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St. Petersburg Struggling to Keep its Sewage out of its Bays
A writer for the Tampa Bay Times critiques the city of St. Petersburg's response to repeat storm events that have sent millions of gallons of untreated wastewater into its public waters.
July 19, 2016, 12pm PDT | James Brasuell | @CasualBrasuell
Sean Pavone
Charlie Frago writes of a recurring problem in St. Petersburg, Florida: rains overwhelming the city's wastewater system and sending millions of gallons of "untreated and partially treated sewage gushing into the waters of Tampa Bay and Boca Ciega Bay…"
Three-and-a-half million gallons of the previously described sewage overflowed the system in August 2015, prompting promises from elected officials that it wouldn't happen again. Yet along came Tropical Storm Colin in June 2016, causing "9.8 million of gallons of sewage — estimated to be 30 to 50 percent untreated sewage — [to spill] into the bay."
Frago critiques the efforts of the city to prevent ongoing sewage mishaps, summing up his assessment up with these excoriating words: "St. Petersburg had options. But the option officials chose was to do nothing." The feature-length article digs into the details of how the plan hatched after last August's storms fell short, and the additional measures that have since been added on to the city's stormwater emergency plans. For instance, the city is currently "conducting an 18-month study to determine where it needs to fix the leaky pipes that fill with rainwater during a storm, increasing the volume of waste that flows into the sewer plants."
St. Petersburg had options during sewage crisis — so what happened?
Published on Sunday, July 17, 2016 in Tampa Bay Times
Stormwater Infrastructure
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Movie review: Stones bassist Wyman still evasive in new documentary
Al Alexander More Content Now
For most, The Rolling Stones are about Mick and Keith. But I’ve always been more intrigued by the group’s tight, underrated rhythm section of drummer Charlie Watts and bassist Bill Wyman, the “stone-faced” Stones who happily faded to the background anonymously making time keeping time as the lifeblood of “the world’s greatest rock ’n’ roll band.” Don’t know about you, but I’m convinced the Stones haven’t been the Stones since Wyman walked away from his mates in 1993 to - as former Supreme Mary Wilson says - not just “smell the roses, but to name them.”
While watching “The Quiet One,” Oliver Murray’s dive into Wyman’s climb from an impoverished, war-torn youth to a well-funded blissful retirement, you get the feeling he has seen it all from the perspective of both a participant and an observer. And he has the photos and home movies to prove it - an entire room full. You wind up convinced he’s the Stones’ most ardent fan, having archived so much memorabilia he’s run out of space to store it all. You name it, it’s there: demo tapes, posters, badges, costumes, albums and cameras all neatly stowed away on shelves that climb from floor to ceiling.
We’re made privy to much of it, as Wyman sits at his computer at the end of the room reminiscing with his back to the camera, much the same way he saw Mick and Keith over his 31 years as a Rolling Stone. It’s interesting from an aesthetic vantage, but what’s the point? I’m not sure even Murray knows. I suspect it’s merely a device to break up the succession of photos and clips accompanying Wyman’s voice-overs, as he takes a chronological trip through the years, beginning with the London Blitz and continuing through his present incarnation as a devoted husband, father and lover of American blues.
It’s strangely unemotional, including his recollections of the summer and fall of 1969, when his Stones running mate, Brian Jones, drowned and four of the group’s fans were killed at their infamous concert at Altamont Speedway in Northern California. “I really don’t like talking about it,” he says.
The only time we get close to a waver in his voice is when talk turns to his meetings with his two “heroes,” Ray Charles and Howlin’ Wolf, both of whom invited him into a world of rhythm and blues that was largely a domain in which whites were persona non grata. For Wyman, they not only offered friendship, but validation of his place in their world.
Still, it would have been nice if Murray had encouraged Wyman to dig deeper into his emotions, especially when it comes to Jones’ mysterious death and Wyman’s bizarre dalliance with Mandy Smith, the second of three Mrs. Wymans, who he started dating when he was 47 and she was all of 13. But both are barely touched upon. Same with his feelings toward Keith Richards’ well-chronicled drug habits, which you’d assume would be appalling to a teetotaler like Wyman.
But, then if he did push the issues, Murray might well have been denied access to all the never-before-seen videos and photos Wyman took of his mates casually being themselves between recording sessions and tour stops. It’s all great stuff, especially if you’re a Stones fan. Yet, you’re left wanting. Part of it is because Wyman, like his stoic stage presence, isn’t nearly as colorful as his flamboyant bandmates. True to his blue-collar roots, he was there to do a job, not to be flashy. He’s immensely proud of that, too. And you respect him for it. Dullness was his virtue. Besides, he was happy to make his unmistakably thundering bass lines do all the talking. Just imagine songs like “Brown Sugar” and “Paint It Black” without him.
You admire him even more for the man he’s become, a happy octogenarian grateful that he jumped off the rock merry-go-round at precisely the right time so he could finally enjoy a life away from recording and touring. Today, playing is just a hobby, one he indulges through his blues band, appropriately called The Rhythm Kings. Yes, he’s now old and gray, but deep inside he’s joyously in the pink, finally having found his satisfaction.
Al Alexander may be reached at alexandercritica@aol.com.
A documentary by Oliver Murray featuring ex-Rolling Stones guitarist Bill Wyman.
(Not rated.)
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Juncker urged reluctant EU leaders to “stand by” the Spitzenkandidat process for nominating the next European Commission president | Frederick Florin/AFP via Getty Images
Juncker urges EU leaders to support Spitzenkandidat process
The European Commission president says there is a danger of conflict between the Parliament and Commission over how to appoint his replacement.
By Maïa de La Baume
2/6/18, 12:07 PM CET
Updated 10/9/18, 5:03 PM CET
Jean-Claude Juncker urged reluctant EU leaders to “stand by” the Spitzenkandidat process for nominating the next European Commission president in 2019.
The process, which translates as "leading candidate," awards the Commission presidency to the party winning the most seats in Parliament. It was first used in the 2014 European election and brought about Juncker's own victory. But as POLITICO reported last week, many leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron as well as the leaders of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal and Slovakia, have voiced their opposition to it.
At a Parliamentary plenary debate in Strasbourg, Juncker told MEPs that he "sensed" that the European Council was reluctant to put the process formally in place for the 2019 European election and that he feared “conflict” between the Council and the Parliament.
"My sense is that there’s almost a majority against it in Council,” Juncker said. “This is a conflict between political parties … and it could lead to a conflict between this house and the European Council.”
He called the Spitzenkandidat system a “tiny piece of democratic progress."
Juncker also said he believed there was no conflict between the Spitzenkandidat and the idea promoted mainly by France to create MEPs with transnational constituencies at the next election.
MEPs are due to vote Wednesday on a proposal to reject any candidate for the European Commission presidency if he or she does not have the official backing of a party political grouping.
At a press conference in Strasbourg, Manfred Weber, the leader of the conservative European People’s Party group in the Parliament, said he was “surprised" by French President Emmanuel Macron's position on the Spitzenkandidat. “Macron, the champion of EU democracy,” Weber said, “is being surprisingly reserved on the issue.”
How Juncker can make his final year count
Mark Leonard
MEPs set to bolster ‘Spitzenkandidat’ process for EU top job
Maïa de La Baume
“If the French president wants to reinforce democracy in Europe, he must support the principle of Spitzenkandidaten," Weber said.
EU governance
European Parliament election 2019
Theresa May’s final hours
The prime minister is using her last days and hours in Downing Street to craft some kind of legacy from the wreckage of Brexit.
UK Brexit secretary denies claim he told Michel Barnier deal is ‘dead’
Stephen Barclay says reports about the alleged spat are ‘misleading.’
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Cash injection for policing not enough, West Yorkshire PCC says
The government announced more cash for frontline policing yesterday.
David Spereall
The Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for West Yorkshire has said that the extra hundreds of millions of pounds pledged for police forces across the UK is "not a great injection of cash"
Mark Burns-Williamson said that although the investment, which is the biggest in crime-fighting since 2010, was welcome, the government had "passed responsibility" to local politicians because much of the funding was dependent on tax increases.
PCC Mark Burns-Williamson
Home Secretary Sajid Javid said the exact amount of investment, which will go towards tackling organised crime, counter-terrorism and office pensions as well as other areas, totalled "up to £970m".
But some households may have to pay £24 a year extra to fund the move, if individual PCCs decide to raise the policing precept, which feeds into council tax.
Speaking at a PCC Panel meeting on Friday, Mr Burns-Williamson (Lab) said: "In my view, policing has not been enough of a priority for this government over the last eight years.
"Hopefully we are now moving in the right direction.
"The big thing though is, yes, there was the announcement yesterday (Thursday) of £900m for policing, but part of that is £360m for pensions.
"And half of it is predicated on PCCs raising council tax by £24 (per household).
"If that wasn't clear yesterday, then let me make that clear.
"It's not the great injection of cash it's been made out to be."
A public consultation has started today on whether or not people in West Yorkshire would be willing to pay the increase. However, the PCC said that because 70 per cent of the region's homes are in tax bands A, B and C, many people could escape a big hike even if it was imposed.
Mr Burns-Williamson also criticised the Home Office, saying it "lacked strategic leadership" in a number of areas on guidance for police.
He told councillors: "They've stepped back from a lot of things that in my view we need to be provided with a more of a steer on.
"There are certain things like IT programmes and strategic policing requirements that they are not being strong enough."
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Juggalo Watch
Metal!
Drew Ailes
email Drew Ailes
Six Reasons I Won't Dance at Your Wedding
3 years ago | Lists
If you're anything like me, you've spent the last two months going to a lot of weddings, either alone or with your significant other. And although we typically don't enjoy sitting in a church and staring at comb-overs, there are two things provide...
Six Nu-Metal Bands You Shouldn't Be Ashamed of Liking
Press PhotoIt is OK to admit that you like System of a Down. Just admit it. There's a lot of bad music out there. There are always people debating genres like contemporary country & Western and top 40 music, but at the end of the day, the most rev...
Six Reasons Most Musicians Don't Deserve to Get Paid
You've seen those memes: the ones about how musicians spend thousands of dollars on gear, hours rehearsing and loading/unloading, and drive 40 minutes to just play a show for $100. How noble and brave our poor musicians are, selflessly sacrificing...
Laughing at Scott Stapp's Downward Spiral Makes You Even Worse Than Creed
5 years ago | Soapbox
In case you haven't been flooded with hundreds of cheering reposts on your social-media feeds, Scott Stapp is having a hard time. When bad things happen, people laugh. Whether it's out of some sort of genuine happiness for the pain of someone that...
Screeching Weasel Singer Challenges CM Punk to Punch Women Like He Did
5 years ago | Punk & Hardcore
I've never had an interest in Screeching Weasel, as I don't listen to punk music that comes off like it was meant to be the soundtrack of a straight-to-video film about kids rollerblading in a shopping-mall parking garage. I listened to Boogadaboo...
Six Reasons I Won't Like Your Band on Facebook
Every week, we get thousands of notifications on Facebook, and because our lives are privileged and lonely, we pay attention to them. Everyone has commented on everything. It is everybody's birthday today. Everyone but you has had a baby and is al...
More Drew Ailes Articles
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Departments A - D
No Charges Filed Against Roseville Football Coach
R. Scott Owens
PLACERCOUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY
10810 Justice Center Drive, Suite 240
Roseville, California 95678
Contact: Jeff Wilson, Assistant District Attorney 916 543-8000
The Placer County District Attorney’s Office has declined to file charges against Roseville High School Football Coach Larry Cunha. Our office has reviewed the evidence in the case including all witnesses’ statements regarding Mr. Cunha’s interaction with a Roseville High School student. Our office was also provided with a series of text messages between Mr. Cunha and the student. The information was forwarded to our office by Roseville Police Department Detectives, so that our office could determine if there was sufficient evidence to charge Mr. Cuhna with Battery under Section 242 of the Penal Code. The allegation was that Mr. Cunha picked up the student, placed her over his shoulder and took her to a class she did not want to attend. This was the only charge referred to our office on Mr. Cunha. Our office, however, considered other possible charges.
A battery is any willful and unlawful use of force or violence upon the person of another in a harmful or offensive manner. Penal Code Section 647.6 prohibits the molesting, annoying or harassing of a child under the age of 18. The statute not only requires an annoying or harassing act upon a minor, but also requires that it be done with a sexual interest in minors. Each element of these offenses must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
Our office will not discuss the details of the investigation in order to protect the identity and the privacy of the minor student. Those details do, however, show no evidence the alleged touching was violent or that the touching was meant as offensive by Mr. Cunha. There is also no evidence that Mr. Cunha’s conduct was motivated by any sexual interest in minors or in the student.
It is important to note that our role is to review the evidence presented to us to determine if it is sufficient to prove that Mr. Cunha violated a statutorily defined crime and that we can prove it to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt. It is not our role to decide whether Mr. Cunha’s conduct was appropriate as a teacher or whether his conduct exceeded the appropriate boundaries of the teacher student relationship. That is an issue to be decided by the School District Administration, the parents, and the student, not the District Attorney’s Office.
Based on the information provided to our office there is insufficient evidence to show that a crime has been committed. Accordingly, no charges will be filed against Mr. Cunha.
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BRIAN SIMMONS
Simmons, Brian Eugene
Born: 6/21/1975 New Bern, NC
High School: New Bern (NC)
College: North Carolina [1993rs 1994L 1995L 1996L 1997L] ?
Draft: 1st round (17th overall) 1998 Cincinnati Bengals
1998 Cincinnati Bengals (NFL) 56 LILB 14 12
2000 Cincinnati Bengals (NFL) 56 LB 1 1
2001 Cincinnati Bengals (NFL) 56 MLB 16 16
2003 Cincinnati Bengals (NFL) 56 RLB 16 16
2006 Cincinnati Bengals (NFL) 56 MLB 11 8
2007 New Orleans Saints (NFL) 51 WLB-SLB 16 3
10 Years (NFL) 137 118
RUSHYDS
PASSYDS
2007 New Orleans Saints (NFL) 122 71 51 610 230 380 30 4 0 2
Career Totals (NFL) 122 71 51 610 230 380 30 4 0 2
2001 Cincinnati Bengals (NFL) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 6
Career Totals (NFL) 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 18
1998 Cincinnati Bengals (NFL) 1 18 18.0 18 0
2001 Cincinnati Bengals (NFL) 1 5 5.0 5 0
2002 Cincinnati Bengals (NFL) 1 51 51.0 51t 1
2003 Cincinnati Bengals (NFL) 2 14 7.0 13 0
Career Totals (NFL) 11 169 15.4 51t 2
1998 Cincinnati Bengals (NFL) 3.0
1999 Cincinnati Bengals (NFL) 3.0 20.0
2003 Cincinnati Bengals (NFL) 1.5 9.0
2007 New Orleans Saints (NFL) 1.0 9.0
Career Totals (NFL) 24.0 139.0
1998 Cincinnati Bengals (NFL) 0 0 0 1 1 22 0
1999 Cincinnati Bengals (NFL) 0 0 0 1 1 0 0
Career Totals (NFL) 1 0 0 8 8 109 1
1999 Cincinnati Bengals (NFL) 114 109 5 0 3 17 0 5 0
2000 Cincinnati Bengals (NFL) 9 9 0 0 0 1 1 0 0
2001 Cincinnati Bengals (NFL) 84 83 1 0 6 12 2 5 0
2002 Cincinnati Bengals (NFL) 86 86 0 0 10 0 7 0
2003 Cincinnati Bengals (NFL) 103 103 0 0 5 2 6 0
2005 Cincinnati Bengals (NFL) 84 84 0 0 4 3 7 0
2006 Cincinnati Bengals (NFL) 61 61 0 0 3 1 1 5 0
2007 New Orleans Saints (NFL) 27 18 9 0 1 3 0 0 0
Career Totals (NFL) 675 660 15 0 13 55 12 39 0
YdsNullified
1999 Cincinnati Bengals (NFL) 1 0 1 3 0 0
2001 Cincinnati Bengals (NFL) 2 0 2 20 0 1
2007 New Orleans Saints (NFL) 1 0 1 10 28 0
Career Totals (NFL) 12 3 9 58 28 5
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Fairytale of New York: Williamsburg stays on track despite L train closure
By Simon Creasey2017-09-29T00:00:00+01:00
‘2019 is the year Williamsburg dies’ thundered the headline of the New York Post in July 2016.
Construction is progressing on 25 Kent, a spec-built office, light manufacturing and retail building, due to open in about 12 months
The city’s tabloid was reporting the news that the L train - the main subway line ferrying commuters from ‘hipster playground’ Williamsburg into Manhattan - would close for 18 months in 2019 so that much-needed tunnel repairs can be carried out.
The paper claimed that homeowners were already putting their houses on the market and commercial property values - particularly along the main retail drag of Bedford Avenue - would also be adversely affected.
Just over a year after the subway closure was announced, Property Week went on a tour of Williamsburg to assess the impact to date - and find out just how worried local developers are.
The Williamsburg Hotel is one of five new hotels that have just opened or are about to open within a two-block radius
At first glance, Williamsburg doesn’t look like an area ready to breathe its last breath. Along the main shopping drag of Bedford Avenue, there are few voids and noticeably more national retailers than a couple of years ago, Apple and Whole Foods being two recent additions to the neighbourhood.
The hospitality market is also booming: five new hotels have just opened or are about to open within a two-block radius, including the Williamsburg Hotel and The Hoxton.
Perhaps more importantly, construction is progressing on 25 Kent, a circa 480,000 sq ft spec-built office, light manufacturing and retail building, which is due to open in about 12 months.
“As far as we can tell it’s the first new speculative office building in Brooklyn in about 50 to 60 years,” says Jeremiah Kane, director for New York City at Rubenstein Partners.
Although the development partners - Heritage Equity Partners and Rubenstein - have yet to secure an occupier, Kane says “good conversations” have already taken place and that he expects activity to pick up as the completion date approaches.
“Brooklyn is a ‘show me’ market,” says Kane. “A lot of people put out pretty renderings of buildings that never happen. It’s only when someone can come and stand on the first or second floor and see the view that it starts to resonate with people.”
Thriving community
Few people have more skin in the game in Williamsburg than Toby Moskovits, founder of Heritage Equity Partners. In addition to being co-developer of 25 Kent, she is also co-owner of the Williamsburg Hotel.
Toby Moskovits
Moskovits says that the recent growth of Williamsburg has been fuelled by people who want to work, live and play in the same community and that the presence of occupiers such as Vice magazine and Kickstarter is acting as a magnet for larger blue-chip businesses such as Adidas, which is about to open a design studio in the area, and car giant MINI, which has opened a 23,000 sq ft mixed-use scheme with business incubator space, a design store and a restaurant on the Williamsburg Greenpoint border.
“What’s really interesting about the space is that it represents a German company recognising that being here in Williamsburg is a critical statement about their brand,” says Moskovits. “It’s an effort on their part to engage with a community of entrepreneurs. It also represents the transformation of Williamsburg into a retail incubator with brands trying out new concepts, which is what happened in Soho in the 1990s.”
The neighbourhood’s growing popularity with occupiers has pushed retail rents up over the past few years, according to Robin Abrams, vice-chairman of retail at Eastern Consolidated.
“What may have started out as $75/sq ft to $150/sq ft space five years ago now commands double or triple the rent,” says Abrams. “Rents in Williamsburg have climbed to rival some of the pricier retail corridors in Manhattan. Rents on Bedford Street range from asking $300/sq ft to $500/sq ft, mostly for small space.”
Although rents may soften slightly in the short term, Abrams believes this is more to do with wider issues in the retail sector than the impact of the L train closure.
“Many people are concerned about the effect of the repairs to the L train, but local brokers say it does not affect their ability to lease space,” he says. “Instead, retailers and food tenants seem to be focused on the growing customer base as the residential units in the area continue to grow, and additionally a couple of million square feet of commercial office space is being built and leased.”
His optimism is shared by Brendan Maddigan, executive managing director, investment sales, in the NYC capital markets group at Cushman & Wakefield. Although there was some initial concern about the subway closure, which had a “premature impact on value”, as more details have been released about the planned works these worries have subsided, he says.
“When the news was first announced, the uncertainty had a major impact with people questioning whether to invest in this neighbourhood,” he elaborates. “But folks realise this is a great neighbourhood and it’s not going to fall into the East River just because the train is going to be closed down for a year.”
Some, like Douglaston Development’s Jeff Levine, even think it will benefit. In short, reports of the death of Williamsburg appear to have been greatly exaggerated.
Find out more about the hottest locations in New York City
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It’s been called a ‘city within a city’.
Fairytale of New York: The Bronx
People used to say the Bronx was burning. Now they say it’s on fire.
Fairytale of New York: Meatpacking District
Chelsea Market, which celebrated its 12th anniversary this year, is a 1.2m sq ft office and retail development in New York City’s Meatpacking District.
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Embrace change or fall behind
As the commercial real estate (CRE) industry undergoes an unprecedented transformation, real estate companies throughout the entire value chain are approaching a crossroads.
Planning miracles can happen
Developer Iain Hutchinson has shown what determination, ruthless analysis and inspired architecture can do when it comes to winning planning permission on difficult sites.
How sustainable is online retail?
Is online retailing sustainable? I don’t mean just in a business sense, but also with regard to the environmental impact it has.
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Hydro Vacuum Excavation
Underground Service Locations
Victoria Division
Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) is a highly specialised geophysical technique of sub surfacing imaging.
Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) is an advanced practical application that offers experienced professionals with a deeper understanding of the underground environment.
Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) is a non-destructive method using electro magnetic radiation (uvf/vhf) frequencies to identify the sub surface factors influencing specific profiles and an invaluable asset for precise data collection and vital information analysis.
Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) involves the observation of reflected component of transmitted electromagnetic waves into the sub surface.
Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) uses transmitting and receiving antennas.”
The GPR output is a series of radar wavelet traces or scans produced on a chart recorder or computer screen as an antenna is pulled across the ground surface.
The transmitting antenna of the GPR radiates short pulses of the high frequency (usually polarized) radio waves into the ground. When the wave touches a buried object or a boundary with different dielectric constants, the receiving antenna records variations in the reflected return signal.
The principles involved with the GPR technology are similar to reflection seismology however the electromagnetic energy is used instead of acoustic energy. These reflections, unlike that of acoustical waves, occur at the interfaces of materials of differing electrical conductivity or permittivity.
Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) allows us to separate particular facts concluding with the finest of details as to the details and shape of sub surface reflectors or object features in plan view.
The depth range of GPR is limited by the electrical conductivity of the ground, and the transmitting frequency. As conductivity increases, the penetration depth also decreases. This is due to the electromagnetic energy being more quickly dissipated into heat, causing a loss in signal strength at depth. Higher frequencies do not penetrate as far as lower frequencies, but give better resolution. Optimal depth penetration is achieved in dry sandy soils or massive dry materials such as granite, limestone, and concrete where the depth of penetration could be up to 15m. In moist or clay laden soils and soils with high electrical conductivity, penetration can be significantly less. Under normal circumstances a reliable GPR depth indication would be in the region of 3m to 4m.
Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) can be used in a variety of media, including rock, soil, ice, fresh water, pavements and structures. It can detect objects, changes in material, voids and cracks.
Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) is used in many applications in a various fields and industries.
Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) is used by archaeologists for mapping archaeological features and cemeteries and by law enforcements for locating clandestine graves and buried evidence. In the military, GPR is used to detect unexploded ordnance, mines and tunnels.
(GPR) is used in the field of Earth sciences to study bedrock, soils, groundwater and ice.
Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) is used in engineering applications including nondestructive testing of structures and pavements, locating buried structures and utility lines and to study soils and bedrock.
Ground-penetrating radar(GPR) is used in environmental remediation to define land fills, contaminant plumes and other remediation site situations.
Call 1300 734 772 or email us below to satisfy your duty of care and obtain obligation free advice, proposals and tenders.
Call Tap to Call or email us below to satisfy your duty of care and obtain obligation free advice, proposals and tenders.
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Underground Utility Locations
2 PARKWATER TERRACE HELENSVALE GOLD COAST QLD 4212
enquiries@provac.net.au
203/101 St Kilda Road, St Kilda, Victoria 3182
melbourne@provac.net.au
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NYC Match Preview: Raiders v Rabbitohs
Jon Kroiter
Thu 28 Jul 2016, 01:49 PM
The Raiders U20's are aiming for five straight wins when they face the 14th placed Rabbitohs on Sunday at ANZ Stadium.
Currently sitting in eighth place, the Raiders need a win to ensure both the Knights and Broncos don’t overtake them in the fight for finals football.
The long awaited return of Kalani Going is a timely boost for Brett White’s side. The second rower suffered a foot injury in Round Five against the Bulldogs.
“Edrick Lee did it a couple of years ago, and Blake Austin did it when he was with the Wests Tigers, so they’ve been helping me get through it. It’s been a fairly long process,” said Going.
Going returned to local league football for the Woden Valley Rams last weekend, playing 50 minutes in his first taste of football since April.
The forward was pleased to be back with the team but said he felt the pain of the team’s mid-season slump.
“I’ve been with them when they were going through the rough times. It wasn’t just them going through it; I was going through it too because that’s my team."
"Now the boys are just finding their way - staying hot, not the hot and cold team that we were – and it’s just a real good vibe.
"Everyone is positive, and we’re just ready to do the work and get the job done."
Teenage sensation Nick Cotric will be missing from the match after his call-up to the Australian Schoolboys side. Jack Murchie moves to centre as his replacement.
RAIDERS NYC TEAM
Although the Rabbitohs have struggled in 2016, the Bunnies enter this weekend’s match in good form after beating Manly in a 44-40 nail biter last weekend.
Going is wary of what the Rabbitohs could produce when they clash on Sunday.
“If we take the Bunnies lightly, they could easily just turn it around and smoke us - which I’m sure we’ve done a few times this year, taken a team too lightly and they’ve turned around and put us to show,” said Going.
“Just as long as we go along with the same mental attitude we’ve had the last few weeks, I’m sure we’ll get the job done.”
RABBITOHS NYC TEAM
The match between the Raiders and Rabbitohs kicks off at 11.45am on Sunday and is live on Fox Sports Channel 501. Updates will also be on the Raiders Twitter.
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Rasmussen College Wins Service/Distribution Industry Of The Year Award
Pasco Economic Development Council Recognizes New Port Richey Campus
Erin Werthman
Media: (866) 257-8253
Email: Media@Rasmussen.edu
NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. (Sept. 27, 2011) – Rasmussen College announced today that its New Port Richey, FL college campus has been honored with a Service/Distribution Industry of the Year Award by the Pasco Economic Development Council for its service to the community in helping area students gain access to higher education to achieve their career and personal goals.
Campus President Claire Walker accepted the award during the Pasco Economic Development Council’s 25th Annual Industry Appreciation Banquet at Saddlebrook Resort with Governor Rick Scott in attendance.
The New Port Richey campus, which relocated from Holiday earlier this year to New Port Richey on Citizens Drive, offers flexible day, evening and online classes to make it more accessible for students to pursue an education, even while still working full time. For example, a new accelerated Nursing Mobility program helps students bridge from LPN to RN in as little as nine months. The campus offers a wide range of degrees in business, healthcare, criminal justice, education, technology and digital design.
“As a proud member of the Pasco community, we are thrilled to accept this award and very grateful for the hospitality the residents and businesses have shown us over the years,” Walker said. “We know that a well-rounded and technically skilled workforce is crucial for attracting new business and improving the economic climate. We are committed to working with the Pasco Economic Development Council and local businesses to provide the kind of contemporary education that contributes to the community’s vitality.”
The New Port Richey Campus is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and offers Bachelor’s degrees in high-demand areas including Health Information Management, Internet Marketing, Information Technology, Cyber Security, Homeland Security, Digital Design and Animation and Game and Simulation Programming, among many others. It also offers Associate’s programs in nearly 40 programs, along with a wide range of skilled training certificate and diploma programs. The campus is located just 35 miles from Tampa and is conveniently accessible within minutes from Spring Hill, Hudson, Tarpon Springs and Clearwater.
For additional information about Rasmussen College, visit www.Rasmussen.edu.
ABOUT RASMUSSEN COLLEGE:
Rasmussen College is a regionally accredited private college and Public Benefit Corporation that is dedicated to changing lives through high-demand educational programs and public service. Rasmussen College offers Certificate and Diploma programs through Associate's and Bachelor's degrees online and across its 24 Midwest and Florida campuses in a supportive, student-centered and career-focused environment. Since 1900, Rasmussen College has been dedicated to being a primary contributor to the growth and development of the communities it serves. As a Benefit Corporation, Rasmussen College is committed to helping change lives through education and making a positive impact on society through public service and a variety of community-based initiatives. For more information about Rasmussen College, please visit www.Rasmussen.edu.
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Brazil's Lula Seeks To Expand Ties With Ukraine
By Michael Hirshman
The Brazilian president (left) meets with his Ukrainian counterpart
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio da Silva is leading a delegation in Ukraine for the second day of a two-day visit intended to increase bilateral cooperation.
As part of today's itinerary, Brazil's defense minister will visit the Yuzhmash rocket facility in the southern city of Dnipropetrovsk.
Ukraine and Brazil are expected to agree to a treaty for the extradition of convicts, the partial renouncement of visa requirements, and greater cooperation with regards to culture and education.
As the defense minister's visit to the rocket facility suggests, Brazil will also explore further cooperation with Ukraine in aerospace. Da Silva himself was to have visited the Yuzhmash rocket site, although his itinerary was changed at the last moment.
Ukrainian rockets are launched from the Alcantara space center on Brazil's north Atlantic coast.
A forum of Ukrainian and Brazilian businessmen is taking place in conjunction with the visit. This meeting takes place three months after the two countries set up a Ukrainian-Brazilian Sub-Commission on trade and investment.
Brazil's Rise
Da Silva's latest trip shows the increasing role Brazil is cultivating on the world stage.
Last week, President Da Silva made headlines when he hosted Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad in Brazil. Da Silva pointedly refused to criticize the Iranian nuclear program, insisting that Iran and the West engage in constructive dialogue over the issue.
Two months ago, Brazil won the right to host the 2016 Summer Olympics -- the first South American country to do so.
German Rueda, a leading historian at Spain's University of Cantabria, says that such international clout is new for a Latin-American country that historically has had little overseas involvement. Next year, Brazil will take a seat on the United Nations Security Council.
Da Silva's outreach comes as the moderate leftist, and former union-leader, has come to be seen as a model by some.
"Lula [Da Silva] is adroitly directing his progressive agenda in what is seen as a practical leftism that is in line with common sense," Rueda says.
"And in this way, Lula is doing very well because he is identified with a new more sensible Latin-American left with a brighter future than that of [Venezuelan President Hugo] Chavez. And in that sense he is winning followers, as much in America as in the rest of the world."
Lula Urges Iran Dialogue, But Backs Nuclear Plan
Iranian President Begins South American Tour
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About Lynne Kenney
Lynne Kenney, Psy.D., is a Harvard trained psychologist, a mother of two, an international educator, and pediatric psychologist in Scottsdale, AZ. Since 1985, Dr. Kenney has worked as an educator in community service from the inner cities of Los Angeles to national organizations such as The Neurological Health Foundation, Understood.org, HandsOn Phoenix, and Points of Light (Generation On). Dr. Kenney’s works include the Social-Emotional Literacy program Bloom Your Room™; Musical Thinking; Bloom: 50 things to say, think and do with anxious, angry and over-the-top-kids and 70 Play Activities For Better Thinking, Self-Regulation, Learning and Behavior. Learn more at www.lynnekenney.com. Lynne is a member of the PedSafe Expert team
Website: http://www.lynnekenney.com
Articles by Lynne
3 Things Parents Can Do To Help Kids Calm Under Pressure
Last updated on January 1st, 2018 at 02:48 pm Self-regulation is the ability to monitor and control our own behavior, thoughts or feelings altering them in accordance with the demands of a situation. While we often expect children to be well-modulated, it is most helpful when we teach them what being regulated “feels like”.Whether you teach, love or parent children from pre-school to high school,...
4 Things That Will Help Your Child Develop Early Reading Skills
Last updated on November 1st, 2017 at 12:56 pmDeveloping early reading skills in children ages 9-48 months involves enhancing cognitive skills such as sequential processing, simultaneous processing, focused attention, and inhibition. Speaking with your child face to face, drawing attention to characters and actions on the written page and practicing how oral-motor sounds relate to phonemic representation,...
Teachers, Want to Help A Child Learn? Encourage Wiggling!
Last updated on August 21st, 2017 at 11:25 am The research is clear, many of us move to think, that means we can cheer for kids who like to wiggle while they learn.Large motor movement such as walking 15 minutes before school, doing moderate-intensity exercise before a test and peddling or bouncing before academics have been shown to improve performance. Small movements such as fidgeting, squirming,...
3 Ways Music Improves Kids’ Learning, Relationships & Confidence
Last updated on July 8th, 2017 at 11:50 pmWhen we think of music, often what comes to mind is song. We may think of Broadway musicals, Bach or Justin Timberlake. In our minds, we might imagine orchestras or pianists. Music has been central to civilization for thousands of years. In fact, before we had language we used musical tones and sounds to communicate. The tone of a grunt signaled a message in...
My Child Made A Mistake…How To Make That A Win?
Last updated on June 5th, 2017 at 01:03 amI’ve been reflecting this week on the value of making mistakes. We hear that mistakes are learning opportunities. Without making mistakes, we don’t know that we need to revise our strategy or approach.Yet, it has occurred to me, how do we talk with children about the benefit of making mistakes in a manner that improves their cognition? How do we help...
What’s Working For Me: A Game To Help Stressed Kids Feel Better
Last updated on May 30th, 2017 at 10:57 pm Children often have feelings and thoughts of which they are not mindfully aware. Those thoughts and feelings about life experiences or specific situations can cause feelings of unease that increases anxiety.At the heart of it, the cognitive side of anxiety (because there can be quite a strong biological side as well) is about the perception that one does...
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All About Rabies
With nicer weather on its way, it's good to be aware of this deadly virus, especially in rural areas with lots of wildlife.
What is Rabies?
Rabies, also known as hydrophobia, is a viral disease that causes acute encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) in mammals. It is most commonly caused by a bite from an infected animal, but occasionally by other forms of contact. If left untreated in humans it is usually fatal. In some countries it is a significant killer of livestock.
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The rabies virus makes its way to the brain by following the peripheral nerves. From the point of entry, the virus travels quickly along the neural pathways into the central nervous system and then further into other organs. The incubation period of the disease depends on how far the virus must travel to reach the central nervous system, usually taking a few months. Once the infection reaches the central nervous system and symptoms begin to show, the untreated infection is usually fatal within days. Any mammal may become infected with the rabies virus and develop symptoms, including humans. Most animals can be infected by the virus and can transmit the disease to humans.
The rabies virus is usually present in the nerves and saliva of a symptomatic rabid animal. The salivary glands receive high concentrations of the virus thus allowing it to be further transmitted. The route of infection is usually, but not necessarily, by a bite. In many cases the infected animal is exceptionally aggressive, may attack without provocation, and exhibits otherwise uncharacteristic behavior.
Transmission may also occur via an aerosol through mucous membranes; for example, transmission in this form may happen in people exploring caves populated by rabid bats that bite. Infected bats, monkeys, raccoons, foxes, skunks, cattle, wolves, dogs, mongoose (normally yellow mongoose) or cats provide the greatest risk to humans. Rabies may also spread through exposure to infected domestic farm animals, groundhogs, weasels, bears and other wild carnivores. Surprisingly, rodents such as mice and squirrels are seldom infected.
Transmission between humans is extremely rare. A few cases have been recorded through transplant surgery or, even more rarely, through bites, kisses or intimate contact.
Symptoms in Humans
After a typical human infection by bite, the virus enters the peripheral nervous system. It then travels along the nerves towards the central nervous system. During this phase, the virus cannot be easily detected within the host. The period between infection and the first flu-like symptoms is normally two to twelve weeks, but can be as long as two years.
In the beginning stage:
Once the virus reaches the brain, it rapidly causes encephalitis. This second phase is called the “prodromal” phase. At this time, treatment is useless. Symptoms will now begin to appear. Rabies may also cause myelitis; inflammation of the spinal cord.
In the advanced stage:
Slight or partial paralysis
Cerebral dysfunction
Extreme agitation
Abnormal behavior
Hallucinations (progressing to delirium)
Acute pain
Violent movements
Uncontrolled excitability
Inability to talk or swallow water (hence the name hydrophobia)
In the final stage:
Periods of mania
Death - (which generally occurs due to respiratory failure) almost invariably results two-to-ten days after the first symptoms. The few humans who are known to have survived the disease were all left with severe brain damage.
Symptoms in Animals
Rabies is infectious to mammals. Like humans, three stages of rabies are recognized in dogs and other animals. The first stage is a one-to-three day period characterized by behavioral changes and is known as the prodromal stage. The second stage is the excitative stage, which lasts three-to-four days. It is this stage that is often known as furious rabies due to the tendency of the affected animal to be hyper reactive to external stimuli and bite at anything nearby. The third stage is the paralytic stage and is caused by damage to motor neurons. Incoordination is seen due to rear limb paralysis and drooling and difficulty swallowing is caused by paralysis of facial and throat muscles. As in humans, death is usually caused by respiratory failure.
Diagnosis can be made reliably from skin samples taken before death. It is also possible to make the diagnosis from saliva, urine and cerebrospinal fluid samples, but this is not as sensitive. Epidemiological factors (e.g., season, geographic location, and the patient’s age, travel history, and possible exposure to animal bites, rodents, and ticks) may help with the diagnostic evaluation.
In non-vaccinated humans, rabies is usually fatal after neurological symptoms have developed, but prompt post-exposure vaccination may prevent the virus from progressing. Rabies kills around 55,000 people a year, mostly in Asia and Africa. There are only six known cases of a person surviving symptomatic rabies, and only two known cases of survival in which the patient received no rabies-specific treatment either before or after illness onset.
Almost every infected case with rabies resulted in death until a vaccine was developed by Louis Pasteur and Emile Roux in 1885. Their original vaccine was harvested from infected rabbits, from which the nerve tissue was weakened by allowing to dry for five to ten days. sSimilar nerve tissue-derived vaccine are still used in some countries today, as they are less expensive than modern cell culture vaccines. The human diploid cell rabies vaccine (H.D.C.V.) was started in 1967; however, a new and less expensive purified chicken embryo cell vaccine and purified vero cell rabies vaccine are now available.
Treatment after exposure, known as post-exposure prophylaxis or “P.E.P.”, is highly successful in preventing the disease if administered promptly, generally within ten days of infection. Thoroughly washing the wound as soon as possible with soap and water for approximately five minutes is very effective at reducing the number of viral particles. “If available, a virucidal antiseptic such as povidone-iodine, iodine tincture, aqueous iodine solution or alcohol (ethanol) should be applied after washing. Exposed mucous membranes such as eyes, nose or mouth should be flushed well with water. In the United States, patients receive one dose of immunoglobulin and five doses of rabies vaccine over a twenty-eight day period. One-half the dose of immunoglobulin is injected in the region of the bite, if possible, with the remainder injected intramuscularly away from the bite. This is much less painful compared with administering immunoglobulin through the abdominal wall with a large needle, as was done in the past. The first dose of rabies vaccine is given as soon as possible after exposure, with additional doses on days three, seven, fourteen, and twenty-eight after the first. Patients that have previously received pre-exposure vaccination do not receive the immunoglobulin, only the post-exposure vaccinations on day 0 and 3. Since the widespread vaccination of domestic dogs and cats and the development of effective human vaccines and immunoglobulin treatments, the number of recorded deaths in the U.S. from rabies has dropped from one hundred or more annually in the early twentieth century, to 1–2 per year, mostly caused by bat bites, which may go unnoticed by the victim and hence untreated.
In instances when post-exposure prophylaxis is administered as a precaution (e.g. a person wakes up and finds a bat in the room they were sleeping in), it is now mainly given in the gluteal region and deltoid (upper arm). The number of shots delivered to the gluteal area on the first day is determined by weight, and it is not uncommon to require three of these shots. Subsequent shots of the immunoglobulin (to build longer term immunity to rabies) are given to the arm. Recipients of the vaccine have reported that these shots are no more painful than normal shots (such as tetanus boosters).
While the virus is treatable only during the incubation period, it is important to note that it is not treatable during its entirety. Rabies is fully treatable while the virus is present in tissues composed of cells other than neurons, such as skin and muscle. However, once the infection spreads to a neuron, the virus is sequestered from the immune system and will eventually make its way to the spinal cord and then to the brain. Treatment at this point may not be effective, even though symptoms may begin to appear weeks or even months later. Therefore, it is highly recommended that P.E.P. be administered as soon as possible. Begun without delay, or very little delay, P.E.P. is highly effective against rabies. In the case where there has been a significant delay in administering P.E.P., the treatment should be administered regardless of that delay, as it may still be effective if it is not too late.
Rabies was once rare in the United States outside the Southern states, but raccoons in the mid-Atlantic and northeast United States have been suffering from a rabies epidemic since the 1970s, which is now moving westwards into Ohio. In the midwestern United States, skunks are the primary carriers of rabies, composing 134 of the 237 documented non-human cases in 1996. The most widely distributed reservoir of rabies in the United States; however, and the source of most human cases are bats.
Canine Breeds
Feline Breeds
Exotic Breeds
Safe Pet Snacks
Pet Allergy Awareness
Winter Weather: Pet Health Hazards
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Hemingway Butte
That beep, beep, beep you hear is the sound of me backing into this story. It’s about Hemingway Butte, which today is an off-highway vehicle play area managed by the Boise District Bureau of Land Management. It includes a popular trail system and steep hillsides where OHVs and motorbikes defy gravity for a few seconds courtesy of two-cycle engines.
Hemmingway Butte is about three miles southwest of Walter’s Ferry, which itself is about 15 miles south of Nampa. Beep, beep, beep.
Walters Ferry wasn’t always called that. It became Walter’s Ferry when Lewellyn R. Walter bought out his partner’s share of the ferry business in 1886. Previous owners had been John Fruit, George Blankenbecker, John Morgan, Leonard Fuqa, a Mr. Boon, Samuel Neeley, Perry Munday, Robert Duncan, and Reese Miles. But, beep, beep, we must back up to Munday for this story, because the drama took place when it was called Munday’s Ferry.
It was at Munday’s Ferry that the stage came thundering up from the south in August of 1878, its driver mortally wounded. Indians were chasing the stage and directing bullets at it. Munday and three soldiers set across the river toward the embattled stage coach, while two other soldier remained on the north side of the Snake to provide cover fire.
The soldiers and Indians exchanged fire for several minutes, according to a report in the Idaho Tri-Weekly Statesman, while the ferry landed and the wounded stagecoach driver “quietly kept his seat, and when the boat touched the bank drove the team up the grade from the river and asked for water.”
Dr. W.W. McKay was dispatched from Boise to care for the driver. He made the dusty, 30-mile trip by buggy in two and a half hours, only to find when he got there that William Hemingway had breathed his last minutes before.
William Hemingway was the name of the stagecoach driver, and the aforementioned butte was named in his honor, as it was near there that the Indian attack began. Hemingway was buried in Silver City beside his wife and two children who had gone before.
Hemingway Butte Off-Highway Vehicle area. Photo courtesy of BLM.
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The hospitality industry is thriving in Ethiopia but there’s a shortage of trained personnel. A few years ago, the tourist office, university and hotel association in the city of Mek’ele asked PUM for help. A number of missions later and the foundations have been laid for a comprehensive hospitality training programme.
‘Working in the hospitality sector is often seen as a last resort in Ethiopia if other jobs aren’t available,’ says PUM expert Johan Spape when explaining the situation. ‘There’s a huge demand for trained personnel and yet a high level of youth unemployment. Our assignment was to raise the quality of Ethiopian hospitality and set up coherent training so as to help youngsters find a job.’
‘There’s a huge demand for trained personnel and yet a high level of youth unemployment’
Practical approach
Several experts had already looked into the hospitality situation in Ethiopia before Johan first visited the country in 2016. A start had already been made on a hotel management programme but Johan saw that a more practical approach was needed. ‘The course was being taught at Bachelor level but this was sometimes too much for the students. Realising this, we looked into the level we had to offer the courses at. And we saw there was a particular need for practical information. How do you turn theory into reality? How do make information stick?’
Johan decided to ask Bram de Muijnck, his colleague at Zadkine Regional Training Centre in the Netherlands, to join him in Ethiopia. Johan: ‘Bram has practical experience and understands students.’ The two experts went together on two follow-up missions to Ethiopia, making contact with local hotels, helping train the teachers, develop the educational material and teach classes. And they took supplies with them from the Netherlands so that they could set up a fully equipped training kitchen and restaurant at the local Nicolas Robinson School.
‘How do you turn theory into reality? How do make information stick?’
What the guest wants
According to the experts the biggest challenge lies in changing the hospitality culture. Bram: ‘Most hospitality staff aren’t used to asking themselves what the guest would like. That really is because of a lack of knowledge. The only training course is in the capital city and so personnel in the rest of the country is simply not trained. At the same time, there are a lot of hotels being built in places like Mek’ele.’ In order to make the culture change work, we need local schools and encouragement from the hospitality sector itself. Johan: ‘The courses need to be further developed and the youth need to be encouraged to learn the trade. It’s important that hotels reward staff that follow courses, for instance with secondary benefits, awards for employee of the month, bonuses and more training. In this way, they can motivate their staff to invest in their qualities.’
Medhanye Weldu is a former student of the Nicolas Robinson School and now chef at the Planet Hotel in Mek’ele. ‘I’ve always been passionate about cooking and learnt the trade through hard work and study. The PUM experts have now taught me how to train students myself. I do this in a number of smaller hotels in the area in my free time and on my own initiative. The hotel industry in Mek’ele has become a little more professional over the past few years, but the majority of hotels still have a long way to go. The owners have no idea how they can improve quality, purchasing is unreliable and the managers are not around enough to see what is actually happening. They don’t understand how important training and a good salary is. The students that have recently finished the programme at the Nicolas Robinson School already have a much better attitude and I try to set the right example myself, like I also saw Johan and Bram do. Whether it concerns serving or hygiene in the kitchen, it all comes down to being professional. However, hospitality is still not seen as a safe career choice in Ethiopia, so we still need to work on that too.’
Johan Spape (58) is a PUM expert in the field of hospitality. He works in secondary vocational education and has been involved with PUM since 2011. In addition to Ethiopia, he has been on missions to Tanzania, Ghana and Georgia.
Bram de Muijnck (55) has years of experience in training hospitality staff. He has been working for PUM since 2015 alongside his work as placement coordinator in secondary vocational education. He has been to Armenia, Kosovo and Ethiopia for PUM.
Kathryn Robinson, founder of the Nicolas Robinson School: ‘Our school was founded so as to provide education to disadvantaged children. We’ve long wanted to develop technical and vocational education like you get in my homeland Switzerland. By working closely with the business sector, in this case hotels, we wanted to be able to define the content of the courses. It was great being able to work with PUM on this as we shared the same vision. We could help PUM by providing knowledge of the Ethiopian labour market and all its challenges, and provide a location for the training centre. A lot of the personnel in hotels in Mek’ele come from Addis Ababa, but now local youth can also find work rather than staying unemployed. For instance, one student was recently offered a job just six days into their work placement in one of the best hotels in the city.’
PUM expert Bram de Muijnck made a video of the mission to Mek'ele in Ethiopia:
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Forests Emerge as a Major Overlooked Climate Factor
New work at the intersection of atmospheric science and ecology is finding that forests can influence rainfall and climate from across a continent.
Mist hangs over the Amazon rainforest shortly after sunrise. Forests routinely transfer extraordinary amounts of water vapor into the atmosphere — the equivalent of “flying rivers” — and scientists are only beginning to understand the complex consequences for rainfall and climate at remote locations.
Raphael Alù
Gabriel Popkin
biologyclimate changeclimate modelsclimate scienceecologyplants
When Abigail Swann started her career in the mid-2000s, she was one of just a handful of scientists exploring a potentially radical notion: that the green plants living on Earth’s surface could have a major influence on the planet’s climate. For decades, most atmospheric scientists had focused their weather and climate models on wind, rain and other physical phenomena.
But with powerful computer models that can simulate how plants move water, carbon dioxide and other chemicals between ground and air, Swann has found that vegetation can control weather patterns across huge distances. The destruction or expansion of forests on one continent might boost rainfall or cause a drought halfway around the world.
Swann is now a professor at the University of Washington, where she runs the Ecoclimate lab. She is in the vanguard of a small but growing group of scientists studying how plants shape Earth’s weather and climate. Their results could shake up climate science. “None of the atmospheric scientists are thinking about” how plants could influence rainfall, Swann said, though hints had appeared in the scientific literature for decades. And, she added, “it blows the ecology community’s mind … that the plants over here could actually influence the plants over there.”
“Many of us are surprised at what a powerful role plants actually play,” said Park Williams, a bioclimatologist at Columbia University. “The influence of Earth’s surface on large-scale climate is currently a really booming topic, and Abby Swann is one of the emerging leaders in that field.”
The Ignored Influence of Plants
The schism between the atmospheric and life sciences that Swann encountered was a holdover from the late 1800s, when the U.S. government proclaimed that planting crops and trees would turn the arid Great Plains wet. The government had embraced a dubious theory pushed by land speculators and rejected the counsel of one of the nation’s top scientists, John Wesley Powell. Spurred on by such optimistic but dubious claims, thousands of would-be farmers headed west, only to find that greening the land did not, in fact, make it rain. Many struggled to scrape a living from the dry ground, and the ill-conceived agricultural experiment eventually contributed to the devastating Dust Bowl.
Scientists reacted strongly. Early meteorologists, hoping to save their young field’s credibility, rejected the notion that forests influence weather. “Much of the discussion of it, unfortunately, has not been of a purely scientific character,” one wrote in 1888 in Science. Meteorology, and later climate science, became the study of air and water. Plants were relegated to passive participant status.
Atmospheric scientists — and everyone else — could be excused for thinking of a stoically standing tree or a gently undulating wheat field as doing little more than passively accepting sunlight, wind and rain. But plants are actually powerful change agents on the planet’s surface. They pump water from the ground through their tissues to the air, and they move carbon in the opposite direction, from air to tissue to ground. All the while, leaves split water, harvest and manipulate solar energy, and stitch together hydrogen, oxygen and carbon to produce sugars and starches — the sources of virtually all food for Earth’s life.
The key features of this molecular wizardry are pores, called stomata, in plant leaves. A single leaf can contain more than 1 million of these specialized structures. Stomata are essentially microscopic mouths that simultaneously take in carbon dioxide from the air and let out water. As Swann notes, the gas exchange from each stoma — and indeed from each leaf — is, on its own, tiny. But with billions of stomata acting in concert, a single tree can evaporate hundreds of liters of water per day — enough to fill several bathtubs. The world’s major forests, which contain hundreds of billions of trees, can move water on almost inconceivably large scales. Antonio Nobre, a climate scientist at Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research, has estimated, for example, that the Amazon rainforest discharges around 20 trillion liters of water per day — roughly 17 percent more than even the mighty Amazon River.
This micrograph of a stained leaf shows the mouth-shaped stomata, or regulated pores, that plants open and close to control the amount of water vapor they release into the air. A single tree can release the equivalent of hundreds of liters of water in a day.
Josef Reischig
Yet the computer models that scientists rely on to predict the future climate don’t even come close to acknowledging the power of plants to move water on that scale, Swann said. “They’re tiny, but together they are mighty.”
Scientists have known since the late 1970s that the Amazon rainforest — the world’s largest, at 5.5 million square kilometers — makes its own storms. More recent research reveals that half or more of the rainfall over continental interiors comes from plants cycling water from soil into the atmosphere, where powerful wind currents can transport it to distant places. Agricultural regions as diverse as the U.S. Midwest, the Nile Valley and India, as well as major cities such as Sao Paulo, get much of their rain from these forest-driven “flying rivers.” It’s not an exaggeration to say that a large fraction of humanity’s diet is owing, at least in part, to forest-driven rainfall.
Such results also imply a profound reversal of what we would usually consider cause and effect. Normally we might assume that “the forests are there because it’s wet, rather than that it’s wet because there are forests,” said Douglas Sheil, an environmental scientist at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences campus outside Oslo. But maybe that’s all backward. “Could [wet climates] be caused by the forests?” he asked.
Forests in the Arctic
Swann arrived at the University of California, Berkeley, in 2005 to do her doctoral work with Inez Fung, an atmospheric scientist. In the 1980s, Fung had helped pave the way for climate models that included realistic vegetation and associated carbon dioxide fluxes. (Among her other accomplishments, she was a co-author on the 1988 paper with the NASA scientist James Hansen that helped bring climate change to the public’s attention.) The model she worked with was state-of-the-art at the time, but, like its counterparts at other research institutions, it could only represent the biosphere simplistically.
By the mid-2000s, models had improved enough that scientists could more precisely study the role plants might play in the climate system. Fung suggested that Swann try foresting the Arctic in a climate model. Trees are colonizing higher latitudes as the globe warms, so it seemed reasonable to ask what impact they would have on the region’s climate. Other researchers had previously looked into the potential effects of an expansion of northern spruce forests; unsurprisingly, they found that the Arctic would likely get warmer because those trees’ leaves are dark and would absorb more sunlight than virtually any of the tundra, ice and shrubs they might replace. Swann decided to look into what would happen if the encroaching forests were deciduous trees with lighter colored leaves, such as birch or aspen.
In her model, the Arctic did still warm — by about 1 degree Celsius, which was more than she expected. Swann determined that her simulated forests emitted a lot of water vapor, which, like carbon dioxide, is a greenhouse gas that absorbs infrared radiation from Earth and redirects some of it downward. The vapor then caused ice to melt on land and at sea, exposing darker surfaces that absorbed yet more sunlight and grew even warmer. The new forests had set off a feedback loop, amplifying the impact of climate change. The finding hinted at the power that plants could exert over a region’s climate.
In a separate study, Swann turned all vegetated areas of temperate North America, Europe and Asia into forest. Again, this exercise exaggerated something already happening in the real world: Satellite data have shown that these continents are greening as former farmland returns to forest, perhaps aided by enhanced atmospheric carbon dioxide and longer growing seasons.
As in the Arctic study, the new trees absorbed sunlight and warmed, adding energy to the climate system. Atmospheric currents then redistributed this energy around the planet. Droughts descended on the southern Amazon and rain fell in the Sahara. These effects were caused by a repositioning of the Hadley cell — the massive conveyor belt of air that rises from the equator, dumps its rain over the tropics, and descends again as dry air at around 30 degrees north and south latitudes, where most of the world’s deserts are. Through the influence of plants alone, the Hadley cell had shifted to the north.
Swann had seemingly uncovered a hidden “teleconnection” — a region holding sway over a far distant one through subtle atmospheric mechanisms. Fung wasn’t that surprised: Atmospheric scientists have gotten comfortable with such remote influences. In periodic El Niño events, which have been understood since the 1920s, unusually warm surface water in the eastern Pacific Ocean triggers heavy rain in western South America and Africa and droughts in Southeast Asia and Australia. The novelty in Swann’s simulated events was that forests, not oceans, did the influencing.
“To me that was a really interesting perspective,” said Gordon Bonan, a geoscientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, who also studies the influence of plants on the atmosphere. “If you do enough of this tree planting, you can actually change circulation patterns.”
Distant Effects From Forest Changes
Scenarios such as a green Arctic or a reforested temperate zone are not as far-fetched as they may seem. A recent study in Nature reported that in the last three and a half decades, tree cover has increased by more than 2 million square kilometers in these regions.
Massive tree losses are also part of our modern world. During roughly the same period when temperate and boreal trees gained ground, some 20 percent of the Amazon rainforest was cut down. Since 2010, nearly 130 million trees have died in California alone, mostly because of drought and wildfire.
Much effort has gone into understanding how future climate change will affect forests. Based on severe droughts that occurred in 2005, 2010 and 2015, some scientists believe the Amazon may be nearing a tipping point that would cause much of its rainforest to turn to savanna, with potentially devastating consequences for carbon storage, biodiversity and local climate. A paper from late 2017 provided evidence that future warming would make droughts even more lethal to the forests of the American Southwest. Some scientists predict that many of the Southwest’s forests could become savanna or grasslands, and at least one — Nate McDowell at Los Alamos National Laboratory — has been quoted as saying that a large fraction of the region’s trees could die.
Yet the question of how changes in forests could alter the global climate has barely been considered. “For decades we’ve been looking to see: How well can we do in climate modeling without needing to evoke the influences of vegetation?” Williams said. “Vegetation has kind of been left on the back burner.”
Swann’s and Fung’s research suggested that plants need to be brought to the fore. And other researchers have taken note. Earlier this year, two groups of scientists, both of which included Swann, authored studies of how forest-driven water transport will change as carbon dioxide levels rise. Studies of individual leaves have shown that when plants are bathed in carbon dioxide, they don’t need to make as many stomata per leaf, and they close the ones they do make more of the time. These changes help forest plants conserve water to survive, but they reduce the water vapor available to fall as rain on the surrounding continent. Moreover, when plants transpire, they cool Earth’s surface and warm the air, just as the evaporation of sweat cools your body on a hot day. Leaf-level changes, scaled up across continents, could rob the atmosphere of moisture and warm the planet’s surface.
To Michael Pritchard, a climatologist at the University of California, Irvine, Swann’s results were “very provocative … and a big wake-up call,” he said. “This effect seemed to be rewriting the maps of the drought severity outlook in the future.”
Pritchard said he hadn’t previously been aware of the stomatal closure effect. The knowledge inspired him to join a group led by Gabriel Kooperman, a climate scientist then at UC Irvine, investigating the future effects of enhanced carbon dioxide over the three major tropical forest regions — the Amazon, Central Africa and Southeast Asia.
In a study published in Nature Climate Change in April, the researchers found that the closing of stomata would cause half the rainfall changes the regions would see by 2100. Moreover, the Amazon — home to the world’s most carbon-rich and biodiverse rainforest — would get hit with the most severe declines.
Swann is now probing the effects of forest changes at different scales. In a 2016 paper, she reported that wiping out forests in western North America made forests in eastern South America grow more vigorously, while reducing growth in Europe.
And in a study published in May, she investigated how U.S. forest die-offs would affect forests elsewhere in the country. In her models, she killed off forests in 13 heavily forested regions that the National Science Foundation has identified as being ecologically distinct. The results were dramatic. When she wiped out trees in the Pacific Southwest, forests in the Midwest and eastern U.S. suffered. In recent years, the Pacific Southwest has, in fact, lost an estimated 100 million trees, mostly to droughts and voracious insects.
Lucy Reading-Ikkanda/Quanta Magazine, adapted from Abigail L. S. Swann et al doi:10.1088/1748-9326/aaba0f
The effects of forest die-off can also be positive, however. In Swann’s study, removing trees from the mid-Atlantic actually helped forests elsewhere, by making those regions’ summers cooler or wetter. Swann emphasizes that this does not mean people should cut down forests, which provide innumerable benefits beyond their influence on other regions, including carbon storage, wildlife habitat and water filtration. But she notes that environmental groups often plant trees as a climate solution without considering whether the trees could harm forests elsewhere — or warm the planet by absorbing solar energy.
Massive government-sponsored tree plantings have taken place in China and the African Sahel, for example. No one knows what effects they have had on the global climate. “What we would like to be able to say is, if you plant this amount of trees, you would see this reduction in planetary warming,” Bonan said. “We don’t really quite have that answer yet.”
For Swann, it was a thrill to see any effect. “The smaller down in scale we go, I thought it would be harder and harder to identify these climate responses and subsequent forest responses,” she said. “These smaller forest losses still do have big impacts, and actually the impact doesn’t just scale with the tree area that’s lost.”
The Uncertainties Still Matter
Not everyone is sold on ecoclimate teleconnections. Sheil is skeptical of the results of the Kooperman-led study. He thinks climate models do not represent plant biology and the physics of air movement and rainfall accurately enough to say anything meaningful about the real biological world. He notes, for example, that different climate models given the same input often make different predictions.
Others point out that ecoclimate researchers have relied largely on one model, the Community Earth System Model, or CESM. Typically, climate scientists aren’t convinced that a phenomenon is real until they have seen it in the output of numerous models; for instance, the next Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report will incorporate results from more than 30 models. It’s possible that the CESM may be unusually sensitive to vegetation, Pritchard said.
Swann adds a critique of her own: She and her colleagues haven’t always been able to piece together the full chain of physical causation through which forests influence distant regions in her models. In her recent paper on U.S. forests, for example, there were too many disparate mechanisms to investigate one by one, she said. The situation is reminiscent of the hypothetical butterfly flapping its wings in Brazil and setting off a tornado in Texas: Swann and her colleagues can set the butterfly fluttering and see the tornado take shape, but they don’t fully understand what happens in between. Elucidating such mechanisms will be a focus of future work.
Addressing these concerns won’t happen overnight, however. Most models, unlike the CESM, can only be run at a modeling center by the handful of scientists who created them. Those people are busy running simulations for the next Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, due out in 2022. None of the models being used fully account for plants’ influence on climate, Swann said.
The historical view that climate science is mainly about physical phenomena still has influence. For more than a decade, climatologists have seen clouds as the biggest source of uncertainty in models. Clouds cool the planet by reflecting incoming sunlight, but they also warm the planet because they are made of water vapor, a greenhouse gas. Models differ wildly on how much clouds will contribute to cooling and warming in the future, and thus whether a doubling of atmospheric carbon dioxide will be problematic but manageable, or catastrophic.
But how much rain will fall in a given region, and when, and how much it will vary season to season and year to year, will make all the difference in determining which places will remain livable and which places won’t. And Swann and Fung’s results open up at least the possibility that plants could have as much effect as cloud physics on nailing down the answers to such questions.
Moreover, Fung points out, the problems aren’t even independent: Forests produce clouds. Without an accurate picture of forests, cloud models will remain incomplete.
That’s why Swann is starting a new project: to try to quantify how much plants contribute to the uncertainty in climate model results. With that number in hand, she may have an even more potent tool for convincing other researchers that ecology and atmospheric science are inseparable.
Another potential project involves looking at forest data for observational evidence of the teleconnections found in modeling studies. Swann admits, however, that she’s “a little bit on the more skeptical side” that such signals will emerge amid the many pushes and pulls that forests experience. She and David Breshears, an ecologist at the University of Arizona and one of her co-authors on the U.S. forest paper, are also exploring how future southwestern forest losses will affect the climate of the Midwest, the nation’s breadbasket and one of the most productive agricultural areas on Earth.
One thing is clear already: Swann’s influence is being felt. In just over a decade, ecoclimate teleconnections have gone from being virtually unknown to appearing as a frequent discussion topic at major scientific meetings such as the Ecological Society of America and the American Geophysical Union. No longer are such ideas dismissed as not being “of a purely scientific character.”
The developments in this new research area demonstrate that future climate scientists will need to master two fields that have, for more than a century, been largely separate, Fung said: atmospheric physics and biology.
“There are very few ‘multilingual’ scientists,” Fung said. “When Abby did her thing, it was the coming together of two disciplines.” She added, “That’s how progress is made.”
Graduate Student Solves Quantum Verification Problem
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‘The Glass Universe’ celebrates astronomy’s unsung heroines
Cognitive scientist puts profanity in its place
Historian traces rise of celebrity hominid fossils
‘Lab Girl’ invites readers into hidden world of plants
‘Silent Sparks’ illuminates fascinating world of fireflies
by Sid Perkins
‘Eruption’ looks back at devastating Mount St. Helens blast
View all Search Results for "Favorite books of 2016"
The science of CBD lags behind its marketing
Nancy Shute
Magazine issue: Vol. 195, No. 6, March 30, 2019, p. 2
Treatments for pain and other common health problems often fall short, leading to untold misery and frustration. So it’s not hard to understand the lure of a treatment that promises to be benign, natural and good for just about everything that ails you. Enter cannabidiol, or CBD.
So far, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved only one drug containing the chemical: a treatment for rare and severe forms of epilepsy. But that hasn’t stopped people from trying CBD to relieve arthritis, morning sickness, pain, depression, anxiety, addiction, inflammation and acne. And it hasn’t kept companies from marketing the heck out of CBD-infused anything. It’s the sort of situation that gets us wondering: What’s the science here?
The science is skimpy at best, neuroscience writer Laura Sanders reports in this issue. Clinical trials, some of which included children, were conducted to determine safety and efficacy before the FDA approved the first CBD-based epilepsy drug in 2018. But much less research has been done on CBD with regard to other ailments.
Adding to the intrigue, CBD can be extracted from marijuana, though CBD lacks the capacity to induce a buzzy high like its sister molecule THC. So government restrictions have been tight, and scientists have had a hard time getting access to CBD for studies. That makes it less likely that we’ll get clear answers anytime soon on whether CBD is indeed a panacea, or just another triumph of hype.
The surplus of unknowns hasn’t stopped companies from marketing hundreds of CBD products as treatments, attempting to avoid scrutiny by adding disclaimers that the products “are not intended to diagnose, treat or cure or prevent any disease.” But with such large gaps in the research, people trying these products in the hope of benefit become inadvertent guinea pigs.
The process of science may be frustratingly slow, but it can get the job done. In the last decade, clinical trials on vitamin D, for example, have found that despite much excitement surrounding the “sunshine vitamin,” there’s no definitive evidence of benefits in preventing heart disease or cancer. In our recent cover story “Vitamin D supplements aren’t living up to their hype,” contributing correspondent Laura Beil described the years of effort needed to develop that data (SN: 2/2/19, p. 16).
As journalists, we see a big part of our mission as making sure that people have access to accurate, timely information about medical research, so people can make informed decisions for themselves and their families. That’s especially important when it involves products that people can self-prescribe. These two articles — by skilled journalists who put weeks of effort into reading studies, talking with researchers and investigating the business side — are great examples of how sophisticated and useful consumer science journalism can be. Most people look for health information online, but Googling a term like “CBD oil” serves up a muddle of marketing masquerading as impartial information.
CBD may end up being a worthwhile treatment for some problems beyond epilepsy; it’s too early to know. But while we wait for the evidence, it’s essential to know where the science stands right now.
More on Favorite books of 2016
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It's official: Radiohead's experiment worked, kind of
The band's new CD debuts at No. 1 on the charts, despite the choose-your-own-price online sales model.
Check out this article! https://www.salon.com/2008/01/09/radiohead_billboard/
Farhad Manjoo
January 10, 2008 4:29AM (UTC)
For months we've been in the dark about Radiohead's grand experiment, in which the saucy rock band quit its record label and sold its new album by itself. The group allowed people to choose whatever price they wanted to pay for digital tracks of "In Rainbow," but it's declined to say how much it raised from that venture.
Last week, Radiohead released a CD version of "In Rainbows," and now have the first real measure of the experiment's success: The group sold 122,000 CDs in a week, enough to land the No. 1 spot in the Billboard charts.
Are these figures good or bad? Well, they're not too grand if you consider that the band's last album, 2003's "Hail to the Thief," sold 300,000 copies during its first week of sales. Most bands would consider such a sharp drop a disappointment.
But they are pretty good if you consider this. "Hail to the Thief" was famously leaked to the Internet, meaning that millions of people got it for free, with the band getting nothing in return. Sure, the truest fans purchased the CD, too -- but many who didn't consider it worth $15 probably decided to stay with the free one instead.
"In Rainbows" was also, of course, available on the Internet before it came to a CD shop near you, but this time people had the option of paying for it (or getting it for free). If they didn't think it was worth $15, they could pay $5, or $2, or $1 -- all of which, for the band, is better than the album going away for free.
It stands to reason that many people did not buy the CD this week because they'd already purchased a download, and that's surely part of the reason why "In Rainbows" did worse than "Hail." (Though there are other reasons, most importantly that people simply don't buy as many CDs as they used to; it's not 2003 anymore.)
But it's also true that the band made a lot of money on "Rainbows" downloads, money that it wouldn't have made if it had sold the album in a more conventional way (the sort of money that it didn't make on "Hail").
The big question is whether it made enough -- did it make out better this way, selling online and in stores, rather than in stores alone?
We don't know. Radiohead's still not saying. What we do know, though, is that if you're a mega-rock band, putting your music on the Web isn't going to completely kill your CD sales. You can still get to the No. 1 position on the Billboards while, at the same time, collecting download revenue.
And this way, too, you get your music out to more people, which helps you sell concert tickets, which is where you make most of your dough. Radiohead has just announced a North American tour of 22 cities. Dates TBA.
Farhad Manjoo is a Salon staff writer and the author of True Enough: Learning to Live in a Post-Fact Society.
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Mitt Romney and Walid Phares (AP/walidphares.com)
Romney's scary Middle East advisor
The three careers of Walid Phares: Lebanese militant, pro-Israeli propagandist, and Fox News pundit
Check out this article! https://www.salon.com/2011/10/07/romneys_scary_middle_east_advisor/
As`ad AbuKhalil
October 7, 2011 7:00PM (UTC)
Mitt Romney has a new foreign policy adviser. His name is Walid Phares, a Lebanese -American contributor to Fox News, and rising star in Republican punditry. Phares has had three careers and all are relevant in bizarre ways to the U.S. presidential campaign.
Phares' first career began early in the Lebanese civil war of the 1975-1990 when he allied himself with the right-wing militias, armed and financed by Israel. In his official curriculum vitae, Phares describes himself as a writer and lawyer in Lebanon at this time but he was more and less than that. He assumed a political position in the hierarchy of the militias and founded a small Christian party in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
After Genral Michel Auon assumed the presidency of Lebanon in 1988, Phares joined the right-wing coalition known as the Lebanese Front, which consisted of various sectarian groupings and militia. The Front backed Gen. Auon in his struggles against the Syrian regime of Hafez al-Assad and the Muslims of Lebanon. Phares's role was not small, according to Beirut newspaper accounts.. He served as vice chair of another front's political leadership committee, headed by a man named Etienne Saqr, whose Guardians of Cedar militia voiced the slogan "Kill a Palestinian and you shall enter Heaven." (Saqr later moved to Israel, and then Cyprus.) The Front was also backed by Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, a bitter foe of the Syrians. It seems unlikely that Romney knew much about this chapter in Phares’ career when he tapped him as an advisor.
After Saddam’s invasion of Kuwait in 1991, the United States and Syria came to an agreement about the need to get rid of Gen. Auon, and his forces were routed. Phares resurfaced in Florida in where he began a second career as an academic “expert on terrorism." He obtained a PhD at the University of Miami and seemed to model himself after conservative writer Fouad Ajami, but without Ajami's claims to scholarship. I remember attending the founding meeting for the Lebanese Studies Association in the 1990s Phares entered the room hoping to become a member. Once people knew who he was, the hostile glances were sufficient to drive him out.
Before long he became a favored Middle East expert in U.S. media. With an Arabic name, he came come across—to the ill-informed viewer—as an “indigenous expert.” He even sprinkled his English commentary with Arabic words. His shtick was not exactly original. He reliably articulated Israeli definitions of “terrorism," in which indiscriminate violence against civilians, even the killing of children, when perpetrated by Israel, do not qualify.
In 2006 Phares left Florida Atlantic University and moved to Washington where he launched a third career as policy entrepreneur. He set up shop at at neoconservative Foundation for the Defense of Democracies and started teaching at the National Defense University. His views appealed to the Bush administration, and he became a an expert witness in the courts and the Congress, as well as contributor to Fox Nes.
He also became a regular on Arabic news channels, mostly on Lebanese right-wing news channels, but also on channels controlled by the Saudis. He has even made appearances on Aljazeera. But there is a curious difference in Phares’ commentary for the Arab media. On Arab TV, he speaks cautiously and does not make outlandish claims about Islamic terrorism. For all his pro-Israeli statements in English, he never articulates them in Arabic.
Phares' writings do not deviate much from the genre of terrorism literature. During the Cold War, experts in Washington, DC sought to show that terrorism around the world was linked to the Soviet Union. In the post-Cold War era, terrorism experts effortlessly switched to a new argument: that Islam was the real threat to “Western civilization.” Toward that end, Phares can find—or concoct—links between very different Islamic groups. In his analysis, Hezbollah, Hamas, and Al-Qaeda amount to one global organization.
The appointment of Phares to a position in the Romney campaign is not surprising. In years past, such an appointment would have been considered extreme and cast doubt on the wisdom of the candidate-- but no more. Middle East policymaking is now dominated by the Israel lobby and its affiliates. Advocacy of Israeli positions has replaced professional qualifications as the criteria for service.
It was ironic that the initial news reports about Romney's foreign policy team referred to Phares as a “scholar." Phares has not been seen in Middle East Studies conferences for many years. His writings are only relevant to Zionist discourse and polemics. But such is U.S. presidential politics: when the appointment of Israeli experts on terrorism is not possible, a man like Phares is the second best choice.
As`ad AbuKhalil is professor of political science at California State University, Stanislaus and Research Fellow at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of "Bin Ladin and Taliban: The New American War Against Terrorism"
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National Mentoring Month: Meet Ann Arbor’s Shelby Kinney
National Mentoring Month is dedicated to raising mindfulness around the importance of mentoring—which is particularly powerful in the world of small business. Young entrepreneurs and professionals can benefit greatly from the guidance of a seasoned pro who has succeeded in their desired career track. Yet finding a mentor—or the right mentor—can be difficult as an up-and-comer. That’s why DaySmart Software, the makers of Salon Iris, is committed to supporting entrepreneurs, particularly in our hometown community of Ann Arbor, Michigan.
In the spirit of National Mentoring Month, we sat down with rising star in the Ann Arbor barbering world: Shelby Kinney. Shelby is 22 years old and has worked as a barber at Taylor & Colt Barber Spa for one year, where she also runs the shop’s social media channels. Here is the story of her professional path and those who helped shape it.
Kickstarting Her Career
Shelby enrolled in the Douglas J Aveda Institute in 2014 and quickly learned that she did not want to pursue a career in women’s hair. Instead, she wanted to be a barber. While her school focused on a wide range of cosmetology, her classes only offered general practices for cutting men’s hair. This meant that, while Shelby had to shape her own curriculum, she got to be creative along the way.
Biggest Career Challenge So Far
There is one variable Shelby has consistently had to navigate in her career: being a woman. While there is a mix of men and women working at her shop, she finds herself having to win over male clients who doubt her ability as a barber.
That said, Shelby is flipping this challenge on its head by paving the way for greater female participation in the barbering field. This benefits not only female barbers, but also female customers who want to attend barber shops. According to Shelby, women with shorter haircuts may want the expertise of a barber but feel uncomfortable going into a male-dominant environment. Her goal is to make the barber shop a comfortable, welcoming environment to all.
Shelby had two mentors who influenced her career. The first was Christi Warner, one of her teachers at the Douglas J Aveda Institute. As Shelby put it, she enrolled in cosmetology school right out of high school, and Christi knew how to get her to listen. In addition to sharing a sense of humor, Christi helped Shelby to become passionate about doing hair and encouraged her to find her own way of getting things done.
Shelby’s second mentor is also her current boss at Taylor & Colt, Kyle Ewing. Shelby took the first step by reaching out to Kyle, who was excited to help her improve and answer any questions along the way. As Shelby put it, Kyle is one of the best barbers she has seen in person, and if she ever developed skills like his, she would be satisfied in her career.
When we asked Shelby what she looked for (and found) in her mentors, she said the best mentors have passion. They are equally excited to teach their mentees, as their mentees are excited to learn from them.
Best Advice from a Mentor
Shelby’s favorite piece of advice that she has received from both mentors: “Never get too comfortable. Never feel like you have reached a safe place, as scary as that sounds. If you don’t feel out of your comfort zone every day, you aren’t pushing yourself. Try new things, even when you don’t know how it will turn out. The moment you get stagnant is the moment you lose your passion and your drive to improve.”
This advice translates across all professionals in the salon and barber space and beyond. For up-and-comers, take the time to reach out to those who inspire you. And for stylists and barbers with a few years under their belt, take the time to find a mentee this National Mentoring Month.
To learn more about Shelby, visit her Instagram account here. To learn more about Salon Iris Software and how we help salons and barbershops – check out our website here!
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Previous Chair Report Summaries & Outside Resources
Dear LCAP Parent Advisory Committee –
So, our next meeting will be the last one for the school year – and a very important one. This is the meeting where we review the proposed changes for the guiding document for the school district, the Local Control Accountability Plan before it goes to the Board.
You will receive a series of documents for this upcoming meeting via email. I’ll give you a bit of a preview here and some helpful tips to streamline your time.
Annual Update. This document details the variety of changes in this plan compared to last year’s. It’s a bit hefty (over 100 pages), so please don’t print it unless you absolutely want to. This will be provided as a hard copy at the meeting. But there is a way to get the gist of the changes: the document is separated into sections based on the 15 goal/focus areas, and at the end of each section are 4 question/answer summaries. This is the best way to absorb this information quickly. And if you want a printed copy ahead of time, please reach out to Chatty.
PAC-Specific Recommendations. This chart may look familiar – it’s our recommended changes from the sticky-dot exercise and the motions throughout the year. (The motions have been highlighted in green.) You’ll also see that there are notes about each of the recommendations and how they will be addressed by the district.
Summary of LCAP Recommendations. This document is a description of all the recommendations for the plan – from the PAC, staff, the district, etc. Those that have come from the PAC have a special star noted.
The entire LCAP plan itself (the whole shebang, with the components that haven’t changed and the parts that have) is currently being formatted. It’s gigantic, so like the other big doc, it’s recommended to NOT print on your own, as the district will provide copies for the PAC.
What if I have new ideas?
New ideas are fantastic … for next year. This is the time period for review of all our work we’ve done. But we don’t want to lose any of our good ideas either, so Chatty will have special notecards for everyone. As good ideas come to you, please jot them down on these notecards. Chatty will type them up, and we’ll be able to get a jumpstart on next year with this info.
Plan Preview Help: This process and the documents can be overwhelming, even for those of us who have been on the PAC for a while. For the newer members who may need clarification and extra help understanding the components of the plan, please feel free to contact Chatty and Donna for a phone call. These mini-sessions are for training and clarification (the merits of the recommendations are for the open meetings). Please do take advantage of this, as the LCAP process is complex.
Outreach to the community: a plan for next year. District staff have been observing the best ideas from other districts, and Donna will be presenting a plan of action to get better feedback from the San Juan community, especially our LCAP population. This proposal will nicely complement our community-forum model, and we’ve slated time on the agenda to give an overview.
Thanks everyone! See you at the meeting.
San Juan School Board
Meeting – May 22, 2018
Remarks from Mary Beth Barber, Chair
Parent Advisory Committee, Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP)
Good evening, President Costa and the other members of the San Juan School Board, Superintendent Kern and Ms. Cunningham. I’m Mary Beth Barber, chair of the Parent Advisory Committee – or PAC – for the Local Control Accountability Plan – commonly known as the LCAP. This is my fourth time in front of you this year as LCAP chair.
Last week the PAC met to discuss the Annual Update and current draft of the LCAP for San Juan for 2018-19, a plan that guides the spending of funds by the school district. This spending plan – by design, as set by the state – serves as a lead guiding document for funding allocations by the school district.
The Parent Advisory Committee is the principal voice of the parents, community members and students to provide meaningful engagement with the school district. Parent and student engagement is a key component of the Local Control Funding Formula.
For the past three years, the PAC has approved of the LCAP and Annual Update. This year was different. Last Thursday a straightforward motion was presented: The PAC approval of the annual update and LCAP for 2018-19.
The motion failed. Just over half of the PAC members in attendance voted “no.” The remaining members abstained. There were no “aye” votes.
Our overall reason for the voting down of the motion is straightforward: the members of the PAC did not see in the LCAP that the District seriously considered nor implemented key advice of the PAC. There is a lot to like in the draft LCAP. That fact wasn’t denied.
But there are key components of the educational process that have been recommended by the PAC that are not part of the plan for 2018-19.
Some specifics:
Counselors. The PAC has very strong concerns about the low investment in high school counseling staff and services. The ratio of counselor-to-students for the district is a little higher than the approximate 1-to-360 ratio recommended by the California Department of Education. (Please keep in mind that the American School Counselor Association recommends a much lower max ratio of 1-to-250.) Nevertheless, San Juan Unified’s counselor-to-student ratio is the bare minimum recommendation. The PAC has voiced that this is not enough. Our district should be striving for comprehensive services for our students.
The plan for the implementation of the comprehensive school counseling program that is listed in the LCAP for next year is a good step forward, in that it will mean that the services currently provided will be of better quality. But the fact of the matter is this: there are hundreds if not thousands of students in the District who receive little more than a cursory introduction to their counselor (if at all), and receive little to no preparatory planning services for life after high school.
We can do better for our students.
Ombudsman. The Annual Update this year outlines the plan for an outside analysis to examine whether the District needs an Ombudsman – an individual or office that serves as a resource for families, employees and the community to resolve issues or concerns through mediation and education, as well as identifying opportunities for service improvements. While the PAC lauds the effort of an investigation, there is strong consensus that the evidence for such a position exists now. Members feel that a study is not needed; a trusted employee dedicated to the purpose described is needed, and needed immediately.
Time and time again members of the PAC have heard or directly experienced situations that escalated at a school, were not solved at the school site level, and then when brought to the attention of the District, the parents or students were sent right back to the school site with little resolved. These are not minor incidents described, but instead serious harassment – including sexual harassments – dangerous bullying, unacceptable behaviors by various individuals (which sometimes mean teachers and staff), and basic administrative functions of a school that directly influence our children’s current education, but also their future higher educational opportunities and potential employment.
Currently there is not an individual or office that fulfills this role at the district level. Complaints that come in to the district are directed to the Family Engagement Office, which is a subdivision of the communications department and has a huge undertaking with its main purpose and function. “Family engagement” and “problem-solving and crisis management” are not the same thing.
Most of the time the parent or student is directed right back to the school without a resolution. Parents and students feel lost. They feel cheated, they feel ignored. They need somewhere to go to voice complaints and concerns without increasing the conflict at the school site, where they fear retaliation.
There is a complaint process, with legal paperwork to fill out – paperwork that can be confusing and frightening. And if that legal paperwork is filled out and is “successful” from a legal standpoint, then the district has a large legal problem that might have been resolved earlier.
As frustrated as the PAC is at the lack of an ombudsman or ombudswoman for 2018-19, the members are very willing to sit and talk to the outside consultant, if it comes to that. Most members feel the investigative step is unnecessary, that it would be better to have somebody into that role and work with them immediately. But we are very willing to sit, talk, and explain.
Student Advisory Committee. For over a year now, there has been a proposal for a district-wide student advisory committee for the district that would advise the PAC and the Board. The purpose of such a student committee would be, in an open meeting process, to really hear from students.
The district staff has made various alternative proposals for student input to the District, but the proposals have been lacking in a number of areas, mostly transparency. The vision is an open meeting, with elected advisory members focused on advising the district and the LCAP, which makes the purpose different than the student body councils at the schools. There’s a connection, but in the vision put forth by the student representative on the PAC, they are not the same thing. Informal advisory groups picked by staff have limited perspective and “confirmation bias.”
Members on an informal advisory group would likely be the ones to confirm that all is fine, or provide information through one particular perspective. Student councils are principally concerned with activities at the school site, not analysis and advice at this district level.
We hope that the fulfillment of the student advisory committee as envisioned will be supported next year.
Campus Climate Assessments. As the Chair of the PAC, I’ve been in front of this board earlier this year discussing the allocation of funding for campus climate assessments to be conducted that was slated two years ago – funding for two high schools, two middle schools or K-8 schools. Not surveys. Not “in house” investigations by district staff. The PAC would like to see this implemented.
Student Surveys and Grading Policies. Previously there was also proposed a recommendation for student classroom-based, non-evaluative surveys available to teachers, strongly encouraging their use as one way for students to provide anonymous feedback to individual teachers with the goal of improving classroom climate. It’s unclear whether this component is part of the LCAP for next year.
Also of importance, as mentioned in previous meetings, is the adherence of clear grading policies at the high school level distributed to students at the onset of the semester. Again, this may be addressed for the coming school year, and the PAC would like to keep up with the details.
The state upended the ways schools were financed a few years ago and eliminated the minutia spending requirements for the districts for the “categoricals” – a sliver of funding here but only for arts ed, or a sliver of funding there but only for science. That’s mostly gone with the Local Control Funding Formula.
What was also implemented was a blueprint for meaningful engagement from the school district community – the parents, the students, the community members and supporters, as well as staff and leadership. The PAC would like to be a part of the ongoing discussion that results in meaningful changes in the district’s Local Control Accountability Plan.
Some members expressed extreme frustration at last Thursday’s meeting, stating that their information and insights don’t matter and are ignored. Others were a bit more cautious in their criticism, including those who want more time to dive into the details of the full 300+ page document.
But all members expressed their desire to dialogue, to discuss, and to be heard. We hope that you – the board and the staff at the San Juan School District -- are willing to listen.
LCAP PAC Chair Comments
San Juan Unified School Board Meeting
Good evening, and great to be in front of the school board again this month. As you know, I’m Mary Beth Barber, chair of the LCAP Parent Advisory Committee. This presentation is probably the key one to the Board for the year, as it is the culmination of a lot of listening, dialogue, thinking and decision-making for the advice to give the board.
In front of you is a document that outlines some key ideas for investment that were proposed at our last PAC meeting, with numbers that indicate importance from the members of the PAC. This is in addition to the recommendations that were presented the two previous times I was in front of you.
Key components of recommendations on the academic side (Goal 1) include:
Supports for English Language Learners, including direct observation and guidance by expert teachers and additional bilingual instructors;
An increase in the diversity of San Juan staff;
Equitable access on specialized programs such as AP and IB classes and opportunities, including at neighborhood schools
Increase in the counseling assistance, including through more staff, more responsiveness for college applications, and consistency of counselors through high school
The PAC members also saw a need for an increased focus in social-emotional supports (Goal 2) in our schools. As you may remember, the PAC has a “community forum” format for the first half of many of our meetings, where specific topics or areas are more deeply explored. This year many of the main topics were social-emotional in nature. The recommended areas of focus cited by the PAC in this area:
There is very strong support for an ombudsperson position for students and parents at the district level. This topic not only received a large focus when comparing different recommendations, but because a huge focus of the PAC’s discussion throughout the year. Time and time again parents – either formally through public testimony or informally to PAC members – have expressed a sense of feeling abandoned by the district when they’ve asked for help because of lack of action at the school-site level. This subject received the most votes of all the areas. We strongly recommend that the Board hear the PAC when we state our observations that PARENTS AND FAMILIES DO NOT FEEL THEY ARE BEING HEARD.
The PAC also feels strongly about increasing student voice through equitable, elected student representatives at the district level through an official public committee that is open to the public (i.e. falls under the Brown Act)
More training for parents in key college-and-career tools, specifically Naviance, but also language supports.
I’d also like to remind the Board of specific motions that the PAC has already passed in terms of official advice. These are:
The PAC recommends
that the board develop a legal and proactive policy for hiring DACA staff, teachers and administrators.
that the board direct staff to develop a formal and sustainable partnership with the Hispanic Association of College and Universities, as a means of developing additional pathways to college.
that the board mandate school climate assessments at two high schools and 2 middle schools and /or K-8 schools
the board enforce online board policy (AR 5121.III.D.3.a) at all high schools that reads: “High school and middle school teachers must provide students with a written copy of their grading policy. Grades reflect an objective evaluation of all academic activities a student has been required to complete during the assigned grading period.”
making student classroom-based, non-evaluative surveys available to teachers, strongly encouraging their use as one way for students to provide anonymous feedback to individual teachers with the goal of improving classroom climate. The PAC requests that special attention be given to protecting student anonymity in the survey process.
Further, the PAC officially voted that it shall establish an ad hoc committee to research and develop recommendations on student voice opportunities with the district. This came about as an alternative to an official student board as described before as a recommendation.
In addition, the PAC voted to advise the Board for the school district to begin the implementation of the California Education for a Global Economy Initiative, also known as Proposition 58. This initiative changed the education code regarding multi-lingual students, and the implementation of the changes should be a top priority for San Juan. I don’t have the exact wording of the motion in front of me today (I will get that to the Board at a later time), but the intent of the unanimous motion was clear: the PAC advises that San Juan initiate appropriate changes for our multi-lingual English Language learners based on these changes in state law and regulations.
Thank you for your time and attention. The LCAP process is complex, but the San Juan infrastructure of parent and community member governance for the PAC is a model for others. The staff who support us through the LCAP process should be commended for their work. We appreciate the ability to be heard, and the advice expressed by the PAC is carefully dissected and discussed, especially the advice that was formulated into specific motions of advice. We ask that if recommendations are not implemented or are modified, the PAC could receive written explanations explaining why.
Thank you, and I’d be happy to answer any questions.
Chair’s Report to SJUSD Board
Good evening, and thank you for making time on the agenda this month again for an update from the Parent Advisory Committee – or PAC -- for the Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP).
The PAC met last Friday to take a deeper dive into the information and data to inform recommendations for the LCAP. There’s a tremendous amount of information to process – from financial and budgetary data to the results of surveys and other tools like thought exchange – that the district is utilizing to guide the process.
The information is extremely helpful, and PAC members expressed their gratitude for the feedback from Dr. Donna O’Neil and the others at San Juan Unified for the information, insight, and ability to analyze both the inner workings of the school district as well gain information about the thoughts and satisfaction of the students, parents and teachers and staff. The PAC members take a great deal of time to examine the information and provide quality advice to the school board, and how the recommendations are implemented as appropriate.
While the recommendations will become incorporated through the Plan, I wanted to update you on a few thoughts from the PAC. (These are not formalized motions as before, but general thoughts.)
DACA HIRES. The district superintendent examined the recommend support for undocumented students through hiring practices and rightly expressed the legal problems with fully undocumented hires. The PAC wishes to clarify its support for a program that hires DACA individuals -- those who fall under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program who can be hired by the school district without legal difficulty.
INCREASE DIVERSITY. Multiple members of the PAC expressed their encouragement for the district to increase diversity and hire staff who look like and can relate to San Juan’s community, especially those who fall into the LCAP Supplemental category of free/reduced lunch, English Language Learners, Foster Youth and Homeless. Diversity in this case can mean additional aspects to race and background – for example, male teachers at younger grades, female instructors in the sciences, employees at schools with backgrounds in other careers than education.
DIVERSE AND REFLECTIVE MATERIALS. Along these lines, there’s also a strong recommendation to update educational materials and provide not only culturally diverse materials, but continue to update the curriculum to reflect today’s academic and general environment.
CAMPUS CLIMATE TOOLS. Some members of the PAC wanted to clarify the distinction between campus climate surveys – which are one component of how to gauge how students, staff and others are feeling at a school -- and campus climate assessments, which may include surveys but which take a deeper look and potentially make recommendations.
STUDENT VOICE. As I mentioned the last time I presented to you, Student Voice is a key topic and goal for the LCAP PAC, and one of our student members is heading up an ad hoc committee to tackle the subject. We encourage the school district to continue to hear from students from all backgrounds, including and perhaps especially those who haven’t spoken up before. We will provide additional information as this ad hoc committee formalizes.
LCAP PAC OUTREACH, AND COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT LEADER. There are many on the PAC who would like to see more outreach and communication with the school sites themselves. We haven’t had as many parents attend our forums as we would like, and would like to outreach with school-site councils or other parent groups like PTAs to strengthen these relationships. PAC leadership will be working with staff on this outreach issue in coordination with district staff.
PROBLEM-SOLVING AND STAKEHOLDER RELATIONS. The public comments to the PAC so far have been of problems, typically of very specific complaints that are beyond the purview of the PAC. Parents have come and commented about issues that were not addressed at the school-site level, and by all appearances grew to become much greater problems than necessary before the district was involved in resolutions. The PAC members strongly encourage San Juan to examine its problem-solving infrastructure and implement structural improvements to avoid these situations in the future.
TRANSPORTATION AND SAFE SCHOOLS. The PAC has been hearing quite a bit of information about transportation needs and transportation-related safety issues (unsafe traffic situations at or near school sites). While some of these topics may be more appropriate for examination by another advisory committee, there is an intersection with the LCAP PAC’s purview. Some of these recommendations and/or observations may be included in the LCAP or in other communications in the future, or perhaps through a coordinated effort between advisory committees.
SCHOOLS WITH COMMUNITY RESOURCES, AND AS COMMUNITY RESOURCES. Some of the PAC members expressed a desire and interest to seeing greater interaction between our schools and our communities and community groups, in both directions – meaning greater resource sharing by community groups on our campuses to support San Juan students and families, and also the utilization of our schools as community resources and not wholly separate from the areas and neighborhoods we live in.
LISTEN TO OUR RECOMMENDATIONS AND ASK US QUESTIONS. As your advisory committee regarding these important funding issues, the parents, students and committee members of the Parent Advisory Committee welcome you and others to our meetings, to listen, and to heed the recommendations made – if not in exact detail if the “how” of the recommendation if not exactly perfect, then to listen to the “why” the recommendation has been made and suggest an alternative method. The PAC members come from different backgrounds and have different perspectives, but the recommendations come from hard work as well as insights as parents, grandparents and members of the community that may be unrecognized by school and district staff. The parent perspective is key to the success of our schools. We can provide very useful insights. Please utilize our perspective and hard work.
Thank you, and I’m available if you have any questions.
Chair's February Report Summary
The main accomplishment in the past month was the report presented to the board on the evening of February 13, 2018. See text following these quick announcements.
BOARD RECOMMENDATIONS. While quite a few board recommendations were presented day before yesterday, the Chair will be presenting at a board meeting in March on March 13, 2018. Please speak up today if you’d like to put forth official motions for advice to the Board to the PAC for discussion and potential
STUDENT AD HOC COMMITTEE. There has been great interest in the student ad hoc committee. Please see Marley Fortin for more
CABE CONFERENCE. The California Association for Bilingual Education (CABE) will be at the end of March. There’s a decent sized group from San Juan – including LCAP PAC members – who will be attending. A quick report-out on best practices and other lessons learned from this conference at the April meeting makes sense. If you are one of those attending, please take notes and gather materials to share in
MARCH MEETING. The March meeting is the biggie for the year – the review and discussion of the draft plan for the LCAP plan itself. IMPORTANT – this meeting takes place during the day, on Friday March 9, starting at 8:30 am. Please make sure it’s on your calendar, and please get caught up on the components of the plan itself in preparation for this meeting. This is also when we take a look at the current priorities and formulate recommendations for changes, additions, etc. We will learn more today from staff, but please be prepared to do a bit of heavy thinking and reading between today’s meet and the March meeting.
NO ARTICLES THIS TIME. I have found and been sent one or two interesting updates in the media, but due to time constraints wasn’t able to add them to this Chair Look in the list for next meeting.
Quick reminders – repeats of previous reports:
The LCAP Chair’s Corner is up and includes the various articles and items of interest from the last meeting, as well as a few from this one. If you’re interested in viewing them and have trouble finding the section on the website, email LCAPPAC@sanjuan.edu or LCAP@sanjuan.edu and we’ll send a link.
LCAP Chair Corner is on the website, and includes previous Chair
Sign up for the San Juan Scene for district updates to the San Juan Community at https://www.sanjuan.edu/domain/2645.
Utilize LCAPPAC@sanjuan.edu for the chair and vice chair and LCAP@sanjuan.edu for staff. While we cannot have a full discussion among the entire PAC (the reason for the “do not reply all” request when the Board meeting remarks were emailed out), direct questions and requests for meeting subjects may be
Remarks from LCAP Pac Chair Mary Beth Barber
Board Meeting – San Juan Unified School District – February 13, 2018
Good evening members of the San Juan Unified Board. My name is Mary Beth Barber, and I’m the chair of the Parent Advisory Committee for the Local Control Accountability Plan for San Juan, or LCAP, for the current school year of 2017-18. While I have commented here before as a member of the public, this is my first time presenting as the Chair of the PAC.
The Parent Advisory Committee meets monthly during the school year to discuss components and issues relating to the LCAP – which, because of its overwhelming importance to the district through school finance, touches on just about all subjects relating to San Juan Unified.
The format of the majority of our meetings is a “community forum” at the onset of our meeting for just over an hour, followed by a general business meeting where ongoing business, follow-up of previous forums, data dissection and other issues are discussed.
Some meetings are dedicated solely to the content of the LCAP or are dedicated to information and administration – our March and April meetings are dedicated to the details of the Plan, for example. But the forum format for allows for a deeper dive into particular subjects and a greater understanding of San Juan’s efforts in these arenas, as well as an opportunity for the public to learn and comment about particular areas of interest, and for the PAC to visit various school sites and outreach to the greater San Juan community.
These forums follow the general pattern of San Juan’s LCAP goals and focus areas. There are two overarching goals in the LCAP – one that can be described as the “academic achievement” goal, with the other as the “social- emotional and support” goal necessary for a comprehensive education. This school year we have touched on the following focuses for the community forums:
October: “Climate, Culture, Safety and Student Voice”
November: “Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS)”
December: “On-time Graduation”
January: “College Career Readiness”
Day after tomorrow on Thursday, February 15, will be our fifth community forum of the year, with “Parental Engagement” as the focus.
Not all focus areas of the LCAP are addressed through community forums each year, as there are too many to address in this format – although the subjects are addressed during the “business” part of the meeting. As a body we’ve adopted a two-year cycle to take the deep-dive forum format.
While the Board receives the official advice from the LCAP PAC through the PACs recommendations and the Plan’s adoption in the spring each year, there are specific areas and issues that the PAC identified over the past three months. These areas of advice to the Board were gelled into official motions approved by the PAC at the past two meetings. I’m here today to inform you of each.
I’ll read each official motion with the advisory information, and then provide brief background about the issue.
MOTION: The PAC recommends that the board develop a legal and proactive policy for hiring undocumented staff, teachers and administrators.
Background: The PAC has discussed how to best support its immigrant populations, with a key focus in the fall on those who are in families with undocumented individuals – either the students themselves are undocumented, or their parents, siblings or others in their family and community. PAC members noted that other school districts have made outreach efforts to employ individuals who understand the dynamics facing these communities and can serve as examples and experts in this area, especially individuals who fall under the DACA program. This passed in December 2017.
MOTION: The PAC recommends that the board direct staff to develop a formal and sustainable partnership with the Hispanic Association of College and Universities, as a means of developing additional pathways to college.
Background: This motion is related to the previous one, with a strong effort to support Latino students. School district staff have informed the PAC that efforts in this area are underway. This parallels partnerships and efforts with the historically black colleges and universities as well as other group supporting scholarships and support for African American students. The PAC recommendation strongly encourages these similar efforts for Latino students to be long-term. This was also passed in December 2017.
MOTION: The PAC recommends that the board mandate school climate assessments at two high schools and 2 middle schools and /or K-8 schools.
Background: This motion was significantly discussed and revised at the January meeting, and has been a topic for the PAC since I joined the committee three years ago. The PAC has recommended in depth school climate assessments as key ways short-term funds can be allocated in order to investigate and improve schools through a deep analysis done by experts outside the district.
In fact, funding for these four assessments – two at the high school level and two at the middle or K-8 level – were part of the LCAP spending plan in the past. But it is the PACs understanding that these assessments did not take place, in part due to the voluntary nature of the allocation. It’s the PAC’s understanding that surveys were conducted, but surveys are not full professional assessments by an outside entity.
As noted, a school’s administration must agree to have an outside expert come in and conduct a deep analysis as well as provide recommendations, and apparently no school volunteered to do so. The PAC recommends that the Board seriously consider requiring at least four schools to do so and utilize the already slated funding, especially in light of the recent civil rights complaint filings that directly concern school climate that have been reported on in the local media. This motion passed in January 2018.
MOTION: The PAC recommends the board enforce online board policy (AR 5121.III.D.3.a) at all high schools that reads: “High school and middle school teachers must provide students with a written copy of their grading policy. Grades reflect an objective evaluation of all academic activities a student has been required to complete during the assigned grading period.”
Background: This motion stems from public comment and a PAC member’s direct observation that middle- school and high schools students feel inadequately informed of how their grades will be determined in some classes. This motion was discussed by the PAC members as well, with some members emphasizing that individual assignments that must be assessed by an expert teacher – an essay, for example – have a evaluative component from that teacher’s perspective. It was clarified that the recommendation to the Board for the enforcement of this policy was not about concerns about this kind of evaluation.
Instead, students find themselves at a loss as to how their grades are determined at all and are not given description of tests, assignments or other components for a final grade. This discussion and motion took place in January, where the community forum topic was College and Career Readiness, and as one PAC member stated, how can our students be college and career ready if they are uncertain about what is expected of them in the classroom. This motion passed in January 2018.
MOTION: The PAC recommends making student classroom-based, non-evaluative surveys available to teachers, strongly encouraging their use as one way for students to provide anonymous feedback to individual teachers with the goal of improving classroom climate. The PAC requests that special attention be given to protecting student anonymity in the survey process.
Background: The PAC discussed ways that teachers could be given feedback by students to help with their professional development. Goals of this feedback would include information that directly relates to the teacher (versus general surveys where feedback for the district as through the surveys and ThoughtExchange), and not be tied to any kind of teacher performance criteria – or be viewed by anyone but the individual teacher, for that matter. The intent was direct teacher feedback to improve instruction and school climate. This component has been included in the LCAP for the past two years but not enacted. This motion passed in January 2018.
MOTION: The PAC shall establish an ad hoc committee to research and develop recommendations on student voice opportunities with the district.
Background: The PAC consists of two student members, including Marley Fortin, who is in her second year on the Committee. Ms. Fortin has desired to start a formalized method of student advisors to the school district, one that includes democratic representation from all high schools in the district, utilizes a formal “good government” infrastructure, and can energize students to become part of the advisory process. Given the goals of the Local Accountability Funding Formula and the LCAP process, the PAC formally approved the creation of the ad hoc committee and charged Ms. Fortin with the development of infrastructure and outreach to students. This motion was passed in January 2018.
These are the motions of formal advice to the Board from the PAC so far, although other topics were discussed in the series of meetings and could be presented in the future as official recommendations. I plan to present to you in a month, likely with additional recommendations.
I’d also like to reiterate that day after tomorrow we shall be here, in this room, to have a community forum on “parent engagement” – which includes student engagement as well as community engagement – and all members of the San Juan community are invited to this public meeting to learn about LCAP and the community’s voice.
Thank you for your time, and I’m available for any questions.
Outside Resources
Below are some important articles and information provided about the Local Control Accountability Plan process and other educational matters.
The January state budget proposal from Governor Brown includes an increase in K-12 funding and could increase during the spring budget negotiations, according to the Legislative Analyst’s Office:
https://www.cabinetreport.com/budget-finance/lao-brown-likely-under-estimates-tax-revenue-this-year and
https://www.cabinetreport.com/budget-finance/browns-budget-gives-schools-record-prop.-98-funding ;
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/state_edwatch/2018/01/california_gov_brown_proposes_to_boost_k-12_spending_by_4_billion_local_control.html?cmp=eml-enl-eu-news3&M=58346322&U=2636727
The governor, however, warned that while current budget projections look steady for funding, a reduction in funding is likely in the future from recession and other causes, as reported in the Sacramento Bee: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/the-state-worker/article194434479.html
Below are some important articles and information provided about the Local Control Accountability Process and other educational matters.
The State Board of Education recommended adjustments to standardized math assessment, according to an article in The Cabinet Report. “The state board of education moved Wednesday to adjust downward the scoring standards for math testing last spring that fell unexpectedly below the two prior years. Although the action was criticized by some who worry poor school performance is being artificially inflated, the board was careful to cite authoritative analysis that supports the need to sometimes modify a grading matrix when working with such a small pool of data.” https://www.cabinetreport.com/curriculum-instruction/sbe-sidesteps-critics-rolls-back-math-score- measures
Information on chronic absenteeism is being collected by the California Department of Education (CDE). Ed Source has a database of information hosted here: https://edsource.org/2017/database-on-chronic- absenteeism-in-california-schools-2016-17/591232
An Ed Source reporter asked two dozen school leaders, student advocates, legislators and others for their best ideas on how to improve the Local Control Funding Formula system. https://edsource.org/2017/24-ideas-for-improving-the-local-control-funding-formula/590709
There’s another article from Ed Source that may be of interest to the PAC, this time on school climate with “State board’s next challenge: how to measure school climate, the heartbeat of a school” -- https://edsource.org/2017/state-boards-next-challenge-how-to-measure-school-climate-the-heartbeat- of-a-school/590744
The organization “Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE)” will be conducting a conference on “Research and Policy” on February 2, 2018, at the Tsakopoulos Library Galleria in downtown Sacramento. This is a fee-based conference. From their website: “Our 2018 full-day conference will focus on three key education policy issues: ensuring educational equity under the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), rethinking policy and practice in special education, and strengthening alignment between California’s pre-K and K-12 education systems.” http://edpolicyinca.org/events/fulfilling- promise-local-control-funding-formula According to their website, PACE is an independent, non-partisan research center based at Stanford University, the University of Southern California, and the University of California-Davis.
Last month there was an article by Dan Walters published in the Sacramento Bee about the state of the state’s education sector. The piece may be found here: http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/california-forum/article175876141.html
California’s method of school assessment isn’t sitting well with some education evaluators nationally. “Another prominent education research and advocacy organization that disapproves of California’s approach to school accountability has ranked California’s new system at the bottom nationwide in a report released Tuesday. The low score by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute reflects a core disagreement over how best to identify and work with schools needing help. California education leaders are unapologetic about the route they’ve chosen, and they say the Fordham analysis contains a key error.” https://edsource.org/2017/california-at-bottom-in-nationwide-ranking-of-accountability-systems-state-board-president-disagrees/590271
National Family and Community Engagement conference June 22-24 in San Francisco (2017)
Sacramento Bee article on California Standardized Testing results
Sacramento Bee article on Sacramento's Standardized Testing Results
Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) survey and analysis “Californians and Education”
Migration Policy Institute on undocumented young adults and parents (2014)
Recent update about DACA (early Oct 2017)
Information on English Language Learners in Sacramento County
Chair Updates
Chair's January Report Summary
Increased focus on time-keeping. As chair I’d like to serve the PAC in the best way possible, especially with the important questions and discussions that take place. Please understand if I wrap up a subject if it appears that we’re discussing the same issue using different words, or if there’s a pressing matter later on the agenda that should be taken up and not tabled.
Communication to the Board. It is likely that this meeting today (January) will include a series of agreed-upon recommendations to the Board from the PAC, established by approved motions. PAC leadership (chair and/or vice chair) will then present to the school board in the coming months, with plans to attend meetings on the following dates: February 13, March 13, April 10. If you have an interest in attending and supporting your fellow PAC members, please mark these dates in your calendar.
Date change of meeting in April. Because of a conflict with another major San Juan Unified event on April 19th (Spirit of San Juan awards), the PAC meeting has been moved to April 12.
Nominations for Spirit of San Juan awards. Consider taking the time to nominate an individual who’s contributed to making the San Juan system and schools the best they can be. “The Spirit of San Juan awards recognize individuals or groups who help others in their school community, demonstrate positive character and provide an inclusive environment for others.” Deadline is March 2. Students, groups, teachers and staff are eligible for nominations. https://www.sanjuan.edu/site/default.aspx?PageType=3&DomainID=4&ModuleInstanceID=66051&ViewID=6446EE88-D30C-497E-9316-3F8874B3E108&RenderLoc=0&FlexDataID=39673&PageID=1
Thought Exchange. Over 5,000 students provide their insight and perspective on our schools in November through the Thought Exchange process, an online questionnaire that may be used to hear a community’s thoughts and help develop the best of new ideas. The results for this student-focus Thought Exchange are available on the San Juan Unified website at http://sanjuan.thoughtexchange.com/card-welcome/welcome-4/. Take a look at the summary results, especially the main themes. (And if you’re interested in past Thought Exchange exercises for San Juan, those summary results can be found here: http://sanjuan.thoughtexchange.com/)
Podcast with anecdotal stories about College and Career Readiness. The audio show This American Life from NPR provides deep insight of major issues through first-person stories on serious topics. The episode “Three Miles” examines the emotional impact of post-high-school for students from one of the poorest areas in The Bronx. While the piece examines the lives of only a handful of students, the insights can be meaningful as we wrestle with the topic. https://www.thisamericanlife.org/550/three-miles or find the podcast included as a “favorites this year” in late 2017’s listings for This American Life.
These are the same as last month, but good to keep in mind.
Keeping in touch with the communications and outreach of San Juan Unified is important, and one of the key ways to do this is to sign up for the San Juan Scene, a weekly newsletter that publishes news items from the District. Sign up is at https://www.sanjuan.edu/domain/2645.
Any members of the PAC who might be interested in the California Association for Bilingual Education (CABE) conference in Sacramento on March 28-31, let staff know in case there’s room or an alternate is needed. Organization info: http://www.gocabe.org/; conference info: http://cabe2018.gocabe.org/.
If there’s a topic that the members of the PAC would like to review as part of the business meeting portion of our upcoming meetings, please utilize the emails and let us know! LCAPPAC@sanjuan.edu for the chair and vice chair, and LCAP@sanjuan.edu for staff.
Chair’s December Report Summary
The holiday season is upon us, with the winter break starting next week. It also marks the approximate halfway mark for the school year and the ideal time to provide recommendations to the Board on ways to improve our San Juan schools through the LCAP plan and locally controlled funding.
BOARD RECOMMENDATIONS. Discussing potential recommendations to the Board will be part of today’s meeting. Please speak up if there’s an issue you’d like to
COMMITTEE CHANGES. We’ve had some changes in the make-up of the LCAP Parent Advisory Committee.
The Board representative has shifted from Pam Costa to Paula Villescaz. Pam will be the liaison for the district’s English Learner community (DELAC) and the Special Education Community Advisory Committee (CAC), which has crossover with the LCAP
We’ve had some changes in the PAC membership. Two members resigned due to conflicts, and three others have not been able to fulfill their duties with meeting attendance. Four new members join us today and will be introduced at the
THOUGHT EXCHANGE. There are two Thought Exchange processes in progress – one that’s for students only (and provided through the classroom), and another for parents and community members. The main subject for the Thought Exchange for parents/guardians centers on what the district does and could do to make people feel welcome. Please participate and encourage other parent/guardians to do so as well. If you are a parent or guardian in San Juan currently and don’t have an email on file with the district, a link to the Thought Exchange is at http://sanjuan.thoughtexchange.com/invitation/ and is open until December 21, 2017. Available in English and Spanish; please contact the district for assistance with other
STUDENT OUTREACH. Our student representative on the LCAP is working hard to establish the connections between the LCAP PAC and the different student advisory groups. San Juan is a large district, so any help other PAC members can provide is greatly appreciated. Please reach out directly to your fellow PAC
MEETING NORMS. As we explore different topics during our PAC meeting, please keep all meeting norms in mind – especially approaching the discussion and questions from a positive point of view. Thank you!
The following information was mentioned at the last meeting, but it’s good to remember …
The LCAP Chair’s Corner is up and includes the various articles and items of interest from the last meeting, as well as a few from this one. If you’re interested in viewing them and have trouble finding the section on the website, email LCAPPAC@sanjuan.edu or LCAP@sanjuan.edu and we’ll send a
Keeping in touch with the communications and outreach of San Juan Unified is important, and one of the key ways to do this is to sign up for the San Juan Scene, a weekly newsletter that publishes news items from the District. Sign up is at https://www.sanjuan.edu/domain/2645. Last week’s publication included a story about our next meeting location site, Encina High School, and the struggles of the school’s football
If there’s a topic that the members of the PAC would like to review as part of the business meeting portion of our upcoming meetings, please utilize the emails and let us know! LCAPPAC@sanjuan.edu for the chair and vice chair, and LCAP@sanjuan.edu for
Chair’s November Report Summary
Keeping in touch with the communications and outreach of San Juan Unified is important, and one of the key ways to do this is to sign up for the San Juan Scene, a weekly newsletter that publishes news items from the District. Sign up is at https://www.sanjuan.edu/domain/2645. Last week’s publication included a story about our next meeting location site, Encina High School, and the struggles of the school’s football team.
“Hope for Encina’s football team” in the San Juan Scene,” describing how the team came together with school staff after a serious disappointment: https://www.sanjuan.edu/site/default.aspx?PageType=3&DomainID=4&ModuleInstanceID=66051&ViewID=6446EE88-D30C-497E-9316-3F8874B3E108&RenderLoc=0&FlexDataID=38731&PageID=1
There is a staff coordinator for the various student groups that presented at the last meeting: Lori Vine, Equity Resource Specialist of the Equity and Student Achievement staff. Information about Teens 4 CHANGE, Pride PAK and the Superintendent's Student Advisory Council (SSAC) may be directed to her at lvine@sanjuan.edu.
Reminders mentioned in the last Chair’s report:
Last month we asked about members of the PAC who might be interested in the California Association for Bilingual Education (CABE) will have a conference in Sacramento on March 28-31. While staff is wrapping up its list, if you didn’t let them know you’re interested, please do so ASAP in case there’s room or an alternate is needed. Organization info: http://www.gocabe.org/; conference info: http://cabe2018.gocabe.org/
Chair’s October Report Summary
SJUSD will have another round of Thought Exchange this year – but for students. This resource will be open to students grade 5-12 starting in early November. Please spread the word, and keep an eye out for announcements from the district when it’s time for students to submit.
The California Association for Bilingual Education (CABE) will have a conference in Sacramento on March 28-31. SJUSD is interested in sending parent leaders to this conference, including those on the LCAP PAC. Organization info: http://www.gocabe.org/; conference info: http://cabe2018.gocabe.org/. Early bird deadline is in November – please tell staff right away if interested.
When the district requested input on new materials for the high school Financial Math course, I signed up as part of the review team in late October. I will provide feedback at a later meeting, if relevant to LCAP discussions, and welcome information on similar insights from PAC members – email LCAPPAC@sanjuan.edu.
Finally, if there’s a topic that the members of the PAC would like to review as part of the business meeting portion of our upcoming meetings, please utilize the emails and let us know! LCAPPAC@sanjuan.edu for the chair and vice chair, and LCAP@sanjuan.edu for staff.
Last Modified on April 30, 2019
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Ice Hockey In San Antonio
By Reed Terry of reedstickets.net
Ice hockey was once played only at the places, which were having natural ice cover. With the availability of artificial indoor ice skating rinks, its popularity increased as it could be played through out the year. The game actually started in Canada and is now counted among one of the top games in America. This has lead to the formation of professional hockey leagues and teams across the nation. National Hockey League (NHL) is the only major professional hockey league, followed by AHL which is the most respected minor professional hockey league. Even though the game at international level is governed by International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), but these two leagues rule the nation. Ice hockey is also one of the team events in Olympics since 1920 for men, though for women it got added in 1998 only.
NHL consists of 30 teams from North America, 24 from US, and 6 from Canada. Every season, NHL conducts the league championship and awards one of the oldest and the most famous trophies in professional sports i.e. Stanley Cup. Almost all the NHL teams have affiliation with AHL teams. So you can call AHL the stepping stone to the NHL.
If you are a fan of Ice hockey and if you stay in San Antonio, Texas, you must have heard about San Antonio Rampage. San Antonio Rampage is a professional ice hockey club based in San Antonio and is associated with the American Hockey League (AHL). Their home arena is AT&T Centre. San Antonio Rampage was created in 2002 as Stampede, when it was bought by Florida Panthers and Spurs. The present owners of this club are Phoenix Coyotes and Spurs Sports & Entertainment, and it is coached by Greg Ireland. San Antonio Rampage has been playing in AHL since its inception and has reached the playoffs for Calder Cup twice.
San Antonio Rampage has consistently given players to the AHL’s All Star Classics, though it has not won the Calder Cup so far. The first player ever to play in an all star game was Fillip Novak who played for Planet USA in January 2003. This was followed by defensemen Jay Boumeester in 2005, defensemen Keith Yandle in 2007, Joey Tenute in 2008, and Brett MacLean in 2009. Apart from this, some players have also won player of the week awards starting from Jeff Toms in February 2003, Pavel Brendl in January 2006, Alex Leavitt in March 2007, and Josh Tordjman in December 2008.
You can get all the details of the players and their achievements on the official website of San Antonio Rampage. You can also buy tickets, check the schedule of the matches, check the standings, and see the team on www.sarampage.com . You can also participate in game discussions through the blogs available on this website. If you are looking for some team merchandize, you can buy the same through the online team store. In short, to know anything about Ice hockey in San Antonio you can log on to the official website of San Antonio Rampage.
Find Great Broadway Tickets reedstickets.net
Posted in San Antonio Sports
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Ghost Recon Wildlands free for Xbox Gold subscribers this weekend
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands and Super Bomberman R are both available to play for free this weekend on Xbox One if you are an Xbox Live Gold subscriber.
Both are free to download from now, and unlocked for the next three days. Should you buy either game at a later date, your progress will carry over.
Wildlands is the phenomenally popular open world Ghost Recon originally launched by Ubisoft in early 2017. It’s had a bunch of updates since, including a cameo for Splinter Cell’s Sam Fisher, and remains popular still.
Super Bomberman R, meanwhile, is the most recent version of the classic puzzler first launched on Nintendo Switch last year and now available for Xbox One and PlayStation 4 as well. If you’ve wanted to try either game and not yet picked them up, now’s a good time.
Buy Ghost Recon: Wildlands from Amazon [?]
Battlefield 5’s open beta has got off to a shaky start, but there are signs of promise
Esport "killer games" aren’t right for Olympics, says IOC
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Home Celebrity Billy Crystal Will Accept Friars Club Icon Award Despite Group’s Scandals Including...
Billy Crystal Will Accept Friars Club Icon Award Despite Group’s Scandals Including US Attorney’s Office Investigation, Sex Harassment Lawsuit
by Roger Friedman - September 13, 2018 11:01 pm
UPDATE SEPTEMBER 13TH, 7PM: Billy Crystal will ignore the scandals at the Friars Club, and accept the Icon Award in November. Let’s hope Federal Agents aren’t in the audience.
from September 5thEXCLUSIVE Billy Crystal is such a good guy. I’m told he’s almost agreed to host some kind of awards show for the Friars Club this fall.
But good guy Billy lives in Los Angeles, and doesn’t know what’s going on at 57 East 55th St. No one’s told him about the raid by federal postal inspectors on the Friars headquarters on Valentine’s Day 2017. He also doesn’t know about the settled sexual harassment suit brought by a former receptionist.
What Billy really doesn’t know is that the Friars Club is drowning in red ink. I have their 2017 financial report issued by Reardon Accountants on May 24, 2018. The first warning sign in the report should send up red flags at the IRS: “We did not audit or review the financial statements nor were we required to perform any procedures to verify the accuracy or completeness of the information provided by management…
“…Management has elected to omit substantially all of the disclosures required by accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. If the omitted disclosures were included in the financial statements, they might influence the user’s conclusions about the Company’s financial position, results of operations, and cash flows.”
What the???
The settlement with Rehanna Almestica, the receptionist who sued for sexual harassment, must have been huge. Almestica claimed that Friars’ celebrity wranger Bruce Charet regularly made sexually explicit phone calls to her and that the Friars Club fired her after she complained.
So it’s not surprised that under Expenses in the Reardon report, the Friars listed $3.8 million for Employee Compensation and Benefits. This number was considerably higher than both their revenue from the restaurants in their club house ($2.3 million) and dues from paying members ($3.2 million). The Friars claimed a net loss “before termination expense and legal and professional fees– extraordinary” — for 2017 of $559,832.
When this report was prepared in May, there was no mention of a pending lawsuit from former employees for over $300,000, recently reported in the New York Post.
The Friars National Association, a 501 (c) 3 charity, has not filed a form 990 tax return, by the way, since 2015.
As for contingencies, the report includes a note from the Club at least conceding they are being scrutinized by the Feds: “In connection with the investigation by the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York which commenced in 2017, legal counsel as informed management that the Friars National Association Inc nor any of its officers, directors, or employees have been accused of criminal conduct. The Club has cooperated constructively with the authorities. Legal counsel has not seen proof of criminality in its investigation and believes criminal charges are not a likely result.”
The group concedes in the report that they’re also under a New York State tax audit for the period of March 1, 2013 to August 31, 2015– during which they staged their hugely unsuccessful Lincoln Awards (which incurred $1.6 million in unspecified expenses and was put together by group exec Bruce Charet, the subject of Almestica’s lawsuit.
There’s no response yet from Billy Crystal, but I’m sure he’ll be happy to see all this in black and white before he agrees to pitch in– no matter how good a guy he is.
Julie Chen Thinks She's in "A Star is Born," Signs off "Big Brother" Calling Herself "Julie Chen Moonves"
Paul McCartney Number 1 as "Egypt Station" Gets Last Minute Sales Surge from Revelation of Beatles Pleasure-Fest
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Geek Headlines – December 22nd 2017
By Sideshow Staff
Here are today’s headlines from the world of geek news.
DC’s upcoming Shazam! film, starring Zachary Levi as the titular hero, has added two new members to the cast. Actress Faithe Herman has been cast as a friend to Billy Batson and actor Cooper Andrews is joining as the leader of a children’s group home and a surrogate father to Batson. Their character names are currently unknown.
Illumination Entertainment has released a poster for their upcoming animated film The Grinch, teasing the appearance of the infamous green grump as a child. The film is set for a 2018 holiday release, and stars Benedict Cumberbatch as The Grinch.
A trailer for the musical comedy Mamma Mia 2: Here We Go Again has arrived to promote the film’s summer 2018 release. The film stars most of the original 2008 cast, and shows the family reuniting following the untimely death of Meryl Streep’s character.
Five years after the publication Nintendo Power ended, the video-game news source is returning as an official Nintendo podcast. Hosted by the magazine’s former Editor-in-Chief Chris Slate, the program will provide Nintendo news and behind the scenes information for fans.
This has been your pop culture news update! Don’t forget to Let Your Geek Sideshow!
Sideshow Staff
Let Your Geek Sideshow with all the most exciting pop culture and movie news every day! From our Daily Alexa Skills to updates from awesome Geek guest writers and multiple pop culture podcast series, there's always something new and exciting to learn about from the worlds of comics, gaming, television, film, and beyond.
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Geek Headlines – December 21st 2017
Geek Headlines – December 23rd 2017
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United Way campaign reaches home stretch
Erin Fawcett
Officials with the United Way are nearing the end of the 2011 fundraising campaign.
In just under two weeks, United Way volunteers and staff will be unveiling the campaign achievements for the 2011 campaign. As of Jan. 9, the community has raised $1.8 million. United Way still needs to bring in another $100,000 to maintain an essential network of social programs and resources. Staff and volunteers are hard at work to bridge the gap to the goal over the next few days. Based on the early indications, the outlook was optimistic when the campaign first launched in September, but the campaign has had to face some tough challenges over the last few weeks.
“Every year it amazes us how people will step forward and donate as much as they can, because they believe so strongly in ensuring social services are available to everyone in our community. Many people have told us that they have increased their gift by 10 per cent or more. That’s an incredible commitment to the community, and we want to thank them on behalf of those who will be benefitting from this generosity,” says Lars Rogers, 2011 volunteer campaign co-chair.
As an added incentive, the campaign co-chairs have committed to having their hair dyed the United Way red. “As long as we raise at least as much as we did last year, we will dye our hair. It’s our way of showing our ‘undying’ dedication and commitment to the great people in this community. This year has been about having a good time with the campaign, and we want to end this campaign on a fun note,” added Rogers.
One of the campaign’s latest corporate donations was from Servus Credit Union who presented United Way officials with a cheque for $54,675.
Servus raised the money through employee pledges, paid jeans days, chocolate sales and branch fundraisers. The Parkland Square branch participated in the Red Deer Rebels’ Sockey Night in Red Deer on Dec. 9 and donated over 200 pairs of new socks.
The United Way is a ‘big picture’ charity that practices strategic giving. They pave the way for journeys with many steps. Servus’ donation may help a child graduate high school or an immigrant family to build a life in Canada.
The United Way office is still accepting donations to add to the community campaign, in person or online at www.caunitedway.ca.
A touchdown event is held each year to announce the campaign achievement and to publicly thank outstanding individuals and businesses for their ongoing support. This year’s touchdown will be taking place on Jan. 26th between 7:30 – 9 a.m. at the Donald School of Business in downtown Red Deer. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend this event.
“We are all in this together and as such, we should celebrate together,” said Robert Mitchell, United Way of Central Alberta CEO.
efawcett@reddeerexpress.com
Collicutt evacuated after ammonia leak
Students mesmerized by what can be created from shapeless piece of wood
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Si registri ora e approfitti di tanti vantaggi!
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The Facebook pixel is immediately embedded via Facebook when visiting our website and can store a so-called “cookie” - a small file - on your device. When you subsequently log in to Facebook or visit Facebook while logged in, the visit to our website is noted in your profile. The data about you that is retrieved is anonymous to us, meaning we cannot make conclusions about the identity of the user. However, the data from Facebook is stored and processed so that a connection to the particular user profile is possible. The processing of data via Facebook occurs within the conditions of Facebook’s data use policy and cannot be influenced by us as a website operator. You will therefore find further information about the functionalities of the remarketing pixel and about the presentation of Facebook ads overall in the Facebook data use policy: https://www.facebook.com/policy.php.
The legal basis for the processing of the user’s personalised data is Art. 6 Sec. 1 lit. f GDPR.
With the help of the Facebook pixel, it is possible for Facebook to assign the visitors of our website to a target group for the presentation of Facebook ads. Therefore, we use the Facebook pixel in order to show our Facebook ads only to Facebook users who have shown an interest in our Internet offers. That means that with the help of the Facebook pixel, we ensure that our Facebook ads correspond with the potential interests of the user and do not come across as annoying. With the help of the Facebook pixel, we can also comprehend the effectiveness of the Facebook advertisements for statistical and marketing purposes in that we see whether or not a user was redirected to our website after clicking on a Facebook advertisement.
You can refuse the collection of your data from the Facebook pixel and the use of your data for the presentation of Facebook ads. You can view the Facebook-specific page about this and learn more about the settings for user-based advertisements: https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=ads or refuse via the US website http://www.aboutads.info/choices/ or the EU website http://www.youronlinechoices.com/. The settings are platform-independent, meaning that they will be applied to all devices, such as desktop computers or mobile devices.
You can also deactivate the “Custom Audiences” remarketing function for advertisements in the settings via https://www.facebook.com/ads/preferences/?entry_product=ad_settings_screen. You must be logged into Facebook in order to do this.
On our website, you have the chance to sign up for the sending of news and information about all content and themes of our website via the ”WhatsApp“ messaging service, and to also use this method to come to us directly with questions.
By sending us a message, you agree, in accordance with Art. 6 Sec. 1 (a) GDPR, that the sender uses your personal data (e.g. first and last name, telephone number, messenger ID, profile picture, messages) for the direct communication and data processing necessary for the usage of the respectively selected messenger. For the use of this service, an existing messaging account for the respective provider is required. The messenger provider responsible is WhatsApp, Inc., 1601 Willow Road, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA. The privacy policy can be found at https://www.whatsapp.com/legal/#privacy-policy.
We provide this service via MessengerPeople GmbH, Herzog-Heinrich-Str. 9, 80336 Munich, who we have commissioned to implement the sending of messages.
WhatsApp receives personal data (particularly metadata from communication) that will be processed on servers in countries outside of the EU (USA, for example) where no adequate level of data protection is guaranteed. However, WhatsApp Inc. is certified under the Privacy Shield Agreement and thereby offer a guarantee that the European privacy policy will be adhered to. Further information contains the aforementioned privacy policy from WhatsApp. The sender has neither specific knowledge nor influence on the data processing effected by the respective provider.
The sending of messages occurs via one of the WhatsApp accounts that we have created. When you sign up for our WhatsApp messaging service via our website as per the instructions displayed, MessengerPeople receives the data stored with WhatsApp like your user name, your telephone number (only when signing up via WhatsApp), details about your device, all messages that have been sent by the service, as well as information about which messages you have read and clicked on. You have the choice to cancel the sending of WhatsApp messages via MessengerPeople at any time by sending “STOP” as a message to the WhatsApp account that you have previously used to order the messaging service. You can even request that MessengerPeople delete all of the aforementioned data by sending “DELETE ALL DATA” as a message to the corresponding WhatsApp messenger account.
Information about the usage and service of the MessengerPeople news services can also be found with every order of your preferred news. Furthermore, extensive information about the use of personal data via MessengerPeople can also be found in the MessengerPeople privacy policy notes at https://www.messengerpeople.com/privacy/.
The Dynamic Tracking System serves to determine the performance of different advertising channels. When visiting our website, data from your browser are collected for statistical evaluation and subsequently sent to the technical and statistical service provider, Dynamic 1001 GmbH, Im Mediapark 8A, 50670 Cologne, Germany. The collection of the data occurs through a single pixel, of which is integrated into all common online shops. When coming into contact with Dynamic servers, information, such as the operating system, the type of Internet browser utilised, the corresponding advertising material, the referrer, and the IP address, will be anonymously stored. The IP address will only be used for internal allocation purposes and will not be shared with third parties. In order to correctly execute commission management for advertising partners, data, such as the online booking number and order value of a successful booking, will be transmitted to Dynamic 1001 GmbH.
Cookies are used to collect data, of which contain an identification value that is created by the Dynamic Tracking System. Should you not want storage to occur, you can deactivate the cookies on your own by changing the settings in your browser.
Should you wish to object to the storage of your anonymously collected visitor data, you can do so at https://dynamic-tracking.com/Datenschutz.aspx?td=E64D8A6004E35875650135366B29E484&cn=3 so that it is no longer collected in the future. The current privacy policy of Dynamic 1001 GmbH can be found at https://www.dynamic1001.com/Datenschutz.aspx.
We are registered with our website as an advertiser with the affiliate network TradeTracker. This is an affiliate marketing platform which allows website operators (publishers) to display advertisements from third parties on their websites. Payment occurs based on performance, and in the case of TravelTrex, based on commission. TradeTracker cookies will be placed on the visitor’s computer in order to correctly document sales.
These cookies correspond with the currently valid privacy policy. The cookies used by TradeTracker will be accepted by an Internet browser’s standard settings. Should you prefer not to save these cookies, please deactivate the option to accept cookies from the relevant domains in your Internet browser. TradeTracker tracking cookies register the ID of the intermediary partner, the partly anonymous IP address of the visitor (reduced by the last octet), as well as the sequence number of the advertising material that the visitor has clicked on (banner, text link, etc.), all of which are necessary in order to settle commission payments.
The operating company of TradeTracker is TradeTracker Nederland B.V., 1327 GA Almere, Netherlands. The applicable privacy policy of TradeTracker can be found at https://tradetracker.com/de/privacy-policy/.
Voucher deals from Sovendus GmbH
When selecting a voucher deal that currently interests you after completing your travel booking, we will pseudonymize and encode the hash value of your e-mail address and IP address and transfer these to Sovendus GmbH, Moltkestr. 11, 76133 Karlsruhe (Sovendus) (Art. 6 Sec.1 f GDPR). The pseudonymized hash value of the e-mail address will be used by Sovendus when considering a possible existing opposition to advertisements (Art. 21 Sec.3, Art. 6 Sec.1 c GDPR). The IP address will be used solely for data security purposes and, as a general rule, will be anonymized after seven days (Art. 6 Sec.1 f GDPR). Furthermore, we will transfer a pseudonymized order number, order value with currency, session ID, voucher code, and time stamp to Sovendus for billing purposes (Art. 6 Sec.1 f GDPR). Should you be interested in a voucher deal from Sovendus after completing your travel booking and therefore click on the voucher banner that is exclusively displayed at that time, and should there be no opposition to advertisements present, we will transfer your encrypted title, name, and e-mail address to Sovendus in preparation for the voucher (Art. 6 Sec.1 b, f GDPR).
For more information about the processing of your data via Sovendus, please refer to the online data protection notices at https://www.sovendus.de/en/privacy_policy/.
Integration of the Trusted Shops Trustbadge
The Trusted Shops Trustbadge is integrated into this website in order to display the Trusted Shops seal of excellence and collective ratings, where applicable, as well as to display offers for Trusted Shops products to buyers after completing an order.
This serves to safeguard our predominantly legitimate interests in the optimal marketing of our product on the basis of the balancing of interests. The Trustbadge and the associated advertised services are offers of Trusted Shops GmbH, Subbelrather Str. 15C, 50823 Köln.
When using the Trustbadge, the web server automatically saves a so-called “server logfile“, of which contains, for example, your IP address, the date and time of usage, transferred data volume, and the requested provider (access data), and of which documents the usage. These access data will not be evaluated and will be automatically overwritten seven days after the end of your visit to the website at the latest.
Further personal data will only be transferred to Trusted Shops providing you have decided to make use of one of the Trusted Shops products after completing an order, or providing you have already been registered. In this case, the contractual agreement between you and Trusted Shops applies.
We will, therefore, process any data you enter onto the contact form only with your consent per Art. 6 (1) (a) GDPR. You can revoke consent to the storage of your data and email address as well as their use for sending the newsletter at any time, e.g. through the "unsubscribe" link in the newsletter. The data processed before we receive your request may still be legally processed.
E-mail distribution via Episerver (form. Optivo)
With the following information, we will be informing you about the content of our newsletter as well as the sign up process, distribution process, statistical analysis process, and your right to objection. By subscribing to our newsletter, you agree to reception and the aforementioned processes.
Content of the Newsletter
We only send newsletters and e-mails with advertising information (hereafter “newsletter“) with the consent of the recipient or with legal permission. Insofar as the content of a newsletter is concretely described in the context of an application for the newsletter, these are decisive for the consent of the user. Besides that, our newsletters contain information about our products, offers, deals, and company.
Double-Opt-In and Recording
Signing up for our newsletter occurs via a so-called “Double-Opt-In” procedure. This means that once you finish signing up, you will receive an e-mail which prompts you to confirm your registration. This confirmation is mandatory in order to prevent others from signing up with third-party e-mail addresses. Newsletter registrations will be recorded in order to demonstrate the corresponding legal requirements for the registration process. This includes the storage of both the registration and confirmation times, as well as the IP address. Changes to your data that is saved with your service provider will also be recorded.
The sending of the newsletter occurs via Episerver Campain, an e-mail marketing software from the provider Episerver GmbH, Wallstraße 16, 10179 Berlin. The privacy policy of the service provider can be found here: https://www.episerver.com/legal/privacy-statement/.
Furthermore, Episerver can, according to its own information, use this data in a pseudonymous form, i.e. without a user being assigned to it, in order to optimise or improve their own services, such as technical optimisation for the distribution and presentation of the newsletter, or to use it for statistical purposes. However, Episerver does not use the data of newsletter recipients to contact them directly or to share with third parties.
In order to sign up for the newsletter, you only have to provide us with your e-mail address. You also have the option to provide your first and last name as well as your preferred title. These entries will solely be used for the personalisation of your newsletter, in which we adjust the content of the newsletter to fit the interests of the reader.
The newsletters receive a so-called “web-beacon“ - a pixel-sized file that is retrieved when opening a newsletter from the server of the service provider, Episerver. While being retrieved, technical information, such as browser and system information, as well as your IP address and the time of the retrieval, will be collected. This information is then used for the technical improvements of services based on technical data, or target groups and their reading behaviour based on the point of retrieval (which is determined with the help of the IP address) or access time. Determining whether or not the newsletter has been opened, when it was opened, and which links were clicked on are part of the statistical assessment. Due to technical reasons, this information can be assigned to individual newsletter recipients. However, neither we nor the service provider strive to monitor individual users. Instead, the results serve to illustrate the reading habits of our users and to help us adjust our content to their liking, or to send diverse content to our users based on their interests.
The sending of the newsletter, as well as performance measurement, occur based on the consent of the recipients as per Art. 6 Sec. 1 lit. a, Art. 7 GDPR in association with § 7 Sec. 2 No. 3 UWG, or rather based on the legal permission as per § 7 Sec. 3 UWG.
The recording of the registration process occurs based on our legitimate interests as per Art. 6 Sec. 1 lit. f GDPR and serves as proof of the consent to receive newsletters.
Online Activity and Data Management
In some cases, we direct newsletter recipients to the service provider’s websites. For example, our newsletter contains a link that newsletter recipients can use in order to view the newsletter online (should the newsletter not be displayed correctly in the e-mail). Another example would be that a newsletter recipient would like to change their data, such as their e-mail address. Likewise, the privacy policy of the service provider can only be accessed via their website. With that in mind, we would like to point out that the Episerver websites do use cookies, which will process your personalised data via the service provider, their partners, and other service providers (such as Google Analytics). We cannot influence this collection of your data. Further information can be found in the Episerver privacy policy. We would also like to mention the possibility to appeal the collection of data for advertising purposes on the websites http://www.aboutads.info/choices/ and http://www.youronlinechoices.com/ (for the European area).
Cancellation/Withdrawal
You can, at any time, cancel your subscription i.e. withdrawal your consent. A link to newsletter cancellation can be found in each newsletter. Furthermore, you can also unsubscribe from the newsletter directly on the website. After completing cancellation, all of your data, excluding your e-mail address, will be deleted. Your e-mail address will be specifically saved to a blocking list and will only be used for the sole purpose of making sure that we no longer send e-mails to your e-mail address.
Completion of a Contract regarding Contract Data Processing
We have entered into a contract with Episerver concerning contract data processing and fully implement the strict requirements of the German data protection authorities when using Episerver.
The processing of data is based on your consent (Art. 6 Abs. 1 a GDPR). You may revoke your consent at any time by unsubscribing to the newsletter. The data processed before we receive your request may still be legally processed.
If you're logged in to your YouTube account, YouTube allows you to associate your browsing behavior directly with your personal profile. You can prevent this by logging out of your YouTube account.
YouTube is used to help make our website appealing. This constitutes a justified interest pursuant to Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR.
For this purpose your browser has to establish a direct connection to Google servers. Google thus becomes aware that our web page was accessed via your IP address. The use of Google Web fonts is done in the interest of a uniform and attractive presentation of our website. This constitutes a justified interest pursuant to Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR.
Further information about handling user data, can be found at https://developers.google.com/fonts/faq and in Google's privacy policy at https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/.
Our website accepts payments via Sofortüberweisung. The provider of this service is Sofort GmbH, Theresienhöhe 12, 80339 Munich, Germany.
Sofortüberweisung provides us with real-time payment confirmations, allowing us to begin fulfilling our end of our contract right away.
If you opt to pay using Sofortüberweisung, you will be submitting a PIN and a valid TAN to Sofort GmbH so that it can access your online banking account. Sofort GmbH will automatically check your account balance and perform the transfer to our account using the TAN you supply. It then sends an immediate transaction confirmation. After logging in, your income, the overdraft protection, and the availability of other accounts and their balances will be checked.
In addition to the PIN and TAN, the payment details you provide as well as personal information will be sent to Sofort GmbH. This personal information includes your name, address, telephone numbers, email address, IP address, and any other data required to process your payment. This data must be transferred to identify you securely and to prevent fraud.
Data is transmitted to Sofort GmbH based on Art. 6 (1) (a) (Consent) and Art. 6 (1) (b) GD (Processing for contract purposes). You have the option to revoke your consent at any time with future effect. It does not affect the processing of data previously collected.
Please refer to the payment with Sofortüberweisung links below: https://www.sofort.de/datenschutz.html and https://www.klarna.com/pay-now-with-direct-banking.
Should you select a method of payment from the payment service provider, Stripe, the transaction will occur via the payment service provider, Stripe Payments Europe Ltd, Block 4, Harcourt Centre, Harcourt Road, Dublin 2, Ireland, in that we transfer the information from your booking that was provided by you during the booking process (name, IP address, IBAN and BIC, as well as possible credit card details, invoice amount, and currency). The transferring of your data to the payment service provider, Stripe Payments Europe Ltd., occurs only for the purpose of processing payment. Further information about data protection with Stripe can be found at https://stripe.com/de/terms.
All data that is required in order to process payment will only be used by Stripe in order to carry out payment, and will be safely transferred via the SSL process. Stripe is certified in accordance with PCI DSS. Stripe transfers, processes, and stores personal data outside of the EU where necessary.
The transferring of your data to Stripe occurs based on Art. 6 Sec. 1 (a) GDPR (consent) and Art. 6 Sec. 1 (b) GDPR (processing in order to fulfil a contract). You have the choice to revoke your consent to having your data processed at any time. When revoking your consent, it does not affect the processing of previously collected data.
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Meet Dr. Terese-Koch, Chair of the Department of Dental Education
Dr. Denise Terese-Koch (BS, DDS, FADG, MBA) will never forget the first time she shadowed a dentist. She was there for a class project in her undergraduate biology program, and she was immediately drawn in.
“I can remember it like yesterday,” she recalls. Watching the dentist who owned the practice prepare for the day ahead, Dr. Terese-Koch began wondering what owning a business and being your own boss would be like. Then, after a morning staff meeting, the patient care began.
“I watched the dentist’s every move,” she says. Still, she wanted to be closer and eventually the dental assistant showed her how to pass instruments and suction. Finally, after the project interview with the dentist, she was hooked. For the next six years, Dr. Terese-Koch worked as a dental assistant throughout undergraduate and dental school.
“Dentistry is one of the best professions,” she says. “We are a healthcare provider, scientist, and an artist creating a masterpiece restoring our patients to optimal oral health and function.”
Experienced Practitioner
Today, Dr. Terese-Koch is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Dental Education at South College in Nashville, TN. Here, she has led the design and development of the new initial CODA accredited Dental Hygiene and Dental Assisting programs, with courses starting in April 2019.
After over 23 years as a practice owner and comprehensive general dentist, Dr. Terese-Koch has much experience to draw on as an educator. In Illinois, she built a practice from the ground-up, growing it into a thriving business and tripling the space of her original location. In Texas, she developed and managed a self-contained mobile dental practice to treat geriatric patients, homebound adults, and children who could not otherwise receive or afford dental treatment.
Throughout her practicing care, her family gave back to her community by owning and operating an animal sanctuary in Princeton, Illinois, which, when at capacity, housed 70 horses, 24 dogs, 15 cats, and a pot belly pig.
Such community service and outreach is something she’s pursued throughout her roles. It’s a focus she’s continuing at South College with the creation a state-of-the-art dental clinic that will not only serve the community but also offer Dental Hygiene and Dental Assisting students the opportunity to work with patients and develop the skills needed to become a competent, entry-level dental health care provider.
Passionate Educator
Education has long been among Dr. Terese-Koch’s passions. She recalls being struck by one particular instructor’s drive and teaching style in dental school. “I knew from that moment on, I would have two careers in dentistry, one as a dentist and healthcare provider and one as an educator teaching our future generations of dental care providers,” she states.
Her teaching experience includes both training her own dental staff in clinical settings and educating students in the classroom. Most recently, she served as Developer and Director of an Advanced Education in General Dentistry program at a VA Center in Wisconsin. Prior to that, she worked at The University of Tennessee as an Assistant Professor, Group Leader of the Department of General Practice Dentistry, and Director of the University Dental Faculty Practice.
As an instructor, she acts as equal parts educator, mentor, and guide as she teaches students how to apply dental sciences theory to clinical practice, helping them develop both critical thinking and problem-solving skills. “I encourage students to self-evaluate and learn from their successes and failures, and I enjoy watching the students develop into competent entry-level oral healthcare providers,” she says.
Preparing You for a Career in the Dental Field
As she awaits her first class of South College students, Dr. Terese-Koch is excited for everyone entering the dental programs.
“You are joining an elite group of individuals in the healthcare profession,” she says. “Dental Hygienists and Dental Assistants use a variety of clinical skills to educate and meet the oral health needs of many different patients each day. There are opportunities to help children, adults, the elderly, and the disabled. With rigorous instruction in the Biomedical and Dental Sciences, preclinic and clinic, South College offers students an outstanding educational opportunity to prepare for their careers.”
To learn more about the Dental Hygiene and Dental Assisting programs at the South College Nashville Campus, contact us at 629-802-3000 or request information online.
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New TN Math and Science Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program
Science, Technology, Engineering and Math programs, also called STEM programs, are a hot topic across the country. STEM academies and schools are on the rise to train and educate the next generation of scientists, engineers, mathematicians, technicians. Dennis Vilorio, an economist in the Office of Occupational Statistics and Employment Projections of the Bureau of Labor Statistics wrote, “The future of the economy is in STEM.” James Brown, the executive director of the STEM Education Coalition in Washington, D.C. in referring to STEM also said, “That’s where the jobs of tomorrow will be.” Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) supports that assertion. Employment in occupations related to STEM—science, technology, engineering, and mathematics—is projected to grow to more than 9 million between 2012 and 2022. That’s an increase of about 1 million jobs over 2012 employment levels.
Tennessee is taking this opportunity to assist public school teachers who are seeking an advanced degree in math or science, or a certification to teach math or science. The Tennessee Math & Science Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program provides financial assistance to Tennessee public school teachers who are seeking an advanced degree in a math or a science, or a certification to teach a math or a science. Loan forgiveness requires employment in a Tennessee public school system two years for each year of the loan funding received.
South College is pleased to be a college that is eligible for the Tennessee Math and Science Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program!
In order to receive a Math & Science Teacher Loan, a student must:
Be a citizen of the United States; and
Be a resident of Tennessee, as defined by regulations promulgated by the board of regents for the state university and community college system, under the authority of TCA § 49-8-104 where applicable for one (1) year immediately preceding the date of application; and
Meet the requirements of TCA § 49-4-905(a); and
Be admitted to and attend an eligible postsecondary institution seeking an advanced degree in math or a science or certification to teach math or a science; and
Agree to teach math or a science in a Tennessee public school system two (2) academic years for each year funded provided by this program and sign a promissory note that stipulates the cash repayment obligation incurred if the teaching service is not fulfilled; and
Maintain satisfactory academic progress in the teacher’s program of study with no minimum number of hours required per semester; and
Complete the program of study within five (5) years beginning with the first term for which the loan was awarded; and
Not allow a break in enrollment at an eligible postsecondary institution of more than twelve (12) months. If the break in enrollment exceeds twelve (12) months, the borrower enters the grace period followed by repayment.
A course taken to qualify a student for re-certification shall not be a course taken for receipt of a Math & Science Teacher Loan.
A borrower who completes the program of study for which a Math & Science Teacher Loan was provided and who subsequently satisfies the terms of the loan in full, either through repayment or cancellation, is not prevented from participating in the Tennessee Math & Science Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program again, in order to gain certification or an advanced degree in a different area of math or science.
According to Teach for America, “By 2018, 8 million STEM jobs will be available in the United States, but the vast majority of U.S. students will be unprepared to fill them.” South College, through the Tennessee Math and Science Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program, can assist in helping you educate tomorrow’s potential STEM leaders.
If you are a tenured public school teacher, you must submit an online application and Promissory Note for a Math & Science Teacher Loan for each academic year to the Corporation.
The application deadline is September 1 for students beginning the academic year in the fall, February 1 for students who begin the academic year in the spring, and May 1 for students who begin the academic year in the summer.
The online application can be found here. For more information about other programs and scholarships available at South College, visit our Financial Aid page.
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Rocket Lab's Tiny-Satellite Launcher Will Get 2nd Test in December
By Calla Cofield 2017-11-29T23:46:58Z Spaceflight
A Rocket Lab Electron rocket sits on the launchpad at the company's launch facility in New Zealand, ahead of a test flight. The launch window opens Dec. 8, 2017.
(Image: © Rocket Lab)
The spaceflight startup Rocket Lab has scheduled the second test flight of its innovative Electron rocket, a small vehicle built to accommodate small satellites and other petite payloads.
The 10-day launch window opens Dec. 8 and will take place at Rocket Lab's private launch facility on the Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand, the company announced today (Nov. 29). The launch, titled "Still Testing," will be livestreamed on the company's website, according to the statement.
Despite its test status, the rocket will carry and, if all goes according to plan, deploy three customer satellites. The payload will include one Earth-imaging Dove satellite (about the size of a loaf of bread) for the private company Planet (formerly Planet Labs), and two Lemur-2 satellites for the private company Spire, which uses the Earth-observing satellites for weather mapping and ship-traffic tracking, according to the statement from Rocket Lab. [Satellite Quiz: How Well Do You Know What's Orbiting Earth?]
An Electron rocket being set up on the launchpad at the Rocket Lab launch facility in New Zealand, ahead of the "Still Testing" test launch.
(Image credit: Rocket Lab)
Rocket Lab's first test flight of an Electron rocket took place on May 25, after being delayed several days by bad weather. Peter Beck, the company's CEO and founder, said in the statement that the company is "still very much operating in a test phase and can likely expect a few scrubs during the second test flight attempt."
During the first Electron test launch, the third stage of the rocket failed to reach its intended altitude of 310 miles (500 kilometers). Nevertheless, the company said at the time that it had no plans to delay the second test launch (which was initially scheduled for summer 2017). In August, Rocket Lab released a statement saying that a review of the May 25 launch "found the launch had to be terminated due to an independent contractor's ground equipment issue, rather than an issue with the rocket."
"We're thrilled with Electron's performance in the first test flight, and now we’re eager to test the next crucial step — payload deployment," Beck said in the statement. "No major changes to the launch vehicle hardware have been required, the third-party error that meant we didn't make orbit has been corrected and we're focusing on the six Electron vehicles in production right now."
A wide view of the Rocket Lab private launch facility on the Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand.
The Electron rocket, which stands about 55 feet (17 meters) tall and has a nominal payload capacity of 330 lbs. (150 kilograms), was built primarily to accommodate the emerging small-satellite industry, Beck told Space.com last year. Most rockets can typically carry payloads of many thousands of pounds, which means customers with small payloads have to "piggyback" on those flights. With its Electron rocket, Rocket Lab is aiming to provide customers with more control over the timing, frequency and destination of flights, Beck said.
Rocket Lab is not the only company pursuing a small-scale launch vehicle. One of Rocket Lab's biggest competitors is Virgin Orbit (previously part of Virgin Galactic), which is planning to start test flights of its LauncherOne small-satellite launch system in 2018 and may fly its first customer payloads before 2019. Another company, Vector Space Systems, is working on its Vector-R rocket, which has an even smaller payload capacity than the Electron. Vector completed a low-altitude test flight of the rocket earlier this year.
Follow Calla Cofield @callacofield.Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
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Rebecca Wolff
Publisher: Wave Books
SKU #: G03D
Quantity Available: 109
Poetry. Poet, novelist, and Fence founder Rebecca Wolff's internal monologue made external in poetry is uncanny. Her musical and darkly funny fourth collection, ONE MORNING—, spans language, culture, art history, love, passion, grief, consumerism, environmental devastation, and the ekphrastic experience of pop and high culture. She experiments with torque, energy, narrative—two steps ahead of herself with the reader on her heels.
Rebecca Wolff is the author of four collections of poetry, one novel, and numerous pieces of occasional prose. Her first book, Manderley, was selected for the National Poetry Series by Robert Pinsky. Her second, Figment, was selected for the Barnard Women Poets Prize by Claudia Rankine and Eavan Boland. Her third, The King, was published by W. W. Norton in 2009. Her novel The Beginners was published by Riverhead in 2011. Her latest collection, ONE MORNING—, is forthcoming from Wave Books in September of 2015. She is a graduate of the Iowa Writers Workshop and has been a fellow at the MacDowell Colony and the Millay Colony for the Arts. In 1998, Wolff founded the influential literary journal FENCE; in 2001 she founded Fence Books and launched The Constant Critic website. Wolff lives in Hudson, New York, and is currently a fellow at the New York State Writers Institute at the University at Albany.
Author City: HUDSON, NY USA
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Sustainability Means Survivability for the Oil and Gas Industry, World Abroad
Matt Zborowski, Technology Writer | 22 January 2019
Topics: Environment Social responsibility/sustainability
Sami Alnuaim, 2019 SPE president, spoke at an event unveiling two new oil- and gas-related sustainability programs at the University of Houston.
2019 president
CECSR
CCME
Sami Alnuaim
What people don’t know about the oil and gas industry hurts the oil and gas industry.
This goes for people outside the industry whose perceptions of extraction, distribution, and use are shaped by the relentless campaign against hydrocarbons, as well as those inside the industry who don’t truly realize the value they add to the world.
Sami Alnuaim wants to change the narrative while encouraging the industry as a whole to embrace sustainability. The 2019 SPE president was on hand 21 January at the University of Houston to welcome the launch of two initiatives aligned with his cause: the Consortium for Energy Corporate Social Responsibility (CECSR) and the Center for Carbon Management in Energy (CCME).
CECSR is headed by Suryanarayanan Radhakrishnan, managing director of UH Energy and clinical assistant professor of Decision and Information Sciences in the UH Bauer College of Business. The group of energy firms will promote the advancement of corporate social responsibility principles in the industry.
CCME is led by Charles McConnell, a long-time energy executive and former assistant secretary in the US Department of Energy. The organization will seek out and develop carbon management strategies, including carbon capture and utilization during production and transportation along with negative emissions technologies.
Both initiatives will fund and participate in research and encourage knowledge sharing in their respective areas.
Such programs are critical to the long-term viability of the oil and gas business. Explaining that the industry’s image doesn’t reflect all the good things it does, Alnuaim cited a survey published in 2017 by Ernst & Young in which a mere 25% of US teens polled had a positive view of oil as an energy source. In another example, he mentioned a crossword puzzle that appeared in a major US newspaper in which the answer to the clue “explosives used in fracking” was “TNT.”
As a result, traditional oil companies are removing “oil” from their names, in part, to attract younger talent who may be hesitant to join the industry. Keeping a steady inflow of young professionals and maintaining a license to operate will require an image transformation, said Alnuaim, who laid out a number of ways the industry is acting as a good global steward.
More than half of the world’s energy mix is oil and gas, which benefits not only the gross domestic products of countries that produce and export it, but also those that import and use it to generate additional GDP within their own borders, he explained. In one scenario outlined in BP’s 2018 Energy Outlook, world GDP is slated double by 2040, lifting 2.5 billion people from low incomes.
At the same time, the industry will have to keep pace with growing demand for oil and gas. And it is doing so by continuing to invest in exploration, development, and technologies—even through the downturn, as some $2 trillion was spent between 2012 and 2018—to ensure there will be adequate supplies. Demand from the transportation sector in particular will continue to rise despite growth in electric vehicle usage. This can be attributed to trucks, marine, and aviation, according to the outlook.
While oil and gas activity has continued to increase, safety metrics have improved dramatically in recent decades. “I don't think you can find any industry that can match our excellent performance when it comes to safety,” Alnuaim said.
Growth in carbon dioxide emissions is also declining. Enabled by hydraulic fracturing, abundantly produced natural gas in the US has supplanted coal as the country’s biggest source of electric power generation. But the International Energy Agency (IEA) forecasts 70% of additional global power capacity will come from renewables, a shift SPE supports and the entire industry should get behind, he said. In other words, both forms of energy should coexist.
Ultimately the industry remains the main driver in reducing energy poverty, which fell below 1 billion in 2017, according to an IEA estimate. But there’s still much work to be done in Africa, whose population is about that of North America and Europe combined.
Making a Business Case
One area where the industry has been roasted publicly is flaring. Alnuaim noted that, through the adoption and implementation of best practices, the industry has reduced flaring by 15% over the last 20 years even as production has increased. This is a problem, he said, that should be viewed from a business perspective. Outside investment in infrastructure in developing countries would enable excess gas to be used for power generation or petrochemicals, improving GDP and quality of life.
At Saudi Aramco, where Alnuaim is a more than 30-year veteran, the company is leading development of crude-to-chemicals technology to get more out of each barrel of oil. The firm and Saudi chemical giant SABIC last year announced plans to build a complex at Yanbu on the country’s west coast that will process 400,000 B/D of crude and produce 9 million tons/year of chemicals and base oils.
Along those same lines, Radhakrishnan said CECSR is emphasizing a business case in its advocacy of corporate social responsibility. If sustainability initiatives are all seen as costs, adoption of those initiatives will be much slower.
Alnuaim hopes to see progression of carbon capture and sequestration, an area of interest for CCME. While it has long been discussed as way to mitigate the industry’s carbon impact, the industry has been slow on the uptake due to the high costs associated with the technology.
However, Aramco has implemented CCS at Saudi Arabia’s giant Ghawar oilfield, where 800,000 tons/year of CO2 is being injected in an effort to boost recovery. “The results so far are very, very promising,” he said, noting that it represents only 1% of the field. Extrapolating the technology across the field and to other massive fields globally would be a “game changer,” he added.
Wood Mackenzie: Peak Oil Demand Is Coming, Will Transform Exploration Sector
The confluence of alternative energies, shifting public sentiment, and the industry’s own improvements to existing fields may upend the industry’s “engine of growth.”
Mature Fractured Reservoirs Can Be Repurposed for Gas Storage
This paper discusses studies conducted on two California offshore fields that may be abandoned in the near future. These studies examined the feasibility of repurposing these fields for offshore gas storage by using their reservoir voidage and existing pipeline facilities.
Novel Approach to Sour-Gas Treatment Lowers Cost and Limits Safety Hazards
This paper investigates novel approaches to sour-gas treatment for use in the Middle East that are outside the common oil and gas market and compares them with traditional techniques.
Certified as the Industry’s Tightest: ORBIT Low-E Valves
Digital, Collaborative Well Testing to Achieve Your Objectives
Dual-Core Acid Gas Removal Membranes Double Design Performance
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Purpose, Vision & Values
Consulting & Planning
Urban Design & Landscape Architecture
Land Acquisition & Permitting
Energy Environmental Transportation Water
Home > News > News Releases > 2016 News Releases > Marquard Appointed to Iowa District Export Council
Marquard Appointed to Iowa District Export Council
Stanley Consultants Vice President and General Counsel Henry Marquard has been appointed to the Iowa District Export Council (DEC). He was appointed as a council member by United States Secretary of Commerce Pritzker based on his experience with the international export of professional services. Stanley Consultants is a global consulting engineering firm that provides program management, planning, engineering, environmental, and construction services worldwide. The firm is one of Iowa’s longest serving professional service exporters. Marquard has served as chief legal officer for Stanley Consultants since 1991.
Export councils are organized on a state level to work with all branches of the US government in facilitating the export of goods and services from companies located in that state. The Iowa DEC provides leadership across Iowa on exporting through its 15 member council of global business veterans and experts, all appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce. The role of the Iowa DEC is to provide mentoring to business executives and international sales staff, company outreach, coaching for international strategic planning, and training for Iowa businesses and services operating overseas. Through the U.S. Export Council, DECs also advise the Secretary of Commerce on export related policy. The Iowa DEC brings together the resources of the Federal and State governments, as well as those of Iowa business, to promote the exporting of goods and services.
Marquard said he is delighted to share with other Iowa firms the knowledge and experience he has gained from exporting Stanley Consultants’ professional services for 25 years. “It’s an honor to serve on a council whose primary mission is to help Iowa companies break into the overseas market. Stanley Consultants has a strong overseas presence which we can leverage to help other Iowans,” said Marquard.
Marquard has a B.A. degree in Political Science and J.D. in Law from DePaul University. He is a member of the Bar of the U.S. Supreme Court, the US Court of Appeals, and the Iowa and Illinois Supreme Courts. He is an adjunct professor at St. Ambrose University and Vice President of the Iowa Corporate Counsel Association chapter.
About Stanley Consultants: Founded in 1913, Stanley Consultants is a global consulting engineering firm that provides program management, planning, engineering, environmental and construction services worldwide. Recognized for its commitment to client service and a passion to make a difference, Stanley Consultants brings global knowledge, experience and capabilities to serve clients in the energy, water, transportation and Federal markets. Since 1913, Stanley Consultants has successfully completed more than 25,000 engagements in all 50 states, U.S. territories, and in 110 countries. For more information on Stanley Consultants, please visit www.stanleyconsultants.com.
Purpose, Mission & Values
© 2019 Stanley Consultants, Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy | Terms of Use
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The People's Press
The constitutional guarantee of freedom of the press is something we’ve always taken seriously here at St Brigid Press. We’re grateful to be able to practice our crafts of printing and poetry in a free spirit and a free society.
It’s important, however, to continue to be vigilant ~ to remind each other and our elected representatives of how precious and vital are our democracy and freedom. We have many wise voices, past and present, who stood up (or, like Rosa Parks, sat down) and spoke out for our inalienable rights.
In honor of their voice ~ your voice, my voice, our collective American voices ~ we’ve created a series called The People’s Postcards.
Alexander Hamilton was an immigrant from the Caribbean who, in his early 20s, found a job as an assistant to George Washington. He eventually became a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, helped author the Federalist Papers, and served as the first US Secretary of the Treasury. The quote on our postcard was part of a speech Hamilton gave at the New York state convention in Poughkeepsie, where he urged representatives to ratify the US Constitution.
Born a slave in Maryland about 1818, Frederick Douglass became one of the most ardent and eloquent human rights activists and orators in US history, speaking and writing on behalf of African-Americans, Native Americans, women, and immigrants. He also became a government official and newspaper publisher. The above quote was part of a speech Douglass gave in the District of Columbia on the 23rd anniversary of emancipation in DC.
Friends, we are the WE in “We the People…” Let’s keep up the good work of forming a more perfect union. Together.
The People’s Postcards
letterpress printed by yours truly
postal service-compliant at 6” x 4.25”
pre-stamped! — ready to pen and send
sturdy bamboo cardstock paper
$8.50 for a set-of-10 stamped postcards
order direct from Emily Hancock at stbrigidpress@gmail.com
tagged with Alexander Hamilton, Frederick Douglass, Freedom of the Press, #freedomofthepress, letterpress cards, letterpress postcards, We the People, democracy, American Voices, political postcards, inalienable rights
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About the St. Clairion
St. Clairion
The school news site of Upper St. Clair High School
Veterans Honored
Isabela Couoh, Staff Writer
Monday 12, 2018 was a crisp, clear day with a sharp wind chill, a bittersweet veterans day full of gratitude and remembrance. Teachers, parents, students, and other members of our Upper St Clair community came together to honor local veterans from all branches of service: Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Merchant Marines, Coast Guard and National Guard. The ceremony took place at the Upper St Clair Veterans park, which, as of yesterday, celebrated its 7th year gracing our community. This beautiful park serves as a reminder to younger generations especially, to recognize the sacrifices that our veterans have made.
Upper St Clair students were given the chance to show their appreciation during the Veterans Day ceremony, when the high school’s Chanteclair choir and Baker Elementary’s 4th grade choir sang between the different events and speakers lined up for that day. Also making a special appearance, the high school marching band performed several songs, with one student, Matt Hornack, even receiving the opportunity to play taps.
The event’s featured speaker was Devlin Robinson, a U.S. Marine who served three tours in Afghanistan and one tour in Iraq. He participated in Operation Iraqi Freedom’s liberation phase, which brought him to the battles of Nasiriyah, Diwaniyah, Kut, and Baghdad. He was then deployed to Fallujah and Saqlaweyah in 1st Battalion 6th Marine Regiment. Also recognized, were the local veterans who attended the ceremony. Each individual being able to state in which branch they served and being given a warm round of applause by grateful audience members.
The turnout of USC Township employees, families, and veterans was impressive and a true reminder to have appreciation for the sacrifices of those who made our freedom possible.
Archives Select Month March 2019 (4) December 2018 (6) March 2018 (4) February 2018 (4) November 2017 (8) October 2017 (3) September 2016 (4) May 2016 (6) March 2016 (4) February 2016 (5) June 2015 (5) May 2015 (3) April 2015 (6) March 2015 (5) February 2015 (12) January 2015 (8) December 2014 (7) November 2014 (3) October 2014 (13) September 2014 (2) May 2014 (2) February 2014 (2) January 2014 (4) November 2013 (1) June 2013 (1) May 2013 (1) April 2013 (4) March 2013 (4) February 2013 (4) January 2013 (8) December 2012 (1) November 2012 (6) October 2012 (3) May 2012 (3) April 2012 (1) March 2012 (9) February 2012 (10) January 2012 (1) December 2011 (1) November 2011 (2) October 2011 (9) July 2011 (1) June 2011 (2) May 2011 (2) April 2011 (11) March 2011 (8) February 2011 (4) January 2011 (15) December 2010 (4) November 2010 (13) October 2010 (4) August 2010 (1) April 2010 (2)
USCHS Creates a Lip Dub!
Anyone at Upper St. Clair High School has probably spoken two specific words in the past month: Lip Dub. But what is a Lip Dub? How was a video of such...
Pickle ball kindles school spirit
AP Physics boat races conclude year
German Cafe feeds students’ hunger for language
Aspiring for the Top
USC Senior is Recognized as an Exemplary Student
Students and Staff Embark on Trip to NYC
Conor Lamb Visits USCHS!
Volleyball Tournament For the Kids
Canvas, Love it or Hate it?
MiniThon Volleyball Tournament a Success!
2017 USC Hall of Fame Induction
USC Battles on the Gridiron
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SUEZ and YouGov survey of Britain’s household recycling habits
Recycling and recovery
Study reveals disconnect between how much British households think they recycle and how much they really do.
SUEZ, the national recycling and waste management company, today reveals a significant disconnect between how well the British public thinks they are recycling their household waste and actual recycling performance.
These findings, among many others, were derived from an online survey of British adults, which was commissioned by SUEZ, and conducted this summer by YouGov – who asked the adult populations of England, Scotland and Wales for their views on recycling, based on a demographically representative sample of more than 2,000 adults.
According to the poll, 38% of the population claim they recycle all of the waste in their household that they know they can recycle, while a further 41% of people reckon they recycle the vast majority. Furthermore, when individual respondents were asked what stops them recycling more than they currently do, nearly half (44%) said nothing in particular is stopping them from recycling more. Only 15% of people admitted to recycling half or less of everything they could, and 3% recycled nothing at all.
Each year, in England alone, households throw out over 27 million tonnes of refuse, of which around 45% is recycled – which begs the question – If most people are recycling the majority of everything that can be recycled, why is the national recycling figure not higher?
The recycling rate in England, which is the most populous country within the United Kingdom and therefore has the biggest impact on the waste statistics, began to flat-line in 2012/13 and actually fell by 0.7% to 44.3% for the 12 months to June 2015, according to the most up-to-date figures published by DEFRA. Wales’ household recycling rate, by comparison, stands at 56.2% as the leader among the home nations.
The findings of the SUEZ/YouGov survey reveal that, across the British public, those aged 45 and over tend to think they recycle more compared with the younger generation. Among 45 to 54 year olds, 41% claim they recycle all they can, which raises to 53% for those aged 55 and over, but falls as low as 15% for 18 to 24 year olds.41% of women claim to recycle all they can compared to just 34% of men (giving a national average of 38%).
There are also major discrepancies between the sexes, as to who thinks they put the bins out and who actually does. While nearly two thirds of men in a relationship (64%) claim it is their responsibility to put out the bins, only 38% of females in a relationship* said that their husband or male partners do this. Over a third of women in a relationship (36%) claim it is their job to put the bins out, but only 14% of males in a relationship said their wives or female partners do this.
The findings also revealed that 50% of the British public would support products having standardised packaging that is made from materials that can be widely recycled. Furthermore, when asked how effective certain initiatives for major manufacturers and retailers might be in reducing waste from product packaging, 57% thought a legal requirement to publish how much packaging they produce would be effective; 72% thought providing more on-pack recycling information and 69% said paying more tax on their packaging based on how much they produce would be effective ways of reducing waste from product packaging.
Suggested as one of several initiatives to help boost recycling rates, nearly half of the respondents (49%) also backed the idea of council tax reductions for households that recycle more and reduce their general waste, while 42% supported the idea of reward vouchers to spend in local shops.
Chief Executive Officer of SUEZ recycling and recovery UK, David Palmer-Jones said:
“Recycling performance in the UK has come on leaps and bounds over the last decade and it’s heartening to see, that there is still so much enthusiasm for it among the British public.
The national recycling figures confirm that actual recycling performance has plateaued at around 45 per cent of all household waste thrown away over the last few years – which could be explained by some of the findings of the SUEZ/YouGov survey which point to a disconnect between how much people think they are recycling and what they are really throwing away.
If, in total, nearly eight out of ten people think they are already recycling all, or at least the majority, of everything that can be recycled, then that may explain why many don’t see the need for further improvement.
It seems that when it comes to performance drivers, the public favours the carrot over the stick – with large support for ideas like council tax discounts and money back schemes for those who recycle well.
Perhaps it’s time to engage the public in more active ways, so that they become more individually invested in recycling performance rather than simply being told to recycle by industry and policy-makers because it’s the ‘right thing to do’. The findings of our research also show we all have more to do to engage the younger members of society and help them to become better and more enthusiastic recyclers, whilst also making existing collection schemes as easy to follow as possible.
While the national recycling rate represents a vast improvement on where we were ten years ago, improvement rates have stalled for the past few years and, in key parts of the country like London, are going into reverse. We are still sending millions of tonnes of really valuable recyclable material to landfill, rather than turning it into new things, simply because people have put it in their general rubbish bin instead of their recycling bin.
As an industry, working in partnership with manufacturers, retailers and local authorities, it is clear that we can all do more to inform the public about the materials in the products and packaging they consume, how they can be recycled and, importantly, what happens to them after are they are put into the bin.”
#Household waste #Recycling
SUEZ report shows how industrial... New £27m recycling centre for...
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Indonesian FA slammed as 'corrupt or incompetent'
In his Op-Ed article for today's The Straits Times in Singapore, Nathaniel Myers observed that the Indonesian national team had failed to qualify for the AFC Asian Cup 2007 final played in the national stadium in Jakarta, even though it "had played admirably - energised by enormous home crowds [and] displayed talent well above its 127th-place international ranking, even defeating Bahrain in its opening match." It raised the "natural question" he wrote, "With a potential talent pool of 230 million citizens and a national passion for the sport, why is Indonesia unable to produce 11 players capable of competing on the international level?"
He then went on to slam the Football Association of Indonesia (PSSI) as an "organisation described charitably as disorganised, but more often as corrupt or incompetent. Critics frequently point to it as the reason for Indonesia's football struggles, accusing it of squandering Indonesia's sporting potential by failing to develop a national programme to cultivate the finest players from across the archipelago."
The Assistant Program Officer for Aceh Programs at the Asia Foundation in Jakarta then argued that "Indonesia's football problem is not, in short, one of limited resources - it's one of management and administration. Or, to put it in different terms, it's about the quality of governance - a problem with repercussions far beyond the soccer pitch. The way that mismanagement, incompetence and corruption have undermined the development of Indonesia's national football team offers an instructive reminder of how development - whether in sports or economics - is as contingent upon organisation as it is on resources."
Corruption Indonesia
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Television pundit to link Blackburn Rovers to Asian youth development
Shebby Singh, former Malaysian defender and current football pundit on ESPN-Star, has accepted the position of Head - Football Development India/Asia at English Premier League club Blackburn Rovers.
Back in June, he praised Indian firm Venky's take-over of Blackburn as fundamentally different from other recent changes in EPL club ownership, thanks to their plans of launching an academy and a football club in India. “I see it as more of a commitment to developing football in India rather than just a commercial venture,” he said.
Singh also identified two areas that need to be addressed for the game to grow in India.
“One is youth development. Children have to be playing every day. There has to be some form of organised competition. I don't think under-12s should be playing 11-a-side. Play five-a-side, but with football rules, and not futsal rules.
"The other is to educate the coaches. You've got to have a lot more coaches, a lot more people taking the courses and getting licences. It cannot be an elitist group. The more coaches you have, the more the game can spread. And the coaches need to constantly update their education, keep taking refresher courses,”
Asked then whether he'd take a role with Blackburn Rovers, he answered: “If the right opportunity is there, I would certainly give it a thought. I would like to use my experience in football to manage or coach players in top flight.”
According to The People, he hopes to get Blackburn Rovers ahead in India through a concerted push. “Who knows, we might find some ‘slumdog footballers’ emerging as Venky’s are keen on starting with boys aged 10 to 14 who can demonstrate the right skills. We will unearth potentially outstanding talent for Blackburn.”
Singh is also, reportedly, a franchisee of FIELDTURF, a third generation artificial grass surface that is suitable for sports fields, golf and landscaping.
Blackburn Rovers FC India Media
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Home → News
Real Estate Law News
Lawsuit Involving US Nitrogen Pipelines Settled for Undisclosed Amount
By Jarod Word on Mon, 11/26/2018 - 11:20am
A longstanding legal battle between landowners and builders of a double pipeline connecting the Greene County US Nitrogen plant to the Nolichucky River ended this month with a confidential settlement, The Citizen Tribune reports. The landowners initially filed a petition asking Davidson County Chancery Court to stop the installation, with some residents claiming the company trespassed on their property during construction. The pipelines, which are used to transfer water from the river to the plant for use in manufacturing liquid ammonium nitrate then to discharge effluent water back into the river, also came under fire from The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation earlier this year for negatively impacting water quality in the area.
TDEC
By Chelsea Bennett on Fri, 11/16/2018 - 3:44pm
ABA Throws Support Behind Fair Housing Improvement Bill
By Katharine Heriges on Thu, 11/15/2018 - 5:35pm
American Bar Association President Bob Carlson is applauding a bill that would expand the protections of the Fair Housing Act to prevent discrimination based on a person’s lawful source of income, The ABA Journal reports. Carlson praised the bill in a letter to its sponsors, Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah and Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia. The bill, called the Fair Housing Improvement Act of 2018, would bar housing discrimination based on income source or veteran status. Last year, the ABA House of Delegates adopted a policy urging the implementation of such legislation and opposing prejudice against people who rely on government support to make ends meet.
U.S. Supreme Court Dismisses Appeal Regarding Real Estate Search Patents
By Jarod Word on Wed, 11/07/2018 - 11:59am
The U.S. Supreme Court earlier this month shot down a petition related to the ruling of a Federal Circuit Court regarding Real Estate Alliance Ltd.’s (REAL) search patents, according to Inman.com. The ruling affirms a Feb. 1 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that its real estate search tools are not, in fact, patent eligible. The dispute arose in 2007 when Move Inc. filed a lawsuit against REAL seeking a declaratory judgment that the patents were invalid.
Knoxville Sees Growth in Outside Investors
The city of Knoxville has seen an abundance of outside real estate investors, joining Memphis and Nashville in the state’s red-hot commercial real estate market, The Knoxville News Sentinel reports. Investors say that they are drawn to the city because of the market’s stability, with the University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge to anchor the area’s economy. Multi-family and apartment sales volume sustained 35 percent of total investments, yielding more than $48 billion.
European Real Estate Giant Invests in U.S. Commercial Lending
One of Europe’s largest real estate investment firms is jumping into the U.S. debt market, The Wall Street Journal reports. AXA Investment Managers — a unit of the French insurer AXA — is set to purchase the $9.4 billion debt portfolio of Atlanta-based Quadrant Real Estate Advisors for an undisclosed amount. Quadrant specializes in loans bankrolled on office buildings, shopping centers, apartment buildings and other commercial property.
Highlights from TBA Fall Board of Governors Meeting
By Joycelyn Stevenson on Wed, 10/31/2018 - 5:27pm
The TBA Board of Governors and relevant committees met over the course of two days in October, discussing issues of importance to the association. Highlights of the meeting included the adoption of an official TBA Public Policy that recognizes and approves the Path to Lawyer Well-Being, which is the comprehensive report of the National Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being. The Board also considered recommendations from TBA’s House of Delegates, approving several section-sponsored pieces of legislation reviewed by the House. In response to concerns raised by the House of Delegates related to Tennessee Supreme Court Sanctioned Pro Se Divorce Forms, the Board voted in favor of the creation of a task force to work with other legal organizations including the Administrative Office of the Courts to collect data from practitioners, judges and clerks in order to document and properly address those concerns.
This Issue: Deficiency Statute, THRA and Seersucker
By Suzanne Craig R... on Fri, 10/19/2018 - 4:28pm
In this month's Tennessee Bar Journal, Chattanooga lawyer Richard Gossett examines the state of the law both before and after the enactment of the Deficiency Statute. In "The Law at Work" column, Knoxville lawyers Ward Phillips and Brandon Morrow write about a recent decision from the Tennessee Court of Appeals, reminding employment litigators of a key distinction in state law: there is no right to a jury trial on Tennessee Human Rights Act (THRA) claims in circuit court. And Memphis lawyer Bill Haltom helps us recall those lazy days of summer, just a month or so ago, when lawyers across Tennessee suited and participated in the first statewide Seersucker Flash Mob. You don't want to miss the pictures of this nostalgic end-of-summer fashion statement. Read the October issue!
Ethics Roadshow 2018: Nashville
By Katharine Heriges on Fri, 10/19/2018 - 4:09pm
It’s back! The popular ethics program is coming to Nashville on Dec. 11. This year’s theme, Back to Basics: Sailing the Five Cs of Ethical Lawyering, offers a look into the significant developments in the world of lawyer’s during 2018 focused on the five “Cs” that make up the perfect recipe for ethical lawyering, no matter what law you practice: Competence, Confidentiality, (Avoiding) Conflicts, Communication and Candor. Don’t miss your chance to fulfill your ethics requirements; offering 3 dual credits. The Roadshow will also make stops in Chattanooga, Knoxville and Memphis.
Basic Tech Checklist for Firms
By Chelsea Bennett on Fri, 10/19/2018 - 12:04pm
Law firms attempting to stay competitive and state-of-the-art need to consistently evaluate their use of technology. In addition to staying competitive, technological competency is required. In 2017, the Tennessee Supreme Court amended Rule 8 of the Rules of Professional Responsibility to include this obligation. Above the Law presents a simple and straightforward tech checklist for law firms or lawyers seeking guidance in this area.
Law Office Technology
This Friday: Environmental Law Forum 2019
By Jarod Word on Thu, 10/18/2018 - 10:16am
This year’s Environmental Law Forum will be held Friday, Feb. 1 at the Tennessee Bar Center. Topics for the forum will include language updates and revisions to the Brownfield Voluntary Agreement, developments in Tennessee water law — including 2018 amendments to the Water Quality Control Act, the October 2018 amendments to water quality standards and Aquatic Resource Alteration Permit (ARAP) rules — and emerging contaminants. In this year's ethics seminar, we will explore competence, diligence and communication with clients as specifically related to the practice. Do not miss this opportunity to learn from seasoned practitioners while networking with top players in the field.
Leadership CLE 2018
By Katharine Heriges on Tue, 10/16/2018 - 4:17pm
Leadership is explored through an interactive curriculum exploring the challenging characteristics needed in today’s leaders. On Nov. 19, learn from today’s leaders how to develop leadership skills, build characteristics of effective leadership, and identify strategies to overcome challenges. A great opportunity to obtain your ethics credit hours, up to 5.75 dual credits are available. Register here.
This Week: Hot Topics in Real Estate 2018
Join us Nov. 9 at the AT&T Building in Nashville for Hot Topics in Real Estate. The program, a staple for Tennessee "dirt lawyers," is designed to keep you on the cutting edge of developments in real estate law with topics such as blockchain and smart contracts, case law updates and tips to avoid complaints. Do not default on this opportunity to learn from seasoned professionals while networking with colleagues in your area of practice.
CLE Hot Topics in Real Estate 2018
Join us Nov. 9 at the AT&T Building in Nashville for a program designed to keep you on the cutting edge of developments in real estate law with topics such as blockchain and smart contracts, case law updates and tips to avoid complaints. Do not default on this opportunity to learn from seasoned professionals while networking with colleagues in your area of practice.
Search CLE by Topic
The TBA allows you to search CLE by topic area. For example, you will see 16 options for real estate law, 17 options for criminal law and 12 options for corporate counsel practitioners.
Construction on Nashville's Broadwest Two-Tower Development Scheduled for Fall
By Jarod Word on Fri, 09/07/2018 - 10:09am
The West End Summit site, home to the infamous and recently drained ‘Lake Palmer,’ may see construction beginning as soon as this fall, The Nashville Post reports. Huntsville, Alabama-based Propst Development plans to build two mixed-use buildings which will be called Broadwest and encompass a collective 1.2 million square feet at 1600 West End Ave near the split with Broadway. Local partners on the project include:
Chartwell Hospitality, a Franklin-based hotel operations and development company, to co-own and operate the 14-floor luxury hotel;
Parks Realty, a Nashville-based real estate agency, to lead condominium sales;
The Nashville office of Jones Lang Lasalle for office leasing;
Atlanta-based Cooper Carry as the lead architects of Broadwest;
The local offices of Turner Construction Company and Hoar Construction as general contractors;
Nashville-based Premier Parking to oversee the parking component.
The project could carry a price tag upwards of $500 million.
Lake Palmer
Legal Practice Tip: Slander of Title – Clouds on Property Owned by Public Officials
What are your rights if a false lien is filed against property you own
By Joseph Kirkland on Fri, 09/07/2018 - 9:50am
On May 21, Gov. Haslam signed into law Public Chapter No. 1042 which immediately created a cause of action providing for remedies for the successful challenge of the validity of a lien against a property. The real property owner that prevails in challenging the validity of a lien or a slander of title proceeding may recover:
The owner's reasonable attorney's fees;
Reasonable costs incurred by the owner to challenge the validity of the lien;
Liquidated damages in an amount equal to ten percent (10%) of the fair market value of the property not to exceed one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000); and
Any actual damages incurred by the owner.
The provisions of the act do not apply if the lien is based on a loan agreement which lists the property as collateral to secure repayment of the loan. The statute became effective on signing.
What if you are a “public official?"
A separate act was signed by the governor on May 1, which took effect on July 1. Public Chapter No. 913 provides a way for “public officials” to administratively challenge the filing with the register a cloud on an interest in real property by way of an affidavit by the official which sets into motion a process to remove the cloud. This procedure is reasonably complicated but may provide the local and state officials with alternative methods for removing the clouds in a more expeditious and less expensive way and may force the hand of individuals filing such false claims.
Joseph "Joe" Kirkland is an attorney and senior escrow officer at the East Memphis office of CloseTrak, Closing & Title Services. Kirkland is active in the Tennessee Land Title Association (chair of the standing Legislative Committee 2017-19, director of the Board of Directors 2018-19) and the immediate past chair of the Tennessee Bar Association's Real Estate Law Section.
Environmental Groups Sue TVA Over Grid Access Charge
By Jarod Word on Fri, 09/07/2018 - 9:16am
Five environmental groups have filed a lawsuit against the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in an attempt to block a new grid access charge scheduled to begin next month, The Chattanooga Times Free Press reports. The plaintiffs maintain that the planned TVA rate changes and cutbacks in renewable and energy efficiency programs will discourage consumers from investing in solar, wind and energy efficiency projects and harm the environment as a result. The new grid access charge is set to take effect Oct. 1 and will require municipalities and power cooperatives to pay a mandatory electricity fee regardless of their energy usage. You can view the complaint here.
Animal Law Forum 2019 & Special Guests
Register now for the TBA Animal Law Section's 2019 annual forum at the Nashville Zoo. This unique opportunity will provide updates on trends and advancements in animal law while allowing participants to network, enjoy all of the fun and activities offered by the zoo and a chance to meet the two latest additions to the organization's family. We will be joined by the zoo's President and Chief Executive Officer, and the board's general counsel, who will discuss conservation efforts and laws affecting procurement and care for animals.
Additional topics will include animal considerations in divorce and domestic law, ethics, legislative updates affecting the practice area and the humanization of animals. A midday lunch is included, with additional time to explore the zoo, the recently added Expedition Peru exhibit and new state-of-the-art veterinary medical space that also serves as a teaching center, where you can learn about the diagnosis, treatment, and management of animal health. Don't miss this chance to fulfill necessary CLE requirements while experiencing one of the top zoos in the nation. Here are the key details:
When: Friday, May 17, registration at 8 a.m., CDT
Where: Nashville Zoo, 3777 Nolensville Pike, Nashville
2018 Tax Law Forum
By Katharine Heriges on Wed, 08/22/2018 - 4:13pm
The annual Tax Law Forum will be held at the Tennessee Bar Center in Nashville on Sept. 17. Sessions will focus on the new Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Topics include the new pass-through entity tax law, an overview of the changes to international tax law, corporate and other business tax changes as well as non-profit law changes.
Section Seeks Your Opinions on Upcoming Law Office Technology Forum
By Jarod Word on Wed, 08/15/2018 - 3:32pm
To help build programming for its upcoming Law Tech Forum, the TBA Law Office Technology and Management Executive Council is asking your opinions. Completing this brief web form will assist in ensuring the forum remains timely, relevant and on the cutting edge. Comments can be related to subject matter, length and location of the event. Please respond by Sept. 7.
Put TBA UPS to Work
Have you enrolled in TBA’s UPS account for members? Visit UPS's TBA page and save up to 45 percent on UPS’s broad portfolio. Shipping services include next day air, international, ground and express.
Law Office Management Tips on Shipping
By Katharine Heriges on Mon, 08/13/2018 - 4:28pm
If your law office uses shipping services, your TBA membership team can help you compare those costs to TBA’s UPS member benefit. Your firm office manager can work directly with TBA staff and UPS services to enroll or transfer shipping accounts. Members can save up to 45 percent on UPS’s broad portfolio of shipping services, including next day air, international, ground and express.
Chancellor Approves Cordova Rezoning Case
Chancellor Walter Evans dismissed a petition against the proposed rezoning of the Cordova Triangle in Germantown on Thursday in Shelby County Chancery Court, The Commercial Appeal reports. The city of Germantown may now proceed with its proposed rezoning of the area from urban to residential. The Jack Owen Revocable Trust, which owns a tract in the Triangle, filed a petition against the city after the Germantown Planning Commission voted in favor of the rezoning during its July 10 meeting.
TBA Section Chair Recognized as Emerging Leader
By Barry Kolar on Fri, 07/27/2018 - 1:21pm
Nashville attorney David Wicker of Stites & Harbison was recognized as an Emerging Leader in Legal Services by the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce and YP Nashville during an event Thursday at Lipscomb University, the Nashville Post reports. Wicker, who currently chairs the TBA Real Estate Section, is also active in community organizations, ranging from the Rotary Club to the Tomato Art Fest.
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SCO shutting offices to pay for IBM battle
By Robert McMillan, IDG News Service | Sep 01, 2004
The SCO Group is cutting expenses, shutting down offices and capping its legal costs in order to afford its ongoing legal battle with IBM, the company has admitted during its quarterly financial conference.
With its cash reserves dwindling and losses continuing to mount, the SCO Group is going to have a hard time maintaining the numerous lawsuits it has launched against technology giants in its bid to prove its owns the copyright of part of open source OS Linux.
The company reported a loss of $7.4 million on revenue of $11.2 million for the third quarter - due almost entirely to the $7.2 million in legal expenses the company incurred during that time.
CEO Darl McBride referred to the legal expenses as a "high water mark" for the company and said that SCO has now worked out a deal with its law firm - Boies, Schiller & Flexner - to cap its legal costs at $31 million.
Following the recent resolution of an investor dispute with Baystar, SCO now has $43 million in cash reserves, which is more than enough cash to cover the $31 million it may have to pay in connection with its legal disputes, McBride said. "The litigation business is now in control from a cost standpoint," he said.
In return for agreeing to cap its legal fees, Boise Schiller and Flexner is now entitled to a larger percentage of any legal settlement that may be reached in SCO's lawsuit with IBM over its contributions to the Linux operating system. The law firm will now be paid between 20 percent and 30 percent of any settlement, depending on the amount awarded, McBride said.
In a further effort to reduce costs, SCO will close offices in Spain, Italy and Ireland and plans to move its 30 Santa Cruz, California, workers into smaller buildings over the next three months, said Bert Young, SCO's chief financial officer. SCO currently has 230 employees worldwide, Young said.
SCO saw a large increase in revenue for its SCOsource division, which licenses SCO's Unix System V source code. SCOsource had taken in a mere $31,000 during the first two quarters of 2004, but revenue jumped to $678,000 during the third quarter, Young said. This revenue jump came from two companies, Young admitted, but refused to say which.
Though SCOsource may have increased revenue during the quarter, it was far from solvent. SCO's $7.2 million in legal fees added to total expenses of $8.1 million for the division during the period, Young said.
McBride blamed his company's ongoing litigation with Novell for the SCOsource division's poor performance during 2004. "We continue to believe that Novell's claims have greatly impacted our ability to achieve traction in this business," he said. Novell claims to own the copyright to the Unix System V source code that is licensed by SCOsource. The System V code is also at the center of SCO's lawsuit with IBM.
In an apparent response to industry rumours that SCO may become the target of a hostile takeover bid, SCO's Board of Directors has implemented a "shareholders rights plan" designed to deter unsolicited takeover attempts, McBride said. "We believe that this will basically keep any outside offers or potential takeovers that are not in the best interest of the shareholders at bay," he said.
The plan, which was adopted by the board in August, gives SCO's board the right to determine the "fair value" of the company in the event of a takeover attempt, McBride said.
SCO's stock, which was trading in the $20 range in September 2003, has dropped below $4 in recent weeks. "We are very concerned about the current price of the stock vis-a-vis what we think the long-term value of the company is," McBride said. "The disparity between these two is definitely at the core of what we put in place."
Novell's SuSE deal breaks SCO contract SCO sounds its own death knell
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A More United Europe
By Steven Hill Published March 22, 2010 Uncategorized
By Steven Hill, March 22, 2010, Forbes.com
Greece’s debt situation has pundits taking out their crystal balls trying to divine the future not only of Greece, but also the euro and Europe. Every news outlet from The New York Times to National Public Radio has joined the chorus of gloom and doom. But what all these experts have failed to notice is that Greece’s debt crisis may turn out to be one of the best things to have happened to the European Union.
In the post-World War II era Europe has always evolved and adapted–and ironically grown more unified–in response to a crisis. And as crises go, the Greek one has been manageable. The Greek economy is only about 2% of Europe’s economy, compared with, for example, California’s, which is about 14% of the U.S. economy. California, which had to issue IOUs to cover its debts and is slashing jobs and social programs at state and local levels, is literally “too big to fail” since its own weaknesses threaten the national recovery. So it’s fortunate that Greece’s situation is comparably small and manageable.
But it still has signaled a badly needed wake-up call for the rest of Europe. And that wake-up call has resulted in proposed reforms in a number of neglected areas that, if passed, will lead to sensible financial regulation and transparency–as well as strengthen European unity even more.
The first of these proposed reforms is in financial re-regulation. The news that con artists at Goldman Sachs had helped Greece hide its massive deficits has spurred Europe to finally move forward with a crackdown on hedge funds, derivatives and credit default swaps. Europe first proposed such regulations a year ago during the G-20 meeting, but U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner dithered. Now it appears that Europe won’t wait while America drags its feet. Greece has pushed the E.U. to its limit.
Greece’s profligacy, as well as that of other euro zone members, was enabled by a lack of transparency that allowed Greece to submit falsified finance reports without getting caught. Ironically, in 2005 there was an effort by the European Commission to equip the E.U.’s statistics agency, Eurostat, with the right to audit figures submitted by member states. That recommendation was rebuffed because finance ministers did not want anyone looking over their shoulders. Now that proposal has been resubmitted to member states–and it is expected to pass.
Finally the euro has been an enormous political success in that it has bound together former combatants from two world wars into “peace and prosperity” partnerships. But it always has lacked an important component that has benefited the U.S. When a euro member gets into financial straits there is no mechanism for a backstop that can bail out the troubled member, like the American federal government can do for any of its 50 states (though when California requested assistance from the Obama administration, the White House said “nein,” causing California to issue its IOUs).
But now it appears that this “structural crack,” as former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker has called it, will be addressed. The European Commission has proposed a European Monetary Fund that would provide the euro zone a sort of finance ministry that could tackle the default of a member state, or force a country to cut its deficit before it got out of hand.
This idea of surrendering a measure of financial sovereignty would never have occurred had the Greek crisis not arisen. Now, as a result, “There is a clear sense of determination to act,” says Amadeu Altafaj, spokesman for the E.U. Economic and Monetary Affairs Commission.
So rather than meaning the end of the euro or the E.U., as some doom-and-gloomers have predicted, the crisis may have the opposite effect. In a recent interview Tommaso Padoa Schioppa, former Italian Minister of Economy and Finance who is considered one of the founders of the euro, said that the Greece situation “confirms the necessity and role of the euro” and will bind the E.U. closer and ultimately strengthen it as all sides recommit to this union-in-progress.
To what degree that ultimately holds true is hard to say, but the E.U. member states certainly have swum too far across the stream to turn back now. While the current situation is messy and noisy, the E.U. often has evolved in reaction to a crisis. During each crisis Eurosceptics have predicted the imminent demise of Europe, and each time they have been proved wrong. Indeed, when the euro was first launched many predicted it would fall flat on its face.
Crystal ball gazers would do well to remember that the European Union is young. Its current configuration of 27 nations and 500 million people dates only from 2004; the Lisbon Treaty was ratified just last year, and the Maastricht Treaty establishing the E.U. was signed in 1992. It took the U.S. about 90 years from the formation of its first government in 1790–and a bloody civil war–to congeal from a collection of regions into a nation.
In the post-World War II era Europe has proved remarkably resilient. The E.U.’s brand of social capitalism has generated tremendous wealth, contrary to the skeptics’ claims. Yet Europeans have also figured out how to harness this capitalist engine to create a more broadly shared prosperity. Indeed, while both Greece and California are in major belt-tightening mode, at least in Greece all families and individuals still have access to health care and a long menu of other supports that Europe is known for.
In California a recent study found that nearly a quarter of the state’s 37 million people have no health insurance, not to mention any other support net, which only further reduces consumer spending and weakens the economy. (The recent passage of Obama’s health care legislation should reduce the number of Americans without health care over time, but its ultimate impact is unknown.)
It seems unlikely that the latest crisis caused by Greece’s excesses will unravel this remarkable invention known as the European Union. Indeed, the crisis seems to be spurring Europe to fine-tune its vision and its institutions, making it even stronger.
Europe’s Case of ‘Chief Executive Envy’
Inspiration Across the Pond
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Movies Features
Movie Notes
VIFF
DOXA 2015 review: The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution
by Travis Lupick on April 29th, 2015 at 2:33 PM
“We were making history,” says Ericka Huggins, one of the Black Panther Party’s first female members, “and it wasn’t nice and clean. It wasn’t easy. It was complex.” It’s refreshing to see a documentary embrace a movement’s nuances instead of simplifying a subject for a mainstream audience.
The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution explores this diverse and complicated group’s roots in armed resistance, but also its social programs, its style and aesthetics, and the strengths of its women. Recent media attention on black males killed in confrontations with police serves as evidence racism in America didn’t end with the election of Barack Obama in 2008.
In that context and approaching the Black Panthers’ 50-year anniversary in 2016, Stanley Nelson’s film is a timely historical document with lessons for a civil-rights movement still evolving today.
Cinematheque, May 3 (12 p.m.)
Video of "The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution" Trailer Exclusive
Follow Travis Lupick on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
The Georgia Straight’s guide to DOXA Documentary Film Festival 2015
DOXA 2015 review: Canadian Hobbies: Shorts program
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Students come up with ideas for future land use
Apr 16, 2013, 6:00 pm SGT
http://str.sg/ZgH9
Lim Yi Han
limyihan@sph.com.sg
Eight students, who came up with the idea to have a food alley as well as bicycle and walking paths to create a sense of nostalgia near the railway platform at Tanjong Pagar Railway station, have won an award from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA).
The Dunman High School students were recognised at the Challenge for the Urban and Built Environment 2012 where 16 teams were vying for $2,000 worth of prizes.
This year's theme was the Rail Corridor which is a 25.3km stretch from Woodlands to Tanjong Pagar. The students were tasked to plan the site for public housing and neighbourhood parks, as well as give ideas on future uses for the site.
The URA said that some of the concepts from the groups may be incorporated into the design brief of site planning in future.The award ceremony was held on Tuesday, where Senior Minister of State for National Development Mr Tan Chuan-Jin was the guest of honour.
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November 30, 2006 / Winter 2006 / Issue 45 (originally published by Booz & Company)
On creative globetrotters, relocated headquarters, a business ethics pioneer, and more.
by Des Dearlove and Stuart Crainer
Passport to Creativity
William W. Maddux (w-maddux@kellogg.northwestern.edu) and Adam D. Galinsky (a-galinsky@kellogg.northwestern.edu), “Cultural Barriers and Mental Borders: Multicultural Experience Facilitates Creative Thinking and Problem Solving,” International Association for Conflict Management (IACM) 19th Annual Conference. Click here.
Photograph by Matthew Septimus
It has long been recognized that creativity, among the most admired of human qualities, is a valuable asset in the business world, whether for designing a new product, developing a compelling advertising campaign, or solving operational problems. What is less understood is whether certain life experiences make people — especially employees — more creative.
Previous research suggests that some forms of diversity foster creativity. Teams made up of individuals from multiple ethnic and cultural backgrounds, for example, have been found to produce more imaginative solutions to problems. And in some studies, bilingual people have demonstrated a creative advantage over people who speak only one language.
Two academics from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, however, argue that the effect on creativity of another aspect of diversity has not been fully explored: time spent living or traveling in a foreign country. William W. Maddux, visiting assistant professor of management and organizations, and Adam D. Galinsky, associate professor of management and organizations, have conducted a series of experiments to fill this gap.
In one case, 205 MBA students were given a candle, a pack of matches, and a box of tacks, all placed next to a cardboard wall. Each was then asked to attach the candle to the wall so that it burned properly and did not drip wax on the floor. The most creative choice would have been to use the tacks to attach the box as a candleholder to the wall. Sixty percent of those who had lived abroad solved this problem, but only 40 percent of those who hadn’t lived abroad arrived at the solution.
In another experiment, a different group of students was asked to negotiate the hypothetical sale of a gas station. From the information provided, a financial impasse was clear: The minimum price that the gas station owner would accept was higher than the amount authorized by the purchasing company. To close the deal, a creative solution was needed — specifically, to offer the owner a job as the manager of the gas station after the sale to increase his financial security and convince him to lower his asking price. Again, the findings confirmed that living abroad increased the likelihood of completing the negotiation successfully.
The authors argue that traveling or living in another country enhances creativity because exposure to other cultures trains individuals to recognize that there is more than one way to look at behaviors and tasks. For example, leaving some food on your plate is regarded as a sign of great respect for your host in some cultures, implying that you’ve had enough to eat, but in other cultures the same behavior may be interpreted as an insult. Interestingly, the authors found that a minimum of six months in a foreign country is required to augment creativity, but the effect does not noticeably increase if an individual stays longer.
The findings have important implications for organizations. As the authors note, “It may behoove organizations to hire individuals with experience living abroad, or send employees on transfers or sabbaticals to foreign branches if creativity is particularly valued.”
Headquarters Relocation
Julian Birkinshaw (jbirkinshaw@london.edu), Pontus Braunerhjelm (pontusb@infra.kth.se), Ulf Holm (ulf.holm@fek.uu.se), and Siri Terjesen (siri.terjesen.phd.03@cranfield.ac.uk), “Why Do Some Multinational Corporations Relocate Their Headquarters Overseas?” Strategic Management Journal 27: 681–700 (2006). Click here.
Anecdotally, it appears that corporations are no longer shy about moving their corporate headquarters, sometimes even from one country to another. Examples include Massey Ferguson’s relocation from Canada to the United States; Tetra Pak’s move from Lund, Sweden, to Lausanne, Switzerland; the relocation of four South African companies (Anglo American, Investec Bank, Old Mutual, and SABMiller) to London; Viatron’s move to the Netherlands; News Corporation’s shift from Australia to New York; and a number of others. Julian Birkinshaw of the U.K.’s Advanced Institute of Management Research, Pontus Braunerhjelm of the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Ulf Holm of Uppsala University in Sweden, and Siri Terjesen of the Brisbane Graduate School of Business in Australia calculate that 23 of the Fortune 500 companies have set up HQs in a new country in recent years. Intrigued by this apparent trend, the authors examined 125 business unit headquarters and 35 corporate headquarters of Swedish companies to determine why some companies choose to relocate.
The research, based on a series of questionnaires and interviews, found that three types of stimuli lead companies to make a move. The first includes mergers and acquisitions. When companies join forces, they may seek a new corporate headquarters that has better access to capital markets and global competitors. AstraZeneca International, for example, was created by the 1999 merger between the Swedish company Astra and the U.K.’s Zeneca group. It is now headquartered in London, a hub for both finance and the pharmaceutical industry. Meanwhile, business unit centers tend to move to locations that are close to the merged operation’s multiple centers of gravity. For instance, after automation technology companies Asea AB and BBC Brown Boveri AG merged in 1990, the company’s process automation unit was relocated to Stamford, Conn., to be close to big industrial customers, whereas its metallurgy business remained in Sweden, to stick close to large Swedish steel companies.
The second mainspring of relocation is internal: either a change in the makeup of the business or a shift in the company’s global outlook. News Corporation’s move to New York from Melbourne, for example, recognized the fact that the company’s major assets had shifted to New York. Following its international customers and moving closer to financial markets prompted the decision by Autoliv, a Swedish manufacturer of seatbelts and airbags, to move some corporate functions to the United States in 1997. It then moved its corporate headquarters across the Atlantic in 1999. Finland’s Nokia has relocated its corporate finance function to New Jersey for similar reasons.
The final stimulus is what the authors label “an external threat from a host regime.” The packaging materials manufacturer Tetra Pak’s move from Sweden to Switzerland in 1981 provides an illustration. The company’s founders relocated after they became embroiled in a tax dispute with the Swedish government. And the brewing company SABMiller relocated to London from South Africa in search of a more stable business environment.
The authors note that cities and regions have the most to lose when corporations move out. Corporate and business unit headquarters attract business and money to an area, including professional services — banking, legal services, consulting, and accounting — and, of course, these enterprises contribute to local employment.
Controversial Strategy
Aneel Karnani (akarnani@umich.edu), “Essence of Strategy: Controversial Choices,” Ross School of Business Working Paper Series, Working Paper No. 1032. Click here.
Carly Fiorina, then CEO of Hewlett-Packard Company, wrote in a letter to shareholders in 2001 that “The merger of HP and Compaq is the best way to strengthen our businesses and improve our market position.” Walter Hewlett, HP board member and son of cofounder William Hewlett, openly disagreed. This very risky acquisition,” he wrote, “worsens the HP shareholders’ portfolio of businesses. It does not solve any strategic problems.”
Mr. Hewlett lost the argument. After a period of bitter wrangling involving an array of experts, investment bankers, management consultants, and stock analysts on both sides of the issue, the $25 billion HP–Compaq deal went ahead, and Walter Hewlett was stripped of his position on the board.
That high-profile case may have seemed vitriolic (and even more so for its aftermath of board-level wiretapping), but management disputes are actually not unusual. In fact, Aneel Karnani, associate professor of corporate strategy and international business at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, has written that they are necessary. According to Professor Karnani, the nature of organizational decision making almost always involves conflict. Smart managers are bound to have opposing views, and differences of opinion should be encouraged because the ability to debate is a critical organizational skill. To make effective decisions, corporations must manage that conflict effectively.
The traditional strategic planning process hinders good decision making more than it helps, Professor Karnani argues, because in a typical company, strategic planning is driven by the calendar. “Managers initiate the process to analyze and formulate the company’s strategy — not because the firm faces a strategic choice, but because it is, say, June,” he notes.
A better approach is to first determine the strategic opportunities the company faces and then focus the analysis and debate on those choices. A U.S. building products company, for instance, began its planning process by identifying five key strategic options: whether to enter China, what to do with its current operations in Europe, how to best consolidate the company’s distribution channel, how to manage a move from products to services, and how to deal with large commercial customers.
Using this as a guide, the strategic debate was sharply focused on the pros and cons of the alternative choices under discussion. Generating differences of opinion among managers was a crucial part of the process. Two or three different strategic responses to the five options were established and a senior manager was assigned to make the case for each alternative, ensuring sufficient conflict to create a lively debate.
According to Professor Karnani, to use conflict to their advantage, managers should:
1. Be adept at generating different points of view, a recommendation that legendary General Motors CEO Alfred P. Sloan clearly embraced. After a brief boardroom debate, Mr. Sloan reportedly said: “So I take it we are now in complete agreement.” When his fellow board members nodded, Mr. Sloan retorted, “Well, then, I propose we come back and discuss this when we no longer agree.”
2. View the strategic planning process — and the conflict it provokes — as an intellectual debate and not a political dogfight. Differences must not be allowed to become personal, or discord to fester. Hewlett-Packard didn’t handle this step particularly well. The pro- and anti-merger debate became a personal feud between the CEO and the cofounder’s son that was never completely resolved. Consequently, within four years, Ms. Fiorina was dismissed after disagreements with the board. Strategic choices, such as her decision to combine the personal computer and printer operations into one business unit, took on political overtones.
3. Make certain that conflict is not allowed to poison the organization’s ability to move ahead. Much time and energy can be lost by boards or management groups seeking a unanimous decision. It is not necessary to reach a consensus that, in any case, is often the result of a poor compromise. Rather, once the decision has been made, everyone must be bound by it and support its execution.
The Responsibility Paradox
Gerald F. Davis (gfdavis@umich.edu), Marina V.N. Whitman (marinaw@umich.edu), and Mayer N. Zald (mayerz@umich.edu), “The Responsibility Paradox: Multinational Firms and Global Corporate Social Responsibility,” Ross School of Business Working Paper Series, Working Paper No. 1031. Click here.
The concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR), defined in this paper as “actions a company takes that are not legally mandated but are intended to have a positive impact on stakeholders,” is long established. Gerald F. Davis, professor of management and organizations at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan; Marina V.N. Whitman, professor of business administration and public policy at the Ross School of Business and Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy; and Mayer N. Zald, professor emeritus of social work in the department of sociology at the University of Michigan, provide a condensed history of the concept, beginning with the utopian ideals of Pullman, Ill. (a company town created to support workers making railroad cars); through “welfare capitalism” early in the last century; to Howard R. Bowen’s influential 1953 book, Social Responsibilities of the Businessman; and up to the modern nderstanding of the term.
As the authors observe, CSR is now high on many corporate agendas. More than half of the world’s largest 250 firms produce regular reports on their social and philanthropic activities. Investment in socially conscious firms is on the rise. And the media, investors, and watchdog organizations are putting more pressure on organizations to behave in ways deemed to be more socially responsible.
The trouble, the authors note, is that CSR has traditionally been a limited activity. Organizations have tended to act responsibly in their own neighborhoods, primarily because stakeholders have typically clustered there, and they have shown less regard for issues of concern outside their local regions.
Yet, the business landscape has changed, and the authors point to three recent trends that may already be reshaping CSR. First, corporate boundaries are eroding. Manufacturing companies make products in factories around the world, or outsource the work completely to third parties in distant regions.
Second, corporations’ national identities are breaking down. American manufacturing, retail, transportation, and finance firms now sell more than 30 percent of their goods and services outside the United States; in 1985, that figure was 14 percent. Determining where a company is from has become more and more difficult. For example, Royal Caribbean Cruises is headquartered in Miami; registers its ships in the Bahamas, Ecuador, and Norway; and is legally incorporated in Liberia.
Third, the nature of employment is shifting. Jobs throughout the world are more fluid and flexible than ever before, with less security and greater mobility.
Together, these changes leave the modern multinational corporation that embraces corporate social responsibility with a dilemma: to be responsible to all of its many and varied stakeholders no matter where they are in the world, or to be beholden to its shareholders alone.
Professors Davis, Whitman, and Zald suggest that a new perspective on “global corporate social responsibility” will emerge, one that will likely be influenced by European practices. The European Commission has extensive experience in creating harmonized CSR standards that work effectively across borders. Consequently, the corporation of the future may benchmark its CSR standards against Europe’s, its corporate governance standards against American organizations’, and its production standards against those of the Japanese.
The Ethics of Mary Parker Follett
Domènec Melé (mele@iese.edu), “Ethics in Management: Exploring the Contribution of Mary Parker Follett,” IESE Working Paper No. 618. Click here.
In recent years, the American management consultant Mary Parker Follett (1868–1933) has been rediscovered as a thinker of note, and one whose work touches on many of the issues that preoccupy contemporary managerial minds. Her research and theories about business ethics were particularly innovative, and it is these aspects of her work that Domènec Melé, professor of business ethics at Spain’s IESE Business School, explores.
When Ms. Follett wrote in the 1920s and ’30s, there was no notion of what we now call business ethics, a distinct moral code practiced by companies. But, as Professor Melé points out, Ms. Follett’s view of the organizational world had a decidedly ethical bent, even if she didn’t address ethics directly.
For example, she believed that organizations were made up of complex social relationships, she was the first to acknowledge what is now called empowerment, she regarded leadership as situational, she advocated managerial experimentation rather than regimentation, and she produced novel insights about conflict resolution. In short, she flew in the face of the management orthodoxy of the time, epitomized by Frederick Taylor’s theory of scientific management.
“I do not think we have psychological, ethical and economic problems,” Ms. Follett wrote. “We have human problems with psychological, ethical and economic aspects.” She held that compartmentalized thinking such as Taylor valorized was dangerous. Ethics, therefore, is not an isolated element of business, but one that must be considered in all decisions; this, suggests Professor Melé, is the clearest overall lesson from Ms. Follett’s work. The best management decisions are not made in one dimension or in isolation from the multitude of factors that affect businesses and individuals.
As a management theorist, Ms. Follett argued that managers should be loyal to their profession — its standards, principles, and body of knowledge — rather than to their companies. This connects managers to “the soul of our work. To that which is both in our work and which transcends our work. This seems to me the highest romance as it is the deepest religion, namely, that by being loyal to our work we are loyal to that which transcends our work.” Mary Parker Follett, Professor Melé concludes, wrote about business ethics after all.
Des Dearlove (des.dearlove@suntopmedia.com) is a business writer based in the U.K. He is the author of a number of management books and a regular contributor to strategy+business and The (London) Times.
Stuart Crainer (stuart.crainer@suntopmedia.com) is a business writer based in the U.K. and a regular contributor to strategy+business. He and Des Dearlove founded Suntop Media, a publishing and training company providing business content for online and print publications.
Topics: banking, board, training, manufacturing, authors
How to discover your organization’s story
Peter Drucker’s favorite leadership writer
Why living your values takes work
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One in five died in the transport industry
By T&L News on January 5, 2008 in SC Management
The Australian Safety and Compensation Council (ASCC) chairman, Mr Bill Scales AO, has released the report "Work-related traumatic injury fatalities, Australia, 2004 – 05", which shows that more than one in five (22%) workers to be killed on the job worked in the transport industry.
In October 2003 the National Occupational Health and Safety Commission, which was replaced by the ASCC, acknowledged that the National Data Set for Compensation Based Statistics (NDS) did not adequately enumerate deaths in all industries as it is based on workers’ compensation data which relates only to employees.
To address this, a project was established to combine information from the Notified Fatalities Collection (NFC), the National Coronial Information Service (NCIS) and the NDS to better enumerate work-related deaths due to injury. This report is the second in the series as a result of this project.
Key findings of the report include:
• 249 persons died from work-related injuries while working for income. (2.5 deaths per 100 000 employed persons). 20 of these deaths (8 per cent) involved women. The Agriculture, forestry and fishing industry accounted for 27% (67 deaths) of the deaths, followed by the Transport and storage industry with 22% (55 deaths).
• 150 of the 249 fatalities were caused by mobile plant and transport with 58 due to trucks, semi-trailers and lorries and 43 due to cars, station wagons, vans or utilities.
• The report identified an additional 98 employed persons who died from an injury incurred while travelling to or from work (1.0 death per 100 000), this number is known to be understated. In 65 per cent of cases, the deceased was a driver or passenger in a car or was hit by a car.
• In addition, the report identified 58 persons who were killed as a bystander to work activity, though this number is also thought to be understated. 11 of these bystanders were children under the age of 18.
It is important to note that the number of work-related deaths identified in this report cannot be compared to those published in the 2003–04 report due to the introduction of a number of improvements to the way work-related injury fatalities are identified. The ASCC is continuing to investigate ways of further enhancing the collection especially in the areas of commuting and bystander deaths which are known to be underreported.
The ASCC has also released the Notified Fatalities Statistical Report July 2007 to December 2007 and Occupational Disease Indicators, April 2008 report.
The Notified Fatalities Statistical Report July 2007 to December 2007 summarises notifications of fatalities that have occurred during the first part of the financial year from 1 July to 31 December 2007. The next in the series is an annual report which will provide a detailed analysis of notified fatalities that have occurred in the whole financial year.
The Notified Fatalities Statistical Report July 2007 to December 2007 shows that 72 notified work-related fatalities were reported to the ASCC by jurisdictional OHS authorities, of these 10 were bystander fatalities.
“It is pleasing to see that this is a slight improvement on the six-month figure reported for the previous financial year (1 July to 31 December 2006), which identified 78 work-related notified fatalities including 4 bystander fatalities,” Mr Scales said.
The Occupational Disease Indicators, April 2008 report provides information about the movement in the incidence of occupational disease. This report is the second in a series of biennial reports, the first of which was published in April 2006.
“The release of these reports serves as a reminder to all of us that workplace safety is a priority and that Commonwealth and state and territory jurisdictions should continue to work together in an effort to implement OHS best practice and obtain the most relevant data on work-related injury fatalities.
“One death in the workplace is one too many," Mr Scales said.
The Work-related traumatic injury fatalities, Australia, 2004 – 05, Notified Fatalities Statistical Report July 2007 to December 2007 and Occupational Disease Indicators, April 2008 report are available for download from the ASCC website at www.ascc.gov.au.
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Book Bus Tickets From Perundurai To Attingal
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About Perundurai
Perundurai
A taluk in Erode district of Tamil Nadu, Perunduraiis located on National Highway 47. This highway that connects Salem and Coimbatore, bypasses Erode, which is about 20kms away from Perundurai. One of the fastest developing towns, Perundurai has evolved to become an industrial centre as the State Governmentestablished the Perundurai SIPCOTand SEZ Complex in the year 2000. The town has a lot of floating population belonging to different parts of the state, as many industries are located here. Perundurai has some of the best colleges in the region.
Budget Hotels in Perundurai
There are many hotels in Perundurai. Tourists’ visiting the town can stay at Hotel Manis Lodge (Tariff Rs.200), Hotel Chennis(Tariff Rs.300) and Hotel Royal Park(Tariff Rs.600).
Events in Perundurai
Annual festivals like Pongal, Dussehra, Ramzan, Christmas and Diwali are celebrated here.
Tamil is the Local Language here.
Places to See in Perundurai
Lord Shiva temple, and Lord Vishnu and Amman temples (1kms), Chellandiamman Temple (2kms), KottaiMuniyappan Temple (50mtrs), SeenapuramVijayagiriVelayuthaswamyThirukovil (5 kms), a Jain Temple (6 kms), Sharon House of Worship (3kms) and Berean House of Worship (10kms) are some of the places to visit in this town.
The nearest airport is at Coimbatore
Perunduraihas its own railway station
Perundurai bus stand provides regular bus services. Private bus operators like Air Zone Travels, Kallada Travels, Hindusthan Travels, Sree Travels and PNK SRT Travelsrun regular buses to and from the town. For online bus booking, log on to Ticketgoose.com and get your tickets.
About Attingal
Attingal is an outer suburb in Thiruvananthapuram in the state of Kerala. It is located 30km from the city centre of Thiruvananthapuram. It is one of the largest, busiest and most important parts of the district. Several important government offices and treasuries are situated in Attingal town. The population of this town is 36000.
There are plenty of accommodation options for visitors such as Hotel Aaramam (Rs1500), Hotel Oasis (Rs 1000) and Savithri Inn (Rs 500).
Onam, Eid, Diwali, Holi and Ganesh Chaturthi are the major events of this place.
Malayalam is the local language spoken in Attingal.
The most interesting places to visit near Attingal are Attingal Palace, VeeralamSree Krishna temple and fort of Anchuthengu all within a 10km radius.
Thiruvananthapuram airport is located around 30km away and offers connectivity to major town and cities across the country.
Thiruvananthapuram railway station, located 30km away, offers connections to all parts of the country. Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai, Hyderabad and several other cities are connected.
Being a major metropolis, Thiruvananthapuram has access to several National Highways and there is well connected to many cities in the wider region. Bangalore, Coimbatore and Salem are a few examples. KSRTC Travels are the inter-state bus transport available. If you want a cheap bus ticket for your holiday, log on to Ticketgoose.com.
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'It's not worth it' -- Immigrants from Brazil heading home
Liz Mineo
FRAMINGHAM, Mass. -- The 51-year-old Brazilian man came with plans to stay here for up to six years to save enough money to buy a house in Brazil, two cars for his daughters and secure a life back home. But after three years of calling Framingham home, the man has decided to go back to Brazil.
The 51-year-old Brazilian man came with plans to stay here for up to six years to save enough money to buy a house in Brazil, two cars for his daughters and secure a life back home.
But after three years of calling Framingham home, the man has decided to go back to Brazil with only part of his dreams fulfilled mainly because, he said, living as an illegal immigrant doesn't pay off anymore.
``It's not worth it,'' said the man, who doesn't want to be identified for fear of deportation. ``It was good when I first got here, when the money I made here had more value back home. Now it's not worth all the suffering. That's why I'm leaving.''
He is not the only one.
Across MetroWest and the Milford area, many Brazilian immigrants are packing their belongings and leaving for good as they grow tired of immigration crackdowns, increasing demands from employers to produce working papers and the worsening exchange rate between the dollar and Brazil's currency, the real.
For years, illegal immigrants from Brazil have coped with the uncertainty of life here and the threat of deportation because of a favorable exchange rate. When the real hit its lowest level in three years this month, a result of the real's strengthening due to Brazil's export boom, many people decided to take the plane home. As of this week, the exchange rate is $1.84 reals for every dollar.
``Now, with the money I make here, my family can buy fewer things in Brazil,'' said the man who used to work as a bus driver in Brazil and now works at an Ashland-based roofing company. ``Three years ago, I could buy a car for $5,000. Now, I need $10,000.''
It's still far from being an exodus, but people in the community have noticed that more and more Brazilians are buying one-way tickets home. In Framingham and Marlborough, travel agents are selling two or three times more tickets to Brazil compared with last year. In Milford, Marisol Carper who owns a multi-service store on Main Street, sold four tickets to Brazil on one day this week. Last month, she only sold seven.
``Those who are leaving have been here for four or five years,'' she said.
``They're saying they have no choice but to leave. They're afraid of immigration and the police, they don't have driver's licenses, and now that the dollar is too low, they're walking away on their own feet.''
That trend also includes fewer coming in.
Manoel Basilio, who runs a downtown center in Framingham that helps recent arrivals from Brazil, hasn't seen any lately. On a recent afternoon this week, he reviewed his daily journal and found there has been only one recent arrival in July.
``Last year, we'd see four or five per day,'' said Basilio at the center sponsored by St. Tarcisius Church.
``Now, we have more job offers than workers. We're seeing more people leaving than coming in.''
A combination of factors is making it more difficult for Brazilians to enter the United States illegally. A requirement for Brazilians to obtain a tourist visa to travel to Mexico put in place at the end of 2005 has made the illegal journey harder, longer and more expensive. Strict immigration controls along the U.S.-Mexican border and a policy change that allows immigration agents to deport those arrested at the border without having to release them have played a role in discouraging Brazilians from sneaking across the border.
According to the U.S. Border Patrol and Customs Protection, the number of Brazilians arrested along the U.S.-Mexican border plunged dramatically from 31,000 in 2005 to 1,400 in 2006.
``I don't see new faces,'' said Mara Silva, who runs an advertising company on Union Avenue in downtown Framingham. ``I don't hear of anyone who is arriving or has just arrived.''
Shopkeepers who depend on a largely Brazilian clientele are growing concerned for their businesses if more people leave. They said since the New Bedford raid earlier this year, which netted several hundred illegal immigrants working in a factory that made backpacks and other gear under U.S. government contracts, business has been slow. But it seems to have dropped off even more since June, when failure of an immigration reform bill in Congress dashed illegal immigrants' last hopes for a change.
``People were very hopeful,'' said Vera Dias-Freitas, who owns a jewelry store in downtown Framingham. ``When the immigration reform failed, there was frustration and desperation. For two weeks after that, I didn't see a soul in my business.''
Other businesses, such as money-wire agencies, have also felt the slump.
People continue to wire money home but these days they send less. Roberto Aragao, who runs a Western Union agency on Concord Street, said the adverse exchange rate, the economic downturn and the increasing demands for working documents are making Brazilians struggle to make ends meet.
``Those who used to send $1,000 a month are now sending $500,'' he said.
``Those who sent $200 are sending $100. They're feeling the heat.''
So is the man who works for the roofing company. He still makes much more money here than in Brazil, but the falling exchange rate is making him think whether his sacrifice is worth all the trouble he experiences by living in the shadows. Once, he was arrested by the police and sent to court for driving without a license, and recently his car insurance company told him
it won't renew his insurance unless he obtains a driver's license. Insurance companies accept international driver's licenses only the first year, said
the man, and after that, he had to use three different false names to secure insurance for his car.
``I'm tired of living as a criminal,'' he said in his native Portuguese. ``I cannot drive, I have to use false names, and I'm afraid of the police and immigration. I'm tired of living in fear and away from my family.''
With his earnings here, the man said he bought a $7,000 house in Espirito Santo state, where he hails from. He also gave cars away to his two daughters, one for each, and with what he makes from now until December he'll buy a car for himself. He has no plans of to come back to the U.S. because he doesn't believe the exchange rate is going to improve.
``To be far away from my family for so little money is not worth it,'' said the man, who plans to spend Christmas with his family in Brazil.
Daily News staff writer Liz Mineo can be reached at 508-626-3825 or lmineo@cnc.com.
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Here's why Mila Kunis wouldn't want to work with Ashton Kutcher again
The actress opened up about working with her husband to Sunday TODAY's Willie Geist.
Aug. 2, 2018, 9:57 PM UTC / Source: TODAY
By Gina Vivinetto
Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher may have met as co-stars on "That '70s Show," but don't expect the pair to work together on any rom-coms — or any other type of movie — in the future.
"Probably not going to happen," Kunis, 34, revealed to Sunday TODAY's Willie Geist during a Sunday Sitdown interview airing this weekend.
The "Spy Who Dumped Me" star, who last appeared onscreen with Kutcher in a cameo in 2014's "Annie," said acting opposite her hubby these days is just too surreal.
Mila Kunis reveals why she doesn't like acting alongside husband Ashton Kutcher
Aug. 2, 201800:41
"I can't look at him and not be like, 'What are you doing?' It's like a weird — no, no, it's weird," she said.
Apparently, Kutcher has the same problem. Kunis recalled the couple getting tripped up while trying to perform a scene together when she appeared in 2014 as a guest star on "Two and a Half Men."
"I was like, 'Oh, I see you acting!' Like, I can catch it. And he looked at me and he was like, 'What's that face you make?'" Kunis shared.
"I was like, 'We can't do this. We can't be together in a scene,'" she added.
No rom-coms from real-life loves Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher?Noel Vasquez / GC Images
Though acting together may be off the table, the duo are nailing their real-life roles as mom and dad to daughter Wyatt, 3, and son Dimitri, 20 months.
Last fall, Kunis opened up to Marie Claire about putting her kids first.
“What motherhood shows you is how selfless you can get. I’m ragged tired. Who cares? My kids are healthy, I’m happy,” the star said.
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Recent DDoS Attack Shows Need for Increased Focus on Data Infrastructure
The recent attack on Friday, October 21, 2016 on Dyn, Inc, a DNS service provider that provides access to major websites such as Spotify, Twitter, Reddit, the New York Times and PayPal, highlights a number of weaknesses in the infrastructure of the Internet. The attack was a highly coordinated Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack on data servers across the U.S East Coast and other parts of the country, including Texas and California. The attack involved millions of requests coming from groups using the now open-source Mirai botnet code. Mirai became famous several weeks ago in its own 620-Gigabytes-per-second DDoS attack on the "Krebs on Security" website this September, though a different Mirai botnet was used; ironically, KrebsOnSecurity.com is run by Brian Krebs, an investigative reporter who often writes about cybercrime and computer security.
This attack brings to light three different and startling facts about data-center safety. The first is the freely available Mirai botnet source code's capability for detrimental effects when used by the correct (or perhaps wrong) hands. While the attacks were eventually overcome, over the course of the day they interrupted internet traffic for major websites and interrupted financial services on websites such as PayPal, which has a wide-reaching commercial impact on tens of thousands of other websites for the attack's duration.
This incident also shines a light on the increasing security threat to data centers from the "Internet of Things" (IoT). Many of the attacks came from surprising sources, including DVR players and digital cameras. As products are increasingly made internet-capable, they increasingly permit their use by hackers. This attack highlights the increased need for further security measures for these internet-enabled devices.
Finally, this attack illuminates the importance for redundancy for name servers. When the attack was at its height, and regional data centers were facing a DDoS assault, data centers in other areas of the world were often still able to provide access to their users because of the ability to switch name servers, thus giving websites the ability to identify themselves from more than one location; if a website had two different name servers, but both were in affected data centers, nothing could be done to easily restore service to areas outside of the attack. Those websites with name servers hosted outside of the beleaguered data centers, however, were able to partially restore service to areas not under attack. This clearly demonstrates the need for both name-server and physical redundancy in the 21st-century Internet to preserve Internet connectivity.
The recent DDoS attack is certainly only a sign of what is to come in the future, as hackers take advantage of an ever-changing data landscape. As we become increasingly reliant on the Internet in the 21st century, these attacks tell us that we must work to create a more secure, resilient and redundant data infrastructure.
To learn more about data security, contact TelWare at 1-800-637-3148 or sales@telware.com. TelWare is a national leader in the installation of voice, video, data and unified communications solutions. TelWare is an authorized Avaya, Star2Star, SimpleWAN and 3CX dealer.
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Rebalancing Medicines Legislation and Pharmacy Regulation Programme’s Partners Forum
A meeting of the Rebalancing Medicines Legislation and Pharmacy Regulation Programme’s Partners Forum was finally held on Thursday 22 February 2018. The PDA (Pharmacists’ Defence Association) had 3 representatives present out of a total attendance of 55 people, including the Chair and other representatives of the Department of Health and Social Care.
Thu 22nd February 2018 The PDA
It had been 969 days since the previous meeting and the Board decided not to share presentation slides or even the list of attendees in advance, so attendees had to rely on a single sheet six-item agenda to know what to expect, though on the day it was apparent some people had been provided with printed copies of the slides. It was also noted that the APTUK are listed by the board as a professional body.
At the start of the meeting the PDA reiterated our request that we should be included on the board. The board’s scope covers all four UK nations and so does the PDA, we talk exclusively for pharmacists and have 27,000 members. Most importantly the PDA, like the NPA who we believe should also be on the board, deal with the issues being tackled by the board on a daily basis. We have more direct experience of the reality and practicalities of what is being discussed than others who are on the board. However, the Chair of the Board, Ken Jarrold said he had nothing to add to our earlier exchange of correspondence in which he had declined to give the PDA members a voice on the board.
The agenda had two main sessions. Firstly, there were update presentations on Section 60 legislative orders [Dispensing errors (registered pharmacies) order 2018; draft dispensing errors (Hospitals etc); Responsible Pharmacists/Superintendent Pharmacist], which the Chair said reflected longstanding discussions. The board intend to put these out for a public consultation. There was a 22-minute Q and A session about these.
The PDA disagreed that the board had decriminalised errors even though they had inserted defences. The Chairman expressed his disappointment with the PDA in that we did not appreciate what they had achieved. However, we reiterated that in publicly available comment from the legal profession and in legal advice PDA had sought independently, there is agreement that it was still a criminal offence to commit an error. Therefore the PDA still holds the position that the Board has not delivered decriminalisation as was expected when the board was established.
Secondly, the board went to great lengths to emphasise that there were no proposals or agreed positions on changes to supervision. A 27-minute discussion included a number of contributions that asked the board to think strategically and take sufficient time to do things in the best way.
Attendees advised that the board need to understand the big picture for the future of pharmacy and the role of pharmacists before being able to determine the role of those who work with them such as Pharmacy Technicians. This included positive references to the PDA’s Road Map strategy and the Scottish Government’s Achieving Excellence in Pharmaceutical Care strategy.
The PDA made the point that after the leak of minutes last year, the board had lost credibility and trust needed to be earned again from the pharmacy profession. The Chair of the Board said they should be judged by what they do. The PDA are certainly watching what the board do and say. Mr Jarrold also stated that nobody wants to reduce safeguards or reduce the distance between patient and pharmacist. We will be holding the board to that statement.
The PDA continue to want to influence the work of the board so that the outcomes are the best they can be for patients, pharmacists, taxpayers and others. We believe this would be best done with the PDA as a member of the board. In the meantime, we will use the Partner Forum to exert some influence. We requested that the papers for discussion should be released before future meetings to optimise contributions from attendees.
The official record of the meeting will be published on the Rebalancing Board website and in answer to a final question from the PDA, the DoHSC official said the next meeting of the Partners Forum will be “sooner rather than later”. Clearly the current frequency of Partner Forum meetings, which equates to 3 short meetings per decade is unacceptable.
I want to thank you for all your help and advice. Without it, I do not think I would have felt able to stand up for myself and my rights
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Substantial progress made as a result of the Elizabeth Lee appeal
The practice that has developed in the last decade for the Police to use the 1968 Medicines Act to prosecute pharmacists once gross negligence manslaughter was excluded was a trend that the PDA was determined to stop, when Elizabeth Lee faced her initial trial in April 2009.
Sat 17th July 2010 The PDA
The only appropriate course of action, in the view of the PDA, was that if gross negligence manslaughter offences had been ruled out following investigation then the entire matter should then have been referred to the RPSGB and handled as a professional disciplinary and not as a criminal matter.
Although the PDA had dealt with several potential gross negligence manslaughter cases against pharmacists before, the case of Elizabeth Lee was the first one involving the PDA that was actually going the distance, in this case to a High Court. Previous court cases, such as the peppermint water and the Prestatyn cases, which involved Medicine’s Act offences had all been managed by legal teams established through employers. Consequently, this case provided an opportunity to create important legal precedents which would potentially protect pharmacists in the future.
When Elizabeth Lee went to the Old Bailey in 2009 to face two charges under the 1968 Medicines Act, the PDA’s defence team argued that she should not have faced either of the charges as they simply did not technically apply in the case of a dispensing error.
The offence under Section 85.5 – for attaching the wrong label to the medicine, was not an offence that could have been committed by Elizabeth Lee as technically this was an offence that could only have been committed by a pharmacy business.
The offence under Section 64.1 – for providing the wrong product, was a section of the Act that the PDA argued was specifically designed to be used in situations where an adulterated product or a product of a poor quality was supplied and not at all designed to be used in dispensing error situations.
Had these arguments been accepted, then she would not have been convicted, furthermore, in the future, other pharmacists would have been spared the experience too, as the Police would not have been able to use the Medicines Act in the way that they had previously.
At the original 2009 Old Bailey trial, following an initial not guilty plea from Elizabeth Lee, the PDA’s defence team approached the bench prior to the start of the hearing to put their legal arguments. However, the judge made it clear that it was unlikely that these arguments would succeed. It was obvious that any jury made up of members of the public would be influenced by the judge’s directions on points of law which would have significantly reduced the chances of success. This created a further risk: had Elizabeth Lee been found guilty after initially pleading not guilty, then she would have received a more severe sentence. Consequently, in a tactical move, the plea of guilty was entered for the Section 85.5 offence (wrong labeling), so as to enable these arguments to be heard in a higher court, the court of appeal.
Elizabeth Lee was therefore convicted for an offence under Section 85.5 (labeling offence) but the judge left the 64.1 offence in abeyance.
No one imagined that despite a guilty plea, which guarantees a ‘discounted’ sentence from the court, the judge would then give Elizabeth Lee a custodial sentence. This development was to result in substantial shock waves reverberating throughout the entire profession of pharmacy and beyond.
The original strategy and legal arguments were maintained and on May 26th 2010, the Appeal of Elizabeth Lee was heard by three senior judges at the Royal Courts of Justice.
Added now to the list of objectives, was the task of overturning the custodial sentence handed down in the original hearing and also to ensure that this was to be the last court appearance for Elizabeth Lee.
The Success
After a considerable legal argument between the defence and the prosecution, the Appeal judges stated that (and we quote) “this was a case that has succeeded in raising novel questions about the construction of the Medicines Act” and they agreed with the PDA’s ‘novel’ construction. Consequently, they quashed Elizabeth Lee’s conviction and as a result, her custodial sentence was automatically erased.
The effect of the way that we asked ‘novel questions’ about the construction of the Medicines Act and the fact that the Appeal Court judges agreed with us is that it has been clarified that offences under Section 85.5 can only be committed by owners of businesses and not by the pharmacists that they employ (whether employed or self-employed). That same legal construction does not just apply to Section 85.5 of the Act, but also to other sections as well, such as Sections 52, 65.1, 65.2, 85.3 and 85.4 and these describe various other offences that employees and locums would have previously been exposed to that they will no longer be.
As a result, in future, if a pharmacist attaches the wrong label to a dispensed medicine (or other offences described in the additional sections above), then they will no longer be vulnerable to criminal proceedings, and they should potentially only face professional disciplinary proceedings.
The full transcript of the judgement can be found here
The Disappointment
The Section 64.1 offence (for providing the wrong product) that had been considered at the original 2009 Old Bailey hearing had been left in abeyance. At the Court of Appeal, it was put to the judges that they should consider leaving the Section 64.1 offence in abeyance. This was because Elizabeth Lee had never pleaded guilty to that offence at the first trial. But also and more importantly, because we had been led to believe that new protocols were to be released imminently by the Crown Prosecution Service. These protocols would ensure that pharmacists who commit oneoff dispensing errors which are related to a death and where investigations rule out gross negligence manslaughter should be referred to the RPSGB so as to face professional discipline and not criminal proceedings under the Medicines Act.
Had the judges agreed to this proposal, then Elizabeth Lee would have been able to leave the court with no criminal conviction to her name and this was the whole aim of the PDA’s defence strategy.
However, the Crown Prosecution Service lawyers in a surprising revelation argued that no such protocol was imminent as discussions between the various parties that were working on it had reached an impasse. The impression created was that it could even take a year to resolve. Furthermore, they indicated that if the judges did leave the offence in abeyance as requested by the defence team, then they would in any event instigate a fresh prosecution and trial for offences under Section 64.1 of the Medicines Act.
Even though the PDA’s team had legal arguments to defend such action, if it came, this was not a viable option as it was no longer appropriate to expect Elizabeth Lee to wait another long period to face the prospect of more court appearances, nor (quite understandably) did she have the desire to do so.
Consequently, under an established legal procedure the prosecution asked the judges to substitute the Section 85.5 offence with the Section 64.1 offence and with the agreement of Elizabeth Lee the judges did this. As far as sentencing was concerned, the judges stated that they agreed with our arguments that the original sentence that had been initially imposed was manifestly excessive and they ruled that the penalty should be a fine of £300 payable within 28 days.
The original conviction of Elizabeth Lee for offences under section 85.5 of the Medicines Act have been overturned.
Pharmacists (unless they are owners) should not be charged with such an offence again (nor for offences under Sections 52, 65.1, 65.2, 85.3, 85.4).
With the appeal against the Section 85.5 conviction successfully upheld, the custodial sentence originally received by Elizabeth Lee is automatically overturned.
The substitution of the Section 64.1 offence resulted in a conviction, but with a fine of £300.
The judges agreed that Elizabeth Lee’s original custodial sentence was manifestly excessive.
As a result of the PDA’s strategy substantial progress was made, not just for Elizabeth Lee but for the wider profession.
Nevertheless there is a sense of frustration and a feeling of unfinished business at the conclusion of this episode. Elizabeth Lee still has a criminal conviction and the PDA’s aim was to have all criminal sanction removed. Although some personal difficulties have been removed for Elizabeth as a result of her successful appeal against Section 85.5 and the custodial sentence being quashed (like visa applications to certain countries or job applications for example) there is still the question of whether an offence under section 64.1 of the Medicines Act (wrong product supplied) is appropriate in the event of a dispensing error. However, in the event that another PDA member should be unfortunate enough to face such a prosecution, then the PDA will not shirk from the task of taking up the legal challenge.
The mission to decriminalise dispensing errors continues
Following this case and directly because of the surprise revelations about the alleged impasse over the Crown Prosecution Service protocols, the PDA applied significant pressure to both the Chief Executive of the Crown Prosecution Service and also to the new Pharmacy Minister, Earl Howe. Through previous dealings with Earl Howe on both the Elizabeth Lee case and also on Remote Supervision, the PDA knows that the new Pharmacy Minister shares our concerns. This pressure has been amplified by further letters from parliamentary supporters such as Baroness Cumberledge who is the acting chair of the All Party Pharmacy Group.
A twist in the tale
In a further surprising twist to this tale, the long awaited protocols (described in the next article) were finally and suddenly released not one year after the Appeal of Elizabeth Lee, but just three weeks after.
The reality about the delays turned out not to match the report given by the Crown Prosecution Service to the judges in the court of Appeal and we cannot but wonder what the judges would have decided about leaving the Section 64.1 offence in abeyance had they known that they were indeed just about to be released.
This last development has created many concerns within the profession and what it undoubtedly shows, is that the world of healthcare practice can truly be a hostile place. Members can be reassured that the PDA has already written to the Appeal Court judges and brought these ‘developments’ to their attention. At the time of going to press, we await a response.
I am really proud to be in the PDA family. Thank you on behalf of my family and myself
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Talking About First Principles Can Save Our Politics
Policy discussions have broken down. We need to dig deeper and understand why others believe what they do.
By Sam Angell • November 28, 2018
“The School of Athens”, Fresco by Raphael
In the famous radio show, book, and film The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by English author Douglas Adams, there features a weapon called the point of view gun. When fired, it causes its target to see the world from the point of view of its holder. It enables even your worst enemy to view the world exactly as you do, feeling your emotions, adopting your thoughts, and embracing your intuitions. It’s the ultimate weapon for defusing confrontation.
Unfortunately, such a device does not exist and probably never will. But certainly our politics would be much better if we were able to understand each other perfectly all of the time. Our views would be more changeable, our debates less hostile, our candidates more earnest. Our current unwillingness to put ourselves in each other’s shoes might insulate us from the discomfort of cognitive dissonance but it inhibits our ability to communicate honestly with one another on issues that matter.
So while the point of view gun may not be real, we should look to imitate its powers when we carry on conversations. Differences in opinion are not nearly as destructive when one understands where the disagreement lies and why it exists. But this, of course, takes time and often a great degree of patience. After all, political views are not standalone beliefs, existing in isolation.
The recurring discussions that dominate mainstream politics are by no means new. They find their roots in political philosophy, a discipline that in turn springs from ethics and moral philosophy. This can be hard to believe when we consider how thoughtless our political debates have become but even buzz lines like “we should lower taxes” must emerge from an intricate web of moral principles. Whether their proponents are aware of it or not, all well thought out policy ideas are grounded in basic axioms from which subsequent principles can then be derived. Like the floors on a skyscraper, they build on one another until eventually policy is formed at the top.
To take a basic example, the close relationship between mainstream conservative thought and Christianity is not a product of sheer happenstance. Conservative principles are grounded in a distinctly Judeo-Christian ethic expressed by single verse in the Bible, “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27). The idea that we are created in the image of God accounts for the intrinsic value of the individual. It grounds that value in the first principle of a theistic creation.
Out of that philosophical groundwork came the United States’ founding document. Keeping the sanctity of the individual at its core, the enduring words were written: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
You can trace the propositions building on each other through each utterance of that sentence, from creation to the intrinsic value of man to the freedom of each individual. It’s just such a chain of principles that underpins mainstream conservatism, irrespective of whether one agrees with its policy prescriptions. One can’t understand modern conservative principles without understanding the intrinsic value they place on the individual. Further still, it’s hard to account for the intrinsic value of the individual without grounding it in a Judeo-Christian ethic. These antecedent beliefs, the middle levels of your skyscraper, are no less worthy of examination than the policy that resides at the top. Indeed, if one wishes to truly understand his political opponents, these floors are actually more worthy of examination than the policy.
By grasping the moral and intellectual rules that guide each other’s thinking, we can learn not only the reasoning behind one specific position but many. To return to the skyscraper analogy, it allows us to identify the floor on which our disagreement lies and how said disagreement accounts for differences in policy. It even enables us to approximate what each other’s views on new issues will be.
New Thinking on the Right
We Were Made for Civil War
Too much time in modern politics is spent speaking from the top floor, even though in doing so we omit 90 percent of what intellectually goes into our ideas. No wonder we have trouble fully understanding each other! It is for this reason that arguments fail to establish a coherent point of contact and interlocutors a mutual understanding. Instead we talk past one another in perpetuity.
A fitting example of this is the age-old question of abortion in the United States, an excellent case study in the failure of human understanding. In the abortion debate, there has always been and remains a fundamental asymmetry in how each side is arguing. From the pro-choice side, we predominantly have arguments that originate in ideas of bodily autonomy. From the pro-life side, we have arguments derived from the sanctity of human life.
Neither side disagrees with the other in principle, only on presupposition. Pro-lifers believe an unborn fetus constitutes a human life. Pro-choicers do not. The outcome of this antecedent claim determines whose argument functions and whose does not. They need only take one step back, or go a few floors down, to recognize that their disagreement is really about when human life begins. But no. Blinded by their animosity for the other side, they instead serve up senseless caricatures about how conservatives wish to “control women’s bodies” or liberals want to “murder babies.”
Both accusations are absurd and yet the miscommunication at their core demonstrates what’s wrong with our politics at large. By all accounts, we are failing to understand each other and communicate effectively. Moreover, the longer we neglect this failure, the more hostile our politics will become. Cynical accusations of wicked motives dominate our political climate. It’s a testament to our inability to understand each other that so many now believe that the most likely explanation for political differences is malice.
The beliefs and policies that divide us can only be fully understood with reference to the worldviews that birthed them. An understanding of each other’s politics from the basis of first principles facilitates this understanding. It allows us to inhabit each other’s moral consciences and see more clearly beliefs different from our own. It’s the closest we’ve got to a Point of View Gun.
It is only in the absence of such an understanding that we resort to smears. Only when we find each other truly incomprehensible does malevolence appear to be the most likely explanation for our differences. In a time of grave political division, it’s bewildering that some seem to believe our problems can be solved by doubling down on the very attitudes that created this climate. What we need is understanding, patience, and a new holistic way of doing politics from the ground up.
Sam Angell is an undergraduate student at the University of Edinburgh, currently studying economic history.
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11 Responses to Talking About First Principles Can Save Our Politics
Cobby says:
When some worldviews are evil and summarily dismissed by our educational institutions, how do you ever have these conversations?
I think this article greatly over-estimates the extent to which our divergent views on contentious political issues (like abortion) are the result of rational extensions from first principles, rather than affective and pre-reasoning desires which we justify by post-hoc appeals to first principles and their extensions.
Put more simply, I think this article naively assumes pro-choice individuals would suddenly renounce their support of abortion if it could be demonstrated that human life begins before birth: “their disagreement is really about when human life begins.” Sadly, this is likely not the case, any more than the conflict between those who would and would not exterminate Jews was “really a disagreement about whether Jews are people.”
I don’t doubt there may be some rare and committed socratic soul who would abandon pro-choice commitments on sufficient proof of in-utero humanity. But far more often support for abortion stems from an underlying love of autonomy and rebellion against God’s ordered design of reality, with “first principles” about human life not beginning at conception really being a downstream construction designed to shield the conscience from the horror of what it loves.
I use abortion as an example, but my skepticism that most significant political disagreements, at least those with a moral valence, boils down to good-faith divergence of rational extensions of first-principle beliefs is much broader.
In the end, I suppose I don’t disagree with the author that it is good and wise to address the “worldviews that birthed [our differing political & moral beliefs].” However, I think those “worldviews” typically consist of a bundle of pre-rational loves and desires and affections, rather than propositional beliefs about reality that can be challenged by intellectual appeals.
One Guy says:
When I try to see things from Trump’s point of view, I see Finnish people raking forests. I’m not sure that helps the discussion.
My point is, how valuable is it to see things from another’s POV when that POV is just ignorant, or a lie?
Hyman Rosen says:
If the abortion argument were merely about whether a fetus is a human life, you would not expect the forced-birth movement to also be against birth control, sex education, and the HPV vaccine. But on the whole, it is. For the most part, belief in forced-birth is a shibboleth for a wide panoply of anti-progressive views.
Thoughtful article, thank you. I’ll take a different tack on abortion. I don’t believe the pro-choice crowd necessarily questions when a human life begins. I believe it is more of a question as to the value of that human life relative to the impact on the mother’s life. Obviously a baby goes from a clump of quickly replicating cells to a fully formed baby in 3 – 4 months. And from there just gets larger and stronger.
So the question, to them, is does the life of a non-fully formed human take precedence over the life of the fully formed woman carrying it?
That has to be a no from a traditional Christian viewpoint. Because the traditional Christian is concerned with the soul of the baby. And in this belief, the soul inhabits the infant from conception. And to kill the baby is sin. The soul of the baby has the same value as the soul of the mother regardless of stage of development.
So the fundamental argument is does one soul have precedence over another? Yes or no. And in both cases are there exceptions (war)?
Disagreeing fundamentally, the pro-choice side wins because the USA is a secular nation by design, and the very existence of souls doesn’t come into argumentation.
But I believe both sides can find common ground and a sympathetic desire to at least limit the pure number of abortions. But this becomes impossible because the politicians don’t want to change the system, they want to scare the voting population with extremist positions in order to win elections.
So the problem is the political system itself. The way it is set up is designed not to solve problems, but to inflame them. Unfortunately, I don’t believe that is fixable in the USA.
ElitecommInc. says:
“Both accusations are absurd and yet the miscommunication at their core demonstrates what’s wrong with our politics at large.”
I don’t know whether people opposed to protecting children in the womb want to kill babies, I am sure some due, afterall, there’s a growing market for dead children, whether their body parts or chromosomes or what have you. And i fully appreciate the value of a dollar and the value of what said human tissue can provide for the welfare of others. No issues. I get it.
I simply cannot condone murder of another human being for wealth or human medical advancement/improvement.
I further fully grasp the issues of unwanted children for any number of reasons. And I am all in support of that. There’s no reason why any woman who doesn’t want to have children to get pregnant.
However, failing to prevent a child is not a warrant for murdering that child in development. That is a bridge too far.
And there is nothing absurd about those views that I hold.
” . . . you would not expect the forced-birth movement to also be against birth control, sex education, and the HPV vaccine.”
There is no forced birth movement. Nor is there any objection to birth control that does not result in a child’s execution. There are objections based on people’s belief systems, what particular faiths condone what practices. There’s not much evidence that children need said education, as men and women have continued to populate their local, regional, state, and national entity before said education was introduced – however, most people in favor of protecting the lives of children in the womb don’t object to said education. However, the content, who, and what are generally bones of contention. And those that object can in most cases have their child withdrawn from said courses as should be the parent’s right.
People who believe in protecting children in the womb may challenge some progressive advances — but I am very confident that it depends on what the progression is to – the endgame.
I tend to see that how one considers the most vulnerable of our citizens is an a priori window how they will see their fellows. And this country’s first error in that regard redefining persons as property is the exact same error made with who is human. it takes an exact combination of 23 and 23 specific chromosomes, uniquely configured to create a human being. That human development starts at conception. Some time we had a discussion on this question in which there was a reliance on technology to note when a child experienced pain or sensation. We now know that occurs much sooner than the third trimester. And we also know that based on that claim, we have been murdering human beings for quite some time. My guess is that greater technological adavances will further confirm earlier stages of human existence in the womb, acknowledging that prior to that admission – will have kiled children in even greater numbers . . .
I just except that humans create humans and that human creation starts at conception and develops forward. I fully accept that carrying a child is a hardship and should one not desire to to so — it is absolutely her right. Sh should prevent that occurrence. But once pregnant, her body is not that of the child. They are two separate entities. And should the mother not protect said child, I am more than willing to stand on behalf of the child’s survival.
Avoiding having an unwanted child
1. don’t engage in relations that will so result:
celibacy, abstinence – my preferred and 100%
2. use any number of methods, devices, and
substances that prevent conception
Here I stand and I cannot move, regardless of how emphatically I am attuned to the other’s thoughts, circumstances and feelings. Would that i could aid them in carrying such, If I could, I would.
Lyttenburgh says:
“One can’t understand modern conservative principles without understanding the intrinsic value they place on the individual.”
AMERICAN conservatism. Not the universal. Don’t mistake your own parochial paleo-liberalism for the universal conservatism.
Ron Pavellas says:
If only people would think and talk, and not feel and act…
There’s no more a chance of avoiding conflict over first principles, than papering over the differences of opinion and practice that led to the U.S. Civil War. See “the Missouri Compromise.”
This is not “I’m OK, You’re OK.”
I think that ElitecommInc wants to force pregnant women to give birth, thereby removing their autonomy over their bodies. ElitecommInc thinks that I want to let women terminate their pregnancies, thereby murdering babies.
I think we understand each other perfectly well. I don’t see how that helps us “save” politics. We are fighting over fundamental differences and priorities, not because we don’t understand each other.
I thought it was a liberal fallacy that conflict is due to misunderstanding, and that effective communication leads to peace. I guess it can be a conservative fallacy too.
“I think that . . . wants to force pregnant women to give birth, thereby removing their autonomy . . . thinks that I want to let women terminate their pregnancies, thereby murdering babies.”
I support a woman having control of her body 100%, and that has some profound implications for practices I certainly cannot support. But I don’t think you read what I wrote. To note: a child in a woman’s body is not her body. It is a live, separate human being. Should a woman choose to avoid such circumstances — by all means she should prevent it – prevent conception. Absolutely, no arguments from me. Though I will always press marriage to relations of intimacy.
I am not inclined to redefine a human being for the purposes of personal or professional convenience. The country has been that route — it is unseemly.
A person exercising control over their own body, would avoid that which they would prefer to not experience concerning their body.
I really chagrined my weight. That is my weight and my health — control over my body means taking responsibility for my weight.
The point the position to illustrate your conclusion, my empathy does not by definition lead to a compromise.
Immigration – my compromise is, no stealing food and livelihood from one’s fellow citizens. Obey immigration regulations. 9/11 is perfect example inpart, of a failure to enforce our immigration policy. No, even with christians, i don’t think there’s biblical case for violating US immigration laws – even in the name of Jesus (eye roll)
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The Art of Madness
By Cody Delistraty
Aloïse Corbaz, Le ricochet solaire.
On July 5, 1945, the French painter Jean Dubuffet set off for Switzerland accompanied by two fellow Frenchmen, the publisher Jean Paulhan and the architect Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, better known as Le Corbusier. The Swiss tourism board had organized the trip with the hopes that the men would return to Paris with a new view of Switzerland. Paul Baudry, the cultural ambassador of French-Swiss tourism, had organized for them to eat at the top restaurants, take in the rolling hills and meadows, and go to the Matterhorn.
But Dubuffet had little interest in all that. “He ran around the asylums,” Paulhan later wrote, collecting “different drawings and gouaches.” In Paris, Dubuffet had already begun purchasing art made by people who had been deemed mentally ill, but it was in Switzerland, across roughly half a dozen institutions, where he gathered the bulk of what would become his collection.
Heinrich Anton Müller, Hermine, c. 1917.
He broke away from the group and went first to the Waldau Asylum, outside Bern, where he spoke with Walter Morgenthaler, a Swiss psychiatrist who had worked at Waldau as a medical assistant, collecting thousands of works made by the asylum’s patients. Dubuffet saw first the art of Adolf Wölfli, a sexually abused orphan who had been interned at Waldau after becoming an abuser himself. Wölfli’s twenty-five-thousand-page masterpiece combines texts, drawings, collages, and musical compositions that together outlined a reimagined history of his childhood and a fantastical, mythological future he dreamed up for himself. Dubuffet recognized the work’s brilliance immediately. Upon seeing it back in Paris, his friend, the surrealist painter André Breton, called the work “one of the three or four most important oeuvres of the twentieth century.”
In an asylum in Münsingen, a municipality inside the canton of Bern, Dubuffet also collected the work of Heinrich Anton Müller, an illustrator with severe depression. Müller’s work evokes the childish drawings of Paul Klee and Marc Chagall but also taps into Swiss folk, medieval, and modern art. With no knowledge of art history, Müller was unshackled from a rigid style. In Hermine, he drew what appears to be a biblical Eve—but in green and orange pencil. He has her holding grapes, beneath a tree, with a serpent gliding up toward her pregnant belly. Like most of his figures, she has great big eyes and a melancholy look. Thanks also to his frequent use of white chalk, Müller’s figures look like ghosts, creatures that understand—and accept—the brutalities of life.
Dubuffet continued throughout Switzerland, meeting with and collecting the art of the schizophrenic painter Aloïse Corbaz at La Rosière, an institution near Lausanne, as well as the sculptures of Joseph Giavarini, who had been imprisoned in Basel for the impassioned murder of a woman who had spurned him.
Dubuffet took all of these works back to Paris but found the art to be unpopular in French salons. Only a select few took interest—fellow outsider artists or surrealists like Breton—so two years later, in 1947, Dubuffet wrote The Art Brut Manifesto, laying out the cultural necessity and aesthetic beauty he believed was ignored by the mainstream art world. A year after that, he, Breton, and the critic Michel Tapié founded the Compagnie de l’Art Brut, which collected works from outsiders and the mentally ill.
In the end, Dubuffet’s movement never caught on with mainstream artists, galleries, and auction houses. The works that he had collected between France and Switzerland went on show only twice, in 1949 at the Galerie René Drouin and later, in 1967, at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, both in Paris. And yet its influences have been far-reaching, inspiring the filmmaker Jean Cocteau, the painter Joan Miró, and the anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss, among many others.
Adolf Wölfli (1864–1930).
Art brut, or raw art, is “raw because it is ‘uncooked’ by culture,” John Maizels writes in Raw Creation, “raw because it came directly from the psyche, and, in its purest form, touched a raw nerve.”
In his own words, Dubuffet called art brut “works created from solitude and from pure and authentic creative impulses—where the worries of competition, acclaim, and social promotion do not interfere—are, because of these very facts, more precious than the productions of professionals.”
The culture of mainstream art, Dubuffet reasoned, was driven by an urge to assimilate every inventive artistic development, and thereby robbed it of its power. Mainstream art would be sure to, Maizels writes, “asphyxiate genuine expression.”
In 2013, the French government took what was once Victor Hugo’s house on the Place des Vosges and nationalized it, turning it into the Maison de Victor Hugo. Best known as a place where fans and tourists come to see the bed in which he died, it is a museum in which large exhibitions are seldom put on. But this winter, the museum is showing four European collections of art created by mentally ill patients, including those from which Dubuffet collected. The exhibit, called “La Folie en Tête,” or, roughly translated, “Madness on the Mind,” includes no well-known artists. (Most of them, in fact, are without last names or are entirely anonymous.) It is one of the most striking shows to be put on in the French capital in years. Across the entirety of the house’s second floor, the show underscores the way in which art brut directly informs mainstream art culture.
What is now considered edgy contemporary art—surrealism but also minimalism, found objects, even much of abstract expressionism—has its origins in the works of outsiders. In Morgenthaler’s collection, the works at once refuse to operate within the confines of art history‚the art he collected is especially childish, earnest, and done in “innocence” of outside knowledge—while also predating the art of future famous mainstream artists. For instance, throughout the twenties, Marie Füri, an essentially unknown artist and mentally ill woman who suffered from epileptic seizures, made dozens of drawings at Waldau, including an untitled lead-pencil work on paper comprised of tight, thin, continuous cursive ovals spanning the entire page. It is a work that might be easily confused for a study of Cy Twombly’s 1968 untitled drawing of white scribbles on a blackboard. While Twombly’s version sold at Sotheby’s just over two years ago for $70.5 million, Füri’s work is virtually unknown.
Anonymous, 200 (Money) « 200 » [Billet de banque], ink on paper. © Sammlung Prinzhorn, Heidelberg
In the collection of Auguste Marie, the chief physician of the Sainte Anne Psychiatric Hospital in Paris from 1920 to 1929 and a consultant at the asylum in Villejuif for the two decades before that, the untitled drawing-cum-collage of a mentally ill man named Victor-François (his last name is unknown) uses Chinese ink and yellow-tinted pencil on transparent paper to create a complex figuration of a Christ who appears to have gone insane. Christ’s eyes are formed with squiggling circles, making it appear as though he has either gone mad or, more intriguingly, that a form of madness has become divine. Such religious parody would elude more mainstream sensibilities until, arguably, up until the late twentieth century, when artists like David LaChapelle and Maurizio Cattelan came to the fore. In the self-aware Objects of the Insane, an anonymously constructed wooden box full of tightly arranged black buttons, strings, rusty nails, and bits of metal precedes Marcel Duchamp’s found objects by well over a decade. In the work Contemporary History, a patient named Albert G. gorgeously deploys inky geometrical shapes and lines—pure automatism—in a style so original that it would only be taken up more than two decades later by André Masson. And in another work, an anonymous artist cut a German newspaper into a triangle and then colored in, seemingly at random, between many of the letters in orange, red, and green colored pencil. Of course, the work means absolutely nothing, and yet its just-off-kilter composition, its tiny vertical folds and brief bits of vertical print, are so stunningly new that when you see the date is 1897, you think there’s been a massive typo.
Auguts Klett (1866–1928), The Republic of the Roosters in the Sun Has Dined and Dances Without Costumes.
The question that these deeply original artworks pose is both simple and deceptive: What is art supposed to do? Is it meant to be in dialogue with history—to play within the confines of a certain style or set of visual rules—or is it meant to be an unfiltered portal to the subconscious, even if—especially if—that subconscious is perverse?
In the contemporary art market, outsider art remains undervalued. But if you look at what is most evocative and what, importantly, has the rare distinction of originality, art brut, raw and unfiltered, fulfills the distinction—the madness of the mind made manifest.
It’s a common idea that at least a trace of madness undergirds the creative impulse. But the notion that insanity and art go together is also a potentially harmful myth, perpetuated in part by a desire to justify bad behavior and in part by the need to ascribe genius to a fundamentally different state of being.
Scientifically, the link between creativity and madness is well studied but not concrete. It is true that “distinguished artists,” according to a study from Johns Hopkins’s Kay Redfield Jamison, tend to have depressive illnesses at a rate of about ten to thirty times higher than the population at large. Poets, especially, tend to be the most “tortured” and psychologically “damaged,” according to a decade-long study from the University of Kentucky’s Arthur M. Ludwig. There’s no getting around the fact that artists have especially high rates of mood disorders, including bipolar disorders and depression. While these illnesses are not a prerequisite to creativity, they do tend to accompany the artistic mind.
Anonymous, embroidery.
One popular idea is that people who have mood episodes have brains that are more accustomed to extreme emotional swings, and thus their brains are more adaptive to synthesizing disparate thoughts, a process that is often considered the crux of creativity. Likewise, the manic period experienced by those with bipolar disorders is similar to the high felt during the creative process.
“The idea that mania has an intrinsic relationship to creativity is based in part on retrospection of what it feels like to be in a state of manic excitement, a state that feels like manic power, euphoria, endless energy and optimism,” says Sybil Barten, an emeritus professor of psychology. “On the face of it, these feelings might well be those that characterize the process of creation.”
But the myth of the tortured artist can also be harmful. Depression, alcoholism, shifting moods—these are not especially productive states. Creativity still requires discipline as well as long periods of energy and focus. Even the classic examples of the “successful mad artist” would probably have been better off without their mental disorders. Vincent van Gogh, for instance, might have been able to create a good deal more artworks had his mental illness not interfered. “There is evidence in his letters that he didn’t view these problems that were visited upon him as enhancing his creativity,” says Jane Kromm, a professor of art history, “but rather was very worried that his peaceful periods of accomplishment would be stolen from him.”
Else Blankenhorn (1873–1920), Untitled. © Sammlung Prinzhorn, Heidelberg.
Indeed, many successful creative people make a point to impose stability and normalcy on their lives. In a longitudinal study, Nancy Andreasen, who is known as one of the founders of the psychological study of creativity, found that successful artists typically follow relatively rigid schedules in which they purposefully set out time to write each day. Gustave Flaubert’s quote—“Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work”—comes to mind.
Successful artists, according to Andreasen, also stay close to friends and family, knowing this is vital to their happiness. They subscribe to the Freudian definition of health: to love well and to work well. And yet they also don’t fully distance themselves from the emotional swings they feel. Many of the people she studied had serious mood disorders, which hurt their ability to create when they were in the throes of them. But these experiences also provided helpful material that they could later use—what William Wordsworth called “emotion recollected in tranquility.”
So perhaps the most pressing question is not, Are madness and creativity linked?—the answer seems to be yes, although not in the romantic ways we tend to assume—but rather, What should one do if mental illness has struck? While mental illness may not lead directly to creativity, artistic projects tend to be some of the best outlets for dealing with mental disorders.
Karl Schneeberge, Sozialist, 1922. © Psychiatry Museum, Bern.
William A. F. Browne, who directed the Crichton Royal Hospital in Dumfries, Scotland, and whose collection is on show at the Maison de Victor Hugo, believed that providing his patients with artistic activities was the most “moral treatment.” Compared to the Victorian nightmare of straitjackets and electroshock therapy, a pencil and a piece of paper certainly seem like desirable instruments for rehabilitation.
In the works on display at the Maison de Victor Hugo, the humanity of the patients shines through, a humanity that had largely been denied them both in and out of the hospital. Museumgoers often expect art to convey a distinct, singular message. It is not an overstatement to say that to then not “get” that message is to feel as though you don’t have a soul. It’s an idea evocative of Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, in which boarding-school students—who we later discover are clones—are asked to submit their drawings to the school’s administration. The goal is to determine whether or not they have a deeper personhood. “That’s the whole thing about art,” says Tommy D, one of the three clones followed throughout the novel. “It says what’s inside of you; it reveals your soul.”
But with this exhibit, that expectation is cast aside. One is free to experience the work as pure emotion, devoid of meaning or intention.
Heinrich Anton Müller, c. 1920.
Much of the art shown in “Madness on the Mind” was created before and during the two world wars. In the midst of World War II, Carl Schneider, who had directed Hans Prinzhorn’s collection of art by mentally ill asylum patients for years, was assigned by the Nazis to become the head of the so-called T4 Program, which stipulated “the extermination of physically and mentally handicapped adults.”
Although Schneider had once worked closely with the mentally ill artists and their works, he now refused to look at it. It made those he was asked to kill too human. In looking, their work became them—and they became their work. In their art, their souls shone too brightly.
Cody Delistraty is a writer and critic in Paris.
Albert G.
Arthur M. Ludwig
Heinrich Anton Müller
Maison de Victor Hugo
Marie Füri
Nancy Andreasen
William A.F. Browne
That Ole Boy Shoots Purty Good
By Dan Piepenbring
A Few Exits Back on the Information Superhighway
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'Remember Me' Works to Memorialize Missing, Murdered Black Women
Shernay Williams Special to the NNPA from the Afro-American Newspapers
Like so many around the country, Victoria Kent was horrified by the disappearance of 16-year-old Phylicia Barnes. But, while many residents merely followed Barnes' story, Kent, 23, was inspired into action.
PICTURED: Victoria Kent (left), Karen Morgan, Tericka Tate and Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick Bealefeld (right) attended a kick-off vigil for the Remember Me organization, which observes missing or murdered Black women.
It was at a local vigil for the teen that Kent decided Barnes and the countless other Black women who had experienced similar tragedies deserved better. "The ceremony was poorly organized and very few people showed up on time," she said.
"I'm a young African-American female and I grew up in Baltimore and it was heartbreaking [to learn about Barnes]. I thought that there must be a lot of girls who have been raped and murdered and she got some coverage, but there are a lot that didn't."
This month, the Loyola University graduate and two friends formed Remember Me, an organization that memorializes Maryland's missing or murdered Black women.
Kent says a victim's story might initially appear in a newspaper, but by the following week, everyone has "forgotten about her," and she is merely added to the police's missing or murdered statistics. "That's a tragedy," Kent said. "If something were to happen to me or someone I knew, God forbid, I wouldn't want to be just a statistic."
According to the police department, four Black women have been killed this year and 18 were murdered in 2010.
The group plans to highlight one missing or murdered woman a month, holding vigils for the dead and a gathering called "Honk for Her" for the missing. During "Honk for Her," the organization, along with supporters and the victim's family members, wield signs and photos at the location of the disappearance and urge passing drivers to honk their horns to bring attention to the woman.
Remember Me's first vigil, held earlier this month outside City Hall, attracted support from Police Commissioner Frederick Bealefeld and state Del. Mary Washington, who both spoke while supporters waved placards in honor of several brutalized women.
Police spokesman Kevin Brown said groups like Kent's are "very helpful" as police conduct investigations into disappearances. "The commissioner is committed to working hand in hand with the community," he said, "and groups like this do lead to many tips being received that help in the investigations of missing person cases."
Tanise Ervin, a 19-year-old killed by crossfire outside a Better Waverly carryout last March, will be the first woman officially spotlighted by the group in June.
Kent is working on obtaining non-profit status for Remember Me and is teaming up with other groups with similar missions, including the human rights organization Power Inside, which supports women and girls who have experienced gender-based violence and oppression.
Kent's ultimate goal is for the group to maintain a national database of missing and murdered Black women and keep the memory of the victims alive. "We have a lot of work to do," she said.
about-murder
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/ Personal Finance
What You Need to Know About Identity Theft Protection
With data breaches on the rise again in 2017, understanding identity theft safety is critical.
Brian O'Connell
Updated Jun 26, 2017 12:22 PM EDT
Identity theft is a big problem that just keeps gaining momentum.
According to the 2017 Identity Fraud Study by Javelin Strategy & Research, 15.4 million Americans experienced some form of ID fraud, with $16 billion lost in the process. That's up from 13.1 million victims and $15.3 billion in losses in 2015.
The issue is so troubling that many people are turning to identity theft protection - a $3 billion market, according to IBIS World, with up to 60 marketplace providers. Growth is on the upswing, too. According to a 2016 report from Smithers Pira, the identity protection market is expected to grow to $9.7 billion by 2021.
For consumers who are new to the ID protection game, a few key points are advised.
"True" identity theft protection gives you full monitoring, assistance with the credit bureaus and local and federal agencies, and goes so far as to insure money that has been stolen," says Michael W. Steuer Jr., assistant vice president at Credit Union Insurance Group.
The downside is that identity theft protection "may not be affordable and or available to everyone," he adds. "While certain credit card companies have their own identity theft protection, it is only for that account and does not cover other accounts. But there are more pros than cons."
Americans who have ID protection tools and services seem to agree.
"In today's environment, I don't think it's a matter of if your personal information is stolen - it's really just a matter of when," says Rhonda Boyle, founder of Oklahoma-based Rhonda Knight Boyle LLC, a management consulting firm.
Boyle says she's protecting her data using a service called ID Shield (through Legal Shield) and says she "would not be without it."
"There's no doubt in today's market that there will continue to be huge data breaches and that your personal information is at risk," Boyle says. "They monitor my overall identity -- not just my bank account, credit/debit cards and Social Security number. They will alert me when anything in my status changes, including my medical information, passport, email and so on."
"They will also handle the clean-up if somehow, in some way, a tech thief is able to hijack a company's data vaults and steal my information," she adds.
If you're going down the same road and buying personal identity protection tools and services, keep your eyes open, industry experts advise.
"Identity protection, first and foremost, needs to be transparent," notes Robert Siciliano, CEO of IDTheftSecurity.com. "You should know what you are getting and what it does and why it is a benefit to you."
Most identity theft protection services offer "monitoring," Siciliano says. "But they don't say what they monitor or how they monitor or what benefit that monitoring will provide you. Monitoring can mean searching the web with readily available free search engines, or it can mean searching for your data on a specific set of websites."
"Monitoring can also refer to credit monitoring, in which the provider has a relationship with one or more credit bureaus and alerts you if there is activity on your credit report," he adds.
Many services also say they will help you recover from identity theft, but in the fine print they tell you that recovery is limited to what they protect if their service fails, Siciliano says.
"An identity theft protection service should inform you when your personally identifying information, such as your name, Social Security number, or credit or debit card number, are used to commit fraud or other crimes," he says.
Overall, identity theft protection should keep pace with the evolving criminal landscape and involve multiple layers of proactive monitoring, detection, automatic alerts, and an intuitive customer experience, Siciliano says.
"Identity protection should be transparent," he states. "If you are spending $10 or more
a month, you want to know what you are getting."
Personal FinanceFinancial PlanningCredit CardsTaxesInsurance
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Ex-CBS chief Les Moonves will not get severance
Ousted CBS chief executive Les Moonves "will not receive any severance payment" from the company, the board of directors said Monday evening.
Under the terms of his enormously generous employment contract, Moonves was owed about $140 million. When he was ousted, $20 million was set aside for grants and the remaining $120 million was set up in a trust. The money has been in a holding pattern for months while the CBS board determined whether Moonves could be fired for cause, giving the company reason to claw back the $120 million.
On Monday, that's what the board said will happen now.
"With regard to Mr. Moonves, we have determined that there are grounds to terminate for cause, including his willful and material misfeasance, violation of Company policies and breach of his employment contract, as well as his willful failure to cooperate fully with the Company's investigation. Mr. Moonves will not receive any severance payment from the Company," the board said in a statement.
An attorney for Moonves had no immediate comment.
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Book - Murder Never Knocks
Titan Books announce the return of one of the best literary detectives with a new Mike Hammer book from Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins...
From masters of the hardboiled genre Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins comes a new hardback, standalone thriller featuring one of the most famous private investigators of all time: Mike Hammer.
Mike Hammer is a popular guy. At least with certain people. Several failed assassination attempts have got him riled, so apart from preventing the kidnapping of a famous New York socialite, he’s hellbent on figuring out who wants him dead... Someone who’s desperate for the kill of his life.
Restored from Mickey Spillane’s original notes and co-authored by his literary executor Max Allan Collins, the two writers come together to create a cunning noir thriller that perfectly melds sharp prose with brutal action. Set against a vintage 1960s backdrop Murder Never Knocks retains all the punch that made the original series so iconic.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS - Mickey Spillane is the legendary crime writer credited with igniting the explosion of paperback publishing after World War II as a result of the unprecedented success of his Mike Hammer novels, feeding the public's appetite for sexy, violent, straight-talking crime stories. He also starred as Mike Hammer in The Girl Hunters. Mickey Spillane died at the age of 88 in 2006. Max Allan Collins is the author of Road to Perdition, the acclaimed graphic novel that inspired the movie, and of the multiple-award-winning Nathan Heller series of historical hardboiled mysteries. Max Allan Collins is one of most prolific and popular authors working in the field today. He is also the literary executor of Mickey Spillane.
Murder Never Knocks is released on 8th March.
Image - Titan Books
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FIRE > Newsdesk > Press Releases > New Book by FIRE Executive Director Reveals How Title IX Has Been Twisted to Threaten Campus Rights
New Book by FIRE Executive Director Reveals How Title IX Has Been Twisted to Threaten Campus Rights
by FIRE September 27, 2016
PHILADELPHIA, September 27, 2016—How did enforcement of a 44-year-old law prohibiting sex discrimination in education become one of this decade’s greatest threats to student and faculty rights on campus?
A new short book released today by Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) Executive Director Robert Shibley seeks to answer that question. Twisting Title IX is the story of how a federal law called Title IX has become a behemoth that the federal government and many college administrators treat as though it supersedes the U.S. Constitution.
The broadside provides sobering accounts of student and faculty members who have seen their free speech and due process rights violated in the name of Title IX, including:
a student at the University of Oregon charged with five conduct violations for one four-word joke about sex;
a Stanford University student found guilty of sexual assault in a campus court because of a new, unlawful federal Title IX mandate; and
a professor subjected to a 72-day “Title IX inquisition” for publishing an article about—ironically—Title IX regulations run amok.
These are just some of the examples of what has happened since unaccountable government officials within the Departments of Education and Justice have been allowed to “twist” Title IX to prioritize politics over free speech, fundamental fairness, and basic human decency.
While help may come too late for many of the present victims of Title IX abuse, Shibley’s Twisting Title IX also features prescriptions for change and explains how some students, faculty members, and even one institution have refused to back down—and are fighting back.
Robert L. Shibley is the executive director of FIRE. He is a graduate of Duke University and Duke University School of Law. In his 13-year career at FIRE, he has helped hundreds of students and faculty members whose rights to free speech and due process have been violated on campus.
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to defending liberty, freedom of speech, due process, academic freedom, legal equality, and freedom of conscience on America’s college campuses.
TWISTING TITLE IX (Encounter Books; Publication Date: September 27, 2016; 48 pages; ISBN: 9781594039218; $5.99.)
Nico Perrino, Director of Communications, FIRE: 215-717-3473; media@thefire.org
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This Week:
#thegistofit is...
The US Open was a gong show. • Week one of the NFL did NOT disappoint. • Surfing is enacting pay equity - hang ten, baby! • The WNBA Finals has been lit. • Meryl Streep at the US Open is our spirit animal. • Get your tickets today for the most fun event of the fall - The GIST’s Inaugural Hockey Pool!
ICYMI, we’ve partnered with BOLO, one of our fave fitness clubs in downtown Toronto, to hook you up! When you get five friends to sign up for The GIST using your unique referral link (you can find it at the bottom of the newsletter), you’ll get to work out at BOLO for TWO WEEKS (Sept 17-30) for FREE!!! AND, as a welcome to The GIST community, we’re tossing in some free classes for the friends you refer to The GIST too. You have until September 14th to get your referrals in. Happy sharing (and working out), GISTers!
This is America
The GIST: Congratulations to Naomi Osaka and Novak Djokovic (aka The Joker) on winning the US Open major tennis tournament! With this win, Osaka became the first Japanese tennis player to ever win a grand slam title. On the flip side, this win marked The Joker’s 14th grand slam title solidifying himself in tennis history.
The Drama: The biggest story of the tournament was the dramatic, gut-wrenching and emotional women’s final. The GOAT, Serena Williams was facing off against 20-year-old Osaka. After beating Williams handily in the first set 6-2, the second set got ugly. Let us break it down for you:
- First, Williams was given a code violation for receiving coaching from her coach, who was seated in the players' box. In grand slam tournaments, coaching from the stands is a major no-no. Williams’ coach made a subtle movement with his hands for which the umpire, Carlos Ramos, called a violation. However, Williams said she didn’t even look at her coach, saying to the ump “I don't cheat to win, I’d rather lose”.
- Next, after Osaka broke Williams, she smashed her racquet. Again, this display of emotion is not allowed in tennis, so Williams was given another violation. With a second code violation, the player loses a point.
- After both of these violations, Williams was incredibly frustrated. She approached the ump, asked him for an apology for insinuating that she is a cheater, and called him a “thief” for stealing a point from her. Because Williams called him a “thief” she was given a third and final violation for verbal abuse. With a third code violation, the player loses an ENTIRE game. At this point, Osaka was up 4-3. At 5-3, there was basically no chance for Serena to make a comeback.
Post Game: The mayhem that ensued during the match also followed it. At the end of the game, instead of the winning player cheering in jubilation and the crowd on their feet, Osaka didn’t know how to act, and the crowd also appeared completely stunned. Osaka even broke down into Williams’ arms when they hugged at the end of the match. The crowd started booing in the post-game trophy ceremony, causing Osaka to tear up and for Williams to ask the crowd to stop booing and celebrate Osaka on a job well done. Both Williams and Osaka had heart-wrenchingly tough post-game interviews. Williams was fined $17k USD for her violations. It was a mess.
What’s Unfortunate: There are so many things to unpack with what happened on Saturday… and there are so many different perspectives to consider. Ultimately, we think that Ramos crossed the line. An umpire’s job is to maintain control of the match. Instead, Ramos abused his power, inserted himself into the match, and affected the outcome. What he did was not fair.
What happened to Williams was a gross example of sexism in sports. Do we think that if a man were in the same position as Williams that Ramos would have treated him differently? Yes. And, sexism might only be half of the story here.
What also makes our hearts ache is how Osaka was robbed of her moment. What was supposed to be the best moment of her life was completely ruined - she’ll never have a chance to redo her first grand slam win. Further, there’s always going to be an asterisk beside Osaka’s name with this win because of Ramos’ incessant code violation calls. And, this is a crying shame because Osaka was the best player on the court on Saturday and is, without a doubt, a rising star on the tennis scene.
There are many articles on what happened on Saturday, but no one says it as eloquently as the OG tennis queen herself, Billie Jean King. Do yourself a favour and read the tennis icon’s wise words here. Altogether, Saturday was a sad day for the sport of tennis.
Sunday, Funday!
The GIST: As much as September can be depressing because it means the end of summer, it’s also SO HYPE because the NFL is back in session. The 2018/19 season started on Thursday and it did not disappoint.
The Deets: Alright, here are the key things to know from football Sunday:
1) The Cleveland Browns, who didn’t win a game at all last season, DIDN’T LOSE… but, they didn’t win either. In a sad showcase of football, the Browns and the Pittsburgh Steelers tied 21-21. On the bright side, at least the Browns’ losing streak is finally over.
2) In one of the most stunning upsets in week one, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the New Orleans Saints 48-40. This upset was in large part thanks to the Bucs quarterback (QB),Ryan Fitzpatrick, who went awf for 417 yards and five touchdowns - a career-high for Fitzpatrick. What makes this an even bigger deal is that Fitzpatrick is the Bucs’ backup QB!! Jameis Winston is the Bucs’ main guy, BUT, he’s currently serving a suspension for an incident in which he groped an Uber driver. SMDH.
3) Our fave play yesterday? When Kansas City’s 5’10” (BTW, that’s v short for the NFL) Tyreek Hill made this sensational catch. Manz got hops!
What’s Up with #TakeAKnee?: It seems as though, at least during this first week of action, things with #TakeAKnee have settled down. To start, most media companies are not airing the national anthem on live TV for political reasons and because they can make more money by running ads during that time. Next, the proposed rule from the league requiring players to either stand or stay in the locker room during the national anthem has been put on pause until next season. That said, the majority of players stood during the anthem, and only a few continued to #TakeAKnee. Finally, even though it seems #TakeAKnee was pretty low key this week, President Donald Trump just couldn’t keep quiet about the issue. Check out @realDonaldTrump’s ridiculous tweet yesterday. Could someone please put a child lock on his phone!?
GIST some Other sh!t you Should Know
- Surf’s up! Last week, the World Surf League (WSL) announced that it will award equal prize money to male and female surfers for every WSL event starting in 2019. The WSL is now the first and only U.S. based sports league to achieve pay equality. Talk about PROGRESS!!! And, you’ve gotta read this touching piece by superstar surfer, Stephanie Gilmore. Gilmore talks about what these changes mean for her, and for female surfers everywhere.
- Last week, Debra Van Horn, the former USA Gymnastics (USAG) athletic trainer who worked alongside disgraced former USA Gymnastics Doctor, Larry Nassar, was arrested on one charge of second-degree sexual assault of a child. Van Horn worked with Nassar at Karolyi Ranch, which used to be the training camp for the USAG team. This arrest is a BFD because Van Horn is the first of Nassar’s colleagues to be charged with an assault crime in relation to his sexual abuse case. Need more background on the Larry Nassar scandal? Check out our Deep Dive on the topichere.
- Meryl Streep was in attendance for the men’s US Open final match and her reactions did NOT disappoint. Watch Meryl Streep channel her inner emoji here.
- It’s WNBA Finals time baby! This year, it’s the Washington Mystics vs. the Seattle Storm. The WNBA plays a best of five series in the finals (FYI in the NBA it’s seven) and the Storm has come out like lightning winning the first two games in the series. The third game, which could be the end of the series, is on Wednesday. There’s a storm coming, Harry.
Get it in the Cal.
Right Now: The GIST is hosting our first annual hockey pool on September 18th at the beautiful One King West Hotel! We were sick and tired of feeling left out of pools at the office and with our friends, so we decided to make our own. Whether you’re a NHL guru or know nothing about it, this pool is for you. Your ticket gets you an open bar (a GIST classic), bougee AF food, GIST commentary and resources, and a chance to win up to $200! We have limited tickets, so be sure to get them here right now!
Today: The BMW Championship golf tournament was postponed yesterday because of unrelenting rain. So, the final round of the tournament starts bright ‘n’ early today at 7:30am EST.
Moving on to tonight, it’s the first week of Monday night football. This week, we have the privilege of watching not one, but two (!!!) games. Catch the New York Jets at Detroit Lions at7:10pm EST and then the L.A. Rams at the Oakland Raiders at10:20pm EST. P.S. ICYMI, The GIST is hosting our very own free football pool! We’ll be sliding into your inboxes every Wednesday. Learn more about the fun here.
Saturday: It’s a BIG weekend in the CFL, including Saturday night when the Toronto Argonauts host the Saskatchewan Roughriders. This game is sure to be a rowdy one. Interested in going? We thought so. Get one friend to sign up for The GIST and unlock discounts to go to the game.
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The Guardian view on the periodic table: better living through chemistry
The creation of modern chemistry in the 19th century was a forgotten intellectual revolution that made today’s world possible
Sun 13 Jan 2019 13.54 EST Last modified on Sun 13 Jan 2019 13.56 EST
A section of the periodic table. Photograph: Jaap Hart/Getty Images
This year marks the 150th anniversary of the discovery, or invention, of the periodic table of the elements, one of the most important, if least dramatic, of all scientific breakthroughs. Chemistry has a bad reputation among non-chemists, perhaps because it is the first place in science where a schoolchild comes up against the stubborn complexity of nature. The organising principles of physics appear simple; evolution makes biology appear a well-ordered process, at least until it’s examined in detail. But chemistry is awkward and lumpy. There are endless facts to memorise, and there are few obvious and intuitively pleasing answers to questions such as why the periodic table has eight columns and not seven or nine. There is not even a hero figure like Darwin, Newton or Einstein whose story can dramatise our understanding of the subject. If there were, it would be Dmitri Mendeleev, the Russian who first organised the known elements into an arrangement which not only fitted them together but had predictive value: it suggested new elements that might be discovered, and what their qualities would be.
This was not a complete theoretical understanding, but it exposed the phenomena which a theory must explain. In some sense the elements had been known since gold was first washed out of gravel, long before writing was invented. But the existence of some simple and apparently irreducible kinds of stuff did not prove and might not even imply that every substance in the world was made from simpler elements combined. The idea that water is really the combination of two gases, themselves never found in a pure state in nature, seems entirely fanciful until it is proved by experiment. In the 18th century, following Antoine Lavoisier, chemists began to isolate more and more elements from the apparent chaos around them. But their qualities and modes of reaction formed no discernible pattern. The discovery of this pattern and the development of its implications was Mendeleev’s great contribution.
The periodic table made possible the modern industrial world. It didn’t just break down the world into its constituents; it supplied the knowledge needed to recombine these elements in new ways, from fertiliser to poison gas, from medicines to plastic. One of the remarkable things about this is that it worked even without a proper theoretical foundation. Not until 1913, when the British scientist Henry Moseley fired x-rays, then newly discovered, at elements and measured what came off, was it apparent how the underlying structure of atoms produced the qualities we detect in the elements.
X-rays were only the start of the merger of chemistry with physics. At the extreme edge of present-day science lies the creation of new elements that can only be produced artificially: the most recent, oganesson, has only been observed as six short-lived atoms. But long before then, chemical analysis and understanding had been turned inwards, on to the bodies of living things. These techniques, widely available, make it possible to understand all the processes of life as interlocking reactions which can be tweaked to our advantage.
One effect of this is that chemistry as a distinct subject tends to disappear. At the simplest level, it merges with physics; at its most complex it becomes a tool of biology. In both cases, chemistry, like all other science, is increasingly conducted inside computer simulations. But the depth and subtlety of the periodic table stands as one of the most remarkable feats of the human intellect.
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Foreign debt growth slows down in Q2, BI says
Jakarta / Tue, August 21, 2018 / 04:25 pm
A woman walks past the Bank Indonesia (BI) building on Jl. MH Thamrin in Central Jakarta. (JP/Wienda Parwitasari)
Bank Indonesia has announced that foreign debt grew 5.5 percent year-on-year (yoy) to US$355.7 billion in the second quarter of 2018, slower than growth in the previous quarter, which was 8.9 percent.
Foreign debt consisted of $179.7 billion in government and Bank Indonesia debt and $176 billion in private debt, according to the central bank's official website bi.go.id.
BI says the slowdown in the growth of government debt is in line with the government's fiscal management policy, which prioritizes domestic resources in its financing strategy.
Up to the second quarter, government debt grew 6.1 percent yoy to $176.5 billion -- $122.3 billion from debt papers owned by foreigners and $54.2 billion from foreign creditors.
In the first quarter, government debt grew 11.6 percent.
Meanwhile, foreign debt of private manufacturing companies and the electricity, natural gas and water gas sector grew 1.1 and 16.1 percent yoy in the second quarter, respectively.
The central bank said the foreign debt structure in the second quarter was controllable and in a healthy condition.
“It is reflected in the foreign debt to gross domestic product (GDP) ratio, which was stable at 34 percent up to the second quarter,” BI says in its reports, adding that the ratio was better than that of peer countries and 86 percent of debt was long-term debt. (bbn)
foreign-debt Q2 2018 bank-indonesia
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The Kreisau Project
Transmission of Memory Through the Arts.
About the Plays
A Journey To Kreisau
Karski
About Kreisau
Awards and Grants
Marc Smith Served On Humanities Advisory Panel For Documentary Film On Jan Karski
Posted on August 28, 2011 by Claudia Snell
Emmy Award winning and Oscar nominated producer, director, cameraman, and editor, Slawomir Grunberg is creating a documentary film about Jan Karski, a hero of the Polish underground who acted as a courier during World War II, carrying his reports of the atrocities he witnessed to Britain and the U.S.
Grunberg asked Marc to serve as one of eight humanities advisors on this film. Among other members of this advisory panel are: Prof. Wladyslaw Bartoszewski, Polish writer and historian who was a colleague of Jan Karski’s, a former political prisoner at Auschwitz, and former Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs; Michael Berenbaum, professor of Jewish Studies at American Jewish University and, from 1988-1993, Project Director of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., overseeing its creation; and Sir Martin Gilbert, who is the official biographer of Winston Churchill, and has published six volumes of the Churchill biography, as well as histories of the first and second World Wars, histories of Israel and of the Holocaust.
The film, Jan Karski & The Lords of Humanity, will employ animation techniques such as rotoscoping intertwined with archival footage including authentic voice-over of Karski as well as modern-day documentary scenes and interviews.
Marc noted: “It is exhilarating to be involved in an advisory capacity with this film project, especially with a panel of such diversity and international renown. It’s not false modesty when I mention that this is a panel of 7 distinguished scholars…plus me.”
This entry was posted in blog, Blue Pumpkin Productions, Karski, Marc Smith and tagged Blog by Claudia Snell. Bookmark the permalink.
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Ethel J. Firth
LANCASTER — Ethel J. (Stonehouse) Firth, 93, formerly of Acton, died Saturday, Jan. 7, 2012, at Sterling Village after an illness.
Ethel was born in Quincy, the daughter of Robert and Annie (Smith) Stonehouse, and had lived in Acton and Boylston before moving to Lancaster six years ago. She graduated from Groton High School in 1936 and attended Fitchburg State College for two years. She was a member of the First Congregational Church of Boylston.
Her husband of 52 years, Richard A. Firth, died in 1992. She leaves a daughter, Marcia L. Firth of Lancaster and several nephews and nieces. Two brothers, Howard and Frank Stonehouse, and a sister, Roberta Stonehouse, predeceased her.
A private committal service will be held at a later date at the Woodlawn Cemetery in Acton. Memorial contributions may be made to the Sterling Animal Shelter, 17 Laurelwood Road, Sterling, MA 01564. Miles-Sterling Funeral Home and Tribute Center, Sterling, is directing arrangements. (milesfuneralhome.com)
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Exclusive: Stephens Scown to be first ‘shared ownership’ UK200 firm
West Country firm Stephens Scown is to become the first UK 200 law firm to operate under a shared ownership model. Last month, The Lawyer revealed that Mishcon de Reya managing partner Kevin Gold was considering implementing such a scheme, most famously employed by retailer John Lewis. However, Stephens Scown has beaten Mishcon to the punch […]
The City 50: Did you make the cut?
The rise of the American firms is made clear in the City 50 – The Lawyer’s first ever snapshot of the London-only revenues of US and UK firms.
UK top 100 crack £24bn in record year for revenue
Eversheds Sutherland is the biggest revenue riser in the UK 200 chart following last year’s merger.
Freshfields tops UK M&A rankings for Q3
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has retained the top spot in UK M&A rankings for Q3, having ranked second behind Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) in Q1. According to data from Thomson Reuters, Freshfields announced 55 UK-based deals between July and the end of September, totalling $115.4bn. The firm’s work on Comcast’s Sky bid paid dividends. Davis Polk & Wardwell, […]
UK 200 Law firms UK News
UK 200: Meet the six new firms in the rankings
The combined revenue of the UK’s second 100 law firms has broken through the £1.5bn barrier for the first time.
By Joanne Harris 8 October 2018 08:00
Freshfields, Norton Rose and Cravath lead in $18bn gold mining merger
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Norton Rose Fulbright and Cravath, Swaine & Moore and Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg have spearheaded a proposed merger to create the world’s largest gold miner, valued at $18bn (£13.7bn). The merger between two of the biggest players in the industry sees Canada’s Barrick Gold buy FTSE 100-listed US goldmining company rival Randgold Resources for $6bn, under an all-share […]
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You are here: Home / Uncategorized / About Coach Del
Del Hickson is a life coach, author and pastor who lives with his family in Connecticut. During the last 21 years, Del has helped thousands of people live more balanced and joyful lives. Del’s first book, Tame Your Stress In 21 Days Or Less will be available for purchase on Amazon.com in February of 2011.
Del is an honors graduate from Biola University with a Master of Divinity degree. He received his B.S. in Business Administration from San Jose State University. Since 2004, Del has served as the pastor of the Federated Church of Willington. He also served as a pastor of two churches in California. Prior to this, Del worked for nine years as a Claims Adjuster and Fraud Investigator for a Fortune 500 Insurance Company.
Del’s hobbies include biking and playing with his children. He also enjoys playing with the family’s cats, Romeo and Juliet. Del can occasionally be seen walking his dog, Buddy.
If you would like to hire Del as your life coach, [subscription_form]click here. His fees are $300 per month. This includes three 30 minute coaching sessions by telephone. If you have any questions, please complete the “Contact Form” and include your telephone number and e-mail address.
What is a Life Coach?
How To Live With Purpose, Passion and Joy
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Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Fri.-Sun., May 6-8) -- Stars no match for Derby
The Dallas Stars’ lackluster 4-1 loss to St. Louis in Game 5 of their Round 2 Stanley Cup playoff series hit a post-season ratings high on Sunday afternoon. Still, the pucksters ran far out of the money compared to the peak audience for the actual running of the Kentucky Derby after a marathon buildup.
Both sports attractions aired on NBC, with Stars-Blues averaging 141,648 D-FW viewers and 76,217 in the advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-old demographic for a match that ran from noon to 2:27 p.m.
More than three hours later, the Peacock’s long slog to the Derby ended with “The Fastest Two Minutes in Sports” from 5:49 to 5:51 p.m. Nielsen Media Research measures in 15-minute increments. And from 5:45 to 6 p.m., a peak crowd of 389,532 viewers tuned in. But unlike the Stars game, well less than half of them -- 123,852 -- were in the 18-to-49 age range.
On Sunday night, CBS’ series finale of The Good Wife won its 8 p.m. slot with 191,225 total viewers. But in competition among the Big Four broadcast networks, Good Wife fell to a third place tie with 18-to-49-year-olds opposite Fox’s combo of Family Guy and Last Man Standing and NBC’s sitcom duo of The Carmichael Show and Crowded.
Friday night as usual was paced in total viewers by CBS’ 9 p.m. hour of Blue Bloods (226,637) while ABC’s Shark Tank was tops with 18-to-49-year-olds (41,284).
Here are the local news derby results for the seventh weekday of the May “sweeps” ratings period.
NBC5 ran first in total viewers at 10 p.m. while TEGNA8 had the edge with 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).
Fox4 swept both the 6 a.m. and 5 p.m. competitions, and added a 6 p.m. win with 25-to-54-year-olds. TEGNA8 had the most total viewers at 6 p.m.
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Black Teenager Shot Dead By Police Previously Tweeted ‘I Don’t ...
Black Teenager Shot Dead By Police Previously Tweeted ‘I Don’t Want To Die Young’
By : Alex Watt On : 09 Aug 2015 16:41
AP/Handout
An unarmed teenager shot dead by a trainee police officer in the U.S. tweeted “I don’t want to die young” just a week before his death.
19-year-old Christian Taylor was killed by Arlington Police Officer Brad Miller after he allegedly crashed through a car showroom’s window and fought with police officers in Texas.
Arlington Police officers reportedly approached Mr Taylor, who was a defensive back at Angelo State University, and shot him after an “altercation”.
Taylor’s death coincides with the anniversary weekend of Michael Brown’s shooting in Ferguson, Missouri. The death of Brown, another unarmed black teenager, sparked unrest across the U.S. amid growing concern and scrutiny over racial bias among the country’s police forces.
Over the past year, a Twitter account thought to belong to Taylor posted a number of tweets about his distrust of the police in light of the shootings, including one post about how he didn’t want to die young, just one week before he was shot dead.
I don't wanna die too younggggg
— October 13th (@he_got_sneaks) July 31, 2015
I don't feel protected by the police
— October 13th (@he_got_sneaks) August 12, 2014
Our police system is a joke, when will we ever be protected?
— October 13th (@he_got_sneaks) December 24, 2014
Police taking black lives as easy as flippin a coin, with no consequences smh
Miller, the officer-in-training who shot the unarmed teenager, has been placed on leave while a major investigation into the incident is carried out.
Alex Watt
Experienced Social Media and Digital Marketing Manager, with over eight years working in social media, paid social, website management, blogging and marketing.
Teenager shot dead by police had tweeted 'I don't want to die young'
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This essay, written by by Rev. Gretta Vosper, was recently published on the website, Progressing Spirit. Her journey through a spiritual transformation spoke to me, bringing back so much of my own journey, the journey to find "...the values inherent in the Christianity..." upon which I would choose to live my life. The "church" Rev. Gretta refers to isn't exactly the Unity "church" I know and love today and yet the underlying questions are almost the same. I encourage you to read her words and hold them up to your experiences and beliefs as a mirror for the future of Unity as a movement and Unity in Frederick, our spiritual home.
"It was a pretty normal Sunday morning. The pews were still frightfully empty but I’d become accustomed to the behaviour patterns of the West Hill congregation, a last-a minute crowd if ever I’d seen one. With the precision timing of a military drill, they spilled in from the parking lot and lobby just as the first significant bits of the service began filling the space. Normal, that is, except for what was about to happen.
I had no sermon prepared to deliver. That isn’t as unusual as it may seem; clergy often have pastoral duties that undermine sermon preparation time. Four weddings and a funeral… It happens. We deal with it.
But that Sunday, when I stepped up to preach, rather than inviting the congregation to a deeper understanding of their faith, a stronger belief in God, or richer spiritual practice of following Jesus, I did the opposite.
In my defence, I didn’t know I was going to do that. Perhaps my brain, on some channel unfamiliar to me, had blocked me from knowing what it was about to do. As I preached, my words spilled out into a total deconstruction of the concept of a theistic god called God. Founder of the Universe: gone. Creator of All Life: gone. Source of All Goodness: gone. Purveyor of Divine Blessings and Answers to Prayer: gone. Arbiter of Justice: gone.
In fact, not much was left at all but a surprised (and possibly appalled) congregation ready to embrace and comfort me as I recovered from whatever burden they believed had overcome my faith that morning.
The rest, as they say, is history. Armed with fifteen years of exposure to critical contemporary Christian scholarship, the congregation’s leaders, rather than fire me, embraced the opportunity to explore what church beyond belief might look like. It has been a bumpy ride at times; there is no doubt about that. Still, the work was important, and we have proven that a church built on the values of liberal Christianity neither undermines nor requires belief in a supernatural, interventionist, theistic god called God.
So, You Think That Took Courage
Over the years since that pivotal moment, I have had opportunity to speak to many about the work we do at West Hill. I’ve heard the word « courage » over and over by those who have come to hear me express awe at my willingness to speak openly and honestly about what we do and do not believe. I was often uncomfortable about receiving that particular compliment, though it took me some time to figure out why: It’s because it wasn’t me being courageous. With my spontaneous deconstruction sermon, I had almost accidentally cracked the door open and expected dire consequences for doing so. It was West Hill’s Board members who threw the door wide open and held the congregation’s hand as it took its first steps into the unfamiliar territory of post-theism. It was the people of West Hill who chose to embrace their inner heretics. It was they who were courageous and it was blind luck that allowed me to pilot their incredible journey.
Of course, journeys into the unknown are just that: journeys into the unknown. Not long after we set out, the Board at West Hill began asking for more and more significant changes. They created a committee – Elements of Worship – that became the fulcrum of change in the congregation. Early on, it dismissed the idea of capturing our beliefs in a new statement of faith (which could only ever be divisive) and distilled, instead, the values inherent in the Christianity upon which they chose to model their lives. To quote a member of the first writing team, it was a « daunting » challenge to each of us to live out our faith with integrity. And, while the Elements Committee never used the document it had written to proactively change things at West Hill, it boldly addressed issues raised by congregants and visitors and morphed or removed things that no longer held or represented meaning for the congregation.
If you are reading this, chances are you have long ago left the idea that the Bible is the literal word of God. You probably wrestle with the stories of Jesus and wonder which ones represent what he actually did and said and which represent the prejudices of someone who never even knew him. You have long questioned the idea of a benevolent god who would let people die of diseases we haven’t yet cured, and those we have but refuse to make the cure financially accessible to all. You don’t think you believe in that kind of god anymore. You are very likely a life-long Christian and have been in the church for decades. And decades. And you probably wonder why young people don’t come to your church like they used to.
Figuring out why you are still in church may be something to which you haven’t given much thought. I want you to figure that out. But I’m going to spare you the soul-searching and see if I can get this right by suggesting: you aren’t in church because of the responsive calls to worship, or the majesty of the procession of clergy and choir, or the hymns you rise to sing, or your eagerness to find out which Bible passages will be read that week, or the prayers of intercession, or the carillon you’re raising money to repair, or the neighbours who all know you go to church (though they are likely the closest reason listed so far), or the preaching of your oratorically-gifted minister, or the Taize service you attend each month (though that may be another close one). I realize I’m out on a limb here, but I would wager (not allowed in my denomination!) it’s because of the people and the relationships you have developed in that place over all these years. You’ve fallen in love with being together, as I like to put it, and that has strengthened every good instinct you have ever had because falling in love with being together is the healthiest thing you could have ever done for yourself.
And that, my friend, is a problem: loving your church is going to kill the church.
We Are the Canary in the Belfry
Many of you know that I write from Canada. Yes, thank you; we are a lovely people. But we are your church canary, if you will, gasping out our last few notes before folding our wings forever. Two generations ahead of you in the abandonment of traditional congregational life, we started fleeing the pews in the mid-1960s. No, I didn’t lead the exodus; I was five. But I’ve watched it and lived it. And I know that it spells trouble for the socially democratic country y’all admire.
You see, subjective well-being is tied to the number of social connections we make and maintain. In church, when people fall in love with being together and create multiple connections on Sunday and throughout the week, they experience a surge in well-being - regardless of what they believe. And that surge in well-being leads to a statistically significant increase in voluntarism beyond the church and in the community, with bigger philanthropic donations, and higher voter turnout. It’s true. The best thing you ever got out of church was the friends you made there.
If you look carefully at your denomination’s attendance and membership numbers through the lens of the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), though, you’ll find a gently sloping downward curve which is going to head straight down very soon. That curve is being drawn by young adults who are refusing church affiliation in droves. You may have noticed a greying of the pews, a smaller group of children leaving for church school, or learned that your adult grandchild didn’t search out a church when they moved to another city. Your church leaders may have begun trying new programming or rebranding. There may be yoga classes mid-week. One Sunday a month is now « Messy Church Sunday ». The pastoral team is stirring things up a bit with innovative attempts to capture a younger demographic before things tank altogether.
Wasting Precious Time
Scheduling hip new programming and hiring a gay youth minister is not going to make a difference, believe me. While being hip may not be your forte, it isn’t what is killing your church. It’s loving all the stuff you don’t believe that is killing your church. Not the fact that you don’t believe it; obviously, if you’re still in church, your filters are pretty good. That you have to filter what’s being said, read, and sung: that’s your problem. Fewer and fewer young adults are willing to wade through the premise of belief upon which the church of their parents is built. And while you may be willing to manage the constant translation of scripture, liturgy, hymnody, and theology, they aren’t. Integrity won’t let them.
If you are in a mainline Protestant church, you can assume that your pastoral staff know everything you know and more. Liberal mainline seminaries have taught contemporary critical scholarship for decades. In my denomination, it’s been over a century. The President of Union Theological Seminary, Serene Jones, exposed some of it in a recent interview claiming that the virgin birth was a «bizarre claim» and that belief in Jesus’ bodily resurrection was untenable to those who have true faith. She seemed surprised that anyone would think otherwise.
.....The pervasive idea of an abusive God-father who sends his own
......kid to the cross so God could forgive people is nuts. For me,
......the cross is an enactment of our human hatred. But what happens
......on Easter is the triumph of love in the midst of suffering. Isn’t
......that reason for hope?
Maybe it’s been a while since Jones was in church. Or maybe she is in that self-revered Christian demographic that knows all the secret handshakes and head-nods of the contemporary illuminati who know none of it is true but continue to talk as though it is. After all, what happens every time love triumphs over hatred, suffering, misogyny, racism, arrogance, and greed is reason for hope. But do we still need to read the horror of the crucifixion and the unbelievable story of bodily resurrection to get to the importance of love? I don’t think so. And neither do your grandchildren.
Clergy are unlikely to throw the door open widely enough to welcome those for whom Christian language and theology is a barrier. They will feel the risk deeply. It’s not their fault; their recent memory holds too many stories about discomfited parishioners. It is you who needs to lead the charge. Yes, you. Not your kids. Not your pastor. Not the Presbytery or Deacon’s Board or Diocesan Council. It’s you.
«There’s time enough but none to spare.» How many endeavours have been urged along by the word of the African American essayist, Charles Chestnutt? We will never know. But I am using his words to emphazise the truth that mainline American churches have time enough to protect the important work they do. And the other equally important truth: they have no time to spare. So let’s cut to the chase.
The cost of your not doing something will eventually be the future of your church community, of the well-being of the community beyond its doors, of the town or suburb you live in, of the world your grandchildren inhabit and in which they will grow old. Because all of that suffers when churches fail, and fail they will. Even in the Christian country that America professes to be, the fastest growing religious demographic is the Nones, those who identify as having no religious affiliation. And those with no religious affiliation miss out on the off-label benefits that affiliation might provide.
At the same age you fell in love with being together in the churches of your early adult years, your children or grandchildren are experiencing record levels of loneliness. A recent Economist study notes that over twenty percent of the population now identifies as often or always experiencing loneliness. Many of these people are seniors but a rising number of young people also experience the psychological challenge of isolation on a regular basis. A Cigna study found that over half the population feels that no one really knows them. These are disturbing trends that impact Millennials in challenging ways. The communities which the church has created in the past could provide exactly what young adults now need, but Millennials won’t sacrifice their integrity to solve their isolation. You will because you’ve out-survived the preposterous nature of Christian belief. They can’t.
The Cost of the Future Church
What will it cost to throw the door open wide and become theologically non-exclusive in a way that welcomes millennials? Theological language, for one. The exclusive use of the Bible for inspiration, for two. The constant reiteration of ancient myths about who Jesus was and what he did… The words of your favorite hymns and choral pieces. All that traditional liturgy, its grandeur, pomp, and ceremony. Almost everything ever accompanied by a pipe organ. A few or a lot of those currently in the pews who are unable to transition the things they lose in the public church gathering to their private spiritual practice. The ease of pick-up and teach lectionary-based Sunday School curricula. And likely lot of other stuff.
Those costs will be significant. I won’t gloss that over. But the gains for future generations may be exponentially more valuable. Socially engaged citizens who are confident in their pursuit of truth, justice, and right-relationship. Strong commitment to the values distilled from the mainline Christianity you know and love. Leadership in social action and climate justice. Resilience in the face of great change, much of it catastrophic. The support of charitable causes that make up for civic deficiencies. Fewer people whose loneliness is their most constant companion. A generation that falls in love with being together and reaps all the well-being associated with that.
It is a hard sell but I believe it is a crucial one. Remember, we are your canary. We cannot save you, but perhaps we can inspire you to build the future church now. Before it’s too late for you, too."
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Sept. 29, 2011 / 12:48 PM
Four lead at Alfred Dunhill Links
ST. ANDREWS, Scotland, Sept. 29 (UPI) -- Michael Hoey had an eagle 2 on his final hole Thursday to join a first-place tie at the European Tour's Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland.
Hoey's 2 at the par-4 18th at St. Andrew's Old Course moved him to 6-under-par 66 and into a tie with Rafael Cabrera-Bello, Markus Brier and Louis Oosthuizen.
The tournament is split over three courses -- the Old Course, Kingsbarns Golf Links and Carnoustie -- for the first three days. The final round is contested at St. Andrews.
Hoey and Brier played St. Andrews Thursday while Cabrera-Bello and Oosthuizen were on Kingsbarns. Marc Warren, one of six players tied at 5-under, had the day's low round at Carnoustie. Two-time defending champion Martin Kaymer is among the 11 players at 4-under.
Hoey opened his round with two birdies and made the turn at 4-under. He had back-to-back bogeys at Nos. 11-12 but answered with back-to-back birdies on the next two holes. The eagle at 18 got him a share of the lead.
Brier had eight birdies only to have a double-bogey 6 at No. 16 pull him back.
Cabrera-Bello got going with an eagle 3 at Kingsbarns' third hole. He added six birdies against one bogey before a bogey at the 18th hole dropped him into the tie for first.
Oosthuizen was 6-under before his long bogey of the day came at the 17th hole. A birdie at 18 put him in the lead.
Kaymer takes 3rd straight with Dunhill win
Rafael Cabrera-Bello
Markus Brier
Marc Warren
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Updated June 17, 2019 at 4:15 AM
Sara Netanyahu convicted of lesser crime in private chef case
Allen Cone
Sara Netanyahu, the wife of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, appears in Jerusalem's Magistrate Court on Sunday. Sara Netanyahu attended a hearing on a plea deal over the misuse of state funds for meals at the premier's residence. Photo by Debbie Hill/pool/EPA/UPI
Sara Netanyahu, the wife of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, appears in Jerusalem's Magistrate Court for a hearing on a plea deal over the misuse of state funds for meals at the premier's residence. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI | License Photo
Sara Netanyahu, the wife of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, arrives in Jerusalem's Magistrate Court for a hearing on a plea deal over the misuse of state funds for meals at the premier's residence. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI | License Photo
June 16 (UPI) -- Sara Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister's wife, on Sunday was convicted of a lower crime of breach of trust that involves no jail time in a private chef case after accepting a plea deal in a court in Jerusalem.
Under the deal, Benjamin Netanyahu's wife confessed to a reduced charge of intentionally exploiting another person's error in lieu of the more serious charge of aggravated fraud that carried a prison term of up to eight years. She was sentenced to pay $15,210, including $10,000 as a fine and the rest to the state for fees, from the prosecution's original request of $99,705.
In addition, the state can sue Netanyahu, 60, in civil court for an additional $48,600.
The Jerusalem Magistrate's Court approved the deal, which the prime minister's wife signed Wednesday.
RELATED Nechama Rivlin, Israel's first lady, dies on eve of 74th birthday
Netanyahu told Judge Avital Chen she was aware of the charges.
As in every plea bargain, each side makes concessions, prosecutor Erez Padan said Sunday.
"The defendant's confession to the facts laid out in the amended indictment and to committing a criminal offense, and her agreement to be convicted without the need to hear evidence, guarantees she is taking responsibility, which carries a lot of weight," Padan said during the hearing.
RELATED Kushner pushes economic talks in meeting with Netanyahu
Attorney Yossi Cohen, who represents Netanyahu, blasted the prosecution Sunday.
"This is one of the most severe and hurtful punishments that a person I know has received," Cohen said in court. "This is the result of four years of ugly, tendentious, libelous leaks that spilled my client's blood. They forgot she is also a mother, a wife.
"I stood here astonished at the lengths our society is willing to go to hurt a person. And of course nobody wanted to hurt Mrs. Netanyahu. The goal was to hurt her husband, topple the government."
RELATED Israel to hold repeat elections in September
Also Sunday, the High of Justice rejected a petition by journalist Uri Misgav the plea arrangement was too lenient. The state was accused of bowing to political pressure.
The state responded that the rule of law was being validated in that Netanyahu confessed to a crime after years of denying any wrongdoing.
The revised indictment was not filed until last Wednesday although her lawyers had agreed to the deal on May 29.
Last June, Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit indicted her for fraud with aggravated circumstances and breach of public trust.
From September 2010 until March 2013, Netanyahu allegedly acted in coordination with the other defendant in the case, former Prime Minister's Office deputy director-general Ezra Seidoff, to falsely misrepresent that the prime minister's residence did not employ a chef.
They were accused of misusing state funds for catered meals costing $100,000.
That amount was slashed by half in the amended indictment to some $50,000, although Netanyahu will only return some $12,500 of it to the state.
Seidoff's plea deal includes admitting to the same crime as Netanyahu, with a fine of $2,777 as well as community service hours.
Separately, Benjamin Netanyahu is facing possible indictment for bribery, fraud and breach of trust. The allegations include the prime minister accepted illicit gifts, took bribes, and tried to arrange favors for media barons in exchange for positive press coverage.
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Nov. 22, 2013 / 5:45 PM
Cary Elwes writing 'Princess Bride' memoir
The actor best known for playing Westley in "The Princess Bride" will share behind-the-scenes memories and interviews with his castmates.
Gabrielle Levy
The cast (L-R) Cary Elwes, Robin Wright, Mandy Patinkin, Wallace Shawn, Chris Sarandon, Carol Kane and Billy Crystal attend the 25th Anniversary screening of "The Princess Bride" at the 2012 New York Film Festival at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in New York on October 2, 2012. UPI /Laura Cavanaugh | License Photo
Cary Elwes attends the 25th Anniversary screening of "The Princess Bride" at the 2012 New York Film Festival at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in New York on October 2, 2012. UPI /Laura Cavanaugh | License Photo
Nov. 22 (UPI) -- You wish to write us a memoir? Cary Elwes, we accept!
The actor best known for playing the dashing Westley is set to give fans of the classic romance a behind-the-scenes look at the making of The Princess Bride.
As You Wish: Tales From the Princess Bride will share memories and interviews with his fellow cast members, including Billy Crystal, Robin Wright, Carol Kane, Christopher Guest and Chris Sarandon.
"It was a joy to work on such a magical film with an amazing cast of talented actors and friends," Elwes said in a statement. "It will be great fun to revisit The Princess Bride and to share my fond memories of the unforgettable experience we all had."
As You Wish is expected from Simon & Schuster imprint Touchstone next fall, and will be co-written by Joe Layden.
[The Hollywood Reporter]
Annie Dookhan pleaded guilty to drug lab scandal LeBeau Plantation suspects arrested for arson Dealey Plaza holds moment of silence for Kennedy anniversary Jackie Kennedy's pink suit locked away Powerball ticket goes unclaimed Three London women freed after 30 years Scottsboro boys given posthumous pardon
Christopher Guest
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Emergency calls for icy falls jump 55 per cent in 2019
McGill University student Mayumi Louguet falls on a patch of ice created by overnight freezing rain on the corner of McTavish and Sherbrooke Sts. in 2014.
Dario Ayala / Montreal Gazette files
Montrealers under the impression this year was a particularly treacherous one in which to tread the city’s streets and sidewalks were correct.Urgences-santé reported Friday the number of calls the ambulance service responded to for outdoor falls in the first eight weeks of the year jumped more than 55 per cent over the corresponding periods in the last three years.Urgences-santé received 710 calls between Jan. 1 and Feb. 20 requesting aid for falls that occurred outside. In the same period last year, there were 458 calls. In the year before that, there were 439 calls.The majority of calls were for broken, bruised or sprained wrists, forearms and hips, as well as head injuries.“Basically, it shows an increase of 55 per cent in comparison to the same period last year,” Urgences-santé operations adviser Eddy Afram said, calling the rise unprecedented. “The falls are in direct correlation with the observed winter weather conditions and ice storms we’ve had over the last few weeks since the beginning of the year.”Urgences-santé, which handles close to 40 per cent of all the calls made in the province of Quebec, said it had “one of our record-breaking days” on Jan. 25, receiving 1,200 calls for all types of medical emergencies. On Jan. 24, the temperature was 3 degrees Celsius and the city was drenched with 17 millimetres of rain. On Jan. 25, temperatures plunged to minus-25. Urgences-santé did not have figures for how many of those calls were related to falls.This year’s winter has been marked by a series of rapid rises and precipitous dips in temperatures as well as rainfalls and snowstorms, resulting in streets and sidewalks encrusted in a thick layer of ice that Montreal and its demerged municipalities and Laval have been powerless to remove in several sectors.Officials with Mayor Valérie Plante’s office said because the figures included both Montreal and Laval, the city preferred not to comment on them. On Thursday, Plante noted Montreal is not alone in suffering the vice of ice — many cities in the region have sidewalks and roads in poor conditions due to temperature swings.Analyses of this year’s weather conditions show Montreal has already had nine instances in which rainfall was followed by below-freezing temperatures, which is twice the average rate.Citizens can help overtaxed Urgences-santé paramedics by finding other alternatives to ambulances if the fall is not an emergency, by keeping walkways and stairways ice-free in case they have to visit, and by helping elderly people or those at risk in the community by clearing their pathways.rbruemmer@postmedia.com
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Clark Davey, 1928-2019: ‘The true journalist of journalists’
He was a champion of the sort of investigative journalism that, in his words, has “the kind of impact that moves peoples’ hearts and their minds, that stirs their sense of justice, and changes the rules and the laws, to make our society a better place.”Clark Davey, one of the great newspapermen and among the few who rose from a small-town reporter’s desk to managing editors’ offices and publishers’ boardrooms in the largest papers across the country, died Monday in Ottawa. He was 90.“He was far-sighted and funny, and cared deeply about journalists and journalism,” says Lucinda Chodan, editor-in-chief of the Montreal Gazette, who arrived there as an arts reporter in 1984, a year into Davey’s tenure as publisher. “You can see that in the incredible role he played in founding the Michener Awards Foundation and fostering great journalism in Canada.“The fact that he was managing editor of the Globe and Mail and publisher in Ottawa, Montreal and Vancouver shows his versatility and his great track record. When he was at a news organization, things got better.”Russ Mills, whose two tours of duty as publisher of the Ottawa Citizen sandwiched Davey’s, described Davey as “a legendary figure” in journalism, whose breadth of experience made his counsel regularly sought by other publishers and editors.Davey followed the news closely, right up to the end. According to Mills, Davey attended weekly round-table lunches at the Rideau Club, and at last week’s, for example, was active and up-to-date discussing the SNC-Lavalin file.Davey was born in 1928 in Chatham, Ont. His career might have taken a completely different arc had his poor vision not kept him from attending Royal Roads Military College in B.C. He was heartbroken after failing his medical, but an English teacher told him that people would pay him to write. So he enrolled in the first journalism degree course taught at University of Western Ontario, graduating in 1948 and joining the newsroom of the Chatham Daily News.There, he worked under Richard “Dic” Doyle, but moved to Kirkland Lake when the Thomson newspaper chain made him editor-in-chief of the Northern Daily News. His time there was brief, however, as his girlfriend, Joyce Gordon, issued him an ultimatum: Northern Ontario or me. He chose her: they married in September 1952.In the meantime, he joined the newsroom of the Globe and Mail, where his mentor Doyle had been working for a year.As a reporter with the Globe, Davey covered national and international affairs, including the Suez Canal crisis, the St. Lawrence Seaway project and the cancellation of the Avro Arrow program. During the 1957 federal election campaign, he recognized that Tory leader John Diefenbaker was gaining momentum and might actually win, and convinced his editors to allow him to stay with the Chief’s campaign for 40 days.
Clark Davey, former publisher of the Montreal Gazette, displaying a mock-up of the paper’s new Sunday edition in 1988.
Bill Grimshaw /
When Doyle became editor of the Globe in 1963, he chose Davey as his managing editor, and, according to Mills, the two raised the broadsheet’s reputation from that of a local paper to a national one. Davey was managing editor for 15 years before joining the Vancouver Sun in 1978. He was publisher there until 1983, when he took over at the Gazette. He was publisher of the Citizen from 1989 to 1993. He was also president and chair of The Canadian Press, and co-founder and president of the Michener Awards Foundation that oversees the country’s most prestigious journalism prize.“He was the true journalist of journalists,” says Kim Kierans, journalism professor at University of King’s College in Halifax and Michener Foundation board member. “He told me when I last saw him in November, ‘If we’re not providing the encouragement for journalism organizations and journalists within them to do the journalism that matters, then we’re in trouble as a democracy.’“He was also a lovely man, smart and sparkling … with incredible enthusiasm for the business and its future.”According to Mills, Davey, who in 2002 led a protest on the steps of the Ottawa Citizen after Mills was fired for running an editorial critical of then-prime minister Jean Chrétien, was known as tough and gruff, “but deep down he was a really kind and thoughtful person, and a very good friend who was always fair to people. But if you didn’t know him, he could be intimidating.”And although he called the shots on the job, it was Joyce who ruled the home roost. According to son Ric, his father only stopped the presses twice — once while at the Globe, when Joyce called him to report that she and Ric thought they had just seen a UFO.“That was the kind of pull she had over him,” says Ric.Clark Davey is survived by his wife, Joyce; brother Kenneth George; children Ric, Kevin and Clark Jr.; and grandchildren Jason, Nicole, Michael, Kira, Stephen and Christian.ALSO IN THE NEWS:No more extensions in LeBreton mediation, Heritage Minister saysFederal public servants, stressed over pay problems, set to rally in Ottawa on third Phoenix anniversaryAnalysis: City of Ottawa leaving it entirely up to other governments to fund future LRT projectsbdeachman@postmedia.com
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Damian Lillard lands mammoth shoe deal with Adidas
Damian Lillard has signed a new shoe deal with Adidas and it's one of the higher ones in the NBA
Damian Lillard lands mammoth shoe deal with Adidas Damian Lillard has signed a new shoe deal with Adidas and it's one of the higher ones in the NBA Check out this story on USATODAY.com: http://usat.ly/1kp6EKD
Sam Amick, USA TODAY Sports Published 12:00 p.m. ET April 14, 2014 | Updated 2:37 p.m. ET April 14, 2014
Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard has signed an extension with the team.(Photo: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sport)
Damian Lillard's banner year continued Monday, when the second-year Portland Trail Blazers point guard finalized a new shoe contract with Adidas that is believed to be among the most lucrative of any player in the NBA.
While the exact figures of the eight-year deal were not immediately known, a person with knowledge of the contract said it is smaller only than that of Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose (reportedly $185 million over 13 years with Adidas) and the Miami Heat's LeBron James (reportedly $20 million annually with Nike) among NBA players. If certain incentives are met, the deal could extend to 10 years. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the financial terms are not typically disclosed.
#4BARFRIDAY: Lillard's new rap-themed shoe
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In a news release, Adidas head of global basketball sports marketing Chris Grancio called Lillard "one of the cornerstones of the adidas brand."
The structure of Lillard's previous deal was such that he could opt out and renegotiate at this early juncture of his fasttrack career. Adidas would have had stiff competition if they waited any longer, as their window to have exclusive negotiating rights with his agent, Aaron Goodwin of Goodwin Sports Management, recently ended and Nike as well as the Jordan Brand were known to be very interested in luring Lillard away.
Adidas has endured a trying stretch when it comes to its top NBA talents, with Rose suffering devastating injuries in consecutive campaigns and Houston Rockets center Dwight Howard's star fading during his time with the Los Angeles Lakers last season. Lillard, whose team plays so close to Nike headquarters, will now be featured as the next great perimeter talent with widespread appeal. And with good reason.
Lillard,the Oakland, Calif. native and Weber State product who was drafted sixth overall by the Blazers, has been tremendous from the start. He won Rookie of the Year last season, then became an All-Star for the first time and led Portland to an unexpectedly-strong season (currently 53-28, fifth in the Western Conference) in his second act.
He made the most of All-Star weekend in New Orleans when it came to bettering his personal brand, becoming the first player in league history to take part in five events. Before playing in the game itself, Lillard took part in the slam dunk competition, the three-point contest, the Rising Stars game and the skills challenge. Comcast SportsNet NorthWest first reported that Lillard and Adidas were close to a deal.
VIDEO: Who's better, Kyrie Irving or Damian Lillard?
Eddie Johnson weighs in on the debate between the two young stars.
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Declines and Slow Recovery in Little Brown Bat Populations Predicted
Populations of bats diminished by white-nose syndrome (WNS), a disease of hibernating bats, are unlikely to return to healthy levels in the near future, according to new U.S. Geological Survey research.
USGS and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service scientists recently evaluated the potential for populations of little brown bats in the eastern United States that survive WNS outbreaks to repopulate. The scientists estimated that between 2016 and 2018, little brown bat populations that once contained millions of bats could decrease to lower than 100,000 animals. Also, some populations may not begin to increase again until around 2023. Populations east of the 100th meridian, the designation between the drier western and wetter eastern states, would likely consist of sparse remnant communities, some of which may be less than 1.5 percent of their original sizes.
This scarcity of surviving bats can negatively affect reproduction rates and make survivors more vulnerable to threats.
“With so few surviving animals, little brown bats could cease to be a dominant bat species in the eastern United States,” said USGS scientist Robin Russell, the lead author of the report. “These small bat population sizes are problematic because they are more likely to be wiped out by events such as poor weather conditions and landscape development.”
Animals in small communities could also have trouble finding mates. Female bats gathering in maternity roosts during the summer can include several hundred bats, and the inability to form these colonies due to reduced populations may negatively impact overall reproduction rates.
Bats pollinate plants, spread seeds and save us billions of dollars in pest control each year by eating harmful insects. WNS, caused by the Pseudogymnoascus destructans fungus, can cause up to 100 percent mortality in some little brown bat populations. It has already killed millions of hibernating bats in North America and continues to spread.
As part of a coordinated response to WNS, scientists from around the world are working to further understand the disease and conserve bat species affected by it. The USGS and USFWS are among numerous state, federal, tribal, private and university partners engaged in WNS research and response. Members of this community are pursuing multiple approaches to manage the disease, with treatment strategies to both reduce impacts of the disease and to improve the potential for bat populations to survive and eventually recover. This new study emphasizes the importance of continuing research on bat species affected by WNS to finding a solution for managing the disease.
For more information about USGS WNS research, please visit the USGS National Wildlife Health Center website.
Marisa Lubeck
Public Affairs Specialist
Email: mlubeck@usgs.gov
Gail Moede Rogall
USGS National Wildlife Health Center
Email: gmrogall@usgs.gov
Biology and Ecosystems:
National News Release:
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Coincidence and a search: English garden yields Watertown dog tag
Jillian Fennimore
Retired Brigadier Brian Parritt of Kent, England, made a discovery while digging through his garden; it was an old, rusted military tag engraved with the name Harry V. Queen of Olney Street in Watertown.
A dog tag left behind by a Watertown soldier was found in the backyard of a home in England last month.
Retired Brigadier Brian Parritt of Kent made a discovery while digging through his garden; it was an old, rusted military tag engraved with the name Harry V. Queen of Olney Street in Watertown. Found near the tag was a blue pin with the word “carbine,” a medal that Parritt said might have qualified Queen as a rifle marksman.
Parritt said his home in southeast England was used as headquarters for U.S. airmen in the 406th Fighter Group in 1944. When he found the dog tag, Parritt called his 11-year-old grandson, Henry Booth from Newton, to report the coincidence
“I didn’t believe it when I saw Watertown,” said Parritt via phone. “I remember stopping to buy ice cream there with my family.”
Henry, a World War II history buff in sixth grade, has the tag and hopes to return it to the Queen family. Harry Queen’s mother, Nellie Queen, was inscribed on the tag as his next of kin. Dog tags were worn by military personnel and are primarily used for the identification of dead and wounded. They also provide essential basic medical information.
“We thought it was an amazing coincidence that in all the cities and towns in the whole country, it was Watertown,” Henry said.
The family who now lives in the Olney Street residence said the name Queen does not ring a bell. The house was once a two-family home before the current residents moved in.
According to Veterans Service Officer Bob Erickson, the military tag is legitimate, according to Massachusetts war records. Erickson cautioned that some unscrupulous people create fake dog tags as scams.
Harry Queen was once a Watertown resident, born in Waltham in 1913. If Queen is still alive, he would be 94 years old. The ID numbers engraved on the tag enabled Erickson to look into Queen’s military background.
Queen was a sergeant in the Army Air Force, and enlisted on Jan. 13, 1943, at the age of 30. A certificate of honorable discharge found by Erickson notes that Queen separated from the military in November 1945 from Fort Devens in Massachusetts.
Parritt, a brigadier and former director of British Army Intelligence Corps, has lived in his home in England since 1973, and was familiar with the story of the fighter pilots and Army officers who took over the property for six months in preparation for D-Day.
“Their planes were all around the field,” he said. “They set up tents where my garden is now. They were brave young men.”
A week prior to the overseas discovery, Henry had spent time with his “Grandpop” Parritt to learn about the war from a British perspective.
“He came back quoting Winston Churchill,” said Henry’s mother, Julie Booth. “He goes around the house telling his two brothers, ‘We shall never surrender.’”
Henry said one day he hopes to become a diplomat like the United Kingdom’s former prime minister.
“I’d like to be able to bring countries together,” he said.
“Ambassador Booth,” his mother, Julie, chimed in.
Parritt said being able to share World War II history with his grandson and travel throughout the country was memorable.
“It made a strong emotional bond with him,” said Parritt.
Julie said finding the dog tag has created another bond between her son’s background.
“It links together his American and British heritage,” she said. “This is history come alive.”
Do you know Harry V. Queen?
Anyone with information on Watertown soldier Harry V. Queen, who once lived on Olney Street, is asked to contact Bob Erickson, Watertown’s veterans’ service officer, at 617-972-6416 or berickson@ci.watertown.ma.us.
About the 406th Fighter Group
According to www.406fightergroup.org, the young airmen fought their way across Europe during World War II and flew P-47 Thunderbolts:
“From D-Day to the Battle of the Bulge to final victory in Germany, the 406th was there front and center. They flew their first operational mission and got their first taste of war on May 9, 1944, from Ashford, Kent. The 406th were the first U.S. unit to shoot down a “Doodle Bug,” were the first aircraft over Omaha Beach and were the first unit to establish an advanced airstrip in France after D-Day.
- Watertown (Mass.) TAB
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Asheville Scavenger Hunt Adventure
Asheville Ghost Walking Tour
Downtown Asheville Walking Brewery Tour
Guided Stand Up Paddle Tour
Quality Inn & Suites Biltmore East
Comfort Inn West Asheville
Best Western of Asheville Biltmore East
Rodeway Inn & Suites At Biltmore Square
VACATIONS MADE EASY : DESTINATIONS : NC : ASHEVILLE, NC : LODGING
Renaissance Asheville Hotel
31 Woodfin Street Asheville, NC 28801
Paid Hot Breakfast Available
Refrigerators In All Rooms
Check in: 4:00 PM Check out: 11:00 AM
Renaissance Asheville Hotel Photos (13)
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Enjoy a stay at the Renaissance Asheville Hotel, located off Interstate 240 in the rugged hills of western North Carolina. The hotel is within walking distance of the Asheville Community Theatre and guests will enjoy the spectacular views of the Blue Ridges and the Smoky Mountains during their stay. While they are here, guests can also visit the famous Biltmore Estate & Wineries, the Chimney Road Park, and the North Carolina Arboretum, all within five miles of the hotel or take a scenic drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway.
The 271-room hotel is situated right in the heart of downtown Asheville. The hotel has such amenities generally found in Renaissance Hotels such as, free high-speed wireless internet access, 32-inch flat screen TV, 24-hour fitness center, indoor pool, whirlpool, concierge services, and gift shops/newsstands. Guests can enjoy dining in a casual restaurant and there also is a lobby lounge for dinning. The best feature about this hotel is the views of the mountains guests can enjoy from the comfort of their room.
The guest rooms come with the following amenities:
Bedding with Frette Italian sheets and down comforters
Private bathroom with shower/tub
Complimentary designers toiletries
Cable programming
The Renaissance Asheville Hotel is located within walking distance near a variety of restaurants in the area. There are more than 22 restaurants serving such dishes like Southern cooking, Mexican, Caribbean, Japanese, French, Seafood and Cajun/Creole. Finally, there is also the Botanical Gardens at Asheville less than three miles away.
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PS4 Pro Review: High Performance Gaming Pros And Cons
November 7, 2016 at 1:38 pm by Darren Wall
Set to launch to the general public on November 10. Sony’s mid-generation update, the PS4 Pro, is about to make super high-definition gaming a reality. But is this a console worth paying $100 more for? We’re going to take a look at what’s on offer and try to answer that question.
Image Source: Sony
Why choose a PS4 Pro?
According to Sony, its latest console will usher in a whole new world of high-def gaming because it will be the world’s first-ever 4K console. However, that’s not all; the console also features much more powerful hardware which will make older games run faster and new games look amazing on compatible television sets.
And while the design of the PS4 Pro isn’t miles apart from the slimmer PS4, the difference is obvious. The new device is about one-and-a-half times its height when lying flat on its back, which makes it not the sleekest or most attractive console available; however, the matte black finish is an improvement.
Image Source: Sony.com
The reason most people over the years have chosen to purchase a console over a gaming PC is simple. What you play on your console is identical to what your friend is playing on his/her console. However, with the PS4 Pro, Sony has introduced a new variant that changes this once-sacred reason for console gaming. The difference is the need to have a 4K television to see visual improvements in graphics output.
If you own an older 1080p TV, buying a PS4 Pro will provide you with some benefits, such as being able to play your favorite games at an improved frame rate and the possibility that some (not all) games will see an improvement in textures. However, the console was not designed to be played at 1080p, so to get your money’s worth, a 4K TV is required.
Graphics performance
Assuming that you’re PS4 Pro-ready and have a 4K TV already set up, you’re going to benefit more than those who choose to stick with 1080p. But if along with 4K, your television is capable of handling HDR, your games will get a face-lift. With the two technologies, combined games like Second Son are dramatically altered with contrast and particle effects significantly improved.
However, they won’t look like games on high-end PCs because the PS4 isn’t capable of outputting native 4K for every game. Some games support Pro Mode, but right now 4K is achieved via upscaling to the required resolution. What this means is that older games won’t have the 4K polish you’re expecting, but most new games will. Having said that, no game on the PS4 Pro is going to compete graphically with PC-quality gaming.
While there are connectivity differences between the Pro and PS4 Slim, the latest isn’t offering many. There is an extra USB 3.0 port, plus an optical audio port which isn’t available on the PS4. Additionally, there’s an HDMI 2.0 port for the output of 4K, but that’s where the connectivity differences end.
UI, software and power
Sadly the PS4 Pro does not offer support for 4K Blu-ray playback, but it does have higher-speed 802.11ac wi-fi. There’s really nothing new with the UI; it’s mostly the same as what’s on the PS4. However, there has been a significant improvement in the internal components of the console.
While the standard PS4 and the PS4 Pro do have the same AMD Jaguar processor, the Pro’s chip has been overclocked to go from 1.6Ghz to 2.1Ghz, which results in a faster device. However, of more importance to graphics is the GPU, and this has also been tweaked up from 1.8 teraflops to 4.2 teraflops. This tweaking begs the questions of how much heat the PS4 Pro will produce and how much noise its internal fans will make.
Additionally, the PS4 Pro has 1GB of extra DRAM compared to the older console. This will apparently help it move between apps faster.
Source: Pixabay
Strangely, Sony has been quite tight-lipped about the benefits the PS4 Pro can offer PSVR users. Early reports from owners of the older PS4 who have the VR headset suggest that the device works perfectly. Those who’ve been able to test VR on the Pro say that they have not seen any significant improvement.
If you believed the early hype surrounding the PS4 Pro and VR, it could offer an improvement in the future. It could be that the PSVR was originally designed for the PS4 before the Pro was a concept, and it may just take developers a while to catch up.
With this new console comes the tweaked DualShock 4 controller. The major new addition is a light strip above the middle trackpad. The lights on this strip match the colors seen on the console; this allows a user to know the controller status. This isn’t a huge upgrade, but it does enable quick and easy understanding without the need to turn the controller around.
Other than that, it is virtually identical to its older sibling. The dual-analog sticks are the same, and the face buttons and direction pad are too. In fact, the shoulder buttons, touchpad, speaker, and color have not changed at all
Should you upgrade?
According to Sony, the PS4 Pro is not the next generation. It’s merely an iteration that fills the technology gap and an addition to the PS4 family. And while it is ultimately much more powerful than its predecessor, it won’t offer much for users playing unpatched games.
So if you haven’t purchased a 4K TV yet, our advice would be to wait and stick with your PS4. However, if you don’t have a console and already own a 4K television capable of HDR, it’s worth getting a PS4 Pro because you can use all the benefits.
Author: Darren WallDarren is a proud father of two and a dedicated mobile technology writer from the UK. He's been writing about all things mobile, wearable, apps and anything else tech related for many years now for various sites all over the world.
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Is Justin Amash Running for President?
Tina Nguyen
Can Joe Biden Recover After That Debate-Night Thrashing?
What Biden Should Learn from the McConnell vs Jon Stewart Showdown
Coldcocked by Kamala, Joe Biden Goes on Offense
Blue Is the New Red
One of the hoariest truisms—“What goes around comes around”—is about to get a real workout in Washington as the Democrats take the Hill. The author wonders how deep the change will go.
Todd Purdum
*In a 20-page portfolio in the February 2007 issue,*V.F.reflects on the new calculus of power, on both sides of the aisle, with its portents of deals to be struck, battles to be waged, and betrayals to be forgiven. This essay is Todd S. Purdum’s introduction to the portfolio.
The Speaker: Representative Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California. Photographed by Jonas Karlsson at the House of Representatives entrance to the U.S. Capitol Building, in Washington, D.C. For more great images of Washington’s new ruling class, see the February 2007 issue.
On the eve of the election last November, Jon Stewart, the most trusted fake newsman in America, began The Daily Show, on Comedy Central, with an animated musical primer on the next day’s festivities, recycled from 2002. Its singsong refrain epitomized Stewart’s fashionably wised-up view of what he (or his writers) once called Democracy Inaction:
*Midterm elections, they come right in the middle.
Midterm elections, they matter quite a little.*
In fact, the 2006 midterms may well be one of those Washington moments that matter quite a lot—a take-stock Tuesday when weather systems that had been building for months suddenly made the wind shift. The Democrats took control of both the House and the Senate for the first time since 1994—and put George W. Bush on the defensive overnight—with the same rallying cry the Republicans had used in the 1946 midterms, which put them back in charge for the first time since before the Great Depression: “Had enough?”
By Wednesday morning, the capital was a new town, a blue town—at least on the east end of Pennsylvania Avenue. And the differences were immediately apparent. Hello, Speaker Pelosi! Secretary Rumsfeld? Bye-bye! If only for a flash, a fresh sense of possibility permeated a city that is built, after all, on a drained swamp. Might bipartisan consensus on immigration reform really be possible? Had the politics of centrist coalition-building trumped Karl Rove’s skillfully stoked appeals to the conservative base?
Looking at the bright-eyed congressional freshmen lined up on the Capitol steps for their iconic class picture, it was hard not to wonder who among them might be destined for glory, or shame. The 1946 midterms produced Representatives John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon—and Senator Joseph R. McCarthy—and the 1978 midterms first brought Dick Cheney and Newt Gingrich to the people’s house. Is there a president, or a poltroon, in the current crop?
In the accompanying portfolio, Vanity Fair presents some of those fresh faces, along with a few old, familiar ones—from Representative John Dingell’s to Senator Trent Lott’s—that have suddenly been revived with a shot or two of electoral Restylane. There are portraits of Young Turks and Old Bulls and Power Brokers of every stripe. And a snapshot or two of Those Who Would Be King.
If this was an election in which new media flowered (think of that YouTube clip of Representative Sue Kelly, of New York, running away from a TV news crew that wanted to question her about disgraced congressman Mark Foley’s come-ons to Capitol Hill pages), it was also one in which old media flourished, including those ever reliable improvised explosive devices—otherwise known as books—that showed how Bush’s State of Denial had made Iraq into a Fiasco.
By Thanksgiving, a good deal of the good feeling had already dissipated. President Bush sent a raft of controversial conservative judicial nominees back to the lame-duck Senate and vowed not to leave Iraq till the job was done, whatever the voters might have been saying. Democrats were pledging to investigate the Bush administration’s transgressions, and squabbling over proposals to reinstate the draft.
The Independent: Senator Joseph Lieberman, of Connecticut. Photographed by Gasper Tringale at the Stamford Fire and Rescue Headquarters, in Stamford, Connecticut. For more great images of Washington’s new ruling class, see the February 2007 issue.
Among Republicans, the recriminations were well under way. The dwindling ranks of the party’s moderates saw in the election results a repudiation of Bush and Rove’s build-the-base electoral strategy. Conservatives and the Christian right were just as sure that the answer would be more of that Old Time Religion. No less an expert than Newt Gingrich, the Moses who in 1994 led the Republicans out of 40 years in the congressional wilderness, warned after Election Day that his party should not assume it will be easy to win back the majority. He noted that after Republicans last lost their House advantage, halfway through Dwight D. Eisenhower’s first term, they could not manage to regain it even in the Republican presidential landslides of 1972 and 1984.
On the other hand, the Democrats may have an even harder time ahead. The fragility of their one-vote majority was underlined in mid-December, when Senator Tim Johnson of South Dakota underwent emergency surgery for bleeding in the brain that set off immediate, and perhaps inevitable, speculation about what would happen if he should not recover. If the Democrats are seen as having “won,” but do little to change the course that the voters rejected—after all, the president still has a decided upper hand on Iraq and on foreign policy in general—the voters’ fickle fingers may point right back at them in 2008. They would do well to remember that the 1946 Republican majority that mocked the Democrat in the White House by saying, “To err is Truman,” was given hell by Harry just two years later as “the Do-Nothing 80th Congress” and was turned out on its ear.
Change—real change—is always hard to come by in hidebound Washington, and the 110th Congress may well prove that rule. A year that began with Republican congressional leaders vowing to overhaul ethics and lobbying rules (in response to the Jack Abramoff influence-peddling scandal) ended with word that Democratic representative John Murtha of Pennsylvania, Speaker Pelosi’s rejected choice as her deputy, had denounced her proposed ethics-reform package as “total crap.”
The most dewy-eyed idealist could be forgiven for accepting the wisdom of Henry Fountain Ashurst, the Democrat who served as Arizona’s first senior senator, from Woodrow Wilson’s first term through Franklin D. Roosevelt’s second. “When I have to choose between voting for the people or the special interests,” Ashurst once said, “I always stick to the special interests. They remember. The people forget.”
And so, Dear Voter, take a steady gander at the men and women depicted here. Take their measure. And try to remember the promises, and the spirit of promise, they represent.
Todd S. Purdum is *Vanity Fair’*s national editor.
House Democrats Just Shot Down an Attempt to Impeach Trump
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Laura Bradley
Lori Loughlin’s New Hat Hollers, “Do Not Look at Me!”
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Home › Personalized Highway Distance Sign To: Mercedes-Benz Stadium, New Home of the Atlanta Falcons
Personalized Highway Distance Sign To: Mercedes-Benz Stadium, New Home of the Atlanta Falcons
12" x 8" - $ 19.95 USD 7" x 5" - $ 12.95 USD 18" x 12" - $ 34.95 USD
Calculated Miles
Our personalized Highway Distance Sign to the Mercedes-Benz Stadium is the perfect gift for your favorite Atlanta Football Fan!
Each sign is individually personalized with the total driving distance to Mercedes-Benz Stadium (1 AMB Drive NW, Atlanta, GA 30313). ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Personalized Highway Distance Sign To: Broncos Stadium at Mile High, Home of the Denver Broncos
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Interview: Peluché | LeeFest 2016
Before we see them play LeeFest at the end of the month, we asked previous SOTW-band Peluché what the hell they're all about.
Chris Patmore
London three-piece Peluché (Spanish for teddy bear or cuddly toy) are one of those hard-to-categorise bands. Even they struggled to come up with a description when asked about their sound. Their answers came in single words, "experimental", "happy", "instrumental", "mysterious", although that possibly only scratches the surface.
While most people will agree that trying to label music is something of a futile pursuit, the word that wasn't offered was "original". Peluché play Peluché music and it certainly piqued the interest of renowned producer Dan Carey, who released one of their songs on his Speedy Wunderground label, which was also included on the label's recent compilation album along with artists such as Kate Tempest and Teleman. So how did these quietly spoken young ladies get chosen to be part of Carey's project?
"Our manager sent some of our songs to Dan, because we always wanted to record something with him", said Sophie. "Then we got a call the next day asking if he could come to our gig, and then he invited us to the studio two days after that, and we recorded the songs." Amy added that although they had a few songs in mind, in the end they went for the latest song they had written. "It was sort of unfinished", continued Sophie. The ethos behind Speedy Wunderground is a fast turnaround in terms of both recording and releasing, something that doesn't appeal to everyone.
"It was really good", said Amy. "It didn't feel rushed."
"That's what we're like", added Rhapsody. "Normally we will write two or three songs every time we jam."
"And we always want to play them live straight away, which some people think is not a good thing to do because we should perfect it", continued Amy. "Sometimes it goes really well, and sometimes it goes badly."
"That may be why no one can describe us, because all the songs are different. And it's nice because nowadays everything has to be mixed so perfectly", said Rhapsody.
Sophie added that one of the things they liked about working with Dan was that everything was recorded live, and they only did four takes and added a few layers afterwards. She went on to say that Dan did all the production on the song, and as soon as he first heard it he had an idea of what he wanted to do with it. As a result, Alexis from Speedy Wunderground has mixed Peluché's forthcoming EP, which they self recorded and produced, and is scheduled for release in October.
The conversation soon moved on to the state of the music industry and the importance of trying to remain independent, without sacrificing creative freedom and still being able to make a living. "We've been talking about putting on a monthly event in a really small venue where we play and invite other bands", said Amy. "We'd charge £3 so that we can pay people because you can't keep doing gigs for free. We've done gigs for free, before." Rhapsody added, "It often ends up costing to play because of travelling with all the equipment."
The subject of the availability of music venues in London for independent artists was soon broached. With some of the city's best-known venues changing hands after corporate buy-outs, and others being shut down entirely, it seems like the lot of indie musicians is not improving. "When we started getting good gigs, we would have bands come up to us and ask us how we got the gig at, say, The Old Blue Last?" said Sophie. "You try and help out by saying who put you on, but now it seems like it's more of a closed door, so that only certain people can play these places."
For musicians, there are essentially two places to play, in the studio or on stage (and hopefully with an audience). Some prefer the solitude of recording, while others like the thrill of performing live. Almost unsurprisingly, Peluché's preference is for the studio. "I just like going into the rehearsal space and not think about anything", said Rhapsody. Sophie echoed that, adding she liked recording, listening back and adding stuff. Amy said she loved playing live also, especially towards the end of a tour. Sophie said, "It's really difficult for us because we always play for crowds that have never heard us. The only ones that have are our friends, so every time we play it is trying to win over a whole room." Amy added that they change their set so often that even if someone had seen them before they wouldn't necessarily know the songs.
In what we laughingly call Summer, it is music festival season throughout the UK and across Europe. Just mentioning Europe immediately brought up the results of the recent referendum to leave the EU and how it will most likely have a negative effect for touring bands. It also led to a general rant about the small-mindedness of the "leavers", which doesn't need to be recounted verbatim here. Meanwhile in the UK, there is no doubt that we're saturated (and not just from the inevitable rain) with festivals of all sizes and persuasions, from large and corporate-backed, to niche indie festivals that support acts like Peluché.
The general consensus on deciding which festivals to play was, "We'll take anything [laughter], but we will look and see who else is playing there." This year they are playing Latitude, Standon Calling, Leefest and Farmfest, all festivals with a generally laid back family atmosphere, as well as She's the Fest in Spain – a festival dedicated to female artists. The subject of female representation on festival stages was raised, and the conclusion was that major festivals need big-name crowd pleasers, while the smaller festivals, such as LeeFest, are more open to putting on bands for their music, regardless of gender, and also supporting up-and-coming acts.
"It's great that such places are interested in what we are doing and ask us to play", said Sophie. "We should be really thankful, when there are so many amazing bands out there."
If you want to see Peluché perform in a unique setting, then get down to LeeFest's The Neverland, 29/07/16 or, better still, stay for the whole three days - like us!
Get LeeFest tickets
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WETEX 2017 and Dubai Solar Show showcase crucial renewable and clean energy solutions from October 23-25
Dubai, UAE, 2 August 2017: Renewable and clean energy solutions and technologies are the top priorities of the 19th Water, Energy and Environment, Technology Exhibition (WETEX) 2017, organized by Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) from 23 to 25 October. The exhibition, held under the directive of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and the patronage of HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, Minister of Finance and Chairman of DEWA, to achieve Dubai’s vision of building a sustainable future for the Emirate. WETEX, the largest exhibition of its kind in the region, coincides with the second Dubai Solar Show, which highlights the latest innovations in the solar sector, showcases the region's largest solar projects and provides a unique platform for building partnerships with all government and private sectors to develop innovative energy solutions.
The two exhibitions will highlight DEWA’s Shams Dubai initiative, in support of the Smart Dubai Initiative, launched by HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, to make Dubai the world's smartest and most successful city by encouraging homeowners to install photovoltaic (PV) panels connected to DEWA’s network on the roofs of their buildings to produce electricity. Such initiatives will increase reliance on clean energy and the buildings’ share in the energy mix, as well as engage the public in reducing the carbon footprint in Dubai.
"WETEX 2017 and the second Dubai Solar Show are ideal platforms to showcase the latest developments, solutions and technologies in the field of renewable and clean energy. Shams Dubai contributes to the establishment of a sustainable energy model that promotes Dubai’s economic growth without harming the environment or its resources. It supports the long term national initiative launched by HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, under the theme ‘Green Economy for Sustainable Development’, to build a green economy in the UAE, which contributes towards the optimal implementation of the UAE Vision 2021,” said HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of DEWA, and Founder and Chairman of WETEX.
“Solar energy is one of the most preferred energy sources in the Middle East. Due to the region's unique geographic location around the solar belt, it receives a large amount of solar radiation. The UAE, under the directives of our wise leadership, has been gearing up to say goodbye to the last drop of oil by investing in energy production projects by using different solar technologies. DEWA is therefore keen to encourage research and development in this area to promote energy security and sustainability as the most important forms of safe, unlimited energy. It is a source that does not cause any carbon emissions, which makes it healthy and environmentally friendly. This form of energy reduces our dependence on traditional non-renewable sources of energy such as gas, oil, and coal,” added Al Tayer.
“DEWA invests in innovation in the fields of clean and renewable energy technologies. In the words of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum: ‘Every investment in the development of clean energy sources is at the same time an investment to protect the environment for future generations.’ Shams Dubai is a key part of the Dubai Clean Energy 2050, which aims to transform the Emirate into a global centre for clean energy and green economy and increase clean energy in Dubai to 75% by 2050,” added Al Tayer.
Al Tayer praised the efforts of institutions and individuals who have participated in the Shams Dubai initiative and have already installed photovoltaic panels on 433 buildings with a total capacity of 14.6 megawatts (MW). The number of panels is expected to double in the future to eventually cover all buildings in the Emirate by 2030. Requests to connect solar energy, with a total capacity of 170MW, have been submitted to DEWA. This clean energy capacity is enough to meet the demands of 30,000 homes, which is equivalent to a decrease of approximately 150,000 tonnes of carbon emissions per year, equivalent to planting 170,000 new trees annually.
As for the installation of solar energy systems in the buildings under Shams Dubai initiative, Al Tayer said, "The first step for the customer is to consult a DEWA accredited consultant or contractor for feasibility and to propose the best solutions appropriate to the location. After that, the consultant or contractor should obtain the necessary approvals from DEWA, which include a No Objection Certificate (NOC) to install the solar system and connect it to DEWA’s network, as well as to obtain an approval of the solar system design, ensuring that it meets all the requirements. After obtaining all the required approvals, the consultant or contractor shall carry out the technical works on the site. Upon completing the installation, he should submit a notice to DEWA to conduct a technical inspection of the site, install a meter to understand the generation pattern, and complete the connection with the DEWA’s network. Once completed, electricity production will start from the solar system unit.”
DEWA has recently launched the ‘Shams Dubai Energy Calculator’ on its website to support customers’ decision to install solar panels on rooftops by providing detailed comparisons and additional information with ease through the use of innovative tools. Customers wishing to access the Shams Dubai Energy Calculator can visit DEWA website http://www.dewa.gov.ae/shamscalc as part of DEWA’s Smart Initiatives. DEWA also provides all information and conditions required for the installation of solar panels on building, in addition to the names of contractors and consultants accredited for the installation of photovoltaic systems.
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Tray Chaney Checks Out the Neighborhood in “S.A.M (Strictly About Music)” Video
D3Vision via YouTube
Tray Chaney is a multi-talented artist from Maryland, first becoming popular from his role as Poot in the inimitable television show The Wire. In addition to acting, he is a rapper, and recently shared the video for his song "S.A.M (Strictly About Music)," showing his commitment to hip-hop.
The video, which is co-directed by D3V and Chaney himself, starts with up-close shots of Chaney strolling through an unnamed neighborhood and rapping. Scenes of him recording the song in a studio as the producer works on the track are shown. Tray performs most of his verses in front of street art and graffiti, and seemingly gets more animated as the visual goes on.
Over the old-school rap influenced (yet still modern) beat, Tray raps about his journey through life. "I took the man route, never needed no handout/No sleep is what it took to stand out," he raps, showing that it took hustle for things to work. "I heard a thousand no's before I heard a yes/That's why after every show, I beat on my chest/Didn't do it by myself, but I did do it/Whether rain, sleet or snow, It was still movin'."
He also gives a nod to his hometown later in the first verse: "I'm a different pedigree/Without rhymin' 'bout weaponry/ the world still accepting me, the DMV is reppin' me/I'm on TV every week, that's how you know it's real/But, don't get it twisted, I'm still the same Tray from Forestville."
Tray Chaney is currently on Bounce TV's show Saints and Sinners, and dropped another music video, "You Think You Know," earlier this year. He's also working on bringing a film about Bay area legend Mac Dre to life in 2014.
Watch Tray Chaney's "S.A.M (Strictly About Music)" video below.
See New Music Releases for May 2018
Filed Under: Tray Chaney
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DJ Khaled’s “No Brainer” Enters Billboard Hot 100 Top Five
Kairi Coe
DJKhaledVEVO via YouTube
DJ Khaled's latest single just made its Billboard Hot 100 debut in a major way.
The Miami-based producer's "No Brainer" track, which reunites him with Justin Bieber, Quavo and Chance The Rapper, landed at No. 5 on the chart its first week. This is Khaled's fourth top 10 single—the other three being "I'm On One," "Wild Thoughts" and "I'm The One," which peaked at No. 1 in May 2017. This also notably marks the Biebs' 14th Hot 100 top 10.
Khaled's been quite a busy man in recent months. Aside from his stint on FOX's The Four, the veteran beatmaker is wrapping up his forthcoming album, Father of Asahd. Underneath a recent photo with Big Sean, Khaled wrote "The cook up never stops ! FATHER OF ASAHD THE ALBUM IN WORKS .. making FATHER OF ASAHD ITS ALL ABOUT THE GREAT VIBES." In March, DJ Khaled unveiled an open letter to his son, who's clearly the inspiration behind the upcoming LP.
He's currently opening up for JAY-Z and Beyonce on their On the Run II Tour, in which he's already brought out several rappers for surprise performances. For the New Jersey dates last week, the hitmaker tapped Jim Jones, A$AP Ferg and 2018 XXL Freshman BlocBoy JB to join him on stage. Khaled previously collaborated with Jay, Bey and Future on "Top Off" earlier this year.
See Photos of Chance The Rapper's Different Looks Over the Years
Filed Under: Chance The Rapper, DJ Khaled, Justin Bieber, Quavo
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What is the Longest River in Australia?
Although Australia may not be known for its rivers, it’s home to some significant ones. This includes its longest, the Murray River. This one is located in southeastern Australia, making up much of the border between New South Wales and Victoria before heading into South Australia and emptying into Lake Alexandrina, a 250-square body of water, and then the Southern Ocean. Lake Alexandrina is located 60 miles southeast of Adelaide.
The longest river in Australia has varying reports as to is total length due to the various definitions of where it starts. The consensus is that it’s the country’s longest regardless of its exact length. Most estimates put it between 1,450-1,600 miles long, making it roughly a third of the length of the world’s longest river, the Amazon.
Geoscience Australia, a research agency run by the Australian government, has defined the Murray River’s length is 1,558 miles.
From the Alps
No, not those Alps, not the ones that stretch across eight European countries. Where the Murray River originates is the Australian Alps, this continent’s highest mountain range. This is where Australia’s highest peaks are located, ones that reach at least 6,600 feet in elevation, and it’s here where snow becomes water and makes its way along the Murray River.
Murray River Trail
Would you like to experience the longest river in Australia up close and personal? Head out on the Murray River Trail, which provides opportunities to explore its river towns and the landscapes that can be viewed along this waterway.
Navigate it instead
About 1,240 miles of the Murray River is navigable, which means that it’s the world’s third-longest navigable river. The only ones with more navigable mileage are the Amazon and Nile Rivers. For that reason, many pass on taking advantage of what the Murray River Trail has to offer and instead just get on the water. In most sections of the river, its conditions are quiet and peaceful.
Are you hungry?
Nineteen out of every 20 oranges produced in Australia are created in the Murray-Darling Basin while slightly more than half of Australia’s apples are also produced in this region. Additionally, the Murray River is the source of water for more than a million Australian households.
Too much water!
Although Aussies are thankful for how much the Murray River provides to their country, there was a time when this waterway was filled with way too much water: the 1956 Murray River flood. Some areas of the river were flooded 60 miles from where it usually flows. Fortunately, nobody died as a result of this disaster.
Other Australian rivers of note
The Darling River, Australia’s second-longest at 960 miles according to Geoscience Australia, connects with the Murray River in Wentworth. It gets its start well to the northeast of Adelaide, towards Brisbane, before making its way through much of the outback. However, it should be noted that it sometimes gets so dry that it doesn’t really flow for part of its length.
The third-longest river in Australia is also a tributary of the Murray River. It’s the Murrumbidgee River. It gets its start just southeast of Canberra before meeting up with the Murray River at Boundary Bend in an area just east of Mildura. According to Geoscience Australia, this river’s length is 925 miles. Several Aboriginal tribes have traditional lands along this river as well.
Australia’s fourth-longest river is the Lachlan River, which is a tributary of the Murrumbidgee River. Most notably, it’s got wetlands along its entire length, which is atypical for Australian rivers.
Enough about the Murray River and its tributaries!
But you want to know the longest river in Australia that is not at all connected with the Murray River? That would be Cooper Creek. It’s 690 miles long and located to the north of Adelaide. A lot of history exists in connection to this waterway as Indigenous Australians have lived here for 50,000 years. Meanwhile, it’s perhaps best known as where the Burke and Willis expedition, which went from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria and almost all of the way back, met its tragic end with the deaths of Robert O’Hara Burke and William John Willis in 1861.
Meanwhile, the longest river outside of southeastern Australia is the Flinders River, which comes in at 625 miles. It’s located in Queensland, getting its start in the Great Dividing Range before heading northwest towards and into the Gulf of Carpentaria. Burke and Willis met their turnaround point here. This river has never had many people live around it, and it’s, for the most part, undeveloped. However, a number of Indigenous Australians have lived in the area over the years. Today, about 7,000 live in the area.
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Heart ailments, infectious diseases and cancer…
Heart ailments, infectious diseases and cancer are world’s top 3 killers
PUBLISHED: October 28, 2008 at 12:00 am | UPDATED: August 30, 2017 at 12:56 pm
GENEVA – Heart ailments, infectious diseases and cancer remain the world’s top three killers, the U.N. health agency said Monday.
Heart attacks and related problems are the top killer – especially among women – claiming 29 percent of people who die each year, the World Health Organization said in a report on the global burden of disease. In second place, infectious diseases lead to 16.2 percent of worldwide deaths.
Cancer, in third, claims 12.6 percent of global deaths, said the 146-page report, which is based on death registration data from 112 countries and estimates where reporting is incomplete.
The figures are from 2004, the most recent records available on a wide scale, officials from WHO said. But the rankings are unchanged since 1990 when WHO first did a global check.
Some 58.8 million people died worldwide in 2004, most of them over 60, the report said. Nearly one in five deaths was a child under 5.
The heart disease death rate was virtually unchanged from WHO’s previous study on death causes, based on 2002 figures.
The rate for infectious diseases dropped from 2002, when they accounted for 19.1 of the world’s deaths, partly because estimates for AIDS deaths were revised downward last year, said Colin Mathers, a WHO expert and lead author of the report.
Women die more often from heart disease than men. The rate for females is 31.5 percent, and for males 26.8 percent, the report said.
Mathers said the percentage for women was higher because there were more women living at older ages than men.
But in general, men are more affected by heart diseases, he said.
“Men in many parts of the world have a higher risk,” he said, adding that they are more often overweight or obese, get insufficient physical activity and eat more fat and salt.
Dr. Nieca Goldberg, an American Heart Association spokeswoman who was not linked to the WHO report, said: “Oftentimes women’s symptoms are more subtle than men’s so they are not recognized and the women don’t seek medical attention as soon as they should.”
“For a long time cardiovascular disease was considered a man’s disease,” Goldberg said in an interview. Doctors therefore often failed to evaluate risk factors in women as aggressively as they should, she said.
Higher rates of women in deaths from heart diseases have been observed since 1984 in the United States, according to Goldberg.
Filling out the top 12 causes of death are respiratory infections including pneumonia in fourth place, 7.2 percent; respiratory diseases, including asthma and allergies, 6.9 percent; accidental injuries and drownings, 6.6 percent; health problems of fetuses and newborns, 5.4 percent; digestive diseases, 3.5 percent; suicide, murder and conflict, 2.8 percent; neuropsychiatric disorders, 2.1 percent; diabetes, 1.9 percent; and maternal health problems related to pregnancy or birth 0.9 percent.
Dr. Ties Boerma, who heads WHO’s statistics department, said there is always a time delay in assembling such data from a number of countries.
“Countries have a backlog of two, three years in publicizing their own information,” he said.
In nations where no death registration data are available, the figures are taken from research studies, which take a few years to get published, Boerma said.
http://www.who.int/healthinfo/global-burden-disease/2004-report-upda te/en/index. html
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US-Mexico groups urges US assault weapons ban
PUBLISHED: October 14, 2009 at 12:00 am | UPDATED: August 29, 2017 at 11:12 am
MEXICO CITY – The United States should reinstate a Clinton-era ban on assault weapons to prevent such guns from reaching Mexican drug cartels, former officials from both countries said in a report released Tuesday.
The group, which includes two former U.S. ambassadors to Mexico, also said the U.S. should do more to stop the smuggling of firearms and ammunition into Mexico by stepping up investigations of gun dealers and more strictly regulating gun shows.
The Binational Task Force on the United States-Mexico Border listed the assault weapons ban as a step the U.S. should take immediately to improve security in both countries. The 10-year ban expired in 2004.
“Improving our efforts … will weaken the drug cartels and disrupt their illegal activities, and make it easier ultimately to dismantle and destroy them,” said Robert Bonner, co-chairman of the group and former head of both the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and Customs and Border Protection agency.
U.S. and Mexican officials say drug cartels frequently use assault rifles, which are banned in Mexico but easily purchased in the United States.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon launched a nationwide crackdown on drug cartels when he took office in December 2006. The offensive has been met with unprecedented violence, leaving more than 13,800 people dead.
During his run for office, President Barack Obama promised to push to reinstate the ban. He has since said he would rather enforce existing laws that make it illegal to send assault weapons across the border.
Other recommendations related to border security included restructuring Mexico’s law enforcement operations to create a counterpart to the U.S. Border Patrol, increasing U.S. assistance to Mexico to build up law enforcement and reducing demand for drugs in the United States through more treatment programs.
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36 percent of IE families struggle to stay…
36 percent of IE families struggle to stay afloat financially, report says
One in three households in California struggle to meet their basic needs each month. The report, titled “Struggling to Stay Afloat,” measures the estimated cost of supporting a family based on county-specific expenses across the state, according to a study by the United Way organizations of California. (Image courtesy of the public domain)
By Gregory Bradbard | info@hthf.org | Hope Through Housing Foundation
PUBLISHED: July 11, 2018 at 11:48 am | UPDATED: July 11, 2018 at 11:48 am
According to a study recently released by the United Ways of California, one in three households in California struggle to meet their basic needs each month. The report, titled “Struggling to Stay Afloat,” measures the estimated cost of supporting a family based on county-specific expenses across the state.
The Real Cost Measure, or RCM, uses a budget model that calculates the estimated basic needs cost for families of varying sizes, and compares the level of income needed to fully support a household from community to community. Housing, food, healthcare, transportation, childcare, taxes, and miscellaneous costs are included in the formula. Overall, the study found that 33 percent — or nearly 3.3 million California families – lack sufficient income to meet their basic costs of living.
In the Inland Empire more than 55 percent of families with children under age 6 struggle financially, and more than 70 percent of single mothers fall below the RCM, according to a study recently released by the United Ways of California. (Image courtesy of the public domain)
In the Inland Empire, it’s worse. The report shows 36 percent of families are struggling to make ends meet, slightly higher than the state average. A total of 369,301 households in the region live below the RCM, according to the research. More specifically, more than 55 percent of families with children under age 6 struggle financially, and more than 70 percent of single mothers fall below the RCM.
The data powerfully demonstrates that simply having a job is not enough to support a family. According to the study, a family of four in the Inland Empire would need to hold two to three full-time, minimum-wage jobs to achieve economic security.
“Like the rest of the state, we see a significant proportion of households in San Bernardino and Riverside counties paying a significant amount of their income on housing,” said Henry Gascon, one of the study’s authors. “At least 200,000 households in San Bernardino, for example, are paying more than 30 percent of their income on housing, compared to nearly 225,000 in Riverside County. That’s almost 40 percent of households in both of those counties. That housing burden is significantly higher the deeper families fall into poverty.”
A key finding in the report is the fact that housing costs occupy a disproportionate share of most family budgets across the state. Not only do most struggling families spend over half of their income on housing, but for those living below the federal poverty level (a family of four making less than $25,100 annually), housing can eat up a staggering 79 percent of their monthly income.
Although housing costs are less expensive in the Inland Empire compared with those closer to the coast, families still pay a significant amount of their income into housing. As Gascon pointed out, “Inland Empire families often have to stretch their dollars further due to the lack of high-earning job opportunities in the region. Median household income in both San Bernardino and Riverside County are at least $10,000 below the state average.”
The report concludes with several recommendations including the need to increase housing stock and prioritize help for renters. California currently has one of the lowest rates of affordable rental housing units for low-income households in the entire nation. Increasing housing of all kinds, for individuals of all income levels, while providing additional housing supports for the lowest income families, will slowly help reduce the region’s extreme housing burden.
To dig into more of Struggling to Stay Afloat and to draw your own conclusions, go to unitedwaysca.org/realcost. The data speaks for itself.
Gregory Bradbard is an advocate for breaking the cycle of poverty as president of the SoCal-based Hope Through Housing Foundation at HTHF.org.
Pico Rivera residents launch recall of 2 El Rancho Unified school board members
Gregory Bradbard
Gregory (Greg) Bradbard is president of the Hope through Housing Foundation and National CORE’s senior vice president of strategic partnerships.
Home prices continue to climb with San Bernardino County seeing largest annual increase
Business briefly: Lead paint suppliers settle California suit for $305 million
Almost 40% of U.S. homes are ‘free and clear’ of a mortgage
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Dodgers collapse around Clayton Kershaw, lose…
Dodgers collapse around Clayton Kershaw, lose NLCS opener to Brewers
The Brewers’ Manny Pina, left, and Orlando Arcia celebrate after both scored on a two-run double by Domingo Santana as Dodgers starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw shows his frustration during the fourth inning of Game 1 of the NLCS on Friday night in Milwaukee. Kershaw was charged with five runs (four earned) in his three-plus innings. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
By Bill Plunkett | bplunkett@scng.com | Orange County Register
PUBLISHED: October 12, 2018 at 9:20 pm | UPDATED: October 12, 2018 at 11:11 pm
Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Kenta Maeda (18) throws during the eighth inning of Game 1 of the National League Championship Series baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers Friday, Oct. 12, 2018, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
Los Angeles Dodgers’ Chris Taylor (3) runs to third base after hitting an RBI triple during the ninth inning of Game 1 of the National League Championship Series baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers Friday, Oct. 12, 2018, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
Los Angeles Dodgers’ Justin Turner (10) strikes out to end Game 1 of the National League Championship Series baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers Friday, Oct. 12, 2018, in Milwaukee. The Brewers won 6-5. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
Los Angeles Dodgers’ Justin Turner (10) reacts after striking out to end Game 1 of the National League Championship Series baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers Friday, Oct. 12, 2018, in Milwaukee. The Brewers won 6-5. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
Los Angeles Dodgers’ Chris Taylor (3) walks off after Game 1 of the National League Championship Series baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers Friday, Oct. 12, 2018, in Milwaukee. The Brewers won 6-5. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
Milwaukee Brewers right fielder Christian Yelich, center fielder Lorenzo Cain (6) and left fielder Ryan Braun celebrate after Game 1 of the National League Championship Series baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers Friday, Oct. 12, 2018, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
The Brewers’ Orlando Arcia hits a double as Dodgers starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw jumps on the mound in frustration during the fourth inning of Game 1 of the NLCS on Friday night in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
MILWAUKEE, WI – OCTOBER 12: Clayton Kershaw #22 of the Los Angeles Dodgers throws a pitch against the Milwaukee Brewers during the first inning in Game One of the National League Championship Series at Miller Park on October 12, 2018 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw (22) throws during the first inning of Game 1 of the National League Championship Series baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers Friday, Oct. 12, 2018, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
Milwaukee Brewers starting pitcher Gio Gonzalez throws during the first inning of Game 1 of the National League Championship Series baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers Friday, Oct. 12, 2018, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
MILWAUKEE, WI – OCTOBER 12: Clayton Kershaw #22 of the Los Angeles Dodgers prepares to throw a pitch against the Milwaukee Brewers during the first inning in Game One of the National League Championship Series at Miller Park on October 12, 2018 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
MILWAUKEE, WI – OCTOBER 12: Lorenzo Cain #6 of the Milwaukee Brewers steals second base against Manny Machado #8 of the Los Angeles Dodgers during the first inning in Game One of the National League Championship Series at Miller Park on October 12, 2018 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
MILWAUKEE, WI – OCTOBER 12: Manny Machado #8 of the Los Angeles Dodgers hits a solo home run against Gio Gonzalez #47 of the Milwaukee Brewers during the second inning in Game One of the National League Championship Series at Miller Park on October 12, 2018 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
MILWAUKEE, WI – OCTOBER 12: Manny Machado #8 of the Los Angeles Dodgers hits a solo home run against Gio Gonzalez #47 of the Milwaukee Brewers during the second inning in Game One of the National League Championship Series at Miller Park on October 12, 2018 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
MILWAUKEE, WI – OCTOBER 12: Manny Machado #8 of the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrates after hitting a solo home run against Gio Gonzalez #47 of the Milwaukee Brewers during the second inning in Game One of the National League Championship Series at Miller Park on October 12, 2018 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
MILWAUKEE, WI – OCTOBER 12: Manny Machado #8 of the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrates with teammate Matt Kemp #27 after hitting a solo home run against Gio Gonzalez #47 of the Milwaukee Brewers during the second inning in Game One of the National League Championship Series at Miller Park on October 12, 2018 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
MILWAUKEE, WI – OCTOBER 12: Manny Machado #8 of the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrates with teammate Matt Kemp #27 after hitting a solo home run against Gio Gonzalez #47 of the Milwaukee Brewers during the second inning in Game One of the National League Championship Series at Miller Park on October 12, 2018 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
MILWAUKEE, WI – OCTOBER 12: Manny Machado #8 of the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrates after hitting a solo home run against Gio Gonzalez #47 of the Milwaukee Brewers during the second inning in Game One of the National League Championship Series at Miller Park on October 12, 2018 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
MILWAUKEE, WI – OCTOBER 12: Manny Machado #8 of the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrates with his teammates in the dugout after hitting a solo home run against Gio Gonzalez #47 of the Milwaukee Brewers during the second inning in Game One of the National League Championship Series at Miller Park on October 12, 2018 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
MILWAUKEE, WI – OCTOBER 12: Brandon Woodruff #53 of the Milwaukee Brewers hits a solo home run against Clayton Kershaw #22 of the Los Angeles Dodgers during the third inning in Game One of the National League Championship Series at Miller Park on October 12, 2018 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
MILWAUKEE, WI – OCTOBER 12: Brandon Woodruff #53 of the Milwaukee Brewers celebrates after hitting a solo home run against Clayton Kershaw #22 of the Los Angeles Dodgers during the third inning in Game One of the National League Championship Series at Miller Park on October 12, 2018 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
MILWAUKEE, WI – OCTOBER 12: Brandon Woodruff #53 of the Milwaukee Brewers celebrates after hitting a solo home run against Clayton Kershaw #22 of the Los Angeles Dodgers during the third inning in Game One of the National League Championship Series at Miller Park on October 12, 2018 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
Milwaukee Brewers’ Brandon Woodruff (53) celebrates after hitting a home run during the third inning of Game 1 of the National League Championship Series baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers Friday, Oct. 12, 2018, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
Milwaukee Brewers’ Brandon Woodruff reacts after hitting a home run during the third inning of Game 1 of the National League Championship Series baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers Friday, Oct. 12, 2018, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
MILWAUKEE, WI – OCTOBER 12: Hernan Perez #14 of the Milwaukee Brewers hits a sac fly to score Lorenzo Cain #6 against Clayton Kershaw #22 of the Los Angeles Dodgers during the third inning in Game One of the National League Championship Series at Miller Park on October 12, 2018 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
MILWAUKEE, WI – OCTOBER 12: Lorenzo Cain #6 of the Milwaukee Brewers scores off of a sac fly hits a by Hernan Perez #14 of the Milwaukee Brewers against Clayton Kershaw #22 of the Los Angeles Dodgers during the third inning in Game One of the National League Championship Series at Miller Park on October 12, 2018 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
MILWAUKEE, WI – OCTOBER 12: Clayton Kershaw #22 of the Los Angeles Dodgers talks with his teammates on the mound against the Milwaukee Brewers during the third inning in Game One of the National League Championship Series at Miller Park on October 12, 2018 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
Milwaukee Brewers’ Orlando Arcia (3) hits a single during the fourth inning of Game 1 of the National League Championship Series baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers Friday, Oct. 12, 2018, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
MILWAUKEE, WI – OCTOBER 12: Clayton Kershaw #22 of the Los Angeles Dodgers looks on against the Milwaukee Brewers during the third inning in Game One of the National League Championship Series at Miller Park on October 12, 2018 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
MILWAUKEE, WI – OCTOBER 12: David Freese #25 of the Los Angeles Dodgers reacts after a catcher’s interefernce call during the fourth inning against the Milwaukee Brewers in Game One of the National League Championship Series at Miller Park on October 12, 2018 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
MILWAUKEE, WI – OCTOBER 12: Ryan Braun #8 of the Milwaukee Brewers hits an RBI single to score Domingo Santana #16 against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the fourth inning in Game One of the National League Championship Series at Miller Park on October 12, 2018 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
MILWAUKEE, WI – OCTOBER 12: Domingo Santana #16 of the Milwaukee Brewers scores a run off of a single hit by Ryan Braun #8 against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the fourth inning in Game One of the National League Championship Series at Miller Park on October 12, 2018 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
MILWAUKEE, WI – OCTOBER 12: Brandon Woodruff #53 of the Milwaukee Brewers throws a pitch against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the third inning in Game One of the National League Championship Series at Miller Park on October 12, 2018 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
MILWAUKEE, WI – OCTOBER 12: Max Muncy #13 of the Los Angeles Dodgers strikes out against Josh Hader #71 of the Milwaukee Brewers during the sixth inning in Game One of the National League Championship Series at Miller Park on October 12, 2018 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
Los Angeles Dodgers’ Max Muncy (13) throws his helmet after striking out during the sixth inning of Game 1 of the National League Championship Series baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers Friday, Oct. 12, 2018, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
Fans cheer during the first inning of Game 1 of the National League Championship Series baseball game between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Los Angeles Dodgers Friday, Oct. 12, 2018, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Los Angeles Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner (10) reacts after striking out during the third inning of Game 1 of the National League Championship Series baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers Friday, Oct. 12, 2018, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
Milwaukee Brewers’ Domingo Santana hits a two-run scoring double during the fourth inning of Game 1 of the National League Championship Series baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers Friday, Oct. 12, 2018, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw (22) reacts after giving up two runs during the fourth inning of Game 1 of the National League Championship Series baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers Friday, Oct. 12, 2018, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
MILWAUKEE, WI – OCTOBER 12: Dave Roberts #30 of the Los Angeles Dodgers pulls Clayton Kershaw #22 of the Los Angeles Dodgers against the Milwaukee Brewers during the fourth inning in Game One of the National League Championship Series at Miller Park on October 12, 2018 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
MILWAUKEE, WI – OCTOBER 12: Clayton Kershaw #22 of the Los Angeles Dodgers walks back to the dugout after being relieved by manager Dave Roberts #30 against the Milwaukee Brewers during the fourth inning in Game One of the National League Championship Series at Miller Park on October 12, 2018 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
Milwaukee Brewers’ Domingo Santanan steals second with Los Angeles Dodgers’ Manny Machado covering during the fourth inning of Game 1 of the National League Championship Series baseball game Friday, Oct. 12, 2018, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Milwaukee Brewers’ Ryan Braun hits an RBI single during the fourth inning of Game 1 of the National League Championship Series baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers Friday, Oct. 12, 2018, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Los Angeles Dodgers relief pitcher Ryan Madson (50) throws during the fourth inning of Game 1 of the National League Championship Series baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers Friday, Oct. 12, 2018, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
Milwaukee Brewers’ Josh Hader throws during the fifth inning of Game 1 of the National League Championship Series baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers Friday, Oct. 12, 2018, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Los Angeles Dodgers relief pitcher Dylan Floro throws during the fifth inning of Game 1 of the National League Championship Series baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers Friday, Oct. 12, 2018, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
Milwaukee Brewers relief pitcher Josh Hader reacts after getting Los Angeles Dodgers’ Max Muncy to strike out during the sixth inning of Game 1 of the National League Championship Series baseball game Friday, Oct. 12, 2018, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
MILWAUKEE, WI – OCTOBER 12: Clayton Kershaw #22 of the Los Angeles Dodgers looks on from the dugout against the Milwaukee Brewers in Game One of the National League Championship Series at Miller Park on October 12, 2018 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
MILWAUKEE, WI – OCTOBER 12: Xavier Cedeno #33 of the Milwaukee Brewers throws a pitch against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the eighth inning in Game One of the National League Championship Series at Miller Park on October 12, 2018 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
Los Angeles Dodgers players watch in the dugout during the seventh inning of Game 1 of the National League Championship Series baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers Friday, Oct. 12, 2018, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Milwaukee Brewers manager Craig Counsell walks out to make a pitching change during the eighth inning of Game 1 of the National League Championship Series baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers Friday, Oct. 12, 2018, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
Los Angeles Dodgers’ Justin Turner (10) walks off after striking out during the eighth inning of Game 1 of the National League Championship Series baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers Friday, Oct. 12, 2018, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
Milwaukee Brewers relief pitcher Joakim Soria (48) throws during the eighth inning of Game 1 of the National League Championship Series baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers Friday, Oct. 12, 2018, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
MILWAUKEE, WI – OCTOBER 12: Manny Machado #8 of the Los Angeles Dodgers hits an RBI single to score Chris Taylor #3 and Joc Pederson #31 against the Milwaukee Brewers during the eighth inning in Game One of the National League Championship Series at Miller Park on October 12, 2018 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
Los Angeles Dodgers’ Manny Machado (8) hits a two-run single during the eighth inning of Game 1 of the National League Championship Series baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers Friday, Oct. 12, 2018, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
Los Angeles Dodgers’ Matt Kemp (27) hits an RBI single during the eighth inning of Game 1 of the National League Championship Series baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers Friday, Oct. 12, 2018, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
Milwaukee Brewers catcher Erik Kratz tags out Los Angeles Dodgers’ Yasiel Puig after striking out during the eighth inning of Game 1 of the National League Championship Series baseball game Friday, Oct. 12, 2018, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Los Angeles Dodgers’ Yasiel Puig walks off after striking out during the eighth inning of Game 1 of the National League Championship Series baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers Friday, Oct. 12, 2018, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
Milwaukee Brewers relief pitcher Corey Knebel reacts after getting Los Angeles Dodgers’ Justin Turner to strike out to end Game 1 of the baseball National League Championship Series on Friday, Oct. 12, 2018, in Milwaukee. The Brewers won 6-5 to take a 1-0 lead in the series. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Milwaukee Brewers’ Ryan Braun, Orlando Arcia and Christian Yelich celebrate after Game 1 of the baseball National League Championship Series on Friday, Oct. 12, 2018, in Milwaukee. The Brewers won 6-5 to take a 1-0 lead. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
MILWAUKEE — Welcome to his nightmare.
Clayton Kershaw’s checkered postseason career added another black square Friday night. He lasted just three-plus innings and was charged with five runs in his shortest postseason start as the Milwaukee Brewers grabbed the lead position with a 6-5 victory in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series.
The Dodgers hung an 0-for-4 with three strikeouts and a double play on presumptive NL MVP Christian Yelich, scored four times off the Brewers’ ballyhooed bullpen and had the tying run 90 feet away in the ninth inning – but still lost.
“It was a tough one,” Kershaw said after the game. “Obviously you don’t want to get off to a bad start. But it happened and we’ll try to win one tomorrow.
“Our team played great. Myself, I’ve gotta do a better job of keeping the score close for our guys to have a chance there at the end.”
October trolls Kershaw like few others. Even though he was coming off eight scoreless innings in the opening round, had a 2.60 ERA over his previous six postseason appearances and the Dodgers won five of his previous six starts, Kershaw’s postseason problems never seem more than a swing away.
In Game 1, it was a thoroughly improbable swinger – Brewers rookie reliever Brandon Woodruff. Woodruff got a fat 92-mph fastball over the heart of the plate and took Kershaw over the wall in right-center field to start the third inning.
BRANDON. WOODRUFF.
#RelieversWhoRake pic.twitter.com/6Q1isQW0gI
— MLB (@MLB) October 13, 2018
“I knew he could swing the bat a little bit, for sure,” Kershaw said. “I didn’t know he could do that but I knew he could hit a little bit.”
Giving up a home run to the opposing pitcher (matching a 115.6 mph laser by Manny Machado in the second inning) is bad. It actually managed to get worse for Kershaw after that.
Some of Kershaw’s October miseries have not been entirely of his own making. But the enemy within usually came from behind him in the form of Dodgers relievers who failed to have his back.
This time, he was surrounded by people undermining his efforts. Dodgers catcher Yasmani Grandal was guilty of two passed balls and two errors – one on a catcher’s interference that negated a potentially inning-changing catch by first baseman David Freese.
One of the passed balls, an error and the catcher’s interference all came in the second inning, making Grandal only the second catcher in postseason history to have that hat trick in the same inning.
“Obviously he (Kershaw) is out on the mound competing as much as he possibly can and we pretty much just let him down,” Grandal said. “I think that’s the biggest thing when it comes to looking back on this game.
“It’s about minimizing damage and we weren’t able to do that and I was part of it.”
The passed balls were “a by-prodcut of being flat-footed” in his setup, Grandal said. It was “a pretty quick fix” once he watched video between innings.
Somehow, Kershaw navigated through that minefield and gave up just one more run – on a sacrifice fly that would have been the third out of the inning if Freese’s catch had counted.
But he faced three more hitters in the fourth inning and retired none of them. A walk and a single followed with Chris Taylor misplaying the ball in left field, allowing the runners to move up. Both scored when pinch-hitter Domingo Santana whacked a single into left field.
That was Kershaw’s 74th and last pitch of the night. For all the talk of the Brewers’ “bullpenning” plans and openers, Kershaw only outlasted the Brewers’ “initial out-getter” (Gio Gonzalez) by three outs.
“We didn’t play clean when he was in the game,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I thought his stuff was good but he just made mistakes in the strike zone and defensively, again, we didn’t do him any favors.”
The Brewers’ unconventional pitching plan could not have worked out much better for seven innings.After Gonzalez gave up the home run to Machado in the second inning, the Dodgers didn’t have another hit until Taylor singled off Josh Hader with one out in the sixth. Hader struck out the next two batters.
As the baton went from Woodruff to Hader, eight of 15 Dodgers struck out while only Taylor reached base.
The @Brewers got three HUGE innings from Josh Hader tonight. #PrevailingMoments pic.twitter.com/iJbsHpVQH2
The Brewers padded their lead in the seventh with a solo home run by Jesus Aguilar, the first batter faced by Julio Urias who was added to the roster for the NLCS. Urias pitched just four innings in the big leagues this September after returning from major shoulder surgery in June 2017.
That made it 6-1 but, if there are any bright spots from Game 1 for the Dodgers, it might be the way they were able to score four times in the final two innings and the fact that Brewers manager Craig Counsell let Hader throw a season-high 46 pitches in his three scoreless innings.
“I thought we did a good job of battling back, made them work, made them earn it,” Taylor said.
Hader pitched on consecutive days just four times all season then once more in the NL Division Series against the Rockies and Counsell said he won’t be available again until Game 3 on Monday in Los Angeles.
“I thought we played an entire baseball game. I did,” Roberts said. “For them to use Hader for three innings tonight and for us to get a good look at their arms in the ’pen … they were selling out obviously with Josh going three innings tonight against us. But our at-bats, even when we weren’t scoring, they were competitive.
“For us to get a good look at those guys out of the ’pen in a seven-game series, I think that’s a good thing.”
.@ClaytonKersh22 talks with @alannarizzo about his 3 innings of work and applauds the #Dodgers offense for clawing their way back into the game. pic.twitter.com/D4ikkCCrGY
— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) October 13, 2018
Manny with a LASER into the pen. #NLCS pic.twitter.com/EuUCXj9Vkc
The @Brewers add to their lead and Milwaukee is ROCKING. #NLCS pic.twitter.com/cdGDvenQhf
Dave Roberts offers his thoughts on Kershaw's start, Milwaukees bullpen after tonight's 6-5 #Dodgers Game 1 loss. pic.twitter.com/HPMvaVa69B
Former lover testifies in murder trial of Rowland Heights woman who killed husband, kids
Whittier, it’s really happening: Development of the Nelles site begins with a groundbreaking
Co-founder of Chris’ & Pitt’s Bar-B-Q chain dies, but leaves a Texas-style legacy in Southern California
Bill Plunkett
Bill Plunkett has covered everything from rodeo to Super Bowls to boxing (yeah, I was there the night Mike Tyson bit Evander Holyfield's ear off) during a career that started far too long ago to mention and eventually brought him to the OC some time last century (1999 actually). He has been covering Major League Baseball for the Orange County Register since 2003, spending time on both the Angels and Dodgers beats.
Follow Bill Plunkett @billplunkettocr
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How to Research a Politician
Co-authored by wikiHow Staff | 10 References
Explore this Article Researching a Politician’s Ideology and Legislative History Fact-Checking a Politician’s Statements Looking up a Politician’s Donors Ask a Question Related Articles
This article was co-authored by our trained team of editors and researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness. Together, they cited information from 10 references.
wikiHow's Content Management Team carefully monitors the work from our editorial staff to ensure that each article meets our high quality standards. Learn more...
Knowing who you're voting for is just as important as voting. Since many politicians are good at talking their way out of situations, it’s not always easy to know where a politician stands on an issue just by listening to what they say. Even if a politician says the right thing, it’s hard to know whether or not they’ll be able to follow through, because it isn’t easy to see who funds their campaigns or if they've broken campaign promises in the past. Research is a critical part of being informed, but it's also a skill in its own right---you have to know where to look as much as you need to know what to look for. In order to know who you’re voting for, you need to be able to evaluate the honesty of a candidate, their ideology, and their campaign contributors.
Researching a Politician’s Ideology and Legislative History
Look up their records with Project Vote Smart. Project Vote Smart is among the most comprehensive data sources for political officials and candidates around, covering both state and national officeholders. You can find speeches, legislation, ratings, votes, issue positions, and sources of funding.[1]
A “rating” is determined by an interest group—for instance, the NRA or the Sierra Club might rate a candidate from A-F on gun or environmental issues, respectively. Issue positions are determined from candidates filling out surveys from neutral organizations such as the League of Women Voters.
With respect to ideology, the most relevant sources of information are ratings and issue positions. Simply type the politician’s name in the search box at the top of votesmart.org. When they come up, the webpage will prompt you to choose which type of information you’re interested in. Vote Smart also has a quiz on their website that will match you to candidates. Take it at http://votesmart.org/voteeasy/#.
If you want to examine the bills an official has voted for or sponsored, simply go to http://votesmart.org/bills and enter the official’s information.
Go to GovTrack.us. The easiest way to get a sense of a politician’s ideological leanings is to find a neutral source that categorizes and sorts politicians according to ideology. GovTrack.us is among the best of these. It is simple to use, detailed, and wide-ranging. As long as the politician you’re researching is a member of Congress, GovTrack.us is a simple and quick way to find out about their ideological orientation.[2]
From the GovTrack.us homepage, click on “Members of Congress” on the left-hand side of the page. You can look up the congressperson by address, state, district, or name. After you’ve searched, just click on the name of the representative or senator. On the right-hand side of the congressperson’s page, you’ll see graph made up of red and blue dots. Red dots represent Republican members and blue dots represent Democrats. The farther right or left they are on the graph, the farther right or left they are ideologically. Your member will be highlighted with a purple triangle.
From the member’s page, you can also look at the bill they’ve sponsored, their voting history, committee assignments, even attendance.
Read the League of Women Voters’ Voter Guide. The LWV’s Voter Guide is among the oldest and most respected sources of information on the issue positions of candidates and elected officials. All you have to do to get a personalized ballot with issue positions for all candidates in your area is enter your address at http://www.vote411.org/enter-your-address?dest=voting-dossier.[3]
As you might imagine, the Guide is only as good as the information that gets put into it. Politicians are free to answer or not answer when the LWV sends them a survey, but a failure to respond is its own statement.
Fact-Checking a Politician’s Statements
See if a fact-checker has addressed the claim. Two respected fact-checkers, factcheck.org and politifact.com, routinely fact-check the statements of politicians. They typically conduct their fact checks as an item becomes newsworthy, and categorize them according to the individual, subject matter, and degree of honesty. If a politician makes a dubious claim, this is probably the easiest way to check up on it.[4]
Unfortunately, factcheck.org doesn’t typically fact check claims made by state-level politicians. Politifact.com does, but only for about 18 of the largest states.
Ask a trusted source to investigate the claim. Both factcheck.org and politifact.com allow users to suggest fact checks, so those are good places to start. If you’re looking to verify the claim of a state or local politician, it’s a good idea to approach a local newspaper or media outlet. Some of these organizations have dedicated political fact checkers already, but even if they don’t, it’s the job of the media generally to verify the statements of politicians and elected officials.[5]
Do your own research. If you feel comfortable, do your own research about the accuracy of a politician’s statement. While politicians are famous for using weasel words, they’re ultimately dealing with issues that have to be addressed in the real world, which means that many of the statements are verifiable.
Many of the sources in this article, such as GovTrack.us, VoteSmart.org, OpenSecrets.org, and FollowTheMoney.org are great places to begin your research. Other good sources might be the Bureau of Justice Statistics, located at http://www.bjs.gov, the Census Bureau, located at https://www.census.gov, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, located at http:// www.bls.gov.
Looking up a Politician’s Donors
Go to OpenSecrets.org. OpenSecrets.org is the best source of information for Federal officeholders and their donor history. You can look up the donor history of a particular candidate or former officeholder, or political party. You can even see which Congressmen are on what committees and what outside groups have spent in an election cycle and where they spent it.[6]
OpenSecrets.org is a great source for finding information about political donations and expenditures, but it’s only a source for information about Federal candidates, officeholders, and races.
Go to the “Politicians and Elections” tab. The “Politicians and Elections” tab is located on the top left-hand side of the OpenSecrets.org homepage. Let your mouse hover over the tab. There are three ways to research an individual politician’s donor history, depending on the office.[7]
If you’re looking for the donor history of a Congressional candidate or officeholder, click on either the “Congressional Election” button or the “Congress” button.
Narrowing by congressional election rather than by elected members of Congress is probably the more useful option, because you can find out information about candidates as well as elected officials. However, narrowing by officeholder does allow you to see what leadership positions a Congressperson holds.
Search for the race or candidate of interest to you. You can search by candidate name, by state, or by year.
Go to FollowTheMoney.org. FollowTheMoney.org is a website run by the National Institute on Money in State Politics. It is the best source for researching contribution and expenditure history of state officeholders such as governors and legislators.[8]
Although FollowTheMoney.org also has information about federal officeholders who run at state and local level, like a member of the US House and Senate, Follow the Money’s database is much larger than Open Secrets’, and it usually isn’t as up to date.
Using the FollowTheMoney.org site is simple, but if you want a mini-tutorial, there’s a one-minute intro on the homepage.
Click on “Election Overview.” The “Election Overview” tab is in the middle of the page on the left-hand side. Clicking on the “Election Overview” tab is the easiest way to find out information about a candidate’s contribution and spending history.[9]
After you’ve moved to the “Election Overview” page, you should see a drop-down menu allowing you to customize your search by state/locality and year.
Pick out the information you need. Once you’ve moved to the election overview for the state and year you’re looking for, click on the tab that says “Candidates.” From there, you can sort by incumbency status, district, total contributions, party, and office sought.[10]
If you want to find out as much information about one candidate, click on the candidate’s name from the candidate listing on the page. It will take you to a page specifically for that candidate, which then allows you to examine the candidate’s record for as long as they’ve been politically active. You can potentially find out who the candidate has given money to, who’s given money to them, which industries and PACs they are close to, and more.
Since different states have different disclosure requirements, you might find that some information about a candidate you’re interested in learning won’t be available.
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↑ http://votesmart.org/about
↑ https://www.govtrack.us/about
↑ http://lwv.org/blog/compare-presidential-candidates-our-voters%E2%80%99-guide
↑ http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2013/nov/01/principles-politifact-punditfact-and-truth-o-meter/
↑ http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2013/nov/01/principles-politifact-punditfact-and-truth-o-meter/#
↑ https://www.opensecrets.org/
↑ https://www.opensecrets.org/elections/
↑ http://www.followthemoney.org/about-us/
↑ http://www.followthemoney.org/election-overview
Show more... (1)
Categories: Research | Politics
Co-Authored By:
wikiHow Staff Editor
3 votes - 53%
DeLevay Miner
"I will read it again as I reflect on my vote. I found it very help and informative."
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What is a Taco?
Tacos often contain beef, tomatoes, lettuce, and cheese.
Flour tortillas can be used to make tacos.
Flautas, a type of taco.
Most tacos start with highly seasoned meat, beans, or vegetables.
Traditional seasonings for tacos include chili powder, garlic, and cayenne pepper.
Jalapeno peppers are often diced and eat in tacos.
Herb-roasted chicken is a common taco filling.
Written By: wiseGEEK Writer
Edited By: O. Wallace
The taco is a dish that originates in Mexico, though the forms Americans eat, especially from fast food restaurants, bear little resemblance to the true form. Generally, the dish is made of one or two heated or lightly fried corn tortillas, and can contain any number of different traditional Mexican meats or fish. Tacos can be dressed up with a variety of condiments, including salsa or pico de gallo, a bit of lettuce, tomato, onions, and sometimes cheese.
When the traditional taco is served, it is flat, not pinched up into the hard shells that many Americans consider the essential base. Hard shells that are in a semi-circle form are largely an American invention. To eat the traditional dish, however, people often pinch up the ends of the tortillas, creating a sandwich like way of eating the food. Tacos do have a tendency to drip from the end the diner isn't eating, particularly if they’re overfilled with ingredients.
Traditional meats that may top the tortilla include carne asada, which are roasted meats, especially beef. Chorizo, a spicy sausage, grilled chicken, fish, or roasted pork are also popular. Many tacos use various other parts of the animal, not typically part of American fare. For instance, tacos de tripita are popular and use crisply fried cow intestines. Those made of the cow head and other such ingredients are often available on request from taquerias, stands that specialize in making this dish for hungry guests.
Tacos aren’t necessarily differentiated from other Mexican dishes. Flautas and tacquitos, for example, are considered variants of it. They are both rolled up versions, often containing grilled chicken, which are deep-fried.
Though corn tortillas are standard for this dish, cooks can use flour tortillas if they so choose. Tex-Mex cuisine makes use of the flour tortilla to serve one of its classic dishes, the fajita. Essentially, fajitas are filled with meats, salsa, beans, cheese, and whatever else the cook would like, and as such resemble the classic Mexican dish.
American style tacos tend to rely on the hard shell, and fast food restaurants generally make this type with ground beef or, sometimes, grilled chicken. The beef is often seasoned with spices like cumin, chili powder, garlic, and cayenne, and may be topped with fresh tomatoes, lettuce, cheese, salsa and other ingredients, much like the Mexican version. People who are used to the American style may be surprised by the relatively simple style served at an authentic taqueria. The trick is in the ordering, and diners can pretty much ask for anything they’d like on tacos made in the traditional manner. If the diner doesn’t ask, he is likely to be presented with one or two corn tortillas with some meat on it, and very little else.
What Is an Al Pastor?
What is Carne Asada?
What is Salsa?
What is the Difference Between a Burrito and a Taco?
What is a Fajita Skillet?
What are Fajitas?
What is a Roach Coach?
kylee07drg
@shell4life – That sounds about right. We use all those ingredients on our taco meat, whether it is chicken, fish, or beef.
I like putting fresh avocado slices in my tacos, along with fresh tomatoes. I'm not big on lettuce, because to me, it is just filler.
However, when I make fish tacos, I like a bit of coleslaw with them. Its crispiness is a good contrast to the mushiness of the fish, and the flavor goes well with it.
My fish tacos have become quite a hit with my friends, so we have “Taco Tuesday” at my house once a week. The seasoning is just as important to the tacos as the meat is, and I think that when people attempt to make the fish tacos without it, they are nearly inedible.
My friend makes something called taco soup that contains black beans, corn, beef, pinto beans, and salsa. She tops it with crumbled tacos, and it is delicious.
I make a similar version called tortilla soup. I don't use pinto beans, and I use chicken instead of beef. Also, mine contains cumin, and hers doesn't.
To me, cumin makes the entire dish. It has a unique flavor that is distinctly Mexican, and I've come to expect it in all my tacos and tortillas.
shell4life
My husband has a wonderful homemade taco seasoning that he uses on the ground beef that he always puts in our tacos. It only contains four ingredients, but it makes the perfect flavor.
I know that garlic powder and chili powder are involved, but I'm not sure what the other two seasonings are. Onion powder sounds likely, though.
cloudel
Do restaurants or taco stands ever put weird cow parts in their tacos without telling anyone? I would hate to think that I might have been eating intestines or heads without knowing it. Surely, they must have to disclose ingredients such as these!
anon154725
Fajita technically means flank/skirt steak. It's named for the cut of meat used. If it's made with "whatever meat you like" it isn't a fajita in any sort of traditional sense.
Flank steak, grilled onions, peppers (grilled or not), guacamole, pico de gallo, sour cream, and salsa are normal.
Tinker with it outside of that general ingredient envelope and I'd argue with you that's it's not some sort of soft taco that is not a fajita. -Some Feller in Texas
elfi64
A steak taco is another good option. It is filling and satisfying. A good choice for steak tacos is flank steak that can be prepared in a frying pan.
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COMBAT STORIES FROM World War II
James Chafin | 370th Bomb Squadron, 307th Bomb Group, 13th Air Force
5:07 | On leave in Sydney, B-24 gunner James Chafin and his buddy Mac went to a place where they heard they could find girls. That didn't work out so well but they met some nicer girls a couple of days later. That presented some problems as well. (This interview made possible with the support of MSG RONALD M. CAREY, U.S.A. (RET).)
More From James Chafin
Keywords : James Chafin Sydney Australia leave women King's Cross
James Chafin | WWII | 370th Bomb Squadron, 307th Bomb Group, 13th Air Force | 6:30
Along with some buddies from school, James Chafin volunteered for the Army Air Corps and, after basic training, he wound up as an instructor on the Link Trainer for instrument flying. Then the Air Corps sent him to college because of superior aptitude test scores, but that program ended abruptly. He wanted to get into the war! (This interview made possible with the support of MSG RONALD M. CAREY, U.S.A. (RET).)
First it was armament school, then aerial gunnery school for James Chafin. Once the knowledge and skills were mastered, the B -24 crews were formed and they set out for the South Pacific. (This interview made possible with the support of MSG RONALD M. CAREY, U.S.A. (RET).)
On his way to the war, B-24 gunner James Chafin stopped in New Guinea where the weather was miserable and the mud was deep. The next stop was the island of Wakde, where the newly minted airmen saw a sobering reminder of what they were doing there. (This interview made possible with the support of MSG RONALD M. CAREY, U.S.A. (RET).)
It was an extremely long mission. A Japanese fleet was known to be in Brunei Bay and the B-24's would have to refuel along the way to hit them while they were there. Gunner James Chafin describes the action as they attacked the great battleship Yamato. Back at the base, having narrowly survived, they made a stunning discovery while examining the plane. (This interview made possible with the support of MSG RONALD M. CAREY, U.S.A. (RET).)
The Japanese had two oil fields on Borneo and these were an important target for the men of the 370th Bomb Squadron. B-24 gunner James Chafin remembers the heavy flak and fighter attacks on these missions. Then the enemy would bomb them at night at their base on Morotai. (This interview made possible with the support of MSG RONALD M. CAREY, U.S.A. (RET).)
Most of the gunners couldn't care less who got credit for shooting down Japanese fighters. James Chafin just wanted to do the job and get home alive, but there was one guy, a movie star named Sabu who wanted every bit of it he could get. It's a crying shame how they got back at him, but funny. (This interview made possible with the support of MSG RONALD M. CAREY, U.S.A. (RET).)
The flight had just begun when the bail out bell rang on the B-24. Explosion was always a danger with a full fuel and bomb load, so James Chafin wasted no time snapping on his chute and he was ready, straddling the open trapdoor. (This interview made possible with the support of MSG RONALD M. CAREY, U.S.A. (RET).)
B-24 gunner James Chafin tells what happened when his squadron came out of a fog bank and found itself face to face with another squadron headed straight for them at the same altitude. Also there was the time two planes collided right overhead, prompting some morbid humor. His only injury during his tour was kind of embarrassing. (This interview made possible with the support of MSG RONALD M. CAREY, U.S.A. (RET).)
When B-24 gunner James Chafin got a Dear John letter from his girl back home, he immediately began drinking. He was still sloshed when they got up at 3 AM for a mission, and he had to sneak around a bit. The crew got a small whiskey ration but the enlisted men saved theirs for barter. (This interview made possible with the support of MSG RONALD M. CAREY, U.S.A. (RET).)
It was early in the tour for James Chafin's crew when his pilot suffered a mental breakdown. He was immediately shipped out because flying a B-24 requires a steady hand and mind. The gunner points out that, since they were all volunteers, they could request not to fly anymore. (This interview made possible with the support of MSG RONALD M. CAREY, U.S.A. (RET).)
B-24 gunner James Chafin says that the Japanese fighter planes had the edge in terms of maneuverability, but that ours had the advantage in speed. This was due to a fundamental difference in philosophy. (This interview made possible with the support of MSG RONALD M. CAREY, U.S.A. (RET).)
The bomber crews were playing basketball between missions and James Chafin learned a valuable lesson after an argument on the court. (This interview made possible with the support of MSG RONALD M. CAREY, U.S.A. (RET).)
There were several takeoffs where the crew wondered if they were going to get off the ground. B-24 gunner James Chafin describes two near disastrous takeoffs and one equally scary landing. (This interview made possible with the support of MSG RONALD M. CAREY, U.S.A. (RET).)
When you attack naval vessels on a bombing run, the amount of anti-aircraft fire can be overwhelming. B-24 gunner James Chafin felt, after his most dangerous mission, that the Man upstairs had saved him for a higher purpose. This helped him face the strain of postwar life, something the rest of the crew was unable to do. (This interview made possible with the support of MSG RONALD M. CAREY, U.S.A. (RET).)
Corregidor and Japanese installations around Manila were main targets for James Chafin's B-24 squadron. On one flight, they did a flyover of the prison camp where the survivors of the Bataan Death March were held. The Articles of War were ingrained in the Americans during their training. Why was the enemy ignoring these rules? (This interview made possible with the support of MSG RONALD M. CAREY, U.S.A. (RET).)
James Chafin never smoked, never drank, until he went overseas. A cigarette may have been the reason he woke up with his mosquito netting on fire one night. At least he didn't face the wildlife that one of his crew mates found in his bed. (This interview made possible with the support of MSG RONALD M. CAREY, U.S.A. (RET).)
If one of the B-24's in his squadron was shot down, the others would fly a search pattern and try to find it, James Chafin's plane never had any luck at this. They nearly had a crash of their own when they landed to refuel with a full bomb load. He carried something from his mom in a vest pocket that gave him great comfort. (This interview made possible with the support of MSG RONALD M. CAREY, U.S.A. (RET).)
As the armorer on a B-24, one of James Chafin's duties was to pull a pin on each bomb that armed them before they dropped. One time he couldn't get one of them out, so that particular bomb went down as a dud. It turns out that it still did it's job. (This interview made possible with the support of MSG RONALD M. CAREY, U.S.A. (RET).)
James Chafin found out several things while stationed on Morotai. You can still celebrate Christmas while under an aerial barrage, the greatest thing in the world is pretty legs on nurses and gambling was not his forte. (This interview made possible with the support of MSG RONALD M. CAREY, U.S.A. (RET).)
On the last flight of his Pacific tour, B-24 gunner James Chafin was worried. The co-pilot was making his first flight as pilot, and if you knew him, you'd be worried, too. They were intercepted by Japanese fighters, as usual. (This interview made possible with the support of MSG RONALD M. CAREY, U.S.A. (RET).)
B-24 gunner James Chafin was the top turret man but he got the idea that he would like to try flying in each of the turrets and gun positions at least once. (This interview made possible with the support of MSG RONALD M. CAREY, U.S.A. (RET).)
Just before his squadron left for the South Pacific, one of the crew suffered an injury in the gym. James Chafin remembers how this upset the dynamics of the crew when the new guy couldn't fit in. (This interview made possible with the support of MSG RONALD M. CAREY, U.S.A. (RET).)
At about 10,000 feet, you would usually go on oxygen, but there was one particular time, remembers James Chafin, that the pilot was climbing a little faster than he thought. (This interview made possible with the support of MSG RONALD M. CAREY, U.S.A. (RET).)
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Showing : WWII Videos
Jay Gruenfeld - Army +3 Total Videos
103rd Infantry Regiment, 43rd Infantry Division
After finishing his job in New Guinea, duty called again for Gruenfeld and his unit when they were shipped off to patrol in Luzon in the Philippines. By then, the Japanese had retreated up into the hills and it was up to him to help weed them out. Gruenfeld talks about the times he threw grenades into caves to target hiding Japanese as well as when he was caught in a surprise firefight with 9 Japanese soldiers.
Bill Richardson - Marines +10 Total Videos
4th Battalion, 14th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division
The Japanese were so well dug in on Iwo Jima in that the field artillery couldn't get to them. The flag had been raised on Mt. Suribachi but there was a long way to go to secure the island. When he wasn't wondering where that Japanese round was going to land, Bill Richardson had to deal with the cold, wet conditions. Part 2 of 3. (This interview made possible with the support of JOHN R. ASMUS.)
Robert Honeycutt - Army Air Corps +8 Total Videos
415th Bomb Squadron, 98th Bomb Group
It was his 29th mission, a bombing raid over Austria, when Bob Honeycutt's luck ran out. First they lost an engine. Then, when they dropped behind the formation, they were swarmed by German fighters. As the gunners fell one by one, a rocket finally set the plane on fire and blew him right out into the air. Part 1 of 6. (This interview made possible with the support of PHILIP J. O'NEILL.)
Since the beginning of his life, Jay Gruenfeld has had military exposure. His father fought in the first world war before he went off to fight in the second. Even before the war, he had a lot of prior ROTC experience and was therefore ready for the full training ahead. He still remembers where he was when he heard the news that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor.
From the information they had and the mock-up of the island they saw, the Marines figured Iwo Jima would be an easy operation. Bill Richardson went ashore with his artillery battery as soon as they could get on the crowded beach. It was immediately apparent that it was going to be a monumental battle. Part 1 of 3. (This interview made possible with the support of JOHN R. ASMUS.)
With a commandeered truck, newly liberated POW Bob Honeycutt made three trips into Belgium, loaded down with as many freed US airmen as he could carry. He'd lost half his weight and was eaten up with lice, but he'd made it. When he got back home to Chattanooga, both he and his family had a big surprise. Part 6 of 6. (This interview made possible with the support of PHILIP J. O'NEILL.)
During his time overseas, Jay Gruenfeld was given a battlefield promotion. At first, he was skeptical about leaving his group that he had bonded with, but it was ultimately demanded that he do it. He also talks about a total of 5 different injuries he got during his 5 months in combat. One of those injuries could have been very damaging, and he nearly got paralyzed from the waist down because of it.
Jesus Cepeda - Navy +10 Total Videos
USS Honolulu (CL-48)
When at anchor in Pearl Harbor, Jesus Cepeda would attend mass on Sunday with his friend from back home in Guam. As he waited for him on deck, he heard a big rumbling noise, like hundreds of planes at once, but as he searched the sky, he could see nothing. Then he turned to the north.(This interview made possible with the support of ALBERT SMALL.)
George Starks - Army Air Corps +12 Total Videos
407th Bomb Squadron, 92nd Bomb Group, 8th Air Force
Injured and dazed from his bail out at 18,000 feet, Bob Honeycutt was taken into the home of an Austrian family until the local officials came to arrest him. He was cared for so well, he had to wonder, why were these civilians treating him like a friend? Part 2 of 6. (This interview made possible with the support of PHILIP J. O'NEILL.)
Chan Rogers - Army +13 Total Videos
G Company, 2nd Battalion, 409th Regiment, 103rd Infantry Division
Chan Rogers experiences a couple of close calls on the Siegfried Line. His unit stumbles upon a nest of sleeping Germans, suddenly finding themselves in a harrowing firefight. Later, when facing off against a group of German pillboxes, they are showered with deadly shrapnel from tree bursts. (This interview made possible with the support of TIMOTHY R. COLLINS.)
Bob Dole - Army +2 Total Videos
10th Mountain Division
Senator Bob Dole was sent to Italy in 1945 and assigned to the 10th Mountain Division as a young second lieutenant. Although the war in Europe would soon be over, Senator Dole found himself in the thick of combat outside of Castel d'Aiano. In an effort to try and save his downed radioman, he himself was badly wounded and had to remain on the battlefield through the heat of the battle.
After a hearty breakfast with his German guard, Bob Honeycutt left the comfort of the Alps, where he had bailed out, for the misery of the German POW system. First came the mind games of the interrogation. Then, he wound up at Stalag Luft IV, one of the worst camps, where he learned new meanings for "cold" and "hungry." Part 3 of 6. (This interview made possible with the support of PHILIP J. O'NEILL.)
After eight months in the prison camp, Bob Honeycutt could hear the guns of the Russian Army approaching, but he was not going to be free anytime soon. The German guards forced 10,000 men out of the gate and onto the road, where they began a forced march, with no known destination. The deprivation and cruelty was mind numbing. Part 4 of 6. (This interview made possible with the support of PHILIP J. O'NEILL.)
The little known "death march" of the men of Stalag Luft IV lasted 86 days. That was when an Allied tank column rolled up and the Russian prisoners took their revenge on a particularly sadistic German guard. With a friend, Bob Honeycutt set out toward a small town, where they spotted a truck in a garage. Mighty tempting. Part 5 of 6. (This interview made possible with the support of PHILIP J. O'NEILL.)
Jack Houston - Marines +10 Total Videos
G Company, 22nd Marine Regiment, 6th Marine Division
Jack Houston had just helped his buddy dress a wound when he volunteered to return to the Okinawa hilltop where they were getting the enemy cleared out. When he got the jump on three of them, his muzzle flash gave him away and he had to leave in a hurry. He flung himself off the hill where he came face to face with a rifle. Part 5 of 6. (This interview made possible with the support of JOHN & BARBARA MCCOY.)
G Company, 2nd Battalion, 157th Regiment, 45th Infantry Division
In Dachau, Rogers witnesses thousands of starving prisoners in a concentration camp. He remembers the many other displaced civilians, forced into labor, who suffered at the hands of the nazis. (This interview made possible with the support of TIMOTHY R. COLLINS.)
Jack Lemonds - Army Air Corps +9 Total Videos
567th Bomb Squadron, 389th Bomb Group
The Russians were close enough that the American POW's could hear the fire in the distance. Their guards roused them all and put them on the road in a forced march, leaving their camp in Poland and heading for Germany. It was seventy nine days of freezing cold out in the open, with very little food. (This interview made possible with the support of PHILIP J. O'NEILL.)
Don Scott - Army Air Corps +8 Total Videos
560th Squadron, 388th Bomb Group, 8th Air Force
Two engines were out, a third smoking, and they were were losing airspeed and altitude, but they were flying level and pointed home. Then time ran out for the B-17 and Don Scott had to slip down the hatch into the slipstream. Part 2 of 3.
Clyde Burnette - Army Air Corps +13 Total Videos
It was their third mission over Berlin and they were heading home. Four German fighters pounced on the B-24 and it was engulfed in flame and going down. Clyde Burnette fought for consciousness as the other crew in the back of the plane bailed out. He woke in free fall with no idea how he had made it out, and soon he was in German custody. Everyone made it out of the plane except George "Danny" Daneau, the nose turret gunner, who went down with the aircraft.
LtGen Lawrence Snowden - Marines +16 Total Videos
23rd Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division
The first operation for the 4th Division was the landing on Roi-Namur. Lawrence Snowden remembers that, though it was an easy victory, valuable combat experience and important lessons were imparted on the Marines.
B.E. Vaughan - Navy +9 Total Videos
USS O'Brien (DD-725)
After a nerve-wracking mission to bomb Tokyo and a typhoon, B.E. Vaughan and the destroyer O'Brien suffered a second kamikaze attack which killed all three of his hometown pals who served with him on board. Then, began the grim task of collecting the personal belongings of the dead and preparing them for burial at sea.
Ed Harrell - Marines +12 Total Videos
USS Indianapolis
Ed Harrell describes in detail the sinking of the USS Indianapolis from Japanese torpedoes, which left nearly 900 Sailors and Marines in shark-infested Pacific waters. Part 1 of 4.
Soon after the US was pulled into WWII, Jay Gruenfeld packed up what he could and went to Camp Croft in South Carolina for training. He was then shipped overseas to New Caledonia, New Zealand, and finally to New Guinea. In addition to combat, he did a lot of patrolling which gave way to many of the stories he tells including a humorous event about the time he was the most scared.
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Tennant touched by triumph after tragedy
David Tennant takes a key role in a new drama about the plane crash that killed eight of Manchester United’s legendary ’Busby Babes’.
David Tennant takes a key role in a new drama about the plane crash that killed eight of Manchester United’s legendary ’Busby Babes’. The Doctor Who star talks to Susan Griffin about how the disaster spawned a fighting spirit that lives on today
These days we’re all too used to tales of professional footballers earning astronomical sums being pursued by girls desperate to snare the title of WAG.
But roll back 50 years and it was a very different story, as depicted in the new TV drama United in which a young Bobby Charlton (played by Skins’ Jack O’Connell) is advised by fellow Manchester United player Duncan Edwards (Any Human Heart’s Sam Claflin) to keep his profession under wraps if he wants to win a woman.
“Don’t tell ’em you’re a footballer. Maximum playing wage is £15 a week. Tell ’em you’re a carpenter or plumber, they’ll be more interested then,” he’s told.
Charlton and Edwards were members of the celebrated ’Busby Babes’, the nickname given to a group of Manchester United players lauded in the late Fifties for their youth and talent.
When they won the Championship in 1956, the average age of the team was just 22, making them the youngest side to achieve such a feat – and a year later they repeated their success.
The Busby Babes were invincible, it was thought. Nothing could prevent them from ruling the roost for the next 10 years.
Then, on February 6, 1958, tragedy struck. After qualifying for the European Cup semi-finals in Belgrade, a plane carrying the Manchester United team, as well as coaches and journalists, crashed on its third attempt to take off from Munich airport where it had stopped to refuel.
In total, 23 of the 44 people on board lost their lives, including eight of the Busby Babes.
“I’m not a football expert but I was completely bowled over by the incredible story and the journey that Manchester United went on,” says David Tennant, who plays coach Jimmy Murphy.
“On a very basic level, it’s a true story but it also looks at the arbitrary nature of fate, the capriciousness of life and the triumph of the human spirit,” he adds.
The drama examines the events leading up to the tragedy and the extraordinary spirit involved in rebuilding the team in the wake of the disaster.
We see how survivors, including Charlton, goalkeeper Harry Gregg and the club’s manager Matt Busby (Dougray Scott), who was in hospital for two months following the crash, pieced their lives back together.
But it’s Murphy, the man responsible for discovering and nurturing the Busby Babes and described by Busby himself as the most important signing he ever made at Manchester United, who remains central to the story.
When the plane crashed, Welsh-born Murphy was in Cardiff training Wales’s national football team. In the aftermath he was instrumental in rebuilding the club as he stood in as manager for the injured Busby.
“I’d never heard of Jimmy Murphy, which is shocking considering what he did,” admits Tennant, who turned 40 this week and became a dad when his partner and Doctor Who co-star Georgia Moffett gave birth to Olive in March.
“From meeting Jimmy’s family, I got a sense of this very driven, warm and humble man who was terribly dignified in the way he conducted himself. He was clearly a brilliant teacher and football was a life vocation for him.”
A modest man, Murphy shunned the spotlight, preferring to spend his time on the football pitch where he enjoyed training young people and finding the football stars of the future.
“I think Jimmy found himself in a situation that he didn’t crave; being manager and solely responsible for keeping the team going,” says Scottish-born Tennant.
“He must have felt like he wanted to grieve but to fight the very human impulse to chuck it all in is hugely impressive.
“He met the challenge and not only did he keep the team going, he made them extraordinary successful against all the odds.”
Remarkably, less than two weeks after the crash, a newly assembled team, largely made up of reserve and youth team members, managed to beat Sheffield Wednesday 3-0.
“Post-crash, Jimmy got offered the most extraordinary jobs in the world of football, for huge sums of money, but chose not to take them,” says Tennant.
Instead he remained as Manchester United’s assistant manager until he retired in 1971.
As part of their research, the cast and crew watched rolls of newsreel footage from the period, which Tennant describes as “compelling” because it revealed the national feeling at the time.
“It’s inconceivable that a bunch of the nation’s greatest, youngest, most dynamic and most celebrated sportsmen should all be wiped out in an instant on the brink of their potential being realised.
“It’s one of those events that doesn’t seem to have any precedent; it seems totally unfair, random and ghastly.”
As a drama, United is a poignant reflection on a tragedy that affected a nation and one that Tennant believes had a profound affect on Manchester United, now a multi-million pound business boasting millions of fans across the globe.
“I get the sense that what happened in Munich in 1958, how the team coped with it and how they came back from the brink, was possibly the beginning of Manchester United as the kind of world football team they are today.
“The way they conducted themselves and struggled back with such dignity and fight has inspired an international love for the team, and that is due in no small part to what Jimmy Murphy did.”
EXTRA TIME – THE 1958 MUNICH AIR DISASTER
After refuelling at Munich airport, pilots James Thain and Kenneth Rayment abandoned two attempts to take off due to technical difficulties.
Fearing they’d get behind schedule, Thain rejected an overnight stay in Munich and attempted to take off for a third time.
Players Duncan Edwards, Tommy Taylor, Mark Jones, Eddie Colman and Frank Swift moved to the back of the plane, believing it to be safer.
When the plane hit slush at the end of the runway, it lost velocity and ploughed through a fence at the end of the runway before the left wing hit a nearby house and was torn off.
Among the dead were players Tommy Taylor, Mark Jones, Eddie Colman, Liam Whelan, Geoff Bent, David Pegg and Roger Byrne. Star player Duncan Edwards died from his injuries 15 days later.
Captain Thain was initially blamed for the crash as it was claimed he had failed to de-ice the plane’s wings. His name was cleared in 1968 when it was established the crash was caused by the build-up of slush on the runway.
:: United is a one-off drama airing on Easter Sunday on BBC Two
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Heading to the Amalfi Coast? Don’t Stay in Sorrento. Stay Here Instead.
Amalfi coast, Travel tips April 27, 2011 By Walks of Italy
At Walks of Italy, we want to make sure you see Italy’s most iconic sights, as well as it’s hidden gems. From our comprehensive…
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Museums Perspective
Perspective Interpretation of the news based on evidence, including data, as well as anticipating how events might unfold based on past events
It’s not an attack on the arts, it’s an attack on communities
Both printed copies and digitized copies of historic newspapers are seen on display at the Newseum in Washington, Tuesday, June 16, 2009, as The National Endowment of the Humanities and the Library of Congress announce their one millionth digitized newspaper page on their 'Chronicling America' website at the Newseum. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) (Gerald Herbert/AP)
By Philip Kennicott
Art and architecture critic
Things could get worse, much worse. The president’s proposed budget eliminates much of the government’s long-standing commitment to the arts, to science, to education, to culture, to public broadcasting and community development. It calls not only for the elimination of the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, but also proposes the elimination of groups such as the Woodrow Wilson Center, a highly respected think tank that studies national and international affairs and just happens to be hosting a program Thursday called “The Muse of Urban Delirium: How the Performing Arts Paradoxically Transform Conflict-Ridden Cities Into Centers of Cultural Innovation.” It’s almost as if someone tried to fit as many dirty words — dirty in the current administration’s way of thinking — into one evening: Arts, Cities, Culture, Paradox, Innovation.
These cuts aren’t about cost savings — they’re far too small to make even a ding in the federal budget. They are carefully calculated attacks on communities, especially those that promote independent thinking and expression, or didn’t line up behind the Trump movement as it swept to power through the electoral college in November. But the president’s proposed budget also includes attacks on communities that did indeed support Trump but that are too powerless to resist. Among the independent agencies set for elimination: the Appalachian Regional Commission, which supports things such as job training, economic diversification (including the arts), tourism initiatives and Internet access in states like West Virginia, Alabama and Kentucky.
The strategy, perfectly calculated for a new era of rancor and resentment amplified by social media, is to focus people not on what will be lost, but who will lose. Why attack communities that support you? Because losing isn’t just a question of what side, what arguments, what ideology prevails in the political debate. Rather, losing is a stigma, a scarlet letter to hang on the necks of people who are losers. Losers are essential to the project of building a new political coalition, a coalition that celebrates winning. Winners are strong; losers are sad. If your aversion to being branded a loser is strong enough, you may even embrace policies that cause you harm.
[Cuts to the NEA and NEH are all about eliminating the public square]
(Erin Patrick O'Connor/The Washington Post)
Read through The Washington Post’s coverage of the budget proposal, and you hear what begins to sound like a broken record: These cuts will primarily affect marginalized or minority communities, people on the losing end of the American Dream. From an article about the Interior Department: “Historic-sites funding is important,” according to one expert, “because it supports tribal preservation officers and provides grants to underrepresented communities.” Or from the Labor Department: “The Trump administration proposed $2.5 billion in cuts for the Labor Department in a plan that would significantly reduce funding for job training programs for seniors and disadvantaged youth.”
Just in time for today’s announcement is an op-ed by Washington Post columnist George Will, who also calls for the elimination of the NEA. Will’s article would be a risible period piece — he is still seething over culture-war debates from more than a quarter century ago — if his hostility to the arts were not politically empowered by the democratic peculiarities of the last election, which brought into office a deeply unpopular president allied (for now) to a Congress pursuing deeply unpopular policies because many of its members are protected by gerrymandering.
Will rehashes the usual arguments: He reminds readers of a handful of grants that were deemed offensive by some in the early 1990s; he asserts that people will pay for the arts if they want the arts, and that state and local arts agencies will step up if the federal government (which helps fund these agencies) forsakes them; and argues that the arts are no different, no more a social good, have no more utility or spiritual value than “macaroni and cheese.” He not only fails to understand the nature of the arts, he also fails to understand the uniquely American three-legged stool system of federal stimulus allied to state and local support and bolstered by private donations that has enriched the arts and the country for more than half a century.
But the striking thing in Will’s column is his barely disguised vitriol not against the arts, but against what he sneeringly calls the “arts community.” It is a grasping, needy, self-interested coalition — not a community but a collection of infantilized losers.
“The myriad entities with financial interests in preserving the NEA cloyingly call themselves the ‘arts community,’ a clever branding that other grasping factions should emulate,” he writes, cloyingly. “The ‘arts community’ has its pitter-patter down pat. The rhetorical cotton candy — sugary, jargon-clotted arts gush — asserts that the arts nurture ‘civically valuable dispositions’ and a sense of ‘community and connectedness.’ And, of course, ‘diversity’ and ‘self-esteem.’ ”
[A Dystopian future for the arts in America]
The arts have a powerful economic effect on our society and employ vast numbers of people, but the arts community is hardly an assemblage of cynical, self-interested, deep-pocketed financial interests (for that, look to the president’s Cabinet). The “pitter-patter” of this rapacious arts juggernaut is indeed well practiced by now, but only because attacks on the arts are now a seasonal performance from a determined minority political faction. The arts do indeed foster a sense of “community and connectedness” . . . in places like Nebraska, Alaska, Missouri, Nevada, Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama. And the other 43 states of the Union. And not only do they nurture diversity, they also express and preserve the variegated richness of culture celebrated in that musty old Latin phrase “E pluribus unum” (it’s on the money, if you want to check).
But the most jejune moment of Will’s extraordinary performance is this: “What, however, is art? We subsidize soybean production, but at least we can say what soybeans are.” For a few centuries now, it has been the nature of art to wonder what art is. That’s how the arts think, how they operate, how they define the parameters of aesthetic experience. And for the entire history of the species, art has been fundamentally different, less tangible, less utilitarian in its function, than soybeans. These things are obvious, if you’ve ever spent time with the arts community, which in fact exists and adds immeasurably to the stability, cohesion, intelligence, beauty and resilience of the nation.
Philip Kennicott Philip Kennicott is the Pulitzer Prize-winning art and architecture critic of The Washington Post. He has been on staff at The Post since 1999, first as classical music critic, then as culture critic. Follow
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Army worries about “toxic” leaders in ranks
By Greg Jaffe
Greg Jaffe
National security reporter
A major U.S. Army survey of leadership and morale found that more than 80 percent of Army officers and sergeants had directly observed a “toxic” leader in the last year and that about 20 percent of the respondents said that they had worked directly for one.
The survey of about 22,000 Army leaders was conducted by the Center for Army Leadership and comes during a year when the Army has removed or discipline three brigade commanders who were en route to, or returning from war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan. Selection to command a combat brigade, which consists of about 5,000 soldiers and is commanded by a colonel, is highly competitive in the Army.
The survey also found that 97 percent of officers and sergeants had observed an “exceptional leader” within the Army in the past year.
The Army defined toxic leaders as commanders who put their own needs first, micro-managed subordinates, behaved in a mean-spirited manner or displayed poor decision making.
About half of the soldiers who worked under toxic leaders expected that their selfish and abusive commanders would be promoted to a higher level of leadership.
Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, shown here in May, has led a series of initiatives aimed a producing quicker-thinking and more flexible Army leaders. (Chip Somodevilla/GETTY IMAGES)
“This may create a self-perpetuating cycle with harmful and long-lasting effects on morale, productivity and retention of quality personnel,” the survey concluded. “There is no indication that the toxic leadership issue will correct itself.”
The Army began conducting annual surveys of its leaders in 2005 to determine trends in morale, the overall quality of leadership and the willingness of Army leaders to stay in the military until retirement.
The strain of combat in Afghanistan, which has seen an increase of about 65,000 troops since President Obama took office, did not appear to cause a major drop in morale. Overall, about 43 percent of active-duty Army leaders serving in Afghanistan reported high morale in 2010, compared with 47 percent in 2009.
About 55 percent of Army leaders in the United States reported high morale in 2010, down from 63 percent in 2009, a sign that some leaders, accustomed to repeated battlefield tours, may be chafing at the regimented and rule-oriented nature of garrison life as the pace of combat deployment slows.
Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, who was recently selected to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has led a series of initiatives aimed a producing quicker-thinking and more flexible Army leaders.
As part of that effort, the Army is exploring whether subordinates’ views should be factored into the evaluations of commanders being considered for higher-level posts.
“We are looking at the command selection process asking how can we introduce 360-degree evaluations,” Dempsey said in a meeting with reporters this spring. “We can ask a battalion commander, does the senior commander [over him] engender a climate of trust.” Such an approach could help weed out toxic leaders.
Army officers and enlisted leaders have spent much of the last decade shuffling between the war zones and home. It is not unusual for sergeants to have taken part in as many as three or four combat tours in the past decade.
More than 70 percent of officers and sergeants in the survey, which was released late last month, said that Army leaders were “generally effective” at combat and counterinsurgency skills employed in Iraq and Afghanistan. But the strain of combat did seem to leave many of the Army leaders pessimistic about the future, with only 38 percent saying that the Army was headed in the right direction to prepare for the challenges of the next 10 years.
With budget cuts looming, many senior Pentagon officials have started to express concern that the military services will not get the resources that they need to replace and repair equipment that has been damaged in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“These two wars have exhausted our force,” outgoing Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said in an recent interview. “One of my worries about the budget situation is that particularly the Army and Marine Corps are going to have to reset a lot of their equipment. . . . I mean they have just basically used it up.”
Greg Jaffe Greg Jaffe is a national political reporter for The Washington Post, where he has been since March 2009. Previously, he covered the White House, foreign policy and the U.S. military for The Post. Follow
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The coming cyber wars?
Josh Mayeux works at Air Force Space Command Network Operations & Security Center, which defends against cyberattacks on Department of Defense systems, in Colorado Springs in 2010. (Rick Wilking/Reuters)
By Robert J. Samuelson
Robert J. Samuelson
Columnist focusing on economics
We journalists often have mixed feelings about what we report and write. Naturally, we like to see our reporting vindicated by events or other reporting. This makes us feel prescient. Still, we often feel bad, because what we’ve reported harms some group or society as a whole. That’s how I felt when I read a recent story in the Wall Street Journal headlined “Cyberwar ignites a new arms race.”
In the past, I’ve argued that — contrary to conventional wisdom — the Internet does not represent “progress,” because its benefits are vastly overshadowed by its potential for social anarchy and global conflict. So far, that hasn’t happened on a significant scale — cyberattacks have mostly involved business and government spying — but the Wall Street Journal story suggests that broader conflicts are just a matter of time.
It reports that “countries have begun to amass cyberweaponry on an unprecedented scale.” At least 29 countries “have formal military or intelligence units dedicated to offensive hacking efforts,” estimate Journal reporters Damian Paletta, Danny Yadron and Jennifer Valentino-DeVries. And 50 countries, including some of the 29, “have bought off-the-shelf hacking software.”
This cyber arms race extends well beyond obvious combatants: the United States, China, Russia, Iran and North Korea. According to the Journal, India and Pakistan “regularly hack each other’s companies and governments.” Estonia and Belarus are said to be building “defensive shields to counter Russia.” Argentina, Denmark, France and the Netherlands are also mentioned as having developed “offensive” cyberweapons.
What worries me most is not the spying — which, nevertheless, is costly, serious and embarrassing — but the potential for social disruption. Here, the Journal reports ominously, though vaguely:
“Nation states have also looked into using cyberweapons to knock out electrical grids, disable domestic airline networks, jam Internet connectivity, erase money from bank accounts and confuse radar systems, experts believe.”
Everyday life as we know it could be irreparably damaged if any of these dangers materialized. Imagine the public fears if large parts of the electric grid failed and, unlike outages from hurricanes and other natural disasters, could not be quickly or easily restored.
History is hardly reassuring. In the past, new weapon technologies — the tank, the airplane, nuclear bombs — have changed the nature of warfare and international conflict. That is almost certainly happening now, though the shape of cyberwar’s future is foggy at best.
It’s conceivable that cyberattacks could disarm traditional weapons. In a talk with reporters, says the Journal, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Welsh III favored developing computer codes that could “make an enemy air defense system go quickly blank” or have an enemy’s “radar show a thousand false targets that all look real.” But as one cyberexpert cautioned, “what we can do, we can expect done back to us.”
The United States, says the Journal, is considered by many experts to have “the most advanced [cybersecurity] operations.” But, of course, no one knows. We don’t have full knowledge of what other governments can do, just as they don’t have full knowledge of what we can do. Then there are also rogue operators, freelancers and criminals who are following their own personal, political or commercial agendas. Indeed, the difficulty in identifying the source of cyberattacks makes deterrence and retaliations harder.
The opportunities for mischief or mayhem seem vast. I hope I’m wrong.
Read more from Robert Samuelson’s archive.
Read more on this issue:
Chris Stewart: It’s time to take cyberattacks seriously
The Post’s View: The OPM cyberattack was a breach too far
Marc A. Thiessen: China crosses Obama’s cyber ‘red line’
The Post’s View: The cyber defense crisis
Robert J. Samuelson Robert J. Samuelson writes a twice-weekly column on economics.
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Next time, maybe Phelps will have something to say
By - The Washington Times - Saturday, March 14, 2009
Mistakes, we all make them.
Regrets, well, we all have a few.
Alex Rodriguez surely had some about shooting up with steroids, though, curiously enough, he didn’t mention them until he was outed for testing positive. His biggest one now seems to be that he got caught for what he wants you to believe was a youthful indiscretion.
Michael Phelps has some to, and who can blame him. One picture of him smoking a bong figures to long trump the Sports Illustrated cover of him with eight gold medals around his neck.
Like A-Rod, he has an explanation. Does the phrase “immature and stupid” ring a bell?
Don’t be confused if you get a serious case of deja vu Sunday night watching Phelps answering questions posed by Matt Lauer on NBC’s “Dateline” in what the network advertises as an “exclusive” first television interview by Phelps since the infamous picture of him with the bong surfaced in a British tabloid.
Never mind that Phelps has already told print journalists basically the same things he tells Lauer and that he is so uninteresting he is painful to watch. Exclusive in this case means a chance to make even more prime-time money off Phelps than NBC managed to squeeze out of his golden run in Beijing.
Judging from the segment that was used as a teaser on the “Today” show, you could have replaced Phelps with A-Rod, Lauer with Peter Gammons, and marijuana with steroids and the interview would have been eerily the same as the one Rodriguez offered up last month.
By now the formula should be familiar. Jason Giambi pioneered it when he apologized for doing something bad, then refused to say just what bad thing he was apologizing for.
Worked well for him, too. Giambi was able to pocket the $82 million he had remaining on his Yankee contract, no further questions asked.
Rodriguez did much the same thing, admitting that he used something but wasn’t quite sure what it was. He blamed a cousin and the magazine reporter who busted him for his problems, which he said were really caused by him being “young and stupid” and doing an “immature” thing.
Seems to be working for him, too. The Yankees rallied around A-Rod, and he’s still got some $250 million left on his contract. He may even play the remaining nine years he signed up for, though the history with steroid users is that they tend to break down when they stop using the stuff, assuming, of course, that Rodriguez has.
And now we have Phelps, who has contracts of a different kind. His are with advertisers and sponsors, who need to be reassured that they aren’t throwing their money away on someone a lot of people are going to think of as a stoner first and a swimmer second.
That’s the reason Phelps did the taping with Lauer, who could be counted on to help in the damage control process and eventual rehabilitation to superstar by the time of the 2012 Olympics, which his network just happens to be broadcasting. To his credit, Lauer asked the requisite questions, but he didn’t seem to hear any of the answers.
Maybe that’s because he, like all of us, has heard them before.
Phelps, it turns out, made some mistakes, though he declined to say just what they were. He was young and stupid, of course, but now that he’s seen the error of his ways his advice to children who see him or other athletes as role models is to take responsibility for your mistakes.
So, kids, next time you do something bad, go to your parents and tell them you did something bad. Just don’t tell them what it was.
We all know what this was, of course. Not too many people attach their lips to a bong without having some kind of underlying reason for it.
But wouldn’t it be nice for Phelps to just come clean and cut out the charade? Is there any point of wasting our time in prime time on national TV in what is really nothing more than an effort to appease sponsors and NBC?
There isn’t, of course, just like there was no reason to watch A-Rod or Giambi, either. It’s all manufactured damage control, scripted by someone in a PR office somewhere.
And by now the script has grown stale.
Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at [email protected]
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