fanelli Howell, Holidays, holidays, Jacob Goeders, Lucille Packard Children's Hospital, Ronald McDonald House, Santa Slayer Project, The Leukemia Slayer
Leukemia Slayer Defeats Cancer, Will Keep Helping Other Kids
April 23, 2014 By Pam Marino
The Leukemia Slayer has conquered cancer, or in his words, he, “kicked cancer’s butt!”
Jacob Goeders letting his 10,000+ fans on Facebook know his bone marrow is free from cancer.
The 12-year-old Slayer, a.k.a. Mountain View resident Jacob Goeders let his more than 10,000 Facebook fans know recently that he is cancer-free after a battle lasting 3 years and 3 months.
In his usual friendly and non-capitalized style, Jacob wrote on The Leukemia Slayer Facebook Page, “hello it is the leukemia slayer well it is official i have slayed leukemia!!!!!!! i was so happy to hear my dr come in and say who in this room has clear bone marrow? that would be me!!”
I had the great privilege of meeting Jacob in December 2011 at a Christmas party in Mountain View for kids with cancer and their families. He told me about his “Santa Slayer” project, where he asked his then 2,000 Facebook fans to each send $1 so he could buy holiday gifts for the other sick kids on the cancer ward at Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital. Despite being in the fight of his life, all he could think about was how crummy it was for other kids to be in a cancer ward at Christmastime. He himself had spent a good chunk of December 2010 in that same ward, immediately after being diagnosed.
The Santa Slayer project was a big success, and Jacob and his family repeated the project in 2012 and 2013. In 2012 I got to follow Jacob around The Four Seasons Hotel in East Palo Alto, where he was treated to the red carpet treatment while employees wrapped hundreds of gifts.
Filed Under: Good Neighbor Tagged With: Alex's Lemonade Stand, Facebook Pages, fundraising, Jacob Goeders, Lucille Packard Children's Hospital, Packard Summer Scamper, The Leukemia Slayer
Leukemia Slayer Playing Santa to Kids With Cancer Third Year in a Row
Long before there was a Batkid, there was The Leukemia Slayer, the alter ego of 12-year-old Jacob Goeders from Mountain View, who has been fighting the disease since December 2010. Besides using his super powers to give nasty cancer cells the one-two punch, the Slayer leads the way each holiday season to raise money to buy presents for other kids on the oncology ward at Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital.
“I wanted to make other kids feel good, and I wanted to do something,” Jacob told me during last year’s fundraiser he dubbed The Santa Slayer Project. “I felt good because I was helping other kids who were stuck in the hospital like I was.”
In 2010, Jacob nearly spent Christmas in the hospital undergoing treatment, and it was that memory one year later that spurred him to start the annual project. His family had started The Leukemia Slayer Facebook Page earlier in 2011 (Jacob picked out the alter ego name for himself), and by the fall he had already had amassed about 2,000 followers. He asked them to each send in $1 so he could by presents, and amazingly he did raise about $2,000. [Read more…]
Filed Under: Fundraising Tagged With: fundraising, Jacob Goeders, Lucille Packard Children's Hospital, Santa Slayer Project, Sherry Goeders, The Leukemia Slayer
‘Leukemia Slayer’, Age 11, Plays Santa for Fellow Kids With Cancer
December 19, 2012 By Pam Marino
Jacob Goeders, a.k.a. The Leukemia Slayer, a.k.a. Santa
Imagine being a kid stuck in a cancer ward at Christmastime, getting poked and prodded, feeling sick, and very often bored waiting for the next test or blood draw, while missing out on all the magic and fun of the season.
Jacob Goeders of Mountain View, CA., 11, doesn’t have to imagine, because he’s lived it. And because he knows what it’s like, Jacob is in his second year playing “Santa” to dozens of children at Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital in Palo Alto this week, delivering presents he purchased after raising money from Facebook friends, and friends of friends.
Two years ago on Dec. 2, Jacob was diagnosed with high risk Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, landing him in the Packard cancer ward during the holiday season. Christmas was suddenly upended for Jacob, his mom, Sherry, his dad, Todd, and his little brother Jordan, then age 4.
As the one-year anniversary of the diagnosis approached last year, Jacob got an idea: what if he asked all his friends to donate $1 so that he could buy Christmas presents for the other children on the cancer ward and bring them a little holiday cheer?
“I wanted to make other kids feel good, and I wanted to do something,” Jacob told me recently. “I felt good because I was helping other kids who were stuck in the hospital like I was.” [Read more…]
Filed Under: Fundraising, Good Neighbor, Holidays, Social Media Tagged With: Chef Marco Fossati, Facebook, Four Seasons Hotel, Jacob Goeders, Jordan Goeders, Lucille Packard Children's Hospital, Nicole Neal, Santa Slayer Project, Sherry Goeders, The Leukemia Slayer, Todd Goeders
Five Ways to be a Good Neighbor in December
December 2, 2012 By Pam Marino
It’s December, which means it’s holiday time, when many people feel that tug to spread good cheer to others. We’ve got five ways you can indulge in the spirit of giving this month. If you’ve got additional ideas, please share in the comments!
Jacob Goeders, a.k.a the Leukemia Slayer, in December 2011.
1. Give to a Holiday Drive:Some people love the tradition of giving at the holidays, others are looking for an end-of-year tax deduction. Whatever the reason, you can help a lot of people in need have a brighter season by contributing to a holiday drive, either with goods or cash. One of our favorite fundraisers, Jacob Goeders, a.k.a. The Leukemia Slayer, is raising money for the second year in a row for his Santa Slayer Project. This young man uses money donated to the project to buy gifts for other children on the Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital cancer ward, where he himself is being treated for leukemia. But you need to hurry, Jacob needs to finish up shopping soon. Other charities are collecting items like socks, bedding, or coats. Still others could really use gift cards to give to clients, or cash donations to buy what is most needed. Look for food donation barrels at stores and other locations to help local food banks combat hunger at the holidays. Or donate to the Good Neighbor Stories Virtual Food Drive for Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties. Our goal is to raise $1,500 by Jan. 1, 2013.
2. Give the Gift of Time: If you’re low on cash and items to share, consider volunteering your time this month. The United Way of Silicon Valley is looking for volunteers to help spread holiday cheer to the children of East San Jose. Every child at four schools will receive presents from their wish list, along with a book to encourage reading skills. Younger siblings will also receive gifts. Sign up for a shift today before all the spaces are filled. Find more volunteer opportunities at HandsOn Bay Area, and One Brick Silicon Valley.
3. Consider Giving Alternative Gifts: If you’re scratching your head wondering what to give as gifts this year, consider alternative gifts that both honor those you are giving to, and make a difference in the world. Alternative gifts range from donations made in the recipient’s name, to items purchased from nonprofits and companies focused on social justice. A great place to shop for gifts in person is the Holiday Peace and Social Justice Craft and Info Fair, 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 9, at the First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto, 1140 Cowper St., Palo Alto (I’ll be there selling the Good Neighbor Stories 2013 Datebook!). Or, “shop” online at Alternative Gifts International, which has been providing gifts of food, shelter, trees, animals, medicine, and more, since 1986. Pick from 30 different projects located all over the world (including the U.S.) to support in honor of your friend or loved one. [Read more…]
Filed Under: Good Neighbor, Holidays Tagged With: alternative gifts, Alternative Gifts International, donations, First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto, Five Ways to be a Good Neighbor, food drive, fundraising, Good Neighbor Stories 2013 Datebook, HandsOn Bay Area, holiday drives, Holiday Peace and Social Justice Craft and Info Fair, Jacob Goeders, Lucille Packard Children's Hospital, neighbors, notes of appreciation, One Brick Silicon Valley, Santa Slayer Project, Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties, The Leukemia Slayer, United Way of Silicon Valley, virtual food drive, volunteering
Gimundo
Media Neighbors
Peace and Social Justice
Subscribe to the Good Neighbor Stories newsletter.
Copyright © 2019· Good Neighbor Stories ·Site by Askmepc-Webdesign · Log in
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2903
|
__label__cc
| 0.584922
| 0.415078
|
SUPER BOWL LIII: New England Patriots -2.5 vs Los Angeles Ram
After 20 straight weeks of football and 266 games, the Super Bowl is finally here. We have had 11 days to absorb the craziness of the two overtime Conference Championship games. We all watched the games, so we all know what happened in each - no need to rehash each game. But I will take a quick review of the top storylines coming out of the Championship Games and leading into SB LIII.
The referees cost the Saints a spot in the Super Bowl with one of the worst non-calls in NFL history. Yes, this obviously was a missed call and the NFL has actually fined the Rams player for a helmet-to-helmet hit even though it wasn’t called. However, what the hell are the Saints doing passing here. The Saints had a first down at the Rams 13 with 1:58 to go. First down pass - incomplete. Second down run - no gain. Third down pass - incomplete (and the aforementioned missed PI call). Fourth down field goal - 1:41 to go, Saints 23-20. If they run the ball 3 times here, they still get the field goal and they give the ball back to the Rams with 15 or so seconds left. Instead, they left 1:41 and allowed the Rams to march right down the field for the game tying field goal. The call didn’t help, but it was the play calling that lost the game for the Saints.
ESPN tried very hard to start some controversy by reporting that 4 of the on-field officials in the Rams/Saints game had ties to Southern California insinuating that may have factored into the no-call. Good try ESPN, any one with ties to Southern California still thinks the Rams play in St. Louis.
Tom Brady got the ball to start OT and never gave it back - scoring a game winning TD on the first drive of OT. The surest bet in football was that the Pats would win the OT coin toss. They did and they scored, something the Saints could not do.
The Patriots have been trying to play themselves off as the underdog and that nobody believes in them. This is the Pats 9th Super Bowl appearance since 2002 and they have been in 4 of the last 5. Nobody is surprised.
The Pro Bowl happened last Sunday. Two key takeaways - Saquon Barkley is really good at dodgeball and given all the best players in the NFC - Jason Garrett’s play calling could only get 7 points on the board
ESPN has rolled out former QB Dan Orlovsky as it newest football analyst. Orlovsky has been on every ESPN show and podcast since the Champion Games. He’s not bad, but how can you take anything he says seriously after watching his most famous NFL highlight.
Moving on to the actual game. Vegas opened this game at Los Angeles -1 and over/under at 59. Immediately, both numbers were hit hard and the game moved line moved to New England -2 and over/under of 54. These are huge moves and they have since stabilized at New England -2.5 and 56.5 (as of Thursday 10 am ET). Bettors are all over the Patriots with 78% of bets and 77% of the money coming in on Patriots. I think this is a major overreaction. Yes, Tom Brady and the Pats are playing in their 9th Super Bowl since 2002 but don’t let that cloud your judgement. (Interesting note: the NFL Network has been on the air since 2003. The Patriots will have played in 8 of the 16 Super Bowls the NFL Network has covered since its inception).
2019 LIII Los Angeles Rams New England Patriots
2018 LII Philadelphia Eagles 41 New England Patriots 33
2017 LI New England Patriots 34 Atlanta Falcons 28
2015 XLIX New England Patriots 28 Seattle Seahawks 24
2012 XLVI New York Giants 21 New England Patriots 17
2008 XLII New York Giants 17 New England Patriots 14
2005 XXXIX New England 24 Philadelphia 21
2004 XXXVIII New England 32 Carolina 29
2002 XXXVI New England 20 St Louis 17
A couple of take-aways from this list":
1) New England is 5-3 in these 8 games (really should be 4-4 if not for Falcons epic collapse in 2017)
2) Every one of these games was a one score game - 4 of the wins were by 3 points or less
3) The New York Giants own Tom Brady and the Patriots in the Super Bowl
So what will this year bring? Definitely a close game, we can be sure of that. Although each team finished 2nd in its respective conference and earned a first round playoff bye, they took very different paths to the get to this game.
NFC Division Championship - Cowboys @ Rams - Jason Garrett is still somehow the coach of the Cowboys so this game was never in question.
NFC Conference Championship - Rams @ Saints - Aside from the late missed call, the Rams were the better team in this game. The Rams overcame the super loud atmosphere of the Super Dome. Their ability to stay calm and not collapse under the pressure showed and they pulled out a victory (yes, aided by the missed call) by tying the game with a late FG, getting a key turnover in OT and hitting a clutch 57 yard FG for the win
AFC Division Championship - Chargers @ Pats - This was the second week in a row that the Chargers had to fly east for a 1 pm Sunday playoff game, the only west coast playoff team to have to do this. In a very cold Gillette stadium, Patriots jumped out to an early lead and never looked back. Chargers and Philip Rivers self-destructed in the cold and pressure
AFC Conference Championship - Pats @ Chiefs - Super cold conditions in Arrowhead, Pats playing against the worst defense in the league. Chiefs defensive coordinator played a modified prevent defense all game keeping the safeties very deep. This protected against the deep ball which Brady can no longer accurately throw. If this was 2007 Tom Brady and Randy Moss was on the field, right defense. For 2019 Tom Brady and this Pats receiving core, wrong defense. The Chiefs DC was fired after the game for good reason
The Patriots are just as lucky to be in the game as the Rams are and they know. That is why they are trying to play the “Nobody Believes in Us Card”. It’s not going to work. The Rams, led by likely Defensive Player of the Year Aaron Donald, have a much better defense than the Chiefs. Brady was not touched by the Chiefs last week and the clean pocket allowed him to pick apart the defense (Chiefs managed no sacks and 1 QB hit, Chargers managed no sacks and 2 QB hits). Donald and the Rams front will put a lot of pressure on Brady and will likely get some early hits on those old bones. In the Pats 3 Super Bowl loses - 2018 to the Eagles (1 sack, 9 QB hits), 2011 to the Giants (2 sacks, 8 QB hits) and 2007 to the Giants (5 sacks, 9 QB hits) - Brady took a beating. The Rams D line is good enough to get to Brady on Sunday and that will change the game.
With the Super Bowl’s corporate ambiance in the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the Jared Goff and the Rams offense will not have to deal with an over abundance of crowd noise. This should greatly benefit the play calling ability of Sean McVay. Todd Gurley has had a full two weeks to rest and get healthy (3 weeks if you count he’s no show in New Orleans). I expect Gurley to have a huge game. If you’re looking for props, bet any Gurley prop over as well as his MVP odds. The Patriots defense will not be able to stop him.
This should prove to be a very exciting game and it will likely be close. But in the end, the youth and hunger of the Rams will win out over the experience of the Patriots.
Rams +2.5 and +125 on money line
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2911
|
__label__cc
| 0.627451
| 0.372549
|
Get the best of Localytics' mobile tips and trends, right in your inbox. Subscribe
Smartphones New Weapon in Battle for Swing States
posted by Shannon Varney
A new study by Localytics looks at mobile usage across all fifty states and finds that 70% of the most active iPhone states vote Democrat while 70% of the most active Android states lean Republican. With the Obama and Romney campaigns seeking every advantage, targeted smartphone advertising will be useful when trying to reach Democratic and Republican voters and volunteers in swing states, which cluster around the average iPhone and Android distribution.
The 2008 presidential election season marked the first time that candidates allocated substantial campaign resources to mobile marketing. Many attributed President Obama’s early success to his campaign’s focus on mobile phones as an effective medium to reach younger voters, mostly through SMS text messaging. Now in 2012, sharp growth in smartphone adoption coupled with improvements in mobile apps and mobile ad technology has made it easier to reach and connect with voters through their phones. The challenge for Obama and Mitt Romney is now optimizing digital ad spending and delivering ads where they’ll generate the most impact.
Blue States Lean iPhone, Red States Android
There are now more Android devices in the US than iPhones, but Localytics research shows that iPhone owners are still more active users of mobile apps, making up roughly 70% of the combined Android and iPhone app starts. Localytics’ research also found that iPhone app usage exceeds Android usage in every state across the US -- but there is a significant variation in the distribution of that share across the states.
The above chart compares each state’s smartphone usage to the US average and is then color-coded each to match FiveThirtyEight’s election forecast showing projected Democrat (blue), Republican (red), and Undecided (beige) outcomes. To compute these results, Localytics studied US-based mobile app usage on iPhone and Android devices from May 2012 through the end of June. The study compares iPhone share of the combined usage in each US state to the average for the US.
Localytics found that 70% of the top ten most active iPhone states were predominantly blue or Democrat states. These tended to be coastal and more densely populated, or more urban. Conversely, states with the lowest iPhone usage are found in the less densely populated states in the middle of the country, and 70% of these least active iPhone states were red or Republican states.
New Weapon in the Battle for Swing States
Last election, candidates utilized mobile mainly to send unsolicited text messages, a practice that led to complaints with the FCC. In 2012, both campaigns are eschewing mobile spam in favor of a more calculated, multi-channel approach. To target new voters and activate volunteers, smartphone marketing via geo-targeted mobile ads (like President Obama on your favorite Pandora station), mobile websites, social media, and geo-triggered alerts has grown in grown in favor. As more of our time and attention becomes focused on our phones, politicians are realizing a new channel to influence the undecided vote. Strategic insights into smartphone political ad spending could become an important new weapon in helping tip the balance for battleground states.
The fate of the 2012 election hangs largely in the balance of states like Ohio, Virginia, and Florida. By looking at smartphone activity in the other states, campaign marketers may be able to more accurately target prospective swing state voters. For example, knowing that Democratic voters tend to be heavier iPhone users, Obama’s campaign could broadcast iPhone ads in swing states that encourage supporters to “get out the vote”. Attack ads could then run on Android devices in an attempt to sway Republican voters.
Political strategists reason that the battle for the White House will largely be determined by centrist political independents. By understanding mobile users proclivity for certain political parties, candidates could expand and improve upon the targeting strategies that have already distinguished this campaign from prior years. Knowing how often, how long, and what platform voters are using in each state could go a long way in shaping this election.
Localytics provides an app analytics service for iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry, Windows Phone and HTML5 apps on over 300 million devices. For this study, Localytics analyzed US-based mobile app usage on iPhone and Android devices from May 2012 through the end of June 2012. To report the intensity of app usage, Localytics analyzed the number of sessions generated from each platform, or the number of times apps were opened during the period. The study compares iPhone share of the combined usage in each US state to the average for the US.
Posted in Mobile News & Trends Best Practices
25% of Users Abandon Apps After One Use
Thomas Rodde
Generating Revenue With Apps
Ted Bauer
Inbox, Places, and Push: Which Channel Brings the Highest Engagement?
1.800.418.0746 +44.0.203.318.1872 Contact Sales
© 2009-2019 Localytics℠. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.
You’re subscribed!
Thanks for signing up. Look for your first email shortly!
That way we’ll be better prepared to give you actionable insights.
We’ll reach out shortly to schedule a time to talk.
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2923
|
__label__wiki
| 0.803761
| 0.803761
|
Ars Recte Vivende - Being Essays Contributed to "The Easy Chair"
by George William Curtis
ARS RECTE VIVENDI
BEING ESSAYS CONTRIBUTED TO "THE EASY CHAIR"
GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS
The publication of this collection of Essays was suggested by some remarks of a college professor, in the course of which he said that about a dozen of the "Easy Chair" Essays in Harper's Magazine so nearly cover the more vital questions of hygiene, courtesy, and morality that they might be gathered into a volume entitled "Ars Recte Vivendi," and as such they are offered to the public.
EXTRAVAGANCE AT COLLEGE
BRAINS AND BRAWN
THE SOUL OF THE GENTLEMAN
THEATRE MANNERS
WOMAN'S DRESS
TOBACCO AND HEALTH
TOBACCO AND MANNERS
DUELLING
NEWSPAPER ETHICS
Young Sardanapalus recently remarked that the only trouble with his life in college was that the societies and clubs, the boating and balling, and music and acting, and social occupations of many kinds, left him no time for study. He had the best disposition to treat the faculty fairly, and to devote a proper attention to various branches of learning, and he was sincerely sorry that his other college engagements made it quite impossible. Before coming to college he thought that it might be practicable to mingle a little Latin and Greek, and possibly a touch of history and mathematics, with the more pressing duties of college life; but unless you could put more hours into the day, or more days into the week, he really did not see how it could be done.
It was the life of Sardanapalus in college which was the text of some sober speeches at Commencement dinners during the summer, and of many excellent articles in the newspapers. They all expressed a feeling which has been growing very rapidly and becoming very strong among old graduates, that college is now a very different place from the college which they remembered, and that young men now spend in a college year what young men in college formerly thought would be a very handsome sum for them to spend annually when they were established in the world. If any reader should chance to recall a little book of reminiscences by Dr. Tomes, which was published a few years ago, he will have a vivid picture of the life of forty and more years ago at a small New England college; and the similar records of other colleges at that time show how it was possible for a poor clergyman starving upon a meagre salary to send son after son to college. The collegian lived in a plain room, and upon very plain fare; he had no "extras," and the decorative expense of Sardanapalus was unknown. In the vacations he taught school or worked upon the farm. He knew that his father had paid by his own hard work for every dollar that he spent, and the relaxation of the sense of the duty of economy which always accompanies great riches had not yet begun. Sixty years ago the number of Americans who did not feel that they must live by their own labor was so small that it was not a class. But there is now a class of rich men's sons.
The average rate of living at college differs. One of the newspapers, in discussing the question, said that in most of the New England colleges a steady and sturdy young man need not spend more than six hundred dollars during the four years. This is obviously too low an estimate. Another thinks that the average rate at Harvard is probably from six hundred to ten hundred a year. Another computes a fair liberal average in the smaller New England colleges to be from twenty-four to twenty-six hundred dollars for the four years, and the last class at Williams is reported to have ranged from an average of six hundred and fifty dollars in the first year to seven hundred and twenty-eight dollars in the Senior. But the trouble lies in Sardanapalus. The mischief that he does is quite disproportioned to the number of him. In a class of one hundred the number of rich youth may be very small. But a college class is an American community in which every member is necessarily strongly affected by all social influences.
A few "fellows" living in princely extravagance in superbly furnished rooms, with every device of luxury, entertaining profusely, elected into all the desirable clubs and societies, conforming to another taste and another fashion than that of the college, form a class which is separate and exclusive, and which looks down on those who cannot enter the charmed circle. This is galling to the pride of the young man who cannot compete. The sense of the inequality is constantly refreshed. He may, indeed, attend closely to his studies. He may "scorn delights, and live laborious days." He may hug his threadbare coat and gloat over his unrugged floor as the fitting circumstance of "plain living and high thinking." It is always open to character and intellect to perceive and to assert their essential superiority. Why should Socrates heed Sardanapalus? Why indeed? But the average young man at college is not an ascetic, nor a devotee, nor an absorbed student unmindful of cold and heat, and disdainful of elegance and ease and the nameless magic of social accomplishment and grace. He is a youth peculiarly susceptible to the very influence that Sardanapalus typifies, and the wise parent will hesitate before sending his son to Sybaris rather than to Sparta.
When the presence of Sardanapalus at Harvard was criticised as dangerous and lamentable, the President promptly denied that the youth abounded at the university, or that his influence was wide-spread. He was there undoubtedly, and he sometimes misused his riches. But he had not established a standard, and he had not affected the life of the university, whose moral character could be favorably compared with that of any college. But even if the case were worse, it is not evident that a remedy is at hand. As the President suggested, there are two kinds of rich youth at college. There are the sons of those who have been always accustomed to riches, and who are generally neither vulgar nor extravagant, neither ostentatious nor profuse; and the sons of the "new rich," who are like men drunk with new wine, and who act accordingly.
The "new rich" parent will naturally send his son to Harvard, because it is the oldest of our colleges and of great renown, and because he supposes that through his college associations his son may pave a path with gold into "society." Harvard, on her part, opens her doors upon the same conditions to rich and poor, and gives her instruction equally, and requires only obedience to her rules of order and discipline. If Sardanapalus fails in his examination he will be dropped, and that he is Sardanapalus will not save him. If his revels disturb the college peace, he will be warned and dismissed. All that can be asked of the college is that it shall grant no grace to the golden youth in the hope of endowment from his father, and that it shall keep its own peace.
This last condition includes more than keeping technical order. To remove for cause in the civil service really means not only to remove for a penal offence, but for habits and methods that destroy discipline and efficiency. So to keep the peace in a college means to remove the necessary causes of disturbance and disorder. If young Sardanapalus, by his extravagance and riotous profusion and dissipation, constantly thwarts the essential purpose of the college, demoralizing the students and obstructing the peaceful course of its instruction, he ought to be dismissed. The college must judge the conditions under which its work may be most properly and efficiently accomplished, and to achieve its purpose it may justly limit the liberty of its students.
The solution of the difficulty lies more in the power of the students than of the college. If the young men who are the natural social leaders make simplicity the unwritten law of college social life, young Sardanapalus will spend his money and heap up luxury in vain. The simplicity and good sense of wealth will conquer its ostentation and reckless waste.
(October, 1886)
It is towards the end of June and in the first days of July that the great college aquatic contests occur, and it is about that time, as the soldiers at Monmouth knew in 1778, that Sirius is lord of the ascendant. This year it was the hottest day of the summer, as marked by the mercury in New York, when the Harvard and Yale men drew out at New London for their race. Fifty years ago the crowd at Commencement filled the town green and streets, and the meeting-house in which the graduating class were the heroes of the hour. The valedictorian, the salutatorian, the philosophical orator, walked on air, and the halo of after-triumphs of many kinds was not brighter or more intoxicating than the brief glory of the moment on which they took the graduating stage, under the beaming eyes of maiden beauty and the profound admiration of college comrades.
Willis, as Phil Slingsby, has told the story of that college life fifty and sixty years ago. The collegian danced and drove and flirted and dined and sang the night away. Robert Tomes echoed the strain in his tale of college life a little later, under stricter social and ecclesiastical conditions. There was a more serious vein also. In 1827 the Kappa Alpha Society was the first of the younger brood of the Greek alphabet—descendants of the Phi Beta Kappa of 1781—and in 1832 Father Eells, as he is affectionately called, founded Alpha Delta Phi, a brotherhood based upon other aims and sympathies than those of Mr. Philip Slingsby, but one which appealed instantly to clever men in college, and has not ceased to attract them to this happy hour, as the Easy Chair has just now commemorated.
But neither in the sketches of Slingsby nor in the memories of those Commencement triumphs is there any record of an absorbing and universal and overpowering enthusiasm such as attends the modern college boat-race. The race of this year between the two great New England universities, Harvard and Yale—the Crimson and the Blue—was a twilight contest, for "high-water," says the careful chronicler, "did not occur until seven o'clock." At half-past six he describes the coming of the grand armada and the expectant scene in these words: "The Block Island came down from Norwich with every square foot of her three decks occupied, the Elm City brought a mass of Yale sympathizers from New Haven, and the big City of New York filled her long saloon-deck with New London spectators. A special train of eighteen cars came up from New Haven, a blue flag fluttering from every window. The striking contrast to the life and bustle of the lower end of the course was the quiet river at the starting-point. The college launches, the huge tug America, the press-boat Manhasset, loaded with correspondents, the tug Burnside, swathed in crimson by her charter party of Harvard men, and the steam-yacht Norma, gay with party-colored bunting, floated idly up-stream, waiting for the start. The long train of twenty-five observation-cars stood quietly by the river-side, its occupants closely watching the boat-houses across the river."
Did any fleet of steamers solid with eager spectators, or special train of eighteen cars, or long train of twenty-five observation-cars, a vast, enthusiastic multitude, ever arrive at any college upon any Commencement Day in Philip Slingsby's time to greet with prolonged roars of cheers and frenzied excitement the surpassing eloquence of Salutatorian Smith, or the melting pathos of Valedictorian Jones? Did ever—for so we read in the veracious history of a day, the newspaper—did ever a college town resound with "a perfect babel of noises" from eight in the summer evening until three in the summer morning, the town lighted with burning tar-barrels and blazing with fireworks, the chimes ringing, and ten thousand people hastening to the illuminated station to receive the victors in triumph—because Brown had vanquished the calculus, or Jones discovered a comet, or Robinson translated the Daily Gong and Gas Blower into the purest Choctaw? In a word, was such tumult of acclamation—even the President himself swinging his reverend hat, and the illustrious alumni, far and near, when the glad tidings were told, beaming with joyful complacency, like Mr. Pickwick going down the slide, while Samivel Weller adjured him and the company to keep the pot a-bilin'—ever produced by any scholastic performance or success or triumph whatever?
Echo undoubtedly answers No; and she asks, also, whether in such a competition, when the appeal is to youth, eager, strong, combative, full of physical impulse and prowess, in the time of romantic enjoyment and heroic susceptibility, study is not heavily handicapped, and books at a sorry disadvantage with boats. This is what Echo distinctly inquiries; and what answer shall be made to Echo? Who is the real hero to young Slingsby, who has just fitted himself to enter college—the victor in the boat-race or the noblest scholar of them all? The answer seems to be given unconsciously in the statement that the number of students applying for entrance is notably larger when the college has scored an athletic victory. But this answer is not wholly satisfactory. There may be an observable coincidence, but young men usually prepare themselves to enter a particular college, and do not await the result of boat-races.
But the fact remains that the true college hero of to-day is the victor in games and sports, not in studies; and it is not unnatural that it should be so. It is partly a reaction of feeling against the old notion that a scholar is an invalid, and that a boy must be down in his muscle because he is up in his mathematics. But, as Lincoln said in his debate with Douglas, it does not follow, because I think that innocent men should have equal rights, that I wish my daughter to marry a negro. It does not follow, because the sound mind should be lodged in a sound body, that the care of the body should become the main, and virtually the exclusive, interest.
Yet that this is now somewhat the prevailing tendency of average feeling is undeniable, and it is a tendency to be considered by intelligent collegians themselves. For the true academic prizes are spiritual, not material; and the heroes for college emulation are not the gladiators, but the sages and poets of the ancient day and of all time. The men that the college remembers and cherishes are not ball-players, and boat-racers, and high-jumpers, and boxers, and fencers, and heroes of single-stick, good fellows as they are, but the patriots and scholars and poets and orators and philosophers. Three cheers for brawn, but three times three for brain!
(September, 1887)
As if a bell had rung, and the venerable dormitories and halls upon the green were pouring forth a crowd of youth loitering towards the recitation-room, the Easy Chair, like a college professor, meditating serious themes, and with a grave purpose, steps to the lecture-desk. It begins by asking the young gentlemen who have loitered into the room, and are now seated, what they think of bullying boys and hunting cats and tying kettles to a dog's tail, and seating a comrade upon tacks with the point upward. Undoubtedly they reply, with dignified nonchalance, that it is all child's play and contemptible. Undoubtedly, young gentlemen, answers the professor, and, to multiply Nathan's remark to David, You are the men!
As American youth you cherish wrathful scorn for the English boy who makes another boy his fag, and you express a sneering pity for the boy who consents to fag. You have read Dr. Birch and His Young Friends, and you would like to break the head of Master Hewlett, who shies his shoe at the poor shivering, craven Nightingale, and you justly remark that close observation of John Bull seems to warrant the conclusion that the nature of his bovine ancestor is still far from eliminated from his descendant. And what is the secret of your feeling? Simply that you hate bullying. Why, then, young gentlemen, do you bully?
You retort perhaps that fagging is unknown in America, and that high-spirited youth would not tolerate it. But permit the professor to tell you what is not unknown in America: a crowd of older young gentlemen surrounding one younger fellow, forcing him to do disagreeable and disgusting things, pouring cold water down his back, making a fool of him to his personal injury, he being solitary, helpless, and abused—all this is not unknown in America, young gentlemen. But it is all very different from what we have been accustomed to consider American. If we would morally define or paraphrase the word America, I think we should say fair-play. That is what it means. That is what the Brownist Puritans, the precursors of the Plymouth Pilgrims, left England to secure. They did not bring it indeed, at least in all its fulness, across the sea. Let us say, young gentlemen, that its potentiality, its possibility, rather than its actuality, stepped out of the Mayflower upon Plymouth Rock. But from the moment of its landing it has been asserting itself. You need not say "Baptist" and "Quaker." I understand it and allow for it all. But fair-play has prevailed over ecclesiastical hatred and over personal slavery, and what are called the new questions—corporate power, monopoly, capital, and labor—are only new forms of the old effort to secure fair-play.
Now the petty bullying of hazing and the whole system of college tyranny is a most contemptible denial of fair-play. It is a disgrace to the American name, and when you stop in the wretched business to sneer at English fagging you merely advertise the beam in your own eyes. It is not possible, surely, that any honorable young gentleman now attending to the lecture of the professor really supposes that there is any fun or humor or joke in this form of college bullying. Turn to your Evelina and see what was accounted humorous, what passed for practical joking, in Miss Burney's time, at the end of the last century. It is not difficult to imagine Dr. Johnson, who greatly delighted in Evelina, supposing the intentional upsetting into the ditch of the old French lady in the carriage to be a joke. For a man who unconsciously has made so much fun for others as "the great lexicographer," Dr. Johnson seems to have been curiously devoid of a sense of humor. But he was a genuine Englishman of his time, a true John Bull, and the fun of the John Bull of that time, recorded in the novels and traditions, was entirely bovine.
The bovine or brutal quality is by no means wholly worked out of the blood even yet. The taste for pugilism, or the pummelling of the human frame into a jelly by the force of fisticuffs, as a form of enjoyment or entertainment, is a relapse into barbarism. It is the instinct of the tiger still surviving in the white cat transformed into the princess. I will not call it, young gentlemen, the fond return of Melusina to the gambols of the mermaid, or Undine's momentary unconsciousness of a soul, because these are poetic and pathetic suggestions. The prize-ring is disgusting and inhuman, but at least it is a voluntary encounter of two individuals. But college bullying is unredeemed brutality. It is the extinction of Dr. Jekyll in Mr. Hyde. It is not humorous, nor manly, nor generous, nor decent. It is bald and vulgar cruelty, and no class in college should feel itself worthy of the respect of others, or respect itself, until it has searched out all offenders of this kind who disgrace it, and banished them to the remotest Coventry.
The meanest and most cowardly fellows in college may shine most in hazing. The generous and manly men despise it. There are noble and inspiring ways for working off the high spirits of youth: games which are rich in poetic tradition; athletic exercises which mould the young Apollo. To drive a young fellow upon the thin ice, through which he breaks, and by the icy submersion becomes at last a cripple, helpless with inflammatory rheumatism—surely no young man in his senses thinks this to be funny, or anything but an unspeakable outrage. Or to overwhelm with terror a comrade of sensitive temperament until his mind reels—imps of Satan might delight in such a revel, but young Americans!—never, young gentlemen, never!
The hazers in college are the men who have been bred upon dime novels and the prize-ring—in spirit, at least, if not in fact—to whom the training and instincts of the gentleman are unknown. That word is one of the most precious among English words. The man who is justly entitled to it wears a diamond of the purest lustre. Tennyson, in sweeping the whole range of tender praise for his dead friend Arthur Hallam, says that he bore without abuse the grand old name of gentleman. "Without abuse"—that is the wise qualification. The name may be foully abused. I read in the morning's paper, young gentlemen, a pitiful story of a woman trying to throw herself from the bridge. You may recall one like it in Hood's "Bridge of Sighs." The report was headed: "To hide her shame." "Her shame?" Why, gentlemen, at that very moment, in bright and bewildering rooms, the arms of Lothario and Lovelace were encircling your sisters' waists in the intoxicating waltz. These men go unwhipped of an epithet. They are even enticed and flattered by the mothers of the girls. But, for all that, they do not bear without abuse the name of gentleman, and Sidney and Bayard and Hallam would scorn their profanation and betrayal of the name.
The soul of the gentleman, what is it? Is it anything but kindly and thoughtful respect for others, helping the helpless, succoring the needy, befriending the friendless and forlorn, doing justice, requiring fair-play, and withstanding with every honorable means the bully of the church and caucus, of the drawing-room, the street, the college? Respect, young gentlemen, like charity, begins at home. Only the man who respects himself can be a gentleman, and no gentleman will willingly annoy, torment, or injure another.
There will be no further recitation today. The class is dismissed.
(March, 1888)
To find a satisfactory definition of gentleman is as difficult as to discover the philosopher's stone; and yet if we may not say just what a gentleman is, we can certainly say what he is not. We may affirm indisputably that a man, however rich, and of however fine a title in countries where rank is acknowledged, if he behave selfishly, coarsely, and indecently, is not a gentleman. "From which, young gentlemen, it follows," as the good professor used to say at college, as he emerged from a hopeless labyrinth of postulates and preliminaries an hour long, that the guests who abused the courtesy of their hosts, upon the late transcontinental trip to drive the golden spike, may have been persons of social eminence, but were in no honorable sense gentlemen.
It is undoubtedly a difficult word to manage. But gentlemanly conduct and ungentlemanly conduct are expressions which are perfectly intelligible, and that fact shows that there is a. distinct standard in every intelligent mind by which behavior is measured. To say that a man was born a gentleman means not at all that he is courteous, refined, and intelligent, but only that he was born of a family whose circumstances at some time had been easy and agreeable, and which belonged to a traditionally "good society." But such a man may be false and mean, and ignorant and coarse. Is he a gentleman because he was born such? On the other hand, the child of long generations of ignorant and laborious boors may be humane, honorable, and modest, but with total ignorance of the usages of good society. He may be as upright as Washington, as unselfish as Sidney, as brave as Bayard, as modest as Falkland. But he may also outrage all the little social proprieties. Is he a gentleman because he is honest and modest and humane? In describing Lovelace, should we not say that he was a gentleman? Should we naturally say so of Burns? But, again, is it not a joke to describe George IV. as a gentleman, while it would be impossible to deny the name to Major Dobbin?
The catch, however, is simple. Using the same word, we interchange its different meanings. To say that a man is born a gentleman is to say that he was born under certain social conditions. To say in commendation or description of a man that he is a gentleman, or gentlemanly, is to say that he has certain qualities of character or manner which are wholly independent of the circumstances of his family or training. In the latter case, we speak of individual and personal qualities; in the former, we speak of external conditions. In the one case we refer to the man himself; in the other, to certain circumstances around him. The quality which is called gentlemanly is that which, theoretically, and often actually, distinguishes the person who is born in a certain social position. It describes the manner in which such a person ought to behave.
Behavior, however, can be imitated. Therefore, neither the fact of birth under certain conditions, nor a certain ease and grace and charm of manner, certify the essential character of gentleman. Lovelace had the air and breeding of a gentleman like Don Giovanni; he was familiar with polite society; he was refined and pleasing and fascinating in manner. Even the severe Astarte could not call him a boor. She does not know a gentleman, probably, more gentlemanly than Lovelace. She must, then, admit that she can not arbitrarily deny Lovelace to be a gentleman because he is a libertine, or because he is false, or mean, or of a coarse mind. She may, indeed, insist that only upright and honorable men of refined mind and manner are gentlemen, and she may also maintain that only men of truly lofty and royal souls are princes; but there will still remain crowds of immoral gentlemen and unworthy kings.
The persons who abused the generous courtesy of the Northern Pacific trip were gentlemen in one sense, and not in the other. They were gentlemen so far as they could not help themselves, but they were not gentlemen in what depended upon their own will. According to the story, they did not even imitate the conduct of gentlemen, and Astarte must admit that they belonged to the large class of ungentlemanly gentlemen.
(December, 1883)
An admirable actress said the other day that the audience in the theatre was probably little aware how much its conduct affected the performance. A listless, whispering, uneasy house makes a distracted and ineffective play. To an orator, or an actor, or an artist of any kind who appeals personally to the public, nothing is so fatal as indifference. In the original Wallack's Theatre, many years ago, the Easy Chair was one of a party in a stage-box during a fine performance of one of the plays in which the acting of the manager was most effective. It was a gay party, and with the carelessness of youth it made merry while the play went on. As the box was directly upon the stage, the merriment was a gross discourtesy, although unintentional, both to the actors and to the audience; and at last the old Wallack, still gayly playing his part, moved towards the box, and without turning his head, in a voice audible to the offenders but not to the rest of the audience, politely reminded the thoughtless group that they were seriously disturbing the play. There was some indignation in the box, but the rebuke was courteous and richly deserved. Nothing is more unpardonable than such disturbance.
During this winter a gentleman at one of the theatres commented severely upon the loud talking of a party of ladies, which prevented his enjoyment of the play, and when the gentleman attending the ladies retorted warmly, the disturbed gentleman resorted to the wild justice of a blow. There was an altercation, a publication in the newspapers, and finally an apology and a reconciliation. But it is to be hoped that there was some good result from the incident. A waggish clergyman once saw a pompous clerical brother march quite to the head of the aisle of a crowded church to find a seat, with an air of expectation that all pew-doors would fly open at his approach. But as every seat was full, and nobody stirred, the crestfallen brother was obliged to retrace his steps. As he retreated by the pew, far down the aisle, where the clerical wag was sitting, that pleasant man leaned over the door, and greeted his comrade with the sententious whisper, "May it be sanctified to you, dear brother!" Every right-minded man will wish the same blessing to the rebuke of the loud-talking maids and youths in theatres and concert-halls, whose conversation, however lively, is not the entertainment which their neighbors have come to hear.
Two or three winters ago the Easy Chair applauded the conduct of Mr. Thomas, who, at the head of his orchestra, was interrupted in the midst of a concert in Washington by the entry of a party, which advanced towards the front of the hall with much chattering and rustling, and seated themselves and continued the disturbance. The orchestra was in full career, but Thomas rapped sharply upon his stand, and brought the performance to an abrupt pause. Then, turning to the audience, he said—and doubtless with evident and natural feeling: "I am afraid that the music interrupts the conversation." The remark was greeted with warm and general applause; and, waiting until entire silence was restored, the conductor raised his baton again, and the performance ended without further interruption.
The Easy Chair improved the occasion to preach a short sermon upon bad manners in public places. But to its great surprise it was severely rebuked some time afterward by Cleopatra herself, who said, with some feeling, that she had two reasons for complaint. The first was, that her ancient friend the Easy Chair should place her in the pillory of its public animadversion; and the other was, that the Easy Chair should gravely defend such conduct as that of Mr. Thomas. No remonstrance could be more surprising and nothing more unexpected than that Cleopatra should differ in opinion upon such a point. To the personal aspect of the matter the Easy Chair could say only that it had never heard who the offenders were, and that it declined to believe that Cleopatra herself could ever be guilty of such conduct. Her Majesty then explained that she was not guilty. She was not of the party. But it was composed of friends of hers who seated themselves near her, and when the words of Mr. Thomas concentrated the gaze of the audience upon the disturbers of the peace, her Majesty, known to everybody, was supposed to be the ringleader of the emeute. The story at once flew abroad, upon the wings of those swift birds of prey—as she called them—the Washington correspondents, and she was mentioned by name as the chief offender.
It was not difficult to persuade the most placable of queens that the Easy Chair could not have intended a personal censure. But the Chair could not agree that Thomas's conduct was unjustifiable. Cleopatra urged that the conductor of an orchestra at a concert is not responsible for the behavior of the audience. An audience, she said, can take care of itself, and it is an unwarrantable impertinence for a conductor to arrest the performance because he is irritated by a noise of whispering voices or of slamming doors. "I saw you, Mr. Easy Chair," she said, "on the evening of Rachel's first performance in this country. What would you have thought if she had stopped short in the play—it was Corneille's Les Horaces, you remember—because she was annoyed by the rustling of the leaves of a thousand books of the play which the audience turned over at the same moment?"
The Easy Chair declined to step into the snare which was plainly set in its sight. It would not accept an illustration as an argument. The enjoyment at a concert, it contended, for which the audience has paid in advance, and to which it is entitled, depends upon conditions of silence and order which it can not itself maintain without serious disturbance. It may indeed cry "Hush!" and "Put him out!" but not only would that cry be of doubtful effect, but experience proves that a concert audience will not raise it. If the audience were left to itself, it would permit late arrivals, and all the disturbance of chatter and movement. To twist the line of Goldsmith, those who came to pray would be at the mercy of those who came to scoff; and such mercy is merciless. The conductor stands in loco parentis. He is the advocatus angeli. He does for the audience what it would not do for itself. He protects it against its own fatal good-nature. He insists that it shall receive what it has paid for, and he will deal with disturbers as they deserve. The audience, conscious of its own good-humored impotence, recognizes at once its protector, and gladly applauds him for doing for it what it has not the nerve to do for itself. No audience whose rights were defended as Thomas defended those of his Washington audience ever resented the defence.
"No," responded Cleopatra, briskly; "the same imbecility prevents."
"Very well; then such an audience plainly needs a strong and resolute leadership; and that is precisely what Thomas supplied. A crowd is always grateful to the man who will do what everybody in the crowd feels ought to be done, but what no individual is quite ready to undertake."
When Cleopatra said that an audience is quite competent to take care of itself, her remark was natural, for she instinctively conceived the audience as herself extended into a thousand persons. Such an audience would certainly be capable of dispensing with any mentor or guide. But when the Easy Chair asked her if she was annoyed by the chattering interruption which Thomas rebuked, she replied that of course she was annoyed. Yet when she was further asked if she cried "Hush!" or resorted to any means whatever to quell the disturbance, the royal lady could not help smiling as she answered, "I did not," and the Easy Chair retorted, "Yet an audience is capable of protecting itself!"
Meanwhile, whatever the conductor or the audience may or may not do, nothing is more vulgar than audible conversation, or any other kind of disturbance, during a concert. Sometimes it may be mere thoughtlessness; sometimes boorishness, the want of the fine instinct which avoids occasioning any annoyance; but usually it is due to a desire to attract attention and to affect superiority to the common interest. It is, indeed, mere coarse ostentation, like wearing diamonds at a hotel table or a purple velvet train in the street. If the audience had the courage which Cleopatra attributed to it, that part which was annoyed by the barbarians who chatter and disturb would at once suppress the annoyance by an emphatic and unmistakable hiss. If this were the practice in public assemblies, such incidents as that at the Washington concert would be unknown. Until it is the practice, even were Cleopatra's self the offender, every self-respecting conductor who has a proper sense of his duties to the audience will do with its sincere approval what Mr. Thomas did.
(April, 1883)
The American who sits in a street omnibus or railroad-car and sees a young woman whose waist is pinched to a point that makes her breathing mere panting and puffing, and whose feet are squeezed into shoes with a high heel in the middle of the sole, which compels her to stump and hobble as she tries to walk, should be very wary of praising the superiority of European and American civilization to that of the East. The grade of civilization which squeezes a waist into deformity is not, in that respect at least, superior to that which squeezes a foot into deformity. It is in both instances a barbarous conception alike of beauty and of the function of woman. The squeezed waist and the squeezed foot equally assume that distortion of the human frame may be beautiful, and that helpless idleness is the highest sphere of woman.
But the imperfection of our Western civilization shows itself in more serious forms involving women. The promiscuous herding of men and women prisoners in jails, the opposition to reformatories and penitentiaries exclusively for women, and, in general, the failure to provide, as a matter of course, women attendants and women nurses for all women prisoners and patients, is a signal illustration of a low tone of civilization. The most revolting instance of this abuse was the discovery during the summer that the patients in a woman's insane hospital in New Orleans were bathed by male attendants.
It should not need such outrages to apprise us of the worth of the general principle that humanity and decency require that in all public institutions women should be employed in the care of women. A wise proposition during the year to provide women at the police-stations for the examination of women who are arrested failed to become law. It is hard, upon the merits of the proposal, to understand why. Women who are arrested may be criminals, or drunkards, or vagabonds, or insane, or witless, or sick. But whatever the reason of the arrest, there can be no good reason whatever, in a truly civilized community, that a woman taken under such circumstances should be abandoned to personal search and examination by the kind of men to whom that business is usually allotted. The surest sign of the civilization of any community is its treatment of women, and the progress of our civilization is shown by the constant amelioration of that condition. But the unreasonable and even revolting circumstances of much of the public treatment of them may wisely modify ecstasies over our vast superiority.
The squeezed waists and other tokens of the kind show that our civilization has not yet outgrown the conception of the most meretricious epochs, that woman exists for the delight of man, and is meant to be a kind of decorated appendage of his life, while the men attendants and men nurses of women prisoners and patients show a most uncivilized disregard of the just instincts of sex. We are far from asserting that therefore the position of women in this country is to be likened to their position in China, where the contempt of men denied them souls, or to that among savage tribes, where they are treated as beasts of burden. But because we are not wallowing in the Slough of Despond, it does not follow that we are sitting in the House Beautiful. The traveller who has climbed to the mer de glace at Chamouni, and sees the valley wide outstretched far below him, sees also far above him the awful sunlit dome of "Sovran Blanc." Whatever point we may have reached, there is still a higher point to gain. Nowhere in the world are women so truly respected as here, nowhere ought they to be more happy than in this country. But that is no reason that the New Orleans outrage should be possible, while the same good sense and love of justice which have removed so many barriers to fair-play for women should press on more cheerfully than ever to remove those that remain.
The melancholy death of young Mr. Leggett, a student at the Cornell University, has undoubtedly occasioned a great deal of thought in every college in the country upon secret societies. Professor Wilder, of Cornell, has written a very careful and serious letter, in which he strongly opposes them, plainly stating their great disadvantages, and citing the order of Jesuits as the most powerful and thoroughly organized of all secret associations, and therefore the one in which their character and tendency may best be observed. The debate recalls the history of the Antimasonic excitement in this country, which is, however, seldom mentioned in recent years, so that the facts may not be familiar to the reader.
In the year 1826 William Morgan, living in Batavia, in the western part of New York, near Buffalo, was supposed to intend the publication of a book which would reveal the secrets of Masonry. The Masons in the vicinity were angry, and resolved to prevent the publication, and made several forcible but ineffective attempts for that purpose. On the 11th of September, 1826, a party of persons from Canandaigua came to Batavia and procured the arrest of Morgan upon a criminal charge, and he was carried to Canandaigua for examination. He was acquitted, but was immediately arrested upon a civil process, upon which an execution was issued, and he was imprisoned in the jail at Canandaigua. The next evening he was discharged at the instance of those who had caused his arrest, and was taken from the jail after nine o'clock in the evening. Those who had obtained the discharge instantly seized him, gagged and bound him, and throwing him into a carriage, hurried off to Rochester. By relays of horses and by different hands he was borne along, until he was lodged in the magazine of Fort Niagara, at the mouth of the Niagara River.
The circumstances of his arrest, and those that had preceded it, had aroused and inflamed the minds of the people in Batavia and the neighborhood. A committee was appointed at a public meeting to ascertain all the facts, and to bring to justice any criminals that might be found. They could discover only that Morgan had been seized upon his discharge in Canandaigua and hurried off towards Rochester; but beyond that, nothing. The excitement deepened and spread. A great crime had apparently been committed, and it was hidden in absolute secrecy. Other meetings were held in other towns, and other committees were appointed, and both meetings and committees were composed of men of both political parties. Investigation showed that Masons only were implicated in the crime, and that scarcely a Mason aided the inquiry; that many Masons ridiculed and even justified the offence; that the committees were taunted with their inability to procure the punishment of the offenders in courts where judges, sheriffs, juries, and witnesses were Masons; that witnesses disappeared; that the committees were reviled; and gradually Masonry itself was held responsible for the mysterious doom of Morgan.
The excitement became a frenzy. The Masons were hated and denounced as the Irish were in London after the "Irish night," or the Roman Catholics during the Titus Oates fury. In January, 1827, some of those who had been arrested were tried, and it was hoped that the evidence at their trials would clear the mystery. But they pleaded guilty, and this hope was baffled. Meanwhile a body of delegates from the various committees met at Lewiston to ascertain the fate of Morgan, and they discovered that in or near the magazine in which he had been confined he had been put to death. His book, with its revelations, had been published, and what was not told was, of course, declared to be infinitely worse than the actual disclosures. The excitement now became political. It was alleged that Masonry held itself superior to the laws, and that Masons were more loyal to their Masonic oaths than to their duty as citizens. Masonry, therefore, was held to be a fatal foe to the government and to the country, which must be destroyed; and in several town-meetings in Genesee and Monroe counties, in the spring of 1827, Masons, as such, were excluded from office. At the next general election the Antimasons nominated a separate ticket, and they carried the counties of Genesee, Monroe, Livingston, Orleans, and Niagara against both the great parties. A State organization followed, and in the election of 1830 the Antimasonic candidate, Francis Granger, was adopted by the National Republicans, and received one hundred and twenty thousand votes, against one hundred and twenty-eight thousand for Mr. Throop. From a State organization the Antimasons became a national party, and in 1832 nominated William Wirt for the presidency. The Antimasonic electoral ticket was adopted by the National Republicans, and the union became the Whig party, which, in 1838, elected Mr. Seward Governor of New York, and in 1840 General Harrison President of the United States.
The spring of this triumphant political movement was hostility to a secret society. Many of the most distinguished political names of Western New York, including Millard Fillmore, William H. Seward, Thurlow Weed, Francis Granger, James Wadsworth, George W. Patterson, were associated with it. And as the larger portion of the Whig party was merged in the Republican, the dominant party of to-day has a certain lineal descent from the feelings aroused by the abduction of Morgan from the jail at Canandaigua. And as his disappearance and the odium consequent upon it stigmatized Masonry, so that it lay for a long time moribund, and although revived in later years, cannot hope to regain its old importance, so the death of young Leggett is likely to wound fatally the system of college secret societies.
The young man was undergoing initiation into a secret society. He was blind-folded, and two companions were leading him along the edge of a cliff over a deep ravine, when the earth gave way, or they slipped and fell from the precipice, and Leggett was so injured that he died in two hours. There was no allegation or suspicion of blame. There was, indeed, an attempt of some enemies of the Cornell University—a hostility due either to supposed conflict of interests or sectarian jealousy—to stigmatize the institution, but it failed instantly and utterly. Indeed, General Leggett, of the Patent-office in Washington, the father of the unfortunate youth, at once wrote a very noble and touching letter to shield the university and the companions of his son from blame or responsibility. He would not allow his grief to keep him silent when a word could avert injustice, and his modest magnanimity won for his sorrow the tender sympathy of all who read his letter.
Every collegian knows that there is no secrecy whatever in what is called a secret society. Everybody knows, not in particular, but in general, that its object is really "good-fellowship," with the charm of mystery added. Everybody knows—for the details of such societies in all countries are essentially the same—that there are certain practical jokes of initiation—tossings in blankets, layings in coffins, dippings in cold water, stringent catechisms, moral exhortations, with darkness and sudden light and mysterious voices from forms invisible, and then mystic signs and clasps and mottoes, "the whole to conclude" with the best supper that the treasury can afford. Literary brotherhood, philosophic fraternity, intellectual emulation, these are the noble names by which the youth deceive themselves and allure the Freshmen; but the real business of the society is to keep the secret, and to get all the members possible from the entering class.
Each society, of course, gets "the best fellows." Every touter informs the callow Freshman that all men of character and talent hasten to join his society, and impresses the fresh imagination with the names of the famous honorary members. The Freshman, if he be acute—and he is more so every year—naturally wonders how the youth, who are undeniably commonplace in the daily intercourse of college, should become such lofty beings in the hall of a secret society; or, more probably, he thinks of nothing but the sport or the mysterious incentive to a studious and higher life which the society is to furnish. He feels the passionate curiosity of the neophyte. He is smitten with the zeal of the hermetical philosophy. He would learn more than Rosicrucian lore. That is a vision soon dispelled. But the earnest curiosity changes into esprit du corps, and the mischief is that the secrecy and the society feeling are likely to take precedence of the really desirable motives in college. There is a hundredfold greater zeal to obtain members than there is generous rivalry among the societies to carry off the true college honors. And if the purpose be admirable, why, as Professor Wilder asks, the secrecy? What more can the secret society do for the intellectual or social training of the student than the open society? Has any secret society in an American college done, or can it do, more for the intelligent and ambitious young man than the Union Debating Society at the English Cambridge University, or the similar club at Oxford? There Macaulay, Gladstone, the Austins, Charles Buller, Tooke, Ellis, and the long illustrious list of noted and able Englishmen were trained, and in the only way that manly minds can be trained, by open, free, generous rivalry and collision. The member of a secret society in college is really confined, socially and intellectually, to its membership, for it is found that the secret gradually supplant the open societies. But that membership depends upon luck, not upon merit, while it has the capital disadvantage of erecting false standards of measurement, so that the Mu Nu man cannot be just to the hero of Zeta Eta. The secrecy is a spice that overbears the food. The mystic paraphernalia is a relic of the baby-house, which a generous youth disdains.
There is, indeed, an agreeable sentiment in the veiled friendship of the secret society which every social nature understands. But as students are now becoming more truly "men" as they enter college, because of the higher standard of requirement, it is probable that the glory of the secret society is already waning, and that the allegiance of the older universities to the open arenas of frank and manly intellectual contests, involving no expense, no dissipation, and no perilous temptation, is returning. At least there will now be an urgent question among many of the best men in college whether it ought not to return.
We do not know if readers upon your side of the water have watched with any interest the present violent onslaught in both England and France upon the use of tobacco. Sir Benjamin Brodie (of London) has declared strongly against its use; and at a recent meeting at Edinburgh of the British Anti-Tobacco Society, Professor Miller, moving the first resolution, as follows: "That as the constituent principles which tobacco contains are highly poisonous, the practices of smoking and snuffing tend in a variety of ways to injure the physical and mental constitution," continued: "No man who was a hard smoker had a steady hand. But not only had it a debilitating and paralyzing effect; but he could tell of patients who were completely paralyzed in their limbs by inveterate smoking. He might tell of a patient of his who brought on an attack of paralysis by smoking; who was cured, indeed, by simple means enough, accompanied with the complete discontinuance of the practice; but who afterwards took to it again, and got a new attack of paralysis; and who could now play with himself, as it were, because when he wanted a day's paralysis or an approach to it, he had nothing to do but to indulge more or less freely with the weed. Only the other day, the French—among whom the practice was carried even to a greater extent than with us—made an estimate of its effects in their schools, and academies, and colleges. They took the young men attending these institutions, classified them into those who smoked habitually and those who did not, and estimated their physical and intellectual standing, perhaps their moral standing too, but he could not say. The result was, that they found that those who did not smoke were the stronger lads and better scholars, were altogether more reputable people, and more useful members of society than those who habitually used the drug. What was the consequence? Louis Napoleon—one of the good things which he had done—instantly issued an edict that no smoking should be permitted in any school, college, or academy. In one day he put out about 30,000 pipes in Paris alone. Let our young smokers put that in their pipe and smoke it." The resolution was agreed to.
Is it possible to entertain the idea that Louis Napoleon has increased the tax on tobacco, latterly, very largely, in the hope of discouraging its use, and so contributing to the weal of the nation? If so, it would illustrate one of the beautiful uses of despotic privilege.
(February, 1861)
The "old school" of manners has fallen into disrepute. Sir Charles Grandison is a comical rather than a courtly figure to this generation; and the man whose manners may be described as Grandisonian is usually called a pompous and grandiloquent old prig. Certainly the elaborately dressed gentleman speaking to a lady only with polished courtesy of phrase, and avoiding in her presence all coarse words and acts, handing her in the minuet with inexpressible grace and deference, and showing an exquisite homage in every motion, was a very different figure from the gentleman in a shooting-jacket or morning sack "chaffing" a lady with the freshest slang, and smoking in her face. They are undeniably different, and the later figure is wholly free from Grandisonian elegance and elaboration. But is he much more truly a gentleman? Is he our Sidney, our Chevalier Bayard, our Admirable Crichton? Is that refined consideration and gentle deference, which is the flower of courtesy, an old-fashioned folly?
The overwrought politeness is made very ridiculous upon the stage, and Richardson is undoubtedly hard reading for the general consumer of novels. It is true, also, that fine morals do not always go with fine manners, and that Lovelace had a fascination of address which John Knox lacked. The chaff and slang of the Bayard of to-day are at least decent, and his morals probably purer than those of the courtly and punctilious old Sir Roger de Coverleys. Possibly; but it has been wisely said that hypocrisy is the homage paid by vice to virtue. The good manners of a bad man are a rich dress upon a diseased body. They are the graceful form of a vase full of dirty water. The liquid may be poisonous, but the vessel is beautiful. Some of the worst Lotharios in the world have a personal charm which is irresistible. Many a stately compliment was paid by a graciously bowing satyr in laced velvet coat and periwig, at the court of Louis the Great, and paid for the basest purpose; but the grace and the courtesy were borrowed, like plumage of living hues to deck carrion. They were not a part of the baseness, and you do not escape dirty water by breaking the vase. If the older morals were worse than the new, and the older manners were better, cannot we who live to-day, and who may have everything, combine the new morals and the old manners?
We can spare some elaboration of form, but we cannot safely spare the substance of refined deference. If Romeo be permitted to treat Juliet as hostlers are supposed to treat barmaids, and as the heroes of Fielding and Smollett treat Abigails upon a journey, they will both lose self-respect and mutual respect. It was a wise father who said to his son, "Beware of the woman who allows you to kiss her." The woman who does not require of a man the form of respect invites him to discard the substance. And there is one violation of the form which is recent and gross, and might be well cited as a striking illustration of the decay of manners. It is the practice of smoking in the society of ladies in public places, whether driving, or walking, or sailing, or sitting. There are preux chevaliers who would be honestly amazed if they were told they did not behave like gentlemen, who, sitting with a lady on a hotel piazza, or strolling on a public park, whip out a cigarette, light it, and puff as tranquilly as if they were alone in their rooms. Or a young man comes alone upon the deck of a steamer, where throngs of ladies are sitting, and blows clouds of tobacco smoke in their faces, without even remarking that tobacco is disagreeable to some people. This is not, indeed, one of the seven deadly sins, but a man who unconcernedly sings false betrays that he has no ear for music, and the man who smokes in this way shows that he is not quite a gentleman.
But some ladies smoke? Yes, and some ladies drink liquor. Does that mend the matter? The Easy Chair has seen a lady at the head of her own table smoking a fine cigar. You will see a great many highly dressed women in Paris smoking cigarettes. Does all this change the situation? Does this make it more gentlemanly to smoke with a lady beside you in a carriage, or upon a bench on the piazza? But some ladies like the odor of a cigar? Not many; and the taste of those who sincerely do so cannot justify the habit of promiscuous puffing in their presence. The intimacy of domesticity is governed by other rules; but a gentleman smoking would hardly enter his own drawing-room, where other ladies sat with his wife, without a word of apology. The Easy Chair is no King James, and is more likely to issue blasts of tobacco than blasts against it. But King James belonged to a very selfish sex—a sex which seems often to suppose that its indulgences and habits are to be tenderly tolerated, for no other reason than that they are its habits. Therefore the young woman must defend herself by showing plainly that she prohibits the intrusion of which, if suffered, she is really the victim. In other times the Easy Chair has seen the lovely Laura Matilda unwilling to refuse to dance with the partner who had bespoken her hand for the german, although when he presented himself he was plainly flown with wine. The Easy Chair has seen the hapless, foolish maid encircled by those Bacchic arms, and then a headlong whirl and dash down the room, ending in the promiscuous overthrow and downfall of maid, Bacchus, and musicians.
If in the Grandisonian day the morals were wanting, it was something to have the manners. They at least were to the imagination a memory and a prophecy. They recalled the idyllic age when fine manners expressed fine feelings, and they foretold the return of Astraa to her ancient haunts. Here is young Adonis dreaming of a four-in-hand and a yacht, like any other gentleman. Let us hope that he knows the test of a gentleman not to be the ownership of blood-horses and a unique drag, but perfect courtesy founded upon fine human feeling—that rare and indescribable gentleness and consideration which rests upon manner as lightly as the bloom upon a fruit. It may be imitated, as gold and diamonds are. But no counterfeit can harm it; and, Adonis, it is incompatible with smoking in a lady's face, even if she acquiesces.
Apollodorus came in the other morning and announced to the Easy Chair that it had been made by common consent arbiter of a dispute in a circle of young men. "The question," said he, "is not a new one in itself, but it constantly recurs, for it is the inquiry under what conditions a gentleman may smoke in the presence of ladies."
The Easy Chair replied that it could not answer more pertinently than in the words of the famous Princess Emilia, who, upon being asked by a youth who was attending her in a promenade around the garden, "What should you say if a gentleman asked to smoke as he walked with you?" replied, "It is not supposable, for no gentleman would propose it."
Naturally that youth did not venture to light even a cigarette. Emilia had parried his question so dexterously that, although the rebuke was stinging, he could not even pretend to be offended. His question was merely a form of saying, "I am about to smoke, and what have you to say?" That he asked the question was evidence of a lingering persuasion, inherited from an ancestry of gentlemen, that it was not seemly to puff tobacco smoke around a lady with whom he was walking.
Apollodorus was silent for a moment, as if reflecting whether this anecdote was to be regarded as a general judgment of the arbiter that a gentleman will never smoke in the presence of a lady. But the Easy Chair broke in upon his meditation with a question, "If you had a son, should you wish to meet him smoking as he accompanied a lady upon the avenue? or, were you the father of a daughter, should you wish to see her cavalier smoking as he walked by her side? Upon your own theory of what is gentlemanly and courteous and respectful and becoming in the manner of a man towards a woman, should you regard the spectacle with satisfaction?"
"Well," replied Apollodorus, "isn't that rather a high-flying view? When can a man smoke—"
"But you are not answering," interrupted the Easy Chair. "Of two youths walking with your daughter, one of whom was smoking a cigarette, or a cigar, or a pipe, as he attended her, and the other was not smoking, which would seem to you the more gentlemanly?"
"The latter," said Apollodorus, promptly and frankly.
"It appears, then," returned the Easy Chair, assuming the Socratic manner, "that there are circumstances under which a gentleman will not smoke in the presence of a lady. But to answer your question directly, it is not possible to prescribe an exact code, although certain conditions may be definitely stated. For instance, a gentleman will not smoke while walking with a lady in the street. He will not smoke while paying her an evening visit in her drawing-room. He will not smoke while driving with her in the Park."
It is significant of a radical change in manners that such rules can be laid down, because formerly the question could not have arisen. The grandfather of Apollodorus, who was the flower of courtesy, could no more have smoked with a lady with whom he was walking or driving than he could have attended her without a coat or collar. Yet manners change, and the grandfather must not insist that those of his time were best because they were those of his time. It is but a little while since that a gentleman who appeared at a party without gloves would have been a "queer" figure. But now should he wear gloves he would be remarked as unfamiliar with good usage.
It does not argue a decline of courtesy that the Grandisonian compliment and the ineffable bending over a lady's hand and respectful kissing of the finger-tips have yielded to a simpler and less stately manner. The woman of the minuet was not really more respected than the woman of the waltz. However the word gentlemanly may be defined, it will not be questioned that the quality which it describes is sympathetic regard for the feelings of others and the manner which evinces it. The manner, of course, may be counterfeited and put to base uses. To say that Lovelace has a gentlemanly manner is not to say that he is a gentleman, but only that he has caught the trick of a gentleman. To call him or Robert Macaire or Richard Turpin a gentleman is to say only that he behaves as a gentleman behaves. But he is not a gentleman, unless that word describes manners and nothing more.
This is the key to the question of Apollodorus. It is not easy to define a gentleman, but it is perfectly easy to see that in his pleasures and in the little indifferent practices of society the gentleman will do nothing which is disagreeable to others. He certainly will not assume that a personal gratification or indulgence must necessarily be pleasant to others, nor will he make the selfish habits of others a plea for his own.
Apollodorus listened patiently, and then said slowly that he understood the judgment to be that a gentleman would smoke in the presence of ladies only when he knew that it was agreeable to them, but that, as the infinite grace and courtesy of women often led them, as an act of self-denial, to persuade themselves that what others wish to do ought not to annoy them, it was very difficult to know whether the practice was or was not offensive to any particular lady, and therefore—therefore—
The youth seemed to be unable to draw the conclusion.
"Therefore," said the mentor, "it is well to remember the old rule in whist."
"Which is—?" asked Apollodorus.
"When in doubt, trump the trick."
"But what is the special application of that rule to this case?"
"Precisely this, that the doubting smoker should follow the advice of Punch to those about to marry."
"Don't."
Twenty-five years ago, at the table of a gentleman whose father had fallen in a duel, the conversation fell upon duelling, and after it had proceeded for some time the host remarked, emphatically, that there were occasions when it was a man's solemn duty to fight. The personal reference was too significant to permit further insistence at that table that duelling was criminal folly, and the subject of conversation was changed.
The host, however, had only reiterated the familiar view of General Hamilton. His plea was, that in the state of public opinion at the time when Burr challenged him, to refuse to fight under circumstances which by the "code of honor" authorized a challenge, was to accept a brand of cowardice and of a want of gentlemanly feeling, which would banish him to a moral and social Coventry, and throw a cloud of discredit upon his family. So Hamilton, one of the bravest men and one of the acutest intellects of his time, permitted a worthless fellow to murder him. Yet there is no doubt that he stated accurately the general feeling of the social circle in which he lived. There was probably not a conspicuous member of that society who was of military antecedents who would not have challenged any man who had said of him what Hamilton had said of Burr. Hamilton disdained explanation or recantation, and the result was accepted as tragical, but in a certain sense inevitable.
Yet that result aroused public sentiment to the atrocity of this barbarous survival of the ordeal of private battle. That one of the most justly renowned of public men, of unsurpassed ability, should be shot to death like a mad dog, because he had expressed the general feeling about an unprincipled schemer, was an exasperating public misfortune. But that he should have been murdered in deference to a practice which was approved in the best society, yet which placed every other valuable life at the mercy of any wily vagabond, was a public peril. From that day to this there has been no duel which could be said to have commanded public sympathy or approval. From the bright June morning, eighty years ago, when Hamilton fell at Weehawken, to the June of this year, when two foolish men shot at each other in Virginia, there has been a steady and complete change of public opinion, and the performance of this year was received with almost universal contempt, and with indignant censure of a dilatory police.
The most celebrated duel in this country since that of Hamilton and Burr was the encounter between Commodores Decatur and Barron, in 1820, near Washington, in which Decatur, like Hamilton, was mortally wounded, and likewise lived but a few hours. The quarrel was one of professional, as Burr's of political, jealousy. But as the only conceivable advantage of the Hamilton duel lay in its arousing the public mind to the barbarity of duelling, the only gain from the Decatur duel was that it confirmed this conviction. In both instances there was an unspeakable shock to the country and infinite domestic anguish. Nothing else was achieved. Neither general manners nor morals were improved, nor was the fame of either combatant heightened, nor public confidence in the men or admiration of their public services increased. In both cases it was a calamity alleviated solely by the resolution which it awakened that such calamities should not occur again.
Such a resolution, indeed, could not at once prevail, and eighteen years after Decatur was killed, Jonathan Cilley, of Maine, was killed in a duel at Washington by William J. Graves, of Kentucky. This event occurred forty-five years ago, but the outcry with which it was received even at that time—one of the newspaper moralists lapsing into rhyme as he deplored the cruel custom which led excellent men to the fatal field,
"where Cilleys meet their Graves"—
and the practical disappearance of Mr. Graves from public life, showed how deep and strong was the public condemnation, and how radically the general view of the duel was changed.
Even in the burning height of the political and sectional animosity of 1856, when Brooks had assaulted Charles Sumner, the challenge of Brooks by some of Sumner's friends met with little public sympathy. During the excitement the Easy Chair met the late Count Gurowski, who was a constant and devoted friend of Mr. Sumner, but an old-world man, with all the hereditary social prejudices of the old world. The count was furious that such a dastardly blow had not been avenged. "Has he no friends?" he exclaimed. "Is there no honor left in your country?" And, as if he would burst with indignant impatience, he shook both his fists in the air, and thundered out, "Good God! will not somebody challenge anybody?"
No, that time is passed. The elderly club dude may lament the decay of the good old code of honor—a word of which he has a very ludicrous conception—as Major Pendennis, when he pulled off his wig, and took out his false teeth, and removed the padded calves of his legs, used to hope that the world was not sinking into shams in its old age. Quarrelling editors may win a morning's notoriety by stealing to the field, furnishing a paragraph for the reporters, and running away from the police. But they gain only the unsavory notoriety of the man in a curled wig and flowered waistcoat and huge flapped coat of the last century who used to parade Broadway. The costume was merely an advertisement, and of very contemptible wares. The man who fights a duel to-day excites but one comment. Should he escape, he is ridiculous. Should he fall, the common opinion of enlightened mankind writes upon his head-stone, "He died as the fool dieth."
Newspaper manners and morals hardly fall into the category of minor manners and morals, which are supposed to be the especial care of the Easy Chair, but there are frequent texts upon which the preacher might dilate, and push a discourse upon the subject even to the fifteenthly. Indeed, in this hot time of an opening election campaign, the stress of the contest is so severe that the first condition of a good newspaper is sometimes frightfully maltreated. The first duty of a newspaper is to tell the news; to tell it fairly, honestly, and accurately, which are here only differing aspects of the same adverb. "Cooking the news" is the worst use to which cooking and news can be put. The old divine spoke truly, if with exceeding care, in saying, "It has been sometimes observed that men will lie." So it has been sometimes suspected that newspapers will cook the news.
A courteous interviewer called upon a gentleman to obtain his opinions, let us say, upon the smelt fishery. After the usual civilities upon such occasions, the interviewer remarked, with conscious pride: "The paper that I represent and you, sir, do not agree upon the great smelt question. But it is a newspaper. It prints the facts. It does not pervert them for its own purpose, and it finds its account in it. You may be sure that whatever you may say will be reproduced exactly as you say it. This is the news department. Meanwhile the editorial department will make such comments upon the news as it chooses." This was fair, and the interviewer kept his word. The opinions might be editorially ridiculed from the other smelt point of view, and they probably were so. But the reader of the paper could judge between the opinion and the comment.
Now an interview is no more news than much else that is printed in a paper, and it is no more pardonable to misrepresent other facts than to distort the opinions of the victim of an interview. Yet it has been possible at times to read in the newspapers of the same day accounts of the same proceedings of—of—let us say, as this is election time—of a political convention. The Banner informs us that the spirit was unmistakable, and the opinion most decided in favor of Jones. True, the convention voted, by nine hundred to four, for Smith, but there is no doubt that Jones is the name written on the popular heart. The Standard, on the other hand, proclaims that the popular heart is engraved all over with the inspiring name of Smith, and that it is impossible to find any trace of feeling for Jones, except, possibly, in the case of one delegate, who is probably an idiot or a lunatic. This is gravely served up as news, and the papers pay for it. They even hire men to write this, and pay them for it. How Ude and Careme would have disdained this kind of cookery! It is questionable whether hanging is not a better use to put a man to than cooking news. Sir Henry Wotton defined an ambassador as an honest man sent to lie abroad for the commonwealth. This kind of purveyor, however, does not lie for his country, but for a party or a person.
It is done with a purpose, the purpose of influencing other action. It is intended to swell the paean for Jones or for Smith, and to procure results under false pretences. Procuring goods under false pretences is a crime, but everybody is supposed to read the newspapers at his own risk. Has the reader yet to learn that newspapers are very human? A paper, for instance, takes a position upon the Jones or Smith question. It decides, upon all the information it can obtain, and by its own deliberate judgment, that Jones is the coming man, or ("it has been observed that men will sometimes lie") it has illicit reasons for the success of Smith. Having thus taken its course, it cooks all the news upon the Smith and Jones controversy, in order that by encouraging the Jonesites or the Smithians, according to the color that it wears, it may promote the success of the side upon which its opinion has been staked. It is a ludicrous and desperate game, but it is certainly not the honest collection and diffusion of news. It is a losing game also, because, whatever the sympathies of the reader, he does not care to be foolishly deceived about the situation. If he is told day after day that Smith is immensely ahead and has a clear field, he is terribly shaken by the shock of learning at the final moment that he has been cheated from the beginning, and that poor Smith is dead upon the field of dishonor.
Everybody is willing to undertake everybody else's business, and an Easy Chair naturally supposes, therefore, that it could show the able editor a plan of securing and retaining a large audience. The plan would be that described by the urbane reporter as the plan of his own paper. It is nothing else than truth-telling in the news column, and the peremptory punishment of all criminals who cook the news, and "write up" the situation, not as it is, but as the paper wishes it to be. This is more than an affair of the private wishes or preferences of the paper. To cook the news is a public wrong, and a violation of the moral contract which the newspaper makes with the public to supply the news, and to use every reasonable effort to obtain it, not to manufacture it, either in the office or by correspondence.
If, as a New York paper recently said, the journalist is superseding the orator, it is full time for the work upon Journals and Journalism, which has been lately issued in London. The New York writer holds that in our political contests the "campaign speech" is not intended or adapted to persuade or convert opponents, but merely to stimulate and encourage friends. The party meetings on each side, he thinks, are composed of partisans, and the more extravagant the assertion and the more unsparing the denunciation of "the enemy," the more rapturous the enthusiasm of the audience. In fact, his theory of campaign speeches is that they are merely the addresses of generals to their armies on the eve of battle, which are not arguments, since argument is not needed, but mere urgent appeals to party feeling. "Thirty centuries look down from yonder Pyramid" is the Napoleonic tone of the campaign speech.
As an election is an appeal to the final tribunal of the popular judgment, the apparent object of election oratory is to affect the popular decision. But this, the journalist asserts, is not done by the orator, for the reason just stated, but by the journal. The newspaper addresses the voter, not with rhetorical periods and vapid declamation, but with facts and figures and arguments which the voter can verify and ponder at his leisure, and not under the excitement or the tedium of a spoken harangue. The newspaper, also, unless it be a mere party "organ," is candid to the other side, and states the situation fairly. Moreover, the exigencies of a daily issue and of great space to fill produce a fulness and variety of information and of argument which are really the source of most of the speeches, so that the orator repeats to his audience an imperfect abstract of a complete and ample plea, and the orator, it is asserted, would often serve his cause infinitely better by reading a carefully written newspaper article than by pouring out his loose and illogical declamation.
But the argument for the newspaper can be pushed still further. Since phonographic reporting has become universal, and the speaker is conscious that his very words will be spread the next morning before hundreds of thousands of readers, it is of those readers, and not of the thousand hearers before him, of whom he thinks, and for whom his address is really prepared. Formerly a single charge was all that was needed for the fusillade of a whole political campaign. The speech that was originally carefully prepared was known practically only to the audience that heard it. It grew better and brighter with the attrition of repeated delivery, and was fresh and new to every new audience. But now, when delivered to an audience, it is spoken to the whole country. It is often in type before it is uttered, so that the orator is in fact repeating the article of to-morrow morning. The result is good so far as it compels him to precision of statement, but it inevitably suggests the question whether the newspaper is not correct in its assertion that the great object of the oration is accomplished not by the orator, but by the writer.
But this, after all, is like asking whether a chromo copy of a great picture does not supersede painting, and prove it to be an antiquated or obsolete art. Oratory is an art, and its peculiar charm and power cannot be superseded by any other art. Great orations are now prepared with care, and may be printed word for word. But the reading cannot produce the impression of the hearing. We can all read the words that Webster spoke on Bunker Hill at the laying of the corner-stone of the monument fifty years after the battle. But those who saw him standing there, in his majestic prime, and speaking to that vast throng, heard and saw and felt something that we cannot know. The ordinary stump speech which imperfectly echoes a leading article can well be spared. But the speech of an orator still remains a work of art, the words of which may be accurately lithographed, while the spirit and glow and inspiration of utterance which made it a work of art cannot be reproduced.
The general statement of the critic, however, remains true, and the effective work of a political campaign is certainly done by the newspaper. The newspaper is of two kinds, again—that which shows exclusively the virtue and advantage of the party it favors, and that which aims to be judicial and impartial. The tendency of the first kind is obvious enough, but that of the last is not less positive if less obvious. The tendency of the independent newspaper is to good-natured indifference. The very ardor, often intemperate and indiscreet, with which a side is advocated, prejudices such a paper against the cause itself. Because the hot orator exclaims that the success of the adversary would ruin the country, the independent Mentor gayly suggests that the country is not so easily ruined, and that such an argument is a reason for voting against the orator. The position that in a party contest it is six on one side and half a dozen on the other is too much akin to the doctrine that naught is everything and everything is naught to be very persuasive with men who are really in earnest. Such a position in public affairs inevitably, and often very unjustly to them, produces an impression of want of hearty conviction, which paralyzes influence as effectually as the evident prejudice and partiality of the party advocate. Thorough independence is perfectly compatible with the strongest conviction that the public welfare will be best promoted by the success of this or that party. Such independence criticises its own party and partisans, but it would not have wavered in the support of the Revolution because Gates and Conway were intriguers, and Charles Lee an adventurer, and it would have sustained Sir Robert Walpole although he would not repeal the Corporation and Test laws, and withdrew his excise act.
Journalism, if it be true that it really shapes the policy of nations, well deserves to be treated as thoughtfully as Mr. "John Oldcastle" apparently treats it in the book we have mentioned, for it is the most exacting of professions in the ready use of various knowledge. Mr. Anthony Trollope says that anybody can set up the business or profession of literature who can command a room, a table, and pen, ink, and paper. Would he also say that any man may set up the trade of an artist who can buy an easel, a palette, a few brushes, and some colors? It can be done, indeed, but only as a man who can hire a boat may set up for an East India merchant.
"If you find that you have no case," the old lawyer is reported to have said to the young, "abuse the plaintiff's attorney," and Judge Martin Grover, of New York, used to say that it was apparently a great relief to a lawyer who had lost a case to betake himself to the nearest tavern and swear at the court. Abuse, in any event, seems to have been regarded by both of these authorities as a consolation in defeat. It is but carrying the theory a step further to resort to abuse in argument. Timon, who is a club cynic—which is perhaps the most useless specimen of humanity—says that 'pon his honor nothing entertains him more than to see how little argument goes to the discussion of any question, and how immediate is the recourse to blackguardism. "The other day," he said, recently, "I was sitting in the smoking-room, and Blunt and Sharp began to talk about yachts. Sharp thinks that he knows all that can be known of yachts, and Blunt thinks that what he thinks is unqualified truth. Sharp made a strong assertion, and Blunt smiled. It was that lofty smile of amused pity and superiority, which is, I suppose, very exasperating. Sharp was evidently surprised, but he continued, and at another observation Blunt looked at him, and said, simply, 'Ridiculous!' As it seemed to me," said Timon, "the stronger and truer were the remarks of Sharp, the more Blunt's tone changed from contempt to anger, until he came to a torrent of vituperation, under which Sharp retired from the room with dignity.
"I presume," said the cynic, "that Sharp was correct upon every point. But the more correct Sharp was, the more angry Blunt became. It was very entertaining, and it seems to me very much the way of more serious discussion." Timon was certainly right, and those who heard his remarks, and have since then seen him chuckling over the newspapers, are confident it is because he observes in them the same method of carrying on discussion. Much public debate recalls the two barbaric methods of warfare, which consist in making a loud noise and in emitting vile odors. A member of Congress pours out a flood of denunciatory words in the utmost rhetorical confusion, and seems to suppose that he has dismayed his opponent because he has made a tremendous noise. He is only an overgrown boy, who, like some other boys, imagines that he is very heroic when he shakes his head, and pouts his lip, and clinches his fist, and "calls names" in a shrill and rasping tone. Other members, who ought to know better, pretend to regard his performances as worthy of applause, and metaphorically pat him on the back and cry, "St, boy!" They only share—and in a greater degree, because they know better—the contempt with which he is regarded.
In the same way a newspaper writer attacks views which are not acceptable to him, not with argument, or satire, or wit, or direct refutation, but by metaphorically emptying slops, and directing whirlwinds of bad smells upon their supporters. The intention seems to be, not to confute the arguments, but to disgust the advocates. The proceeding is a confession that the views are so evidently correct that they will inevitably prevail unless their supporters can be driven away. This is an ingenious policy, for guns certainly cannot be served if the gunners are dispersed. Men shrink from ridicule and ludicrous publicity. However conscious of rectitude a man may be, it is exceedingly disagreeable for him to see the dead-walls and pavements covered with posters proclaiming that he is a liar and a fool. If he recoils, the enemy laughs in triumph; if he is indifferent, there is a fresh whirlwind.
A public man wrote recently to a friend that he had seen an attack upon his conduct in a great journal, and had asked his lawyer to take the necessary legal steps to bring the offender to justice. His friend replied that he had seen the attack, but that it had no more effect upon him than the smells from Newtown Creek. They were very disgusting, but that was all. This is the inevitable result of blackguardism. The newspaper reader, as he sees that one man supports one measure because his wife's uncle is interested in it, and another man another measure to gratify his grudge against a rival, gradually learns from his daily morning mentor that there is no such thing as honor, decency, or public spirit in public affairs; he chuckles with the club cynic, although for a very different reason, and forgets the contents of one column as he begins upon the next. If a man covers his milk toast, his breakfast, his lunch, dinner, and supper with a coating of Cayenne pepper, the pepper becomes as things in general became to Mr. Toots—of no consequence.
This kind of fury in personal denunciation is not force, as young writers suppose; it is feebleness. Wit, satire, brilliant sarcasm, are, indeed, legitimate weapons. It was these which Sydney Smith wielded in the early Edinburgh Review. But "calling names," and echoing the commonplaces of affected contempt, that is too weak even for Timon to chuckle over, except as evidence of mental vacuity. The real object in honest controversy is to defeat your opponent and leave him a friend. But the Newtown Creek method is fatal to such a result. Of course that method often apparently wins. But it always fails when directed against a resolute and earnest purpose. The great causes persist through seeming defeat to victory. But to oppose them with sneers and blackguardism is to affect to dam Niagara with a piece of paper. The crafty old lawyer advised the younger to reserve his abuse until he felt that he had no case. Judge Grover remarked that it was when the case was lost that the profanity began.
There is a delicate question in newspaper ethics which is sometimes widely discussed, namely, whether "journalism" may be regarded as a distinct profession which has a moral standard of its own. The question arises when an editorial writer transfers his services from one journal to another of different political opinions. Is a man justified in arguing strenuously for free trade to-day and for protection to-morrow? Are political questions and measures of public policy merely points of law upon which an editor is an advocate to be retained indifferently and with equal morality upon either side?
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2924
|
__label__cc
| 0.689632
| 0.310368
|
Fixing America�s Universities
WBUR.org - OnPoint - Mar 22, 2016
Who�s happy with America�s colleges and universities? Between the byzantine admissions process � the jaw-dropping prices for tuition and room and board � the creation of a cossetted class of tenured teachers and a sea of struggling adjuncts, you�ll hear plenty of complaints.....
Sophisticated test scams from China invade U.S. college admissions
Hechinger Report - Mar 18, 2016
In the fall of 2013, Yue Zou decided that she wanted to leave Hegang, the city where she lived in the Heilongjiang province of China, and attend college in the United States. Her boyfriend, already a student at the University of Pittsburgh, was eager to help her get admitted to a competitive university.....
Why more students are leaving the U.S. for college
When Michael Ferrante, a 21-year-old college senior, returned to Baltimore to finish school after studying in Berlin for a year, he had only one regret: Not having applied to college in Germany in the first place....
Do financial aid policies make paying for college harder for some?
The Christian Science Monitor - Mar 18, 2016
College is getting more expensive � especially for low income students. On Tuesday, a study released findings that low income students face significant challenges meeting the financial requirements to attend many private universities and an increasing number of public universities, despite financial aid...
What can motivate low-income high school kids to apply to college?
PBS.org - NewsHour - Mar 18, 2016
This month, many high school seniors have either just learned, or are anxiously waiting to hear, what colleges they might have gotten into. Education advocate Keith Frome has worked with students across the country, and believes the key to getting more kids to apply to college is peer pressure.....
Op-Ed A right to debt relief from crushing student loans
Los Angeles Times - Mar 10, 2016
mething unusual happened in late February. Commentators on the right and left, liberal Thom Hartmann and conservative Ike Brannon, published essays on the same day, Feb. 22, saying the same thing: ..
8 Things I Wish I Knew A Year Ago About College Applications
1. The word �fit� gets bandied about quite a bit. It doesn�t mean what people tell you it means. Fit, you will be led to believe, is whether the vibe of the campus matches up with your student�s goals and personality. Some campuses are perfect for save-the-world peaceniks like my daughter...
3 Great College Search Tools
The College Solution Blog - Mar 21, 2016
Most families don�t look far when searching for colleges. The vast majority of students, who go to four-year schools, attend public universities within their own state. And most find schools within 100 miles of their homes. Only 14% or so of students attend institutions more than 500 miles away.....
Plan your college admission strategy early
NWI Times - Mar 18, 2016
It's never too early to start thinking about a college game plan. When is the right time, however, to take entrance exams, visit a college campus or fill out applications? Freshman and Sophomore year....
College Admissions: No Acceptances? Don�t Panic
As acceptances, rejections and waiting-list notifications arrive, panic has set in for some seniors. What do you do when you were rejected from ALL of your colleges, don�t like your options, or receive only waiting-list offers?...
Why Big-Name Colleges Aren�t Always Your Best Choice
TIME - Mar 18, 2016
Depending on what you want to study, you might be much better off at a lesser-known school, this author says. Everybody assumes that the elite colleges with the lowest acceptance rates are the best at everything....
7 Things That Shouldn't Affect Your College Decision
College decisions are stressful�there are so many things to consider! What do your parents want? What do your friends want? But most of all, what do you want? With a whirlwind of opinions coming from every which way, it can be hard to keep your eye on what really matters in choosing the right school for you...
Making the final decision: Tips for narrowing down college admission offers
Tyler Morning Telagraph - Mar 21, 2016
It�s exciting when that first college acceptance offer rolls in - especially if it comes from your student�s No. 1 choice. And it�s flattering when students get a second, and a third and maybe even several more admissions offers.....
To Woo Students, More Colleges Now Hand-Deliver Acceptances
ABC News - Mar 21, 2016
he visitors walking up her family's driveway mystified Maya Wolf. Four wore blue jackets. One was in a lion mascot costume. Then, as it clicked, she reached to her mouth in surprise....
Three Rates You Should Look at When Evaluating Colleges
LifeHacker - Mar 18, 2016
Choosing a college is a huge decision, and there are so many things to consider. One college admissions officer suggests using the �three rates� for each college to make sure you�ll make the right choice...
Campus Visits/Interviews/Fairs
Last minute campus visit tips
Charlotte Observer - Mar 20, 2016
Families are about to load up their mini-vans and head for the airports and highways this week and next for the annual spring break campus visit blitz....
Making the most of a college visit
Buffalo News - Mar 20, 2016
Selecting a college can be an exciting and nerve-wracking experience for a high school student. There is quite a bit of uncertainty and confusion when picking a college, and seemingly countless questions that need answering.....
Use These 6 Tips to Make the Most of College Fairs
TeenLife Blog - Mar 21, 2016
Nothing says spring like those annual spring college fairs. If you have ever attended one or look forward to attending one this spring, you know they can be a bit overwhelming.....
Making the most of your visit to a National College Fair
NJ.com - Mar 20, 2016
Ready to take the next step in your education? There's no better place to explore your options than at a NACAC National College Fair. Admission representatives from schools across the country are all gathered in one place. ....
Archives - Visits/Interviews/Fairs
College Decisions Over Spring Break
Let�s face it�even though there school counselors are highly trained professionals, there are times we blame things on the elements�especially the moon. ... More
School counselors make a difference every day
Some considered Sydney Haistings a doodler. She would sit in her freshman classes at Staley High School and draw in the margins of her notebook as her teachers lectured....
A Coalition of One's Own
ACCIS AdmitAll Blog - Mar 15, 2016
The values and beliefs of the Coalition for Access, Affordability, and Success are commendable and appealing. How, then, do those most able to meet the needs of students team up to serve the students who need the most? ...
Well | How Much Money Is Enough?
Most of us want our children to have the best of everything, but not too much of anything. As a result, some families with much more than average impose a form of enfo..
4 Things Parents Need to Know About College Counselors
Noozhawk - Mar 21, 2016
Applying to colleges is a big job for any family, and finding the perfect school for your child can seem like looking for a needle in a haystack. ..
Well | Advice College Admissions Officers Give Their Own Kids
While most parents find the college process stressful and bewildering, we interviewed some who have a unique perspective: admissions officers who are also . ..
Can Parents Measure The ROI Of College Tuition?
Sarah Lawrence, at $61,236 per year, tops the list of the fifty most expensive colleges in the United States. Middlebury, at the low end of the fifty, costs $59,950. That�s just tuition, room and board. ..
College admissions FAQ for parents of juniors
NY College Admissions Examiner - Mar 15, 2016
As an ACT and SAT tutor whose 11th grade students are starting the college process, I often get questions from their parents, too. High school guidance counselors and college admissions offices typically offer a parents 'college night' in the spring of their students' junior year. ..
SAT & ACTs
PreACT Test, to Help Students Prepare for ACT, Will Debut This Year
Chronicle of Higher Ed - Mar 22, 2016
ACT Inc. will offer a new multiple-choice examination for 10th graders this fall, the Iowa-based organization announced on Tuesday. Designed to help students prepare for the ACT exam. ..
When Retaking the SAT Makes Sense
This month, the College Board debuted its much-discussed redesigned SAT. As you update your test-taking strategies, also consider the circumstances in which you would retake the SAT. Though retaking the test involves a second infusion of time and money, it is worth it in these three instances. ..
7 Smart Steps to Appeal for More College Financial Aid
And boost your odds of actually getting it. If you can�t afford your dream college because it didn�t award you enough financial aid, don�t just give up in defeat. You still have time to appeal for an increase in grants or scholarships. ...
How to Play the College Financial-Aid Game
Daily News - Mar 20, 2016
High-school seniors could be forgiven for thinking that comparing college financial-aid offers requires an advanced degree. The letters have been pouring in over the past few weeks. But along with the excitement comes a challenge: sorting through offers that often differ in ways that can blur the bottom line. ...
College Financial Aid Advice�for High School Freshmen
If you are a high school freshman, the U.S. Department of Education encourages you to start thinking about the money you�ll need for college now. Save up some money, have an honest talk with your parents about the cost of college ...
Financial Aid: The Wrong Band-Aid
Financial Aid can seem like a life saver if you don�t have the money to pay for your college expenses. But far too often it acts like a small Band-Aid on a massive, bleeding wound. It may help in the short-term, with the hope that the wound will heal itself; but eventually the Band-Aid becomes an obstacle to the healing process...
U.S. Department of Education Announces Competition for Schools to Create the Best Makerspaces
Education World - Mar 18, 2016
The Department of Education is weighing in on what makes a great makerspace through its competition, the Career Technical Education (CTE) Makeover Challenge. "The Career and Technical Education (CTE) Makeover Challenge calls upon eligible schools to design models of makerspaces that strengthen career and technical skills through making,�...
There's Skill Involved in Solving the Skill Gap
Workforce - Mar 20, 2016
We're facing a skills crisis in America. Nearly 15 million people in the U.S. want to work, but they can�t find jobs. And at the same time, around half of employers say they have job vacancies...
Archives - CTE
Recruiting Column: How to get (yourself) recruited
USA Today HSS - Mar 23, 2016
Let�s get one thing straight right away: Unless you are in the top 2% of athletes in your sport, you won�t be recruited unless you take action to get recruited. ...
�Indentured� Shines Light On The NCAA And Its Student-Athletes
WBUR.org - Only a Game - Mar 19, 2016
For the last four years, Joe Nocera has been collecting stories about the NCAA, the governing body of college athletics.l...
A call for more counselors to help students who feel pushed out of school
Philadelphia Public School Notebook - Mar 22, 2016
In 2009, Youth United for Change launched its Pushed Out chapter to target students who felt they were being forced out of school by factors such as harsh discipline, an unengaging curriculum, and unsupportive teachers and staff. ..
With spike in applications, University of Maine starts wait list
Portland Press Herald - Mar 17, 2016
Aggressive marketing and a novel tuition incentive to attract out-of-state students are paying off for the University of Maine, where a record number of qualified applicants has prompted admissions officials to start a wait list for the first time in recent history...
At what cost? School referendums splinter communities
DelawareOnline - Mar 19, 2016
Delaware's complex school funding system has made it difficult to convince voters funding increases are necessary. Spring is the time of year when education turns into politics, when school districts give residents a choice: Vote to raise property taxes or face teacher and program cuts....
Teens Depression
What parents should know about depression in teens
OC Register - Mar 19, 2016
My brilliant and hilarious 14-year-old daughter, M, is depressed, clinically so. She started showing signs a year or two ago. But even though I am well-acquainted with depression and am quick to send people off to get meds (�It�s like having diabetes! Just treat it!�), I haven�t handled M�s situation correctly....
When Depression Hits, Teens Find Help
NPR.org - Mar 23, 2016
A Bay Area teenager struggling with depression shares her experience, while a social worker and young multimedia producer discuss their work helping teens cope with the illness. ..
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2926
|
__label__cc
| 0.714616
| 0.285384
|
jfinster's profile
jfinster
followed tags: 100
style: dark
#pollution
#climatechange
jfinster · link · parent · post: Unpopular Opinion: Jack White Is the Worst Thing to Ever Happen to Rock & Roll | L.A. Weekly
I would agree with this article. I've always considered Jack White to be pretentious, I've read too many interviews with him saying stupid things that made me roll my eyes and think 'well this guy seems pretty obsessed with his image, to a degree where he's focussing on it more than the actual music'. Just never really thought the white stripes were that great, although I hated Meg's drumming far more than Jack's guitar and vocals, overall I consider him a pretty unremarkable musician. For every White stripes song that I thought was listenable there are three more that are just boring. He's much better in the raconteurs when he has good musicians around to help him up. As for the dead weather, yawn.
jfinster · link · parent · post: Hubski, where do you want to live?
That Scandinavian train is the one I want in on. I'm thinking Denmark or Norway, but (yes I'm aware it's not Scandinavian) Germany is enticing as well.
Somewhere to escape from the cultural/political domination of America please, that's left-leaning/socialist and reasonably developed.
I've been learning Danish for about a year now and really enjoying it.
jfinster · link · parent · post: Star Wars: The Force Awakens - Comic-Con 2015 Reel
Indeed, thank goodness Kasdan is there. I'll try and stay optimistic.
Star Trek: The Motion Picture is just not a good film. It had a troubled production history, among other things the script was a re-write of a planned pilot for another Trek series, and suffered from constant tinkering from many different people even during shooting.
To be frank, even as a hardcore trekkie I find it boring, the pace is glacially slow and it has the worst possible influences from it's time (think '2001: A Space Odyssey' style of very long shots of spacecraft slowly moving). It hasn't aged well at all, I would avoid it unless you've seen all other trek movies (although there are some other stinkers out there, e.g. Star Trek: Nemesis is rubbish), it's only worth watching if you're dead set on absorbing all Star Trek, it would be better to watch some TNG, Voyager or DS9.
Thanks for the badge!
I'm ambivalent about the Star Wars EU being thrown out, some of it I liked, most of it I didn't. I agree with you that Abrams is a better fit for Star Wars than Star Trek, definitely. I'm still nervous/worried though. I think giving him freedom is as dangerous as asking him to be loyal to pre-existing material. I just don't trust his creative choices and I don't think he's a good director, I think he handles plot and character clumsily regardless of what franchise/universe he's working in. I would trust David Fincher, or Neill Blomkamp, or Guillermo del Toro, but not JJ Abrams.
Since you say you're not a Star Trek Fan but you enjoyed the reboots, if you are interested in delving further (and as a trekkie I obviously think you should :D ), can I recommend these four movies with the classic enterprise bridge crew;
- Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
- Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
- Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
These three make up a loose trilogy that are a great starting point for new trekkies.
- Star Trek VI - The Undiscovered Country
A good stand-alone movie and effective coda to the Kirk era of Star Trek.
Give me a few days and I'll make a try and write up a separate post going into more detail about it.
But to give you a reply now, I don't think he ever understood the original star trek crew, or the ethos of the franchise, what made star trek unique. He actually says it himself, here's a few clips and some quotes.
JJ Abrams on Star Trek - Interview - Film4
As someone who was never a fan of Star Trek, when I started working on the first star trek movie we did, I really approached it from a sort of movie-goer's perspective, which is what do I want to see, what would make me excited. I had to do it in that genuine way and not in a 'oh they'll love this', or 'the trekkies will want that' because I don't know.
I remember as a kid I didn't get him (Kirk). He was too handsome, he was too swaggery, he was too cocky, and you know, full of himself.
Spock was far smarter than I was, Bones was much grumpier than I was, you know. So my point is that, while, I didn't connect with any of those characters, including Sulu, including Uhura...
J J Abrams discusses Star Trek and Star Wars
I think that part of it might be that I have a kind of ADD, of kind of, wanting things to happen and sometimes I have to be reminded by people smarter and wiser than myself to just calm down, and to just let something play, you don't need to have another, sort of, thing happening right there.
Though I was never a Star Trek fan as a kid, since I was eleven years old I was a fan of Star Wars, I feel like I'm one of those fans.
When he was interviewed on the daily show by Jon Stewart, he said that he was never a trekkie and that “It always felt too philosophical”.
So to sum up what he has said:
- He was never a fan.
- Didn't know what trekkies, the fans, would want.
- Didn't 'get' or connect with any of the main characters.
- Had difficulty with the slower, less action-focussed pace. Had to be told when he was cramming unnecessary elements/events.
- Equates being a Star Wars fan to also being a Star Trek fan (They're completely different in tone).
- Didn't enjoy the franchise's thoughtful, philsophical leanings.
I think when you put it all together in one place like this, it's obvious that he was the wrong person to direct the reboots. There was no way he was going to stay true to the original tone, spirit, characters. It was always going to be his re-imagning, that is, the re-imaging of someone who didn't understand or like Star Trek. A recipe for disaster.
This youtuber makes some good points and I'd recommend you watch that clip, but to paraphrase the best bits for you;
It is the philosophy that sets Star Trek apart, without it Star Trek is just another space story.
The philosophy of Star Trek is that humans are capable of creating a fair and just society, so we should do that. We can be better so we should be better.
I would also add another part of it's philosophy is that humans can work together peacefully with alien races who seem completely different to us, but through perseverance we can overcome conflict and better ourselves and others (when Star Trek first came out this was a metaphor for cooperation between different cultures and ethnicities). None of this is apparent in Abrams's Star Trek.
What upsets me the most is that you think the reboot can still be Star Trek if you remove that. If you think movie-goers want movies with huge firefights then that's ok, you can have huge firefights and still have the movie be Star Trek. That's not my problem, but if the main point of the movie is the firefights, then you've done it wrong.
I appreciate that Abrams wanted to make the reboot attractive to new audiences, but he threw away the core of what set Star Trek apart from other sci-fi action/drama. It's because he didn't want to make a Star Trek movie, he wanted to make a sci-fi action movie and the Star Trek franchise just happened to be the one he was given to work with. I feel like he took advantage of a pre-existing franchise that he should have respected instead of trying to re-mold it into his own (non-fan's) vision.
In the process of re-molding it to his own vision, he mangled characters that have been loved for decades. He didn't do justice to any of the characters in my opinion, not a single one, but I'll just talk about Kirk and Spock here because they are central to the original star trek crew, and Abrams got them so badly wrong.
- Kirk is a brilliant and daring starship captain. He's not afraid to break regulations to do what he thinks is right, and not afraid to take risks when the stakes are high. That being said, he doesn't take his position or choices lightly. Abrams seems to misinterpret this as Kirk as always being reckless and having no respect for authority, and instead of portraying Kirk as a unique thinker, he simply skates around on good luck and comes across as flippant and arrogant. Kirk can be a bit of a womaniser, but in Abrams's hands Kirk is just a horny frat boy.
- Spock is half vulcan, half human and an amazing scientist. He usually plays the devil's advocate when Kirk is pondering a problem, and draws the best out of Kirk. An ongoing theme is that his calm vulcan side balances Kirk's more emotional human tendencies. In Abrams's hands, Kirk and Spock are like two bickering kids. Spock in particular seems to have the emotional control of a child, when infact the opposite should be true (Spock is the most calm and composed out of the crew). Yes Spock had internal conflicts between his vulcan and human natures, but Abrams doesn't understand how to portray this with restraint and goes totally over the top with it. Spock stumbles around like a hormonal teenager, throwing tantrums and snogging crewmembers when their minds would have been on the task at hand, bringing an incredibly embarrassing juvenile light to what was a sophisticated intelligent character. His vulcan nature sometimes isolated him from the mostly human crew, making him come across as aloof, but in Abrams's Spock is just self-righteous and possibly slightly racist/species-ist
I don't want to go into plot here, I've already gone on too long, but there are so many ridiculous things from both movies that frustrate me. Military/scientific crew members taking the time during an emergency situation to have a relationship squabble, magical rejuvenating blood that turns up conveniently, a female weapons scientist that is totally useless and gets the most attention when she takes her clothes off, technologies that turn up to solve a plot hole that would break the rules of the universe and are never heard of again, Spock the scientist ends the climax of the movie with a fist fight, old spock happens to be hiding out in the one cave on the entire planet that Kirk is dropped nearby, Kirk becomes captain after smuggling himself on board... The list goes on and on and makes me angry just thinking about it all, I'll have to save it for that other post.
To finish up, I give you ye ole' classic Hitler reacts to new Star Trek movie although youtube is crawling with vids from trekkies who didn't like the reboots.
To me, Abrams's Star Trek movies are just sci-fi action movies slapped with the Star Trek brand. If you changed the names of the characters and made their ship different, there would be nothing to tell you it was Star Trek at all. It is possible to reboot a franchise and make it new and interesting to the old fans while attracting new ones, but I don't think Abrams managed that. Instead of looking at the challenges facing humanity as it ventures into space, he focussed on the action scenes and what felt like adolescent angst. He took what was a thoughtful franchise about humanity exploring the cosmos and turned it into a soap opera with action set in space.
Taking all this into account, I think you can see why I might be nervous about The Force Awakens :) I just don't think the guy has good taste, I don't trust him.
Yep, I'm aware of that. It doesn't change my opinion though.
I know my reasons for disliking the Star Trek reboots, and I'm happy to discuss them :)
You have to decide if you're going to change your mind about a movie(or any product) just because other people like it. Will you go with the flow of popular opinion, or consider what their reasoning is for liking it, and what are your own reasons for disliking it.
Twice in my comment I noted that it was my personal opinion. thenewgreen had said he/she was beyond excited, and for the sake of discussion I was offering my counterpoint of being wary.
Sorry if I came across as overly negative, it's just that I really am worried about what Abrams is going to do to my beloved Star Wars :( He's already taken another franchise I love and (in my view) turned it into a hollow shell of what it once was.
I'm glad you're excited, but I'm terrified.
I will never forgive him for what he did to Star Trek.
Films he has directed so far:
- Mission: Impossible III
- Star Trek Into Darkness
For me personally, two of those movies are boring, below average. The other two are so mind-fuckingly horrible I wish they didn't exist and I despair the franchise will recover from what he's done to it.
You're right, we do need to care about the characters. But so far, his track record for taking pre-exisiting characters has been to destroy them. Spock and Uhura snogging in a turbolift????? I could rant for days about how much I hate his star trek movies, but that's another post.
I'm sure the art department, effects and cinematography will be well done. But as far as the plot and characters, what I've seen from J.J. Abrams fills me with dread. Lawrence Kasdan being involved is great, a tiny beacon of hope, but Abrams is still directing, which is a problem...
You know what they say about past history being the best indicator of future activity... I'm not going to get my hopes up too high for The Force Awakens, because what I've seen in the past is that Abrams (in my opinion) has a lousy grasp of character and plot.
jfinster · link · parent · post: Why J Dilla May Be Jazz's Latest Great Innovator
I listened to Donuts because of this post, very glad I did! Thank you galen. Wow it's quite a trip of an album, so many different sounds, sometimes it feels like I'm listening to the radio (except better). It even has a Frank Zappa sample! The short-form nature of the songs means they have less conventional structure than I'm used to as a mainly rock/metal listener, but I really enjoyed it. It felt like an eclectic smattering of different sonic experiments. I've been into Death Grips for a little while and I feel like J Dilla could have been an influence on them perhaps?
Is there anything similar to this that you would recommend, that has slower tempo/beats?
Fave tracks so far:
Geek Down
Workinonit
The Diff'rence
jfinster · link · parent · post: What is the proper Hubski etiquette when replying to an old comment?
On reddit I feel like I have to get my comment in a thread as quickly as possible if I'm going to participate in the discussion. I think it's great that older comments and threads can come back to life here, I feel like it possibly contributes towards the thoughtful nature of hubski, I don't feel rushed to comment and can ponder my responses more.
jfinster · link · parent · post: New Social Network, time to stop smoking.
Best of luck hanszyme!
I smoked tobacco for about 5 years, and stopped about a year and a half ago. It is actually wonderful to be tobacco-free! I'm so glad I did it, every time I come across smokers indulging in their habit, rather than being tempted I'm more disgusted than anything else.
Back while I was smoking, just before I stopped, I had reached a point where I would chain-smoke 12 or 15 cigarettes in a row before bed. I would always feel like just one more, just one more. Looking back at it, I can't believe I did that. I had a horrible wheezing cough, I would lie in bed and as I was falling asleep I could feel my raspy scratching breath struggling in and out. When I woke up in the morning I could feel my chest 'scratching' as it moved, then once I had moved around a bit in the morning I would cough up some brown stuff.
Eventually it got so bad I was having chest pains frequently. I couldn't smoke without pain, I would light a ciggie, take my first drag and a sharp stabbing pain would appear in my chest. It got so painful I couldn't smoke. I couldn't even have one puff without sharp chest pain. I didn't really decide to stop smoking, I was forced to because it was so painful, I actually couldn't smoke.
I got myself a cheap disposable e-cigarette, it was still unpleasant on my throat and lungs but I could sate that smoking urge without intense pain. When it ran out, I didn't feel bothered about buying another one, I didn't crave it. I contemplated buying some more tobacco but the thought scared me, I knew I wouldn't be able to smoke it without pain. I haven't bought a pack since.
In a way I'm actually glad I had that experience. Even though I've probably already permanently damaged my lungs, by getting so bad so quickly, I think it gave me a taste of what it would have been like decades down the line if I had continued smoking.
Once or twice I've been offered a cigarette and accepted, but I don't enjoy it like I used to. I can't smoke tobacco now without feeling conscious of what it's doing to my body. I've felt how bad it can get and there is a real fear there. It's definitely stupidity on my part, having to actually experience that pain before the over-whelming amount of anti-smoking education could actually sink in, but then again if I was smarter I probably would never have started in the first place.
And the money!! How much money did I spend on cigarettes in those 5 years? Probably enough for a car, more. It appals me now when I think about how much money I wasted.
I am so glad I stopped smoking.
jfinster · link · parent · post: Google Chrome Listening In To Your Room Shows The Importance Of Privacy Defense In Depth
The good news is that they did remove it, at least from chromium.
Not OK, Google: Chromium voice extension pulled after spying concerns
Old sneaky google, putting their closed source voice crawling software in open source chromium, tsk tsk tsk. I wonder if it would still be there if users hadn't complained. Makes one wonder what's going unnoticed...
(To answer your original post questions) I don't know why people still use chrome, and I've been practising a personal boycott of google for a few years.
Open source software! Open source hardware!
US Senate just passed CISA cyber spying bill, and failed all 5 amendments to prevent abuse
rob05c · 10
engadget.com · #uspolitics · #technology
BMW: All Models Electric Within Decade
ButterflyEffect · 34
nasdaq.com · #technology · #cars
Updates Make Windows 7 and 8 Spy on You Like Windows 10
rrrrr · 27
ycombinator.com · #technology · #privacy
How Google could rig the 2016 election
bajrbadger · 34
politico.com · #politics · #newsmedia · #ethics
Hubski, what are your favorite Jazz albums?
tnec · 33
text · #music · #jazz
Have you ever wished for a really big list of interent privacy software? Your wish is granted!
ooli · 6
github.io · #privacy · #internet
What is the most critical social/environmental/political/etc. issue to address right now?
captain_nemo · 23
text · #askhubski · #thehumancondition
EFF Has Lauched Democracy.io, an easier way to contact your representatives
user-inactivated · 11
democracy.io · #uspolitics · #news
NASA confirms the first near-Earth-size planet in the “habitable zone” around a sun-like star
j4d3 · 1
nasa.gov · #space · #science
EU opens anti-trust case against Sky, Disney, NBC Universal, Paramount Pictures, Sony, 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros.
user-inactivated · 2
bbc.com · #news · #business
Has anyone tried the Ubuntu phones
captain_nemo · 7
text · #linux · #technology
Scientists unveil high-speed anonymity network for the entire Internet
ooli · 14
dailydot.com · #privacy
Unpopular Opinion: Jack White Is the Worst Thing to Ever Happen to Rock & Roll | L.A. Weekly
thenewgreen · 45
laweekly.com · #music · #thewhitestripes
Prof. Stephen Hawking backs venture to listen for aliens
RicePaddy · 5
bbc.com · #science · #space
What are your favorite films with non linear narratives?
ao · 22
text · #askhubski · #movies
A game that takes a minute to play (with a message from me to hubski.)
TheITGuy · 12
ncase.me · #gaming
Post-Capitalism Has Begun
prostheticfourhead · 64
theguardian.com · #capitalism · #economics · #politics
Hillary Clinton proposes tax cuts for profit-sharing firms
lelibertaire · 4
reuters.com · #news · #politics
Why I Bought My Wife's Inhaler on the Dark Web
insomniasexx · 7
vice.com · #drugs
Feds can read every email you opened last year without a warrant
zdnet.com · #surveillance · #privacy
The Web We Have to Save
medium.com · #internet · #media
How the NYPD Uses Facebook to Surveil, Entrap and Arrest Teenagers
JohnSorrel · 3
alternet.org · #news · #politics
Hubski, where do you want to live?
aeromill · 61
text · #askhubski · #travel
The US military once conducted a germ-warfare test on unsuspecting San Francisco residents
tigrennatenn · 0
sfgate.com · #history
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2927
|
__label__cc
| 0.708478
| 0.291522
|
Pay Attention, America: These Are The Lessons Brett Kavanaugh Is Teaching Us
I have a friend who was raped and then had to fight off the psychiatrist she had sought out to help her deal with her trauma. My friend's initial reaction to Donald Trump's then baffling victory in 2016 despite his considerable baggage, including the 15 women who say he sexually harassed them, was shock but not really surprise. And two years on, deeply illuminating given L'affaire Brett Kavanaugh.
"Even after all these years, my attackers' shadows are always there, always lurking over my shoulder," my friend told me the morning after Trump won. Appropriately, it was raining hard. "And now I'll have the shadow of the freaking president of the United States lurking over my shoulder."
Beyond those shadows stalking my friend and millions of other victims of sexual assault, there have been so many awful things about the Republican jihad to reward a man with a lifetime appointment to the Supreme who not only is a practiced liar (and it now turns out a witness tamperer), but has been revealed without question to be a very mean drunk and sexual predator.
Beyond the possibility that Kavanaugh may yet be confirmed, perhaps the most awful thing is that Kavanaugh's victims are being victimized again. Then there are the lessons we can draw from this particularly brutal interlude in America's history.
If we listen carefully and read between the lines, the biggest lesson is that this collision between the #MeToo Movement and the Republican War on Women, when stripped of its ornamentation, is nothing less than a battle royal between a nascent New Order and a sclerotic but still immensely powerful Old Order.
These are some of the other lessons that Brett Kavanaugh is teaching us:
Charles Grassley, Lindsey Graham and the Predator in Chief believe that the pain, fear and trauma of Christine Blasey Ford, Deborah Ramirez and Kavanaugh's other victims are expressing does not matter because their voices, even at their strongest, are still weaker than any man's.
The Old Order will prevail because the Republican overlords depend on it prevailing. The overlords will protect the Old Order even when men behave badly, and always will believe those men before they believe women because their claims are merely concoctions to try to topple the Old Order.
It is okay to become falling down drunk and do impolite things to women. It's part of growing up. But if men are called to account for youthful indiscretions, they are to deny them and the overlords will come to their defense. And if the stakes are high enough, the overlords will testify to their integrity.
While Donald Trump may have flaws (who doesn't regret a Tweet or two?), he is being victimized. The overlords will stand by him, as do wise Republican women, as he defends the Old Order and has to endure a profound injustice visited upon him that is disguised as accountability.
It is not true that none of this would be happening had Russia not stolen the election for Trump.
Gender still would be a partisan political issue, but the Old Order and Republican overlords just would not be quite so obvious. Racism would still be spreading its societal toxins, but not quite so blatantly in an era when our sick president long ago discarded his dog whistle and speaks his mind, including a grotesquely vile attack on Ford at a campaign-style rally in Mississippi on Tuesday night that was greeted with cheers. Oh, and the credibility of the Supreme Court would be more or less safe, at least for a few more years as it clings to its shaky legitimacy.
Meanwhile, of one thing we can be certain: The shadows stalking my friend and those millions of other victims aren't about to go away.
Posted by Shaun Mullen at 8:54 PM
Dan Leo said...
I look forward to your musings on the current front-page New York Times story about Trump's financial skullduggery...("Fake news!", ha ha.)
Susan Winters said...
It's not about the shadows hanging over me and the women of my generation, it's about the shadows hanging over my granddaughters. We, the children of the 60s all have shadows that are self inflicted as well as inflicted by others. Who can stand up and be 100% proud of what they were and did at age 17? The difference is that hopefully many of us have faced the previous errors of our ways and have atoned for them. The difference is that Kavanaugh refuses to acknowledge what he was and what he did. He lies about it in the interest of self promotion. That's what makes him so dangerous. And, unacceptable as a justice of any kind.
Agreed that we all have shadows and that acknowledging them is the difference. And then there's this about the present occupant of the Oval Office mocking Christine Blasey Ford: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/02/us/politics/trump-me-too.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage
Shaun Mullen said...
Susan:
You are quite right that the shadows will hang over your and my granddaughters, as well. I was remiss in not noting that. Thank you.
You do give me mild pause in bring up “atonement.” How does one atone for lapses in judgment at age 17? Become celibate? Forswear alcohol and drugs? That slope is way too slippery for me.
Richard Codor's Cartoon du Jour
Tribalism Run Amok: Trump Did Not Make America Wha...
Will A Boycott Of Fox News Advertisers Work? Well,...
Is There A Pipe Bomber-Synagogue Shooter-Russia Co...
(UPDATED) Trump's 400-Pound Guy Strikes Back As Ty...
Roger Stone's 'Time In The Barrel' Will Not Be For...
A Russia Scandal Update: The Curious Case Of Elena...
A Russia Scandal Presidential Pardon Primer: What ...
Is Our National Nightmare Ending? Not Quite, But T...
Hmm. Maybe There's A Lesson Here
Why The Jamal Khashoggi Scandal Will Sink Into Sau...
Why The Alfa Bank Mystery Is Key To Understanding ...
Midterm Elections: It's Not About The Economy, Stu...
How A Dutch Intelligence Agency Exposed Officers I...
We Blew That: The Biggest Reason Kavanaugh Should ...
Dick Codor's Cartoon du Jour
A Putin Pal Is Killed & A Professor Is Still Missi...
Pay Attention, America: These Are The Lessons Bret...
'Take It From The Top Again, Just Don't Let It Sto...
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2930
|
__label__cc
| 0.668883
| 0.331117
|
Home / News / Electric Bike Knowledge Base
The first factor you ought to apprehend about e-bikes is that they’re here to remain. electrical bike sales jumped by a fantastic ninety five % between July 2016 and July 2017 alone, in line with the marketing research firm NPD cluster. It’s an almost $65 million trade, and there’s no sign of a holdup.
Some read the increase of e-bikes as a threat, as if customary bikes can go the approach of the penny-farthing once everybody goes electrical. however concern not: E-bikes aren’t here to rob USA of our human-powered approach of life. In fact, they'll okay enhance it. Here’s everything you would like to grasp concerning the electrical revolution.
1. E-bikes build pedaling easier.
Generally speaking, e-bikes square measure bicycles with a powered “assist” that comes via pedaling or, in some cases, a throttle. after you push the pedals on a pedal-assist e-bike, alittle motor engages and offers you a lift, therefore you'll be able to secure hills and cruise over robust tract while not gassing yourself. known as “pedalecs,” they feel similar to standard bikes—but higher, says dysfunction Benjamin, senior director at the house eCycleElectric. “You management your speed together with your feet, like with a daily bike,” he says. “You simply feel very powerful and accelerate simply.”
In addition to the pedal-assist feature, some e-bikes associate with a throttle that engages the motor with the press of a button. These belong to a separate category of e-bike that, obviously, doesn’t supply a pure sport experience; they’re conjointly hot in some municipalities. apparently, Benjamin says, those who aren’t already “cyclists” tend to gravitate toward throttle bikes initially, then again circle and select a pedal-assist for his or her next purchase.
2. they are going pretty fast… to some extent.
The tougher you pedal, the larger the boost, the quicker you’ll ride—to some extent. E-bikes allow you to hum on at a brisk clip, however they aren’t motorcycles. You’ll ne'er hammer down the road at forty five mph. The motor is ruled to prevent propellant you extra after you hit 20-28 mph, reckoning on the bike. therefore you’ll save time on your commute (I shave concerning 3 minutes off a five-mile trip) however still get pleasure from the scenery.
You can conjointly management however huge of AN assist you get. Most e-bikes associate with an influence switch that allows you to modify the boost setting from “eco” (low) to “turbo” (high), for after you need a very little additional oomph to assist you, say, up a steep hill.
3. You’ll ride tons additional, although you already ride tons.
Getting AN e-bike will dramatically increase however usually you ride, in line with a recent survey of nearly one,800 e-bike homeowners in North America. Beforehand, fifty five % of respondents aforesaid they rode daily or weekly. when shopping for AN e-bike, that variety soared to ninety one %. It makes sense: although you’re super match, you continue to get tired (likely from coaching or racing) and remounting your bike will want a duty. If you have got AN e-bike, you'll be able to continue riding whereas giving your drained legs a touch of an opportunity. you'll be able to conjointly go quicker, that makes biking for extended visits additional engaging, even once you’re ironed for time.
For people who aren’t frequent riders, e-bikes open up an entire new world. whereas you will not be conditioned to ride 5-10 miles at a time, you'll be able to cowl those distances simply with AN electrical assist, that may be a good way to create endurance and confidence. that very same survey found that ninety four % of non-cyclists rode daily or weekly when obtaining AN e-bike.
4. There’s AN e-bike for everything.
Name a kind of riding, ANd there’s an e-bike for that. If you have got zero interest in an electrical road bike, you will end up head over heels for a high-capacity e-cargo bike that may haul four hundred pounds of stuff whereas still cruising at a cool fifteen mph. E-bikes square measure obtainable in fat, cargo, commuter, recreational, hardtail, full-suspension mountain, and even performance road bike designs. For proof, here are a dozen e-bikes we have a tendency to love for each kind of pedaler.
5. they will replace driving.
“People square measure shopping for electrical bicycles as some way to scale back automotive visits,” Benjamin says. the information backs him up: twenty eight % of survey respondents aforesaid they bought AN e-bike specifically to switch driving a automotive. and lots of alternative reasons consumers listed for wanting AN e-bike—including carrying loading and youngsters, avoiding parking and traffic, and environmental concerns—also indicate a need to induce out from behind the wheel. Plus, you don’t got to modification garments or stop working after you hit your destination, as a result of you don’t need to physical exercise the maximum amount of a sweat.
Consider, too, that quite 1/2 all driving visits are shorter than ten miles, with some surveys reportage that the common single trip amounts to just 5.95 miles. That’s a no brainer distance to hide by e-bike. In fact, the survey found that homeowners replaced forty six % of their automotive commutes and thirty % of their driving errands with e-bike rides. All you would like is a great commuter bag to carry your stuff, and you’re set.
PREVIOUS：EBIKE Custom Samples for our customer
NEXT：What's the difference between ebike hydraulic and mechanical disc brakes?
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2932
|
__label__cc
| 0.666482
| 0.333518
|
So Warlords of Draenor is here...
Apparently the new expansion to World of Warcraft, Warlords of Draenor is out, and for the first time since World of Warcraft was released, I'm not there to jump in from the start. Or possibly, probably, ever.
My Twitter feed is currently flooding with glee (and quite a lot of frustration) about the new expansion , it's quite contageous to be honest. It's not like I don't think about WoW almost every day as it is, I have been seriously considering getting this new expansion eventhough I most likely won't be able to play it. Ok, that's only a half-truth. There are tons of things you can do in WoW even if you don't have time for raiding or even dungeoning. You can do all the quests for instance or challenge yourself with some odd form of Ironman. It's not like I don't have any spare time, I am using some of that to write this after all. Time I could spend playing WoW of course! I've spoken to the better half about dividing baby time so that we could allow eachother (because he wouldn't mind playing a bit again) to do a dungeon or LFR every now and then. But it's stayed at talks so far because quite frankly, even though I really want to play WoW again - I actually don't want to play WoW again. I've said it before and I am going to say it again. I know WoW will take up all of my spare time and I still have a shit-ton of other games I want to play. I think "you know what, let's just install the damn thing again" and then I immediately go "no, I won't. I still want to play Baldur's Gate, Thief 2, Legend of Grimrock, Pokemon Omega Sapphire, Koudelka..." and so on and so forth. If only I could trust myself to only play WoW occasionally and also give time to other games. But I wouldn't. I am too cheap. Since WoW is subscription based I know I would want to get my moneys worth and try to squeeze out as much time with it as possible. So for now, no WoW. We'll see how long I'll last. But enough of this, what I really wanted to talk about were WoW expansions. Because I've seen them all.
There have been better and worse expansions but overall I really don't think there's been a bad one. I mean, what would that have been? Really boring quests and instances/raids I guess. With every expansion I thought there was something really fun but I also feel like my level of fun was closely connected to my commitment to the game and the quality of my surrounding social life. This is an mmo after all and there is only so much fun you can have on your own, as I quickly learned in Vanilla.
Admittedly I wasn't there for the launch of WoW, I joined the WoW crowd some half-year afterwards, but I have been eagerly at the gates for every expansion. With Burning Crusade I was still a mere fledgling, eventhough I had played the game for over 1,5 years at that point (don't ask me what I was doing with my time). I didn't find my role in the game properly until BC was released, that is when I first started raiding and also decided on actually maining my priest (although I had already played her quite a lot beforehand). But there is nothing like the very first expansion, and Blizzard got everything damn right. I remember the feeling of the pre-patch leading up to the expansion and the mayhem that was the Opening of the Portal. It was a clutter so full of Horde and Alliance and death and kill-steals it was glorious. To then run through those portals and have the vast landscape of Hellfire Peninsula in front of you was such an amazing feeling. It looked massive and it looked like loads of fun and most importanly it held so many new things we had never seen before. New races, new mounts! New everything! With Burning Crusade Blizzard managed to make everything fun - this is where they got dungeons, raiding, pvping and questing absolutely right.
Just looking at it I can hear the tune - wowwiki.com
More importantly however, it managed to make me feel included, like I was part of the gang. All through vanilla, and like I mentioned I played it for quite some time, I had had the feeling that I was part of someone elses show. I was invited to their groups and their raids, but only when they desperately needed someone. It could've been anyone. And I wasn't part of the team, I was a guest - if even that. I was in guilds, but they didn't feel like home yet. I don't blame the people, this was during a time when I still hadn't decided to take part of endgame simply because I thought a lot of it was quite boring (40-man raids? What were they thinking?). But that meant standing outside and watching everyone else having all the fun. Also, I constantly had the feeling that I was late to everything. Whatever I wanted to do, most people had already done and it wasn't cool any longer. There is a huge difference between being in a raid where everyone is enthusiastic and where everyone just does it because they don't have anything else to do, as frequenters of LFR will know.
People complain about Blizzard making WoW too accessible, heck even I have. But BC made WoW accessible to me and I definitely encourage any steps Blizzard take to make as many people as possible feel like they have a spot (which is not the same as saying that I agree with every change they've done).
Once Wotlk was released my priest shoes fit me well and I decided to plan ahead and come prepared for this launch. BC I had just sort of experienced in full awe, Wotlk I was going to get in and own. I took my gaming way more serious for this release than I did for BC and I had raiding that waited for me at the other end of the leveling. I stood in line in the middle of the night for hours to get my Special Edition set. I remember stepping off the zeppelin in Howling Fjord (I was lucky enough to choose that starting area rather than Boring Tundra) and immediately loving it. The setting, feeling and music was great and the area was beautiful. This was another expansion Blizzard did extremely well, basically perfecting gameplay elements they had implemented in BC and trying out some new ones (different difficulties on bosses in raids was one of my favorite features that I really wish they would've kept). I loved every bit of Burning Crusade, Karazhan is one of my favorite raids, but by golly if Wotlk wasn't even better. I think every raid in Wotlk was fun and well done (yes, even TotC!) and I had a good and steady guild to raid with. Unfortunately towards the end of Wotlk, like Ikarus to the sun I wanted more and decided to leave the awesome guild I was in for one that was more raiding oriented. Things kind of spiraled downward for me from there.
That frost wyrm was really annoying though - youtube.com
For Cataclysm I decided that a digital download would be the fastest and smoothest way to get into the game. Time was of the essence because I wanted to be among the first to get into the end-game instances so that I could be geared to raid as quickly as possible. But I still didn't want to play through the quests so quickly so that I missed out on the experience, I tried to find a nice middle-path and managed to level fairly quickly (especially considering I did it as a healing priest, just as with the previous two expansions), taking a couple of days to reach the new max-level. I liked the questing experience of Cataclysm quite a lot. Eventhough I understand why they had to give the old world a face-lift, I wasn't too happy about it, but the new areas were fun (yes, even Vashj'ir!) and I liked the first couple of raids as well. Firelands was pretty meh and Dragon Soul could've been better so to me Cataclysm ended on a bit of a low note, compared to BC and Wotlk that definitely went out with their flags raised high. But maybe this coincided with me having issues with my guilds and eventually also on a personal level where I had less and less time to raid and play overall. I probably would've enjoyed Cataclysm all the way to the end if the conditions had been the same. Even still, BC and Wotlk were definitely better expansions, I think most people agree on that (right?).
Actually Dragon Soul wasn't that bad - curse.com
I'd say early Cataclysm is probably when I took my gaming the most seriously. I had done some pretty heavy raiding all through Wrath (and BC actually) but for Cata I was in a raid-oriented 25 man guild whereas previously I had "only" been in a casual-raiding 10 man guild. I blogged a lot about priest healing (and other things WoW) like changes to the class, specs and loved trying different tactics and gear to see how I could optimize my healing. Sometimes I wonder if my quest for glory got in the way of having fun, and on a guild level I think that might be true. I think a lot of people can recognize themselves in the problem with trying to balance fun with progress in any progress-oriented guild. A lot of the time progress = fun. Finally downing that boss makes all the wiping, farming and grief worth it. But only if you can acknowledge that success and not just feel like it's not worth anything unless you also down the next boss. And the next, and next and so on. There is a lot that could be said about that for sure.
Another digital download but this time a slower pace of leveling. To be honest, eventhough this is the most recent release (not counting the current one) this is the one I remember the least of. I remember being frustrated about disconnecting, quests not working properly and not being able to click quest items/givers because there was a literal horde of players standing in the way (on their mounts just to be extra much of a nuisance). I am sure that didn't differ much from any of the previous releases, but for some reason I remember the annoyance part a lot more than the awed part. MoP did not sweep me off my feet like all the other expansions had. Maybe at this point I was already too roughed up and the stars had been dusted out of my eyes. Maybe I was getting old and bitter.
MoP was nice, but I never got into it. I didn't catch on to the lore and I just wasn't very excited about the whole process again. It's really not the games fault, at this point I didn't have as much fun in WoW as I used to, for reasons I've delved into in this blog several times before. A couple of things bothered me about MoP, something that had started already with Cataclysm. I felt like it had a lot less content than BC and Wotlk. Less instances primarily (I don't know if this is actually the case though) and having to trudge through the same two (it always felt like they came in pairs) got tedious and boring very quickly. Also, as mentioned, the story about the Pandarens didn't interest me anywhere near as much as the demons, undead and Old Ones of BC and Wotlk had done. Even the dragons of Cataclysm were more interesting.
At least no more dragons - mmo-champion.com
But like I said, I think this has a lot more to do with the fact that I didn't have as much time to raid and had swapped guild a couple of times at this point. I ended up in nice guilds every time (eventhough they tended to crumble pretty quickly around me) but not knowing the people you raid with still makes a difference. In a way I guess I had come full circle, feeling like an outsider again. Joining in as a guest when desperately needed, just like back in the Vanilla days. I felt like I needed more to fully enjoy the game back then and I still do so if I ever decide to actually start playing WoD it would have to be in a completely different way to what I have been. But maybe that's not as difficut as I think it is.
What are your experiences with the different expansions and which one do you think was best? (Hint: It's WotLK)
Posted by Zinn at 15:29 4 comments:
Labels: Ranting
The Five Hidden Laws of WoW
Doesn't it feel like sometimes games claim to use one kind of rules but in reality they run by a hidden set of rules designed to mock and frustrate you? A lot of this comes from biased thinking, meaning that when something has started to annoy you is when you'll start noticing it and you'll think that it stands out. You rarely recognize when things go your way but more often when things go bad. I swear that some games just seem to know how to tease you though. I don't know how many times I've said I'll give up grinding for something in WoW only to have it drop the minute later (proving I did not quit grinding after all, but I would've! Eventually...).
Continuing on with another post based on some notes I found in an old notebook of mine, this one is about video game logic or lack thereof. These notes (this post and the previous one) were written closely together so clearly I was in something of a pissy mood, hateful about players in general and my game luck in particular when writing these. Remember that these are written tongue in cheek, are based on my experiences alone and you might not agree at all. Also I use words like "always" very loosely. At the time they were probably just an attempt to vent some anger from my side. After (at that time) five years of playing WoW I thought I had its tricks pinned down - I knew that it worked around hidden rules that were designed to lure us into trying just one more time. Fake instant gratification!
1. In a group, whoever plays the worst will always get the loot.
All the entries on this list are frustrating, but I wonder if this one is not the worst one. I was ok with people who played badly (aka did bad dps/healing/tanking and/or a lot of mistakes) to get some loot. In fact this "rule" even worked to my favor on occasion. I clearly remember bringing my lock to Vault of Archavon once, playing utter crap and being the one to win the loot out of at least a handful of rollers. Playing badly is one thing, it can happen to anyone. But the amount of times this seems to have worked in the favor of the jerkwad of the group, I can't even count. You know, that one person in the group who seems dead set on ruining the day for everyone unlucky enough to be grouped with them. Numerous times have I've had people like that in my group, seen something really cool drop (even random epics, mounts or the like) and 9 to 1 the Ruiner of Fun would win it. Just to write "Lol! Screw you guys!" and leave with a digital finger aimed at the rest of the group. Oh sorry, I mean "LOL!!!! SCRUW U GUYZ!!!!".
Every... time... - wowhuntershall.com
2. Percentages are not what they say they are.
This might take some explaining so bare with me, but this is true as day. Imagine yourself fighting some kobolds in Elwynn Forest, chuckling at their cries of "No take candle!" and having a generally good time. Say, just hypothetically that you've got 100% hit chance and 10/10 swings are actually landing. Now imagine further that you somehow get a debuff that reads "10% reduced hit chance". "Ok" you might think. "So I'll only hit 9 out of my 10 swings, no biggie", shrug and move on to the next Kobold. The Kobold end up being the one laughing however as you stand there, wildly flailing your weapon at them, suddenly having a hit chance that seems closer to 1/10 than anything else. What am I trying to say? I always felt, nay unconsciously known, that debuffs that reduces stats had more than twice the actual impact than it claims to have.
It's like the game can't handle statistics and probability properly. I know this is how the human mind works (hence the existance of this list), meaning that we often think in either/or rather than in actual probabilities. But I thought a game, based on solid, programmed numbers would be better than that! As it is I often wonder if the game just runs by the commands "doesn't miss much" or "misses a lot", rather than actual percentages.
3. You always get dazed when you want it the least.
Which usually is always. But sometimes you're lucky and don't seem to get dazed much at all. You can bet your life (and it will be your life) that whenever you're being chased by a ganker you will get dazed by a mob. Or when you pull an elite. Or when you try to ride out of Zul'Farrak after having pulled half the instance.
us.battle.net
4. If you run between mobs to avoid aggroing them you will pull both and their stealthed friend.
See point 3. on this list for what will happen next by the way. This is just classic irony or perhaps Murphy's Law. By trying to avoid to get into trouble, you'll actually end up in trouble, and a lot more of it than if you had just wo/manned up in the first place and dealt with it rather than trying to chicken your way through. But I just hate it when I am simply trying to get smoothly from point A to point B (which happens a lot in WoW), I'm not in the mood for any skull bashing and this Gnoll just knows he has to ruin my day. So he brings his friend. And where the hell did THAT guy come from?!
5. It doesn't matter which class you bring, stuff for your other class will always drop.
This one is for all you alters out there, you know my pain! At one point I was juggling quite many, and did some 10 VoA runs each week (day? Don't remember how often they reset). And I swear, the more alts I had the more it felt like I lost out on loot. Which you know, makes sense, because every loot that dropped was something I could've used on one of my other alts. And I guess the more alts I had the more I got the sense that loot dropped just to mock me. Ok, maybe I can scratch this one and just write it down to me being damn unlucky. Or probably averagely unlucky.
Well this person had no trouble finding gear! - wow.joystiq.com
Bonus entry!
6. If you get jumped by someone while questing and you're about to own him, a paladin will come out of nowhere and kill you when your opponent is at 5%.
I think the title speaks for itself and I think this just happened to me when I wrote this list.
Ever felt particularly out of favour with the WoW Gods? I'd love to hear about it in the comments!
Labels: Alts, Loot, paladin, Ranting
10 Signs You Should Leave The Raid
One of the many very good things about playing WoW was what a good source of blog material it turned out to be. I literally had notebooks filled with ideas to write about, based on pretty much anything that happened to me in the game. I'm not saying that life in general can't be a good source to write about if you just think about it, but to me WoW always worked like a charm. The fact that I don't play it anymore is a small reason to why I write blog posts so rarely nowadays, but turns out I've got a load of WoW posts actually lying around. The other day I was checking through an old notebook I found and I read through some of the ideas I had that never made it into a proper blog post for whatever reason. Most often I am guessing I didn't think it was much enough of an idea to become a post but sometimes it might've just been lack of time. This post is one of the latter I am guessing, as it was basically done in my notebook and just needed to be written down digitally to be bloggified. Since I haven't played WoW for over a year now I don't know how much any of these hold up, all of them aren't exactly laugh out loud material either, but it might at least put a smile of recognition on your faces. So here it goes;
1. The hunter says he's a melee hunter
People have been making fun of hunters throughout the history of WoW for many reasons. From "everything is a hunter weapon" to the fact that you could just sic your pet on an enemy and roll your thumbs to profit. Fact is that really early on in the game I could swear that Blizzard at least thought about making melee hunters a viable choice, the same way they sort of tried shaman tanks. So maybe we can cut some confused hunters out there some slack. To someone well versed in what WoW is all about, the mere idea to play your hunter without a ranged weapon sounds just about as ludicrous as playing a melee boomkin. Yet there were some rebels out there that thought exactly that would be a good idea. At least there is kudos on them for trying to up the difficulty on the hunter class.
Even Blizzard agreed it had to stop - nerfnow.com
2. Raid Leader only knows how to speak in /s
I encountered a lot of people who didn't seem to fully understand how to use the chat system properly, or more often how to turn off caps. In the early levels this is forgivable. But if you've made it all the way to raid level, it is time to learn. Especially if you hope to lead.
Or if this happens - reddit.com
3. Main Tank says "mom says dinner is ready"
It's easy to make fun of young kids parents that don't understand that WoW isn't pausable and what tremendous issues it can cause a lot of other people when their kid has to come to dinner right that second. But maybe the kid is at fault for not warning the parents about their commitments and keeping a dialogue on game time vs dinner time.
4. People try to lose aggro by running away from the tank
I find this funny because it's such a rooted reflex in human behaviour. To get away from danger you need to run from danger. Unfortunately this means also running away from the person that could possibly save you and when raiding this can be especially troublesome. This got frustrating enough for Thoryana to write a pretty good song about it. Yet I've done this myself many, many times.
5. The Raid Leader isn't part of a guild
I don't know if this is still true, but there was a time while I played where being part of a guild was the way to check if someone was morally ok or not. If someone wasn't part of a guild they probably didn't care about people! And if they don't care about people they will greedily ninja everything they see! Also if they were part of a guild they could be punished by that guild when they did something wrong, so obviously the fancier the guild the more trustworthy you'd be. Obviously this system didn't work too well since it's easy to just create your own guild to be in all by your lonesome and I came across plenty of huge guilds where everyone was basically a douche (Ye Olde Goone Squad, I am looking at you!).
6. Main Tank/Healer uses the Jenkins title
When titles were introduced, one of the easiest to get was the Jenkins title. So of course, having it up came to symbolize someone who didn't try very hard and/or didn't know much about the game. Then came the people who used it "ironically". And then we stopped caring I think.
Just one step closer to getting his own game - tannerhiggins.com
7. The paladin only uses minor blessings
Paladins have been changed so much I can't be completely sure what I meant when I wrote this one. It was probably when minor blessings were 5 minutes whereas major were 30 minutes. But then they changed it so that everyone of the same class shared major blessings which meant that some people needed to get minor once to get the right blessing, and that's totally legit of course. I have no idea how it works nowadays.
8. The Main Tank only uses BoA gear
I'm going to guess that LFR has become easy enough that this might not be much of an issue, but a couple of years ago or just after BoA had been introduced, you did not want to see any of that gear on the person who was going to take big hits from the big troll. This was especially true before BoA tank gear was even implemented.
What I get for Googling "boa" - reptileforum.co.uk
9. The Moonkin hasn't specced moonkin form
In line with the melee hunter, it always fascinated me how some people could misunderstand their class and their talents so tremendously (eventhough I've been there myself!). I'm not talking about nitpicky stat optimizing, but somehow not looking at your fellow players and seeing they are all doing it one way and you're not. Doesn't that make you wonder? I'm all for trying new things (and did occasionally), but unfortunately that is rarely rewarded in WoW.
A good reason not to spec moonkin - wow.joystiq.com
10. Tank Healer says "I have really bad lags"
This is just one of those famous last words kind of phrase that probably doesn't need much more explanation.
I knew it! - memegen.com
Labels: Hunter, paladin, Raids, Specs
Baby & Game
Whenever me and the bf have some free time, we pretty much use it to game. We do watch the occasional series or in my case write a bit (reading has unfortunately been put on the back burner for now) but for the most part we try to get some game time in. It's funny how we try to maximally utilize the baby sleep time by pretty much cutting out anything remotely irrelevant and cram in more game time. Make tea? No time. Go to the bathroom? Not now! God forbid he falls asleep while we're out. Run home and maybe there is still time for some minutes of gaming! This is not the actions of addicts, but of gaming deprived individuals (that's what I'm sticking with at least).
Which is why I don't play sim-games - aspertypical.com
It's inevitable however that we go bold enough to try and do something gaming related while the little guy is awake. As much as I love playing "spin the shiny thing", "rattle the plastic thing" or "bang the hard thing", every now and then you need a break from those thrilling games and do something mommy wants to do. This is when the hunt for baby entertainment begins. And I've made some nice discoveries.
Growing up owning a Nintendo 64, I was one of the people who never liked it when other people said that Nintendo only made "kids games" like it was a bad thing. They didn't get it all wrong however. The N64 games are perfectly suited for infants and toddlers!
Watching a Let's Play of Banjo & Kazooie, a game I always liked but found way too difficult for myself to ever finish, I noticed how my little son (currently 8 months old) loved to watch it with me. And not just Banjo & Kazooie, but pretty much anything with big, colorful sprites/figures and not too quick movements. The whole mid-90's segment of video gaming is filled with games that fill that criteria - games like Croc, Spyro, Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster Busts Loose and Lester the Unlikely. These are examples of games at least my kid thinks are absolutely hilarious to watch, often having him even laugh out loud at the funny sound effects and animations (or whatever it is that amuses him, I don't actually know!).
Giant carrots are hilarious to a baby - giantbomb.com
My bf who is a massive Sonic fan was also happy to notice that our son loves to watch him play Sonic. At least Green Hill Zone and definitely the bonus stage - especially in Sonic & Knuckles (I guess he likes the "booap booap" sound effect the balloons do). He snaps his head towards any direction he hears the Sonic tune from, his entire face turning expectant, hoping to see some Sonic action.
In non-gaming but still baby-related news we've also managed to identify at least two songs he enjoys listening to, not counting all the actually-designed-for-children-but-nauseating-for-adult-tunes he likes;
Psy - Gentleman, which almost always silences him when he's cranky and
James Blunt - You're Beautiful, maybe that is mostly because of how horribly highpitched the bf tries to sing along.
Me and the bf have discussed how we want to introduce video gaming to our son, when the day comes that he actually wants to play some himself. He is already curiously investigating our controllers (admittedly he is curiously investigating pretty much anything at the moment) and it's not too far off before he hopefully wants to give gaming a try. We both feel that starting out on the older consoles could be a good thing, as the games often are straight forward and designed with small children in mind - Sonic again as an example. Really older games, talking about NES here, might be a bit too unforgiving and difficult for a really small child to enjoy (or maybe that's just my impatient ass who thinks that, the kids back in the 80'd didn't complain!), but the SNES/Mega Drive era could be perfect for a small kid to start with (although in all honesty a lot of those games are pretty tricky as well).
This is where anger is born - gameskinny.com
Maybe the most important thing I hope to teach him is a respect for where gaming is coming from and different styles of designs - a time when instant satisfaction and reward wasn't as prevalent as it is today. Just looking at my own gaming experiences I can see how the instant gratification system has affected me. I don't want to be one of those people who needs a game to be super fun the first 10 min or throw it out, and I don't want my son to be like that either. It's always easy to think you'll do things one way of course, but we'll see how easy it is to put into practice once we get there. Most likely it is something that'll come naturally. Either he will show an interest for the old consoles or he won't. I just hope I can fill his head with some classics before he gets to the age where he feels the need to play whatever his friends are playing. I have really fond memories of watching my mom play games and I hope I can share the same thing with my son.
It'll be very interesting to see what kind of games he eventually enjoys playing, as me and the bf are quite different in tastes. He likes the late 80's-early 90's console platforming games the best and I prefer the late 90's-early 00's pc games the best. It'd be funny if he decided to fill out some genres currently unrepresented in our household - racing and sports games. Time will tell.
Posted by Zinn at 11:43 12 comments:
Labels: Analysis, Baby
Are Video Games Going Full Circle?
My father, who's never touched a video game in his life as far as I know, helped me realize something regarding the video game industry and the state it is currently in. The reason for this post was an article I saw in a magazine regarding the massive interest people are having in Early Access, games that in essence are unfinished. Then there is also an interest in indie games big enough that Steam feel obliged to create something like Greenlight. We also have a sentimental wave going through the video gaming community allowing for a page like gog.com (that's good old games) thrive (as I assume they do, they sure seem to). To this is added an equally big interest in Kickstarting projects, aka throwing money at things that don't even exist yet and possibly never will. All this points at an increasing distrust in the big companies being capable of creating games that are going to be fun. Although the furious kickstarting has subsided a bit, it seems every other game I check out on Steam nowadays is Early Access. I'm personally not particularly keen on buying an unfinished game (although I have) but there is no denying that there is a big interest in these games, and in all honesty it looks like the more broken the game is the more people want to play it, how else can you explain why so many people have paid for a game that is still as broken as DayZ? There is something alluring about the concept and I have been trying to figure out what it is.
Back to my dad, who doesn't care for video games but has a huge interest in music instead. He told me a while ago that vinyls were back "in" and he was very happy about that since he had always preferred those anyway. But there was a time when vinyls were uncool and casettes were all the rage (remember those?! My entire childhood was all about casettes). That didn't last long though until cds were all the rage. And now I wonder if anyone still buys cds anymore, although they're still sold in stores for some odd reason. Nowadays you either get music on mp3 or if you're a connoisseur on a vinyl. There are systems even older than the vinyl, but there is something about the vinyl that eventhough it has its flaws (size and storage capacity) it still perfected some areas that true music lovers hold in high regard (sound quality I think). Sure with vinyls you get some raspiness, but I think that adds to the charm. (Then with a vinyl you get a nice big case, the slip and something substantial to hold and look at. You don't get that with an mp3 and you barely get that with a cd).
And they come in funny shapes - theawesomer.com
But what has that got to do with the video game industry? I believe the video game industry has been around just about long enough now to start making its own cycle, just like the music storage industry. An old system has gotten a renewed life because people were bored or otherwise unsatisfied with the modern option.
Eventhough there were systems older than the NES, I think most people would agree that the 8bit era, and particularly the NES 8bit era got a lot of things right. Some people would maybe say that things were truly perfected in the SNES era, when 2d gaming was done absolutely right in terms of inventiveness and boldness. Or was it? At the time people were clearly not satisfied. The 3d revolution had to come and some games benefited from it and some games not so much. Few were the developers however who dared to stray from the 3d path, everyone seemed dazzled by it and many games were forced into it although they definitely should not have (I am looking at you poor Sonic). Fortunately 2d wasn't completely abandoned thanks to the Game Boy consoles and the success and incredible library of the Game Boy Advance show that many people still harbored a great interest in this type of games. The GBA was released in 2001 or just about when people would have started getting over the initial 3d hype. On the PC and stationary console market however, the quest for the best graphics and most frames continued.
Not like 16bit Mario to 64bit Mario - ign.com
Graphics has always mattered to the video game market, I'm not saying this is something new. All the way back in the 80's companies were talking about how many bits their consoles could produce or how fast their consoles were (I am looking at you SEGA). But after a while I got the feeling it started getting more important than good gameplay and when the ps3/xbox360 were released it felt like they talked more about how pretty their games were going to be rather than how fun they were (although that might be because "fun" is difficult to put down in simple numbers). I don't think I was the only one who looked at the new gen (now previous gen) thinking "yes there is better graphics, but not enough for me to be wowed anymore".
Before that the console gens had enough of a step up in graphics for us to be amazed and probably a bit blinded by the difference, allowing otherwise shitty games to make it into stardom (I'm not going to name any names because I am sure to step on some toes) - NES/MS to Snes/Mega Drive to N64/PS/Dreamcast to Gamecube/PS2 were still big leaps graphic wise. In the details there is a big difference between a ps2 and ps3 game I am sure, the amount of hair on the head/pebbles on the ground/leaves on the tree that you are able to show or the frame rate differs of course. But it's just not enough to cover bad game play or yet another sequel anymore.
Can we even see that many colours? - thepalaceofwisdom.co.uk
People started to look elsewhere for what the big AAA titles lacked and indie developers suddenly found a huge following in their type of games (which sort of coincided with better game creating tools and better ways of disitributing for indie developers). Games that because of lack of funding often had to cut back on the expensive things like graphics. Instead they could offer something that was free and in fact desperately difficult to pay your way into - imagination and inventiveness. Gamers were even willing to pay up front for not-yet-created games just so they could get something else, something different or possibly something that reminded them of what they played many years ago. And they were willing to play these games before they were even finished just to get into it as fast as possible.
Eventhough Early Access might have started as a way for the small developers to get feedback on their games (Minecraft might have been one of the earliest and most popular examples of Early Access) I don't think that is the reason for its popularity today. To me Early Access is a way to get to play a game that is still in changing, where I might have one experience one day and get a new one the next. There is something attractive about a game in change and about being the pioneer who gets into the grit to sort out the issues. It turns into team work where I get to have fun and play a game all the while helping someone at the same time. And who didn't dream of getting to work as a game tester as a kid (I know I did)? It allows for a completely different kind of gaming, one that is somewhat similar to what mmorpgs offer with their patches that often change gameplay a lot. It seems like people enjoy the idea that what they have is not all there is but that there will be new things to learn and discover as time moves on. It is definitely one of the things I can see is fun about Early Access.
Something I've also seen on the rise are people who actually enjoy the Early Access games because they are broken. Games like Rust and DayZ seem to be so popular because of their unreliability and unpredictability and the whackiness that comes out of it. I honestly wonder if these games will retain their popularity once they are done - if nothing else people might feel like they've played the game enough at that point and we'll get the weird situation of a game being abandoned when it is finally finished. This is something that must be insanely difficult to try to replicate, as actual broken or otherwise horribly bad games like Ashes Cricket 2013 or Day One: Garry's Incident just seem to get a really bad reputation and then no one gets near them. Although maybe in those specific cases there is a difference between broken and unplayable games vs broken games released by nice game developers and broken games released by douche game developers.
That looks painful - steamcommunity.com
In any case it seems like the playerbase wants to revert further and further back into gaming history. There doesn't seem to be much of a limit to how scaled down the graphics can be, just look at a game like Nidhogg or Minecraft, as long as the game play delivers. 2d, pixel or otherwise retrostyle graphics and now even broken games, linking back to trying to get your games to work or badly coded games from the AMIGA era and similar, are making a huge come back. Will it stop at this however? Or will the next big thing be everyone playing MUDs? Because that would be pretty cool.
Labels: Musings
Why Can't I Finish My Games?
When I stopped playing WoW, the fact that I couldn't commit several hours a day to raiding and farming anymore was part of the reason. Another part was the endlessness of the game, the fact that I had ended up in a cycle of repeating actions over and over just to see if I could do things slightly different, slightly better. I loved the feeling of trying out new ideas in old surroundings, finding out new things about myself as a player as I went along. After having done that for 8 years, I finally felt like it was time to take on a different style of gaming. I really felt like I wanted to simply be able to start up a game, go from A to Z and reach an end somewhere. something that would allow me to eventually put the game aside and feel like it was over and done with, and then jump onto the next. I knew there were tons of games out there that allowed me to do this, all of which I had neglected for the sake of all that was WoW. I didn't mind a game being long, but I needed to know there was an end somewhere and that my time invested into the game would lead to me eventually being able to quit it so that I could experience another game. Time for me to take on all the RPGs, FPS and Adventure games out there that I had missed.
I do miss tanking though...
I think the gaming universe is out to get me though, as the new big thing seems to be to make huge games without and actual ending and I just recently noticed how they are basically piling up on top of eachother on my computer. I have this idea that to not bog down my poor computer too much (it's a couple of years old now after all, sweet thing), I'll only ever keep a set amount of installed games on it. At the moment that number is around 14, depending on whether you count emulators or not (in this case, not counted). I try to only install a game whenever I've uninstalled one, a sequence of events which often takes weeks, if not months, before I finally go through with as it normally pans out something like this;
"Hmm, haven't played that game in a while, maybe it's time to get rid of it? But I haven't really finished it, and if I uninstall it I lose my save and have to start from the beginning again, I'll never have the energy for that. Or I save the save file and it will be yet another thing that fills up my computer memory while rotting away in forgotteness... Nah, let's just keep the game a bit longer".
And for the record, I do talk a lot to myself. Not out loud though, 'cause that would be weird right?!
And that's just for the games that do have an ending, imagine how much harder it is when the game is endless! In fact it's virtually impossible for me to get rid of the endless games because there is always a reason to play it sometime in the future. I am really bad at getting rid of things outside of my gaming, it's not any easier when it comes to my gaming. Whenever I install one, it will surely end up lying around in my computer for a very long time to come, making it hard for me to move on to new games I want to try and it bugs me.
Just another turn! - store.stempowered.com
For instance, at the moment I have a couple of oldies but goldies installed that I know I will probably never want to get rid off, because eventhough I play them quite rarely, I do want to play them every now and then and they always give me hours of fun - these are Heroes of Might and Magic 3 and Settlers 2. MtG: Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013 is another one I like to jump into occasionally for a quick game of MtG and eventhough that happens maybe once a month I would miss it if I didn't have the possibility to anylonger. Or would?! Maybe I wouldn't but I am too chicken to take the risk. Hearthstone on the other hand didn't really stick with me, but I keep thinking I need to give it another chance and then it totally will blow my mind and be my next favorite thing because this is what everyone else keep telling me. Therefor I keep it around, but I should probably just let it go and replace it with a game I actually want to play now and not in an hypotethetical future, like Half-Life 2. I can always get back to Hearthstone later after all (although I am always worried something will happen to Valve or gog.com that will make my games libraries vanish).
Faster Than Light and Steam Marines are endless games (damn rogue-likes) that I am actually playing actively at the moment, so they at least are earning their keep on my hard drive. But even if I am enjoying those games, I am a bit stressed out by the fact that they might be hogging my attention for months to come. I mean, that shouldn't be a bad thing at all because they are fun games! But it's just WoW all over again, I am having fun but still think I might be missing out on something. My gaming time is very limited and any time put into one of the endless games isn't putting me any closer to it's end or to me feeling like I am done with it. In the case of those games I just have to wait until I get bored with them and who knows when that is?
Dem graphix - mobygames.com
The problem is that eventhough I never regretted any of the hours I put into WoW or any game I enjoy playing, I then occasionally stumble upon a game where I think "why the heck haven't I played this sooner?!". Thief The Dark Project and Planescape: Torment are good examples. They remind me that there are so many other good games out there I have yet to try (my list is now very, very long) and here I am just playing FTL all over again or sinking another six hours into HoMM3 which I've already played ridiculously much. When I played WoW all that time I could find myself wondering whether I was actually having fun or just thought I did. If I never played another game, then what would I know what true fun would be like?
It's like that first real relationship where after a while you start to wonder whether you are actually in love with the other person or if you just think you are - how will you know if you never experience another relationship? But then you don't want to give up what you have because as far as you know you're having a good time. But how do you know for sure you are? Yeah you see the dilemma...
Just as with life, my gaming has to enter that perfect balance between not feeling stagnant and at the same time not feeling like you're risking losing anything you like. It's not an easy thing to do, in the end I wish I just had more hours in the day so I didn't have to choose but could do ALL the things. Or maybe I should just accept that as long as I am having fun I'm not doing it wrong.
Labels: Games, Ranting
Why Sonic is too cool for his own good
Considering what a gamer I've turned out to become, I wasn't exactly spoiled with access to video games when I was a kid. You hear a lot of people nowadays go on about how they started gaming just about when they learned to grasp things with their hands, me on the other didn't get proper into gaming until my teens. I have vague memories of the odd computer game here and there - watching my uncle play Railroad Tycoon on his Amiga when I was 5, playing Lemmings on the computer of a friend of the family when I was around 6, Shufflepuck Cafe on an old Mac at school when I was 9 - nothing fancy and definitely not for any extent. A neighbour of mine had a SNES however, and this was the closest I got to some good gaming as a kid. He was stingy with letting us play though, at least that is how I remember it, but we got some good sessions of Killer Instinct, Super Mario World and Tiny Toons in before his mom sold it. Then eventually I bought my own first console, a N64, and the rest is history.
So pretty... - castlevania.wikia.com
What I can't recall ever playing as a kid however, was a Mega Drive (Genesis for you Americans). I knew of them, obviously. I had heard about Sonic and... that was about it. I didn't know much about SEGAs consoles to begin with, I didn't know anyone who owned one of their consoles and by the time I got around to caring SEGA was almost out of the console business anyway. It makes me wonder when I actually got around to trying a classic game like Sonic for the first time, but I am thinking it must've been well into my late teens. I recall my first impression of it vividly however - I thought it was pretty shit. Don't get me wrong, I'm not some sort of Nintendo fangirl who automatically disliked everything that wasn't Mario. I am in fact not overly fond of most of Marios platforming games either (as it turns out I'm not very fond of platforming games overall), but Sonic disappointed me in being nothing like everything I had heard about it being. Sonic was supposed to be fast and cool, he definitely got the cool factor over Mario but I thought the levels were just confusing and silly. Sonic seemed to run randomly across the place, the level design was pretty much the opposite of the straightforwardness of the Mario games (which were pretty much the only platforming games I had as a reference point at that time). Eventhough I wasn't a big fan of the Mario games I could get around getting from A to B via pretty much one route. In Sonic however you got from A to B via what felt like fifteen different routes and it just had me pressing the buttons wondering what the heck was going on. Did I call the shots or did Sonic? Half the time Sonic was either running too much or not running enough.
Actually not an intestinal tract - soniczone0.com
I could go on about the issues I have with the Sonic games, and I would probably still think that way if my bf wasn't a massive Sonic fan. That alone did not sway me, but he nagged me into giving the game a second chance. I played it and still disliked it, played it again and felt like I understood the levels a bit better, played it a third time and thought I could see some of what my bf loved so much about it. The levels weren't confusing, they were open and inviting to exploration and experimentation. Sonic wasn't running aimlessly, the speed was part of the platforming challenge and knowing when and when not to use it was the difference between a skilled and less skilled Sonic player (ie my bf vs me). It's not like I love the Sonic games or anything, but I've gone from dislike to respect and understanding regarding them, and it made me think a lot about how SEGA ruined the franchise so badly with the later games. How come the Sonic games failed so hard to live up to old glory when the Mario games clearly had no such problems? It can't have been introducing the series to 3d or implementing new gameplay elements, all of which the Mario series have also done. But whereas the Mario games generally go from victory to victory, every new Sonic game is always anticipated with a shred of hope and a load of fear. I'm amazed the Sonic fan community never seems to truly give up on their blue hedgehog - even the latest Sonic Boom debacle seems to leave people going "but at least maybe the games will be good" - and maybe that says a lot about them.
I like lamp! - sonic.wikia.com
I read about how the Mario fans complain about how some new transformation in some new Mario World game isn't "as cool and useful as it could be" all the while the Sonic fans go "at least in this game there is a level that isn't completely awful, so there is that!". The Mario fans are spoiled with awesomeness, great level design and ingenuity, the Sonic fans are wrecked with too much of the opposite - how could these two series develop so differently?
As I started thinking more and more about it a thought popped into my head: Maybe Sonic is too cool for his own good? Maybe that fact points toward a design idea that simply wasn't made for good gaming in the long run. It points towards the fact that Sonic was designed around not being Mario, whereas Mario was designed as being a tool to get through a game. As far as design goes, pretty much everything about Mario was work-around solutions designed to cater the game. With Sonic however, it seems to have been the other way around. The Mario games were never created with Mario in mind, he was just a character Miyamoto chose to use after he had designed the levels. Sonics games on the other hand must have (this is my own conclusion) been designed with Sonic in mind, and the amount of times a game has come out good when the characters were the starting point I feel like I can count on my left hand fingers (case in point: just about every movie license game out there). Thinking of it that way I'm amazed the first four games on the Mega Drive turned out as well as they did. Kudos to the game designers for managing to turn a Sonic character trait spreadsheet into some really good games.
Unfortunately for Sonic this seems to have meant an over-emphasizing on Sonic as a character as time went on and less focus on the games he starred in. Sonic got a whole bunch of tv-series, some of which I swear people remember a lot better than the games themselves (I'm one of those people) when asked. Who on the other hand remembers the Mario tv-series? As far as I know it was barely even aired in Sweden where I live, and eventhough Mario got a Live-Action-Movie (and Sonic was at least spared from that), Mario was always about the games whereas Sonic was about the image of the character, for better and worse (some of the tv-series are actually really good). Going back to the new Sonic Boom again it just shows this exact mentality at play yet again. Mario doesn't have a new tv-series and design overhaul coming out, but Sonic does. If SEGA put all that effort into making just one awesome Sonic game, rather than splitting up their efforts into "Making-Sonic-Look-Cool-For-The-New-Generation"-team and "Creating-Yet-Another-Series-About-Sonic & Co-Shenanigans"-team, I'm sure it might actually turn out alright.
At least Knuckles didn't get a green mohican - wreckitralph.wikia.com
Of course I don't actually know anything about the actual design process regarding neither Sonic nor Mario, and I wouldn't go as far as calling the first four games on the Mega Drive just lucky shots. There are obviously examples of character based games gone good just as there is the opposite. To me it just feels like as the Sonic series moved and new teams got their hand on the Sonic idea, maybe they didn't have a clear framework to work with. The Mario gameplay concept seems clear enough whereas game creators have struggled with Sonic. "So he runs a lot, then what?" seems to be what have gone through their minds. "What about story?", "What about more characters?", "What about fleshing out the characters we have?", "What about putting a lot of really annoying sound effects into the game that gets repeated every two seconds?". Ok the last one is on me. You don't see any of the Mario games putting any dimes into those buckets however. "So you can play 4-player in this game but we only have Mario and Luigi..." "Uhhh... how about letting people play as one of the mushrooms?" "Yeah, and maybe as the princess or Bowser?".
Shots were fired from both directions - theweek.com
In the Mario games the characters are the means to an end, and when Sonic was introduced SEGA knew they could use that to their advantage. What kid thinks a fat plumber is a cool mascot? I totally agree that Sonic is way cooler than Mario, and a lot more interesting as a character - hence why the Sonic tv-series have become so much more popular than any Mario equivalents. But in the long run the focus on Sonics persona seems to have gotten game designers confused, losing focus of what really matters in any good game - great gameplay.
I don't think making a good Sonic game today is impossible, and there are even a couple of fairly new releases that aren't too bad. Overall it just seems like Sonic himself has been allowed to overshadow too much of most Sonic games design ideas, leaving the rest of the game hollow and but a faint echo of their former glory.
My Top 5 Favorite Books
When I decided to have a child and started imagining what it might be like, I kind of understood that it would take a lot of time from all the things I used to put a lot of time into, like gaming and writing. Interestingly enough things didn't really turn out that way when work came in and ruined most of the time I had for gaming and writing long before my son did, meaning when he turned up I didn't really have to change much or sacrifice much in my routines - my son basically replaced the time I had put into work. So everything was just fine until I slowly realized something else was suddenly missing in my life, something I hadn't really thought about but that I actually had put a whole lot of time into - in fact more time the more I worked. I am talking about reading.
I've always loved to read and started out young when my overambitious parents gave me books way beyond my age that I struggled through to make them proud. Because of them I read books of for example HP Lovecraft, Orwell and stuff about philosophy well before my teens and in all honesty I don't think I actually understood much about them (I reread most of them later though, and they were at least good books). It's not like my parents efforts turned me into some sort of literature mastermind, but I at least did find a love for reading that is with me still today.
If someone were to ask me what my favorite genres were I'd probably say sci-fi, historical and factual books (the sci-fi most likely from my mom since she's a total sci-fi nut). To me, reading has always been somewhat like doing quests and completing a book and starting a new one is something I find immense satisfaction in. For this reason there are few books I've given up on (but there are a few, probably enough for their own list eventually!). At work I was known as "the girl who always reads" as I made sure to always have a book handy to fill out those little spaces of time when you have nothing to do and most people play Candy Crush Saga on their phones (nothing wrong with that, except King are total asshats). In my line of work, psychiatric care, there are many holes like these to fill and they allowed me to do a whole lot of reading. Time and opportunity I no longer have and my reading has taken a massive plunge, which definitely saddens me a bit.
My problem at the moment is that eventhough I love reading, I love gaming just that tiny bit more, so the few times I have to do whatever I like are often turned into gaming sessions. Lately I've tried to end the day with some reading in bed however, both because reading makes me sleepy as hell and because I just want to squeeze in some reading somewhere. In the light of not reading however, I have been thinking a lot about books I love and wish I could read again. So here is my top 5 favorite books! All the books on this list are books that are my personal favorites (obviously), books I've read several times and could read a hundred times more without getting bored of because they're just that great. But first I thought I'd start with some honorable mentions, this is not something I normally do for my top-lists, but these are a couple of books that deserve to be mentioned, and if you're into reading a check out, eventhough they didn't make it onto the list.
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco - I actually saw the movie before I read the book. I loved the movie, decided to read the book and loved that one even more. It's a low tone murder mystery, a bit in style with an episode of Murder She Wrote or Midsomer Murders. Set in a historical mileu, the atmosphere and storytelling of this book is just great.
Musashi by Eiji Fushikawa - A grand story about honor, betrayal and love set in rural Japan. Obviously based on the sword master Miyamoto Musashi this book has a pretty epic feel to it.
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden - I feel like the character portrayal of the main character Chiyo, and actually all the characters around her are just so good in this book. You really care and feel for them and eventhough they're entirely fictional they feel like real people you wish you could've known or met.
To the Edge of the Sky by Anhua Gao - I am a huge fan of reading about Mao China, because it's such a fascinating and horrifying telling of what man is capable of under pressure and extreme circumstances (much like Nazi Germany). Biographies from people who experienced it are my favorites since they're written by people who made it (obviously) and so offer some silver lining to all the gruesome.
5. The Keeper of the Isis Light by Monica Hughes
As far as sci-fi stories go this one isn't bombastic or grand in any way. Unlike for instance the Isaac Asimov series it doesn't stretch over the entire galaxy but takes place on the planet Isis, where the orphaned girl Olwen lives alone with her guardian Guardian (yes that is his name). Olwen is basically a lightkeeper on Isis, guarding it for future settlers which arrive on her 16th birthday. The story that unfolds between Olwen and the new settlers is so greatly written, with a neat twist that I at least did not see coming when I first read it in my early teens, I just love coming back to it over and over. It is the kind of science-fiction story I wish I had written myself. This book is the first in a series of three that further explores the interaction between the settlers and Olwen and eventually as time passes also how the settlement evolves into its own society with religion and laws based on things that occur in the first and second book. It's really interesting to see how ordinary things in the first book turn into mythologies, rules and laws by the third book and how the people reason around it - it makes you think a lot about how these things might have come to be in society around us.
The first book is definitely the best in the series, although they're all well written and worth a read as they explore different aspects of human interaction and social development, subjects that really interest me.
4. The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
As far as I know, Ken Follett is mostly known for writing thrillers, but The Pillars of the Earth is nothing like that. Set in 12th century England, it's about building a cathedral and weaves in the life stories of families around it. It's extremely well written and also has some very naughty sex scenes in it which made me all blushy when I first read it around 14 or so. As with most other books on this list, the characters are well developed and it's just like a really good tv-series where you just need to know what happens next and really feel for the characters. In fact, it's a lot like Game of Thrones, but with a lot fewer people (something I think some people would welcome). In fact, this book sports a character mean enough to rival Joffrey. I just recently found out it was actually turned into a miniseries (and a board game!), that I have to watch now of course.
3. Robots & Empire by Isaac Asimov
I like basically everything written by Isaac Asimov, but I've got to say that his entire Robots, Empire and Foundation series is truly epic. There is the occasional dull book in that series (which spans 14 novels, not counting short stories!), but in total it tells of one of the best and most fascinating science fiction universes I've ever read about. Originally these three series (Robots, Empire, Foundation) weren't connected, but eventually Asimov decided to write a couple of books that would bridge them. Robots & Empire serves to bridge between the first three Robot books into the later four Empire books. It continues the story of the three novels in the Robot series which follows the detective Elijah Bailey, who in this book is long dead. This book follows two of the main robots that also appear in this series, and explains a lot of the things that are later referred to in the Empire series in a very satisfactory way, by giving us the unknown fourth robot law, which is why the book is called "The Unknown Law" in swedish. The Robot series was always my favorite in the entire Saga for characters, and reading this closing novel was actually quite emotional and without giving away too much of the story I will tell you that this book made me cry.
2. Black Holes and Time Warps by Kip S. Thorne
This book is actually not a novel, but a factual book about pretty much exactly what the title says - Black Holes and Time Warps and everything around it. The one thing I love about this book, besides the mind boggling "I am a tiny speck in the Universe" kind of mentality it manages to put me in, is that no matter how many times I read it I always seem to discover (ie understand) something new about it. Although it is written in a very understandable language, even for someone like me who only really has a big interest but no real knowledge about the kind of physics in this book, the themes are totally mind blowing in a way few novels can be. This book proves the old saying that the truth always outshines imagination.
1. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas
You've all probably heard of this one, and if you haven't read it, I couldn't recommend it more. I had something of a "read all the classics" phase a couple of years back and went through a lot of the Old Great Ones - one of which turned out to be on my top 5 most disliked books (a list that's probably coming in the future)! And then there was this one. The first time I read it I was truly glued to the pages, it was one of those page-turners I just couldn't put down. The story of how Edmond Dantes becomes set up, spends years in prison only to come back and exact his gruesome revenge is so darn good, after I had finished the book I felt I needed to see every version of the story that was out there. I watched several movie and series adaptions, all of which came nowhere close to being as good as the original book of course (the best one was actually an anime called Gankutsou, the worst one is the movie from 2002). I definitely don't want to ruin any of the story here, but Dantes doesn't just have one person to get his revenge on. The intricacies of the way he goes about it means you can't tell what's going to happen next, his plan is executed in many stages where some people are punished and some people are rewarded. It's without a doubt the best revenge-story out there because it's just not as simple as the bad guys getting what's coming for them. No matter how many times I read this book, I never ever tire of it.
Labels: Books, Top 5
R.I.P Leia (070997 - 080214)
The more you love something, the more it hurts when it's gone. That's something I am pretty sure all of you have experienced, hopefully not too often. I am sad to tell you that my lovely little cat girl Leia has passed away, she would've turned 17 this year. I am writing this post because I feel like she, just has her brother who passed away 5 years ago, deserves it and because everyone should know what an awesome little cat lady she was.
Leia and Luke were the only pets I ever had (yes, named after the Skywalkers!). When I moved from home, one of the hardest things to move away from were definitely these two little rascals and I knew I would even miss their pain in the ass rummaging in the middle of the night.
Leia was so very curious, she loved running up to us when we came home just to see what we might have in your bags. She climbed everything she could see and I can't even count the amount of times we had to pull (yes, pull!) her down from the roof of my dads balcony because she couldn't get down herself. Our curtains took their share of her escapades as well. She quickly learned how to open doors around her which forced us to take counter measures to make sure she didn't let her brother out. In fact she hated closed doors and always made sure we knew that she wanted us to open them when we had them locked. Leia never shied away from vocalizing her thoughts or needs, but she gave twice as much love and attention as she asked for. Countless are the times she came comforting me when I was sad, it's like she knew.
Leia loved socializing and never went out on her own, she always wanted company. Taking a walk she used to run after us, meowing along to make sure we wouldn't forget her. When something happened at home she made sure to get a spot where she could sit and observe. She hated loud noises and would meow angrily if someone sneezed or did the dishes. She was playful and loved playing fetch. Her favorites were crumpled little balls of plastic bags that she wanted us to throw so that she could run off and bring them back to us. She'd drop them at our feet, look up expectantly and meow. She'd go crazy if there was promise of mince meat or chicken.
My sweet, lovely, beautiful little girl - I love you so very much and I hope there is someone to play fetch with you, talk to you and hug you wherever you are now. I will never forget you and I will always miss you.
Top 5 Games I Regret Buying
I've been talking a lot lately about all the games I've bought and that I am currently trying to work my way through, this got me eventually to thinking about a couple of games I've bought throughout my life that I actually regret buying. It happens a lot less frequent than you'd think. In fact, finding 5 entries for this list was difficult and I just barely scraped enough of games together. Obviously, before there was massive Steam sales, each game I bought was most often carefully scouted beforehand, to make sure that the money put down on it was going to be worth it. Not only were the games pricier, I also had less money to spend on games and if I bought a bad one that was what I had to live with until I had saved up enough money for the next one, something that normally took a couple of months. One benefit to this was that I gave each game more time and so an initally boring game could grow on me, something I miss about the fast paced flow of games that is common place now. If a game doesn't amuse me within the first 30 minutes, I have 20 other ones to take its place instantly and sometimes I find it hard to motivate myself to pain through something I'm not enjoying when I could be doing something fun instead. But I digress, and that feels like material for a different post.
My point here however is that the games on this list aren't necessarily games that I simply didn't enjoy but rather a combination of a game I really looked forward to trying, was quite disappointed with and subsequently felt like I had spent a lot more money on than I thought it was worth. If I pay a small sum for a moderately fun to boring game, I probably won't regret that buy much. A good example is Skyrim, which although I ended up not liking very much, I definitely don't regret buying it, and it was still among the most expensive games I bought that year. The difference between Skyrim for instance and the games on this list is that I wasn't expecting too much from Skyrim, although a lot more than I got, and I think I got my moneys worth out of it in the end after all. For the following games however, not so much.
5. Rayman Origin (N3DS)
This game is only fifth on this list because it's actually a really good game and I can appreciate it as such eventhough I ended up not liking it. After having played a lot of Rayman on the GBA, I decided to grab this game on a whim when I was on something of a shopping spree in a Game store. It was on sale already and since it was marked up in pounds, which are worth ten times the swedish krona making the price look ridiculously cheap, I didn't really think much about it. Unfortunately it turns out that A. I really suck at platformers and B. Platformers are just not my thing (these are probably connected somehow).
Impending doom - playstationer.net
Sure, I had had a lot of fun with Rayman on the GBA, but Rayman Origin wasn't enough like it for me to enjoy it in the same way. Because of this I was quite disappointed when the gameplay wasn't exactly like I remembered it and even more so when the game kept kicking my ass way more than Rayman on the GBA ever did. To put it simply, Rayman Origin was way too difficult for me and my tendency to get easily frustrated did not help. I was hoping for some simple platforming fun, but I realize this was just not the game to choose for a newb platformer like me. In the end I don't regret buying Rayman Origin too much since it's not a game I mind owning, but it does make me sad knowing I will most likely never finish it and I really wouldn't have minded never having picked it up either.
4. Suikoden V (PS2)
Two of the games on this list I've bought purely based on someone elses recommendation without much prior knowledge of it - Suikoden V is one of those games. I was up visiting my parents, walked into a game store and found that one of my old childhood friends was now working in that store. I couldn't stand the guy when we were kids, he was an arrogant prick to put it nicely, but he had turned into a really nice guy as an adult. I asked him if he could recommend some game for me and he suggested Suikoden V. Since I quite like JRPGs and was in a bit of a slump not having played any good ones for a while, I was eager to get my hands on something interesting. I had heard of the name Suikoden, but never played any of the games. The case looked interesting enough and the back description was just as vague as you'd expect from a fairly generic RPG of this style.
Nowadays I always check the internet for metascores and/or reviews before I buy anything I don't know much about, if there is a larger sum of money involved, just so I will have a rough idea of what I am looking at basically. But at that point smartphones weren't a thing yet so I had only his recommendation to go of.
I wish I was this happy playing it - decaires.wordpress.com
I've tried to play Suikoden V three times, and each time I get tired at about the same place, roughly 2 hours into the game. I'm not entirely sure why I lose interest at this point - I just don't care about the characters, the intro part is too long and too boring and I guess a lot of it is just stuff I've seen before without it being engaging enough to want to do again. I will most likely give Suikoden V yet another try in the future, maybe it's one of those games that gets a bit better if you give it some time.
3. Might & Magic Heroes VI (PC)
I am a massive fan of Heroes of Might and Magic 3, and because of this I've felt compelled to at least check out all the other parts of the series. First up was HoMM 4 and initially I didn't check it out at all, I assumed it would at least be somewhat as fun as HoMM3. Even if it was only half as fun it would pretty damn fun, I decided. Oh how wrong I was. I don't remember much about HoMM4, I only remember that they had massively changed the map and I was completely confused about what anything was when running around. In HoMM3 most things are very clear whereas in HoMM4 I couldn't separate background objects from important ones, and that was just one of the problems I had with the game. It wasn't half as fun as HoMM3, it was maybe a 100th.
Pretty does not a fun game make - cdon.se
After the mistake I did with HoMM4 I decided to make sure any subsequent games looked decent before I paid for them - I didn't even buy HoMM5 because it seemed like it was too much like HoMM4 and not enough like HoMM3. When what would essentially be HoMM6 was released, although they then felt the need to rename it to MMH6 for some reason, I actually thought that they might've gotten it right this time. I didn't think it would be as fun as HoMM3, I realized that game would be pretty damn hard to beat, but maybe it could at least come pretty close. The combat system looked fun and I liked the better graphics and updated models.
So I bought it and I really, really wanted to like it. It was far from shit like HoMM4 so at first it reeled me in and got me really hopeful about being quite fun. Unfortunately it quickly turned out it wasn't, I guess I just couldn't come to terms with the changed style of town building and other changes they had made to the winning HoMM3 formula. I think my disappointment with this game is the reason it is on this list rather than HoMM4. It really got my hopes up and crushed them pretty badly, and still to this day I wonder why it's so hard to make another decent HoMM game (and do you really need to rename it?). HoMM2 was great though.
2. Bastion (PC)
Another game I bought because someone recommended it to me, and not only that person but pretty much any reviewer on the internet said that this game would be so much fun and worth buying. Obviously you won't always agree with reviewers, for instance my bf thinks The Walking Dead games are shit whereas everyone else in the world seem to think they're ambrosia for the mind. To me it was just about running around shooting stuff, which can be fun - but it wasn't. I didn't get passed the first stage, I think, before I decided that clearly this game was just not for me.
Why was this so fun? - supergiantgames.com
I guess my problem with Bastion is that not only was I disappointed in how much I didn't enjoy it, but because I didn't listen to my inner self when I actually knew I wasn't going to like it. I bought it simply because it was recommended and I wish I would've given it more thought. It's not about the money, because it wasn't very expensive, it just annoys me to think that I had no reason to buy it and did it anyway because I was stupid at that particular moment. Hopefully I've learned something from that experience.
1. Unlimited Saga (PS2)
This is another game on this list put here mostly because of the emotional attachment I have to it, in a negative sense (just as with Bastion). I was maybe 16 and had seen Unlimited Saga on the store shelves. I don't know if you've seen the case, but at the time I thought it looked amazing. Someone should've stepped in right then and there and told me not to judge a game by its covers, because I was completely awed by the game based on nothing but how the case looked. This was during a time when most of my games would come from my parents during birthdays/christmas, so naturally I wished for it - and got it.
It just screams "buy me!" - obsolete-tears.com
I was thrilled and overjoyed, as you are when you get a game you've really wanted to play and immediately popped it into my ps2 to give it a go. I was expecting something along the lines of Final Fantasy, at least and was completely confused and utterly disappointed when what I got was nothing like it. Not only was it nothing like Final Fantasy, it was nothing like any RPG I had seen before. I played for an hour or two, not understanding what was going on or why the game was so weird. I turned it off and haven't played it since.
That would've been all well and nice if not for the fact that I had known that I had begged my parents to buy it and they had spent a good chunk of money getting it for me in the hopes that it would make me happy. Of course my dad asked me if I liked it and I had to white lie something along the lines of "yeah it seems interesting" or whatever I might've said while silently hating myself for not loving it. If I had bought it myself I would've been the only one to suffer, but now I had fooled my parents into wasting money on that piece of crap for me, and that made me feel so awful.
Even more annoying is the fact that I've lost it since, and now I sit wanting to give it another go, thinking that I might enjoy it at this age. In the end that game will always be a bother for me, for the massive hopes I had for it, the massive let down it turned out to be, how it made me feel like I let my parents down and how it's gone now that I want to give it another chance. That game is one of those things on my mind when my brain feels like it wants to torment me about thinking about things that make me feel bad. I know it's just a game, but damn that damn game.
Labels: Top 5
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2933
|
__label__cc
| 0.741454
| 0.258546
|
Review: Not By Bread Alone (Artsdepot)
Review: Women on the Edge of a Nervous Breakdown (Playhouse Theatre)
Review: Richard Fleeshman
The Full Cupboard of the School of Life
In a somewhat lager-fuelled discussion about writing, after last week’s session of The School of Life, some of my classmates challenged me to produce a ‘No 1 Ladies Detective Agency‘ story, in which Mma Ramotswe travels to England and visits a relation who owns (and it’s a genuine place) the ‘It’ll Grow Back’ hair salon in Hackney.
Here goes, Chapter 1 :
Outside the offices of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency and Speedy Motors garage, the early morning traffic made its way along the Tlokweng road. Since it was very early morning, much of this traffic was animal rather than mechanical as the lurching overfilled minibuses bringing workers to the offices and retail establishments of downtown Gaborone competed with unmilked goats and two cows being herded to the livestock market.
This last sound caused Mma Ramotswe to look up from drafting her list of things to do. She had considerable respect for cattle, even for the two gaunt and rangy specimens outside her door navigating the potholes and stony obstacles of the Tlokweng road unaware that their ownership was to be changed forever later that morning for a few hundred pula. For it was due to the diligence and foresight of her dear late father, Obed Ramotswe, farmer and herder of cattle under the wide Botswana skies, that she owed her modest inheritance and her ability to found the first Ladies Detective Agency in the country.
Mma Ramotswe scratched some items from her list and added others. The early morning was the best time to do anything, particularly in the hot season. In the hot months, before the rains arrived, the temperature soared as the day wore on until the very sky seemed white. In the cool of the morning, when the sun barely warmed the skin and the air was still crisp, any task seemed possible; later, in the full heat of the day, both body and mind were sluggish.
It was easy to think in the morning – to make lists of things to do – in the afternoon all one could think about was the end of the day and the prospect of relief from the heat. It was Botswana’s one drawback, thought Mma Ramotswe. She knew that it was the perfect country – all Batswana knew that – but it would be even more perfect if the hottest months could be cooled down.
The list was headed “Visit to England”.
The list, as most of Mma Ramotswe’s frequently-produced ‘to do’ lists, featured a very large number of administrative and organisational items which could be ticked off with mounting satisfaction as the morning progressed, in keeping with her philosophy of undertaking as many tasks as possible before the heat of the day laid waste to plans and rendered the most diligent and industrious of personages physically weakened and mentally exhausted.
Today’s list included some serious duties connected with passport and visas, and reminders to telephone certain government departments appointed to oversee the proper procedures for arrival and departures of Botswanan nationals across its borders, to make a visit to the Mall branch of the First National Bank of Botswana to order foreign currency, the requirement to make photocopies of her sponsorship letter and the health certificate recently initialled and solemnly stamped by Dr Leonard Modisapodi in the surgery of his small house just off the Gaborone end of the Tlokweng road.
None of these caused the least trepidation within Mma Ramotswe. That inner anxiety she reserved totally and exclusively for the first item on the list.
The first item was “Tell Mma Makutsi.”
JOHNNYFOXWRITING
Review: My Mother Said I Never Should (St James’s Theatre)
Review: Sleeping Booty (Leicester Square Theatre)
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2936
|
__label__cc
| 0.633458
| 0.366542
|
Claire Young From The Apprentice Series four Was Identified For Getting Chatty The Sun
Your Blog » Claire Young From The Apprentice Series four Was Identified For Getting Chatty The Sun
Previous: Search Engine Optimisation And Web Marketing For
Next: Every single Minutes Claims 500 Satoshi
She rocketed to fame right after appearing topless in Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines video in 2013, where her really ample assets transfixing viewers across the globe. Servers can host internet sites, hold accounts, retailer wagers and operate at speeds that back-area bookies, whose tools had not changed since the days of Damon Runyon, could never hope to match. Servers can also be tougher to uncover and raid than these back rooms were.On Apple Tv, upgrade your software to 4.three if you have not currently (choose Menu, then Basic, then Update Software program) and you will find a new Purchased button below Tv Shows. Use it to access your list of previously bought Tv shows and watch them straight on your Apple Television. You can now also obtain Tv shows straight from your Apple Tv and then use the Bought button on your other devices to watch it there as effectively.Tubi Television also gives something streaming platforms like Netflix do not: reside Tv. On some streaming media players, like Roku, you can decide on the Reside Tv choice. Alternatively of scrolling about, trying to find anything to watch, the ad-supported Tubi Television streams Television shows, with 1 top into an additional. So, place down the remote manage and loosen up.Hold reading to locate out exactly where you can stream Tv and films for free. If you're ready to find out dpstreaming watch http://dpstreaming-series.com more info regarding Dpstreaming Watch Http://Dpstreaming-Series.Com (Http://Dpstreaming-Series.Com) check out the web-page. Bonus: Locate out how you can entirely cut the cord on spend Television, and nevertheless watch your favorite Tv stations and Television shows.High motion interpolation also leads to a video like sheen. This can make occasion the most high-priced blockbuster appear like a cheap telly drama (therefore the oft quoted term 'soap opera effect'). Typically speaking these modes, called Intelligent Frame Creation or IFC (Panasonic), Trumotion (LG), Motionflow (Sony) and Motion Plus (Samsung), plus a host of others, need to be kept well away from their highest settings. Mid is normally a decent compromise for sports and studio based content, although Low or Off is best for movies and movie-like Tv dramas ( Game of Thrones , Arrow and so forth).Google Chrome might be the most well-liked internet browser in the world, but it isn't fantastic for watching Netflix on - the crown belongs to Microsoft Edge. Think it or not, Netflix even looks much better on Web Explorer than it does on Chrome. The maximum resolution you can watch Netflix on differs depending on which browser you use. You can go up to 4K on Microsoft Edge, up to 1080p on Internet Explorer and Safari, and up to 720p on Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Opera.I think I've got a pretty very good point of view on this topic, obtaining watched a lot of movies in many languages, and, importantly, at diverse stages of proficiency in those languages. Whether you can discover a language from watching foreign films is a query that Anne Billson posed dpstreaming watch http://dpstreaming-series.com not too long ago in an article for The Telegraph , and actually recommended a few great concepts, but ended the report with out drawing any clear conclusions.Sidereel works as a complete list of television shows offering the users all the episodes of several Tv shows for free of charge. Sidereel also functions as a forum to go over and allows the user to share their favorites with other individuals. The Television online streaming web site allows the customers to participate in the functioning of the internet site. You can also evaluation the on the web Tv shows on the site and share your inputs.He also revealed a secret: in each official photograph of an Instant Pot, dpstreaming watch http://dpstreaming-series.com the unit's timer is set to five:20 — a series of numbers that, when spoken aloud, sounds like I love you" in his native Mandarin. There are a handful of causes that binge-watching provides us such a higher — and then leaves us emotionally spent on the couch. Here's a appear at what takes place to our brain when we settle in for a marathon, and how to watch responsibly.Appear at other peoples websites, the use of squeeze pages, and how they put with each other "One Time Only Offers". Do not try to re-invent the wheel. If it performs for other individuals, it will perform for you too. The only catch is they are ad-supported, meaning you will have to sit by way of a handful of ads in the course of a movie. But it is nicely worth it if you happen to be searching for a free of charge service.Pros: Almost everything on the app is totally free to watch, and The CW has its complete roster of existing shows, including Arrow, Supergirl, iZombie, Jane the Virgin, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, and Riverdale. And that is not all: a separate app, referred to as CW Seed, is also totally free and has larger chunks of episodes for issues like Whose Line is it Anyway? and Everybody Hates Chris.YouTube is yet another very good app to stream films on-line on your android device. It has an remarkable search option which allows you to search any of your preferred movies, video and others and stream it online for free. It offers you a legal video in high high quality. A single of the very best feature of this app is to allow upload any of your legal videos to share with other people users. It has also listing of best trending videos.
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2938
|
__label__cc
| 0.561253
| 0.438747
|
Newspaper Article Archive of
Kalona, Iowa
HOME Browse Search More Titles Contact
May 23, 2018 Riverside woman found guilty in death of toddler
Article Pages -- as published on the The Kalona News website.
ARTICLE DESCRIPTION:
It took a Washington County jury about four hours to find a Riverside woman guilty of child endangerment resulting in the death of her 17-month-old daughter.
On Friday, Ambrashia “Amber” Chrzan was convicted of child endangerment resulting in death and is facing up to 50 years in prison.
In closing arguments on Friday morning, Assistant Attorney General Douglas Hammerand detailed the downward slide of the health of Chrzan’s daughter, Avery McCoy, upon being released from foster care in early 2016.
He pointed out that Avery weighed 15 pounds in January 2016.
At a July 5, 2016, doctor’s appointment, it was noted that Avery was failing to thrive and had dropped from the 10th percentile in growth to below 1 percent.
“‘The window to fix this will not be long,’” Hammerand quoted from the doctor’s notes following the check up.
Hammerand talked about how appointments were made with a specialist at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, but Chrzan missed the appointments.
He also pointed out how Avery’s weight had dropped from 15 to 11 pounds – “a quarter of her body weight” – during the last six weeks of her life.
She was discovered unresponsive on Nov. 9, 2016.
“Avery died at the hands of another,” Hammerand said.
Defense attorney Jeffrey Powell stressed that the state medical examiner could not pinpoint the cause of death.
“Ultimately, he was not able to determine the cause of Avery’s death,” Powell said.
He said that despite missing the appointments, Chrzan was “not charged with failing to do what other parents would’ve done.”
He later added, “No one believed Avery McCoy was going to die. There is no evidence that Amber Chrzan starved her daughter.”
In the state’s rebuttal, Hammerand pointed out that an examination found that there was no food in Avery’s stomach despite Chrzan’s claims that she had fed her daughter some peanut butter crackers on the morning of her death.
“There was not one crumb in the bed,” Hammerand said. “There was not one crumb on that comforter.”
A sentencing hearing is scheduled for the morning of July 27.
Newspaper Article Archive of The Kalona News produced by SmallTownPapers, Inc.
Website © 2019. All content copyrighted. Copyright Information. Terms Of Use. Request Content Removal.
Articles - 2018
Articles - Recent
Yancey finding her way in Riverside
Iowa Mennonite bests New London 8-4
Edwards, Knock propel Lions over tough L...
Highland beats Cardinal 8-4 in postseaso...
Washington County Fair begins Sunday
4 steps to keep your home safe from fire...
Creativity is key for Riverside Casino's...
Previewing Saturday's Class 1A baseball ...
IMS bows out at BGM
How detailed planning can help you make ...
|
cc/2019-30/en_middle_0093.json.gz/line2942
|
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.