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Home / 2019 / Many, many happy returns of the ‘70’ birthday, Jita Singh
Many, many happy returns of the ‘70’ birthday, Jita Singh
http://www.sports247.my/v1/2019/04/many-many-happy-returns-70-birthday-jita-singh">
Jita Singh turns 70 years as probably one of the greatest Singapore-born player-coaches and today, we wish him: Many more happy returns, coach.
As he blows the candles with family and friends, he distinctly takes pride that he’s the oldest surviving award-winning coach, the youngest head coach to win the Malaysia Cup in 1980, which earned him the SNOC “Coach of the Year” award the following year, his highest career national decoration to date.
At age 29 and in his first assignment, he guided the Lions to victory in the 1980 Malaysia Cup, as well as two South-east Asian (SEA) Games silver medals (1983 and 1989).
He vividly remembers FAS (Football Association of Singapore) Chairman Nadesan Ganesan then defying him to take on the “hot seat” as national coach when several senior coaches, rather mysteriously, turned it down.
“Ganesan pulled no punches and rather crudely, asked me point-blankly if I “had the balls to do the job”. I was surprised but that got me riled up so much that I simply disregarded my age or international experience and took on his challenge,” Jita recalls. The late Ganesan, later fondly remembered as “Mr Kallang Roar” later hailed Jita as the “Man with the Midas touch”.
I’ve known Jita as a family friend for more than three decades and I will vouch that what distinguishes him from the rest of the coaching pack is his proverbial “blood, sweat and tears” and gutsy nature to take on any assignment, without fear or favour of failing.
PIONEER ARMY RECRUITS
Few know, too, that Jita was among the 900 men who formed the pioneer batch of National Service (NS) recruits when the NS Amendment Bill, made NS compulsory for all 18-year-old male Singapore citizens and permanent residents, was signed. He boldly enlisted into the army without the slightest sense of trepidation, and matter-of-factly, says he was “so excited” to receive the letter.
He says animatedly: “I was quite happy to get the letter, because I was in the National Police Cadet Corps in school, so I was not scared at all. Besides, it would be interesting to live life as a soldier.”
But he soon found out that no prior experience would be enough to prepare him for the harsh realities of NS. Along with many of his peers, NS was the first time he had to fend for himself.
“We had to man up and start being adults. Wash our clothes, iron our uniform, all these things we had to do on our own,” he says, sharing how he had to put in so much effort to iron his uniform – starching each fold of his sleeve and ironing it when he was preparing for a parade.
“The commanders back then were so fierce, they were all army regulars so we were the first ones to face their training,” he says. “But looking back, it was good, I learnt a lot, thanks to how they ‘tekan’ me.”
When asked what the greatest take-away from NS was, he said it was not the training methods or the independence he picked up as a soldier. Rather, he felt that it underscored the importance of camaraderie and discipline – insights that have guided him to focus on building a strong team spirit in his football teams.
“It makes sense that I did both these things, they came together so well. I’m thankful for my time in NS, it’s helped me to become the man I am,” he says.
Military training further toughened him and prepared him to be super-fit when he was called on to play for Singapore in the early 1970s (1969-1973) as the first Sikh to don the Lions jersey. He was part of Singapore’s first and only two-week long playing tour to England. But a serious knee injury stumbled his playing career but motivated him to become the first Sikh football coach (1979-1984).
Specifically looking back to childhood days, Jita says: “In those days, it was quite easy for us to play football, we would just play on any space we could find and use stones or wooden sticks for goalposts. Our ball would be a plastic ball and we would play barefoot, the ground could be uneven, we would get cuts here and there, but it didn’t matter to us.”
ATHLETE WHO BROKE RECORDS
He remembers his schooldays as an athlete and held the school’s short and long distance records.
“I also played hockey for the school. But I found football to be more challenging, and more fun,” he says. “I come from the Sikh community, and at that time the majority of the community was involved in hockey. When you talked about a Sikh, you automatically associated him with hockey.”
He smiles as he looks back to his teens in the 1960s, where because of the pressure from the community, he couldn’t openly tell family that he was going to play football. He explains: “So I used to tell them that I was going to watch a football match at the St George’s Field. In those days there would be various leagues such as the Business Houses League and the Government Services League, as well as friendly games. I would go and play in a game without my shirt on, and after the game I would use handkerchiefs from my house to wipe the sweat off.”
Recalling his first selection for the Lions, as the first Sikh, he says: “In those days, the jerseys were made of heavy cotton, not comfortable at all. It was a jersey with four coloured squares. They didn’t have laundry services so the players took their jerseys back home to wash. I was so proud of playing for Singapore that every couple of hours, I would open my closet to look at the jersey.
“There wasn’t any Singapore flag, just four squares! But the pride of playing for the country was so strong that I just had to look at the jersey every few hours!”
Even after his coaching career, with the Lions, he also went across the Causeway and handled Pahang and Johor, keenly keeping a close eye on youth development, which was lacking in the Malaysian-end.
He later moved off to the AFC (Asian Football Confederation) headquarters in Kuala Lumpur to serve as the continental grassroots education consultant, concentrating on Central Asia, comprising mainly of the former Russian republics.
This endeared lots of prolonged travelling and feeling homesick, he returned to join the FAS in 2007 as Head of Grassroots Development. He spent seven years reforming and enhancing the youth development structure in Singapore. He also oversaw other areas in the FAS such as women’s football, the FIFA Grassroots Course, Coaching & Development, the National Football Academy (NFA), as well as Club and Junior COE (Centre of Excellence).
Former FAS General Secretary Winston Lee praised Jita is a “key member of our team which has, in recent years, implemented key programmes aimed at facilitating the development of footballers from a young age, and the introduction of the National Football Syllabus which serves as a guide for coaches in Singapore”.
Lee added: “In fact, the endorsement of our youth development programmes by senior international football officials would not have been possible without the commitment and hard work of our colleagues including Jita. He also informed us of his desire to serve as a volunteer and we certainly look forward to his continued involvement in Singapore football.”
‘HEART WITH FOOTBALL’
Now going on 70 years, Jita, a father of three, says his “heart still remains with football” without being specific of his future plans. But if given one final chances, he would love to further exploit developing football at grassroots level, especially in encouraging more multi-racial youngsters to play the No 1 sport.
He says: “I understand perfectly why Sir Alex Ferguson was still in the job (at the age of 70) and I think I may have that longevity edge. I love football so much, I love coaching so much. I believe I have a lot in front of me, particularly in developing the younger generation of schoolboy footballers.
“To be honest, 70 is a number with a certain impact, it’s a number I believe sometimes has a psychologically negative impact on many people because they realise the world spins very, very fast and our lives are very, very short,” he adds with a big smile.
”It’s a number that makes me think and look back but also look forward too. I’m such a happy person because what I have done so far I think is amazing.“
Many, many happy returns of the big birthday, Jita Singh, you’re in my books, one of the greatest Singapore-born player-coaches. Indeed, the oldest surviving award-winning Singaporean coach, the youngest head coach to win the Malaysia Cup in 1980, amazingly at 30 years. – By SURESH NAIR
Suresh Nair is a Singapore-based journalist who has known Jita Singh for four decades as a personal family friend. He also served under Jita when he was President of the-then Singapore Football Coaches Association (SFCA)
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Video Prod.
Steel Wool is a multi-faceted entertainment company based in Los Angeles, CA. Founder and CEO Kevin Morrow is a veteran of the music industry whose vision is to focus on the evolution of the traditional entertainment model and bridge the gap between artists & content owners and their fans via emerging social and digital platforms.
Steel Wool is uniquely designed to offer our artists any and all services under one roof including management, record label, video production & marketing, in an effort to stay ahead of the ever changing landscape of the entertainment industry. Led by an executive team with diverse professional experience and relationships, Steel Wool provides insight and access to its clients that is unmatched anywhere.
Kevin Morrow CEO
Tyler Rutkin EVP
Brad Simpson SVP Production
Fabienne Leys Manager
John Kim Manager
Kevin Morrow
Kevin Morrow has worked for nearly 30 years in the music industry as a talent manager, concert promoter and marketing executive. He was appointed President of Live Nation's New York division in 2007 and previously worked as a Senior Vice President of Tours & Talent for House of Blues Entertainment nationwide. In addition to his roles with such distinguished companies, his accomplishments include acquiring acts for the Superbowl including artists ZZ Top, Blues Brothers and James Brown. He facilitated the historic ‘Smoking Grooves’ tour, cited as the most successful urban music tour to date, which brought together Cypress Hill, The Fugees, Outkast, Ziggy Marley, Public Enemy, Busta Rhymes, and many more.
Tyler Rutkin
During his five years as Director of Touring for Live Nation, Tyler has managed touring for artists including Shakira, Lil’ Wayne, Linkin Park, Enrique Iglesias, Pitbull & King’s of Leon. Prior to his work at Live Nation, he spent 2 years as an agent at Harmony Artists, where he negotiated the national touring deal for the Broadway show Forever Tango. Tyler was also responsible for booking talent with corporate clients including Rolls Royce, Paramount and Fiji Water. After graduating with honors from UCLA in 2005 Tyler went to work for Capital Records working in radio promotion for artists such as Corinne Bailey Rae, J. Holiday, & Lily Allen. During his time here he developed his relationships with radio partners across the country and helped take CBR’s single “Put Your Records On” to the top of the US and UK charts.
Brad Simpson
SVP Production
Brad Simpson started his own production company with rapper and writer George Watsky in March of 2012. There, Brad produced numerous music videos for a variety of artists in addition to web series and shorts. This company later merged to become the Steel Wool production division. Prior to Steel Wool, Brad worked at Fox producing and editing short form content for Fox, Hulu, YouTube and Video on Demand. Brad produced the Teen Choice Awards web show in 2011, which streamed live on teenchoiceawards.com and mobile devices. He has also worked in digital creation and distribution at ABC and Bravo Digital. With his experience in interactive and digital media, Brad is focused on creating quality content, both for the web and traditional media as the entertainment industry continues to shift. Brad graduated Emerson College with a Bachelor of Arts in Film and holds a Master's of Science in Interactive Media from Quinnipiac University.
Fabienne Leys
Fabienne Leys began her broad-based career in the music industry over 12 years ago upon graduating from New York University, working in the publicity departments of the famed Arista Records and Island Def Jam Music Group. In 2005, Fabienne transitioned into A&R at Def Jam, assisting on various artists’ projects including Rihanna, Nas, and The Roots. In 2008 she joined the newly-formed staff at Roc Nation, continuing to hone her artist development acumen with its growing roster, but the company’s multi-faceted business approach also provided an opportunity to expand her duties beyond A&R to include management of producers, songwriters, engineers and mixers. Starting in 2010, Fabienne relocated to Los Angeles to develop and oversee producer and songwriter management at Atom Factory, leveraging her considerable management and A&R experience in guiding the careers of several producer and songwriter clients. In 2014, Fabienne founded her own management company FabWorks Entertainment, where she continues to manage a stellar roster of producers, songwriters and artists, including multi-platinum producer Brian Kennedy, The Movement, and singer/songwriter Hayley Kiyoko.
With 15 years of experience in the music and entertainment industry, John Kim has worked with some of the top entertainment companies in the business. Graduating from the University of Washington with a degree in Business/Economics, he moved to Los Angeles where he started his professional career at Warner Bros. He diversified his background in music and entertainment at companies such as EMI/Capitol Records and DreamWorks Animation. John then transitioned to an Artist and marketing manager at S.M. Entertainment (the largest Korean Pop Label/Management company in the industry) where he directly managed artists including BoA, Girls’ Generation, SHINee, TVXQ and others. Helping to sell more than 30 million albums, John was one of the first to export and introduce "K-POP" to the world. John still works with the top producers and songwriters today utilizing his unique blend of entrepreneurship, business development, and creativity. Collaborating with key players such as Live Nation, AEG, CAA and others, John continues to help pave the way for international artists in the mainstream market.
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185 years ago today - Dec 16, 1833
Doctrine and Covenants 101. Inhabitants of Zion brought persecution on themselves by transgression, but the Lord will remember them. He will let his sword fall in their behalf. During millennium Satan will have no power. Those born during the millennium will not die, but be changed in the twinkling of an eye. Continue to gather, purchase lands in Zion. No other gathering place. Appeal to the courts, governor, and president. If they won't restore lands, the Lord will. Don't sell property in Zion.
[Kenney, Scott; Saints Without Halos, 'Doctrine and Covenants,' http://web.archive.org/web/20120805163534/saintswithouthalos.com/s/_dc.phtml]
45 years ago today - 45 years ago - Dec 31, 1973-M...
70 years ago today - Dec 31, 1948
125 years ago today - Sunday, Dec 31, 1893
130 years ago today - Dec 31, 1888 (Monday)
185 years ago today - 1833 Winter.
45 years ago today - Dec 30, 1973-Sunday
40 years ago today - Dec 29,1978
120 years ago today - Dec 29, 1898 (Thursday)
120 years ago today - Dec 29, 1898; Thursday
45 years ago today - Dec 28, 1973-Friday
120 years ago today - Dec 28, 1898; Wednesday
120 years ago today - 120 years ago - Dec 27, 1898...
120 years ago today - Dec 27, 1898; Tuesday
5 years ago today - Dec 26, 2013
115 years ago today - Thursday, Dec 24, 1903
120 years ago today - Friday, Dec 23, 1898
175 years ago today - Dec 22, 1843 (Friday)
135 years ago today - Dec 21, 1883; Friday
160 years ago today - winter of 1858
185 years ago today - about (Fri) Dec 20, 1833
45 years ago today - Dec 19, 1973-Wednesday
185 years ago today - 1833: 18 December
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Powderburn
Powderburn, a hard rock foursome that calls Austin, Texas home, formed in November of 1999 in a tiny apartment in Austin, TX. To get the right sound, vocalist/guitarist Ken Lockman enlisted a pair of childhood friends, and former East Coasters, drummer Patrick Swift and bassist Greg Enkler. Now all they needed was a guitarist with hypersonic chops and precision execution. They found their man with lead guitarist Eric Anthony.
Powderburn released their debut full-length album, A New Sin in December of 2000. Their sophomore self-titled album came out in December of 2003 and in January of 2007, they put out an EP/DVD entitled Echoed in Red . Fall 2009 saw the release of their latest effort One Fix .
Powderburn has played over 300 clubs in 11 states spanning half of the U.S. They’ve shared the stage with some of the biggest names in metal and hard rock including, Slayer , Slipknot , Disturbed , Machine Head , Three Days Grace , and Staind . They’ve played at Austin’s world famous South by Southwest festival for the past 5 years in a row, and they show no signs of slowing down.
Now that the latest record is ready to unleash on the world, the band has chosen to follow in the footsteps of luminaries such as Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails. The entire record is available as a free digital download on ReverbNation. All the band asks in exchange for an entire record of free songs is for the user to submit their email address to the mailing list, and One Fix is absolutely free.
Patrick explains the rationale behind the decision, "We really had to take a step back and decide how we were going to make our mark in an age with little label support, and when you have the whole internet at your disposal it really lets you take some risks and get your music into the hands of whoever wants it. I think that's even more valuable to us right now than any money we'd make selling this online with no help from a label.
Patrick threw on his bathrobe, put a little liquor in his coffee, and sat down to tell us a bit more about the band.
How do you describe your music to people, Patrick?
I used to hate this question, because I never wanted to pigeon-hole our music, but then I realized how important this is to people that don't have such artistic arrogance. I think our music is a modern take on the classic hard rock and thrash we grew up with. I remember that crazy feeling I had in the pit of my stomach when I heard Sad But True for the first time, and we're all about finding new ways to do that.
Tell me about how you originally got into your craft.
I think all of us got into music in largely the same way - we all watched a lot of MTV as kids and wanted to be larger than life. I think the one common thread we have in terms of inspiration was Metallica's Black Album . My first band, just before high school, actually included my current bassist Greg. We've pretty much always either been playing together or wished we were.
What is your favorite thing to do in the whole wide world?
Play live. I know that seems like a knee-jerk, totally lame, cliche thing to say, but unless you've done it at a certain level, you just don't know. We played the Rockstar Mayhem Fest second stage, with Machine Head, Slipknot, Disturbed, Dragonforce, etc., and when you're facing down 8000 kids who are actually digging your music, to the point where they pick up a kid in a 200 lb. electric wheelchair and CROWDSURF him during your set, the feeling you have is indescribable. Better than sex, better than drugs, better than ANYTHING.
What is your biggest challenge when it comes to running your business?
The utter tanking of the record industry in general. You don't have thousands of kids stealing milk from the grocery store on bit-torrent sites. I think it's a pretty unique problem faced by the arts (music, movies, etc.), and it's taken a lot of the capital away from the businesses that would make my business easier. It's cool for NIN or Radiohead to give away a record, because everyone knows who they are. Getting into the national consciousness is probably one of the hardest job-related tasks of any industry, ever.
When you were a kid, what did you think you were going to be when you grew up?
When I was very small, I thought I was going to be a Jedi Knight. When I realized that wasn't a viable job option, I wanted to be a priest. True story. Of course, Metallica and Guns 'N' Roses came along and pretty much put the smack down on that vocation, too. I chose drums, and have been doing it ever since.
In what way has your community impacted your development as a musician?
Originally being from New York City, I was exposed through countless friends to all kinds of music. I got into everything from industrial to Bolivian folk music to Nusret Fateh Ali Khan. I think it's informed my drumming, in particular, to not be locked into the same patterns my favorite thrash bands from the Eighties made famous.
After moving to Austin, I was struck by the sheer LOVE of music here. In NYC, there is a very cutthroat, snarky, "I'm way too cool to jump up and down and let this music visually affect me" type of vibe, and here in Austin, it's a lot more honest. People really get into your band and connect with the lyrics, music, and you as people. It's probably one of the more inspiring places to be a musician in all of America, in that regard.
What other artists out there do you love?
Wow. I could literally spend all day just typing the bands I love, but I'll try to keep it short and representative. The big ones when I was young and carry to this day are Metallica, Guns 'N' Roses, Alice In Chains, Testament,and Iron Maiden. Today, I would add Depeche Mode, Ani DiFranco, VNV Nation, The Cure, Rammstein, The Beatles, Black Sabbath, Dave Matthews Band, Bruce Springsteen, Covenant, In Flames, David Bowie, Tool/A Perfect Circle, NIN, My Chemical Romance, Queen, Nightwish, Led Zeppelin . . okay, I'm doing it. I'm sorry. I'll stop.
What does your future hold?
Success in this industry, in some way. Powderburn will be a household name. It's not a matter of being a psychic, it's a matter of accepting nothing less. Fortune favors the bold, and we in Powderburn don't see closed doors as a deterrent, we see them as something to smash down on the way to our first platinum record. That might seem arrogant to someone else, but we are just very, VERY determined.
Labels: metal , rock
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New Nodes @ 12 Nights Miami
2014•11•28
Foundation for Emerging Technologies and Arts (FEAT), Harold Golen Gallery, Miami, FL
le son de la lumière - part 1
Daniel Blinkhorn
King of Iniquity
David Morneau
Distorted Mirrors
Chris Cresswell
Melissa Grey (with Harold Jones, flute, and Mioi Takeda, violin)
Lament and Sorrow: in memory of Liana Alexandra
Robert Voisey
Milica Paranosic (with Margaret Lancaster, flute)
La fête de la huitèmme decenni
Elainie Lillios
Nonlinear Division
Dan Abatemarco (Speak Onion)
Shape Study: Music for Metamorphoses
Mike McFerron
Daniel Blinkhorn is an Australian composer and new media artist who currently resides in Sydney. His works are regularly performed, exhibited and presented internationally at festivals, concert halls, conferences, galleries and other loci, and his creative works have received over 25 international and national composition citations.
le son de la lumière - part 1: In 1982 composer Luc Ferrari scored the soundtrack to the animated film Chronopolis by Piotr Kamler. The moment I saw the film I was struck by its beauty and elegant synchronicity between sound and image. In particular, the composer’s response to the impossible shapes conjured by the animator, in which he seemed to capture the light reflected from the shapes. When I was provided with the opportunity to use some of Luc Ferrari’s original samples from his recorded archives, I set about creating a work that reflects my own impressions of his musical oeuvre. The resulting composition gravitates conceptually around the film Chronopolis.
David Morneau is a composer of an entirely undecided genre. Described by Molly Sheridan as a "shining beacon" of inspiration, his diverse work illuminates ideas about our culture, issues concerning creativity, and even the very nature of music itself. His eclectic output has been described variously as "elegantly rendered", "happily prissy", "impressive", "unusual, esoteric, and offbeat". His recent album, Broken Memory, "absolutely wrecks shop.… For that, David Morneau wins." Morneau is Artistic Director of Circuit Bridges and Composer-In-Residence at Immigrant Breast Nest. Find out more at http://5of4.com
In 2012 I curated a compilation album for Immigrant Breast Nest called B'ak'tun Waning. Each month that year, on the 21st, we released a new track by a different artist as a countdown to December 21, 2012—the much-hyped Mayan apocalypse. King of Iniquity is my contribution to the album, released on February 21, 2012, which was also Mardi Gras. It's a potent mixture of bass trombone drones, swirling synths, and splintered dub-step beats "bursting into a million ruined colors that that let you see forever."
Originally from Cazenovia, NY, Chris Cresswell (b. 1988) is a young composer who is gaining recognition for his work in a wide variety of music genres, from large and chamber ensembles, solo works, vocal works, electro-acoustic works and collaborations with video artists. Graduating Magna Cum Laude from Syracuse University in 2011 with a Bachelor’s of Music in Composition.
Distorted Mirrors – The second in my Audifiler series, an ongoing project of works built using heavily manipulated digital samples. These works were created using small fragments of preexisting material that are then heavily manipulated using a variety of digital music programs.
While trying to come up with an idea for the piece, I stumbled upon a saxophone quartet and sampled a short section of the piece. The sample was so catchy that it became the focal point for the entire piece. It reoccurs throughout the entire work against varying backdrops. Each time the sample reappears it changes based on the surrounding textures as if motif is moving through a series of fun house mirrors.
Composer Melissa Grey’s projects include concert works, electroacoustic performances, installations, food+music events and collaborations with artists and architectural designers. Grey is currently Artistic Director of Circuit Bridges, a monthly electroacoustic concert series held at Gallery MC in New York City. Previous curatorial work includes 60x60 New York Minutes Mix (2012), Transrevelation (2007) and Sonic Channels (2006). www.melissagrey.net
Appassionata (2010) is a film collage and musical composition. Artist Angela Grauerholz invited composer Melissa Grey to interpret a fragment of music that Ludwig Wittgenstein had scribbled down in his journal in 1931. Accompanying this music, he wrote: “That must be the end of a theme which I cannot place. It came into my head today as I was thinking about my philosophical work and saying to myself, I destroy, I destroy, I destroy.” Wittgenstein’s attempt to consider the implications of the limitations language places on human experience is reflected in this piece where the meaning remains open, and several sensibilities and forms of expression are merged into one. The film collage, by Grauerholz and Réjean Myette, was constructed as a response to Grey’s resulting composition, in a dialogue that reconsiders image-sound hierarchy.
“With few opportunities and much competition,...composers show creativity in just getting heard.” And in Chris Pasles’s article in the Los Angeles Times, Robert Voisey is highlighted as one of those composers. Composing electroacoustic and chamber music, his aesthetic oscillates from the Romantic to the Post Modern Mash-Up. His work has been performed in venues throughout the world including: Carnegie Hall, World Financial Center Winter Garden Atrium, and Stratford Circus in London. Voisey has been profiled and music broadcasted on HEC-TV public television in St Louis, Elektramusik in France, as well as radio stations all around the world including: Cityscape NPR St. Louis Public Radio; Arts & Answers & Art Waves on WKCR, Upbeat with Eva Radich on Radio New Zealand; and Kol Yisrael Israeli Radio.
Lament and Sorrow – In Memory of Liana Alexandra and dedicated to Serban Nichifor; two of my dear colleagues, composers, and friends.
Critically acclaimed composer Milica Paranosic has established herself as one of New York’s finest and most daring composers, performance artists, producers, and technologists. Her music was described as “Amazing...astonishing” (The New York Times), “Like liquor-filled pralines” (Germany’s Morgenpost), and “A painter, musical Jackson Pollack” (SEAMUS). Milica’s works range from one-woman multimedia shows and sound installations to operatic and symphonic works. Inspired by her travels and international collaborations, Milica imaginatively incorporates music of her Serbian homeland in addition to cross-continental muses such as Brazil, Ghana and China, always striving to create new sound worlds in which contrasting concepts vividly coexist in unique textures. Milica is current co-director of Composers Concordance, music director of Gallery MC, and founder and director of ParAcademy.
“New-music luminary” (The New York Times) and “leading exponent of the avant-garde flute” (Village Voice), Margaret Lancaster has built a large repertoire of new works composed for her that employ extended techniques, multi-media, and electronics fusing music, theater and movement. Performance highlights include Lincoln Center Festival, Spoleto Festival USA, Ibsen Festival, Santa Fe New Music, Edinburgh Festival, Tap City, New Music Miami, and Festival D’Automne. A member of Either/Or and Fisher Ensemble, she has been a guest of many groups including Argento, Counter)induction, and the New York Philharmonic. She has recorded on New World Records, OO Discs, Innova, Naxos and Tzadik, and was selected for Meet the Composer’s New Works for Soloist Champions project. Noted for her interdisciplinary performances, Lancaster, who also works as an actor, dancer, and amateur furniture designer, presents solo and chamber music concerts worldwide. Recent collaborations include playing Helene in the 7- year worldwide run of OBIE-winning Mabou Mines Dollhouse, BMP’s Kocho, and Fables on Global Warming with Karole Armitage’s ArmitageGone!Dance. www.margaretlancaster.com.
Mrak is a piece I wrote for Margaret Lancaster and myself several years ago as a part of a larger (still in progress) project, focusing on sonorities of Margaret’s stunning, lush and diverse flute soundscapes layered over beats and vocals.
'Mrak' is 'darkness' in Serbian, often used for 'cool' or 'awesome' in Belgrade slang.
Elainie Lillios’s music reflects her fascination with listening, sound, space, time, immersion, and anecdote. Awards include a 2013-14 Fulbright grant (Greece), First Prize–Electroacoustic Piano International Competition, Special Mention–Prix Destellos, Prize Winner–Medea Electronique Competition, and First Prize–Concours Internationale de Bourges. Recognition from Concurso Internacional de Musica Electroacustica de Sao Paulo, Concorso Internazionale Russolo, Pierre Schaeffer Competition, ICMA, and La Muse en Circuit. Elainie’s acousmatic is available on the CD Entre Espaces, produced by Empreintes DIGITALes, plus Centaur, MSR Classics, Irritable Hedgehog, StudioPANaroma, La Muse en Circuit, New Adventures in Sound Art, SEAMUS, and Leonardo Music Journal. www.elillios.com
La fête de la huitièmme decennie weaves a fantasy about celebrations and the aftermath. It celebrates Francois Bayle’s 80th birthday and premiered October 27 2012 in Brussels, Belgium on a concert honoring him.
As Speak Onion, Dan Abatemarco treads on, then completely explodes, the line between producer and noisician. He spews seething noise, giant deformed beats and absolutely wrong atmospheres in fits and starts until nothing sounds like what it sounds like anymore. Breakbeats and basslines enter innocently but end up processed beyond recognition and drowning in feedback. Synth sounds are stretched, manipulated, and left ruined as chilling shrieks. The resulting sonic abomination slips between the dimensions of experimentalism, harsh noise, and beat-bashed breakcore. Dancefloor? Maybe. Slaughterhouse floor? Yes, definitely.
Nonlinear Division is Dan’s contribution to Immigrant Breast Nest’s B’ak’tun Waning project from 2012.
Mike McFerron is professor of music and composer-in-residence at Lewis University, and he is founder and co-director of Electronic Music Midwest (http://www.emmfestival.org). His music can be heard on numerous commercial CDs as well as on his website at www.bigcomposer.com.
Shape Study: Music for Metamorphoses for fixed media was written at the end of 2008 for the Lewis University Theater Department production of Mary Zimmerman’s Metamorphoses. An adaptation of Ovid’s eponymous narrative poem, this production of Zimmerman’s play was directed by Dr. Kevin Trudeau. Although the composition is, on one hand, intended to serve as a prelude to the production of this play, it is also hoped that the work stands by itself as an independent electroacoustic composition. Structurally, this composition reduces the distances between traditional foreground, middleground, and background musical layers, thus clouding these dimensions. Yet at the same time, this work strives to present a clear and logical dramatic shape by assembling spectral, dynamic, and spatial elements.
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The Challenges And Opportunities Of Urbanization In India
Most of the populations across the globe either live in cities or are headed there. It is estimated that by the year 2050, more than two-third of the world’s population will be settled in urban areas. The trend is already in place, with more than a million people shifting to cities every year. For countries like India, migration to developed and developing cities is driven by job opportunities and a better quality of life. However, rapid urbanization also brings its own
challenges.
The Challenges In India
The relationship between population migration, urbanization and economic growth is complex. For developed countries like the USA or the European nations, there is a positive correlation between urbanization and per capita income. However, the equation is not as simple when we are talking of less developed countries like India.
There is a thin margin between urbanization and overpopulation, and in many large Indian cities, the ‘carrying capacity’ has always been reached. Some relevant examples are Delhi, Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore, where new migrants face a scarcity of affordable accommodation.
It is important to understand the changes that migration to urban centres brings along. Urban growth or urbanization invariably feeds increasing industrialization and commercialization, which impacts the environment as well as infrastructural capabilities of a city. Increasing population also leads to continually expanding urban development and in case of India, local Governments are continually challenged to deliver the necessary institutional, economic and managerial capabilities that such expansion requires. With lack of proper housing, most of the migrating population - especially those coming from the rural areas - settle for slums and other unregulated/unorganized living options.
Urban Congestion
The rapid inward migration in cities like Mumbai, Pune and Delhi has given rise to clogging and other problems like faulty water management and unnatural changes to the environment. The rapid creation of settlements in the peripheries of these saturated cities makes it impossible for the concerned city planning authorities to gauge and counter the changes to the natural environment and implement necessary sanitation and other necessary infrastructure.
Hijacked Environment
Major environmental issues encountered around clogging settlements include land degradation, resource depletion, decreased public health, loss of resilience in the ecosystem and unsafe residential standards. Health hazards are rampant as clogged settlements encourage flooding, degradation of natural resources like water table and air quality, faulty or non-existent drainage systems, inefficient or non-existent sewage treatment facilities and transport systems.
As a matter of fact, India faces a major threat from water pollution. Untreated sewage water being discharged into our existing water systems has been deemed the single-largest cause of surface and ground water pollution. The problems include lack of sufficient water treatment facilities and faulty maintenance where they do exist. Migration contributes to this problem, and the untreated waste water leads to serious hygiene issues. As per the reports by the World Health Organization, only 209 out of 3,119 cities have sewage treatment facilities, and just 8 of them have a full-fledged wastewater treatment facility.
Success Story – PCMC, Pune
There are ways to handle the mounting problems associated with heavy urbanization. The first and foremost is the development of low-cost and affordable housing projects around developing cities. The second is a proactive town-planning approach wherein urbanization is anticipated rather than reacted to, and necessary infrastructure to accommodate inward migration is put in place before it actually arrives. Cities like the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) of Pune have demonstrated that this forward-looking approach works brilliantly in India. In PCMC, the town planning authorities identify areas of future urbanization, equip them with proper drainage systems, water supply, waste management and transport infrastructure and only then open them up to the migrating population.
Along with environmental and health issues, inward migration also affects the inherent culture of the city – and at least in this case, the change is invariably a positive one. With people flooding in from across the country, the host city is exposed to a variety of cultures and eventually adopts new cultural norms. This is the essence of ‘cosmopolitanization’ – the process in which a city evolves from its traditional cultural boundaries and becomes more and more accommodating to new influences.
This is a very desirable process which ‘future proofs’ a city and ensures that urbanization is progressive and not regressive. A city’s cosmopolitan ethos is born out of constituent cultural elements from various other cities and parts of the world, resulting in an urban mindset which is able to embrace positive change in the form of new economic opportunities and better lifestyle standards.
The process of cosmopolitanization in PCMC has resulted in a rapid shedding of the previous regional/industrial image and the emergence of a truly evolved global ethos. The ‘Citizens First’ approach which has driven the rational and progressive urbanization of cities like PCMC and other global cities must always be the central focus if India is to tackle its mounting problems of inward migration.
-Anil Pharande,
Chairman- Pharande Spaces
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Home Lifestyle Destinations A Road Trip Along Maryland’s Civil War Trails
A Road Trip Along Maryland’s Civil War Trails
Pamela Selbert
A statue marks the site of the Sharpsburg Battle, the bloodiest one-day battle in American history.
Seven score and ten years have passed since the start of the Civil War, and the Old Line State is celebrating this occasion with commemorations large and small along its Civil War Trails. The trails lead to hundreds of related sites — battlefields, cemeteries, museums, historic farms, churches, houses, railroad stations, inns and more. We recently explored sites along the trails on a four-day road trip, seeing these important sites, watching reenactments and learning how — from the words of Union Major General John Adams Dix — “the loss of Maryland would have been the loss of the national capital, and perhaps, if not probably, the loss of the Union cause.”
The state was important to both North and South for its proximity to Washington, D.C., and for its largest city, Baltimore, which was a key railroad link to the west. Nearly 20 battles and skirmishes were fought in this divided state, including South Mountain; Antietam, the “bloodiest day in American history,” with more than 23,000 soldiers killed, wounded or captured; and Monocacy, the “battle that saved Washington, D.C.”
Our trip began in Baltimore, where on February 23, 1861 President-elect Lincoln, en route to his inauguration in Washington, D.C., had come through under the cover of darkness and in disguise after learning of assassination threats, and where the war’s first casualties would later fall. Five days after the Union surrendered Fort Sumter in South Carolina, on April 19, 1861, Confederate sympathizers in Baltimore attacked Massachusetts troops headed for the capital in what came to be known as the Pratt Street Riot. When it was over, 12 civilians and four soldiers were dead and dozens were wounded.
A historic photo of Camden Yards in Baltimore.
We watched a reenactment of Lincoln’s first visit in the Gentlemen’s Waiting Room at the former Camden Station, which now houses the Sports Legends Museum at Camden Yards. Illinois reenactor Fritz Klein, an imposing “Lincoln,” briefly addressed the small crowd gathered, to explain that “concerns for our reputation are secondary to my concerns for the nation [as] I am now public property.” Lincoln, who made no address that first visit, was criticized in his day for having been secreted through the city.
An exhibit entitled “Riots, Railroads and the Coming of Mr. Lincoln,” which explores Civil War events and the early days of American railroading is on display at the museum. Camden Station, which opened in 1856, is the oldest major terminus of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. During the war the B&O was the primary link between the Capital and all points north and west. The museum also includes exhibits about Babe Ruth, the 1890s historic Baltimore Orioles, and more.
The nearby 40-acre, seven-building B&O Railroad Museum, home to the world’s largest collection of Civil War railroad equipment — “eight pieces with only 20 to 30 total remaining,” says museum historian Dan Toomey) — has recently opened “The War Came by Train” exhibit. Military and personal artifacts are displayed, and 23 historic locomotives and rail cars, including those from the Civil War era, form “spokes” of a giant wheel at the acre-size 1884 polygonal (22-sided) roundhouse, the roof of which was rebuilt following a blizzard several years ago.
The Maryland Historical Society, founded in 1844, recently opened a 5,000-square-foot exhibit entitled “Divided Voices, Maryland in the Civil War.” The exhibit brings the 1860s back to life with a time tunnel, live performances, music, hundreds of artifacts and more. The “Tragedy of Maryland” is told in three acts: “The Rush to War,” “The Real War” and “The Long Reunion.”
The Maryland Historical Society is a great place to look into the bloody history of the country.
Among the artifacts on display is a Confederate captain’s taupe-colored coat, shot away at the waist when the officer was gut-shot in 1862 at Cedar Mountain. Museum director Burton Kummerow explains that despite the serious injury the man miraculously survived (noting that 60,000 Marylanders joined the Union army and 20,000 the Confederate army).
Other items displayed include a Sharps carbine; Union army canteen; a flag, now frayed, that was presented to the Fourth U.S. Colored Troops in August 1863; a shadow box depicting Union dead at Antietam, the soldiers represented by star-shaped arrangements of “Minie” balls; and General Robert E. Lee’s camp chair, where he had spent a fair amount of time after he was thrown by his horse, Traveler, during Second Manassas, injuring both wrists. Also at the Maryland Historical Society, of particular interest, is the original copy of Francis Scott Key’s “The Defense of Fort McHenry” (later renamed “The Star-Spangled Banner”) written in September 1814 and which would become our national anthem on March 3, 1931.
The Maryland Historical Society gives a glimpse of what America was like during the Civil War.
From Baltimore we drove west on Maryland Highway 144 through pastoral hills to historic Ellicott City. Rachelina Bonacci of Howard County Tourism explained that the town was founded in 1772 by Quaker brothers John, Andrew and Joseph Ellicott of Pennsylvania, who chose the picturesque site for establishing a flour mill. The brothers revolutionized farming in the area by persuading farmers — including Charles Carroll, the only Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence — to plant wheat instead of tobacco. They also helped create Ellicott’s Mills (today’s Ellicott City), which became an important milling and manufacturing town.
One of the country’s earliest railroads, built in 1830, carried horse-drawn cars from Baltimore to Ellicott’s Mills. The station, of native granite, that still stands in the town was built the next year, and steel rails replaced the original wood rails as the B&O Railroad was constructed. The line was strategically important to the Union during the war, transporting troops and supplies to battle, and prisoners and wounded afterwards.
The restored station — oldest in the country, in use until 1949 for passenger service and 1972 as a freight house — is now a living history museum.
We continued west along Highway 144 to Mount Airy, then U.S. Highway 40 (Historic National Road) to elegant Frederick, founded in 1745, a “crossroads of American history.” Self-guided walking tours of the 50-block historic district include nearly two dozen sites, among them Kemp Hall (4 East Church Street) where in 1861 the state legislature met to decide if Maryland should secede. However, a quorum could not be reached as delegates with Southern sympathies had been arrested before they could reach the town.
Frederick offers dozens of attractions, none more fascinating than the National Museum of Civil War Medicine. Dozens of exhibits — life-size dioramas, murals, historic photos, artifacts and more — tell the medical story of the war: the aftermath of battle, care and comfort of the wounded, the caregivers and medical innovations that have had lasting impact on medicine still today.
Among the 2,500 or so medical items in the collection is the only known surgeon’s tent from the Civil War, used at Gettysburg, and in storage from 1864 till 1988. Other artifacts include surgical kits, drug chests, uniforms of medical personnel and more.
Baltimore becomes a scenic cityscape after nightfall.
Museum director George Wunderlich, a former EMT, explained that despite misconceptions today, and films that show soldiers undergoing amputations with nothing to kill the pain, 95 percent of such operations were actually done with the patient under some form of anesthesia. He added that of the nearly 620,000 soldiers who died during the war, two-thirds died of disease, not from bullets or bayonets.
We continued west on Alternate U.S. Highway 40 through Middletown Valley, which George Washington described as “one of the prettiest valleys I’ve ever seen.” Once we reached Middletown, we turned south on Maryland Highway 17 toward Burkittsville and the three gaps — Crampton’s, Turner’s and Fox’s — that comprise seven-mile South Mountain State Battlefield. And for the record, Middletown Valley really is beautiful.
The first major fight on Northern soil — pitched battles for possession of the passes — took place here on September 14, 1862, less than two weeks after General Lee had invaded Maryland (and three days before Antietam). Pursued west by Union General George McClellan, mainly over the National Road to South Mountain, the Confederates, sustaining heavy casualties, were driven back but far from finished.
Biking is a great way to explore Baltimore.
Gathland State Park, at Crampton’s Gap near Burkittsville, was once home to George Alfred Townsend, a war correspondent who in 1896 built a monument to correspondents and artists who had reported on the war. The unusual monument, which could be the partial wall of a castle with tower, parapet, arches and clerestory, is inscribed with 175 names. Two buildings from Townsend’s estate survive nearby and house the park museum with artifacts.
After checking out sites, we returned to Alternate Highway 40 and continued west three miles to 73-acre Washington Monument State Park. The first monument to the former president is here, built in 1827 and rebuilt twice, most recently by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1934. The 30-foot tall stone structure is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Our next stop was Antietam National Battlefield, where on September 17, 1862, in the culmination of General Lee’s first invasion of the North more soldiers were killed, wounded or missing than during the War of 1812, Mexican War and Spanish-American War combined.
General Lee plays a huge part in the history of Maryland.
General Lee had written to Confederate President Jefferson Davis that his army was “weaker than our opponents in men and military equipments.” Nonetheless, with Union General McClellan and his Army of the Potomac less than 25 miles away, Lee would divide his Army of Northern Virginia and attempt to envelop Harpers Ferry and move into Pennsylvania. But when a copy of Lee’s plan — Special Orders No. 191 — fell into Union hands, McClellan’s army gave chase, and the two armies — nearly 100,000 soldiers — met north of Sharpsburg in the bloodiest one-day battle in U.S. history.
Exhibits and 26-minute film “Antietam Visit” at the fine visitor center tell the story, and how simple landmarks took on legendary status once the smoke had cleared: the Cornfield (in five hours the 30-acre crop was leveled), Dunker Church, the Sunken Road (Bloody Lane) and Burnside’s Bridge. Some historians consider the outcome inconclusive, others a Union victory, but unquestionably the Southern invasion strategy had failed, as Lee’s army was forced to withdraw back across the Potomac.
Five days after the battle President Lincoln, who had been waiting for a Union victory, issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation — and from “Preserver of the Union” he became “the Great Emancipator.” Days later Lincoln toured the battlefield and comforted the wounded on both sides, he told the Confederates, “I bear you no malice … we are enemies by uncontrollable circumstance.”
Civil War Trails delivers tour advice for anyone looking to learn more about the Civil War in person.
For our last stop on the trail we returned to Frederick and drove east on Maryland Highway 355 the few miles to Monocacy National Battlefield, where one of the war’s arguably most important fights and one of the last in Maryland took place.
Exhibits at the visitor center explain what happened. The Confederate army under General Jubal Early had crossed the Potomac into Maryland, bound for Washington, D.C., on July 5 and 6, 1864. Three days later a smaller Union force under Major General Lew Wallace attempted to arrest the invading divisions along the Monocacy River. Though unsuccessful, Wallace’s effort delayed Early’s long enough for General Ulysses Grant to send troops north from Petersburg, Virginia, to bolster the Capital’s defenses. Though Early’s advance reached the outskirts of Washington on July 11, he could not overpower the additional Union forces. The Capital was saved because Wallace had made Early late.
Wallace would later serve as Governor of New Mexico and Minister to the Ottoman Empire, and in 1880 would publish “Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ,” the best-selling American novel of the 19th century.
These stories along with the monuments, photographs, live reenactments and more are all a part of these historic sites along the Civil War Trails.
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Robert Porter | Dean's Office Advisory Board | Webster University
Home College Of Arts And Sciences Dean's Office Board > Advisory Board: Robert Porter
Advisory Board: Robert Porter
Robert Porter JD, MBA is the President, Programs and Services and Chief Strategy Officer for SSM Health Care St. Louis, an integrated health care network with seven hospitals and a revenue base of $1.7 billion.
In addition to overseeing strategy development, planning and communications, Mr. Porter is responsible for the network's 285 person medical group, ambulatory operations, and managed care initiatives. Over the last four years he also served as project director for the development of a replacement hospital for one of SSM's older facilities, with the goal to design the "hospital of the future." The new St. Clare Health Center opened in March 2009 and has been recognized locally and nationally for its innovative and patient centered design. Most recently, he has been leading the organization's work to develop a "value based delivery organization" capable of taking global financial and clinical responsibility for a defined population.
Robert Porter has spent over 25 years in senior health care leadership positions serving at various times as chief strategy officer, chief operating officer, and chief executive officer. In the last nine years, he has worked at the leadership level of an integrated health care network with both strategic and operational responsibilities. His career in Catholic health care has reflected his personal, passionate commitment to Catholic social teaching as it is expressed in the health care ministry. He has written and spoken extensively about spirituality, leadership, and innovation.
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Western Defence Lawyers
Past Wins
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The Queen v. F.(E.) 2016
Client was pulled over for speeding and in the process of speaking to him the police officer smelled alcohol. One thing led to another and the client blew a Fail into a roadside breathalyzer device. He was arrested and taken back to the detachment where he blew breath samples well over the criminal legal limit. He was charged accordingly. A few days before the trial Mr. Van der Walle filed his notice seeking a stay of proceedings on the basis that the Crown had failed in their duty to disclose all relevant evidence to the defence. The prosecutor, very much to his credit, acknowledged the serious problems caused by the failure to disclose and decided to drop all the criminal charges in exchange for a plea to driving without due care and attention. Client received a small fine and was able to keep driving for work. Not guilty on all criminal charges. No trial necessary.
The Queen v. F.(S.) 2016
Client was the driver of a vehicle that was under police surveillance. The police observed six transactions they thought were consistent with drug trafficking take place at the passenger side window of the vehicle. The police arrested the client and his passenger and discovered substantial quantities of cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine in the passenger’s area of the vehicle. The Crown charged the client with possession for the purposes of trafficking all three substances on the theory that he had aided and abetted the trafficking by driving the vehicle. After negotiating with the Crown, Mr. van der Walle was able to convince the prosecutor to drop all the trafficking charges in exchange for the client pleading guilty to simple possession (personal use) of the heroin. Client was discharged on conditions meaning that if he completes his probation without any problems the possession conviction will be expunged from his criminal record. Not guilty of trafficking and client did not do a day in jail. No trial necessary.
The Queen v. F.(M.) 2016
Client was driving home and decided to pass the vehicle in front of her. Before passing she saw lights in the distance but considered that they were very far away and that it was safe to make the pass. Halfway through the pass she realized that in fact the lights were a motorbike that was very close. Tragically, a head on collision resulted and the two occupants of the motorbike were killed. Client was charged with driving without due care and attention contrary to the Motor Vehicle Act. At trial, Mr. van der Walle successfully argued that the client had exercised due diligence in making the pass and, although mistaken, had an honestly held belief that it was safe to pass when she made the fateful decision to do so. Not guilty.
The Queen v. H.(B.) 2016
A police officer attended a rural property to inform the client that he no longer had to attend court to answer to a charge. While on the property, the officer noticed that a truck did not have the correct licence plate. After querying the vehicle in his computer system he determined that the truck was stolen. The client was arrested and he made some comments to the officer suggesting that the truck was controlled by him. As a result he was charged with possession of stolen property over $5000.00. At trial, Mr. van der Walle successfully argued that the Crown had failed to prove that the statements made by the client about the truck being his were free and voluntary. As such, the judge excluded the statements from evidence. The Crown prosecutor, very much to his credit, decided that he no longer had enough evidence to continue with the prosecution and directed a stay of proceedings. Client did not testify.
The Queen v. D.(R.) 2015
January 3, 2016 By admin Leave a Comment
Client went to leave a bar but noticed a police officer driving by. He quickly ran away from his vehicle so as not to be seen by the officer in the travelling vehicle. Little known to the client, another police officer was watching all of this from another police vehicle parked close by. After the client thought the “coast was clear”, he got back in his car and drove away. He was pulled over soon later. He provided a sample of his breath into a roadside device which produced a “fail” reading and was arrested because of it. He eventually provided samples of his breath well in excess of the legal limit and was charged accordingly. A few weeks before trial Mr. van der Walle sent Notice of his Constitutional Argument to the Crown alleging that the client’s Charter rights had been violated in numerous ways both at the scene and back at the detachment. The prosecutor agreed and on New Year’s Eve the client got a gift of sorts by way of news that the Crown had decided to drop all the charges. No trial necessary.
The Queen v. L.(R.) 2015
December 15, 2015 By admin Leave a Comment
A patron at a bar observed a man walk out the bar room doors and trip over a curb, bump into a tree, and stumble across the parking lot, before hopping into an SUV and driving away. The patron did the right thing and called 911. Soon afterwards a vehicle matching the description given by the patron was found in the ditch, with the client crawling on all fours near the driver side door. He was taken back to the police detachment and ultimately charged with impaired care and control of a motor vehicle. At trial, Mr. van der Walle successfully undermined the connection between the person the patron saw leave the bar and the client. The judge agreed that the evidence did not prove that the client was the same person who was seen leaving the bar minutes earlier. The remaining evidence of swaying and slurred speech was insufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the client was impaired from alcohol, as opposed to merely having recently consumed alcohol. Not guilty. Client did not testify.
The Queen v. K.(B.) 2015
December 1, 2015 By admin Leave a Comment
Client was stopped by police after they got reports that a person driving a truck that matched the description of the truck the client was driving had swerved badly into the oncoming lane and made contact with a vehicle, just narrowly avoiding a full head on collision. Client was arrested and taken back to the police detachment where he blew almost 4 times over the legal limit. As a result of all of this he was charged with impaired driving offences as well as dangerous driving and leaving the scene of an accident. He faced serious jail time because he had numerous prior impaired driving convictions. At the outset of the litigation Mr. van der Walle requested detailed disclosure documents related to the breathalyzer machine that was used to analyze a sample of the client’s breath. The Crown failed to produce these documents to the defence in a timely manner and as a result Mr. van der Walle filed an application for a judicial stay of proceedings on the basis that the Crown and police had violated the client’s constitutional right to full disclosure of the case against him. Mr. van der Walle now had the leverage he needed and the prosecutor agreed to drop all the criminal charges in exchange for a plea to driving without due care and attention contrary to the Motor Vehicle Act. Client paid a small fine and was able to keep driving for work so he did not lose his job.
The Queen v. C.(D.) 2015
Client was found unconscious behind the wheel of his running truck as it sat straddling the white line of a busy highway. When the police officer opened the door of the vehicle he immediately smelled the distinct odours of alcohol and ether. Soon after he smelled the odour of alcohol on the client’s breath. Upon searching the vehicle, the officer found an empty vodka bottle and a partially empty canister of ether. At trial, Mr. van der Walle called an expert toxicologist to the stand to testify that the overwhelmingly symptoms of drunkenness observed by the officer were equally as consistent with intoxication from ether as they were with intoxication from alcohol. In the end the judge had a doubt that the client had voluntarily become intoxicated. That is, because it was possible the ether canister discharged by itself, there was a doubt that the client intentionally became intoxicated. Not guilty. Client did not testify.
The Queen v. K.(M.) 2015
Client drove his vehicle hard into a tree. His passenger was seriously injured. The police arrived at the scene and one thing led to another and the client eventually blew well over the legal limit at the police detachment. Client was charged with impaired driving causing bodily harm and hired Mr. van der Walle to defend him. On the day of trial the Crown accepted a plea to driving without due care and attention contrary to the Motor Vehicle Act and dropped the criminal charges. Client received a fine and was put on probation for a year that permitted him to keep driving for work related reasons.
The Queen v. M.(B.) 2015
October 15, 2015 By admin Leave a Comment
The police had obtained a warrant to search the client’s house for evidence of drug trafficking. On the morning of the day the police were to execute the warrant the client was observed leaving his house in a vehicle registered to him. A number of what the police refer to as “hand to hand” transactions were observed. The client was pulled over in his vehicle and arrested. A search of the vehicle turned up significant amounts of cash and heroin. Minutes later other police officers entered the client’s house under the authority of the warrant. Substantial amounts of cocaine and money were found during the search. Client was charged with possession for the purposes of trafficking both heroin and cocaine. Mr. van der Walle was able to identify a number of problems with the warrant and the grounds for the arrest. The Crown opted to stay the proceedings (effectively “dropping” the charges) a couple of weeks before the preliminary inquiry was set to begin. No trial necessary. Client did not do a day in jail and even had the cash found at his home during the search returned to him.
Email Julian: [email protected]
Email Jeremy: [email protected]
NACDL
Grand Praire
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LK GroupMajor review of Building Schools for the Future
Major review of Building Schools for the Future
Education Secretary Michael Gove today set out a complete overhaul of capital investment in England’s schools.
Bringing an end to Building Schools for the Future (BSF), he said ‘In the light of the public finances, it would have been irresponsible to carry on regardless with an inflexible, and needlessly complex programme.’
The key elements of today’s announcement to Parliament are:
706 schools will be opened under new arrangements being agreed today, of which nearly 386 schools are projected to be new build; 262 to be remodelled or refurbished; 26 to be ICT-only. The building programme in 32 further schools is yet to be confirmed.
715 schools will no longer be rebuilt or refurbished through BSF of which nearly 180 schools are projected to be new build, over 319 to be remodelled or refurbished and 63 to be ICT-only. The building programme in 153 schools has not yet been confirmed.
That 123 academy projects in development which have not reached financial close will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
That in 14 cases, prioritised locally as ’sample’ projects – the first taken forward in the area – will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis in recognition of local need. Although financial close has not been reached, very significant work has been undertaken to the point of appointing a preferred bidder at ‘close of dialogue’.
That the Government is launching a comprehensive Review of all capital investment in schools, early years, colleges and sixth forms. Led by Sebastian James, Group Operations Director of DSG international plc, the Review team includes Kevin Grace, Tesco – Director of Property Services, Barry Quirk, Chief Executive of Lewisham, John Hood former Vice-Chancellor of University of Oxford and Sir John Egan, former Chief Executive of Jaguar and BAA.
The review will guide future spending decisions over the next Spending Review period (2011-12 to 2014-15). It will look at how best to meet parental demand; make current design and procurement cost-effective and efficient; and overhaul how capital is allocated and targeted.
That the department is reducing its End Year Flexibility (EYF) requirements by £1bn to help ensure no additional borrowing this year. This is in line with the Government’s plan to reduce the deficit, and the Treasury’s announcement today that Departments have agreed to address unrealistic inherited spending commitments for 2010-11, where funding was reliant on underspends through the (EYF) system or additional funding from the Government’s Reserve. The Department expects to be able to manage most of this through better financial management and tighter controls. Because of the size of the reduction, however, the Department will have to make £169.5m savings from capital budgets where commitments are no longer affordable.
The Secretary of State also announced that he will be ending funding for the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) design advice service associated with the BSF programme
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Iniskim Centre builds community
by WebEditor · October 8, 2017
Tori McMillan is the Aboriginal Education Program administrator at the Iniskim Centre. Photo by Mariam Taiwo
The on campus resource, mainly for Indigenous students, invites others to participate
By Mariam Taiwo, Contributor
Hidden on the second floor of main street, just across from B hallway, The Iniskim Centre is a support and resource centre for all Mount Royal University students on campus, but primarily it’s services are geared towards self-identified Indigenous students.
The centre promotes community and wants students to have a sense of belonging. The Iniskim Centre provides a calm and quiet place of refuge for students to meet other people and build friendships, eat and smudge (pray) together.
The Iniskim Centre opened its doors in the fall of 2006. That year, the centre worked together with community partners, especially a handful of elders, to build the centre in a way that would help Indigenous students.
The elders came up with the name of the centre. The word “Iniskim” is very powerful in Blackfoot culture, which is the dominant Indigenous culture in the area. The word Iniskim means “Buffalo Calling Stone” and has special meaning to the Blackfoot people.
The centre has a lot of programs that it offers to students. One of the most important programs that the Iniskim Centre provides is the Aboriginal Education program. “The AEP was created from community, realizing that students that are leaving Grade 12 and coming into post secondary are experiencing culture shock,” says Tori McMillan, the AEP administrator.
The Iniskim Centre also provides other important services to students such as scholarships, daycare, counselling, wellness, tutoring, childcare, housing, recreation, spirituality services and so much more. They also have student learning services in the centre open to their students.
The Iniskim Centre is a place where Indigenous students, as well as other students, can come and share their frustrations, worries, struggles and even things that make them happy.
“Sometimes, students come in to share the good news that they did well on a test, something frustrating that happened to them on the transit or an interaction with a teacher or student,” says McMillan.
The centre provides them some perspective to their situation so they can see that other people are also learning, growing and developing in similar ways. As long as there is a sense of respect underneath, they can work through things like language difficulties and updated notions of misconceptions together.
McMillan says that one of the greatest gifts that the elders have given to them is the ability to share knowledge. Students can feel free to come in and use the centre’s resources, as well as learn more about Indigenous cultures and spirituality.
McMillan says another key component of holism in the Iniskim Centre is that they want student to be able to address their mental, physical, spiritual and emotional issues.
McMillan finds that a lot of students are wary when they come to post secondary because they don’t know if they can be spiritual in a secular school.
“Yeah, it is your right, we will provide a space and teachings for you,” McMillan tells them.
“Students often tell us how much it helps to balance their souls and be prepared for the work they do,” he adds.
“We definitely want to break down any notions that unless you’re native, you can’t go down that hallway, students need to know that it’s for everybody.”
The number one message that McMillan wants students to know about the Iniskim Centre is that it doesn’t matter if you’re Indigenous or not, the centre is building community for everyone, not just among themselves. There are lessons and teachings that everyone can learn from each other in such a multicultural school like Mount Royal University.
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Second Vision: The Four Horns and the Four Smiths. 1I raised my eyes and looked and there were four horns.* 2Then I asked the angel who spoke with me, “What are those?” He answered, “Those are the horns that scattered* Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.”a
3Then the LORD showed me four workmen.* 4And I said, “What are these coming to do?” And the LORD said, “Those are the horns that scattered Judah, so that none could raise their heads any more;b and these have come to terrify them—to cut down the horns of the nations that raised their horns to scatter the land of Judah.”
Third Vision: The Man with the Measuring Cord. 5I raised my eyes and looked, and there was a man with a measuring cord* in his hand.c 6I asked, “Where are you going?” And he said, “To measure Jerusalem—to see how great its width is and how great its length.”
7Then the angel who spoke with me advanced as another angel came out to meet him 8and he said to the latter, “Run, speak to that official:* Jerusalem will be unwalled, because of the abundance of people and beasts in its midst.d 9I will be an encircling wall of fire* for it—oracle of the LORD—and I will be the glory in its midst.”e
Expansion on the Themes of the First Three Visions. 10Up! Up! Flee from the land of the north*—oracle of the LORD;—For like the four winds of heaven I have dispersed you—oracle of the LORD.f 11Up, Zion! Escape, you who dwell in daughter Babylon! 12For thus says the LORD of hosts after the LORD’s glory had sent me, concerning the nations that have plundered you: Whoever strikes you strikes me directly in the eye.g 13Now I wave my hand over them, and they become plunder for their own servants.h Thus you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me. 14Sing and rejoice, daughter Zion! Now, I am coming to dwell in your midst—oracle of the LORD. 15Many nations will bind themselves to the LORD on that day.i They will be my people,* and I will dwell in your midst. Then you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you. 16The LORD will inherit Judahj as his portion of the holy land,* and the LORD will again choose Jerusalem. 17Silence, all people, in the presence of the LORD, who stirs forth from his holy dwelling.k
* [2:1] Four horns: symbols of the total political and military might of Judah’s imperial adversaries, probably representing Assyria, Babylonia, and Persia. The number four represents universality rather than any specific number of foes.
* [2:2] Scattered: sent part of the population into exile. This was standard imperial policy initiated in the ancient Near East by the Assyrians for dealing with a conquered state.
* [2:3] Four workmen: four agents of God’s power. The imagery follows that of four horns: the workers cut down, or make ineffectual, the horns, i.e., enemy.
* [2:5] Measuring cord: a string for measuring, as opposed to a builder’s string, 1:16.
* [2:8] That official: probably the man with the measuring cord of v. 5.
* [2:9] Encircling wall of fire: divine protection for an unwalled Jerusalem. Urban centers were generally walled, and Jerusalem’s walls were eventually rebuilt in the late fifth century B.C. (Neh 2:17–20).
* [2:10] Land of the north: refers to Babylon (v. 11), in a geographic rather than a political sense, as the place from which exiles will return. The designation is “north” because imperial invaders historically entered Palestine from that direction (see Jer 3:18; 23:8).
* [2:15] Many nations…my people: a way of expressing God’s relationship to people in covenant language. The covenant between God and Israel (see Jer 31:33; 32:38) is here universalized to include all nations.
* [2:16] The holy land: the Lord’s earthly territory, a designation found only rarely in the Old Testament.
a. [2:2] Dt 33:17; Dn 7:8.
b. [2:4] Jer 48:25.
c. [2:5] Jer 31:38–39; Ez 41:13; Rev 11:1; 21:15.
d. [2:8] Is 49:19–20; 54:2–3; Jer 31:27; Ez 38:11.
e. [2:9] Rev 21:23; 22:3–5.
f. [2:10] Zec 6:5; Is 48:20; Jer 50:8; 51:6.
g. [2:12] Dt 32:10; Ps 17:8.
h. [2:13] Is 14:2; Zep 3:15.
i. [2:15] Is 56:6; 66:18.
j. [2:16] Zec 1:17.
k. [2:17] Hb 2:20; Zep 1:7; Rev 8:1a.
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Kokanee salmon in Ebright Creek. U.S. Department of the Interior
Low numbers of Lake Sammamish kokanee raise fears of extinction
Only 19 kokanee salmon returned to spawn this year.
by Aaron Kunkler
Thursday, May 17, 2018 7:50am
A striking ebb in the number of Kokanee salmon in Lake Sammamish, just east of Seattle, has officials worried that extinction is around the corner.
Five years ago, more than 18,000 of the unique freshwater species of sockeye returned to spawn in Lake Sammamish tributaries. This past year, only 19 were counted.
While a number of possible factors are likely to blame for the dramatic drop in the population, King County environmental affairs officer David St. John said warm lake temperatures in the summer from 2014-16 was likely the largest driver.
Lake Sammamish kokanee life cycles are measured in roughly three-year cycles. Kokanee migrate from Lake Sammamish to tributary streams where they spawn. The resulting offspring, juveniles known as fry, then move to the main lake where they remain for just under three years before returning to the streams to spawn, continuing the cycle.
Unlike other species of salmon that make their way through the Ballard Locks into the Pacific Ocean, native Lake Sammamish kokanee spend their entire lives in freshwater. This makes them unique, and it also makes them particularly susceptible to changing lake conditions. Lake Sammamish is one of only four lakes in the state that has entirely freshwater kokanee.
St. John said a condition known as “the squeeze” is likely the driving factor behind the severe drop in kokanee numbers.
Salmon prefer cool water — if the water gets too hot, it can kill them — so when the water temperature rises to around 60 degrees, kokanee dive deeper in search of a more hospitable environment. At the bottom of the lake, plant and organic material accumulates over the summer and begins to decompose, which creates a zone where oxygen is scarce. This puts a “squeeze” on salmon, limiting their movement to a livable zone between the two where the kokanee can survive.
St. John said over the course of three summers, the hot layers of water near the top may have become thicker and largely wiped out the habitable layers the fish depend on for survival. While lake conditions were good for kokanee in 2017, St. John said the “squeeze” has occurred four out of the last six years. In the preceding 19 years it only happened four times.
“If it wasn’t the squeeze that got them, it was other things that were feasting on stressed-out fish,” St. John said.
When fish are under stress they become more vulnerable to disease, predators and parasites — all of which continue to rack up a body count. While it can be difficult to gauge how many fish will return, St. John said they are anticipating only 100 kokanee or fewer to return this winter. If that is the case, it could for the first time push the number of salmon below the number required for a naturally self-sustaining population.
“That threshold is a scary one and we are potentially there. We’ve got some very strong negative signals,” St. John said. “We are very concerned that this population is dropping into that zone where there may be some out there, but it’s not enough to build that population.”
To put this in perspective, King County fish biologist Jim Bower said from 2015-16, a total of roughly 260,000 kokanee fry were in the Lake Sammamish system. The typical survival rate is around 10 percent, but none of those fry returned during the latest count, Bower said.
Historically, there were up to three runs of kokanee in the lake, beginning in September and stretching through December. The two early runs went extinct in the 2000s and biologists will be monitoring the remaining run this year to get an idea of how they should proceed.
“We’re basically prepared for the worst and hoping for the best,” Bower said.
King County has a number of strategies to help the struggling population. These include trapping fish and taking them to the Issaquah Hatchery where sperm is frozen and saved for future years. Salmon raised at the hatchery are released into Lake Sammamish tributaries to supplement the number of naturally spawning fish. Typically, these fish are released in the spring, but because the “squeeze” hits fry especially hard, they will be waiting until next fall to release them.
“We think that will help improve survival,” St. John said.
A final option for repopulating Lake Sammamish kokanee would be to take fry from the existing supplementation program at the hatchery and raise them entirely at the hatchery. This would preserve the unique genetic stock, which would be used to breed new generations.
However, this strategy would be a last resort. The county will know if it needs to implement this following the January 2019 kokanee count.
“We don’t want to do that. It’s going to cost us seven figures,” St. John said. “It would be very expensive.”
Locals can help the struggling fish too by not letting fertilizers drain into Lake Sammamish, which can boost the growth of underwater plants that later die and contribute to reduced oxygen levels near the lake bed.
Additionally, keeping as much land as possible unpaved allows more water to seep into the groundwater system, which drains into the lake. Groundwater provides a source of cooler water and helps lower the temperature of Lake Sammamish.
Ultimately though, if lake conditions continue to be inhospitable for Lake Sammamish’s native kokanee, recovery efforts will continue into the future.
“The more often we see (the ‘squeeze’) happening, and that’s the natural place to ask the question,” St. John said. “Is this the new normal? So we’re concerned about that.”
akunkler@soundpublishing.com
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Vanderbilt Sports Line
The Best Dang Vanderbilt Sports Blog on the Web
Linebacker Tristan Strong Done for the Season
Here is the story from the Associated Press:
Vanderbilt starting linebacker Tristan Strong will miss the rest of the season after hurting his leg covering a punt in the Commodores’ loss at then-No. 12 South Carolina.
The redshirt junior from Loganville, Ga., was hurt just before halftime, and this is his second season-ending injury in three years. The Commodores declined Tuesday to specify the injury, but The Tennessean reports Strong tore an ACL.
Posted by Bobby O'Shea at 4:50 PM
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Health Hero - T. Colin Campbell PhD
DietDoctor.com | 11/15/09
Read More: china study, colin campbell
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T. Colin Campbell is a retired professor of nutritional biochemistry at Cornell University who is on a mission to share his compelling research on nutrition and diet with the world.
T. Colin Campbell is a retired professor of nutritional biochemistry at Cornell University who started his career doing research on how to make animals grow faster. His goal was to promote better health by advocating the consumption of more meat, milk and eggs. Then, more than 40 years ago, while he was a young researcher working on a project to help stamp out malnutrition in the Philippines, he came to a turning point that shifted the direction of his life's work. Now he's on a mission to share his compelling research on nutrition and diet with the world. He wrote a book called The China Study, (BenBella Books, 2005), based on his years of research showing the connection between nutrition and heart disease, diabetes and cancer. The study was the culmination of a 20-year partnership among Cornell University, Oxford University and the Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine.
Here are a few answers to the Diet Detective's questions from the man whose research could be responsible for saving our lives by changing our diet.
Diet Detective: Do we really need to be so worried about exactly what we're eating? Have we blown our "unhealthy" eating habits out of proportion?
Dr. T. Colin Campbell: Yes, and no. We obsess about details (which nutrients, which supplements, which specific ailments and diseases are candidates for therapy) but do not pay enough attention to the big picture (whole foods versus processed foods, plant versus animal source foods). Understanding the big picture has the most to offer - by far.
Diet Detective: Could you tell us briefly about the genesis of The China Study?
Dr. T. Colin Campbell: In 1981, the Chinese government announced the results of a massive nationwide survey of cancer mortality for 2,400 counties, which showed that cancer was far more common in some areas than in others. Geographic localization was far more intense than in the U.S. because the vast majority of people in China resided in the same place all their lives and consumed locally produced food, at least in rural parts of the country. Americans move around and consume food from places far and wide, making it virtually impossible to do such a study.
Also, dietary lifestyle characteristics of people in rural China were substantially different from people in Western societies. These conditions presented an unparalleled and unique opportunity to compare diet, lifestyle and disease mortality rates with Western societies. It also allowed us to compare our results with our extensive and provocative laboratory animal findings obtained during the previous 15 years. I especially wanted to record as many different kinds of diet and lifestyle factors as possible in order to get information on "big picture" questions that seemed to be so contentious in the scientific and public communities.
Diet Detective: In your book you state that, "Among the many associations that are relevant to diet and disease, so many pointed to the same finding: People who ate the most animal-based foods got the most chronic disease. Even relatively small intakes of animal-based food were associated with adverse effects. People who ate the most plant-based foods were the healthiest and tended to avoid chronic disease." There are some who disagree with this nutritional philosophy.
Dr. T. Colin Campbell: I don't like to respond to the assertion that people make decisions on the basis of "philosophy," which suggests that people are motivated by personalized agendas in making their decisions. Although I know this to be true for most people, this is not what motivated me. I simply did the research with my many students and colleagues and produced experimental findings that were peer-reviewed and published in the very best scientific journals. I then made my conclusions on the basis of actual empirical data. There was no philosophy involved. If I had a personal bias or philosophy in drawing my conclusions, it would have been exactly the opposite of these conclusions, given my many years on the farm milking cows.
My observation that "even relatively small intakes of animal-based food were associated with adverse effects" comes from the data showing that there is a high statistical significance between blood total cholesterol and aggregate chronic disease rates (i.e., "Western" diseases). This is especially interesting because dietary animal-based protein in this survey ranged only from 0 percent to 10 percent of total protein. Moreover, to observe such statistical significance within this very low range of animal-based protein and within such a low range of blood cholesterol is striking, especially when the blood cholesterol was so highly correlated with animal-source foods.
Diet Detective: Are you suggesting that we all become vegetarians?
Dr. T. Colin Campbell: I have never suggested that we should all be vegetarians, because about 90 percent of vegetarians are still consuming food (i.e., dairy, eggs) with nutrient compositions that actually account for the adverse health effects of animal-based foods. Although consuming foods that trend in the direction of better health, vegetarians do not do what they could do. This suggests that vegans should do better, but they, too, compromise their potential benefits because they consume food that is highly processed. My recommendation is to consume a whole-food, plant-based diet without supplementing with added fat, salt, sugar and processed foods.
Whether people should eat this way is, of course, their choice. Besides, we know that a few people (5 percent) can deviate from this practice and still enjoy good health until advanced ages. But this may be analogous to the small number of smokers who live to their 90s and believe that it was their smoking that got them there. If we want to maximize our health, I believe that it would be prudent to go the whole way to an all-plant-based diet and allow ourselves the opportunity to discover some hidden and delicious tastes that are masked because of our addictions to high fat, salt and sugar. Who can calculate the 1 in 20 chance that they might escape the hazards of eating the wrong food? The real question is whether 100 percent plant-based diets are healthier than, say, 90 to 95 percent plant-based diets. This will undoubtedly depend on the differing responses of each individual, although I know of no scientifically valid data showing that people consuming a plant-based diet suffer more and die earlier. Indeed, the findings are clearly to the contrary.
Diet Detective: You also claim that your research showed that the protein casein, which makes up 87 percent of cow's milk protein, promoted all stages of the cancer process. Are you saying that animal protein promotes cancer?
Dr. T. Colin Campbell: In our experimental animal studies, casein as an animal protein promotes cancer, in spades. Of all the experimental research my laboratory did, this may be the most convincing. In fact, our findings, done in so many ways, show that casein is the most relevant chemical carcinogen ever discovered. I have presented this information in seminars to virtually all the relevant agencies and research groups who do these kinds of studies, and have published the results in the very best peer-reviewed scientific journals. These findings also are consistent with similar promoting effects of casein on the development of experimental atherogenesis (the lesion leading to heart disease) and rising blood cholesterol levels, among other toxic events.
Diet Detective: What is the healthiest diet to prevent disease and live our best life?
Dr. T. Colin Campbell: The closer we get to a whole foods plant-based diet with minimal or no use of added oil, sugar, salt or processed foods, the healthier we will be. On interpreting the scientific evidence, I mostly rely on statistical odds and biological plausibility, which overwhelmingly point in the direction of a plant-based diet. But I become substantially convinced when I see the clinical evidence achieved by my physician colleagues.
Read the whole story here.
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UH Technology Bridge
UH at a Glance
UH in the Community
The UH System
The mission of the University of Houston is to offer nationally competitive and internationally recognized opportunities for learning, discovery and engagement to a diverse population of students in a real-world setting. The University of Houston offers a full range of degree programs at the baccalaureate, master's, doctoral and professional levels and pursues a broad agenda of research and creative activities. As a knowledge resource to the public, the university builds partnerships with other educational institutions, community organizations, government agencies, and the private sector to serve the region and impact the world.
National Competitiveness: UH will strengthen its status as a nationally competitive public research university as measured by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and Top American Public Research Universities (TARU) and will seek to meet the threshold needed for its entry into Association of American Universities (AAU).
Student Success: UH will have a student profile consistent with a nationally competitive public research university by creating an environment in which student success can be ensured.
Community Advancement: UH will commit to fulfilling regional and state workforce needs while becoming the primary engine of social, economic, and intellectual development.
Athletic Competitiveness: UH will provide a comprehensive educational experience to its students and, within this context, it will seek to build the strongest athletic program possible.
Local and National Recognition: UH will be known for its accomplishments locally and nationally.
Competitive Resources: UH will build a resource base that enables it to accomplish its mission and realize its vision.
As its primary goal, the University of Houston is dedicated to becoming a nationally recognized institution in the 21st century. The university will anticipate and respond to changing demographics in an increasingly diverse and globally interdependent world. It will use its resources to:
Meet the challenges of educating a dynamic mix of nontraditional and traditional students.
Promote excellence within the context of basic and applied research and scholarship.
Identify and respond to the economic, social and cultural challenges affecting the quality of life in the city of Houston, the state of Texas and the world through its education, research and service.
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Waiters pleads not guilty in drive-by murder
by LAURA HAYES
Ricky Darnell Waiters, 49, of Winona, pled not guilty on Friday to the murder of local musician Robert “Bob” Johnson in a drive-by shooting last July.
Officers received a report of a drive-by shooting outside EB’s bar on West Fifth Street in the early hours of July 27. One witness alleged that the shooter drove into the parking lot, shined his headlights at a group of people outside the bar and almost drove onto an area used to roast chicken. A witness reportedly told the shooter that he couldn’t park there. The suspect allegedly backed out, drove onto the street and opened fire.
“He drove so close to us, like he was making sure he knew who he was looking at,” one witness said. “After the shots rang out, my friend tackled me and dragged me inside because he realized the severity of the situation. Then I ran in and yelled at the bartender to throw me dry towels.”
The bullets hit two people – Johnson and Sean Patrick O’Brien, 27, of Winona. Johnson suffered a gunshot wound to the chest, and O’Brien was struck in the legs. According to the criminal complaint, the suspect allegedly yelled something about “angels” or an “angel.” Gathering descriptions of the vehicle and the suspect, officers found records indicating Waiters drove that type of vehicle and matched the physical description. When officers went to Waiter’s apartment, they allegedly saw spent shell casings and a handgun holster through the car’s window.
Waiters is currently being held on nine charges: two counts of murder in the first degree, murder in the second degree, murder in the second degree — not premeditated, murder in the second degree by drive-by shooting, assault in the first degree causing great bodily harm, assault in the second degree, drive-by shooting, and carrying a pistol without a permit.
Waiter’s defense attorney Michael Kuehn told the court on Friday that they would not be challenging the evidence seized at the time of the arrest at that point and Waiters entered a not guilty plea. Kuehn said that the defense was still working with prosecutors on some evidence — specifically the 911 call and toxicology reports.
The case was scheduled for a three-week jury trial with the pre-trial proceedings starting in late July.
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Levi Hummon Drops Energetic New Single, “Drop Of Us” [Exclusive Premiere: Listen]
After releasing his six-song EP, Patient, in October 2018, Levi Hummon, 28, roared into 2019 with a spot on Hunter Hayes’ Closer to You Tour and a new single, “Night Lights,” which was featured on Spotify’s Hot Country Playlist.
Now, the Nashville native—and son of heavyweight songwriter Marcus Hummon (“Cowboy Take Me Away,” “Bless the Broken Road”)—is keeping his creative juices flowing with the release of a new single, “Drop of Us,” which he co-penned with Eric Arjes and Jimmy Robbins.
“I knew the second we started playing ‘Drop of Us’ live that it was a special song,” says Levi to NCD. “You could feel the energy change in the room and watch fans singalong by the third chorus. I can’t wait for this song to be out in the world—and take it on the road this summer and fall.”
Levi will hit the road this summer for a number of dates, including the Faster Horses Festival and the Boots & Hearts Festival.
Below, check out the exclusive premiere of “Drop of Us,” which will be available on July 12.
category: NCD News | related posts: Drop of Us, Levi Hummon
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PRESSdiversidad2017-05-17T14:03:26+00:00
Haaretz — February 14, 2016
“21st Century Yentes: Personalized Matchmaking Makes a Comeback”
Jerusalem-based matchmaker Sara Malamud of World of Singles works only with North American Jews. She tried matching Israelis when she first started in the business, soon after making aliyah from Argentina in 2001, but Israelis are “difficult people to work with,” she said. “They don’t want to pay and have no patience.”
Now Malamud, who is 60 and has been married and divorced three times, sticks to Americans and Canadians, conducting interviews with potential clients by phone, Skype and in-person visits on frequent visits to New York. Her fee is several thousand dollars a year, which includes coaching, and she said she generally has 15 to 20 active clients at a time, with thousands in her database. She also works with other non-Orthodox Jewish matchmakers in Chicago and Toronto, among other places.
The biggest challenge to matchmaking success is the Internet, Malamud said, because it leads people to believe that picking a potential partner or spouse is like buying something on Amazon.
In the past “it was easy to say ‘I have a girl for you,’ ” she said. “Now I send a photo and right away they say ‘she’s not my type,’ or ‘I don’t like men with hair on their chest.’”
And it’s increasingly challenging to get people to talk on the phone or meet in person instead of communicating only by text or online chat, even if they’re in the same city, Malamud said. “I tell them ‘go and have a coffee together. What do you have to lose?’ When they’re on a dating site it’s like a catalog. They just keep scrolling down.”
– http://www.haaretz.com/jewish/news/.premium-1.703248?date=1455534226735
From The New York Times — August 31st
Sara Malamud is more than simply a professional matchmaker, she provides genuine relationship coaching, providing as much attention to each clients personal development in finding and matching them with the partner of their dreams. Through individual personal coaching, this Jewish matchmaker helps each client examine requirements in a significant other—on all fronts, from physical attributes, education level, religious beliefs, and much more. Using this information, combined with experience and innate intuition, Sara Malamud helps facilitate relationships that will be fulfilling and largely successful.
– February 24, 2007 Matchmaking is a growing field, attracting former real estate brokers, headhunters and human resources professionals, said Sara Malamud, the matchmaker at A World of Jewish Singles.
From The Times Magazine — January 2011
I know what you‘re thinking: “A matchmaker? Seriously?” Before I met Sara from A World of Jewish Singles, I too was skeptical and assumed dating services were strictly for losers who couldn‘t get dates on their own and had to enlist outside help. But, if you look at your own relationship history and recoil, you might need the intervention. Sara maintains an active database of over 10,000 Jewish women and men men who are looking for love, not a one-night stand. As she will tell you, and as I later came to see with my own eyes, her database isn‘t filled with just anyone. These are well-educated, attractive, and successful men and women. If you want to become part of her database then call her office or visit her website to set up an appointment. Believe it or not, there are good men out there, and beautiful intelligent women who Sara will find for you.
Jeff Cowell, Daily News
While matchmaking requires no training, Sara Malamud insists she has raw talent for making connections of the heart. In fact, she claims a track record of 1,000 committed relationships, almost 900 matches, hundreds of marriages and, so far, no divorces. So here comes the obvious question: Why would a desirable, high-earning bachelor require a personal matchmaker to find a compatible mate? Sara says: “the men that I deal with won’t go online because that’s actually hard work, plus to be honest with you, many people online lie”. “I am totally dedicated in finding serious singles their perfect match”. A professional businessman does not have time to search online, so he hires a professional matchmaker to do the work. The same happens with women, my clients are too busy to be wasting hours online or to go on countless ‘waste of time’ first dates, I do all the work for them.
Eric Dror from the Jewish News
Sara, what is the best advice you would give to Jewish daters? Have an open mind about your dating “criteria. Give people a chance to get to know you and vice versa. During your search, if you find one or two things that interest you about a particular person, explore further… you may have more in common than you think. And yes…it may take some time to meet the right person, but it is well worth it when you finally do so don’t give up!
Sara during an interview in Tel Aviv
My advice to those searching for that perfect person is not to limit your search by restricting yourself to a specific geographic location. Have an open mind and a sense of adventure. You never know what might happen…you might just find what you are looking for!!!
“Finding Love” — March 2009
The chances of finding your true love on line are almost as good as winning the lottery. Ask anyone who has tried. Most won’t talk about it out of embarrassment. But if they do, you’d be shocked by their experiences. You’ll hear stories that sound crazy, stories that sound like they’re out of a movie, almost unbelievable. You’ll hear of hours spent pouring through thousands of mind numbing on-line profiles, or stories involving people showing up for “the date” that don’t look or act anything like the person on the profile. You’ll hear about the 20 year old photos and the loss of hair and teeth and the sudden appearance of 30 pounds. On-line dating is like a ticket to the twilight zone. So lets say you’re ready to throw caution to the wind and make a date to meet that potential someone special that you’ve met on-line. Both of you are enthusiastic, hopeful and ready to meet your match made in heaven. You both show up, you’re both well mannered, attractive, well spoken and well dressed. What happens? Nothing, as there is no chemistry, just disappointment and another wound to heal. Being single has never been more difficult. In reality, finding your perfect match is not so easy. Some dating websites would lead you to believe that finding a mate can be accomplished through proven scientific or statistical means. The truth is matchmaking is not a science it’s an art, there is no logic to love.
“Why Are Matchmakers Back in Business?”
Time Out, October 2008
“A good matchmaker is a very important part of the system. You make sure your values and goals are compatible before you become emotionally involved with a person,” Sara says. Once the couple starts dating, their dialog is serious about potential marriage. “The shidduch movement is so important because marriage is so important in Jewish life,” Sara says. “The peace, love and physical affection between a husband and wife are very dear in God‘s eyes. It is a big mitzvah for anyone who is involved in helping two young people build a solid Jewish home. Matchmaking method has proven most effective for a Jew seeking a marriage partner, because “one starts off meeting someone who is at least somewhat compatible, rather than meeting people at random. As a matter of a fact, many thoroughly modern Jewish singles have discovered that the random roll-the-dice approach isn‘t finding them a mate, and have returned to the traditional model.“
Sara Malamud, World of Singles
August 2008 My clients are very busy, extremely picky, and of course, commitment minded Jewish singles. They are all professionals and I must say, I have been extremely successful with celebrities. That said, privacy and confidentiality are both very important to me. I have been called adamant, resolute. I leave no stone unturned until I deliver what my client is asking for. If I don’t have they may want I will search the world. I approach anyone, anywhere, anytime. I have a “mysterious sixth sense”, and I “just get what people want”.
From an interview for the BBC
For many of the matchmakers’ clients with whom I spoke, Internet dating had curdled (last year, the online dating business grew at a much slower rate than it had in the previous two years.) The bitterest complaints were that prospects misrepresented themselves, and that, although the deception was often immediately apparent, the clients would still have to sit through — and even pay for — a drink or dinner they felt tricked into.
But there are also deeper, more psychological reasons that draw people to a matchmaker. After years of dating, still-singles may begin to wonder if they are really their own best advocates in the search for a partner. Some may not find the lovers they want, or, more troublingly, the lovers they choose may be repeatedly, chronically wrong. They begin to distrust their own judgment. They are weary of being alone with their confusion. They need an intercession. They need a Cupid to point her arrow.
“Jewish Catholic is Matchmaker Extraordinaire”
Jewish Telegraph, May 2006
The Jerusalem Post Jul. 22, 2004, updated Aug. 3, 2004
“Arrivals: Sara Malamud — From Buenos Aires to Jerusalem” by Daniel Ben By-Tal
Within three years of leaving Argentina, Sara Malamud had a new Jewish husband and her own matchmaking business.
As a child, Malamud had no Jewish education and little contact with other Jews.”My maternal grandparents were from Poland, and my father was born in Russia. My mother remarried a Catholic man, and my father a Catholic woman. As a nine-year-old, I went to church with my stepmother.”Sometimes I even found myself kneeling in front of Jesus, but always had a feeling about Judaism. Whenever I met another Jew, I felt a special connection. When I was about 12, my brother and sister started wearing crosses. Ours was a confused generation.
BEFORE ARRIVING
Malamud was running a successful boutique in Buenos Aires when she met her first husband in 1978. “He was an English sports reporter for the Daily Mail covering the World Cup. I went to live in London for eight years. It was an exciting period, meeting celebrities and traveling all over the world. When my husband flew to Spain to interview [world champion Argentina’s team coach] Ce’sar Luis Menotti, I went as his interpreter. I also interpreted for Maradonna and helped bring [British soccer coach] Terry Venables to Barcelona.” After her divorce she returned to Argentina with near-perfect English, taught English privately, and eventually opened a language school with teachers working under her. “I lived in high society and had rich friends, but woke up and realized that my life was empty. People there were very superficial – women talked about plastic surgeons, clothes and gyms. I had to leave. I didn’t like Argentina, and wanted a Jewish husband and family. “Malamud endured months of Jewish Agency bureaucracy, including repeated visits to the local rabbinate, to prove that she was a Jew. “I somehow didn’t mind. I sold all my possessions and found somebody to run my business for me, dividing the profits 50-50.”
UPON ARRIVAL
In March 2001, she moved to Jerusalem and enrolled in a Hebrew ulpan. “I brought two suitcases and no furniture. I don’t know why I chose Jerusalem.” She met her first boyfriend in Israel via the Internet. He was a religious American, who had been 10 years in Israel. “We’re still good friends. G-d put him in my life to show me the path of Judaism, and for the first time I lit candles on Shabbat and regularly attended synagogue. I will always be grateful to him for that, but the relationship didn’t last.” She soon found a job in the exclusive jewelry store of a leading Jerusalem hotel. “The next step was to go for the Jewish husband.” Malamud scanned the Web and registered with a Netanya-based marriage agency. “It was the best investment I ever made. In two months, I met many men, usually in a hotel lobby or cafe.” Most meetings lasted about 15 minutes. Her new husband came to Israel to meet Sara and two or three other women. They married in Jerusalem within three months. “I’m his first Jewish wife and he is my first Jewish husband. It was a quick decision, but not impulsive. I’m a decisive person.” After her marriage, Malamud decided to become a matchmaker. She started by placing ads in local newspapers, arranged three marriages, and within a year took over the business through which she met her husband. “I have 7,000 professionals from all over the world on the books – half religious, half secular, aged between 20-something and 70. Now I’m responsible for Jewish marriages and bringing Jewish children into this world. I’m working against intermarriage and assimilation. It’s no coincidence that God put me in Jerusalem.”
A high-ceilinged three-room rented apartment in the up- market Jewish section of Abu Tor: living room, bedroom and office.
“I work 14 hours a day and begin looking for matches at 5 a.m., before the telephones start ringing.” Malamud can be spotted most mornings running along the Sherover Promenade. “I’ve always been conscious about my health. Jerusalem is a beautiful city for joggers.” Throughout the day, she sips mate’, the bitter, tea-like infusion of native Argentinean plant leaves. “It’s one of the few things I keep from Argentina.”
“I get by. I have to work in Hebrew. I’ve learned a lot from trying to read the Hebrew subtitles on television, but usually don’t finish a line in time. I also speak Italian and Portuguese.”
“When the Argentinean economy collapsed in 2002, I lost everything. All my savings were gone, and my business closed.”
“I haven’t made many friends yet – that’s strange, because I’m an outgoing person. I spend a lot of time at home with my husband. He is my closest friend. I have no family in Israel. I keep in contact with friends and family in Argentina via e-mail. My sister, who is now divorced, used to have the Virgin Mary hanging from her neck. Now she goes for Shabbat dinners.”
“On Yom Kippur 1994, I felt that I had to be in a synagogue for the first time and traveled to Paso Street, an Orthodox Ashkenazi synagogue in Buenos Aires. The place was packed. I cried and cried. I felt something very strong – I knew I belonged there. I am not religious, but light candles and don’t work on Shabbat.”
“I’m very happy. I never felt like a foreigner here.” Sara Malamud World of Singles www.worldofsingles.com
From The Jewish Journal, July 2006
In group sessions starting Sunday morning and ending today Sara interviewed hundreds of Jewish women from Israel: brunettes, blondes, tall, short, young, old — they waited their turn to be quizzed by Sara whose rat-a-tat questions ranged from the banal, “Do you speak good English?”, to the bizarre “Are those your real color eyes or do you wear contacts? Some are divorced, others never married. The youngest was 24, the oldest in her 50’s. Some wore designer suits, short skirts, low cut dresses. Others came in jeans and boots. They were real estate agents, doctors, lawyers. All wanted the same thing, a decent Jewish single guy. These Jewish women are part of Sara’s data base, beautiful, intelligent, and willing to relocate to another country for the right man. Sara Malamud gets hired by successful Jewish men to help them find their wife. They lead busy lives and they don’t trust or have time for the “game” or internet dating. Sara will travel to any part of the world to find their bashert.
Miami Horizons – Autumn 2003, “Perfect Match”
If you’re Jewish single, attractive and intelligent, Sara Malamud has the guy for you!
Style Magazine, September 2004
Who Says Money Can‘t Buy Love? Sara will not take money from people unless she senses love for sale. As one of her clients puts it, “I believe that somehow fate plays a role — it just needs a little push. ”
The Times, February 21
Last Sunday an article in the Money & Business section described the work of Sara Malamud. In the days that followed, the author of the article was besieged with 40 phone calls from romance-hungry readers or their anxious kin.
BBC – from a televised interview
Odds are, when you hear the word “matchmaker,” the song from “Fiddler on the Roof” comes to mind. But today, Jewish matchmakers — and the services they provide — are being sought out by the hippest Jewish singles around. “People who are willing to pay my fees are interested in a serious relationship — not just looking for a good time,” says Sara. “They are writing me a check out, you’re making an investment in yourself; you are looking for a committed relationship that leads toward marriage. These are not blind dates. These are potential wives and potential husbands. So that being said, you’re going to marry one of them.”
“It gets down to, would you rather have the money in your bank, or the person next to you? When you reach a certain age and a certain maturity level, traditional methods of dating aren’t as effective as they used to be,” she adds. “If you’re a busy professional, If singles bars and blind dates aren’t leading you to the love of your life, you may want to think about taking a more serious approach to dating — hiring a matchmaker.” For centuries, Jewish singles from every corner of the world have been married off by matchmakers — and it’s a tradition that’s still going strong.
“Its a smart idea to hire a professional who’s really good at what they do to get you to your goal faster than doing it by yourself.”
Malamud says she’s dedicated to finding the ideal mate for each of her clients. Whether they’re looking for a blonde with blue eyes, or a woman raised in the Midwest, she says she screens thousands of potential “Miss Rights” for each man she represents, until she finds the perfect match. With a personal approach that includes a detailed interview with every client and a network of literally thousands of Jewish single men and women, Sara thinks of herself as a modern-day matchmaker. “I actually go out there and I look for exactly who they’re looking for,” she said. “I’m a head-hunter for love. I have been setting up people for years and they keep getting married.”
The Miami Post, January 2011
Matchmaking requires a peculiar, innate talent, as rare a gift as being able to shoot a basketball through a hoop again and again. No one does it flawlessly, but some people are much better than others.
An eye-catching 59-year-old, Sara is, by her estimation anyway, the reigning queen of the Jewish matchmaking world. She says that she has been responsible for 152 marriages in the past 5 years and a hundreds long-term relationships that haven’t quite made it to the chupa.
Sara comes across as a comically embroidered version of a Jewish mother: zany, enthusiastic, affectionate, unstoppable. She makes no bones about the fact that you (whoever you are) have waited far too long to marry (or remarry). And since you have already failed at finding your mate, she’s taking over, and she’s going to get you married right now. Although she’s motherly, she’s not your mother, so her bullying feels caring rather than controlling.
New York Post, 2010
Be very clear: This isn’t about hooking up. It’s about settling down. “I am a matchmaker. A man can get dates on his own, and I don’t deal with trophy wives. I’m looking to match soul mates.” Besides, there’s only so much even the best matchmaker can do: “I can bring the horse to water but I can’t make him drink if he wants coke.” Usually by the third to sixth introduction, she says, the man is in a committed relationship, a process that can take anywhere from three weeks to eight months. “I leave no stone unturned in finding a marriage match. I’m relentless, tenacious, and obnoxious,” says Sara Malamud whose words fire fast and clipped, with a South American accent She calls matchmaking “the second oldest profession” and says she is a firm believer in marriage.
GET STARTED NOW. START YOUR JOURNEY
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WWE issues statement on the death of Nelson Frazier
Comments Off on WWE issues statement on the death of Nelson Frazier
WWE has issued a statement on the death of Nelson Frazier on the WWE.COM website and put up some videos of Frazier from his WWE career.
“WWE is saddened by the news that Nelson Frazier Jr., aka Big Daddy V and Mabel, has passed away. A larger-than-life Superstar, Frazier was a former World Tag Team Champion, Hardcore Champion and the 1995 King of the Ring. As the dark, formidable Viscera, he was also a member of Undertaker’s faction, The Ministry of Darkness. Frazier’s colorful personality made him a memorable competitor throughout the Attitude Era. Our deepest condolences go out to Frazier’s family, friends and fans,” the statement read.
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Nelson Frazier
Big Daddy V / Viscera’s widow sues WWE for wrongful death
Cassandra Frazier, who is the widow of the late former WWE Superstar Mabel/Viscera/Big Daddy V, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against World Wrestling Entertainment in Shelby County Circuit Court in Memphis, Tennessee. The lawsuit states that her husband,…
Nelson Frazier, aka Viscera, passes away from heart attack
The world of pro wrestling lost one of its boys yesterday as Nelson Frazer, better known to fans as Big Daddy V, Viscera, and Mabel, passed away at the age of 43 due to a heart attack. Frazer signed with the then-WWF in 1993 as Mabel along with his tag team partner…
Judge dismisses two wrongful death lawsuits against WWE
WE scored a major victory in court yesterday after U.S. District Judge Vanessa Bryant dismissed two wrongful death lawsuits against them which were filed by the families of former WWE Superstars Doink The Clown and Viscera. Attorney Konstantine Kyros represented…
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Dr. Rohini Anand
Senior Vice President, Corporate Responsibility and Global Chief Diversity Officer
Dr. Rohini Anand is Global SVP Corporate Responsibility and Global Chief Diversity Officer for Sodexo, responsible for the strategic direction, implementation and alignment of Sodexo’s integrated global diversity and inclusion initiatives, as well as Sodexo’s corporate social responsibility and wellness strategies. Dr. Anand reports to the Global CEO and is a member of the North America Regional Leadership Committee for Sodexo, the global leader in Quality of Life services. Operating in 72 countries, Sodexo’s 460,000 employees serve 100 million customers each day through On-site Services, Benefits and Rewards Services, and Personal and Home Services. Sodexo is committed to supporting diversity and inclusion and safety, while upholding the highest standards of corporate responsibility and ethical business conduct.
Under Dr. Anand’s leadership, Sodexo received the prestigious 2012 Catalyst Award and ranked in the top 10 of DiversityInc’s Top 50 Companies for Diversity for 9 consecutive years. In 2018, Sodexo was also one of the first companies to be named to DiversityInc’s inaugural Top 50 Hall of Fame; their 10th year being recognized by the company. In addition, The Human Rights Campaign has given Sodexo a 100 percent rating on its Corporate Equality Index for ten years and Sodexo was named Global Sustainability Industry Leader in its sector for the 14th year in a row by the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI). Additionally, Sodexo has been ranked as the top-scoring company in its sector for its excellent sustainability performance in the benchmark RobecoSAM ‘Sustainability Yearbook 2019’ for twelve consecutive year. Today, the Sodexo brand is synonymous with diversity, sustainability and wellness leadership. Sodexo’s remarkable global culture change, led by diversity and inclusion, is featured in a Harvard Business School case study entitled Shifting the Diversity Climate: the Sodexo Solution as well as profiled in several books on global diversity and inclusion.
Widely considered a leading expert on organizational change and diversity and inclusion, Dr. Anand has been featured in several articles including articles published in CNBC, The Boston Globe, The New York Times, and the Washington Post. She has authored several manuals and has been published in numerous trade journals. Dr. Anand has appeared on CNN, Bloomberg and CNN Money as well on National Public Radio. Dr. Anand has been the recipient of many accolades including the Mosaic Woman Leadership Award, the Women’s Foodservice Forum Trailblazer Award, the Maryland International Business Leadership Award, the American Institute for Managing Diversity’s Individual Leader Award, Webster University’s Women of Influence Award, the Who’s Who in Asian American Communities Award (WWAAC), Ascend’s inaugural Excellence in Diversity; Inclusion Award, and the Diversity Leadership Star Award by Diversity Woman. Dr. Anand received her PhD from the University of Michigan. She chairs the Catalyst Board of Advisors and serves on the boards of several organizations including the Galt Foundation, Community Wealth Partners, the National Organization on Disabilities (NOD) and Sodexo’s Stop Hunger Foundation. She also serves on the Charter Communications External Diversity and Inclusion Council.
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BC BookWorld Archive
BC Literary History
Hicks Caitlin
This site provides extensive reference information for books and authors pertaining to British Columbia, including an on-line archive of BC BookWorld, Canada's largest-circulation independent publication about books.
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According to Caitlin Hicks, the central circumstance of her existence is that she was, "born into a very large military Catholic family in the United States of America."
Growing up in Pasadena, California she wrote, performed and directed family plays with her thirteen brothers and sisters. She went on to become an author and international playwright. Monologues from several of her plays are featured in Smith & Kraus' series Best Women's Stage Monologues (New York). Hicks wrote the play, later adapted for the screen, Singing the Bones, which debuted at the Montreal World Film Festival (2001) and has been screened internationally.
A Theory of Expanded Love (Light Messages, North Carolina 2015) is her debut novel about a young girl, Annie, and her Catholic family. Annie wants to elevate her family in their parish but is held back by her secrets - what she later reveals as "The Hands" that visit her in bed and the fact that her sister becomes pregnant "out of wedlock". When Annie realizes her parents will do anything to protect their reputation, she takes courageous risks to find salvation from the tragic events that ensue.
Caitlin Hicks has published several short stories and worked as a writer for CBS and NBC radio in the United States, and has performed her fiction and non-fiction for CBC radio. Her writing has been published in The San Francisco Chronicle, The Vancouver Sun, The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Fiddlehead Magazine, Knight Literary Journal and other publications.
She lives in British Columbia.
A Theory of Expanded Love (Light Messages 2015) 20.95 978-1-61153-131-2
[BCBW 2015]
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Category: Brett Favre
Baseball, Brett Favre, Bud Selig, Casey Anthony trial, Jose Baez, Minnesota Vikings, NFL, Roger Clemens, Sports, Sports & Social commentary, Sports Commentary, Uncategorized
Posted on July 14, 2011 July 19, 2011 by tophatal ...........
It’s Now The Talk Of The Town ………
So even with the aftermath and idiocy of what has taken place within the Ohio State athletics department it would appear that the stupidity of the school’s AD Gene Smith simply knows no boundaries as to his own idiocy ! . In his most recent public statement Smith made it clear that the he would like to see the return of Jim Tressel to the realms of coaching within collegiate football. Unless I’m mistaken were it not for the actions of the beleaguered and embarrassed coach the school might not have encountered the numerous problems created because of his web of lies , deceit and total lack of accountability by himself , his coaching staff and the players under his tutelage . Now with the school having to vacate all of their victories from the 2010 season as well their Sugar Bowl appearance victory it seems rather asinine that Gene Smith would actually seek to try and negate the damage done by Jim Tressel . Less we forget also , in the aftermath of Tressel’s departure the school would lose Terrelle Pryor as he sought to forgo his final two years of collegiate football. The player has made himself available for the NFL’s Supplemental Draft and become a client of uber-agent Drew Rosenhaus .
Slide show for your perusal .
Well last night at the Nokia Theater in downtown Los Angeles with all of the glad handing and back slapping was about to take place as ESPN staged the ESPY Awards at the famed auditorium. For all of the pomp and ceremony that was about to be thrust upon the viewers of the event nothing could be more self serving than this pompous and rather odious garbage that simply gives the broadcast outlet another chance to show how bereft of credibility and creativity within this particular organization. With a slew of professional as well as collegiate athletes on display awaiting to hear their names to be announced for a variety of nominations in several sports’ categories . Suffice to say that this is meant to be the sports world’s answer to the Oscars and as we can all bear witness to that particular event gives us every reason to ask the question …….. why ? . From my own personal standpoint the whole event is a complete waste of time and merely a way for the broadcast outlet to air a few hours athletes thanking each other and their maker while actually saying not a God damn thing ! Mind you host Seth Meyers in part made the event memorable with his lambasting of the Miami Heat and the mere fact that the team’s ” Big Three” tend to show up and play only three quarters of a game . Not to be left out of this also were the members of the New Jersey Nets and in particular Kris Humphries whose upcoming to nuptials to reality star Kim Kardashian could very well be the closest thing to the receiving of a ring that the player is ever likely to get that is not associated with the winning of the NBA title .
But really is anyone interested in who ESPN believes ought to be “The Male Athlete of The Year “ much less “The Best NBA Player” ? I can assure you of this if a poll were to be taken of 1,000 people on the streets there wouldn’t be a conclusive result bearing out any of the conclusions derived from last night’s winners much less some of the nominees in question !
With the Roger Clemens’ trial now set to take place it was interesting to read the statement made by the player’s chief legal counsel Rusty Hardin who asserts that Clemens would not be taking the stand in his defense trial for perjury and the obstruction of justice. With the prosecution having lined up litany of current and former players to testify and prove their case it remains to be seen what course this federal trial will take . Certainly the Justice Department wouldn’t have pressed ahead with this trial having indicted the player on the aforementioned charges . Amongst the prosecution’s chief witnesses are Andy Pettite and Roger Clemens’ former personal trainer Brian McNamee . The latter for whom credibility will most certainly come into question and whose own testimony to the House Oversight and Reform Committee left a great deal to be desired at the time. The player , himself wasn’t without his own problems given his own testimony to the very same governmental committee .
Rusty Hardin (L), attorney for Roger Clemens, smiles as he leaves the U.S. District Court after the judge declared a mistrial, on July 14, 2011 in Washington, DC. The judge presiding over Clemens’ perjury trial declared a mistrial over statements introduced to the jury by the prosecutor that were not suppose to be heard. The seven-time Cy Young Award winner was on trial for making false statements, perjury and obstructing Congress when he testified about steroid use during a February 2008 inquiry by the House Oversight and Government Affairs. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
It seems so totally asinine to think that the MLB hierarchy would seek or should I say absolve itself all responsibility when it comes to dealing with the players who have as such brought the game into disrepute . But when one considers the mere fact that Bud Selig has failed to show a backbone nothing at all should come as a surprise ! We have the so called purists who now simply believe that the game is still at its very best in all of its guises , from the competitiveness of the divisions to the financial well being of the teams . Perhaps when the team owners and general managers as well as the MLBPA (union) have begun to pull their heads out of each others’ assholes to wake up and smell the coffee then perhaps we may well see all of the parties come to some sort of common accord rather than their continued buffoonery !
I decided rather than heading home last night to stay overnight at the girlfriend’s home in Orlando . The fact that I commute from my home (distance of 56 miles) in Central Polk County most mornings to head into the downtown area of the city was of no real joy over the past few weeks , given the animosity on display with protesters outside the courthouse while the Casey Anthony trial took place . In the aftermath of the acquittal of the defendant and the over the top celebrations that took place with Jose Baez and his associates’ after their client’s acquittal by the jury left a great deal to be desired . What might have been even more contemptible was the mere fact that Baez was seen high five-ing an associate at a local bar across the road from the courthouse , with all of this being caught on camera by the national press and paparazzi . The lawyer himself was fully aware of this but I would have thought Jose Baez having an adjunct office a mere two miles away from the courthouse it would have been prudent to undertake the celebrations there and away from the prying eyes of the media and public at large ! In doing so those celebrations along with the now angered throng of public protesters who had gathered at the courthouse can only have angered those present and who witnessed the lawyers’ celebrations. I am not about to decry Jose Baez for his antics but I would merely point out that he may well now have to deal with some backlash from those who may well have felt that his client got away with murder .
At the end of the day this was a trial that bore the resemblance of an idiotic charade from start to finish ! The prosecution flubbed this case and were made to look like bumbling idiots by simply relying far too much on forensic evidence that did little to help their case . Instead , rather than seeking to attack the character and of the defendant and the numerous lies told by her family members . with each and very passing moment they relied far too much on a group of professionals in various scientific fields of forensic pathology and medicine to brow beat and bore the jurors to sleep but also leave the judge presiding over the case with a sense of deja-vu. (Think of the OJ Simpson murder trial all over again and remember how that charade ended ? ) But herein lies the caveat to this case all along , the jurors had been left with no other option but to find the defendant not guilty because there was little to suggest all along that the Casey Anthony had deliberately gone out of her way to murder her child, Haley Anthony . However , what was abundantly clear to anyone with an ounce of common sense were the mere the facts as they were being presented by the prosecution should have warranted that the defendant should have gone on trial for manslaughter , rather than first degree murder . But you would now be hard pressed to find anyone within the State Attorney’s Office (9th District) willing to admit that they had made a mistake in how the case presented and tried . The only saving grace in this all may well be the fact that there will be a civil suit brought against Casey Anthony by several groups who assisted in the search of her missing child , for which we now know that she the was the victim of an untimely death at far too young an age .
I can’t but wonder what will now be achieved by the state shutdown in Minnesota by Governor Mark Dayton . The state now has a $ 5 billion budget shortfall and with the shutdown has come the furloughing of state employees and in some cases the firing of state employees . Mark Dayton has had to contend with two bipartisan legislative chambers who if anything have only their self interests at heart, rather dealing with many of the acute issues Minnesota state now faces. .
Now while this idiocy continues Zygi Wilf and his associate partners who own the Minnesota Vikings have to be wary of the fact that the organization will face a hard task in persuading the state legislature that they need to pass the bill that will finance the building of the proposed $1.55 billion state of the art facility for the team. I’ve always found it rather bewildering to think that the NFL while having a fund to assist the teams in the building or refurbishment of their stadiums , in large part the majority of team owners will seek to obtain assistance from the various governmental agencies in the cities where they reside . Mind you this particular endeavor takes place in each of the four major professional sports. Consider this also , NASCAR’s executives were aided to the tune of some $250 million by President Barack Obama’s now infamous “stimulus package” .
Through an affiliate corporation ISC (International Speedway Corporation Inc) the governing body of the sport was aided with those funds to refurbish several of the race tracks that they own across the country . Considering the dearth of dumb ass spending that is undertaken by the federal government on ” pork barrel issues” that simply favors the pet projects of the members of the House and Senate should anyone be at all surprised by this ? I can only surmise that it is somehow better to spend a quarter of a billion dollars on several race tracks than it is to actually put either more police officers on the streets or even make sure that more money is steered towards education ? God knows nothing would indicate or suggest otherwise that the country is well on the way to not producing a highly intelligent and capable work force for the future than to have Bubba and Cletus chewing on tobacco and telling you why it is that Lil’ E and Smoke are two biggest things to happen in the sport since Dale Earnhardt Sr died . I don’t know that is meant to be enlightening for the public in general nor do I favor the idiocy then shown and still being shown by the current administration and two legislative chambers of Congress !
Clearly if the Minnesota Vikings are not able to persuade the state legislature that it is imperative for them to approve this finance bill then it is quite clear that the organization may well have to relocate . Zygi Wilf and his partners having hired a lobbyist to present their case and now must await on a decision as to the course that the vote will take . But given the current economic environment and the mere fact that the projections of the costs of this facility had sky rocketed from its original estimate of $1 billion to the now $1.5 billion it is hard to see how the state can actually justify this as being a prudent way to spend money when it faces such a massive deficit. Mark Dayton , the Democratic governor of the state has implored the members of both legislative chambers that cuts have to be made and also that some taxes will have to be increased but as usual with all issues as it relates to taxes and spending one can never find the right answer to the problem !
It does seem strange however that while Conservatives are so vehemently opposed to tax increases , they are also against cutting the tax loopholes that have assisted major corporations in deferring their taxes by up to five years and at the same time one loophole that is often overlooked ………… it is where it now allows US corporations to reincorporate oversees and totally avoid paying any form US income tax at all . At the same time those very same corporations conduct business as usual within the continental United States unperturbed by any legislation by the Congress . And though I feel that the Democrats are just as blatantly stupid as their rivals when it comes to dealing with the economy it does give credence to the very fact that neither side has a clear idea as to what actually needs to be done !
The Minnesota Vikings to my mind are better served in actually getting their act together on the playing field rather than looking for the building of a multi purpose facility wherein they will no doubt over charge the fans for the privilege of attending their home games . And given last year’s implosion (6-10 record ) by the team and all of drama that surrounded Brett Favre is there anyone now at all willing to take any type of odds on how this team will now fare this upcoming season ? I would dare say that the newly installed head coach Leslie Frazier and his coaching staff are in a for another tumultuous ride . In the aftermath of last season’s implosion and meltdown with all of the drama and idiocy of seeing four veteran members of this roster go to Favre’s home and plead with the veteran to make one more return to the NFL might well have been one of the more asinine events to have taken place within the league in years . For the life of me I have yet to hear anyone explain succinctly why it is that they felt that the Vikings were even being mentioned as worthy favorites for the Superbowl to begin with ! Especially those analysts within ESPN and Fox who have simply looked upon Favre so favorably as if he were some sort of deity . I tend to wonder whether or not Mark Schlereth and Chris Mortensen can for one moment take their lips away from Favre’s ass without suffocating because it looks as if sucking the crap produced from the player’s anus might well be life sustaining for the duo !
Given the failure of the team last season and the very fact that there seems to be no consensus as to who the starting quarterback will be it is imperative that Leslie Frazier has an idea as that player it will be when the team undertakes its start to the season . The choices are Rhett Bomar , Tarvaris Jackson , Christian Ponder , Patrick Ramsey and Joe Webb . Of that quintet of starting quarterbacks Ramsey is the most experienced but the nine year veteran , shown that given the chance to start he hasn’t the command or leadership qualities to enhance the play of the team. Joe Webb if anything when given the chance showed that he was capable but the mobile quarterback isn’t something that seems to be endearing to Leslie Frazier and his staff. And though I don’t believe that Christian Ponder would appear to the answer to the Vikings’ problems at the position I do somehow get the feeling that if all else fails he will be thrown in at the deep end !
From an offensive standpoint this team has all of the prerequisite weapons to be competitive . And with the likes of Sidney Rice , Adrian Peterson , Visanthe Shiancoe , Bernard Berrian and Percy Harvin . Defensively the team has had its problems but if anything that can situation can be put right by defensive coordinator Fred Pagac .
In the ensuing weeks as the NFL stoppage continues it will be very interesting to see what transpires concerning the Minnesota Vikings and the decision that will be made by the state legislature . So much is made about the economic downturn but it appears that even when the hardest hit are the impoverished somehow it seems to be the most wealthy amongst us who always end up profiting from the shambles and disaster that is left in the wake of such an event . Care to think how Zygi Wilf will end up a winner even if the vote sought isn’t in his club’s favor ? Needless to say that every assistance will be given to the team by the league should the Vikings seek to relocate or perhaps use a temporary facility while some form of compromise can be reached . Funny that sort of situation never seems to arise for the most desperate amongst us !
========================================================================
Picture gallery for your perusal .
What thoughts if any do you have with regard to the points raised within this piece ? Simply leave a comment as you’d deem fit and thanks as always for the continued support as it is greatly appreciated !
Alan aka tophatal …………. http://tophatal.wordpress.com
Contact tophatal ……. rapptu@gmail.com
Picture and slide show details below .
(1) From left to right Ohio State university President Dr E Gordon Gee , former head football coach Jim Tressel and the school’s athletic director Gene Smith addressing the press in light of the scandal that embroiled the university in several scandals. This led to NCAA sanctions will cost the school multiple scholarships as well as having to vacate of the football team’s victories for the 2010 season. AP Photo ……….
(2) Members of the Dallas Mavericks (L-R) Shawn Marion, Jason Kidd, J.J. Barea, Brian Cardinal, Dirk Nowitzki and Tyson Chandler, pose with their ESPY Award back stage after being named “Best Team” at the 2011 ESPY Awards in Los Angeles, California, July 13, 2011. Reuters / AFP ……
(3) Seth Myers cast members of NBC’s Saturday Night Live and who hosted the 2011 ESPN ESPY’s award from the Nokia Theater in downtown Los Angeles . AP Photo / Chris Howard ….
(4) WASHINGTON, DC – JULY 14: Former Major League Baseball pitcher Roger Clemens (R) leaves the U.S. District Court after the judge declared a mistrial, on July 14, 2011 in Washington, DC. The judge presiding over Clemens’ perjury trial declared a mistrial over statements introduced to the jury by the prosecutor that were not suppose to be heard. The seven-time Cy Young Award winner was on trial for making false statements, perjury and obstructing Congress when he testified about steroid use during a February 2008 inquiry by the House Oversight and Government Affairs . Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images …
(5) Rusty Hardin (L), attorney for Roger Clemens, smiles as he leaves the U.S. District Court after the judge declared a mistrial, on July 14, 2011 in Washington, DC. The judge presiding over Clemens’ perjury trial declared a mistrial over statements introduced to the jury by the prosecutor that were not suppose to be heard. The seven-time Cy Young Award winner was on trial for making false statements, perjury and obstructing Congress when he testified about steroid use during a February 2008 inquiry by the House Oversight and Government Affairs. Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images …..
(6) MINNEAPOLIS, MN – MAY 16: NFL players lawyer Barbara P. Berens (L), linebacker Ben Leber(notes) of the Minnesota Vikings, NFL players lawyer James Quinn and former NFL Players Association Executive Director DeMaurice Smith leave court-ordered mediation at the U.S. Courthouse on May 16, 2011 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Mediation was ordered after a hearing on an antitrust lawsuit filed by NFL players against the NFL owners that followed a breakdown of labor talks between the two in March. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images …
(7) Vikings owner Zygi Wilf met with Gov. Mark Dayton ( foreground) on Tuesday, June 14, 2011. The two met concerning a deal for which the team owner envisions a new facility to be built at the taxpayers’ expense within the state of Minnesota . This scenario has changed vastly from what had been envisaged by the governor . Courtesy of MPR Photo/Tim Nelson ……
(8) Kurt Coleman (42) of the Philadelphia Eagles tackles Visanthe Shiancoe (81) of the Minnesota Vikings at Lincoln Financial Field on December 26, 2010 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Vikings would defeat the Eagles 24-14 .—- Getty Images North America / Jim McIsaac …..
(9) Philadelphia Eagles’ Michael Vick, left, is tackled by Minnesota Vikings’ Antoine Winfield in the first half of an NFL football game, Tuesday, Dec. 28, 2010, in Philadelphia. AP Photo/Michael Perez ……
NB: At the time of the completion of this piece it was announced that a mistrial had been declared in the Roger Clemens’ trial . To read more about this simply click on the link provided . Judge declares mistrial in Clemens’ case
Vikings Minnesota Vikings News
Minnesota Vikings profile
Minnesota Vikings schedule 2011 ___ subject to change
Minnesota Vikings’ coaching staff
Minnesota Vikings team roster
Minnesota Vikings draft history
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Cardi B’s ‘Invasion of Privacy’ Album Goes Platinum
Cardi B's storybook career continues to get better, with 2018 heading in an upward trajectory from where 2017 left off. She can now add platinum album to her list of year's accomplishments as her debut LP, Invasion of Privacy, was recently certified platinum by the Recording Industry Academy of America.
Released on April 6, the album took exactly three months to obtain platinum status as RIAA's database notes the project was certified on Friday (July 6). IOP went gold upon its release thanks to big singles.
Speaking of singles, each of the four tracks released off the album, "Bodak Yellow," "Bartier Cardi," featuring 21 Savage, "Be Careful" and "Like It" featuring Bad Bunny and J Balvin, have all earned platinum plaques, with the latest being "Be Careful" which reached the milestone on June 28.
"Like It" recently shot up to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The feat made history as Cardi is the only female rapper to post two No. 1 songs on the chart. Her other No. 1 was the breakout single, "Bodak Yellow," in 2017.
In related news, Bardi is currently in the midst of a legal battle with her former manager, Shaft. Cardi was managed by Shaft from 2015 until parting ways to join the Quality Control team in March. He initially sued her back in April for $10 million for breach of contract and defamation, among other claims. She has since upped the ante with her own counter suit of $15 million.
RIAA
47 Hip-Hop Artists Who've Gone Gold in 2018
Source: Cardi B’s ‘Invasion of Privacy’ Album Goes Platinum
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Perm Jewish Community Loses Family In Plane Crash
Eliyahu Nakhumov, who died with his parents and sister in the Aeroflot plane crash.
Perm, Russia
(lubavitch.com) The Perm Jewish community is in grief over the loss of a local family of four, killed among the 88 victims of Sunday's Aeroflot 737 plane crash.
Ephraim and Golda Nakhumov, and their two young children were members of the Chabad community of Perm. Eliyahu, their seven-year old was enrolled to begin first grade this week at the Chabad community school, and his four year old sister Chava was a kindergartner in the Chabad preschool.
“The community is traumatized by this catastrophe in which an entire family has been killed,” Perm's Chabad's representative, Rabbi Zalman Deutch told Lubavitch.com.
Monday morning the city’s governor met with Chabad rabbis and community leaders to pay his condolences. The principal of the Ohr Avner school addressed the students at a memorial ceremony. Children lit candles and listened to the shofar blasts, traditionally sounded during the month before Rosh Hashanah, its plaintive wails echoing the somber sadness that prevailed. The principal also spoke with the children about thinking about becoming involved in a project that will keep the Nakhumov children alive in the memory of their friends and community, Mrs. Sara Deutch said.
The flight, en route from Moscow to Perm, crashed near the Ural Mountains as it prepared to land. Authorities believe that the right engine failed, causing the plane to explode while still in the air. Its remains are scattered across 10 kilometers near the outskirts of the city.
Hardly any human remains could be recovered from the crash. It will take weeks, said Rabbi Deutch, for DNA testing on the charred remains that were gathered, so with no burials for the dead, “rabbinic authorities have ruled that immediate relatives of the Nakhomov’s should begin to sit shiva immediately. “
The family had been visiting relatives in Azerbaijan last week.
Twenty one foreigners and seven children were reportedly among those killed in the crash, the worst in the country in the last two years. The airline has promised to pay victims’ families two million rubles ($77,800).
Perm Jewish Community Loses Family In Plane Crash - Eliyahu Nakhumov, killed in the Aeroflot plane crash.
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International Olympic Committee, IOC, President Thomas Bach from Germany, left, speaks with Australian IOC member John Coates, right, during the 134th Session of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), at the SwissTech Convention Centre, in Lausanne, Switzerland, Tuesday, June 25, 2019. (Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone via AP)
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks during a joint statement prior to a meeting with the president of Costa Rica, Carlos Alvarado Quesada, at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Monday, May 27, 2019. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)
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BRUSSELS (AP) — The latest on European elections (all times local): 8:10 p.m. German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she'd like to see a quick agreement on who should run the European Union's executive branch, a matter on which her own governing coalition so far is divided. In her first comments on...
Italian Interior Minister and Deputy Premier Matteo Salvini arrives to meet reporters for a press conference at the League headquarters in Milan, Italy, early Monday morning, May 27, 2019. Italian Interior Minister and Deputy Premier Matteo Salvini, of the League kisses a crucifix as as he talks to reporters during a press conference at the League headquarters in Milan, Italy, early Monday morning, May 27, 2019. Italy's anti-migrant, anti-Islam interior minister, Matteo Salvini, boosted his right-wing League party to become the No. 1 party in Italy, with more than 30 percent of the vote, according to early projections. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)
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BRUSSELS (AP) — The Latest on elections for the European Parliament (all times local): 2:45 a.m. The European Parliament is projecting that the lion's share of Britain's seats will go to the Brexit Party — 29 seats for the 31% of the vote that Nigel Farage's newly founded party was forecast to win...
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah greet supporters on arrival at the party headquarters in New Delhi, India, Thursday, May 23, 2019. Modi's Hindu nationalist party claimed it won reelection with a commanding lead in Thursday's vote count, while the head of the main opposition party conceded a personal defeat that signaled the end of an era for modern India's main political dynasty. (AP Photo)
May 23, 2019 - 11:05 pm
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NEW DELHI (AP) — The Latest on India's general elections results (all times local): 5:10 a.m. With nearly all constituencies reporting, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist party have won a majority in India's general election. The Election Commission of India reports that the...
(Mark Duffy/UK Parliament via AP)
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Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May leaves 10 Downing Street to attend the weekly session of Prime Ministers Questions in Parliament in London, Wednesday, May 22, 2019. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Last days of May? UK leader in peril as Brexit offer slammed
LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Theresa May faced a chorus of calls Wednesday to rip up her tattered Brexit blueprint and call an end to her embattled premiership after her attempt at compromise got the thumbs-down from both her own Conservative Party and opposition lawmakers. May received a...
Filipino-Muslims show the indelible ink on their forefingers as proof that they have voted Monday, May 13, 2019 in Manila, Philippines, in the midterm elections highlighted by a showdown between President Rodrigo Duterte's allies who aim to dominate the Senate and an opposition fighting for check and balance under a leader they regard as a looming dictator. Nearly 62 million Filipinos have registered to choose among 43,500 candidates vying for about 18,000 congressional and local posts in Monday's elections in one of Asia's most rambunctious democracies. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)
Filipinos voting in midterm elections crucial to Duterte
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Filipinos voted Monday in midterm elections highlighted by a showdown between President Rodrigo Duterte's allies who aim to dominate the Senate and opposition candidates fighting for checks and balances under a leader they regard as a looming dictator. Nearly 62 million...
In this Thursday, May 9, 2019 photo, pedicabs with election posters go around Manila's slum district of Tondo, Philippines. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's name is not on the ballot but Monday's mid-term elections are seen as a referendum on his phenomenal rise to power, marked by his gory anti-drug crackdown and his embrace of China. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
Duterte allies seek to dominate Philippine midterm polls
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's name is not on the ballot, but Monday's midterm elections are seen as a crucial referendum on his rise to power with a brutal crackdown on illegal drugs, unorthodox style and contentious embrace of China. Nearly 62 million Filipinos...
Prime Minister Theresa May addresses delegates during the Scottish Conservatives' annual party conference at the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre, Friday May 3, 2019. Britain's main Conservative and Labour parties took a hammering in local elections as Brexit-weary voters expressed frustration over the country's stalled departure from the European Union. (Jane Barlow/PA via AP)
Let's make a Brexit deal, UK PM May tells Labour opposition
LONDON (AP) — Britain's Conservative government and opposition Labour Party have a duty to strike a compromise Brexit agreement to end months of political deadlock over Britain's exit from the European Union, Prime Minister Theresa May said Sunday. Writing in the Mail on Sunday newspaper, May told...
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Alabama Senate Approves Restrictive Abortion Ban
The Alabama state senate approved a bill Tuesday night that criminalizes abortion in nearly all cases.
The bill now heads for Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey's desk, who has not yet indicated whether she will sign it. If she does, it would become the most restrictive abortion law in the country.
If the bill sponsored by Republican Rep. Terri Collins becomes law, performing abortion a felony in the state of Alabama would be punishable by life or 10 to 99 years in prison. Attempting to perform an abortion would also be a felony, punishable by one to 10 years in prison.
The only exceptions included if the life of the woman was threatened, if the woman had a mental illness that could result in "her death or the death of her unborn child;" or if the pregnancy would result in a stillbirth or the baby's death after birth. The bill does not allow exceptions for cases of sexual assault or incest. Democrats in the state senate introduce an amendment Tuesday night to exempt victims of rape and incest, but it was voted down, 11-21.
The Alabama House approved a version of the bill last week that included an exception for the mother's health, passing 74-3.
Eric Johnston of the Alabama Pro-Life Coalition drafted the law in an explicit challenge to Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down state bans on abortion in the first trimester.
Abortion rights groups across the United States were outraged by the passing of the bill, calling it an attack on a woman's right to access health care.
"The ACLU of Alabama, along with the National ACLU and Planned Parenthood, will file a lawsuit to stop this unconstitutional ban and protect every woman’s right to make her own choice about her healthcare, her body, and her future," the ACLU of Alabama wrote in a statement. "This bill will not take effect anytime in the near future, and abortion will remain a safe, legal medical procedure at all clinics in Alabama.”
Mississippi, Kentucky and Ohio have recently passed "Heartbeat abortion" bans, which ban abortions once a fetal heartbeat can be detected. Several other states, including Missouri, South Carolina, Florida, Texas, Louisiana and West Virginia are all considering similar laws.
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StatsCan Retains Its Bearish Title
Last year’s Canadian spring wheat crop came in at just under 20.5 million tonnes. This year, StatsCan had previously estimated 20.1 million tonnes of Canadian spring wheat in their September data and satellite-driven estimate. Even that was a solid jump from the August estimate of 18.9 million tonnes. However, it’s easy to point out that the August estimate comes during the growing season (thus, this upgrade is a reminder to gauge expectations after the August StatsCan report and take it with a grain of salt).
Ahead of report on Tuesday, December 6th, the market was expecting to see about 20.5 million tonnes of spring wheat. Instead StatsCan showed up with a whopping 22.2 million-tonne crop, which is 8% better than last year and 3% better than the five-year average of 21.6 million tonnes. From a yield standpoint, an average of 52 bushels per acre was harvested by the Canadian spring wheat farmer. That’s a 10% increase from the five-year average. Nonetheless, when you combine that yield with 16.6 million acres harvested, you can produce the best crop since the 2013 record of 27.3 million tonnes.
Comparably, Canadian durum wheat yield numbers are down big time in 2017/18. An average of 35.3 bushels per acre was harvested by the Canadian durum wheat farmer. That’s a 16% drop from the five-year average and a clear indication of the stress that a drier year can put on yields. Nonetheless, when you combine that yield with 5.16 million acres harvested, you are able to produce nearly 5 million tonnes. The market was expecting to see 4.6 million tonnes of durum, which would’ve been an upgrade from the 4.3 million tonne satellite & data-based estimate in September.
And finally, Statistics Canada says that farmers in the Great White North harvested a record canola crop this year. The market was expecting to see 20.2 million tonnes of canola, which would’ve been a solid upgrade from the 19.7 million tonne satellite & data-based estimate in September. Instead, Statistics Canada showed us 21.3 million tonnes, thanks to a 41 bushel-per-acre average yield and record 22.8 million acres harvested.
Ultimately, for canola prices, we’ll have to continue to monitor demand. The market is likely going to take at least 20.5 million tonnes out of this supply. Potentially it could be as high as 21.5 million tonnes. For durum and sprint wheat, it’s a similar story (watching demand), but exports will be a big factor. We also have a report coming out from the USDA later this month regarding the number of abandoned spring wheat and durum acres that could be supportive of a rally. Between this and monitoring Southern Hemisphere crop conditions, we will also look for new pricing opportunities on either currency or weather premium pops.
To growth,
Brennan Turner
President & CEO | FarmLead.com
Waiting for the Next Wheat Rally
Posted by Brennan Turner | President & CEO | July 16, 2019
Wheat Harvest 2019 is Officially On
Posted by Brennan Turner | President & CEO | FarmLead.com | July 09, 2019
It’s All About Production Now
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Tag: John Laurie
JUNO AND THE PAYCOCK (1930): “What can God do against stupidity of men?”
JUNO AND THE PAYCOCK – 1930 – British International Pictures – ★★1/2
B&W – 97 minutes – 1.33:1 aspect ratio
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Principal cast: Edward Chapman (“Captain” Boyle), Sara Allgood (Mrs. “Juno” Boyle), John Laurie (Johnny Boyle), Kathleen O’Regan (Mary Boyle), Sidney Morgan (“Joxer” Daly), Maire O’Neill (Maisie Madigan).
Screenplay by Alfred Hitchcock, based on the play by Sean O’Casey
Cinematography by Jack E. Cox
Edited by Emile de Ruelle
“Opening up” a stage play: In the years and decades after making this film, Alfred Hitchcock would express some regret in not finding ways to make the film more cinematic. The truth is that he imbued several scenes with his unique style, without at all sacrificing the tone or dialogue of the original stage play.
The entire three-act play was all set inside the apartment of the Boyle family. Hitchcock convinced playwright Sean O’Casey that the film should begin outside the Boyle flat, then move into the flat after the opening scenes. O’Casey was ultimately sold on Hitchcock’s idea, and wrote a new original scene for the film’s opening. The movie opens with a very Hitchcockian shot. The camera begins on an orator (played by Barry Fitzgerald) surrounded by a crowd. The camera then pulls back and up, to reveal the alleyway where the men are gathered.
The dialogue and the visual combine to set the scene. We are in Dublin, during “the troubles.” The Civil War of the early 1920’s, when many in Ireland were clamoring for independence. From here we cut to the interior of a bar. We meet the patriarch of the Boyle family here, with his drinking companion Joxer.
Soon the two men head to Boyle’s tenement flat, where most of the movie will be set. Here we meet the family. Boyle does not work, and hasn’t for some time. He is capable of working, but feigns a leg injury, spending his days drinking and pontificating. His son (played hauntingly by John Laurie) lost an arm in the war, and is now a shell of himself, frightened of the very shadows. Boyle’s wife Juno is the clear leader of the family, doing her best to hold them all together, although they are one step from being homeless. The Boyle’s bicker back and forth, with an easy banter that leads one to believe they have gone on like this for years.
The Boyle’s daughter Mary comes home with a solicitor named Bentham. Mary is clearly enamored of this man, and he brings good news from the family. A distant relative of Mr. Boyle’s has died, leaving him an inheritance of 2,000 pounds. When we next cut to the Boyle flat, things have changed mightily. Although they have not yet received the bequeathed money, they have borrowed heavily against its eventual arrival, with new furniture, new clothes and extravagances like a phonograph.
The challenges of sound: Although things are looking up for the Boyle family, we are soon reminded that the sorrows of war continue, and we receive a foreshadowing of events to come. The son of an older lady who lives upstairs is murdered, and she goes off to the funeral.
Hitchcock wanted to do something very original and inventive with sound here. One has to keep in mind that this is only Hitchcock’s second sound film. He pushes in on son Johnny in a close up, while a multitude of sounds occur. Hitchcock explained the structure of the scene to Peter Bogdanovich:
It was interesting the trouble one went to for sound at that time. You see, you couldn’t add it later–it had to be done at the same time and balanced on the stage. I remember one shot in this very tiny studio–a close-up of the son huddled beside the fire–and I wanted to dolly in. The camera was encased in what looked like a telephone booth in those days, for reasons of soundproofing. So I had this booth on a dolly. The offstage sounds were the family talking in the room–they’d bought a phonograph and they were playing a tune called “If You’re Irish, Come into the Parlor.” Suddenly they stopped because the funeral was going by and then there was a rattle of machine-gun fire. All those sounds had to be recorded at the same time, so the studio was packed. There was a small orchestra, and i had the prop man sing the song holding his nose so that you got a tinny effect as on an old phonography record. There were the actors with their lines. Then, on the other side, I had a choir of about twenty people for the funeral, and another man with the machine-gun effect. We could barely move in that little studio for all those off-scene sound effects on just one close-up.
One would never know from watching this scene the incredible planning that went into pulling it off, but is demonstrates Hitchcock’s ability to innovate, to use the new sound medium to the fullest. Johnny becomes very distraught, and is concerned that the light in front of his Virgin Mary icon does not go out.
A Hitchcock tragedy: This movie may have the most purely tragic ending of all of Hitchcock’s films. The final act involves three blows that strike the Boyle family render the family ties forever. The first is the discovery that the inheritance is not to be. The will was not filled out properly, and all of the things the family had borrowed on credit are repossessed. We then learn that Mary is pregnant by Bentham, who has fled the scene and left her alone. Despite Hitchcock’s insistence that he did not add cinematic touches to this film, there are several in the final act. Mary meets her old beau Jerry, who is willing to forgive her dalliance and take her back. Until he learns that she is pregnant; at that point he sheepishly beats a retreat. Hitchcock chose to shoot this scene in an uninterrupted close-up two shot, which heightens the emotion of the very touching scene.
The finally tragedy is the greatest to befall the family, as Johnny is taken by force from the flat by a couple of old associates, who believe he left a comrade to die. Johnny himself is soon killed, and Hitchcock shows the moment in a very cinematic (and very Catholic) way; as the votive candle in front of Johnny’s statue is extinguished, we know he is dead.
Finally Juno tells Mary that they will depart together; she is finished with “Captain” Boyle and will leave him for good. Whereas the play ends with a short scene of Boyle and Joxer, Hitchcock chose quite rightly to end on Juno.
Juno, left alone at the end, leaves the audience with a final, moving soliloquy. First she goes to the statue of Mary on the hearth, asking “Where were you when my son was riddled with bullets?” Finally she offers a prayer that hearts of stone may become hearts of flesh, and the movie ends with this elegy on her son’s passing, and the futility of conflict in general.
Performance: Most of the actors in this film were from the Irish Players theatre company, and many had appeared in the play on stage. So clearly they were familiar with the material. However, this was made at the beginning of the sound era, so speaking on camera was a novelty for all involved. The performances are all solid throughout. It really has the feel of a “filmed play” with the exception of a couple of sequences, and is acted accordingly. Special mention goes to Sara Allgood as Mrs. Boyle; she is the heart and soul of the picture, and she is unforgettable in her role.
Source material: Hitchcock’s movie is based on the 1924 play by Sean O’Casey. The play is almost identical to the movie. Hitchcock changed almost nothing, probably because O’Casey got to approve any changes or alterations to his original dialogue. Hitchcock did excise a very small exchange between Boyle and Joxer which ends the original play. After Mrs. Boyle and Mary have left the home for good, a very drunk Boyle and Joxer enter. Boyle has the last word, lamenting the terrible state of affairs in the world. Hitchcock chose to end on Mrs. Boyle’s final monologue, which I find more fitting.
Recurring players: Edward Chapman would later appear in Murder! (as Ted Markham) and The Skin Game (as Dawker). Sara Allgood had earlier appeared in Blackmail (Mrs. White. John Laurie would later play the part of the crofter in The 39 Steps. John Longden (Charles Bentham) had several other small supporting roles in Blackmail, The Skin Game, Young and Innocent and Jamaica Inn. Fred Schwartz (Mr. Kelly) would later play an uncredited role of a tailor in Sabotage. And Donald Calthrop (Needle Nugent) also played several other small roles in Blackmail, Murder! and Number Seventeen.
Where’s Hitch? There is no Hitchcock cameo in this film. The Lodger is the only Hitchcock silent film with a known cameo.
What Hitch said: Hitchcock was a bit more talkative about this film in later years than many of his other early “talkies” for British International Pictures. He mentioned it in a 1968 article on Rear Window in Take One: “I think that an audience will accept any ending as long as it’s reasonable. Years ago I made a film of Sean O’Casey’s Juno and the Paycock. It has a tragic ending, a very grim ending, but there was no other way around it.”
When Peter Bogdanovich asked Hitchcock why he made this film, he replied
Because I liked the play very much. I think the picture’s all right, though personally it wasn’t my meat. But it was one of my favorite plays, so I thought I had to do it. It was just a photograph of a stage play. I wish I could have done something with it, but I truly believe that a theater piece is a theater piece–it’s designed and written with the proscenium arch in mind, and I think that opening it up becomes another thing.
And to Truffaut, Hitchcock said
The film got very good notices, but I was actually ashamed, because it had nothing to do with cinema. The critics praised the picture, and I had the feeling I was dishonest, that I had stolen something.
Definitive edition: I am hesitant to call any home version of this movie “definitive.” It has been in the public domain for a long time, and there are several different DVD versions available. The DVD I own was released by FilmRise in 2014. It is bare bones, no extra features whatsoever, with a (barely) watchable print. There is one section of the film where the print framing is a mess; the tops of the actors’ heads are cut off. The soundtrack is difficult to understand at times. My fingers are crossed that this movie will get a nice release some day.
Posted on June 28, 2018 Categories Hitchcock moviesTags Alfred Hitchcock, Edward Chapman, John Laurie, Juno and the Paycock, Kathleen O'Regan, Maire O'Neill, Sara Allgood, Sean O'Casey, Sidney Morgan2 Comments on JUNO AND THE PAYCOCK (1930): “What can God do against stupidity of men?”
THE 39 STEPS (1935): “Don’t bother about me, I’m nobody.”
THE 39 STEPS (1935) – Gaumont British – ★★★★★
B&W – 86 mins. – 1.33:1 aspect ratio
Principal cast: Robert Donat (Richard Hannay), Madeleine Carroll (Pamela), Lucie Mannheim (Miss Annabella Smith), Godfrey Tearle (Professor Jordan), Peggy Ashcroft (Margaret Crofter), John Laurie (John Crofter), Wylie Watson (Mr. Memory).
Screenplay by Charles Bennett and Ian Hay, based on the novel by John Buchan
Cinematography by Bernard Knowles
Edited by Derek N. Twist
Music by Jack Beaver and Louis Levy
The picaresque steps: As Alfred Hitchcock himself described The 39 Steps it is a “film of episodes.” He and Charles Bennett constructed a picaresque narrative, with a reluctant hero moving from one scene and one locale to the next, getting into (and out of) scrape after scrape, until the climax. The influence of this film on Hitchcock’s later works cannot be overstated. Without this film, there is no Foreign Correspondent, no Saboteur, and certainly no North by Northwest. So let’s look at this film in the same manner in which it was constructed: one episode at a time.
Step one, The Music Hall: Hitchcock opens with a close up pan of a neon sign that says “MUSIC HALL.” (Neon signs feature in several early Hitchcock movies.) We are introduced to our hero through a series of shots that show him only from the back. His light brown coat serves as a marker as he purchases a ticket, enters and finds a seat. The house band begins to play, and on stage comes Mr. Memory, a man who memorizes 50 facts a day, and never forgets one. Various patrons begin to ask questions. The overall tone of this opening is light and humorous. Finally, our hero asks a question. Look at the framing of this shot:
Whose pov is this? We are standing behind Mr. Memory, looking over his shoulder as it were. But look at the perfect framing of Robert Donat (in the role of Richard Hannay). He sits up a bit taller than those around him, the light reflects on his face; Hitchcock made sure our eye would automatically be drawn to him. Hannay’s question (How far is Winnipeg from Montreal?) establishes that he is from Canada. Shortly the humorous tone takes a turn as shots are fired, and the packed music hall empties into the street. Hannay is pressed together with a woman with a vaguely Germanic accent, who asks if she can come home with Hannay. Certainly we are meant to suspect that she is a prostitute? Rather bold, for a mid 1930’s film.
Step Two, Hannay’s Apartment: Once inside Hannay’s flat, we discover that this foreign woman’s motives are very different than those we at first suspected. She tells Hannay that her name is Annabella Smith, clearly a false name. Annabella (played by Lucie Mannheim) asks Hannay if he’s ever heard of the 39 Steps, then tells Hannay a fantastic story: she fired the shots in the theater, she is an agent trying to protect a British military secret from falling into the hands of spies, two of those spies were in the music hall, and are outside Hannay’s apartment right this minute. The leader of these spies is a man missing the first joint of his little finger. At first Hannay is incredulous, but upon seeing two men standing under a streetlight, he begins to wonder. He agrees to let Annabella spend the night, giving her his bed while he takes the couch. We then get this fantastic shot:
This shot is unlike any other in the film. It shows the German expressionist influence on Hitchcock. The play of light and shadow is wonderful, as well as the way the statue appears to be pointing at the open window and billowing curtains, announcing to the audience that someone else has entered the apartment, there is trouble brewing. Annabella wakes up Hannay, warning him to get out, then falls over him with a knife plunged in her back. Clutched in her hand is a map of Scotland with the village of Alt-Na-Shellac circled. So the spies broke into the house, stabbed her in the back, and yet left Hannay alive? We don’t have time to question this in the moment, the narrative moves far too swiftly.
Step three, the milkman: Hannay is unable to leave his building, because the two spies are waiting outside. When the milkman comes in, he convinces him to switch clothing, and leaves in the milkman’s coat and hat. Interestingly, Hannay tries to tell the milkman the truth, but he doesn’t buy this story of spies and a murdered woman. Only when Hannay tells a lie, about seeing a married woman, does the milkman take him at his word. This will not be the last time that Hannay has to lie to be believed.
Step four, the train: The next sequence has one of the most clever (and most copied) editorial cuts in Hitchcock’s career. We see Hannay’s cleaning lady opening his flat, seeing the murdered woman, and turning to scream. She opens her mouth, and out comes the screech of a train whistle. Then we cut to the visual of the train. Hannay is on board the train, heading up to Scotland to the village that Annabella had circled on the map. He is a wanted man, believed to be guilty of killing the woman found in his flat. There is a humorous section here involving the men that he shares a carriage with, who are reading a newspaper that details the murder of Annabella, and the hunt for Hannay. The police eventually find him on the train, and he flees, into the carriage of Pamela (Madeleine Carroll). He tells her his story and begs for help.
When Hitchcock had Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint meet on a train in North by Northwest 25 years later, under similar circumstances, it was a meet cute. There is nothing cute about the way Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll meet. She believes him guilty, and immediately turns him over to the police. Once again he makes an escape, hiding on the Forth Bridge as seen in this shot.
Step five, the Crofter’s cottage: The next sequence is so well structured and acted, it is almost like a mini-movie right in the middle of the longer movie. Richard Hannay comes to a crofter’s cottage, and learns that there is a new Englishman, “a kind of professor” living in Alt-Na-Shellac. It’s too late in the day to walk the 14 miles, so the crofter agrees to put him up for the night, for a fee. Hannay meets the crofter’s wife, at first mistaking her for a daughter. The young wife is taken with Hannay. He is attractive, charming, and he’s been to London, which might as well be another planet to this girl. As she prepares the supper, he glances at the paper, and sees yet another article about the manhunt for himself, the supposed killer of Annabella. Seeing him glance at it, the young woman realizes who this dashing man really is. This leads to some very urgent glances between the two at supper, which do not go unnoticed by her husband. He, of course, thinks these glances mean something else entirely. Later, when the wife sneaks out of bed to help Hannay escape, the husband confronts them, believing it is the beginning of an amorous tryst. As Hannay declares his innocence, Hitchcock has this interesting shot composition.
The characters are seen through a chair, much like the bars of a prison. As the police arrive at the front door, the wife helps Hannay escape out the back door, giving him Crofter’s dark coat to wear. So rich this little tale, so honest the characters, Hitchcock could have made an entire movie out of this episode.
Step six, the “Professor’s” house: Hannay next goes to the house of the “Professor”, the man he believes Annabelle was going to visit in Scotland. The Professor lives on a lovely estate, and is hosting a small gathering. Hannay is welcomed into the group. A very nice, and subtle touch here, is to watch how many hands featured in the scene. Keeping in mind that the leader of the evil spies is missing half a finger. Hands enter and exit the frame rapidly, shaking Hannay’s hand, handing him a cigarette, a drink, offering a light. A subtle way prepare us for the significance of hands. Finally the Professor and Hannay are alone, and Hannay discovers that the Professor is not an ally, but the enemy. Annabella wasn’t coming here to get the Professor’s help, she was coming to thwart him.
The Professor explains that he can’t let Hannay live, and proceeds to shoot him. He falls down, dead. Or is he?
Step seven, the lecture hall: This section is comprised of two short sequences leading into a longer one. Hannay is in a policeman’s office, showing how the crofter’s book of prayer in the coat pocket stopped the bullet aimed for his heart. Unfortunately for Hannay, the policeman is another ally of the Professor, leading to another escape, by jumping through a window. He falls in step with a Salvation Army parade passing by, then slips into an alley and an inviting doorway. This doorway turns out to be the back of a lecture hall, and Hannay is rushed to the stage. He quickly realizes that he has been mistaken for the guest speaker! He begins to speak off the cuff, when who should walk in but Pamela, the woman from the train. The police also gather in the wings. His speech becomes more impassioned, and he inspires the crowd to leap to their feet in an excited state, but is pushed into the hands of the waiting police. Hitchcock would re-use this sequence, the idea of being trapped in a crowded room, in both Saboteur and North by Northwest.
Step eight, the car and the countryside: The police arrest Hannay for the murder of Annabella, and ask Pamela to come along too, as she saw him on the train. Only it turns out these policemen are actually more of the Professor’s men. Hannay and Pamela, handcuffed together, escape with the help of a flock of sheep blocking a bridge. He forces her to hide under a waterfall, and later they make their escape. Pamela still believes Hannay is guilty of murder. This is yet another person that won’t believe Hannay when he tells the truth, but will accept what he says when he lies.
Step nine, the hotel: Hannay and Pamela end up in a hotel room, and this is where their relationship takes a turn. We have a humorous (and risque for the 30’s) scene in which Pamela, still handcuffed, removes her stockings, and then they discuss the sleeping arrangements on the bed.
Hannay falls asleep, and Pamela is able to work her hand out of the cuffs. She is going to sneak away, but when she opens the door, she sees the two men who had taken them earlier, and realizes through their overheard conversation that Hannay has been speaking the truth. She goes back to the room, staying with him, sleeping at the foot of the bed. When he wakes up, we see Pamela look at him in a very important close-up shot, which shows us that not only does she believe in him, she also loves him. Many years later, Hitch will use a similar close-up of Jimmy Stewart in Rear Window, when he is admiring Grace Kelly for her pluck. Pamela overheard the two men mentioning the London Palladium, and so off our new couple goes.
Step ten, the Music Hall again: And so Hitchcock ends where he began, this time in the London Palladium. Hannay has been whistling a tune for much of the latter half of the movie. He can’t remember where he heard it, until the band strikes up the same tune at the Palladium. Of course! It is the theme of Mr. Memory! And now it all comes together. The secret that the spies are after is not on a piece of paper or microfilm. It is in the mind of Mr. Memory. The police (real ones, this time) recognize Hannay and try to arrest him, when he shouts out “What are the 39 Steps?” to Mr. Memory on stage. Being Mr. Memory, he begins to answer and ends up shot. Hannay convinces Mr. Memory to recite the secret plans that he had remembered, which vindicates Hannay in the eyes of the authorities.
And poor Mr. Memory, after unburdening his mind of the plans he had memorized, slumps down dead. A sad ending for him, indeed, and a touching, almost Shakespearean moment for a minor character in a thriller. Some movies might cut to a coda at this point, with Hannay and Pamela locked in each other’s arms. Such a scene was shot, but Hitchcock was against it. Although he would use just such a scene at the end of North by Northwest. This film has a much more tentative, and somehow more poignant, ending. Hannay and Pamela reach their hands out, and clasp each other, ever so gently, Hannay’s still attached handcuff dangling between them. This is symbolic of the way Hitchcock usually portrayed relationships. The future is uncertain, and things may get in the way. Yet they will maintain that clasp, as long as they can.
Performance: One could make the argument that this is the most perfectly cast movie of Hitchcock’s entire British period. The only films that come close in this regard are The Lady Vanishes, and possibly The Man Who Knew Too Much. Robert Donat is the quintessential Hitchcock male lead. He is seemingly insouciant, and yet doggedly determined when pressed, and he absolutely oozes charm. Without Donat’s exquisite performance in this movie, we would not have the later performances that we do from Michael Redgrave, Joel McCrea, Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, and John Forsythe. Donat created the template for the perfect Hitchcock hero. Equally good as the leading lady is Madeleine Carroll, who does a wonderful job playing a strong-willed woman who intensely dislikes Donat’s character, then gradually softens as she comes to believe in him. Godfrey Tearle makes the most of his brief screen time as the antagonist, an early prototype of the kind of sophisticated and debonair bad guy that Hitchcock preferred. Watch out for a young Peggy Ashcroft in the role of the farmer’s wife. Ashcroft would go on to have a long and celebrated career on the stage, and would win an Oscar for David Lean’s A Passage to India almost 50 years after she appeared in The 39 Steps.
Source material: The original novel, written by John Buchan and published in 1915, is set just before the outset of World War 1. The movie advances the setting to the time it was made, the mid 30’s. In the book there is no music hall opening. Hannay is accosted by a man who says he is a spy, and claims to be following a ring of German spies who are out to steal Britain’s plans for war. Hitchcock made the wise decision to change this character to a woman. The episode of Hannay escaping his building in the milkman’s uniform is present in the book, as is his journey to Scotland, and a night spent in a shepherd’s cottage, minus the young lovelorn wife. Also absent from the book is any love interest for Hannay. In the book, the 39 steps are actual steps, down which the German spies will go to rendezvous with a ship off the coast. The overall picaresque structure, and the concept of the double chase are intact in both book and film. While the book is engaging, the movie actually has a better structured plot. The book also suffers from its lack of female characters. Even author John Buchan told Hitchcock that giving Hannay a love interest in the film was an improvement over the novel.
This novel was very popular in Britain, and ultimately around the world, resulting in four more books being penned by Buchan which featured Richard Hannay as protagonist.
Where’s Hitch? Hitchcock’s cameo comes early in this one, at around the 6:50 mark. As Robert Donat and Lucie Mannheim are preparing to board the bus that is pulling up, Hitch crosses from left to right, in the foreground, casually littering as he passes!
Recurring players: Starring actress Madeleine Carroll would appear in Secret Agent a year after this film. John Laurie had earlier appeared in Juno and the Paycock. Helen Haye (not to be mistaken with Helen Hayes) and Ivor Barnard had been in The Skin Game. Wylie Watson, the memorable Mr. Memory, would later have a small part in Jamaica Inn. Gus McNaughton had an earlier uncredited role in Murder! Jerry Verno and Peggy Simpson would later appear in Young and Innocent. James Knight had been in The Man Who Knew Too Much. Miles Malleson would appear 15 years later in Stage Fright. Frederick Piper, who played the milkman, also had bit parts in The Man Who Knew Too Much, Sabotage, Young and Innocent and Jamaica Inn. And S.J. Warmington had bit parts in Murder! The Man Who Knew Too Much, and Sabotage.
What Hitch said: In his conversations with Truffaut, Alfred Hitchcock was clearly proud of his work on this film. He said “Buchan was a strong influence a long time before I undertook The Thirty-nine Steps…What I find appealing in Buchan’s work is his understatement of highly dramatic ideas…Understatement is important to me…I worked on the scenario with Charles Bennett, and the method I used in those days was to make a treatment complete in every detail, except for the dialogue. I saw it as a film of episodes, and this time I was on my toes…I made sure the content of every scene was very solid, so that each one would be a little film in itself…What I like in The Thirty-nine Steps are the swift transitions…The rapidity of those transitions heightens the excitement. It takes a lot of work to get that kind of effect, but it’s well worth the effort. You use one idea after another and eliminate anything that interferes with the swift pace.”
Definitive edition: The 2012 Criterion Collection blu-ray has the nicest print of the film currently available. Included along with the film are a commentary track by scholar Marian Keane, a British documentary titled Hitchcock: The Early Years which covers Hitch’s British period, footage from a 1966 Mike Scott television interview of Alfred Hitchcock, a visual essay by Hitchcock scholar Leonard Leff, the complete 1937 Lux Radio Theater broadcast version, excerpts from the Truffaut/Hitchcock interviews, and original production design drawings.
Posted on July 28, 2017 Categories Hitchcock moviesTags Alfred Hitchcock, Godfrey Tearle, John Buchan, John Laurie, Lucie Mannheim, Madeleine Carroll, Peggy Ashcroft, Richard Hannay, Robert Donat, The 39 Steps, Wylie WatsonLeave a comment on THE 39 STEPS (1935): “Don’t bother about me, I’m nobody.”
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< Back toAll of Us>About>Program FAQ
What is the Precision Medicine Initiative?
The Precision Medicine Initiative (PMI) is a bold research effort to revolutionize how we improve health and treat disease. The PMI aims to leverage advances in genomics, emerging methods for managing and analyzing large datasets while protecting privacy, and health information technology to accelerate biomedical discoveries.
What is the All of Us Research Program?
NIH's All of Us Research Program is a major piece of the PMI. All of Us will engage one million or more volunteers living in the U.S. to contribute their health data over many years to improve health outcomes, fuel the development of new treatments for disease, and catalyze a new era of evidence-based and more precise preventive care and medical treatment.
Enrollment is now open. Anyone over the age of 18 who is living in the United States can join the All of Us Research Program. Find out how you can join All of Us.
To develop tailored treatments and prevention strategies, researchers need more data about the individual differences that make each of us unique. By enrolling in the All of Us Research Program and sharing information, you can help ensure that your community is included in the studies that lead to improved health for future generations.
In addition, All of Us will also share data and information we collect about you, as well as certain study results, to help you know more about yourself.
Can anyone sign up?
Yes, anyone living in the United States will be able to participate, though enrollment will initially be limited to adults ages 18 years and up. Certain populations, such as children, will be included at a later time.
What would be expected of me if I enroll in the All of Us Research Program?
If you decide to join All of Us, we will ask you to share different kinds of information over time. We will ask you basic information like your name and where you live. We will ask you questions about your health, family, home, and work. If you have an electronic health record, we may ask for access. We may ask you to go to a local clinic or drug store for a free appointment with us. At this appointment we would measure your weight, height, hips, and waist, as well as your blood pressure and heart rate. We might ask you to give samples, like blood or urine at the appointment.
You will be able to choose how frequently we contact you. From time to time, we may send you new questionnaires or offer other ways for you to share information about your health.
Will my health information be safe? How do you plan to ensure privacy? What about data security?
All of Us takes privacy and security concerns very seriously and abides by the PMI Privacy and Trust Principles and the PMI Data Security Policy Principles and Framework.
The program has engaged teams of experts to conduct rigorous security testing, establish safeguards against unintended release of data, and set penalties for the unauthorized re-identification of participants.
We have ensured that all systems meet the requirements of the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA), and tested all systems for any vulnerabilities. We continue to perform ongoing security tests to protect participant data.
Who can see the information I give to the All of Us Research Program?
We will create a database on the All of Us Research Program website. Everyone can use the database to make discoveries. The information in the database that anyone can see will be about the group of participants. For example, it might tell the average age of the people who have joined the All of Us Research Program. It will not include information about individual people. It will not include your name or other information that directly identifies you.
Only researchers approved by the All of Us Research Program will be allowed to see data from individual participants. These researchers may be from anywhere in the world. They may work for commercial companies, like drug companies. The research may be on many different topics.
Will the program accept children?
Yes, eventually. The inclusion of children has been central to our goals and objectives from the start.
There are special scientific and ethical considerations to take into account when involving children in research. Before proceeding, we must build in appropriate protections in the informed consent process and our enrollment and retention plans. We must also develop scientific protocols specific for children.
The All of Us Child Enrollment Scientific Vision Working Group has released its report to inform the development of our strategy for enrollment of children. Read the Working Group’s report pdf | 772.7 KB. More information will be available in coming months.
What do we hope to learn?
The All of Us Research Program will build one of the world’s largest and most diverse datasets for precision health research. With data from one million or more participants who contribute information over a long period of time, researchers may be able to:
develop ways to measure risk for a range of diseases based on environmental exposures, genetic factors, and interactions between the two;
identify the causes of individual differences in response to commonly used drugs (commonly referred to as pharmacogenomics);
discover biological markers that signal increased or decreased risk of developing common diseases;
use mobile health (mHealth) technologies to correlate activity, physiological measures, and environmental exposures with health outcomes;
develop new disease classifications and relationships;
empower study participants with data and information to improve their own health; and
create a platform to enable trials of targeted therapies.
As the program develops, NIH will hold additional workshops to discuss scientific opportunities in more detail and chart future directions.
Which diseases will be studied?
This large-scale cohort will not be focused on a specific disease, but instead will be a broad resource for researchers working on a variety of important health questions. Researchers have already seen successful precision medicine approaches in treating certain types of cancers. This research program will seek to extend that success to many other diseases. Importantly, the research program will focus not just on disease, but also on ways to increase an individual’s chances of remaining healthy throughout their life.
How long before we see the results of precision medicine in the form of new treatments or preventions?
Precision medicine is an approach to disease prevention and treatment that takes into account individual variability in genes, environment and lifestyle to aid in the development of individualized care. This is not a new area of science. While we have seen some progress with precision medicine, it can take many years to understand the contribution of a single unique variable on a given disease or treatment. It will take even more time to develop new treatments and methods of disease prevention. By launching a study of the size and scope of the All of Us Research Program, we hope to accelerate our understanding of disease onset and progression, treatment response, and health outcomes.
What funding opportunities are available for researchers?
Visit the Funding page for details on all funded projects, active and archived funding opportunities, and background documents and notices related to these funding opportunities.
Where can I find materials about the program to share with my community?
The All of Us Research Program offers free downloadable materials to help community members spread the word about the program. See our community resources.
Temple University Joins Nationwide Precision Medicine Effort
Health Providers Play Important Role in All of Us Enrollment
How Your DNA Could Change the Future of Health
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Published: 25 November 2015 11:03 (GMT) Subscribe to reports
FACTSHEET: Why do many scientists think Africa will be hardest hit by climate change?
Researched by Sarah Wild
Media headlines often state that Africa will be hardest hit by climate change. But where does this idea come from and what led many scientists to think so?
The world’s leading climate scientists will meet this month in Paris at the Congress of the Parties 21 (COP21) to hammer out an international agreement to attempt to keep global warming below 2° C compared to pre-industrial levels. The 2° C target was chosen because it represents “the maximum allowable warming” to avoid dangerous man-made interference in the climate.
The UK Met Office announced earlier this month that average global temperatures had already increased by one degree above pre-industrial levels. This was based on a dataset jointly run by the Met Office and the climate research unit at the University of East Anglia.
But these temperature increases will not be uniform: some places will record greater rises in temperature than others. The difference in temperatures is one of the reasons why many scientists think Africa would be hardest hit by climate change.
UN reports stated risk
General view from the Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony in Oslo’s City Hall on 10 December 2007, in which the Intergovernment Panel on Climate Change were awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. Photo: AFP/Heiko Junge/SCANPIX NORWAY
“The idea that Africa would be the hardest hit started in the UN’s [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] third assessment report in 2001… and the fourth report allowed this conclusion to be drawn,” Guy Midgley, a Stellenbosch University scientist involved in producing the reports, told Africa Check. “It’s pretty much become embedded in the global change common understanding.”
The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is the major repository of climate research and technical information drawn from scientists across the world. It has produced five assessment reports on the state of climate change, starting in 1990, with the latest one published in November 2014. Midgley was part of the international team that shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 for producing the fourth assessment.
The UN’s third report stated, “Africa is highly vulnerable to the various manifestations of climate change”.
In the fourth report (2007), this became: “Africa is likely to be the continent most vulnerable to climate change. Among the risks, the continent faces are reductions in food security and agricultural productivity, particularly regarding subsistence agriculture, increased water stress and, as a result of these and the potential for increased exposure to disease and other health risks, increased risks to human health.”
Midgley said that after the strong statement about Africa’s vulnerability, “[the fourth report] then goes on to list a range of adverse impacts which, taken together, have led to the conclusion that Africa will be the hardest hit”.
Following the fourth report, the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) compiled a factsheet for the United Nations Environmental Programme. It said: “No continent will be struck as severely by the impacts of climate change as Africa. Given its geographical position, the continent will be particularly vulnerable due to the considerably limited adaptive capacity, exacerbated by widespread poverty and the existing low levels of development.”
However, this statement was compiled by ministers and not scientists.
‘Africa already quite hot’
While scientists and policymakers agree that African countries will be vulnerable to climate change for myriad reasons, there are still many gaps in our understanding of exactly how climate change will affect different parts of the world, different places within the different continents and to what extent.
Climate scientist Dr Bob Scholes is more sceptical than Midgley about the claim that Africa will be the continent hardest hit by climate change. Scholes, a distinguished professor at the University of Witwatersrand’s Global Change and Sustainability Research Institute, is another author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s assessment reports.
“The claim is based on two things: geographically and climatically Africa is exposed,” he told Africa Check. “Africa in general is already quite hot. Heat it up more and it’s just downhill for animal production, plant production and human health.”
However, other parts of the world are also quite hot and have their own vulnerabilities. And there are a number of regions within the African continent.
“In general, I would support the argument that Africa is vulnerable. But ‘the most vulnerable’? That gets into [the realm of] hyperbole,” Scholes said.
A geographic disadvantage
One of the reasons that African countries are vulnerable to climate change is the continent’s geography.
“Africa straddles the tropics with vast semi-arid regions on either side,” said Midgley. These arid and semi-arid areas are likely to see higher temperature increases than other areas, skewing the average temperature rise for the continent.
The UN’s fifth assessment report explained that it is “likely that land temperatures over Africa will rise faster than the global land average, particularly in the more arid regions, and that the rate of increase in minimum temperatures will exceed that of maximum temperatures.”
Drastic temperature increases between 1961 and 2010
Additionally, research by a team of international and South African scientists published earlier this year found that parts of subtropical and central tropical Africa had already shown drastic increases in temperature between 1961 and 2010.
“Over these regions, temperatures have been rising at more than twice the global rate of temperature increase,” the researchers noted.
Temperatures are projected to increase in these areas during this century “with plausible increases of 4 to 6° C [relative to the present day climate] over the subtropics and 3 to 5° C [relative to the present day] over the tropics by the end of the century”. This would happen, the researchers said, in the UN’s “low-mitigation scenario” – where countries put few measures in place to stop climate change.
Principal researcher and study leader, Dr Francois Engelbrecht from South Africa’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, said in September: “If negotiations [in Paris] fail to ensure a high-mitigation future, we are likely to see rapidly rising surface temperature across the continent…
“For many regions, the impact of temperature increases on the agricultural and biodiversity sectors may be significant, stemming from temperature-related extreme events such as heat waves, wild fires and agricultural drought.”
Temperature only one element of vulnerability
Temperature increase is only one of the variables determining a country or a continent’s vulnerability, as wealth and infrastructure, among other things, also help to determine its ability to adapt to climate change.
“Australia is also beset by a very dry portion of its continent,” noted Midgley. “But from a vulnerability and exposure point of view, Africa is more vulnerable because of poverty.”
Or as the third assessment report puts it: “The adverse impacts of climate change are expected to fall disproportionately upon developing countries and the poor persons within those countries.”
‘We need an operating manual for the planet’
While scientists like Midley and Scholes may disagree about the extent of Africa’s vulnerability, there is no doubt among the thousands of scientists that contribute to the UN assessment reports that climate change is real and driven by human activities. However, more scientific research needs to be undertaken to understand how ecosystems will be affected.
“We don’t have an operating manual for the planet,” Midgley said, “and we need one.” – 25/11/2015
Sarah Wild is a multi-award-winning science journalist and author. Find her work at www.wildonscience.com. How a country’s poverty levels, water sources and agricultural production influence its vulnerability to climate change will be discussed in her next factsheet on this topic.
FACTSHEET: Why Africa is vulnerable to climate change
© Copyright Africa Check 2019. Read our republishing guidelines. You may reproduce this piece or content from it for the purpose of reporting and/or discussing news and current events. This is subject to: Crediting Africa Check in the byline, keeping all hyperlinks to the sources used and adding this sentence at the end of your publication: “This report was written by Africa Check, a non-partisan fact-checking organisation. View the original piece on their website", with a link back to this page.
Tags: Africa, environment
Is Africa the drunk continent? How Time Magazine ignored the data
05:38 | 29 August 2013
Do Americans and Europeans waste 15 times more food than people in Africa?
05:12 | 2 November 2016
Will roads be Africa’s biggest child killers by 2015? The claim is based on old, faulty data
08:13 | 25 September 2013
Is Greenpeace right to say S. Africa is the world’s third best solar location?
06:04 | 7 October 2015
Does South Africa guzzle 235 litres of water per person daily?
09:52 | 11 April 2018
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The Agouti Enterprise
From trees to nuts, and back again.
ARTS moves off island
Posted by agoutienterprise under Uncategorized
Here is the STRI Newsletter piece on the ARTS lab closing down.
Animal trackers move on from towers to satellites and cameras
The Automated Radio Telemetry System (ARTS) on STRI’s Barro Colorado Island (BCI) is taking down its towers used to track animals with radio-transmitters and switching to GPS and camera trap systems that produce more data with less infrastructure.
Experiences with ARTS over the last eight years on BCI have led to the development of new technologies, including the miniaturization of GPS tracking devices, revolutionary camera trap monitoring techniques, a Smithsonian repository of camera trap images, and a global archive of animal tracking data www.Movebank.org
BCI is famous as a training ground for pioneer ecological research systems that allow scientists to ask new questions. In 2003, researchers Roland Kays (New York State Museum) and Martin Wikelski (Princeton University, now at the Max Plank Institute) founded an experimental Automated Radio Telemetry System (ARTS) to track the activity and movement of animals wearing small radio-transmitters. According to Kays, “at that time tracking options were limited because GPS devices were so large they were carried by surveyors in backpacks and camera traps were limited to rolls of 36-exposure film.”
With support from the National Geographic Society and the Levinson and National Science Foundations, Kays and Wikelski brought a team of specialists to BCI to erect a network of seven towers that streamed live data on the location and activity of animals that had been fitted with small, inexpensive radio transmitters. Since then, the ARTS has been used to track 374 individuals from 38 species, including 17 mammal species, 12 birds, seven reptiles or amphibians, and two species of plant seeds. The unique data gathered by ARTS have allowed researchers to tackle previously intractable questions about the ecology and behavior of species ranging from palms and bees to monkeys, by providing a means to “see” cryptic events and track animal movements and activities over large distances and long time periods.
However, ARTS-based tracking is limited to BCI because of its extensive infrastructure requirements, and thus researchers have also been looking past radio transmitters to new, more flexible technologies. GPS devices have been improved and miniaturized over the past three years, spurred on in part by former ARTS engineer Franz Kuemmeth (founder of E-obs GPS tracking company) and ARTS biologists, who rapidly adopted the new technology to track animals on BCI…and off. New sensors are also being developed to work in concert with GPS tags to provide detailed information about animal behavior and physiology.
ARTS researchers also developed new methods for monitoring animal movement with camera traps. This approach was initially developed to monitor animals moving palm seeds that were being tracked by the ARTS, but is now being implemented at SIGEO sites around the globe. The BCI camera trap data are also being shared with the public through a new ‘SI Wild’ website that combines the images from ten Smithsonian camera trap studies around the world and will launch in 2011.
Many of the most important moments in an animal’s life are hard to study because they are rare or difficult to observe. Due to the shy nature of most species, tracking animals is necessarily a high-tech enterprise. The development ARTS and related technologies on BCI over the last eight years offers another example of how STRI-supported science can help develop new fields; in this case, one where detailed data on animal movement, physiology, and behavior can be integrated to address the next generation of scientific and conservation questions.
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Robby Anderson arrested for second time in less than a year
Published: Jan 19, 2018 at 11:33 am
Updated: Apr 03, 2018 at 08:52 am
New York Jets wide receiver Robby Anderson was arrested on multiple felony charges early Friday morning in Sunrise, Florida, according to police records obtained by NFL.com.
Anderson was arrested on suspicion of reckless driving, evading police and threatening a public servant after he initially failed to yield during a traffic stop. He was arrested at 2:15 a.m. ET and transported to Broward County Jail, police said. He was released from jail Friday afternoon.
"We are aware of the situation," a Jets spokesman said. "This is a pending legal matter and we will have no further comment."
The incident occurred after a police officer noticed Anderson driving at a high rate of speed while conducting another traffic stop. The officer determined Anderson was driving 105 mph in a 45 mph zone while giving chase. Anderson failed to pull over as cops followed him with their lights and sirens on and they reported he was driving erratically.
Anderson eventually stopped, according to the report, but resisted being placed in a patrol car after being handcuffed by officers. He then threatened to harm a family member of one of the arresting officers.
In all, Anderson is facing the possibility of two felonies and two misdemeanors.
This is Anderson's second arrest in less than a year. Last May, he was arrested for allegedly pushing a police officer at an event in Miami.
Anderson could be subject to potential NFL discipline under the league's personal conduct policy.
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Fast and Reliable Remittance Services from UK to China now made available
I-Remit, Inc., the Philippines` largest Filipino-owned non-bank international remittance company with a growing network of remittance centers in 25 countries worldwide and the BOCMNL formally announced their partnership in a Remittance Agreement last September 22 at Clermont, Discovery Suites.
The Remittance Agreement between the two financial institutions will benefit thousands of customers based in the United Kingdom who wish to send remittances for their families in China. I-Remit offers same day processing of remittance which beneficiaries in China can withdraw from any of the Bank of China`s over 12,000 domestic branches.
“This partnership with the BOCMNL is instrumental for I-Remit to serve the needs especially of the Chinese customers based in the United Kingdom for fast and reliable remittance services and to achieve I-Remit`s goal of expanding its business in mainland China.” according to Harris Jacildo, President and Chief Operating Officer of I-Remit, Inc.
Founded in 1912, Bank of China Limited (BOC) is one of China`s four state-owned commercial banks that provides a comprehensive range of high-quality financial services and has expanded with branches on every major continent outside of mainland China. It operates in 26 countries including Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Holand, Russia, Hungary, United States, Panama, Brazil, Philippines, Japan, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Bahrain, Zambia, South Africa, Cayman Islands and also in Hongkong and Macau Sepicial Administrative Regions.
“This move signals a more aggressive expansion program for I-Remit. Now, we are not just catering to Filipinos but to Chinese nationals around the globe. We`re expanding the scope of our capabilities to connect people and their remittance needs, paving the way to be the remittance provider of choice globally,” said Jacildo.
The Remittance Agreement will initially take effect in the United Kingdom, but this will soon start in Canada, Australia and other foreign offices.
The agreement was made official by Bansan Choa, Chairman and CEO, Harris E.D. Jacildo, President and COO, Adolfo Suzara, Excom Chairman and Gilbert Gaw, Director, on behalf of I-Remit Inc., and Sun Baoxiang , General Manager and Luo Yong , Manager of Cash Department, representing the BOCMNL.
PICTURE CAPTION: From I-Remit, Inc. are: (L-R) Mr. Harris E.D. Jacildo, President and COO; Mr. Gilbert C. Gaw, Director and Mr. Bansan C. Choa, Chairman of the Board and CEO.
Bank Of China Manila Branch`s representatives are (L-R) Mr. Sun Baoxiang, General Manager; Mr. Santiago Acejo, Compliance Officer and Mr. Luo Yong, Manager of Cash Department.
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Sports of the People, Opiates of the Masses – The Antiscribe Analyzes
An image from the Penn State riots, November 9, 2011 (Getty Images)
In one of his works, A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right, Karl Marx famously (or infamously, depending on your view) labeled religion as “the opium of the masses.” As it would later come to be interpreted by theorists, Marx’s use of the “opium” metaphor was a way of describing a condition or system which provided an illusory or tranquilizing effect that inhibited a society from both recognizing and correcting its own flaws. In Marx’s opinion, and again, it was his opinion, he saw general religion as an impediment, something that assuaged and clouded the minds of people, so that they ignored the injustices in their own society. So, instead of seeking to undermine or address their own class inequality, for instance, they might seek refuge in the calming belief of a divine power or in the hierarchal authority of a religious organization. Much later, Marx’s concept of the “opium of the masses” became further expanded upon by later Marxist theorists who tried to ascertain the causes of why the much longed for “revolution of the proletariat” that formed the basis for later Communist and Socialist thought never actually occurred en masse in industrialized society, and in most cases moved beyond the idea that religion alone was the impediment. Antonio Gramsci, imprisoned by the Italian Government as an enemy of the state, penned the theory of “cultural hegemony,” the belief that the ideals of the ruling class become the norm for all. Later, Theodore Adorno and Max Horkheimer, members of the famed “Frankfurt School,” posited that it was the “culture industry” and its creation of mass products of technology, advertising, entertainment, and art that had lulled the mass populace into a sense of complacency. As recently as the early 1970s, Marxist philosopher (and, admittedly, paranoid schizophrenic) Louis Althusser famously formulated his belief that the docile ideology of a people were molded by what he labeled “state apparatuses,” individual cultural forces, such as the government, the mass media, and so forth, of which he claimed the educational system, instead of religion, was the most influential apparatus.
Tags: Marx, opiate, opium, paterno, penn state, sports
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Name and address of the data protection officer
TECHNOLAB SA
Juerg Burkhard
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Actress, Director, Producer and Activist.
Jennifer Morrison is an American actress, producer and director. She began her career at a very young age, in the 1990s, as a model child for advertising. In 1994, at the age of 15, she got her very first role in the film Intersection, where she played the daughter of Richard Gere and Sharon Stone. In 2000, she obtained her first lead role in the thriller Urban Legends 2 alongside Eva Mendes. She then went on to play many roles in films such as Grind in 2003 and Mr. & Mrs. Smith in 2005 alongside Angelina Jolie.
In 2001, she played in an episode of the series Touched by an Angel and Dawson's Creek. In 2004, she landed her first lead role on television, in the series Dr. House, where she played the role of Dr. Alison Cameron. She will play this role for the first 6 seasons before leaving the series, but will nevertheless return for the final episode. This role marks a first turning point in her career.
In 2009, she appeared in the film Star Trek, as Winona Kirk. She returned to television in 2010, as Zoey Pierson in the series How I Met Your Mother. That same year, she was on Broadway in the play The Miracle Worker. In 2011, she starred in the movie Bringing Ashley Home, a role that will win her an Award at the 2012 Prism Awards in the Best Performance in a Telefilm or Mini-series category. 2011 is a new turning point for her career. She gets one of the main roles in the fantastic series Once Upon A Time. She played the heroine, Emma Swan, for 6 seasons before leaving the series, but will return for two episodes of season 7, including the final episode. The series is very successful and will win him several nominations, including a shared Award with her partner on screen Colin O'Donoghue at the 2016 Teen Choice Awards.
In 2015, Jennifer Morrison directed her first short film, in which she also played, in collaboration with the group Wild Wild Wild Horses. Her second short film Warning Labels was released the same year. In 2016, she founded her own production company Apartment 3C Productions. At the same time, she played many roles in films such as Alex & the List in 2014, Albion: The Enchanted Stallion in 2016, Back Roads and Superfly in 2018.
In 2017, she directed and produced her first feature film Sun Dogs, in which she also made an appearance. Her film will receive several awards, including 3 Awards at the Mammoth Film Festival 2018 in the categories Best Actor, Best Film and Special Jury Prize, and the Best Feature Film Award at the SCAD Savannah Film Festival 2017. That same year, she returned to Broadway in Matthew Perry's The End of Longing.
Jennifer Morrison has been a member and spokesperson of "HERLead - Vital Voices" since 2012. This charitable organization fights for women's empowerment and visibility in the world, and encourages women to use their potential leadership skills to transform their lives and bring peace and prosperity to their communities. Jennifer encourages these young women to pursue their ideas to bring about positive change in the world. The association works with women in particular in the fields of Human Rights, economics and politics.
She also supports the "Dressember" Foundation, which fights human trafficking and campaigns for the dignity, protection and freedom of human beings. In 2016, she participated in the "More To Migraine" campaign, which raises public awareness of the harmful effects of migraines and how to combat them. In 2015 and 2018, it also launched two charity campaigns, in association with the Represent and Stand platforms, to raise funds to help research against Jacobsen syndrome, a genetic disease with biological consequences for the body.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennifer_Morrison
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Dogs
https://herlead.vitalvoices.org
Annpower Leadership Forum
https://www.dressember.org
https://www.moretomigraine.com
© Photo : Andrew H. Walker / VarietyTFF2015 / Getty Images
Tags: Coup de Coeur, Once upon a Time, Dr House, Charity Association, Director, Producer
Adama Toulon is a french organization created in 2012.
You can find all the informations you need here:
adamatoulon.com
To contact us:
World Women Heroes Awards
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Read 'Rocketman' star Taron Egerton's Attitude cover feature in full
The 29-year-old talks Elton, LGBTQ representation, and getting it on with Richard Madden...
This interview was first published in Attitude issue 309, June 2019.
Words: Cliff Joannou
Photography: Damon Baker at ADB Agency
It’s December when I first meet Taron Egerton and, fittingly, we’re at a fund-raiser for the Elton John Aids Foundation, at the opening night gala of the Take That musical, The Band.
Although the Haymarket Theatre in London is brimming with celebrities on the red carpet who usually command the paps’ attention, tonight all the spotlights have swung Taron’s way.
He’s in the middle of filming Rocketman, the biopic based on Elton’s life that’s been seven years in the making since the idea was first announced. (I guess, you could also say more than 70 years in the making of the musician’s extraordinary life.)
There are swarms of eager fans outside the theatre, desperate to get a photo with the pseudo-Elton. Taron obliges a few with a selfie before we’re ushered inside for the evening’s fund-raising auction.
“I love Attitude magazine. We absolutely have to do it,” he says as we wander into the theatre after I invite him to be featured in the magazine. Why thank you, Mr Egerton. We’re thrilled to have you.
True to Taron’s word, we meet again two months later for his Attitude cover shoot — his first interview with gay media as the studio prepares to go full throttle on Rocketman’s publicity.
The success of Bohemian Rhapsody — the highest-grossing music biopic ever — has added to the pressure for the film to be a hit. Similar to casting the lead role of the Freddie Mercury film, it took time before the mantle of portraying Elton came to rest on Taron’s shoulders.
As with Rami Malek’s performance carrying Rhapsody, Rocketman will to an extent rely on the strength of a lead who doesn’t bring the obvious box office pull of bigger Hollywood names such as Sacha Baron Cohen, Tom Hardy and Justin Timberlake — all of whom had previously been touted for the roles.
The parallels don’t end there. Queen and Elton were managed by John Reid, whose character is featured in both films. Both tell the story of a closeted musical genius who brings a flamboyance to his artistry and proceeds to set the charts alight. It’s sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll as only the 1970s could deliver, before both films fall head first into the choking fear of the arrival of the Aids virus in the following decade.
There’s even a crossover production-wise, with Rocketman director Dexter Fletcher serving as executive producer before taking over the reins of Bohemian Rhapsody from controversy-hit director Bryan Singer.
Factor into the mix Rhapsody’s awards haul (despite the film leaving critics underwhelmed, Metacritic rates the film with an average score of 49 out of 100), and the expectation for Rocketman to satisfy couldn’t be greater.
“I felt quite intimated by it because Rami has been so lauded,” admits Taron when I ask if he’d seen Malek’s Oscar-winning role. “I just didn’t need that in my head when I was making Rocketman.”
These surface comparisons are where Bo-Rhap and Rocketman diverge. The Queen film adopts a (somewhat loose and condensed) chronological approach to its narrative, with the songs either performed in recording studios or on stage.
Rocketman takes a different approach.
“The movie starts with Elton going into rehab,” Taron explains of his film’s non-linear narrative structure.
“He is feeling emotional to confront his life, to find out why he is in this place and what brought him to that point. He must have been 42, or something. So what he does is he recounts his life from there and we use his songs to tell particular parts of his story.
“Some of the songs are actually performed on stage as if they were concerts or gigs, but some of them are just done really intimately and privately and they are just little performance pieces like in a musical,” adds 29-year-old Taron, who appeared in Testament of Youth in 2014 — playing gay again — before shooting to stardom in the Kingsman films.
While Rhapsody sought to recreate Freddie’s iconic performances as realistically as possible, Elton’s music takes on a more fantastical format. We’d expect nothing less flamboyant of his story, really.
In one scene of preview footage screened to media in March, the crowd at Elton’s famous Troubadour gig in LA is seen literally rising off the floor as Taron/Elton plays the piano while also floating above the stage, still striking the keys to Crocodile Rock (which became Elton’s first US chart-topper, in 1973).
“There are a few quite trippy bits in it, it’s non-naturalistic,” says Taron. “And there is an element of him not wanting to convey it completely accurately. There is only so much I can reveal but I wouldn’t say he is always the most reliable narrator!”
It makes sense that a man in treatment and in the process of detox after years of substance abuse, while also living with the weight of a closeted public profile, would be portrayed with a somewhat “distorted” view of his past.
Tangled into that already complex mix of emotions is a tempestuous relationship with his manager John Reid.
“We shot scenes where I am hoofing up glucose, used for coke. We shot a very grown-up film,” Taron attests.
With shooting wrapped, he’s accepted that the film’s fate is now in the hands of studio execs with more commercial tastes who might step in to clean up a film that delves deep into its subject’s darkness.
“You don’t know what is going to happen in the edit but the movie we shot is one that I felt really good about, and proud of, and I hope the cut reflects that.”
If one thing is clear for Taron, it’s that this film is an interpretation of Elton’s experience, a retelling by other people of the musician’s version of events. Taron stayed with Elton last summer, ahead of filming, during which time he delved into the singer’s personal life in the best way possible — by asking everything he needed to know to do the role justice. He had all sorts of questions, from the obvious to the intimate: discovering what music inspired Elton in his early days, details about the wild partying, and even about his sex life.
Taron said he began to paint a picture of a young man who seemed unready for the degree of fame that was about to hit him.
“I think he was quite naive in a lot of ways, between the ages of 18 and 23, and quite innocent and shy in some ways, too. I reckon his confidence grew with his success.”
As well as Elton’s unrestricted insight, Taron also had access to the singer’s diaries. “He is not gushy in them,” he says of the memoirs. “What is more striking is that when you sit and talk to him, certainly my experience of him, is that he is very open.
“Maybe that is a recovery thing, an Alcoholics Anonymous thing, that emotional availability and that willingness to discuss stuff that is quite dark and private. He really let me in.”
In the short time they have known each other, they have become close friends. After all, it must take a lot of faith to entrust a virtual stranger to tell your story to the world.
“I think he knows that comes with quite a lot of pressure so he has taken it upon himself to look after me a little bit. He calls a lot and has become a big part of my life, and I am very grateful for that.”
One of the biggest surprises for Taron was how isolating Elton’s life with drugs became. “When you think about cocaine, you think about partying and other people,” he explains. “But the thing that struck me as frightening is that Elton’s life became really dark, it was about isolation and interacting with the drug alone.”
Taron is hesitant to divulge specific details, partly because that is for cinema-goers to experience but also because it’s Elton’s story to tell when he releases his autobiography later this year. “He had such a relationship with cocaine where he had a total disregard for his well-being when he was in the throes of it.
“He would do real damage to himself, then carry on. It became all-consuming.”
It’s not as if the issues around the hedonistic combination of sex and drugs, muddled with a fractured identity, is foreign to gay men. The issues at the heart of chemsex have been discussed endlessly, its triggers often rooted in how we, as LGBTQ people, spend a large part of our lives hiding our identity from friends and family.
All the equality legislation in the world doesn’t mean anything when society still believes it’s OK to debate on national television whether it’s “right” for young people to be “exposed to LGBTQ lifestyles” in school. (Thank you Parkfield School protestors, Andrea Leadsom and the like).
“I know he is someone who hasn’t always felt entirely comfortable in his skin,whether that’s about his sexuality or that he didn’t feel particularly sexy in some ways,” says Taron.
“I think drink and drugs can make you feel good in a way that is slightly false but in the immediacy can make it feel better.”
Elton, who turned 72 earlier this year, grew up in a drastically different era where being outed could end a person’s career whether they were a world-famous pop star or a primary school teacher, and he found himself at the centre of a damaging spiral of substance abuse, the main cause of which was rooted in how disjointed he was in his identity.
The conflict in Elton’s sexuality is exemplified by one of the film’s most poignant moments, featuring 'Someone Saved My Life Tonight', the song released in 1975 and which revolves around Linda Woodrow, the first female love of his life.
“That song is about him having this crisis of who he was and this cry for help,” says Taron. “He stuck his head in the oven. I am pretty sure that his sexuality and the figuring out of who he was, was tied into that.
“And he knew that he couldn’t marry this woman and that it wasn’t right for him because he wasn’t [sexually] attracted to her.”
Renate Blauel was Elton’s second major “love affair” with a woman. What surprised Taron most about the situation was how committed they were to each other.
“He loved her, he just didn’t want to have sex with her. I think they were two people who connected. He just didn’t have the right equipment. It’s not how he is wired.
“There are different types of love, aren’t there? I think he really, really fucking cared about her, but he is just fundamentally not attracted to women.”
It’s fair to say Elton surprised the world when he married Renate in February 1984.
“I don’t need to tell the editor of Attitude the world in the late Eighties was a hellish place to be for the gay community,” Taron says, acknowledging the shadow of the Aids crisis that affected almost every gay man’s view of intimacy at the time, and even the younger generations that followed.
“The fear of becoming ill, the loss of [friends], the vilification and blaming of the community for it.
“Elton came out then married a woman, which is a such a mad thing to get your head around. I can only imagine that was because he felt there was safety from these perceived dangers in what was a more socially acceptable relationship.”
Born in Birkenhead, on Merseyside, Taron’s early years were unsettled because his family moved to the Wirral peninsula, then Llanfairpwllgwyngyll on the Welsh island of Anglesey, before settling in Aberystwyth.
Like Elton, Taron (a variation of taran, a Welsh word meaning thunder) came from a working-class background in which his theatricality was at odds with his surroundings
His interest in drama school and performing musicals in youth theatre were not quite what other lads his age were doing.
His talent and dedication would deliver an early pay-off. It was a steep rise to fame for Taron from his humble roots, stepping out of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 2012 and straight into a run of major film roles.
Within two years Taron was cast as Gary “Eggsy” Unwin, a car-stealing chav who is taken under the wing of secret spies in the well-received Kingsman: The Secret Service, a Bondesque action-comedy for millennials, loaded with extreme fight scenes and snappy dialogue.
His next lead role was in Eddie the Eagle, playing the British ski-jumper who won the world’s heart at the 1988 Winter Olympics for his face-palm-inducing antics, which saw Taron work with Dexter Fletcher.
Ironically, in his next film, Sing, voicing gorilla Johnny, Taron belted out Elton’s 1983 classic 'I’m Still Standing', almost prophetically sealing the deal for him to play the man himself before he was to even meet Elton on the set of action sequel Kingsman: The Golden Circle. The director of that film, Matthew Vaughn, is even a producer on Rocketman. The synergy was almost too perfect.
It’s fair to say that Taron is feeling energised as the Elton biopic’s opening night edges closer. It’s a game-changing role, much in the same way Bodyguard recently propelled his co-star Richard Madden into the Hollywood A-list.
Taron’s in great shape and happy to get his guns out for the gays. We skip through his cover shoot effortlessly as photographer Damon Baker fires off the shots and Taron nails every look. He throws himself into picking the clothes that he knows he’ll be comfortable wearing.
We keep it simple, after all he’s just spent the best part of the past year submerged in Elton John’s wardrobe. “Oh, and no pianos, we’ve done that,” he says when we suggest some shots next to the baby grand that’s sitting in the corner, waiting eagerly for its close-up.
Fair enough, we guess he’s seen his fair share of them as well.
On the subject of Elton’s instrument, Taron took piano lessons so that he didn’t come across looking as if he had no idea what he was doing during those key scenes.
“It’s fucking hard. Mainly it was about me trying to get comfortable enough with it, so it looks like I’m doing it,” he explains. The songs, however, whether recorded in the studio or performed live on set, are sung by Taron. He might have needed a “stunt” double for the close-up hand shots, but the voice is all his own.
As we shoot, he’s humming away, and at one stage seemingly can’t hold himself back any longer and bellows out a verse of I’m Still Standing as he wanders into the dressing room.
We all turn around, impressed with Mr Egerton’s more than capable pipes. “I do all the singing, that is something I can claim,” Taron says, beaming. Anyone would be proud if they carried it off as effortlessly.
“I would love to lie about the piano,” he adds, “but at some point someone will put a piano in front of me and I will look like an idiot. But the singing, I do everything.”
Understandably, that little doubt about the singing in a film centred around one of the greatest music artists in the world — if not the greatest — presented Taron with one of his biggest fears: that people wouldn’t accept his voice on those timeless songs.
“It’s not an impersonation, it’s my take on him, and in some respects I have some anxieties that people might not accept the performance because I do all the singing, they haven’t used Elton’s vocal. Of course, I have tried in some ways to emulate him but a lot of it sounds like me.
“I hope that is exciting and interesting for people, and they aren’t left wishing they could just hear Elton!”
When it came to the music, Elton had one piece of advice for him. “He said: ‘stop trying to sound like me’. He wanted me to create my own take on it, which is nice because it’s sort of freeing.
“I don’t think he was interested in hearing someone do an impression of him, he wanted to hear things recreated.”
Taron cites his favourite songs from the film as 'Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting' and 'Your Song'. From our first-hand glimpse of Taron’s vocal prowess to the advance footage we’ve seen of Rocketman, it’s clear he can carry a tune, and even clearer now why Elton trusted him in the role: not because he can meticulously emulate the musician, but because he can stand his own ground against the legend.
After all, reinvention is something Elton values, understanding it’s the key to longevity, by embracing change and allowing his songs to be sampled or covered by younger artists.
“He released those albums last year, which were compilations of his work, done by Miley Cyrus, Florence Welch and Lady Gaga,” Taron reminds me. “One was a country album, Restoration, and another was more pop-y rock, called Revamp. And if you think about those names, [you realise ] he likes things to be rejuvenated and done differently.”
Taron says the songs that appear in Rocketman are not a chronological guide to Elton’s incredibly expansive catalogue for the simple reason that the right music was selected to best fit the narrative. “That’s part of the fun of it,” the star adds.
“You don’t know what’s coming next.”
Away from the glitz, when the music ends and the camera stops, whether Rocketman succeeds in carrying us away relies on the strength of the story’s emotional pull. Taron confirms that the film doesn’t shy away from representing Elton’s story. “This film is a gay film, it is produced by Elton John and David Furnish,” he says. “There is no world in which this is not going to deal with that.”
Although largely set in the 1970s and 1980s, Taron didn’t have to look far to find examples of people close to him who had struggled to accept their identity. “My best friend from drama school, who I lived with, came out to me. I lived with someone as they came to terms with their sexuality,” he reveals.
“I’ve had someone cry in my arms about the fact that they were so terrified and at a loss at what to do.”
Taron channelled everything he could into capturing the thrill and trepidation that comes with exploring your sexuality for the first time.
“The rawness of that experience, the fear of that experience, but also the joy of the experience of Elton’s first kiss is in our film, I play it as if it’s the most wonderful thing. I don’t treat it any differently than if it was the first time I really fancied someone in my life and the first time I kissed them: it’s electric, it’s exciting, your stomach is doing somersaults. I treat it with the same love, care and affection I would as if it was my first experience of falling for somebody.”
As a straight actor playing a gay man, he just hopes he has done Elton justice. “There is a limit to being able to imagine how terrifying and how alienating that may feel in some ways.”
To this extent, Taron highlights how Elton himself didn’t quite understand the feelings he had towards other men. “Early on, Elton didn’t realise he was gay, he just felt very drawn to other men. He was a virgin until quite late, he wasn’t a particularly sexual person until [then]. I think he felt quite drawn to other men and just thought they were cool characters.”
One of Elton’s earliest relationships with a man was with Dick James, a musician and producer at his record company, although Taron says the film doesn’t touch on this affair. In fairness, Elton’s life story — like Freddie Mercury’s — is one deserving of a The Crown-like Netflix series, rather than a two-hour edit of 70 years of living.
Instead, the film focuses on Elton’s first serious relationship with a man, his manager John Reid, played by Richard Madden.
Which, of course, means getting naked with him. Not a bad pairing for an actor’s first sex scene. “I think it’s very beautiful and something we are quite proud of, the version of the film we shot,” he says, aware that the film still has to be edited.
“I would not have played this character if: one, I wasn’t allowed to show Elton being a nightmare, because he has been; two, if we weren’t able to explore his drink-and-drug addiction because I don’t think you can tell a story without it; and three, if I didn’t think we could make a film that the gay community would watch and feel a sense of ownership over. What right do I have to play Elton John if I am not going to go the same lengths to portray a gay relationship as a gay actor would?”
So, how intimate are the scenes?
Yes, we want to know.
“I felt Richard’s penis,” Taron answers, drawing a wide grin from me. Oh, Taron, you know how to make a boy smile. That’s practically gay catnip.
“I mean I don’t want... the studio will get frightened about me saying,” he laughs, and gestures to his side. “On my leg... we shot a scene where we are both naked on a bed and we are rolling around. I don’t really know how much further we could have gone.”
I’m sure our readers can offer him some helpful suggestions.
“In the script, this is the scene of Elton losing his virginity and we wanted to try to do that justice, and also at that point their relationship hasn’t broken down yet.
“They were falling in love and it’s beautiful because it should be,” he says, the mention of which sounds as if it will have Attitude readers buying extra tickets for further screenings.
“We didn’t want to play like they were a couple who were eventually going to fall apart, we wanted to play it like two guys in their early twenties who are falling in love and who are incredibly sexually attracted to each other, so we both stripped down to nothing and rolled around in a bed together for half a day.”
I clutch my pearls and ask, hesitantly, if Elton offered any advice. “No, no, he didn’t,” Taron smiles. “He kept asking if it was done yet.”
But, for all the titillation that Taron Egerton and Richard Madden can bless us with, it’s certainly no spoiler alert to say Elton and Reid’s relationship ends badly.
“It does get ugly,” Taron says of the much-documented nature of a situation scarred by substance abuse. “There is domestic violence between the characters [on screen].”
If Taron is sure of one thing, it’s that the film works at shining a light on Elton’s darkest moments as well as celebrating his momentous highs. “That’s the thing it says about him: he is a survivor.”
When it comes to sexuality, Taron himself has been the subject of speculation since October when he posted a picture of another guy on Instagram with the simple caption: “Cutie. My boy .”
What followed was a flurry of support for Taron for declaring his sexuality and celebrating his love. The only thing is: he isn’t gay, as he clarified in a Radio Times interview.
“One of the lads was at my London flat and I instagrammed a picture of him, and a million outlets reported I was coming out as gay... I’m not gay but two of my mates came out when I was 15 and it was a joy to support them because, as a group, we are all secure in who we are,” he told the TV magazine.
“I’m certainly not going to stop calling my mates cuties and gorgeous, because they are cuties and they are gorgeous.”
He only felt compelled to clarify the remark because the journalist asked him directly, but at the same time it opened him up to accusations of queer baiting, which he says was far from his intention. All I can judge Taron by is the handful of times we meet, and at every occasion he’s friendly and tactile, bounding with energy.
By his own admission, he’s partial to over-sharing but says he doesn’t feel the need to explain or apologise for it. When we meet for our interview after the shoot, he recalls the awful experience of watching the Take That musical where we first met. He’s not being bitchy, he’s being factual: it is truly dreadful. On Rocketman, he wants to tell me more and has to grit his teeth every time he has to hold details back.
There’s so much in the film that he’s proud of when it comes to its queer representation that he can barely contain the spoilers. I get the impression that Taron is the kind of person who will say what he feels but not with any nasty intention. He’s just honest about feeling things.
This empathy is one of the reasons he found it easy to throw himself into playing Elton John.
It’s perhaps also why he chooses to share with me a story about his teen years, and how he went through a period in which he questioned his sexuality after other people in his school came out.
“When I was 14 or 15, I had a period of thinking I might be gay and I spoke to my mother about it. It was [a time] in my life where I was having anxieties about all sorts of things, panic and fears. I had some therapy and I was latching on to things to be anxious about.”
He continues: “It was part of a period of my life where my mind was figuring things out. You question everything, there are hormones...”
His mother, a single parent, did all the things you would want an understanding mother to do to help. “I think she knew in some ways because I was going through all sorts of other anxieties that I was just in a chaotic ‘looking for things to worry about’ period of my teens.”
These anxieties occupied his mind for about a year before therapy helped him get his head around his angst. “It was about a year where I was worried about everything. I went through a phase of obsessively washing my hands. I just went through a neurotic time.”
Does that still exist in him?
“Somewhere, I think, but that was bordering on OCD, and that isn’t in me any more. I still have a capacity to worry and be anxious about things, but it was crippling then. There were times I didn’t want to leave the house. One of those anxieties was about my sexuality.”
It’s a brave admission for a straight Hollywood leading name, to acknowledge that he has questioned his sexuality. And it’s not all that different to how young people today think about sexual identity as fluid compared with traditional, fixed ideas.
He puts part of that confusion down to a creative side that was at conflict with growing up in a small town in Wales, and being more comfortable in drama class than the traditionally masc activities such as football. The experience helped open his eyes to what his gay friends might have been going through when they were coming out, and the kind of fears they had.
“It was a very real feeling to me and I was very panicked and upset about how I would be perceived. That is not the same as going through it for real but there is some understanding of what it might be like, and I remember that feeling acutely. It was terrifying.
“I am not comparing that to living it for real but I am saying that I guess there is a small kernel of that which I have experienced.”
He also credits his stepfather, who heads a homeless charity, as being a bedrock of liberal, forward-thinking ideas that filtered through to him. “I have never had people in my life who exposed me to any prejudices. People aren’t born prejudicial, you learn it and I never had that. So, it never factored in my thinking.”
It’s impossible to discuss Rocketman and not address the issue that comes up with the casting of a straight male in the role of a complex gay man. Taron’s aware that it’s a tough call, between accepting a dream role and responding to a topic for which there is no simple answer.
“It’s easy for me to sit here as a white heterosexual man and say I should be able to play a part I want, but I completely understand why a gay actor would feel that this is an opportunity for which they would be better suited,” he admits. “The way I feel about it is that Elton asked me to play him in a movie about his life.
“I am proud and privileged to be playing this person who happens to be gay. And I want to live in a world where people are excited about playing people who are different from themselves, and I believe that there is something inclusive and progressive about that.”
It’s a contentious debate. The fact is that currently there isn’t a level playing field and gay actors in Hollywood aren’t getting access to the big roles that straight actors do, which drives gay men to continue closeting themselves. And things are unlikely to change until the major studios start breaking down their prejudices against a gay man’s ability to be cast in the role of a sexually desirable straight man. We are still a long way off seeing a gay actor being cast as James Bond.
As Rocketman nears release — even though he has yet to see a final edit — Taron is confident that the film will deliver.
But even in his own short yet illustrious career there has been the occasional misstep [cough, cough… Robin Hood].
So, what happens when you are half way through a project and you suddenly realise…
“It’s not going to be very good?” he finishes my sentence.
“What you end up doing is convincing yourself that it could still be good, because how the fuck do you get through it otherwise. But you always know,” he says, shrugging off the past.
This time, however, he’s more reassured when it comes to his retelling of Elton’s story. “It wasn’t like that with Rocketman, the opposite thing happened. It felt so good and I had such a good time making it, and I am so optimistic about it that I am paranoid now that I am wrong. But all of my instincts say it’s going to be good.”
From director down it is, he says, one of the finest projects he’s worked on. “Everyone involved worked so fucking hard.
“The story we are telling is such an exciting one, as well as the music we’ve got to tell it with. The movie we shot is R rated, about a very R-rated man. I am at peace with the movie I shot, and that was what I signed up for. I truly hope that that’s what we end up with because that’s what it deserves.”
Rocketman is in UK cinemas now.
Fashion: Joseph Kocharian and Gareth Scourfield
Location: Ham Yard Hotel
'It's taken my family a bit of time' - Yvie Oddly shares her coming out story
Drag Race's newest superstar Yvie Oddly leads Attitude's August issue
Francisco Henriques goes for a skinny dip for Attitude's Summer Pride issue (PICS)
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Federer standing in way of unique Djokovic feat
Novak Djokovic is just one win away from completing a rare milestone in tennis, with Roger Federer out to stop the Serb’s incredible career feat.
Djokovic is again one match from creating history by winning the one ATP Masters 1000 title that eludes him.
And the same nemesis is standing in his way.
It’s a moment in time: Djokovic v Federer for a title.
Djokovic closed in on a maiden Cincinnati trophy with a 6-4 3-6 6-3 victory over Marin Cilic on Saturday.
The Cincinnati tile is the one Masters trophy to so far elude Djokovic. Pic: Getty
He was not at his best in a match that stretched for two hours and 32 minutes but came through on the big points.
Djokovic then watched Roger Federer advance to the final when David Goffin retired with a shoulder injury early in the second set – with the score 7-6 (7-3) 1-1 in favour of the Swiss.
After more than two years since their past meeting in the semi-finals of the 2016 Australian Open, Djokovic and Federer are back for the 18th shared title match of their careers.
Djokovic leads in head-to-head title matches 11-6 and the overall series 23-22.
However, everyone knows who’s favoured in this one with Federer aiming for a 99th career title in his 150th final.
“It would be the greatest challenge in Cincinnati, without a doubt, because he’s been dominating this tournament historically,” Djokovic said.
The Serbian is attempting to become the first player to win all nine ATP Masters 1000 events since the series started in 1990.
“My sixth time, I’ll try to win the title,” he said.
“Obviously, this time I’m hoping I get my hands on the trophy.”
World No.2 Federer has won it an unprecedented seven times – unbeaten in finals.
Federer is aiming to stop Djokovic completing a sweep of Masters titles. Pic: Getty
Three of those wins came over Djokovic, who is 0-5 in Cincinnati deciders.
Federer has won 14 straight matches in Cincinnati and 17 of his past 18 sets.
He’s held 95 consecutive service games while dominating the tournament.
He won it in 2015 but was sidelined the last two years because of injuries.
“It’s great to be back in the finals, against Novak in particular,” Federer said.
“There’s a lot riding on the match. It’s great to refresh a rivalry we’ve had for many years.”
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All posts tagged X-Men
‘Who are you?’
‘Someone like you.’
(Batman Begins)
‘Not all heroes wear masks’ (George Clooney as Batman in Batman and Robin)
Obviously, hundreds of millions of people have seen the superhero movies of the last two decades, bought the related dvds, games, books and merchandise, and many millions of these consumers are also experts and aficionados about every aspect of the films, as well as of the original source superhero comics.
I’ve taken my son to occasional blockbusters at the cinema, but to humour him (and understand half his conversation) I recently watched as many of these superhero films as I could easily get hold of. Originally watching just for pleasure, eventually I found myself making notes and asking questions about the tropes and ideas which recurring in so many of them.
All six modern Spiderman movies are set in New York because that’s where the hero, Peter Parker, lives.
Matt Murdock /Daredevil is born and bred in New York, the emblematic Chrysler building featuring in many of the film’s set-up shots
The Fantastic Four’s headquarters, the Baxter Building, is very obviously in New York
Batman’s ‘Gotham City’ is a noir version of New York and is the setting of all 11 Batman movies, including Batman Forever, in which the face of the Statue of Liberty is blown up by Two Face’s helicopter
Superman’s ‘Metropolis’ is transparently New York, featuring as backdrop to all eight Superman movies, and getting seriously destroyed in 2013’s Man of Steel
The X-Men movies travel adventurously all round the world but almost all of them gravitate back to Professor Xavier’s school for the gifted in Westchester, New York State – indeed the climax of the first X-Men movie is set right at the top of the iconic Statue of Liberty
Days of Future Past conveys its vision of the earth in a world desolated by war by opening in… which American city, do you think?
Iron Man 2 opens with a grand Stark Expo in Flushing, New York, which then becomes the site for a superbattle between Iron Man and a new breed of flying robot warriors
Captain Marvel starts in New York because that’s where the captain – real name Steve Rogers – grew up and, coincidentally, it’s the city the evil baddie, Red Skull, is planning to blow up at the film’s climax
Avengers Assemble builds to a spectacular climax in the streets and skies of New York as an army of aliens does battle with the six Avenger superheroes
If you watch any number of the films it’s impossible not to end up asking, Why are so many superhero movies obsessively set in New York City?
1. Because Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, Julius Schwartz and many of the early and most influential comic-book editors, writers and artists were born and bred in New York City, loved New York and knew it very well. And since their ethos was to create superhero characters who lived in realistic places and had realistic problems, these writers set them in the place they knew best.
2. Both Marvel and DC, publishers of the leading hero comics, were originally based in New York.
3. In terms of population, New York is head and shoulders above all other American cities, with a population of 8+ million more than double its nearest rival, Los Angeles with 3.9m, and then Chicago 2.7m, Houston 2.2m, Philadelphia 1.5m, Phoenix 1.5m, San Antonio 1.4m, San Diego 1.39m, Dallas 1.3m, San Jose 1m. So a threat to New York City is a threat to the biggest population centre in America. New York means big, it means lots.
4. Also, New York is packed with iconic sights and cinematic opportunities:
the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Tower, the Brooklyn Bridge, Grand Central Station, Fifth Avenue, Central Park – New York has lots of iconic locations and sights which we’re all familiar with from countless other movies and TV shows
it has a huge bay and rivers running either side of Manhattan, which allows for the creation of spectacular water effects, things to crash into causing tsunami waves, or for monsters to emerge from
there’s a number of tunnels for car chases to happen in, or for monsters to run along the ceilings of
massive bridges whose cables can be snapped or cars be pushed off
and, of course, New York is home to a lot of very tall buildings, good for Spider-man to sweep through or planes or missiles or monsters to fly between, or General Zod to turn into enormous toppling packs of cards
Think of the massive wave sweeping through the jammed streets of New York in The Day After Tomorrow. Film makers love destroying New York. Other American cities simply don’t have the population density, let alone the iconic buildings or the variety of natural features. They’re just not nearly as much fun to blow up.
San Francisco with a population of only 880,000 isn’t even in the top ten American cities population-wise, but it is a popular second choice because of the visual recognition and the mayhem potential afforded by the San Francisco bridge.
The apes rampage across the bridge in Rise of the Planet of the Apes. It is lifted and bodily transported by Magneto in X-Men: The Last Stand. All those cables to run up and down, to snap and whiplash down onto the roadway, slicing cars and trucks in half!
And a bridge also means things can hang or dangle at their peril over the edge of it. Often these are buses. If you think about it, you need something long to dangle over an edge, like the coach at the end of The Italian Job.
A good choice is a fire engine, which is both long in itself and also has extendable ladders which can unravel right to their limit, with someone hanging off the end, yelling for help, as happens twenty minutes into Fantastic Four (2005).
Maximum points if you use a school bus full of screaming children, as at the climax of Superman: The Movie (1978).
(Screaming schoolkids never go out of fashion. Captain America and the other Avengers have to save a bus full of them at the climax of Avengers Assemble, 2012, and young Clark Kent saves a school bus which goes off the edge of a bridge and is sinking in a river, in 2013’s Man of Steel. Listen to those kids in jeopardy scream!)
Skyscrapers smashed up
In these movies an incredible number of high rise buildings get damaged. They’re blown up, smashed up, hit by spaceships, meteors, flown into by jet planes, punctured by superheroes throwing each other through them, devastated by General Zod’s terraforming machine, and so on.
But there is one particularly stylised way of damaging buildings which recurs again and again. This is where the building is raked along one floor, ripped open along the same storey, as if with a tin opener – by flying debris, girders, missiles, superheroes, silver surfers, giant monsters and so on.
This ‘horizontal rip’ allows the viewer to see into the building and gives a more terrifying sense of the vulnerability and terror of the people one minute working in a humdrum office, the next minute clinging to the walls as shattered glass, office furniture and other people come tumbling out and plunge to the ground hundreds of feet below.
Every time I see these sequences I think of 9/11 – tall buildings hit along one floor, debris and people falling into the streets of New York.
The reference is obvious but still repressed when the two jumbo jets which come close to crashing into each other, but ultimately miss, at the climax of Amazing Spiderman 2 (2014). It is out in the open at the end of 2014’s Man of Steel, and even more so at the start of its sequel, 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, where we are actually with someone inside a skyscraper which is blown up and collapses, spewing that terrible grey cloud of debris over Bruce Wayne running helplessly towards it. It is 9/11 by any other name.
Freud developed the idea of Repetition Compulsion. This is a psychological phenomenon in which a person repeats a traumatic event or its circumstances over and over again, re-enacting the event or putting themselves in situations where the event is likely to happen again, repeating it over and over in an effort to assimilate it.
The obsessiveness with which these superhero movies (as well as the gamut of modern science fiction films) destroy tall buildings, over and over again, and so frequently in New York, seems to me like a compulsive attempt on the part of an entire culture’s collective unconscious to heal the trauma, to repair the wound, of 9/11.
I thought of this all the way through the last half hour of Man of Steel in which the systematic destruction of New York by a Kryptonite ‘world-maker’, and the extraordinarily prolonged fight between Superman and General Zod which destroys countless buildings, vehicles and New York landmarks, has to be seen to be believed.
So many shiny New York skyscrapers, slowly toppling to the ground, so much concrete wreckage and grey ash, so many 9/11s – again and again and again.
Car crashes
In American action movies the narrative expresses its seriousness via car crashes and traffic pile-ups. After the climax of the Blues Brothers back in 1980, with deliberately absurd excess, piled up 100 police cars in the central plaza in Chicago, you’d have thought that car pile-ups would have gotten pretty tired and old, a raddled empty cliché, but no – even though it is a really hoary cliche of these superhero/sci fi movies, they just keep on coming:
Superman II (1980) features an extended destruction of cars and buses by the three criminals from Krypton
the Penguin-guided Batmobile trashes a load of police cars in the awful Batman Returns (1992)
the multi-police car chase in Batman Begins (2005)
the Times Square power outage in The Amazing Spiderman 2 (2012) in which scores of police cars, buses and so on crash into each other
the multi-car pile-up caused by The Thing in the first Fantastic Four movie
the host of police cars which congregate on the White House in X-Men: Days of Future Past only to be shredded and blown up by the superguns of the flying robot Sentinels
the impressive slow-mo action car chase at the start of Deadpool with plenty of big black vans (a very popular type of vehicle in blockbuster chases and crashes) cartwheeling and shattering along the freeway
the high speed chase after an armoured truck carrying Commissioner Gordon in The Dark Knight
the climax of The Incredible Hulk (2008) in which the Hulk and the Abomination fight it out mainly by throwing cars and buses at each other in the streets of Harlem
the spectacular blowing up of a car park full of vehicles by flying assassin robots in Iron Man 2
there’s a car pile-up in a tunnel in the first half of Avengers Assemble but that’s nothing compared to the amount of cars, buses and police cars blown up in the climactic battle in New York
It’s as if American film-makers just can’t conceive of damage, can’t really take the idea of damage seriously, unless it’s expressed through a multi-vehicle pile-up. It’s as if the movies, lacking scale and power from the actors alone, have to call in energy from other sources – from destroying things – and from destroying the thing which is closest to most Americans’ hearts and imaginations – their cars.
Apparently, there are some 270 million vehicles licensed in the USA (trucks, buses, cars, motorbikes), making it top of the world league table for motor vehicles per capita, with 910 vehicles per 1,000 people.
America is the most carred nation in the world.
List of countries by vehicles per capita
Put it this way: although there are plenty of scenes of pedestrians fleeing from carnage and explosions, nothing really says TROUBLE like a whole load of New York cars, taxis and buses all piling into each other, whether because of Godzilla, the Sandman, the Silver Surfer, Electro or General Zod.
The impotence of the police and army
The smashing-up of police cars is closely related to another familiar trope – the notion that the police and/or army are completely ineffective.
How many times have we seen the cops turn up in scores of cop cars, lights flashing, sirens blaring, and some dope with a loudhailer thinks they can stop whichever radioactive mutant superbeing is the star of this particular flic, by a) asking him to and then b) firing off their puny handguns.
Sure enough, they then fire hundreds of bullets from pistols and machine guns against the baddie(s) with no effect at all. For example, when scores of cops armed to the teeth are easily beaten by the teenage X-Men in X-Men First Class, or when a small army of New York cops unleash a storm of bullets at Electro, in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, with zero effect. Or:
the 14 police cars and trucks and scores of armed cops which are no use at all against Magneto in the first X-Men film
the street full of cop cars and the swarm of SWAT men who rampage into the church in Daredevil and – completely fail to capture Daredevil
the swarm of SWAT men who rampage into the building housing the drug dealers in Batman Begins and completely fail to capture anyone
neither the American SWAT team in Chicago nor the Chinese SWAT team in Hong Kong can prevent Batman doing just what he wants in The Dark Knight
in The Dark Knight Rises the entire police force and all the SWAT teams of Gotham City are tricked underground and trapped there… for three months!
in all three big action sequences in The Incredible Hulk the army – starting with machine guns, then mounted guns, then helicopter gunships, then a secret sonic weapon – completely fail to quell the green beast
as soon as you see fighter jets, helicopters and marines going in against the rogue Kryptonians in Man of Steel, you know they are going to be annihilated
SWAT stands for Special Weapons And Tactics team.
In the United States, SWAT teams are equipped with specialized firearms including submachine guns, assault rifles, breaching shotguns, sniper rifles, riot control agents, and stun grenades, plus specialized equipment including heavy body armor, ballistic shields, entry tools, armored vehicles, night vision devices, and motion detectors.
It’s a long way from Dixon of Dock Green, isn’t it? For decades, now, U.S. TV and film makers have been depicting urban America as a war zone.
And yet, in all these superhero movies, whenever you see a whole host of SWAT men in their black uniforms, wearing bullet proof helmets with glaring head-lamps, holding their automatic rifles to their faces, crashing into some building – it is absolutely guaranteed that they are going to be massacred or humiliated by the superhero or supervillain.
In film after film the conventional police, SWAT teams and even the army are shown to be impotent and dumb. They never get their man.
Cumulatively, this begins to have quite an undermining effect on the viewer, and begins to bleed into your perception of the highly armed American police, special forces and SWAT teams you see so often on the news. Are they really this gormless? Really this useless? Nothing we learned about the American presence in Iraq contradicts this impression.
American violence
Which brings us to the whole issue of violence, the central theme of all superhero movies. Fighting.
To the grown-up viewer is liable to notice about these scenes is the extraordinary level of everyday violence in the contemporary American imaginative universe, and how it feeds off the actual violence of everyday American life.
25 years ago I remember then-president Bill Clinton pointing out that America is a far more violent country than most Americans themselves realise. These films depict the way that that everyday violence seems to have fed down into the most basic relationships in society.
Even within the close-knit groups of ‘friends’ or comrades, even within the Fantastic Four or among the X-Men or between Peter Parker and his best friend Harry, there seems to be an endless tendency to argue, arguments which swiftly escalate to bristling standoffs, then fisticuffs, and then the guns.
American rudeness and incivility
Americans, as depicted in these movies, just can’t be civil, polite or restrained to each other.
All the little acts of politeness, the ps and qs, the common courtesies of life, have, in these films, disappeared from American life. Instead, young Americans, in thrall to a debased idea of slangy, ‘cool’, ‘street’ style, seem to operate in a mood of permanent anger, becoming furious at the smallest slight, and then resorting to extreme violence within seconds of being triggered.
Watching the inarticulate violence of many of the young people in these movies, the quickness with which they resort to bullying confrontations – at Peter Parker’s high school, or between the quick-tempered younger generation of mutants in the X-Men films – watching the way the ability to be calm and polite and well-mannered and to turn the other cheek has utterly disappeared from this culture; the way noone is capable of irony and nonchalance but immediately, upon the slightest disagreement, resorts to red-hot anger, to fists or, if they’re available, knives or guns – is terrifying.
Vide the first scene of X-Men: Apocalypse where some high school jock decides to flatten Scott/Cyclops for allegedly winking at his girl. I wonder if American high schools really are this unpleasantly confrontational and violent.
Nobody seems able to say ‘come off it guys, let’s go and play football’, or to make a joke to defuse the confrontation. Instead, square-jawed, buff, young Yanks seem to be constantly squaring up to each other while some skinny model is pulling the bully’s arm, wailing ‘Don’t do it, Brad.’
And rudeness is portrayed as prevalent at every level of American life. When Bruce Wayne in The Dark Knight Rises rudely tells the hundreds of upper-crust guests he’s invited to a glamorous ball to shove off, it is, admittedly, for a purpose (to save their lives, since bad guys have infiltrated the party and are threatening to blow it up) – but is done with the core incivility and lack of style which characterises every character in all these movies.
Almost the only person who is genuinely polite or considerate is Clark Kent and he is universally regarded as a harmless bumbling buffoon, whether played by Christoper Reeve in 1978 or Henry Cavill in 2013.
#everydayrudeness
Screen violence
The scale of the fighting is quite staggering. I started watching these movies with my wife but she gave up along the way because she just couldn’t stomach the non-stop, stomach-churning super-violence.
If you desensitise yourself to the endless physical assaults, then it’s possible to be impressed at the skill and imagination of the fight choreographers for coming up with so any variations on what are, essentially, a small number of tropes.
My favourite is where one character seizes another by the neck and lifts them clean off the ground, generally as an interrogation technique. For example, when one of the Kryptonite baddies lifts Clark Kent’s mom simply with one hand round her throat, in Man of Steel. The camera always pans down the victim’s body to show their feet lifted clear off the ground. Wow! Ain’t he strong!
In the more advanced form, the seizer then throws the seizee right across the room, with the roughneck violence characteristic of all these films. If they’re a superbaddy, they throw the victim clear through the nearest wall.
In Man of Steel, Clark Kent’s hometown of Smallville is more or less obliterated in his epic fight with the bad Kryptonites, and I lost count of the number of walls Superman throws them through or they throw him through, at supersonic speed.
Violence as sick humour
As the past two decades have progressed, the violence of these films has become more cruel and cynical.
When I saw the opening of The Dark Knight in the cinema I was disgusted by the nihilistic cynicism of the opening ‘joke’, namely that the gang of a dozen crooks who break into a bank have instructions to shoot dead each of their colleagues once he’s done his job. Bang bang bang, people are just shot dead at point blank range. In the olden days they’d have been tied up or knocked out. Now American crims just shoot anyone who gets in their way. And the script makes wisecracks about it. Ha ha ha.
Later, the Joker does a magic trick when he’s intimidating a roomful of crime lords. He blu-tacks a pencil to make it sticking upright on a table, and says his magic trick will be to make the pencil disappear. A thuggish goon comes up to threaten him, and the Joker in one swift movement, grabs the man’s head and baps it down into the table, the pencil entering the baddy’s eyeball and into his brain – so that when the Joker lifts the dead goon’s head and pushes his body away to collapse onto the floor, the pencil goes with it. He has made it disapear. Ta-dah! Funny, eh?
The first two Christopher Nolan Batman movies contain, I think, the most sickening violence of all the movies listed below. They don’t just ‘glamorise’ violence, they glamorise a particular type of sick, twisted, black humorous attitude towards violence.
Aware of the climate of sick, amoral, super-violence which these movies promote and revel in, it comes as no surprise to outsiders like us to read about incidents like this:
On July 20, 2012, during a midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises at the Century 16 cinema in Aurora, Colorado, a gunman wearing a gas mask opened fire inside the theater, killing 12 people and injuring 58 others. Police responding to the shooting apprehended a suspect later identified as 24-year-old James Eagan Holmes shortly after arriving on the scene. Initial reports stated that Holmes identified himself as ‘the Joker’ at the time of his arrest. (Wikipedia)
Does the continual, full-spectrum broadcasting of sick super-violence influence the epidemic of mass shootings in America which just seems to be getting worse and worse – or does it just accurately reflect a culture awash with guns which has completely lost all moral bearings?
2017 Las Vegas, Sunday, October 1, when one gunman killed 58 people dead and injured 851
A few seconds’ searching on the internet quickly tells you that:
a 2015 report by The Economist magazine found that gun violence in PG-13 movies had tripled since 1985
there’s a Hollywood room at the National Rifle Association museum where guns used by stars like Clint Eastwood and Sly Stallone are on display
if you’re in the gun-selling business, the best way to make a gun a best-seller is to pay to have it showcased in a big Hollywood movie
Gun crime, gun murder, gun massacres, are a big and pressing problem (for America) but whether there’s any causality between hyper-violent, super-cynical, mass murder in movies and in ‘real life’, or it’s just a coincidental correlation, as defenders of the films claim – either way, it’s not a healthy culture, is it?
School shootings in 2018 so far
Kill all opposition
Admittedly, a small handful of characters preach what you could call ‘humanistic’ or even Christian values – like listening to each other, talking over problems, jaw-jaw is better than war-war or even, in wild moments, the notion of forgiving each other and moving on.
But these are momentary blips in a great ocean of violence. Instant anger between anyone who disagrees about anything quickly escalates to standoffs, insults, then punches, then knives, guns and – these days – Uzi machine guns. The extended ten-minute Uzi shootout with Yakuza mobsters in The Wolverine can stand as emblematic of a world of super-armed hyper-violence.
But the extraordinary level of armed violence is just a symptom, or surface symbol, of the deep structure of all these films, namely:
There is a good guy. There are one or more bad guys. The good guy can try to talk to the bad guy for a while, or have sarcastic wisecracking dialogue with him. There will be encounters of growing menace and threat. But sooner or later all this chat and phoney politeness can lead to only one thing – an intense fight, which itself can only end with the death and eradication of the antagonist.
Ultimately, you cannot talk to the enemy – all talk proves to be pointless – ultimately, all you can do is exterminate the enemy.
‘There’s only one way this ends, Cal – either you die or I do.’ (General Zod in Man of Steel)
From school corridors to outer space, these multi-million dollar blockbuster movies promote the same lesson again and again and again – that talking is a waste of time, reasoned argument is waste of breath, that the only solution to even a mild conflict of opinion, is obliterating your enemy. Shoot them. Kill them all.
In these movies American high schools all look the same and appear to be populated by either stunning models or tough-guy bullies.
The rudeness, roughness, the bullying and intimidation, the lateness and sloppiness and disrespect for the teachers which is universal in these films paint a dismal picture of America’s education system.
The bullying of nerdy outsider Peter Parker goes a long way to conveying to the detached viewer a culture of bullying and outsiderness which appears to be the seedbed for all the high school shootings that have become such a regular feature of American schools.
The movies depict a teen culture which is completely homogenous, in which everyone is a jock or a babe, drives cars, hangs out, strives to be ‘cool’ – and strongly convey that not to be part of this stiflingly conformist culture is to be lost.
The films convey such a stiflingly conformist ‘cool’ culture of jocks and babes, it comes as no surprise to learn that the real-life high school shootings are almost always carried out by the loners, the outsiders, the stiffs who are rejected and mocked by the bullying, laughing world of ‘insiders’, the good looking handsome jocks and babes.
They may also just be deranged, with a history of mental problems, like Nikolas Cruz:
Stoneman Douglas High School shooting
But whatever the causation, you’d have thought a culture which produces billion-dollar entertainments glamorising epic violence and psychotic mass killers might pause and reflect on the fact that its products are produced and consumed in a culture characterised – like no other culture in the world – by mass killings by psychotic killers.
In fact schools feature heavily in many of these films. The X-Men plots rotate around Charles Xavier’s school for the gifted (i.e. mutants). All six Spider-Man movies rotate around the tiresome high school which Peter Parker attends.
As settings, schools have the advantage that:
They relate directly to the films’ target audience – teens or those mentally in their teens
They’re an excuse for lots of characters to live, work and face jeopardy in the same space
There’s no need for the workaday world of jobs, work, parenting or any of the responsibilities that tie down real people and would get in the way of a lot of plot- all accommodation and food is taken care of, there’s no commuting, no babies crying etc, just teenagers running round screaming ‘We have to save him’ or ‘We have to find them’
Scenes of supernatural fighting in these schools inevitably bring to mind the eight Harry Potter movies (2001 to 2011) which take advantage of many of the same features:
a teen audience
a confined space with lots of dramatic potential
no adult responsibilities
Adults pretending to be young and models pretending to be ordinary people
On the subject of depicting school children –
I found the two Amazing Spiderman movies insufferable because of Andrew Garfield’s stuttering, inarticulate portrayal of the central character. When he has dinner at his girlfriend’s house, he picks a fight with the parents; when he argues with his aunt in Amazing Spider-Man 2 I think it’s intended to be funny but his character comes over as inarticulate, rude and ill-mannered. He comes over as a graceless dick.
But I found a more profound problem with the films was the glaring discrepancy between the ages of the actors and the ages of the characters they’re meant to be playing.
In both Amazing Spiderman movies Parker has the same love interest, Gwen Stacy, played by actress Emma Stone. In AS1 both Parker and Stacy are meant to be 17 years old. In fact, the actress who played her, Emma Stone, was 23 and Garfield was 28. In AS2 they are both meant to be graduating from high school aged just 18, but were in fact 25 and 30, respectively.
It’s not just implausible but… a touch creepy, watching grown adults play children.
The same problem afflicts Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017). In this version Peter Parker is meant to be even younger (15) but the actor playing him was 20. Worse, Parker’s love interest, Liz, is played by Laura Harrier, who was 27.
27 playing 15?
Not only that, but Harrier is a model who has done a fair share of ‘glamour’ modeling i.e. wearing only her underwear or less. She has the lean, muscular body of a young woman, not a girl of 15. Maybe I’m being way too serious, too much the middle-aged dad of a teenage daughter myself, but I find it creepy that a woman who’s nearly 30 years old and has modeled half-nude, is cast as a 15-year-old in a wildly popular teen movie.
Laura Harrier on Google Images
Do 15 year-old girls need to feel under any more pressure than they already do to conform to soft-porn, adult fantasies of what women should look like – impossibly skinny, half-dressed, thrusting boobs, pouting towards the male viewer? Is this helping or making things worse?
You have to trust me
In almost every movie there comes a moment where one character asks another to trust them. In the audience we’re all screaming ‘Just tell him what goddamm happened,’ but that’s not the point. They never explain. They’re always in too much of a hurry, the cops are coming, the bad guys are only seconds away. ‘You have to trust me.’
As a trope it maximises tension. Instead of non-stop chasing, it creates a kind of crux or tipping point, it creates a mini-climax. And in terms of character ‘development’, often it’s two characters who haven’t got on very well, now being forced to bond.
If movies are designed to serve up thrills and spills, this is a classic moment of tension and suspense. That said, I can’t think of a single occasion when the character didn’t trust the one asking.
The Gambler to Wolverine: ‘You need to trust me. We have to go.’ (X-Men Origins: Wolverine, 1:34:20)
Quicksilver to Wolverine: ‘How do I know I can trust you?’ (X-Men: The Days of Future Past, 0:38:40)
Magneto to his wife: ‘I trusted you then. I need you to trust me now.’ (X-Men: Apocalypse 0:29:50)
Tony Stark to James Rhodes: ‘You got to trust me. Contrary to popular belief, I know exactly what I’m doing.’ (Iron Man 2 0:44:00)
‘Trust’ or lack of, is the central issue coming between George Clooney’s Batman and his new sidekick Robin, in 1997’s Batman and Robin, repeated in almost all the dialogue between them.
Rogue government agencies
In how many of these kinds of movies does it turn out that there’s a secret government agency carrying out illegal experiments or a top secret scientific programme, generally to build the ultimate weapon?
The X-Files TV series was based on the idea that the government was concealing its knowledge of alien activity and – and this is the point – was prepared to go to any lengths – which meant murdering anyone – to keep it secret.
The premise of the Jason Bourne movies was that Bourne had volunteered to be turned into the supreme killing machine, a perfect assassination machine, by a top secret government programme, but had then been badly wounded and lost his memory. The entire suite of movies is dominated by the homicidal determination of the agency doing this research (Operation Treadstone) to murder anyone who stands in its way.
The backstory of the X-Men Origins: Wolverine is a classic example of the trope: Wolverine (original name Logan) was experimented on to create a super-human killing machine. In that movie this program progressed to develop an even more violent super-killer, X11, which becomes known as Deadpool.
Rogue corporations
‘Sir, we have a situation.’
(Line used by a flunky to the evil CEO in both Daredevil and Batman Begins)
And if it’s not a rogue government department, it’s a rogue corporation. How many of these are there?
Cyberdyne Systems is the private corporation which devises the technology for the Terminator robots
Oscorp Industries is the multibillion-dollar multinational corporation which develops the technology responsible for Spider-Man and his enemy the Green Goblin
It’s Von Doom Industries headed by the bullish Victor von Doom which transports four scientists to its space station to observe a mysterious power source passing close to earth and which instead gives the Fantastic Four their superpowers, while also mutating von Doom into the imaginatively named Dr Doom.
William Stryker appears in several of the X-Men movies running rogue programmes – In X-Men Origins: Wolverine he runs the ‘Weapon X’ project which embeds Wolverine’s body with the indestructible metal, adamantine, before going on to create an even more lethal human weapon, Weapon XI, who will go on to become known as Deadpool.
In Deadpool the movie, the plot is changed to that the ‘hero’ acquires his superpowers after being subjected to horrific treatments at a private facility run by ‘Ajax’.
X-Men: Days of Future Past is centred on a rogue programme being run by scientist Bolivar Trask at his Trask Corporation to create anti-mutant robots, or ‘sentinels’.
In Logan the Transigen Corporation has bred a cohort of test tube children made from captured mutant DNA with a view to breeding them as weaponised soldiers, supervised by creepy ‘doctor’ Zander Rice.
Corporate-level science is depicted throughout these movies as hi-tech, evil and sadistic.
This trope is taken to a new level when the rogue corporation in question happens to be owned by the very hero of the story.
In Iron Man Stark Industries is taken over behind Tony Stark’s back by evil Jeff Bridges who creates a super-evil robot man.
In Batman Begins Bruce Wayne’s own corporation (the imaginatively titled Wayne Enterprises) is not only taken away from him by the scheming CEO but used to fund his enemies
Broadly speaking, anybody functioning above a high-school romance level of existence – whether they be lawyers, doctors, scientists or businessmen – is portrayed as wicked and corrupt. This makes sense when you reflect that the comics were always targeted at nerdy teenagers.
These movies are crashingly heterosexual, in a number of ways.
1. Romances They involve lots of romances, good, clean, heterosexual romances. Half the narrative of the Spider-Man movies is made up of Peter Parker’s endlessly on-again off-again romance with Mary Jane Watson (in the Toby Maguire trilogy) or Gwen Stacy (in the couple of Amazing Spider-Man films) or Liz (in the MCU reboot). The Wolverine character falls in love with a Canadian teacher in X-Men: Origins but this can’t eclipse the strength of his love for Jean Grey, played by the unreally beautiful Famke Janssen. It is disappointing that Gwyneth Paltrow, playing Tony Stark’s secretary in the Iron Man trilogy, inevitably falls in love with him.
These movies teach that all people are heterosexual and randy, so that any man and woman working closely together will end up ‘falling in love’, or be compelled to notice each other as potential partners / sex objects. Not a good attitude, is it?
2. Marriage The Fantastic Four movies (2004, 2007) are among my favourites because they grasp from the get-go that these films have to be funny to survive (a comedic tone successfully copied in the Iron Man series). Thus the Silver Surfer movie is punctuated by the comedic attempts of the stunningly good-looking Jessica Alba and Ioan Gruffudd to get married, the ceremony continually being interrupted by threats of the end of the world which only they can avert – and we all know how distracting that can be.
3. Models A dismaying number of modern American ‘actors’ – male and female – started their careers as models. I.e. despite all the feminism and political correctness to the contrary, looks looks looks are what count in Hollywood. ‘Acting ability’, second. As a selection from the movies I’ve watched recently.
Jennifer Connelly – model then actress (Hulk)
Nick Nolte – model then actor (Hulk)
Chris O’Donnell – model then actor (Batman Forever)
James Marsden – Versace model then actor (The X-Men)
Kirsten Dunst – model then actress (Spider-Man)
Tom Welling – model then actor (Smallville)
4. Buff The men in these movies are impossibly buff and toned. As the X-Men films progress, Logan – played by Hugh Jackman – goes from being fit and hunky to superhumanly muscular and ripped. Any other male character who gets his top off similarly displays an awesomely defined set of musculature (e.g. Christ Evans who spends half the Fantastic Four films topless in order to showcase his awesome six pack). Even supposedly 15-year-old Peter Parker in Spider-Man: The Homecoming pulls his shirt off to reveal an impressively ripped, toned, hyper-muscled, super-athlete body. Henry Cavill gets to be topless early in Man of Steel, revealing a quite awesomely ripped torso.
And then there’s Chris Hemsworth’s Thor:
Chris Hemsworth topless
Bloody hell.
5. Hot The women in these movies are impossibly ‘glamorous’, meaning – young, thin and buxom. A dismaying number of them started their careers as models and many still do modeling gigs i.e. looks looks looks is what counts – the ability to be able to walk and speak at the same time, a lot less important.
Thin, slender women with model good looks and ample busts
Jennifer Garner as Elektra Natchios in Daredevil
Jessica Alba as Sue Storm (Fantastic Four)
Halle Berry as Storm (X-Men)
Famke Janssen as Jean Grey (X-Men)
Mystique played by Rebecca Romijn (X-Men)
Mystique played by Jennifer Lawrence (X-Men)
Marvel women – the originals
Cat-eyed models
There’s a noticeable sub-type of ‘buff’ or ‘hot’, a distinctive ‘look’ which is unusually common in these films. The actors are slightly cat-looking, with eyes far apart and cat-like.
Emma Stone (plays the ‘love interest’ in the Sam Raimi Spider-Man trilogy)
Possibly, it’s more noticeable in the men:
James Marsden (former Versace model, plays Cyclops in the first X-Men trilogy)
Josh Helman (plays bad guy Colonel William Stryker in X-Men: Apocalypse)
It’s a look pioneered by David Keith, who came to fame in 1982’s An Officer and A Gentleman – a square face with a strong jawline and wide apart, narrow, slit-like eyes.
David Keith (plays Daredevil’s father in the movie of the same name)
Of course, not all the actors in all the movies look like this – but enough of them do for it to be a noticeable trend.
And it’s even more obvious in the TV spin-offs. In the same shops where I bought second-hand superhero movies I kept seeing covers of the TV vampire series Angel (1999-2004) which starred the hunky, square-faced, lynx-eyed David Boreanaz.
Or box sets of the popular show Smallville which features model-turned-actor, moody and magnificent Tom Welling.
You don’t have to have model good looks to be a Hollywood star – but it certainly helps.
Feminism and superheroes
In this respect it’s amazing that feminists appear to support and encourage this preposterously unreal world of skinny, busty, youthful models posing as actors. I genuinely don’t understand why this image on the London Underground sparked such a storm of protest:
Beach body ready
for being a degrading, objectifying, sexist and sexualised way of portraying women, which adds to the oppressive culture of body perfection and body shaming which afflicts so many young women (my daughter included)… and yet pretty much the same impossibly thin and airbrushed-to-perfection, sexy body shape as demonstrated by model-turned-actress, former Miss Israel 2004, Gal Gadot playing Wonder Woman in 2017 –
Images of Wonder Woman
was praised by feminists as ’empowering’.
The Guardian praises Wonder Woman
BBC3 on why Wonder Woman is a feminist
Slender model in figure-hugging skimpy clothes is a) degrading b) empowering. Which?
And it’s a little mind-boggling that, in 2018, the Wikipedia articles for all of these superhero movies consistently describe the lead women in them as the ‘love interest’ of the men.
In the deep conception of these films, in their stories and characters, the men are always the focus of the narratives, the centres of strength, integrity and endurance, the only ones with characters worth undergoing crises and development.
The ‘love interests’ only exist as bolt-on extras.
It’s almost surprising that the ‘love interests’ even bother to have names, since their role is mostly to pout and be skinny enough to attract the hero – after a bit of resistance, to give in and kiss him – then to get captured and placed in jeopardy by the super-baddie – and then to be rescued by the hero leading up to the cheesy Happy Ending.
I’ve just watched Thor in which the creators probably thought they were ’empowering’ Natalie Portman’s character by making her a clever scientist who understands long words – but her actual behaviour is a rehash of any 1950s brainless dolly bird.
First, she’s portrayed as a comically useless woman driver who keeps running the hapless Thor over in her camper van. She thinks he’s weird until she catches sight of him topless, flexing his awesome musculature, at which point she is abruptly smitten like a hormonal schoolgirl.
Then, when Thor kisses her hand like a perfect gent, she realises she is in lurv with him, like a bimbo out of Clueless.
And then, when this enormous, tall, ripped gentleman turns out to be a superhero capable of battling a giant fire-shooting metal monster – she succumbs to full-on, helpless hero worship.
Thor was released in 2008. Surely, from a feminist point of view, in its characterisation of the breathless man-worship of the central female character, it might as well have been 1958?
The changing American accent
The American accent seems to have changed during my lifetime i.e. the past 50 years, in terms of sound and speed.
1. More gutteral The sound has become more gutteral and strangulated, making it often difficult to understand what characters are saying. Compare and contrast the full articulation of a British actor like James McAvoy, with the strangulated articulation of someone like Jennifer Lawrence, in the second trilogy of X-Men films. Younger Americans seem to create consonant sounds right at the back of the throat as if they’re swallowing them rather than projecting them outwards. It’s related to a speaking style which was identified as ‘Valley Speak’ back in the 1990s and seems to have spread, at least throughout films.
In this clip listen to the way actress Anne Hathaway moves between fully articulated voice and strangled voice at points like 2:20 (‘Don’t condescend Mr Wayne, you don’t know [and here she begins to strangle the words] a thing about me’) and 2:46 (‘Once you’ve done what you had to [switching to strangled] they’ll never let you do what you want to’).
Is it just the way movie actors and young Americans speak now? To my ear it denotes an attitude of cynicism or nihilism. She strangles her words in order to convey a don’t-give-a-damn attitude. Along with a strong, exaggerated emphasis on the ‘r’ sound, this strangulated style of speaking conveys a ‘who gives a shit’ mindset, perfectly in tune with the prevailing violence and wanton destruction of the films.
2. Fast The other element of American English’s ongoing evolution, is the speed with which young Americans speak. I found it difficult to understand much of what Jennifer Lawrence (27) was saying in the X-Men films, but almost impossible to understand what Jacob Batalon (20) was saying in Spiderman The Homecoming, because he just speaks so fast.
Here are three ‘young’ actors from Spider-Man: The Homecoming trying to express themselves. My point is not about them and the interviewer coming over as idiots – which they do – and more about their manner of speaking: the speed and strangulated articulation seem to be turning American English into a new language in front of our ears.
Surely there are academic studies about the ways young American English is mutating away from its British source.
Movies make a lot of money. In 2017 Hollywood’s domestic turnover was $11.1 billion, with global revenues of $39.9 billion – giving a neat total of $51 billion.
Below is a list of the most high profile superhero movies of the past twenty years, along with budget each one cost to make, and each one’s gross revenue.
Maybe fashion, in its widest sense, taking in every element of popular style, as well as hair styles and cosmetics, is the most far-reaching cultural influence on the world.
But arguably nothing has the same high-profile impact on global culture as American films. And, among films in general, these high-profile ‘blockbuster’ movies surely have the biggest reach of any films, in terms of marketing, hype, merchandising and viewers.
And they teach two fundamental lessons:
worship of an unattainable Body Perfection, for both men and women
worship of the most confrontational hyper-masculinity imaginable, again and again promoting the idea that the only kind of dialogue which men with even slightly differing views can have must consist of hard-ass confrontations swiftly leading to super-violence
Superhero movies mentioned in this review
1978 Superman: The Movie ($300 million gross on a $55 million budget)
1980 Superman II ($190 million gross on a $54 million budget)
1983 Superman III ($80 million gross on a $39 million budget)
1987 Superman IV: The Quest for Peace ($37 million gross / $17 million budget)
1989 Batman ($411 million gross / $35 million budget)
1992 Batman Returns ($267 million / $80 million)
1995 Batman Forever ($336 million / $100 million)
1997 Batman & Robin ($238 / $125 million)
1998 Blade ($131 million / $45 million budget)
1999 The Matrix ($464 million / $63 million)
2000 X-Men ($296 million / $75 million)
2002 Blade II ($155 million / $54 million)
2002 Spider-Man ($821 million / $139 million)
2003 Daredevil ($179 million / $78 million)
2003 X-Men 2 ($407 million / $125 million)
2003 Hulk ($245 million / $147 million)
2003 The Matrix Reloaded ($742 million / $150 million)
2003 The Matrix Revolutions ($427 million / $110 million)
2004 Blade Trinity ($129 million / $65 million)
2004 Fantastic Four ($330 million / $100 million)
2004 Spider-Man 2 ($783 million / $200 million)
2004 Hellboy ($99 million / $66 million)
2005 Batman Begins ($374 million / $150 million)
2006 Superman Returns ($223 million / $223 million)
2006 X-Men: The Last Stand ($459 million / $210 million)
2007 Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer ($290 million / $130 million)
2008 Batman: The Dark Knight ($1 BILLION / $185 million)
2008 Iron Man 1 ($585 million / $140 million)
2008 The Incredible Hulk ($263 million / $150 million)
2009 Watchmen ($185 million / $138 million)
2009 X-Men Origins: Wolverine ($373 million / $150 million)
2011 Thor ($449 million / $150 million)
2011 X-Men: First Class ($353 million / $160 million)
2011 Captain America: The First Avenger ($370 million / $140 million)
2011 Green Lantern ($219 million / $200 million)
2012 The Amazing Spider-Man ($757 million / $230 million)
2012 Batman: The Dark Knight Rises ($1.08 BILLION / $300 million)
2012 Marvel’s The Avengers Assemble ($1.5 BILLION / $220 million)
2013 Iron Man 3 ($1.2 BILLION / $200 million)
2013 Man of Steel ($668 million / $225 million)
2013 Thor: The Dark World ($645 million / $170 million)
2013 The Wolverine ($414 million / $120 million)
2014 The Amazing Spider-Man 2 ($709 million / $293 million)
2014 Captain America: The Winter Soldier ($714 million / $177 million)
2014 Guardians of the Galaxy ($773 million / $232 million)
2014 X-Men: Days of Future Past ($747 million / £205 million)
2015 Ant-Man ($519 million / $142 million)
2015 Avengers: Age of Ultron ($1.4 BILLION / $444 million)
2016 Captain America: Civil War ($1.15 BILLION / $250 million)
2016 Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice ($874 million / $300 million)
2016 Deadpool ($783 million / $58 million)
2016 Doctor Strange ($678 milllion / $165 million)
2016 X-Men: Apocalypse ($544 million / $178 million)
2017 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 ($864 million / $200 million)
2017 Superman: Justice League ($658 million / $300 million)
2017 Spider-Man: Homecoming ($880 million / $175 million)
2017 Thor: Ragnarok ($854 million / $180 million)
2017 Logan ($619 million / $127 million)
2018 Black Panther ($1.334 BILLION / $210 million)
2018 Avengers: Infinity War
by Simon on May 5, 2018 • Permalink
Posted in America, Film
Tagged 9/11, Amazing Spiderman, Andrew Garfield, Anne Hathaway, Batman, Batman Begins, Beach body ready, Bill Clinton, Bolivar Trask, Bruce Wayne, Charles Xavier, Chris Hemsworth, Cyberdyne Systems, Cyclops, Daredevil, David Keith, Days of Future Past, DC, Deadpool, Dr Doom, Electro, Elektra Natchios, Emma Stone, Famke Janssen, Gal Gadot, Gotham City, Green Goblin, Gwen Stacy, Gwyneth Paltrow, Halle Berry, Henry Cavill, Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Ioan Gruffudd, Iron Man, Jack Kirby, Jacob Batalon, James Marsden, James McAvoy, Jason Bourne, Jean Grey, Jeff Bridges, Jennifer Garner, Jennifer Lawrence, Jessica Alba, Julius Schwartz, Laura Harrier, Logan, Magneto, Marvel, Mary Jane Watson, Matt Murdock, Metropolis, Mystique, Natalie Portman, New York, Nikolas Cruz, Operation Treadstone, Oscorp Industries, Patrick Steward, Peter Parker, Professor Xavier, Quicksilver, Rebecca Romijn, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Sam Raimi, San Francisco, Spiderman, Stan Lee, Statue of Liberty, Sue Storm, Superman, Swat, the Abomination, the Baxter Building, The Dark Knight, The Fantastic Four, The Hulk, the Silver Surfer, The Wolverine, the X-Files, Thor, Tony Stark, Transigen Corporation, Trask Corporation, Valley Speak, Von Doom Industries, William Stryker, Wonder Woman, X-Men, Zander Rice
Posted by Simon on May 5, 2018
https://astrofella.wordpress.com/2018/05/05/superhero-movies/
A Brief History of Superheroes by Brian J. Robb (2014)
Robb has previously written biographies of Leonardo DiCaprio, Johnny Depp and Brad Pitt. This volume is one of a series titled ‘A brief guide to [or A history of] …’ which includes guides to Stephen King, ghost-hunting, the Roman Empire, Star Wars and any other topics they thought would sell. Written for a popular audience, then.
No illustrations
At 340 pages, including notes and index, it’s quite a long book, but its most obvious feature is that there are no illustrations, none, nada, zip – which is a big drawback seeing as comic books are a largely visual medium. When it gives descriptions of the early artwork for Superman, or how Batman’s look was refined over time, or the visual makeover of many comic book heroes in the 1960s, the reader is crying out for illustrations to show what he’s talking about. But you have to turn to the internet to do your own research…
So the book is solely prose, made up of thumbnail profiles of the writers, artists and publishers who created comic book superheroes, along with a dense account of how they developed and evolved over time.
Superman 1938
Comic Superhero history starts in May 1938 when Superman made his first appearance in Action Comics #1. In other words, Superman is 80 years old this year, in fact this month!
He was the creation of two schoolfriends from Cleveland, Jerry Siegel (writer) and Joe Shuster (artist). Everything before this date is the pre-history of superhero comics; everything afterwards is the complex unfolding of superhero comic history.
Cultural forebears of superheroes
The prehistory is entertaining because Robb (like many others writing on the subject) feels compelled to give a brisk popular history of the wide-ranging role of ‘the hero’ in myth, legend, history and folklore (the word ‘hero’ is itself of Greek derivation).
Thus a man gifted with magic powers to protect his people can be made to include Moses and Aaron and the Biblical hero Samson. It can include the pantheon of Greek gods and mortal heroes like Heracles, Perseus and Theseus. Robb quotes Joseph Campbell on the importance of ‘the Journey’ in numerous ancient stories about heroes, and references the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Odyssey and the Mahabharata as cultural forebears of Batman and Robin. This is both fun and a little pompous.
Folklore forebears of superheroes
More persuasive is the notion of a lineage from more folklore elements of ‘the hero’ through to the popular fictions of the late 19th century. Robin Hood and Dick Turpin are two prime examples. Robin Hood is not only an epitome of schoolboy morality (stealing from the rich to give to the poor) but he wears an early version of the superhero costume: tights and a distinctive cap, all in bright primary colours (Lincoln green with some red thrown in). Dick Turpin concealed his face behind a neckerchief and a pulled-down hat, and wore a cloak or cape.
Pop culture forebears of superheroes
But in fact, historians have no idea what Robin Hood or Dick Turpin wore. The images I’ve described above derive from movies, and it is Hollywood which is probably the prime factor in the origin of the superhero look.
Superheroes didn’t derive from scholarly study of ancient mythology and folklore: they came out of the extraordinary rich, bubbling swamp of popular and pulp culture of the 1920s. If Jerry and Joe knew about Sherlock Holmes or the Scarlet Pimpernel it wasn’t from reading the books about them (Sherlock had debuted in 1887, the Pimpernel in 1905). It was from paying a few cents to sit in the cheap seats of the local movie house, chomping on popcorn and watching the adventure films of a movie star like Douglas Fairbanks, who starred in a movie about Zorro (created 1919, turned into a movie in 1920), Robin Hood (1922) or the Black Pirate (1926).
In a sense superheroes began in the movies before, in our time, returning to the movies.
Like other historians of the subject, Robb pays special attention to characters with dual identities, a standard feature of most comic book superheroes – the classic example being Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
(Although if you stop and think about it for a moment, a dual identity is a basic element of almost all detective, spy and crime fiction of the kind that was growing more and more popular at the end of the 19th century and start of the 20th. Many thousands of detective stories take their time working up to the grand ‘reveal’ of the ‘true identity’ of the criminal, of the dope dealer or jewel thief or murderer etc caught by Sherlock Holmes or any one of the hundreds of copycat detectives invented in the 1890s and 1900s. (See my review of The Shadows of Sherlock Holmes a collection of stories about fictional detectives inspired by Holmes.) Spy stories, are by their very nature, about people concealing their true task and intentions.
Anyway, Robb’s book becomes really interesting when it gets to the extraordinarily dense jungle of popular culture which flowered in the 1890s and then just got denser and denser in the decades that followed, proliferating in penny dreadfuls, shilling shockers, pulp magazines, newspaper supplements and then in the new format of moving pictures and related magazines and merchandising.
Robb dwells on two Edwardian doers of good deeds who hid their true identity:
the Scarlet Pimpernel (real name Sir Percy Blakeney) who rescues aristocrats from the guillotine, leaving a calling card with a picture of the pimpernel flower
Zorro, who wears a black face mask and cape, protects the poor of California, and leaves a distinctive ‘Z’ carved into various objects with his stylish swordplay
Just as important for a superhero is the fiendish villain, and these were prefigured by – among many – Holmes’s opponent, the ‘Napoleon of crime’, Professor Moriarty, or the diabolical criminal mastermind Fu Manchu (1913).
British hero fiction included John Buchan’s hero Richard Hannay who debuted in 1915, followed by the more thuggish Bulldog Drummond, who appeared in 1920. Lesley Charteris’s crime-fighting hero, the Saint, first appeared in 1928. Biggles the heroic fighter pilot first appeared in 1932. All these heroes were morally unambiguous fighters against Crime and Fiendish Plots.
In America the spread of radio gave rise to a florid variety of heroic fighters against crime: the Shadow, a masked crime-fighting vigilante (1930), the Spider (1933) and Doc Savage (1933), a kind of ‘peak human’, reared to have perfect abilities, who had a base in mid-town Manhattan and a rich armoury of state-of-the-art gadgets, funded by money from a secret Mayan goldmine, to help him fight crime.
In 1936 the Green Hornet, another crime-fighting, masked vigilante was created specially for radio. Also in 1936 appeared The Phantom, who wore a skin-tight bodysuit and a ‘domino’ eye-mask to fight crime.
Off in another part of the rich jungle of popular and pulp culture which exploded around the time of the Great War, was the more unrestrained world of science fiction and fantasy. Important forebears were John Carter of Mars (1912) and Tarzan (1912), both created by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Philip Francis Nowlan’s hero Buck Rogers (1928) and Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Barbarian (1932), soon joined by Alex Raymond’s newspaper strip hero Flash Gordon (1934).
What these numerous figures have in common is that they are modern, pulp versions of ‘the hero’, who always outwit their fiendish opponents after a string of exciting adventures, and that they appear in series or serials: once invented they can appear in almost limitless numbers of adventures (as Conan Doyle, who came to hate his invention, Sherlock Holmes, knew all too well).
By now you might share the feeling I had that the first appearance of Superman in 1938 was maybe not quite the dazzling innovation I thought it was; in fact reading about this proliferation of heroes might make you wonder why it took quite so long to come up with what seems to be the logical conclusion of all these trends.
Robb tells the story of how two teenagers from Cleveland conceived the idea, developed it over many years, were repeatedly rejected by newspapers and comic publishers, and were forced to work on other characters and projects, until finally given their big break in 1938.
I found the two most interesting things about Superman were:
1. His descent not so much from all these detectives and crime fighters, but from the Victorian circus strongman. These popular performers generally wore tights and pants, a figure-hugging suit to highlight their musculature which was strapped in with an impressive belt, and often stylised boots.
A Victorian circus strongman, whose shiny boots, tight pants, utility belt and stylised vest all anticipate the ‘superhero look’
2. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster sold the exclusive rights to their then-new character, Superman to DC (short for Detective Comics) Publishing for just $130 (split between the two of them). Superman was an instant hit and not only went on to generate hundreds of millions of dollars for the publisher and the film company that eventually bought it, but to inspire an entire genre of superhero fiction across all media.
As they watched this happen Siegel and Shuster continued to work as a comic book writer and illustrator, respectively, but made repeated attempts to sue for a share of the vast revenue generated by their invention. In fact their heirs are still locked in litigation with DC’s parent company, Time Warner, to this day.
The development of the comic strip
Robb gives a brief and fascinating recap of how the comic strip itself evolved. As far back as the record stretches, human beings have always told stories. Bas-relief carvings on Greek and Indian temples capture moments from religious or legendary narratives. (Robb doesn’t mention it but I’d have thought the 12 Stations of the Cross which appear in tens of thousands of Catholic churches are an early example of a story told through snapshots of key moments.) He does mention the use of ‘scroll speech’ in medieval and Renaissance art work, where a scroll unfolds from a figure’s mouth, containing their speech (something I’m familiar with from my readings of the British Civil Wars).
17th century Civil War cartoon with speech scroll
Robb says the next step forward was marked by the popular engravings of the 18th century artist William Hogarth, famous for the series of pictures which depict The Rake’s Progress and A Harlot’s Progress. These popular engravings showed the decline of the eponymous rake and harlot with plenty of humorous detail. They gave rise to similar pictorial sequences by Rodolphe Töpfler later in the century, and by the Victorian artist Gustave Doré, among others. Throughout the 19th century Punch in Britain and similar magazines across the Continent used cartoons, often with speech captions, to convey narratives with punch lines.
Capitalist competition creates comics
But all these sometimes dubious historical antecedents are there simply to pave the way for the real start of popular comic books which, as with most things American, came out of ferocious competition to make money.
Starting in 1887 a newspaper war was waged between Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst’s newspaper empires. One among many fronts in this war was the innovation of cartoon strips with catchy titles and populist characters. In 1892 The Little Bears was created by Jimmy Swinnerton for Hearst’s San Francisco Examiner, probably the first cartoon strip anywhere which featured regularly recurring characters.
In 1895 Pulitzer debuted a strip titled The Yellow Kid for his paper The New York World, drawn by Richard Felton Outcault, which pioneered the use of speech text to indicate dialogue. In 1897 the paper added a supplement featuring just Outcault’s strips and expanding it to describe an array of characters from the yellow kid’s neighbourhood – titled McFadden’s Row of Flats – and a new term, ‘comic book’, was invented to describe it.
As a direct response to all this, Hearst’s New York Journal commissioned their own strip, The Katzenjammer Kids, created by Rudolph Dirks. Dirks developed Outcault’s device of speech balloons and invented the ‘thought balloon’, indicated by a series of bubbles leading up to the text balloon itself. The same year saw the first use of colour printing (as the name, The Yellow Kid, indicates).
These kind of narrative cartoons featuring recurring characters proved tremendously popular (nicer, after all, than reading the depressing news) and spread like wildfire to every other newspaper which could find a decent illustrator. By 1912 Hearst was devoting an entire page of the New York Daily Journal to comic strips, a feature which became known as the ‘funny pages’, the ‘funny papers’, or simply ‘the funnies’.
It was quickly realised that the strips which appeared during the week could be repackaged into a bumper weekend supplement. Rather than broadsheet size, it made financial and practical sense to publish them in magazine format, which was easier for readers to handle and read. The comic book was born.
Superhero history
So much for the multi-stranded prehistory of the comic superhero.
The publication of Superman in 1938 transformed the landscape, inventing a whole new genre of superhero. From this point onwards Robb’s book becomes a dense and fascinating account of how numerous newspapers and publishers sought to cash in on the fad by creating their own superheroes. He describes the complicated evolution of the two publishing houses which would eventually become known as Marvel and DC, and reading his book gives you a good sense of the difference between them.
Basically, DC owned Superman (1938) and Batman (1939) who spawned hundreds of imitators but managed to remain ahead of the pack. Through the war years the superheroes performed their patriotic duty with a strong sideline in film noir-style violence against all manner of crime or fantasy baddies.
In the 1950s there was a moral backlash against comics, with a nationwide panic in America that they were one of many influences turning teenagers into ‘juvenile delinquents’. This resulted in 1954 in the establishment of The Comics Code Authority (CCA) which forced comic books to abandon much violence and all references to drugs and sex, tending to replace hard 1940s stories with softer, romance elements.
Marvel began existence in 1939 as ‘Timely Publications’, and by the early 1950s was generally known as Atlas Comics. The Marvel branding began 1961 with a rack of superhero titles created by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and others. Robb describes the period 1961-62 as a kind of annus mirabilis, during which Lee oversaw the creation of The Fantastic Four and their nemesis Dr Doom (November 1961), Ant-Man (January 1962), the Incredible Hulk (May 1962), Spider-Man (August 1962), the Mighty Thor (August 1962), Iron Man (March 1963), the Avengers (September 1963) and the X-men (1963).
Even if you think comic books are rubbish, this is by any measure still an incredible outpouring of creativity, the creation of characters which would go on to have multi-billion dollar futures in popular culture.
Although other artists and writers were involved, Stan Lee is commonly associated with this outburst of imagination and the key element of it seems to have been his conviction that superheroes must be flawed – realistic characters who often struggle with their own superpowers. Thus Spider-Man is deeply confused about how to use his skills, the X-Men bicker amongst themselves, the Fantastic Four are riven by rivalries, and the Hulk considers committing suicide he is so upset by the scientific accident which has turned him into a monster.
It was this troubled psychology which set them completely apart from DC’s untroubled hero Superman and made them feel more contemporary than their older cousins (although, admittedly, DC’s Batman is a much darker creation).
In a second nod to contemporary concerns, Lee’s Marvel creations were nearly all connected to contemporary paranoia about the atom bomb and atomic energy. It is radioactivity which messes up the DNA of almost all these superheroes, a paranoia about the potentially damaging impact of modern science which remains relevant right down to the present day.
It is this more ‘modern’ way of conceiving superhero psychology, as well as the more modern concerns about science, which possibly account for the relative success of the Marvel characters in the movies, and the rather staid, static quality of the DC movies.
The difference between the Superman era and the Fantastic Four era is recognised by comic book historians who have divided the past eighty years into a series of ‘ages’.
The golden age of comic books was from 1938 to about 1950, when waning interest in superheroes was capped by the baleful influence of the Comics Code Authority.
The silver age of comic books is dated from DC Comics’ new character Flash, introduced in Showcase #4 in October 1956. This led up to the Marvel outburst in the early 1960s which spawned a great sprawling cast not only of heroes but of baddies and enemies. This era also another important Marvel innovation, which was introducing one set of heroes into the adventures or ‘universe’ of another set. As the 1960s progressed, the interactions of heroes from different narratives became not only more complex in itself, but led to the notion of parallel worlds in which the various characters might have different superpowers, fight each other and even die.
The bronze age of comic books runs from about 1970 to 1985. The bright, Pop optimism of the 1960s turned into a nitty-gritty concern with social ‘issues’, such as the environment, feminism, racism and drugs, along with more realistic depictions of alcoholism, addiction, urban decay and so on.
Alongside the two giants of Marvel and DC there arose a new wave of independent comic book publishers who took a whole new approach to the superhero genre. This was crystallised in the epoch-making Watchmen, written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons, which set out to deconstruct the entire mythos of superheroes.
Superheroes in movies
Although Robb doesn’t quite make this point, his book ends where it began, with the movies. Not with the distant antecedents of Gilgamesh or Robin Hood, but with the fact that Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster loved the movies and were influenced by what they saw, by the sight of Douglas Fairbanks swashbuckling his way across the screen and that now, we in our time, queue up to watch the Amazing Spiderman, Thor and Iron Man swing across our multiplex 3D screens.
Poster for Douglas Fairbanks in The Mask of Zorro (1920)
Radio Robb’s last few chapters give a bewilderingly dense account of the way superheroes were adapted to other media beyond comic books. Radio was the first, and it’s interesting to learn that radio developed catchphrases, plot lines and even new characters, which hadn’t existed in the original comics but which the comics then co-opted.
Television From the 1950s various television series portrayed superheroes, probably the most memorable being the camp classic Batman of the 1960s.
Animations Movies were slower to adapt superheroes because of the technical challenges of portraying superhero action. It was easier to do this in animations, so there have been scores of animated TV shows and movies about superheroes.
The Modern Age of Superhero Movies starts with Christopher Reeve’s portrayal of Superman in the film of the same name, directed by Richard Donner in 1978. Although the special effects look creaky to the modern eye, they were a quantum step up from all previous attempts and made superhero film-making a real possibility. Three sequels were released, in 1980, 1983 and 1987.
The next benchmark was the pair of Batman movies directed by Tim Burton and starring Michael Keaton. Robb is great on the showbusiness gossip and behind-the-scenes manoeuvring which accompanied these films, for example the way that Keaton, previously known mainly for light comic roles, was widely opposed by comicbook fans, who mounted a campaign to prevent him taking the role. In the event, Burton’s two Batman movies (Batman, 1989 and Batman Returns 1992) were widely seen as a triumph, and made stacks of money ($411 million and $266 million, respectively).
Robb details the ongoing attempts to stage other superhero movies during the 1980s and 90s, which met with mixed success, and a fair share of dazzling flops. Along with most fans he considers the last two Reeve Superman movies (Superman III, 1983 and Superman IV, 1987) and the Val Kilmer and George Clooney Batmen (Batman Forever, 1995, and Batman and Robin, 1997) to be disasters.
The modern age of superhero movies
The Current Age of Superhero Movies was launched with the X-Men directed by Bryan Singer and released in 2000. With an intelligent script, the steadying presence of two top-class British actors (Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen) and state-of-the-art, computer-generated graphics, X-Men inaugurated the modern age.
It cost a lot to make, but it:
a) made a fortune ($296 million)
b) spawned a host of sequels (there are now no fewer than 10 films in the X-Men series)
c) and led to a number of successful television spin-off series
The X-Men movies played an important role in creating the superhero cultural, film and TV universe that we now inhabit.
This is a list of the main superhero movies of the last 18 years, excluding various flops and failures, with an indication of their costs and revenues.
2000 X-Men ($296 million gross on $75 million budget)
2002 Spider-Man ($821 million on $139 million)
2003 Daredevil ($179 million on $78 million)
2003 X-Men 2 ($407 million on $125 million)
2004 Fantastic Four ($330 million on $100 million)
2004 Spider-Man 2 ($783 million on $200 million)
2012 Marvel’s The Avengers ($1.5 BILLION / $220 million)
2018 Ant-Man and the Wasp
2018 Deadpool 2
Quite a few, aren’t there?
The first superhero movie to gross over a billion dollars was Christopher Nolan’s Batman: The Dark Knight, and six other superhero movies have grossed over a billion since then.
The X-Men movies between them have generated $5 billion.
In 2010 Marvel produced the first in a carefully planned sequence of movies designed to maximise revenue from their stable of characters, and which has become known as the Marvel Cinematic Universe or MCU. This is divided into ‘phases’ of six movies each, the first five of each phase devoted to individual Marvel heroes, the sixth bringing the previous five altogether into a grand finale which ties together plotlines from the previous movies.
As I write we are approaching the end of Phase Three, which has just seen the phenomenal success of Black Panther (phase 3, movie 5) which grossed over $1.3 billion, and paved the way for the sixth in this phase, Avengers: Infinity War which has just opened in the States to the usual mass marketing and hype.
Despite having no illustrations at all, Robb’s book is an eminently readable and very enjoyable overview of the entire history of the superhero comic book phenomenon, which puts it in the context of expanding popular culture, twentieth century history, and the evolving media of radio, TV and film – all told in a light, accessible prose style with a sure sense of the interesting anecdote and fascinating fact.
Great fun, and a very useful introduction to a cultural phenomenon which is bigger than ever, and set to dominate our movie and TV screens for the foreseeable future.
A Brief History of Superheroes on Amazon
Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (1986)
Themes and issues in Superhero movies
Posted in America, American literature, Art, Books
Tagged 2014, A Brief History of Superheroes, A Harlot's Progress, Alan Moore, Alex Raymond, Ant-Man, Avengers: Infinity War, Batman, Batman Returns, Biggles, Black Panther, Brian J. Robb, Bryan Singer, Buck Rogers, Christopher Reeve, comic book, Conan the Barbarian, Dave Gibbons, DC Comics, Dick Turpin, Doc Savage, Douglas Fairbanks, Dr Doom, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Flash, Flash Gordon, Fu Manchu, George Clooney, Gustave Doré, heroes, Ian McKellen, Iron Man, Jack Kirby, Jerry Siegel, Jimmy Swinnerton, Joe Shuster, John Buchan, John Carter of Mars, Joseph Campbell, Joseph Pulitzer, Lesley Charteris, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel Comics, Michael Keaton, Patrick Stewart, Philip Francis Nowlan, Professor Moriarty, Punch, Richard Donner, Richard Felton Outcault, Richard Hannay, Robert E. Howard, Robin Hood, Rudolph Dirks, Sherlock Holmes, Sir Percy Blakeney, Spider-Man, Stan Lee, Stations of the Cross, Steve Ditko, superheroes, Superman, Tarzan, the Avengers, the Civil War, The Comics Code Authority, the Epic of Gilgamesh, The Fantastic Four, the Green Hornet, the Incredible Hulk, The Katzenjammer Kids, the Mahabharata, the Mighty Thor, the Odyssey, The Phantom, the Rake's Progress, The Saint, the Scarlet Pimpernel, the Shadow, the Spider, the X-men, The Yellow Kid, Tim Burton, Time Warner, Val Kilmer, Watchmen, William Hogarth, William Randolph Hearst, X-Men, Zorro
https://astrofella.wordpress.com/2018/05/03/superheroes-brian-j-robb/
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Backpacking Batters
Two journalists travelling Latin America in search of cricket stories and trying to avoid bagging a duck
In spite of cricket barely being played at their schools, and their families showing little interest in it either, Timothy Abraham and James Coyne each developed a love for the game during childhood. This coincided with a period of exciting expansion for the game round the world – making it possible for countries like Kenya to not only participate in World Cups, but beat West Indies and Sri Lanka along the way.
By the time Timothy and James had each entered journalism in the mid-2000s, there were more than 100 members of the International Cricket Council, a World Cricket League set up to provide regular competition, and special fast-track measures to tap into new markets in the US and China.
There was a genuine hope that cricket could shed its colonial image, and come to rival football as a truly global game. By now, Timothy was organising tours by his club, Carmel & District CC, to emerging cricketing nations in Europe. Their adventures ranged from contesting the first recorded game in Serbia, being broadcast live on Macedonian state television, and playing a stone’s throw away from a Polish nudist colony.
In 2011, the pair had further opportunity to pursue their passion, when James was appointed assistant editor of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, and they were asked to co-edit one of the book’s annual favourites, Cricket Round the World.
However, in recent years, their enthusiasm has been tested several times over: by shoddy mismanagement in Kenya and the US; the ICC’s unwillingness to join the Olympic movement; and its fateful decision to cut the 2019 World Cup to just ten teams. Much of the Americas remains a mystery to fans and administrators, hidden behind scorecards and media releases – despite the fact that USA v Canada and Uruguay v Argentina predate the Ashes as cricket’s oldest international fixtures.
Timothy and James decided to take it upon themselves to travel through Latin America – from Mexico to Chile – to unearth cricket’s storied history there, taking in war, revolution and mule trips across the Andes. In November 2015, they left their jobs to see cricket’s lost continent for themselves.
Book published in 2020!
Pisco sours in Peru with Plum Warner
Cricket in Middle Earth
Skyscrapers and US air bases
Cricket’s Marathon Man
What a shot on Cricket in Middle Earth
Samir patel on Skyscrapers and US air ba…
gaurav sharma on Cricket’s Marathon Man
Pelham Warner
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Current Drug Metabolism, Volume 6 - Number 5
Effect of Omeprazole on the Hydroxylation of Warfarin Enantiomers in Human: In-Vitro Studies with Liver Microsomes and cDNA-Expressed Cytochrome P450 Isozymes
Q. Zhou, S. Zhou and E. Chan
Cytochrome P450 Enzymes Mechanism Based Inhibitors: Common Sub-Structures and Reactivity
E. Fontana, P. M. Dansette and S. M. Poli
Coupling of Conjugating Enzymes and Efflux Transporters: Impact on Bioavailability and Drug Interactions
E. J. Jeong, X. Liu, X. Jia, J. Chen and M. Hu
CYP1A1 Is a Major Enzyme Responsible for the Metabolism of Granisetron in Human Liver Microsomes
H. Nakamura, N. Ariyoshi, K. Okada, H. Nakasa, K. Nakazawa and M. Kitada
Effect of Some Biologically Interesting Substituted Tetrahydro-1,4- Oxazines on Drug Metabolising Enzymes and on Inflammation
E. A. Rekka, A. P. Kourounakis, N. Avramidis and P. N. Kourounakis
Metabolism and Disposition of the Antiviral Nucleoside Analogue AM365 in the Isolated Perfused Rat Liver
J. Wang, R. L. Nation, A. M. Evans, S. Cox and D. Shackleford
Mechanisms of Male Infertility: Role of Antioxidants
S. A. Sheweita, A. M. Tilmisany and H. Al-Sawaf
Utility of Recombinant Cytochrome P450 Enzymes: A Drug Metabolism Perspective
W. Tang, R. W. Wang and Anthony Y.H. Lu
Michael Sinz
Bristol Myers Squibb
Princeton, NJ
Biography of Michael Sinz
Michael W. Sinz, Ph.D. is Director of Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics at Bristol Myers Squibb where he manages ADmezME lead optimization in drug discovery. Dr. Sinz previously held the position of Section Director-Pharmacokinetics and Drug Metabolism for Parke-Davis/Pfizer. He received B.S. degrees in Chemistry (ACS) and Biology from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and a Ph.D. in Pharmacognosy/Medicinal Chemistry from the University of Minnesota (2001). He is editor in chief of Current Drug Metabolism and associate editor of Drug Metabolism Letters. Dr. Sinz’s resume includes an extensive number of peer reviewed publications, book chapters, and external presentations both locally and internationally.
Current Drug Metabolism was launched in 2000. Dr. Michael Sinz serves as the Editor-in-Chief of the journal.
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Review of will-making rules is long overdue
Solicitors at a Telford law firm have said a proposed review of will-making laws is good news and is long overdue.
Fiona Mainwaring is the wills specialist at Martin-Kaye Solicitors, in Euston Way, and she has welcomed a public consultation by the Law Commission as a positive step towards keeping the rules relevant and effective.
The consultation paper will ask the public about a range of issues around how wills are made and how the law protects will-makers from possible fraud.
“This review is excellent news and it’s a great step forward for the sector as the rules have not been updated for many years,” said Mrs Mainwaring.
“Now the public will get the chance to have their say on how they want the rules to adapt to meet their needs in the 21st Century, and as lawyers dealing with wills on a day-to-day basis, we believe it’s not before time.”
The Law Society says although the basics of how people make wills have essentially stood the test of time, other aspects needed to be urgently updated to reflect modern life. They said the consultation was a chance for solicitors to help shape a new, fit-for-purpose wills law.
Law Society President, Joe Egan, said: “We congratulate the Law Commission on tackling this important law reform task and thank them for the open and constructive way they have been working with our experts. We look forward to working with them as it continues.”
Key issues raised in the consultation paper include:
* Giving the court greater flexibility to uphold wills that don’t meet legal requirements
* Using the Mental Capacity Act test to establish someone’s capacity to write a will
* Reducing the age that someone can make a will from 18 to 16
* The possibility of online or electronic will writing in the future
But Mrs Mainwaring said there were some careful considerations to be made about the way wills may be put together in the future.
“The question of making wills electronically is a brave but inevitable step, but of course the review will need to consider closely how safe electronic wills would be from fraud or unfair influence against vulnerable people.
“We applaud the Law Commission for its refreshing and forward-thinking approach, and we look forward to hearing the results of their research.”
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Tag Archives: chili
Tex-Mex Food – History and Ingredients
Posted on December 11, 2017 by Bill Chance
“your body is not a temple, it’s an amusement park. Enjoy the ride.”
― Anthony Bourdain, Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly
Tex-Mex – Two enchiladas, rice and black beans.
Oblique Strategy: Look closely at the most embarrassing details and amplify them
I don’t eat Tex-Mex food very often. I’ve lived in Texas so long I’m, well… kinda over it. The only time I eat Tex-Mex is when someone is in from out of town. My son is here for the Dallas Marathon this weekend and he wanted some – so we go.
Every neighborhood in Dallas has its own Tex-Mex spot (and its Pho place, and its Barbeque joint, and its greasy burger dive…) and in ours it’s Amigos. I don’t know if Tex-Mex can be called “comfort food” because you can be pretty uncomfortable if you eat too much of it.
One big knock on Tex-Mex is that it isn’t authentic Mexican food. Well, of course it isn’t. Have you ever even been to Mexico? It’s a big, diverse place – there’s no reason that food from the high Sonoran desert would even resemble the seafood from the Yucatan. Mexico’s culinary style and history is more like France’s – very complex and diverse.
Tex-Mex is a regional American cuisine… which happens to be inspired by some of the cooking that came across the Rio Grande.
You can tell you are eating Tex-Mex by the ingredients – stuff that isn’t (or wasn’t) very common in Mexico. These ingredients are: beef, yellow cheese (like cheddar), wheat flour, black beans, canned vegetables (especially tomatoes), and cumin.
Cumin – the main and essential ingredient in Chili Powder – is an interesting example. It’s not a traditional Mexican spice – it’s Indian. Canary Islanders were brought to San Antonio by the Spanish to try to expand the colonization of Texas. The Canary Islanders brought with them a Berber flavor signature — Moroccan food. There was a lot of cumin, garlic and chili, and those flavors, which are really dominant in chili con carne, became the flavor signature of Tex-Mex. It’s very different from Mexican food. Food Critic Diana Kennedy is prone to say that Tex-Mex includes way too much cumin. But if you compare it to Arab food, you suddenly understand where that flavor signature comes from.
The greatest epic Tex-Mex feast ever photographed. From the gatefold of the ZZ Top, Tres Hombres album
ESSENTIAL TEX-MEX FOODS
Nachos might’ve been invented in Mexico by Ignacio “Nacho” Anaya, but it was only because a bunch of Texan ladies flocked to his restaurant after-hours and asked for a snack. The versions you see around the country today, frequently doused with molten, yellow cheese, are very American.
Considered by many to be the quintessential Tex-Mex dish, this tomatoey stew of ground or cubed beef, beans (if you’re not a tried-and-true Texan), spices, chili peppers, and other accoutrements is very much a gringo invention, created by Texan settlers out of widely available ingredients. Actually, it’s based on Northern Native American recipes. Not Mexican.
Derived from the Spanish word “faja” — meaning “strip” (which refers to the cut of beef they used) — fajitas are wholly a US creation (first mentioned in print in 1971) inspired and informed by the ingredients of Mexico, but not usually found in that country.
PRETTY MUCH ANY “MEXICAN” RESTAURANT FOOD IN AMERICA
Queso dip, chimichangas, the enchilada as we know it… you name it, it’s been Americanized. But that’s not to say that it isn’t still delicious.
THREE CITIES, THREE HISTORIES
When you look at the modern history of Tex-Mex, you get completely different stories from Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. Each one, of course, claims to be the place where Tex-Mex was invented, perfected, and popularized. They are all three right, and all three wrong.
San Antonio is the closest city to the border and the area that contributed the “Mex” part of the cuisine. It also added the “Combination Plate” to the menu.
An Illustrated History of Tex-Mex
How chili queens from San Antonio and the rise of the combo plate shaped Mexican food’s evolution across the border.
The cuisine grew out of the Rio Grande Valley but came into its own in San Antonio. “In the 1870s, chili queens in San Antonio started becoming nationally and internationally famous. That’s when Tex-Mex started getting on the map of Americans in earnest. From then on, every decade has had a monument to Tex-Mex.”
Tracing the History of Tex-Mex
The growing fame of the chili queens helped San Antonio establish its enduring reputation as the capital of Tex-Mex cuisine.
Dallas seems to be the birthplace of the kings of Tex-Mex restaurant empires. Tex-Mex is primarily a restaurant cuisine, seldom made at home. Everyone in Dallas knows El Fenix, El Chico, and, more recently Mi Concina.
History of El Fenix
Miguel Martinez opened the first Mexican restaurant in Dallas, in 1918. When he opens “Martinez Café” (now El Fenix) he offers only Anglo-American dishes. He develops a new style integrating Mexican flare and offers these dishes to guests, asking for their feedback. Their input was instrumental in perfecting his culinary experimentation and Tex-Mex was born.
The Family Who Sold Tex-Mex to America
In 1928, Adelaida “Mama” Cuellar opened Cuellar’s Cafe in Kaufman. Four of her sons moved to Dallas in 1940 and opened the first El Chico. These two families laid the foundation for Dallas’ flavor profile.
The Elevation of Tex-Mex, Mico Rodriguez
Lard-laden combination plates changed forever once Mico Rodriguez and his partners opened the first Mi Cocina in the Preston Forest Shopping Center in 1991. Rodriguez refined the Tex-Mex experience by using quality ingredients such as expensive cheddar cheese and fresh jalapeños and cilantro.
Houston has an equal claim, including Ninfa’s and the development of the fajita.
The Houston Version of Things:
A six part series – a different history of Tex-Mex…
Pralines and Pushcarts
Mama’s Got a Brand-new Bag
The Authenticity Myth
Brave Nuevo World
Posted in Food | Tagged burrito, cheese, chili, cumin, Dallas, enchilada, fajitas, history, houston, mexico, postaday, postaday2017, san antonio, tex mex, Texas, Writing | Leave a comment
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/ Emmylou Harris
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Preview The Road
℗ 2011 Nonesuch Records Inc. for the United States and WEA International Inc. for the world outside of the United States.
© 2011 Nonesuch Records Inc. for the United States and WEA International Inc. for the world outside of the United States.
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This is a big week for Princess Charlotte – find out why
By Emmy Griffiths
Following in her big brother Prince George’s footsteps, Princess Charlotte is preparing for her very first day at nursery school. It’s going to be a busy week!According to the website for Willocks Nursery School's website, where the little royal has been enrolled on a full-time basis, the spring term begins on Thursday (Jan. 4), with Charlotte expected to join the new intake of pupils. In honour of the occasion, it's thought that the Duchess of Cambridge will take photos of the two-year-old Princess to share on her first day - just as she did on Prince George's first day at nursery back in 2016.
READ: Prince William and Kate reveal why they chose Princess Charlotte's nursery
TAP TO VIEW THE GALLERY
Kate is expected to take photos of Charlotte on her first day
Kensington Palace announced that Princess Charlotte would attend the nursery school back in late 2017, and tweeted: "Their Royal Highnesses have also announced this morning that Princess Charlotte will attend the Willcocks Nursery School in London from January 2018." The Willcocks Nursery School wrote: "We are delighted that The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have chosen the Willcocks Nursery School for Princess Charlotte. We look forward to welcoming Charlotte to our nursery in January."
Princess Charlotte will attend the Willcocks Nursery School
Speaking about the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's decision to send Charlotte to the school, a spokeswoman for Kensington Palace said: "They felt it was ideal as a first step for Princess Charlotte's early education and they were impressed by the team that work there."
All the details on Princess Charlotte’s preschool
How Prince George and Princess Charlotte’s childhoods differ from Prince William’s
Prince George is 'settling into preschool very well"
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Industrial Hemp Production On The Big Scale
Diane Walsh
By Diane Walsh
America likes to boast its country’s quality of economic competitiveness. It’s an old story. But here’s one for Canada. In terms of industrial hemp laws, the U.S. is far back as the only industrialized nation on the globe failing to recognize the value of industrial hemp and permit its production. Whilst, in this regard, Canada is ahead—legalizing hemp production in 1998, and authorizing the growing of industrial-hemp plants for commercial purposes, after some 50 years of prohibition.
That’s not to say the American hemp industry proponents haven’t been busy—they have. Numerous U.S. states will tout rhetoric that industrial hemp production is allowed. Twenty-nine states have tried to introduce hemp legislation—some successfully. Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, Vermont, and West Virginia have sought to remove the barriers to hemp research and production. California, Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, Vermont, and Virginia have gone as far as to create state resolutions.
But as activists point out ever so clearly, the fact remains that Federal law, which requires nearly impossible to obtain permits in order to grow hemp trumps any and all state law. And, The US Drug Enforcement Administration is at the centre of the controversy; more on that debate later on.
Back on Canada. On its face, Canada appears progressive, but is not without its own caveats. As a condition of receiving a license to grow industrial hemp, Canadian farmers are required to register the GPS coordinates of their plantations and use certified “low-THC” seed.
Delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol, known THC, is the drug marijuana’s main psychoactive chemical. Characterized low-in-THC, levels for the hemp plant are, generally, less than one percent. Therefore industrial hemp is accepted primarily as an agricultural crop including hurds, seed or seed cake, fibre, or by-products of hemp such as oil. Industrial hemp can be employed in several ways, in vehicle parts, carpets and textiles, housing and building materials, paper, rope, fuel, clothing, food, etc. Due to its high biomass, hemp is one of the preferred-choice biofuels. Ultimately, hemp could alleviate some of our dependence on foreign oil, and allow for the green-growing of fuels “on the farm.” Another fun fact is that one acre of hemp produces as much cellulose fibre pulp as 4.1 acres of trees.
Nevertheless, it’s still a chilly political climate. Canadian farmers must allow government testing of the crop for THC levels and “meet or beat” a 10ppm standard for maximum allowable THC residue in hemp grain products. Despite several bone-twisting hoops, Canada has made growing industrial hemp fully legal and, in this noteworthy and remarkable way, Canada does outstrip the U.S. by solidifying our potential in a future opportunity and growth of this little understood agricultural art.
Even Agriculture Canada (which is the federal department of agriculture) has to admit that, according to recent estimates, more than 100 farmers are growing hemp across our fair nation, with the bulk of the fields in Western and Central Canada.
Now back on the U.S. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is at the centre of the debate. With a budget of $2,602,000,000, the DEA is a pumped-arm of the federal government existing “to enforce American drug laws” and situated within the U.S. Department of Justice. According to their website, “they investigate, gather evidence and make arrests of suspects believed to be involved in the growing, manufacture or distribution of controlled substances. The DEA works with the United Nations and Interpol to combat the drug trade around the world.”
Okay, so why did we need to know that? Because their website does not state one of its mandates is to bastardize all efforts to bring about a legal industrial hemp growth economy being able to flourish inside the U.S., but hemp activists have long squealed this is precisely what it’s done in recent decades. Suggesting further, the DEA hasn’t exactly helped with decoupling the thought of the word hemp being associated with a criminal mindset. A bit rich when strictly-speaking the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) does not make cannabis illegal. It places the strictest of controls on the production of it, making it illegal to grow the crop, without a DEA permit.
Sources note a permit was once issued for a pilot “experimental” plot in Hawaii in the 1990s, but is now expired, and that DEA still has not ruled on an application submitted in 1999 by a North Dakota researcher. Yet the DEA website does not say the DEA is budgeted to interfere with farmers seeking representation to be able to grow industrial hemp.
Hemp industry activists continue to argue the requirements of the DEA for acquiring legal-grow permits have the effect of deterring that very thing. Hence, the net result is all hemp products sold in the U.S. are imported or manufactured from imported hemp materials—as initiating pilot research projects requiring growing plots is costly and, bureaucratically-speaking, unwieldy. Ridiculous.
It’s been an uphill battle at every turn. As late as in the last decade, Drug enforcement officials have tried to argue that hemp shouldn’t be grown because it appears it is marijuana. Today, the DEA no longer has the luxury of being able to say that “hemp is marijuana,” as that premise (nothing but political grand-standing) has been debunked by science. And, for example, by the court case Hemp Industries Association v. Drug Enforcement Administration
“The Appeals Court Rejects DEA Bid to Outlaw Hemp Foods, Feb. 6, 2004” has thrown a spanner in the works of the DEA demonizing all-that-is-hemp. The decision goes on to say, “though the DEA has regulatory authority over marijuana and synthetically derived tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the agency did not follow the law in asserting authority over all hemp food products as well. ‘They cannot regulate naturally-occurring THC not contained within or derived from marijuana,’ the court ruled, noting it’s not possible to get high from products with only trace amounts of the mind-altering chemical. Hemp is an industrial plant related to marijuana. Fibre from the plant long has been used to make paper, clothing, rope and other products. Its oil is found in body-care products such as lotion, soap and cosmetics and in a host of foods, including energy bars, waffles, milk-free cheese, veggie burgers and bread.”
But activists argue a bravado “DEA culture” still persists. The DEA, by not having to change its willful non-understanding of the difference between marijuana and industrial hemp; sources say, it simply refuses to distinguish between different varieties of cannabis.
Piling on, “Hemp is not economic” has been another favourite stance of the DEA. Able to say that their own budgets are strained, the department is seemingly able to credibly resist the public call for discussions around logistics of manufacturing industrial hemp and the economics, which needless to say, requires the DEA “to tread” on areas of expertise of the U.S. department of agriculture, the department of commerce, as well as, having to consult experts in “the free-market.”
Using budget shortfalls (chief excuse for the halt of hemp-production research) resulting in a new resistance on the part of the DEA—this time a resistance to—collaboration with other departments, namely hemp-industry officials. Added to that, their argument, hemp shouldn’t be grown because the market for it is “too speculative” or because the industry needs government subsidy, and it’s a full-blown deadlock. Following this logic, corn should be a prohibited crop, you’d expect!
The stumbling block in the DEA’s modus-operandi has been key legislation. For example, Vote Hemp is a non-profit organization which has helped raise awareness about the benefits of U.S. industrial hemp production. In 2005, a federal bill was introduced designed to alleviate restrictions on cultivation. Re-activated, on Apr. 2, 2009, Republican congressperson, Dr. Ron Paul, for 14th congressional district of Texas, put forth what is known as the Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2009—along with ten co-sponsors: Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Wm. Lacy Clay (D-MO), Barney Frank (D-MA), Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ), Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), Tom McClintock (R-CA), George Miller (D-CA), Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), Pete Stark (D-CA), and Lynn Woolsey (D-CA).
This bill “died in committee,” in Jan. 2011. But it did have 26 co-sponsors at that time, including Rep. Ron Paul. Hemp industry officials are working on yet another bill planned, later this year.
It’s worth mentioning that the DEA has to appease the anti-marijuana lobby as it is this special-interest group and their related constituencies who advocate in Congress for the agency’s budget, which may in part explain why DEA departmental progress on the industrial-hemp front has been snail-paced. So, with this in mind, to gain supporters in corporations and business groups, lawmakers have tried hard to separate marijuana and hemp by way of petitioning the DEA to reclassify marijuana to exclude industrial hemp and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, to the need to promote renewed research into hemp production—even if it’s preliminary information about regulation hemp cultivation.
Also of note, on Aug. 4, 2009, Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski signed Senate Bill 676 into law in the Oregon legislature. At the time it was hoped that this would embolden officials against the DEA’s feet-dragging tactics, and re-energize hemp activists defeated in past years by red-tape. As, quite significantly, this law allowed for the production, trade, and possession of industrial hemp commodities and their products. But even with this advance, Oregon growers, now in 2011, are still unable to get on, because they are still required to obtain a permit from the DEA, at a Federal level—which is precisely—where the real block exist.
The state of Washington still classifies hemp as an illegal drug in the same category as marijuana, rather than identifying it as the agricultural crop which is what the whole fight has been about all along.
In light of American farmers losing their shirts in recent years on wheat and corn, it’s doubly troublesome. The power of the DEA is so great that many fear a horrible blow-back that could arise should their support of industrial hemp be exposed publicly.
Count ourselves lucky that the political climate is better in Canada, albeit not perfect.
agricultureDEAdepartmentenforcementindustrial hempwebsite
Previous article A LEAP Forward for Nanaimo
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Proposed Changes to Health Canada’s Marijuana Medical Access Program
adminold·July 16, 2011
Publisher’s Note: Great Plains of Hempology
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Editor·August 27, 2010
There are 4 comments 4 comments
Cannabis Certification Centers 8 years ago
The federal government will legalize Hemp soon! The benefits of Hemp greatly outweigh the disadvantages. Learn more about Arizona medical marijuana certifications by visiting Cannabis Certification Centers at http://www.cannabiscertificationcenters.com
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The Schlichten Decorticator
Ted Smith·January 19, 2015
Criminal Trials or Clinical Trials
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Editor·April 27, 2010
Into the Breach, Part 1
Digest Admin·November 13, 2015
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<a href="http://archive.today/xat9E"> <img style="width:300px;height:200px;background-color:white" src="https://archive.li/xat9E/dca6a4ca3c671f2180eb181ddca84035b8952303/scr.png"><br> Boston - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia<br> archived 14 Mar 2015 13:28:21 UTC </a>
{{cite web | title = Boston - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia | url = http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston | date = 2015-03-14 | archiveurl = http://archive.today/xat9E | archivedate = 2015-03-14 }}
This article is about the capital of Massachusetts. For the English town, see Boston, Lincolnshire. For other uses, see Boston (disambiguation).
State capital
From top to bottom, left to right: the Boston skyline viewed from the Bunker Hill Monument ·
the Museum of Fine Arts ·
Faneuil Hall ·
Massachusetts State House ·
The First Church of Christ, Scientist ·
Boston Public Library ·
the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum ·
South Station ·
Boston University and the Charles River ·
Arnold Arboretum ·
Fenway Park ·
Boston Common ·
Beantown[1] ·
The Hub[1] ·
The Cradle of Liberty[2] ·
The Cradle of Modern America[1] ·
The Athens of America[2] ·
The Walking City[1] ·
Sicut patribus sit Deus nobis (Latin)
"As God was with our fathers, so may He be with us"
Boston (red) is in Suffolk County (gray+red)
in the state of Massachusetts.
Location in the United States.
Coordinates: 42°21′29″N 71°03′49″W / 42.35806°N 71.06361°W / 42.35806; -71.06361Coordinates: 42°21′29″N 71°03′49″W / 42.35806°N 71.06361°W / 42.35806; -71.06361
Historic countries
Kingdom of England
Kingdom of Great Britain
Historic colonies
Massachusetts Bay Colony in the Province of Massachusetts Bay
Settled (town)
(date of naming, O.S.)
Incorporated (city)
Strong mayor / Council
Marty Walsh (D)
• Council
Boston City Council
• State capital
1,770 sq mi (4,600 km2)
4,500 sq mi (11,700 km2)
• CSA
10,600 sq mi (27,600 km2)
Population (2013)[4][5][6][7][8]
13,340/sq mi (5,151/km2)
4,180,000 (US: 10th)
8,041,303 (US: 6th)
• Demonym
EST (UTC-5)
53 ZIP codes[9][show]
02108–02137, 02163, 02196, 02199, 02201, 02203, 02204, 02205, 02206, 02210, 02211, 02212, 02215, 02217, 02222, 02228, 02241, 02266, 02283, 02284, 02293, 02295, 02297, 02298, 02467 (also includes parts of Newton and Brookline)
cityofboston.gov
Boston (pronounced i/ˈbɒstən/) is the capital and largest city[10] of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. Boston also serves as county seat of Suffolk County. The city proper covers 48 square miles (124 km2) with an estimated population of 645,966 in 2014,[11] making it the largest city in New England and the 24th largest city in the United States.[4] The city is the anchor of a substantially larger metropolitan area called Greater Boston, home to 4.5 million people and the tenth-largest metropolitan area in the country.[7] Greater Boston as a commuting region[12] is home to 7.6 million people, making it the sixth-largest Combined Statistical Area in the United States.[8][13]
One of the oldest cities in the United States, Boston was founded on the Shawmut Peninsula in 1630 by Puritan settlers from England.[14][15] It was the scene of several key events of the American Revolution, such as the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, the Battle of Bunker Hill, and the Siege of Boston. Upon American independence from Great Britain, the city continued to be an important port and manufacturing hub, as well as a center for education and culture.[16] Through land reclamation and municipal annexation, Boston has expanded beyond the original peninsula. Its rich history helps attract many tourists, with Faneuil Hall alone attracting over 20 million visitors.[17] Boston's many firsts include the United States' first public school, Boston Latin School (1635),[18] and first subway system (1897).[19]
The area's many colleges and universities make Boston an international center of higher education and medicine, and the city is considered to be a world leader in innovation for a variety of reasons.[20][21] Boston's economic base also includes finance,[22] professional and business services, and government activities.[23] The city has one of the highest costs of living in the United States,[24] though it remains high on world livability rankings.[25] Boston is one of the eight cities in the United States considered an 'alpha city' by the study GaWC5.[26]
3 Environment
3.1 Cityscape
3.3 Pollution
4.1 Crime
4.2 Demographic breakdown by zip code
4.2.1 Income
7 Sports
8 Parks and recreation
10.1 Primary and secondary education
10.2 Higher education
11.1 Newspapers
11.2 Radio and television
11.3 Film
12.1 Healthcare
12.2 Transportation
13 Notable people
14 Groundwater issues
15 Gallery
16 Sister cities
19.1 Specific
§History[edit]
Main articles: History of Boston and Timeline of Boston
Map showing a British tactical evaluation of Boston in 1775
Boston's early European settlers had first called the area Trimountaine (after its "three mountains"—only traces of which remain today) but later renamed it Boston after Boston, Lincolnshire, England, from which several prominent colonists had come. The renaming, on September 7, 1630 (old style), was by Puritan colonists from England,[15][27] who had moved over from Charlestown earlier that year in quest of fresh water. Their settlement was initially limited to the Shawmut Peninsula, at that time surrounded by the Massachusetts Bay and Charles River and connected to the mainland by a narrow isthmus. The peninsula is known to have been inhabited as early as 5000 BC.[28]
In 1629, the Massachusetts Bay Colony's first governor, John Winthrop, led the signing of the Cambridge Agreement, a key founding document of the city. Puritan ethics and their focus on education influenced its early history;[29] America's first public school was founded in Boston in 1635.[18] Over the next 130 years, the city participated in four French and Indian Wars, until the British defeated the French and their native allies in North America. Boston was the largest town in British North America until Philadelphia grew larger in the mid 18th century.[30]
Many of the crucial events of the American Revolution[31]—the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, Paul Revere's "midnight ride", the battles of Lexington and Concord and Bunker Hill, the Siege of Boston, and many others—occurred in or near Boston. After the Revolution, Boston's long seafaring tradition helped make it one of the world's wealthiest international ports, with rum, fish, salt, and tobacco being particularly important.[32]
View of Boston from Dorchester Heights, 1841
Scollay Square in the 1880s
The Embargo Act of 1807, adopted during the Napoleonic Wars, and the War of 1812 significantly curtailed Boston's harbor activity. Although foreign trade returned after these hostilities, Boston's merchants had found alternatives for their capital investments in the interim. Manufacturing became an important component of the city's economy, and by the mid-19th century, the city's industrial manufacturing overtook international trade in economic importance. Until the early 20th century, Boston remained one of the nation's largest manufacturing centers and was notable for its garment production and leather-goods industries.[33] A network of small rivers bordering the city and connecting it to the surrounding region facilitated shipment of goods and led to a proliferation of mills and factories. Later, a dense network of railroads furthered the region's industry and commerce.[34]
During this period Boston flourished culturally as well, admired for its rarefied literary life and generous artistic patronage,[35][36] with members of old Boston families—eventually dubbed Boston Brahmins—coming to be regarded as the nation's social and cultural elites.[37] Boston also became a center of the abolitionist movement.[38] The city reacted strongly to the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850,[39] contributing to President Franklin Pierce's attempt to make an example of Boston after the Anthony Burns Fugitive Slave Case.[40][41]
In 1822,[42] the citizens of Boston voted to change the official name from "the Town of Boston" to "the City of Boston", and on March 4, 1822, the people of Boston accepted the charter incorporating the City.[43] At the time Boston was chartered as a city, the population was about 46,226, while the area of the city was only 4.7 square miles (12 km2).[43]
Cutting down Beacon Hill in 1811; a view from the north toward the Massachusetts State House[44]
The Old City Hall was home to the Boston city council from 1865 to 1969.
In the 1820s, Boston's population grew rapidly, and the city's ethnic composition changed dramatically with the first wave of European immigrants. Irish immigrants dominated the first wave of newcomers during this period, especially following the Irish Potato Famine; by 1850, about 35,000 Irish lived in Boston.[45] In the latter half of the 19th century, the city saw increasing numbers of Irish, Germans, Lebanese, Syrians,[46] French Canadians, and Russian and Polish Jews settled in the city. By the end of the 19th century, Boston's core neighborhoods had become enclaves of ethnically distinct immigrants—Italians inhabited the North End,[47] Irish dominated South Boston and Charlestown, and Russian Jews lived in the West End. Irish and Italian immigrants brought with them Roman Catholicism. Currently, Catholics make up Boston's largest religious community,[48] and since the early 20th century, the Irish have played a major role in Boston politics—prominent figures include the Kennedys, Tip O'Neill, and John F. Fitzgerald.[49]
Between 1631 and 1890, the city tripled its area through land reclamation by filling in marshes, mud flats, and gaps between wharves along the waterfront.[50] The largest reclamation efforts took place during the 19th century; beginning in 1807, the crown of Beacon Hill was used to fill in a 50-acre (20 ha) mill pond that later became the Haymarket Square area. The present-day State House sits atop this lowered Beacon Hill. Reclamation projects in the middle of the century created significant parts of the South End, the West End, the Financial District, and Chinatown. After The Great Boston Fire of 1872, workers used building rubble as landfill along the downtown waterfront. During the mid-to-late 19th century, workers filled almost 600 acres (2.4 km2) of brackish Charles River marshlands west of Boston Common with gravel brought by rail from the hills of Needham Heights. The city annexed the adjacent towns of South Boston (1804), East Boston (1836), Roxbury (1868), Dorchester (including present day Mattapan and a portion of South Boston) (1870), Brighton (including present day Allston) (1874), West Roxbury (including present day Jamaica Plain and Roslindale) (1874), Charlestown (1874), and Hyde Park (1912).[51][52] Other proposals, for the annexation of Brookline, Cambridge,[53] and Chelsea,[54][55] were unsuccessful.
Haymarket Square, 1909
By the early and mid-20th century, the city was in decline as factories became old and obsolete, and businesses moved out of the region for cheaper labor elsewhere.[56] Boston responded by initiating various urban renewal projects under the direction of the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA), which was established in 1957. In 1958, BRA initiated a project to improve the historic West End neighborhood. Extensive demolition was met with vociferous public opposition.[57] The BRA subsequently reevaluated its approach to urban renewal in its future projects, including the construction of Government Center. In 1965, the first Community Health Center in the United States opened, the Columbia Point Health Center, in the Dorchester neighborhood. It mostly served the massive Columbia Point public housing complex adjoining it, which was built in 1953. The health center is still in operation and was rededicated in 1990 as the Geiger-Gibson Community Health Center.[58] The Columbia Point complex itself was redeveloped and revitalized into a mixed-income community called Harbor Point Apartments from 1984 to 1990.[59] By the 1970s, the city's economy boomed after 30 years of economic downturn. A large number of high rises were constructed in the Financial District and in Boston's Back Bay during this time period.[60] This boom continued into the mid-1980s and later began again. Hospitals such as Massachusetts General Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and Brigham and Women's Hospital lead the nation in medical innovation and patient care. Schools such as Boston College, Boston University, the Harvard Medical School, Northeastern University, Wentworth Institute of Technology, Berklee College of Music and Boston Conservatory attract students to the area. Nevertheless, the city experienced conflict starting in 1974 over desegregation busing, which resulted in unrest and violence around public schools throughout the mid-1970s.[61]
Boston is an intellectual, technological, and political center but has lost some important regional institutions,[62] including the acquisition of The Boston Globe by The New York Times,[63] and the loss to mergers and acquisitions of local financial institutions such as FleetBoston Financial, which was acquired by Charlotte-based Bank of America in 2004.[64] Boston-based department stores Jordan Marsh and Filene's have both been merged into the Cincinnati–based Macy's.[65] Boston has experienced gentrification in the latter half of the 20th century,[66] with housing prices increasing sharply since the 1990s.[24] Living expenses have risen, and Boston has one of the highest costs of living in the United States,[67] and was ranked the 129th most expensive major city in the world in a 2011 survey of 214 cities.[68] Despite cost of living issues, Boston ranks high on livability ratings, ranking 36th worldwide in quality of living in 2011 in a survey of 221 major cities.[69] On April 15, 2013, two Chechen Islamist brothers exploded two bombs near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing three people and injuring roughly 264.[70]
§Geography[edit]
Boston as seen from the International Space Station (ISS)
Boston has an area of 89.6 square miles (232.1 km2)—48.4 square miles (125.4 km2) (54.0%) of land and 41.2 square miles (106.7 km2) (46.0%) of water—and is the country's third most densely populated city that is not a part of a larger city's metropolitan area.[a] This is largely attributable to the rarity of annexation by New England towns. The city's official elevation, as measured at Logan International Airport, is 19 ft (5.8 m) above sea level.[71] The highest point in Boston is Bellevue Hill at 330 feet (100 m) above sea level, and the lowest point is at sea level.[72] Situated near the Atlantic Ocean, Boston is the only state capital in the contiguous United States with an ocean coastline.[73]
Boston is surrounded by the "Greater Boston" region and is contiguously bordered by the cities and towns of Winthrop, Revere, Chelsea, Everett, Somerville, Cambridge, Newton, Brookline, Needham, Dedham, Canton, Milton, and Quincy. The Charles River separates Boston from Watertown and the majority of Cambridge, and the mass of Boston from its own Charlestown neighborhood. To the east lie Boston Harbor and the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area (which includes part of the city's territory, specifically Calf Island, Gallops Island, Great Brewster Island, Green Island, Little Brewster Island, Little Calf Island, Long Island, Lovells Island, Middle Brewster Island, Nixes Mate, Outer Brewster Island, Rainsford Island, Shag Rocks, Spectacle Island, The Graves, and Thompson Island). The Neponset River forms the boundary between Boston's southern neighborhoods and the city of Quincy and the town of Milton. The Mystic River separates Charlestown from Chelsea and Everett, and Chelsea Creek and Boston Harbor separate East Boston from Boston proper.[74]
The city's water supply, from the Quabbin and Wachusett Reservoirs to the west,[75] is one of the very few in the country so pure as to satisfy federal quality standards without filtration.[76]
§Environment[edit]
§Cityscape[edit]
See also: Neighborhoods in Boston
Boston skyline from Student Village II at Boston University
Boston skyline from Logan International Airport in the early morning
John Hancock Tower is the tallest building in Boston.
Reflecting pool of the headquarters of the Church of Christ, Scientist. The Prudential Tower and 111 Huntington Avenue are in the background.
Former home of the Museum of Natural History, Back Bay
Back Bay brownstones
Boston's skyline in the background, with fall foliage in the foreground
Boston is sometimes called a "city of neighborhoods" because of the profusion of diverse subsections; the city government's Office of Neighborhood Services has officially designated 23 neighborhoods.[77]
More than two-thirds of inner Boston's modern land area did not exist when the city was founded, but was created via the gradual filling in of the surrounding tidal areas over the centuries,[50] notably with earth from the leveling or lowering of Boston's three original hills (the "Trimountain", after which Tremont Street is named), and with gravel brought by train from Needham to fill the Back Bay.[16] Downtown and its immediate surroundings consists largely of low-rise (often Federal style and Greek Revival) masonry buildings, interspersed with modern highrises, notably in the Financial District, Government Center, and South Boston.[78] Back Bay includes many prominent landmarks, such as the Boston Public Library, Christian Science Center, Copley Square, Newbury Street, and New England's two tallest buildings—the John Hancock Tower and the Prudential Center.[79] Near the John Hancock Tower is the old John Hancock Building with its prominent illuminated beacon, the color of which forecasts the weather.[80] Smaller commercial areas are interspersed among areas of single-family homes and wooden/brick multi-family row houses. The South End Historic District is the largest surviving contiguous Victorian-era neighborhood in the US.[81] The geography of downtown and South Boston was particularly impacted by the Central Artery/Tunnel Project (known unofficially as the "Big Dig"), which allowed for the removal of the unsightly elevated Central Artery and the incorporation of new green spaces and open areas.[82]
§Climate[edit]
Boston has a continental climate with some maritime influence, and using the −3 °C (27 °F) coldest month (January) isotherm, the city lies within the transition zone from a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa) to a humid continental climate (Köppen Dfa),[83][84] although the suburbs north and west of the city are significantly colder in winter and solidly fall under the latter categorisation; the city lies at the transition between USDA plant hardiness zones 6b (most of the city) and 7a (Downtown, South Boston, and East Boston neighborhoods).[85] Summers are typically warm to hot, rainy, and humid, while winters oscillate between periods of cold rain and snow, with cold temperatures. Spring and fall are usually mild, with varying conditions dependent on wind direction and jet stream positioning. Prevailing wind patterns that blow offshore minimize the influence of the Atlantic Ocean.[86] The hottest month is July, with a mean temperature of 73.4 °F (23.0 °C). The coldest month is January, with a mean of 29.0 °F (−1.7 °C). Periods exceeding 90 °F (32 °C) in summer and below freezing in winter are not uncommon but rarely extended, with about 13 and 25 days per year seeing each, respectively.[87] The most recent sub-0 °F (−18 °C) reading occurring on February 16, 2015 when the temperature dipped down to −3 °F (−19 °C). In addition, several decades may pass between 100 °F (38 °C) readings, with the most recent such occurrence on July 22, 2011 when the temperature reached 103 °F (39 °C).[87] The city's average window for freezing temperatures is November 9 through April 5.[87][b] Official temperature records have ranged from −18 °F (−28 °C) on February 9, 1934, up to 104 °F (40 °C) on July 4, 1911; the record cold daily maximum is 2 °F (−17 °C) on December 30, 1917, while, conversely, the record warm daily minimum is 83 °F (28 °C) on August 2, 1975.[88]
Boston's coastal location on the North Atlantic moderates its temperature, but makes the city very prone to Nor'easter weather systems that can produce much snow and rain.[89] The city averages 43.8 inches (1,110 mm) of precipitation a year, with 43.8 inches (111 cm) of snowfall per season.[87] Snowfall increases dramatically as one goes inland away from the city (especially north and west of the city)—away from the moderating influence of the ocean.[90] Most snowfall occurs from December through March, as most years see no measurable snow in April and November, and snow is rare in May and October.[91][92] There is also high year-to-year variability in snowfall; for instance, the winter of 2011−12 saw only 9.3 in (23.6 cm) of accumulating snow, but the previous winter, the corresponding figure was 81.0 in (2.06 m).[87][c]
Fog is fairly common, particularly in spring and early summer, and the occasional tropical storm or hurricane can threaten the region, especially in late summer and early autumn. Due to its situation along the North Atlantic, the city is often subjected to sea breezes, especially in the late spring, when water temperatures are still quite cold and temperatures at the coast can be more than 20 °F (11 °C) colder than a few miles inland, sometimes dropping by that amount near midday.[93][94] Thunderstorms occur from May to September, that are occasionally severe with large hail, damaging winds and heavy downpours.[89] Although downtown Boston has never been struck by a violent tornado, the city itself has experienced many tornado warnings. Damaging storms are more common to areas north, west, and northwest of the city.[95]
[hide]Climate data for Boston (Logan Airport), 1981−2010 normals, extremes 1872−present[d]
Daily mean °F (°C)
(−1.7) 31.7
(−25) −18
(−28) −8
(−22) 11
(−4) −2
(−28)
Snowfall inches (cm)
(0) trace 1.3
(3.3) 9.0
Avg. precipitation days (≥ 0.01 in)
11.3 9.8 11.6 11.2 12.0 10.9 9.6 9.4 8.6 9.4 10.6 11.6 126.0
Avg. snowy days (≥ 0.1 in)
6.7 5.3 4.2 0.7 0 0 0 0 0 0.1 0.8 4.6 22.4
% humidity
Percent possible sunshine
Source: NOAA (relative humidity and sun 1961−1990)[96][87][97]
§Pollution[edit]
Air quality in Boston is generally very good: during the ten-year period 2004–2013, there were only 4 days in which the air was unhealthy for the general public, according to the EPA.[98]
Some of the cleaner energy facilities in Boston include the Allston green district, with three eco-friendly housing facilities.[99] Boston is also breaking ground on multiple green affordable housing facilities to help reduce the carbon footprint of the city while simultaneously making these initiatives financially available to a greater population. Boston's climate plan is updated every three years and was most recently modified in 2013. This legislature includes the Building Energy Reporting and Disclosure Ordinance, which requires the city's larger buildings to disclose their yearly energy and water use statistics and partake in an energy assessment every five years. These statistics are made public by the city, thereby increasing incentives for buildings to be more environmentally conscious.[100]
Another initiative, presented by Mayor Thomas Menino, is the Renew Boston Whole Building Incentive, which reduces the cost of living in buildings that are deemed energy efficient. This, much like the green housing developments, gives people of low socioeconomic status an opportunity to find housing in communities that support the environment. The ultimate goal of this initiative is to enlist 500 Bostonians to participate in a free, in-home energy assessment.[100]
§Demographics[edit]
Per capita income in the Greater Boston area, by US Census block group, 2000. The dashed line shows the boundary of the City of Boston.
15,520 +46.9%
136,881 +46.6%
781,188 +4.4%
770,816 −1.3%
697,197 −13.0%
* = population estimate.
Source: United States Census records and Population Estimates Program data.[101][102][103][104][105][106][107][108][109][110][111][112]
In 2010 Boston was estimated to have 617,594 residents (a density of 12,200 persons/sq mile, or 4,700/km2) living in 272,481 housing units—[4] a 5% population increase over 2000. Some 1.2 million persons may be within Boston's boundaries during work hours, and as many as 2 million during special events. This fluctuation of people is caused by hundreds of thousands of suburban residents who travel to the city for work, education, health care, and special events.[113]
In the city, the population was spread out with 21.9% at age 19 and under, 14.3% from 20 to 24, 33.2% from 25 to 44, 20.4% from 45 to 64, and 10.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 30.8 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.9 males.[114] There were 252,699 households, of which 20.4% had children under the age of 18 living in them, 25.5% were married couples living together, 16.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 54.0% were non-families. 37.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.26 and the average family size was 3.08.[114]
The median income for a household in the city was $51,739, and the median income for a family was $61,035. Full-time year-round male workers had a median income of $52,544 versus $46,540 for full-time year-round female workers. The per capita income for the city was $33,158. 21.4% of the population and 16.0% of families are below the poverty line. Of the total population, 28.8% of those under the age of 18 and 20.4% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.[115]
In 1950, whites represented 94.7% of Boston's population.[116] From the 1950s to the end of the 20th century, the proportion of non-Hispanic whites in the city declined; in 2000, non-Hispanic whites made up 49.5% of the city's population, making the city majority-minority for the first time. However, in recent years the city has experienced significant gentrification, in which affluent whites have moved into formerly non-white areas. In 2006, the US Census Bureau estimated that non-Hispanic whites again formed a slight majority. But As of 2010[update], in part due to the housing crash, as well as increased efforts to make more affordable housing more available, the minority population has rebounded. This may also have to do with an increased Latino population and more clarity surrounding US Census statistics, which indicate a Non-Hispanic White population of 47 percent (some reports give slightly lower figures).[117][118][119]
Race/Ethnicity Composition
1990[116]
White (includes White Hispanics) 52.9% 62.8% 81.8% 96.7%
Black or African American 27.3% 25.6% 16.3% 3.1%
Native American 0.4% 0.3% 0.2% -
Two or more races 4.5% - - -
Hispanic or Latino (of any race) 18.8% 10.8% 2.8% [121] 0.1%
Non-Hispanic Whites 45.2% 59.0% 79.5% [121] 96.6%
People of Irish descent form the largest single ethnic group in the city, making up 15.8% of the population, followed by Italians, accounting for 8.3% of the population. People of West Indian ancestry are another sizable group, at 6.0%,[122] about half of whom are of Haitian ancestry. Some neighborhoods, such as Dorchester, have received an influx of people of Vietnamese ancestry in recent decades. Neighborhoods such as Jamaica Plain and Roslindale have experienced a growing number of Dominican Americans.[123] The city and greater area also has a large immigration population of South Asians, including the tenth-largest Indian community in the country.
The city has a sizable Jewish population with an estimated 25,000 Jews within the city and 227,000 within the Boston metro area; the number of congregations in Boston is estimated at 22.[124][125] The adjacent communities of Brookline and Newton are both approximately one-third Jewish.[124]
The city, especially the East Boston neighborhood, has a significant Hispanic community. Hispanics in Boston are mostly of Puerto Rican (30,506 or 4.9% of total city population), Dominican (25,648 or 4.2% of total city population), Salvadoran (10,850 or 1.8% of city population), Colombian (6,649 or 1.1% of total city population) and Guatemalan (4,451 or 0.7% of total city population) ethnic origin. When including all Hispanic national origins, they number 107,917. In Greater Boston, these numbers grow significantly with Puerto Ricans numbering 175,000+, Dominicans 95,000+, Salvadorans 40,000+, Guatemalans 31,000+ and Colombians numbering 22,000+.[126]
The city is the anchor of a substantially larger metropolitan area called Greater Boston, home to 4.5 million people and the tenth-largest metropolitan area in the country.[7] Greater Boston as a commuting region[12] is home to 7.6 million people, making it the fifth-largest Combined Statistical Area in the United States.[8][13]
§Crime[edit]
A Boston Police cruiser on Beacon Street
Like many major American cities, Boston has seen a great reduction in violent crime since the early 1990s. Boston's low crime rate since the 1990s has been credited to the Boston Police Department's collaboration with neighborhood groups and church parishes to prevent youths from joining gangs, as well as involvement from the United States Attorney and District Attorney's offices. This helped lead in part to what has been touted as the "Boston Miracle". Murders in the city dropped from 152 in 1990 (for a murder rate of 26.5 per 100,000 people) to just 31—not one of them a juvenile—in 1999 (for a murder rate of 5.26 per 100,000).[127]
In the 2000s, however, the annual murder count has fluctuated by as much as 50% compared with the year before, with 60 murders in 2002, followed by just 39 in 2003, 61 in 2004, and 73 in 2005. In 2008 there were 62 reported homicides.[128] Although the figures are nowhere near the high-water mark set in 1990, the aberrations in the murder rate have been unsettling for many Bostonians and have prompted discussion over whether the Boston Police Department should reevaluate its approach to fighting crime.[127][128][129]
§Demographic breakdown by zip code[edit]
§Income[edit]
Data is from the 2008-2012 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates.[130][131][132]
ZIP Code (ZCTA)
1 02110 (Financial District) $152,007 $123,795 $196,518 1,486 981
2 02199 (Prudential Center) $151,060 $107,159 $146,786 1,290 823
3 02210 (Fort Point) $93,078 $111,061 $223,411 1,905 1,088
4 02109 (North End) $88,921 $128,022 $162,045 4,277 2,190
5 02116 (Back Bay/Bay Village) $81,458 $87,630 $134,875 21,318 10,938
6 02108 (Beacon Hill/Financial District) $78,569 $95,753 $153,618 4,155 2,337
7 02114 (Beacon Hill/West End) $65,865 $79,734 $169,107 11,933 6,752
8 02111 (Chinatown/Financial District/Leather District) $56,716 $44,758 $88,333 7,616 3,390
9 02129 (Charlestown) $56,267 $89,105 $98,445 17,052 8,083
10 02467 (Chestnut Hill) $53,382 $113,952 $148,396 22,796 6,351
11 02113 (North End) $52,905 $64,413 $112,589 7,276 4,329
12 02132 (West Roxbury) $44,306 $82,421 $110,219 27,163 11,013
13 02118 (South End) $43,887 $50,000 $49,090 26,779 12,512
14 02130 (Jamaica Plain) $42,916 $74,198 $95,426 36,866 15,306
15 02127 (South Boston) $42,854 $67,012 $68,110 32,547 14,994
Massachusetts $35,485 $66,658 $84,380 6,560,595 2,525,694
Boston $33,589 $53,136 $63,230 619,662 248,704
Suffolk County $32,429 $52,700 $61,796 724,502 287,442
16 02135 (Brighton) $31,773 $50,291 $62,602 38,839 18,336
17 02131 (Roslindale) $29,486 $61,099 $70,598 30,370 11,282
United States $28,051 $53,046 $64,585 309,138,711 115,226,802
18 02136 (Hyde Park) $28,009 $57,080 $74,734 29,219 10,650
19 02134 (Allston) $25,319 $37,638 $49,355 20,478 8,916
20 02128 (East Boston) $23,450 $49,549 $49,470 41,680 14,965
21 02122 (Dorchester-Fields Corner) $23,432 $51,798 $50,246 25,437 8,216
22 02124 (Dorchester-Codman Square-Ashmont) $23,115 $48,329 $55,031 49,867 17,275
23 02125 (Dorchester-Uphams Corner-Savin Hill) $22,158 $42,298 $44,397 31,996 11,481
24 02163 (Allston-Harvard Business School) $21,915 $43,889 $91,190 1,842 562
25 02115 (Back Bay/Fenway-Kenmore) $21,654 $23,677 $50,303 29,178 9,958
26 02126 (Mattapan) $20,649 $43,532 $52,774 27,335 9,510
27 02215 (Fenway-Kenmore) $19,082 $30,823 $72,583 23,719 7,995
28 02119 (Roxbury) $18,998 $27,051 $35,311 24,237 9,769
29 02121 (Dorchester-Mount Baldwin) $18,226 $30,419 $35,439 26,801 9,739
30 02120 (Mission Hill) $17,390 $32,367 $29,583 13,217 4,509
§Economy[edit]
See also: Major companies in Greater Boston
Distribution of the Boston metropolitan NECTA labor force, 2004 annual averages[33]
A global city, Boston is placed among the top 30 most economically powerful cities in the world.[133] Encompassing $363 billion, the Greater Boston metropolitan area has the sixth-largest economy in the country and 12th-largest in the world.[134]
Boston's colleges and universities have a significant effect on the regional economy. Boston attracts more than 350,000 college students from around the world, who contribute more than $4.8 billion annually to the city's economy.[135][136] The area's schools are major employers and attract industries to the city and surrounding region. The city is home to a number of technology companies and is a hub for biotechnology, with the Milken Institute rating Boston as the top life sciences cluster in the country.[137] Boston receives the highest absolute amount of annual funding from the National Institutes of Health of all cities in the United States.[138] The city is also considered highly innovative for a variety of reasons that include the presence of academia, access to venture capital, and the presence of many high-tech companies.[21][139]
Tourism comprises a large part of Boston's economy, with 21.2 million domestic and international visitors spending $8.3 billion in 2011.[140] Because of Boston's status as a state capital and the regional home of federal agencies, law and government are another major component of the city's economy.[33] The city is a major seaport along the United States' East Coast and the oldest continuously operated industrial and fishing port in the Western Hemisphere.[141]
Other important industries are financial services, especially mutual funds and insurance.[33] Boston-based Fidelity Investments helped popularize the mutual fund in the 1980s and has made Boston one of the top financial cities in the United States.[22][142] The city is home to the headquarters of Santander Bank, and Boston is a center for venture capital firms. State Street Corporation, which specializes in asset management and custody services, is based in the city. Boston is a printing and publishing center[143] — Houghton Mifflin is headquartered within the city, along with Bedford-St. Martin's Press and Beacon Press. Pearson PLC publishing units also employ several hundred people in Boston. The city is home to three major convention centers—the Hynes Convention Center in the Back Bay, and the Seaport World Trade Center and Boston Convention and Exhibition Center on the South Boston waterfront.[144]
Several major companies headquartered within Boston or nearby—especially along Route 128,[145] the center of the region's high-tech industry. In 2006 Boston and its metropolitan area ranked as the fourth-largest cybercity in the United States with 191,700 high-tech jobs.[146]
§Culture[edit]
Main article: Culture in Boston
See also: Annual events in Boston, List of arts organizations in Boston and Sites of interest in Boston
The Old State House, a museum on the Freedom Trail and the site of the Boston Massacre
Boston shares many cultural roots with greater New England, including a dialect of the non-rhotic Eastern New England accent known as Boston English,[147] and a regional cuisine with a large emphasis on seafood, salt, and dairy products.[148] Irish Americans are a major influence on Boston's politics and religious institutions. Boston also has its own collection of neologisms known as Boston slang.[149]
Symphony Hall, home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra
Several theatres are located in or near the Theater District south of Boston Common, including the Cutler Majestic Theatre, Citi Performing Arts Center, the Colonial Theater, and the Orpheum Theatre.[150] Symphony Hall (located west of Back Bay) is home to the Boston Symphony Orchestra, (and the related Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra, which is the largest youth orchestra in the nation) and the Boston Pops Orchestra, while the Boston Ballet performs at the Boston Opera House. Other performing-arts organizations located in the city include the Boston Lyric Opera Company, Opera Boston, Boston Baroque (the first permanent Baroque orchestra in the US),[151] and the Handel and Haydn Society (one of the oldest choral companies in the United States).[152] The city is a center for contemporary classical music with a number of performing groups, several of which are associated with the city's conservatories and universities. These include the Boston Modern Orchestra Project and Boston Musica Viva.[151]
Off-Broadway theatre in Boston has suffered due to a lack of financial incentives, but an effort in 2014 to restore production tax credits appears poised to bring more shows to the city.[153]
There are several major annual events such as First Night, which occurs on New Year's Eve, the Boston Early Music Festival, the annual Boston Arts Festival at Christopher Columbus Waterfront Park, and Italian summer feasts in the North End honoring Catholic saints.[154] The city is the site of several events during the Fourth of July period. They include the week-long Harborfest festivities[155] and a Boston Pops concert accompanied by fireworks on the banks of the Charles River.[156]
Boston is one of the birthplaces of the hardcore punk genre of music. The area's musicians have contributed significantly to this music scene over the years (see also Boston hardcore). The city's neighborhoods were home to one of the leading local third wave ska and ska punk scenes in the 1990s, led by bands such as The Mighty Mighty Bosstones and The Allstonians. The 1980s' hardcore punk-rock compilation This Is Boston, Not L.A. highlights some of the bands that built the genre. Several nightclubs, such as The Channel, Bunnratty's in Allston, and The Rathskeller, were renowned for showcasing both local punk-rock bands and those from farther afield. All of these clubs are closed. Many were razed or converted during recent gentrification.[157]
Museum of Fine Arts
Because of the city's prominent role in the American Revolution, several historic sites relating to that period are preserved as part of the Boston National Historical Park. Many are found along the Freedom Trail, which is marked by a red line of bricks embedded in the ground. The city is also home to several art museums, including the Museum of Fine Arts and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.[158] The Institute of Contemporary Art is housed in a contemporary building designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro in the Seaport District.[159] The University of Massachusetts Boston campus on Columbia Point houses the John F. Kennedy Library. The Boston Athenaeum (one of the oldest independent libraries in the United States),[160] Boston Children's Museum, Bull & Finch Pub (whose building is known from the television show Cheers),[161] Museum of Science, and the New England Aquarium are within the city.
Boston has been a noted religious center from its earliest days. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston serves nearly 300 parishes and is based in the Cathedral of the Holy Cross (1875) in the South End, while the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, with the Cathedral Church of St. Paul (1819) as its episcopal seat, serves just under 200 congregations. Unitarian Universalism has its headquarters on Beacon Hill. The Christian Scientists are headquartered in Back Bay at the Mother Church (1894). The oldest church in Boston is First Church in Boston, founded in 1630.[162] King's Chapel, the city's first Anglican church, was founded in 1686 and converted to Unitarianism in 1785. Other churches include Christ Church (better known as Old North Church, 1723), the oldest church building in the city, Trinity Church (1733), Park Street Church (1809), Old South Church (1874), Jubilee Christian Church and Basilica and Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help on Mission Hill (1878).[163]
§Sports[edit]
Main article: Sports in Boston
Boston has teams in the four major North American professional sports leagues plus Major League Soccer, and has won 35 championships in these leagues, As of 2013[update]. It is one of six cities (along with Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York and Philadelphia) to have won championships in all four major sports. It has been suggested[164][165][166] that Boston is the new "TitleTown, USA", as the city's professional sports teams have won nine championships since 2001: Patriots (2001, 2003, 2004, and 2014), Red Sox (2004, 2007, and 2013), Celtics (2008), and Bruins (2011). This love of sports has made Boston the United States Olympic Committee's choice to bid to hold the 2024 Summer Olympic Games.[167] See Boston bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Fenway Park, the oldest professional baseball stadium still in use
The Boston Red Sox, a founding member of the American League of Major League Baseball in 1901, play their home games at Fenway Park, near Kenmore Square in the city's Fenway section. Built in 1912, it is the oldest sports arena or stadium in active use in the United States among the four major professional American sports leagues, encompassing Major League Baseball, the National Football League, National Basketball Association, and the National Hockey League.[168] Boston was the site of the first game of the first modern World Series, in 1903. The series was played between the AL Champion Boston Americans and the NL champion Pittsburgh Pirates.[169][170] Persistent reports that the team was known in 1903 as the "Boston Pilgrims" appear to be unfounded.[171] Boston's first professional baseball team was the Red Stockings, one of the charter members of the National Association in 1871, and of the National League in 1876. The team played under that name until 1883, under the name Beaneaters until 1911, and under the name Braves from 1912 until they moved to Milwaukee after the 1952 season. Since 1966 they have played in Atlanta as the Atlanta Braves.[172]
The Celtics play at the TD Garden
The TD Garden, formerly called the FleetCenter, is adjoined to North Station and is the home of three major league teams: the Boston Blazers of the National Lacrosse League, the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League; and the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association. The arena seats 18,624 for basketball games and 17,565 for ice hockey games. The Bruins were the first American member of the National Hockey League and an Original Six franchise.[173] The Boston Celtics were founding members of the Basketball Association of America, one of the two leagues that merged to form the NBA.[174] The Celtics have the distinction of having won more championships than any other NBA team, with seventeen.[175]
While they have played in suburban Foxborough since 1971, the New England Patriots of the National Football League were founded in 1960 as the Boston Patriots, changing their name after relocating. The team won the Super Bowl after the 2001, 2003, 2004, and 2014 seasons.[176] They share Gillette Stadium with the New England Revolution of Major League Soccer. The Boston Breakers of Women's Professional Soccer, which formed in 2009, play their home games at Dilboy Stadium in Somerville.[177]
Harvard Stadium, the first collegiate athletic stadium built in the U.S.
The area's many colleges and universities are active in college athletics. Four NCAA Division I members play in the city—Boston College, Boston University, Harvard University, and Northeastern University. Of the four, only Boston College participates in college football at the highest level, the Football Bowl Subdivision. Harvard participates in the second-highest level, the Football Championship Subdivision.
One of the best known sporting events in the city is the Boston Marathon, the 26.2-mile (42.2 km) race which is the world's oldest annual marathon,[178] run on Patriots' Day in April. On April 15, 2013, two explosions killed three people and injured hundreds at the marathon.[70] Another major annual event is the Head of the Charles Regatta, held in October.[179]
§Parks and recreation[edit]
Boston Common seen from the Prudential Tower
Boston Common, located near the Financial District and Beacon Hill, is the oldest public park in the United States.[180] Along with the adjacent Boston Public Garden, it is part of the Emerald Necklace, a string of parks designed by Frederick Law Olmsted to encircle the city. The Emerald Necklace includes Jamaica Pond, Boston's largest body of freshwater, and Franklin Park, the city's largest park and home of the Franklin Park Zoo.[181] Another major park is the Esplanade, located along the banks of the Charles River. The Hatch Shell, an outdoor concert venue, is located adjacent to the Charles River Esplanade. Other parks are scattered throughout the city, with the major parks and beaches located near Castle Island; in Charlestown; and along the Dorchester, South Boston, and East Boston shorelines.[182]
Boston's park system is well-reputed nationally. In its 2013 ParkScore ranking, The Trust for Public Land reported that Boston was tied with Sacramento and San Francisco for having the third-best park system among the 50 most populous US cities.[183] ParkScore ranks city park systems by a formula that analyzes the city's median park size, park acres as percent of city area, the percent of residents within a half-mile of a park, spending of park services per resident, and the number of playgrounds per 10,000 residents.
§Government[edit]
See also: Boston City Hall, Boston Emergency Medical Services, Boston Finance Commission, Boston Fire Department, Boston Police Department, List of mayors of Boston and List of members of Boston City Council
The Massachusetts State House, seat of the Massachusetts state government, on Beacon Hill
Boston City Hall, built in 1968
Boston has a strong mayor – council government system in which the mayor (elected every fourth year) has extensive executive power. Marty Walsh became Mayor in January 2014, his predecessor Thomas Menino's twenty-year tenure having been the longest in the city's history.[184] The Boston City Council is elected every two years; there are nine district seats, and four citywide "at-large" seats.[185] The School Committee, which oversees the Boston Public Schools, is appointed by the mayor.[186]
In addition to city government, numerous commissions and state authorities—including the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, the Boston Public Health Commission, the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA), and the Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport)—play a role in the life of Bostonians. As the capital of Massachusetts, Boston plays a major role in state politics.
The city has several federal facilities, including the John F. Kennedy Federal Office Building, the Thomas P. O'Neill Federal Building,[187] the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
Federally, Boston is split between two congressional districts. The northern three-fourths of the city is in the 7th district, represented by Mike Capuano since 1998. The southern fourth is in the 8th district, represented by Stephen Lynch.[188] Both are Democrats; a Republican has not represented a significant portion of Boston in over a century. The state's senior member of the United States Senate is Democrat Elizabeth Warren, first elected in 2012. The state's junior member of the United States Senate is Democrat Ed Markey, who was elected in 2013 to succeed John Kerry after Kerry's appointment and confirmation as the United States Secretary of State.
Voter registration and party enrollment As of October 2012[update][189]
Republican 25,903 6.69%
Green-Rainbow 686 0.17%
Unaffiliated 147,813 38.19%
§Education[edit]
§Primary and secondary education[edit]
Boston Latin School, established in 1635, is the oldest public high school in the US.
The Boston Public Schools enrolls 57,000 students attending 145 schools, including the renowned Boston Latin Academy, John D. O'Bryant School of Math & Science, and Boston Latin School. The Boston Latin School, established 1635, is the oldest public high school in the US; Boston also operates the United States' second oldest public high school, and its oldest public elementary school.[18]
The system's students are 35% Black or African American, 40% Hispanic or Latino, 13% White, and 9% Asian.[190] There are private, parochial, and charter schools as well, and approximately 3,300 minority students attend participating suburban schools through the Metropolitan Educational Opportunity Council.[191]
§Higher education[edit]
See also: List of colleges and universities in metropolitan Boston
Map of Boston area universities
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is often cited as among the world's top universities.
Some of the most famous universities in the United States are located in the Boston area. Four members of the Association of American Universities are in Greater Boston (more than any other metropolitan area): Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston University, and Brandeis University.[192] Hospitals, universities, and research institutions in Greater Boston received more than $1.77 billion in National Institutes of Health grants in 2013, more money than any other American metropolitan area.[193] Greater Boston has more than 100 colleges and universities, with 250,000 students enrolled in Boston and Cambridge alone.[194] Its largest private universities include Boston University (the city's fourth-largest employer)[195] with its main campus along Commonwealth Avenue and a medical campus in the South End; Northeastern University in the Fenway area;[196] Suffolk University near Beacon Hill, which includes law school and business school;[197] and Boston College, which straddles the Boston (Brighton)–Newton border.[198] Boston's only public university is the University of Massachusetts Boston, on Columbia Point in Dorchester. Roxbury Community College and Bunker Hill Community College are the city's two public community colleges. Altogether, Boston's colleges and universities employ over 42,600 people, accounting for nearly 7 percent of the city's workforce.[199]
Harvard Business School, one of the country's top business schools
Smaller private schools include Babson College, Bentley University, Emmanuel College, Fisher College, MGH Institute of Health Professions, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Simmons College, Wheelock College, Wentworth Institute of Technology, New England School of Law (originally established as America's first all female law school),[200] and Emerson College.[201]
Metropolitan Boston is home to several conservatories and art schools, including Lesley University College of Art and Design, Massachusetts College of Art, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, New England Institute of Art, New England School of Art and Design (Suffolk University), Longy School of Music of Bard College, and the New England Conservatory (the oldest independent conservatory in the United States).[202] Other conservatories include the Boston Conservatory and Berklee College of Music, which has made Boston an important city for jazz music.[203]
Several universities located outside Boston have a major presence in the city. Harvard University, the nation's oldest institute of higher education, is centered across the Charles River in Cambridge but has the majority of its land holdings and a substantial amount of its educational activities in Boston. Its business and medical schools are located in Boston, and there are plans for additional expansion into Boston's Allston neighborhood.[204] The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which originated in Boston and was long known as "Boston Tech", moved across the river to Cambridge in 1916.[205] Tufts University, whose main campus is north of the city in Somerville and Medford, locates its medical and dental school in Boston's Chinatown at Tufts Medical Center, a 451-bed academic medical institution that is home to both a full-service hospital for adults and the Floating Hospital for Children.[206]
§Media[edit]
Main article: Media in Boston
§Newspapers[edit]
The Boston Globe and the Boston Herald are two of the city's major daily newspapers. The city is also served by other publications such as Boston magazine, The Improper Bostonian, DigBoston, and the Boston edition of Metro. The Christian Science Monitor, headquartered in Boston, was formerly a worldwide daily newspaper but ended publication of daily print editions in 2009, switching to continuous online and weekly magazine format publications.[207] The Boston Globe also releases a teen publication to the city's public high schools, called Teens in Print or T.i.P., which is written by the city's teens and delivered quarterly within the school year.[208]
The city's growing Latino population has given rise to a number of local and regional Spanish-language newspapers. These include El Planeta (owned by the former publisher of The Boston Phoenix), El Mundo, and La Semana. Siglo21, with its main offices in nearby Lawrence, is also widely distributed.[209]
Various LGBT publications serve the city's large LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community such as The Rainbow Times, the only minority and lesbian-owned LGBT newsmagazine. Founded in 2006, The Rainbow Times is now based out of Boston, but serves all of New England.[210]
§Radio and television[edit]
Boston has the largest broadcasting market in New England, with the radio market being the eleventh largest in the United States.[211] Several major AM stations include talk radio WRKO 680 AM, sports/talk station WEEI 850 AM, and CBS Radio WBZ 1030 AM.[212] WBZ (AM) broadcasts a news radio format. A variety of FM radio formats serve the area, as do NPR stations WBUR and WGBH. College and university radio stations include WERS (Emerson), WHRB (Harvard), WUMB (UMass Boston), WMBR (MIT), WZBC (Boston College), WMFO (Tufts University), WBRS (Brandeis University), WTBU (Boston University, campus and web only), WRBB (Northeastern University) and WMLN (Curry College).
The Boston television DMA, which also includes Manchester, New Hampshire, is the seventh largest in the United States.[213] The city is served by stations representing every major American network, including WBZ 4 and its sister station WSBK 38 (the former with CBS, the latter an MyNetwork TV affiliate), WCVB 5 (ABC), WHDH 7 (NBC), WFXT 25 (Fox), and WLVI 56 (The CW). The city is also home to PBS station WGBH 2, a major producer of PBS programs,[214] which also operates WGBX 44. Spanish-language television networks, including MundoFox (WFXZ 24), Univision (WUNI 27), Telemundo (WNEU 60), and Telefutura (WUTF 66), have a presence in the region. Most of the area's television stations have their transmitters in nearby Needham and Newton along the Route 128 corridor.[215] Six Boston television stations are carried by Canadian satellite television provider Bell TV and by cable television providers in Canada.
§Film[edit]
Films have been made in Boston since as early as 1903, and it continues to be both a popular setting and a popular site for location shooting.[216][217]
§Infrastructure[edit]
Harvard Medical School, one of the most prestigious medical schools in the world
§Healthcare[edit]
See also: List of hospitals in Boston
The Longwood Medical and Academic Area, adjacent to the Fenway district, is home to a large number of medical and research facilities, including Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Children's Hospital Boston, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, and the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences.[218] A smaller cluster of prominent medical facilities, hard by Beacon Hill, includes Massachusetts General Hospital, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital. St. Elizabeth's Medical Center is in Brighton Center of the city's Brighton neighborhood. New England Baptist Hospital is in Mission Hill. The city has Veterans Affairs medical centers in the Jamaica Plain and West Roxbury neighborhoods.[219] The Boston Public Health Commission, an agency of the Massachusetts government, oversees health concerns for city residents.[220]
Many of Boston's medical facilities are associated with universities. The facilities in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area and in Massachusetts General Hospital are affiliated with Harvard Medical School.[221] Tufts Medical Center (formerly Tufts-New England Medical Center), located in the southern portion of the Chinatown neighborhood, is affiliated with Tufts University School of Medicine. Boston Medical Center, located in the South End neighborhood, is the primary teaching facility for the Boston University School of Medicine as well as the largest trauma center in the Boston area;[222] it was formed by the merger of Boston University Hospital and Boston City Hospital, which was the first municipal hospital in the United States.[223]
§Transportation[edit]
Main article: Transportation in Boston
South Station, the busiest rail hub in New England, is a terminus of Amtrak and numerous MBTA rail lines.
An MBTA Red Line train departing Boston for Cambridge. Bostonians depend heavily on public transit, with over 1.3 million Bostonians riding the city's buses and trains daily (2013).[224]
Logan Airport, located in East Boston and operated by the Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport), is Boston's principal airport.[225] Nearby general aviation airports are Beverly Municipal Airport to the north, Hanscom Field to the west, and Norwood Memorial Airport to the south. Massport also operates several major facilities within the Port of Boston, including a cruise ship terminal and facilities to handle bulk and container cargo in South Boston, and other facilities in Charlestown and East Boston.[226]
Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge crosses the Charles River from Downtown Boston
Downtown Boston's streets grew organically, so they do not form a planned grid,[227] unlike those in later-developed Back Bay, East Boston, the South End, and South Boston. Boston is the eastern terminus of I-90, which in Massachusetts runs along the Massachusetts Turnpike. The elevated portion of the Central Artery, which carried most of the through traffic in downtown Boston, was replaced with the O'Neill Tunnel during the Big Dig, substantially completed in early 2006.
With nearly a third of Bostonians using public transit for their commute to work, Boston has the fifth-highest rate of public transit usage in the country.[228] The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA—known as the "T") operates the oldest underground rapid transit system in the Americas, and is the fourth busiest rapid transit system in the country,[19] with 65.5 miles (105 km) of track on four lines.[229] The MBTA also operates busy bus and commuter rail networks, and water shuttles.[229]
Amtrak's Northeast Corridor and Chicago lines originate at South Station, which serves as a major intermodal transportation hub, and stop at Back Bay. Fast Northeast Corridor trains, which serve New York City, Washington, D.C., and points in between, also stop at Route 128 Station in the southwestern suburbs of Boston.[230] Meanwhile, Amtrak's Downeaster service to Maine originates at North Station,[231] despite the current lack of a dedicated passenger rail link between the two railhubs, other than the "T" subway lines.
Nicknamed "The Walking City", Boston hosts more pedestrian commuters than do other comparably populated cities. Owing to factors such as the compactness of the city and large student population, 13 percent of the population commutes by foot, making it the highest percentage of pedestrian commuters in the country out of the major American cities.[232] In 2011, Walk Score ranked Boston the third most walkable city in the United States.[233][234] As of 2013[update], Walk Score still ranks Boston as the third most walkable US city, with a Walk Score of 79, a Transit Score of 74, and a Bike Score of 68.[235]
Between 1999 and 2006, Bicycling magazine named Boston three times as one of the worst cities in the US for cycling;[236] regardless, it has one of the highest rates of bicycle commuting.[237] In 2008, as a consequence of improvements made to bicycling conditions within the city, the same magazine put Boston on its "Five for the Future" list as a "Future Best City" for biking,[238][239] and Boston's bicycle commuting percentage increased from 1% in 2000 to 2.1% in 2009.[240] The bikeshare program called Hubway launched in late July 2011,[241] logging more than 140,000 rides before the close of its first season.[242] The neighboring municipalities of Cambridge, Somerville, and Brookline joined the Hubway program in summer 2012.[243]
§Notable people[edit]
Main article: List of people from Boston
§Groundwater issues[edit]
External images
Cut-away view of typical pile-supported building
Many older buildings in certain areas of Boston are supported by wooden piles driven into the area's fill; these piles remain sound if submerged in water, but are subject to dry rot if exposed to air for long periods.[244] Groundwater levels have been dropping, to varying degrees, in many areas of the city, due in part to an increase in the amount of rainwater discharged directly into sewers rather than absorbed by the ground. A city agency, the Boston Groundwater Trust, coordinates monitoring of groundwater levels throughout the city via a network of public and private monitoring wells.[245]
§Gallery[edit]
Horticultural Hall
Granary Burying Ground
Faneuil Hall
Swan Boats in Public Garden
Statue of George Washington in Public Garden
Waterfront at Long Wharf
§Sister cities[edit]
Main article: Sister cities of Boston
Boston has nine official sister cities as recognized by Sister Cities International.[246]
Kyoto Japan 1959 [247]
Strasbourg France 1960 [248][249]
Barcelona Spain 1980 [250][251]
Hangzhou People's Republic of China 1982 [246]
Padua Italy 1983 [252]
Melbourne Australia 1985
Taipei Republic of China (Taiwan) 1996 [254]
Sekondi-Takoradi Ghana 2001 [246]
Belfast Northern Ireland 2014 [255]
Boston has less formal friendship or partnership relationships with three additional cities.
Boston, Lincolnshire England 1999 [256][257][258]
Haifa Israel 1999 [259]
Valladolid Spain 2007 [260]
§See also[edit]
Boston portal
North America portal
Boston City League (high school athletic conference)
Boston nicknames
Boston–Halifax relations
List of diplomatic missions in Boston
List of people from Boston
List of tallest buildings in Boston
National Register of Historic Places listings in Boston, Massachusetts
Boston bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics
§Notes[edit]
Jump up ^ After New York City and San Francisco. Many cities, such as Paterson, New Jersey, are denser but are part of a larger city's metropolitan area.
Jump up ^ The average number of days with a low at or below freezing is 94.
Jump up ^ Seasonal snowfall accumulation has ranged from 9.0 in (22.9 cm) in 1936−37 to 107.6 in (2.73 m) in 1995−96.
Jump up ^ Official records for Boston were kept at downtown from January 1872 to December 1935, and at Logan Airport (KBOS) since January 1936.[88]
§References[edit]
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Jump up ^ Cf. Roessner, p.293. "The HOPE VI housing program, inspired in part by the success of Harbor Point, was created by legislation passed by Congress in 1992."
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Tag - Rex Tillerson
What’s America’s Next Move In Syria?
Is the Trump administration conflicted over the next move in Syria? CNN and the Washington Post seem to think so. I think the media is wrong.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told ABC News “This Week” that ISIS was our first priority. UN Ambassador Nikki Haley told CNN that “We don’t see a peaceful Syria with Assad in there.” But she also said that defeating ISIS was America’s first priority. Where’s the conflict in that?
Haley said we have multiple priorities. Keeping to “red lines” set by former President Obama is a priority I think most American politicians are on board with. That’s not going to stop atrocities in Syria. But whoever said that we had to build policy goals around red lines? Defeating ISIS is a policy goal. Regime change in Syria would be a policy goal if we chose to pursue that.
Tillerson and Haley indicated that Assad’s fate is not going to be dictated by the United States.
“In that regard, we are hopeful that we can work with Russia and use their influence to achieve areas of stabilization throughout Syria and create the conditions for a political process through Geneva in which we can engage all of the parties on the way forward, and it is through that political process that we believe the Syrian people will lawfully be able to decide the fate of Bashar al-Assad,” he added.
Syria has been a thorn in America’s side for seven years. If there were a single country that’s attracted every evildoer within 1,000 miles, that’s the place. ISIS, Al Queda, Hizbollah, Iran, and Bashar Assad’s own brand of crushing despotism all fight there for primacy on a heap of bodies, drawing Russia and America into what could be a proxy war for control.
The Russians support Assad because he has kept Syria as a client state, giving them access to a Mediterranean warm-water port, and cash for modern weapons systems like the S-300 air defense system. If Assad is to go, the Russians are not going to let him go without having someone else in power who will continue his Russia-friendly policies.
Letting Assad stay guarantees years more of bloodshed and atrocities. But Assad isn’t going to leave without offering protection to the million or so Alawites, the minority sect that ruled Syria for 40 years. Decapitating Syria would certainly result in a proxy war for control of the country, with Russia supporting a Baath party or other friendly player.
For ISIS and other radical Sunnis, Alawites are considered heretics. The Baath Party in Syria cemented itself as enemies of Sunni religious leaders 43 years ago.
Then, in the second move, [Hafez al-Assad] arranged for a respected Islamic jurisconsult (not from Syria but from Lebanon, and not a Sunni but a Shia) to issue a finding (Arabic: fatwa) that Alawis were really Shia Muslims rather than heretics. This was not merely an abstract bit of theology: as heretics, Alawis were outlaws who could be legally and meritoriously killed—as we have seen in recent events in Syria.
Syria has really been in a sort of civil war ever since. In 1983, the elder Assad destroyed the city of Hama then rebuilt it, sending the message that life will be good for Syrians who do not oppose him. But now, the younger Assad does not have the luxury of complete control. Without Russian assistance, and freedom of air supremacy, the rebels may have defeated Assad several years ago.
That leaves “regime change” in Syria as a rabbit hole with no end, other than a Vietnam-style war. The Russians share our goal of destroying ISIS, and we have the benefit of NATO cooperation, along with enormous influence and strategic operations in Iraq. Together with the Russians, we can defeat ISIS. That likely means leaving Assad alone until the objective is complete.
It doesn’t mean we have to sit on our hands when Assad crosses red lines, though. Tomahawk missiles are a potent reminder that America can strike whenever and wherever we want. It’s only through our telegraphing our intent and warning Russian troops that Assad forces were able to escape more significant damage. It was the message that’s important, not the attack itself.
The Doolittle raid over Tokyo 75 years ago this month did little damage to Japan, but it sent a message that America was willing to spent an enormous amount to make a statement. America just spent up to $60 million to destroy some Syrian airfield facilities (and no, we couldn’t destroy the runway in a cost-effective manner). The message wasn’t that America is going to conduct a “shock and awe” war against Assad. It was that we are not going to allow chemical weapons to be used without responding.
Our implicit message is the next response might be a bit more personal to Assad.
Contrary to the media’s hot takes, President Trump hasn’t reversed course and policy on Syria. He reacted to a terrible event and acted on his gut where Obama acted cerebrally. In fact, Trump did the right thing. American policy is still to destroy ISIS, and I expect we’ll see our relations with Russia in the skies over Syria patched up soon once they realize we aren’t out for regime change.
The message on the Sunday talk shows wasn’t intended for the American press–it was intended for Vladimir Putin. It was a public acknowledgement of what’s surely being told to him privately. Regime change in Syria may be inevitable, but America isn’t going to call the shots.
Tillerson Gave The Perfect Answer to North Korea’s Missile Launch
“North Korea launched yet another intermediate range ballistic missile. The United States has spoken enough about North Korea. We have no further comment.” Secretary of State Rex Tillerson gave the perfect answer to the Nork’s latest missile fizzle.
(For the benefit of anyone planning to accuse me of plagiarism, I have copied this quote verbatim from my colleague Susan Wright, who obtained it from Reuters.)
While Susan made a great point about how North Korea and its corpulent, badly-coiffed, evil ruler (she called him a “power-mad little troll” but that’s far too cute to plagiarize) and their single-minded pursuit of ever-more-terrible weapons of mass destruction, she has, I believe, mischaracterized Tillerson’s response.
Instead of “ho-hum,” Tillerson’s right on target. The United States has spoken enough. We’re done speaking about North Korea, or responding to their very real provocations. We’re done dealing with words. When Trump and Tillerson meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping Thursday, they will be discussing actions, not words.
CNN reported a quote from a “senior White House official” declaring “the clock has now run out and all options are on the table.” This means either China is going to play by American rules, or they forfeit their move.
“China has great influence over North Korea. And China will either decide to help us with North Korea, or they won’t. And if they do that will be very good for China, and if they don’t it won’t be good for anyone,” Trump said. “If China is not going to solve North Korea, we will. That is all I am telling you.”
A number of years ago, I spent some time outside of Wonju, South Korea, at a little place called Camp Long, which is near Camp Eagle. I learned a few things there. One of them is that you can have a great meal with Bulgogi and all the beer you can drink for $3.50. But that’s not important right now (plagiarizing Jonah Goldberg here).
Lesson 1: ROK troops take security seriously–having a couple of M-16’s pointed at my face while my papers were checked is humbling (that was at Camp Eagle–Camp Long had mall cops in comparison).
Lesson 2: If the “balloon went up,” my plan to abscond with the nearest motor pool vehicle and drive south until I saw ocean was pretty dumb. The base head of CE (civil engineering), a civilian, told me flatly that we were inside North Korean artillery range, and therefore would likely perish quickly from chemical weapons. At least it would be quick.
Everyone in South Korea–American and Korean–knows that having the Norks close by is having death always hovering over your head. This is important because Jim Geraghty noted an NBC News report of how Americans in Korea are “filled with growing dread” over President Trump’s hard line on North Korea. NBC’s take is misleading at best.
While North Korea is a wildcard that loves to project strength and assured destruction for the smallest of retaliations, they haven’t been put in their place for years. It may be time to give them some reason for pause. If China knows we’re nothing but talk, they won’t do anything decisive to stop Kim Jong Un’s nuclear and ICBM program.
Fortunately, America has two things in our favor: Planting season and stealth weapons.
North Korea plants its primary crop, rice, beginning in late May. Since the Norks can barely feed themselves beyond a starvation diet, the entire military participates in the planting effort.
Some 40 percent of the populace serve in some military, paramilitary, or defense-related industry and can be mobilized easily for war, the U.S. Army War College said in a 2007 paper.
“Whether elite military officers or the rank and file, we all had to keep helping farmers, it was part of our daily life and duty as a party organ,” said Choi Joo-hwal, a former veteran military officer with a 27-year career at North Korea’s Ministry of People’s Armed Forces.
Choi was conscripted into a parachute regiment in 1968 when North Korea seized the USS Pueblo, an American Navy intelligence-gathering ship and held its crew hostage.
Even though North Korea declared a state of war at the time, Choi and his elite regiment would spend time with shovels in their hands.
“Every Friday and at the weekends, we went to plant corn, cabbages or to compost an orchard,” Choi said.
Things are much, much worse for the North than they were in 1968. Any strike during the planting season puts the Norks in a conundrum. Either they take the troops out of the fields to assume a military strike posture and hold it for days or weeks, which in August could lead to mass starvation; or they simply bluster with words and do nothing.
Either way, for the Norks, they won’t know what hit them, and the U.S. will send a powerful message to the North should they decide to deploy. That’s because the North Koreans don’t possess a sophisticated enough air defense network to stop our stealth weapons. Geopolitical analysis firm Stratfor, in a recent piece about how we would strike North Korea, broke it down.
With a force of 10 Massive Ordnance Penetrators and 80 900-kilogram GBU-31 JDAMs, the U.S. B-2 bombers alone are more than enough to dismantle or at least severely damage North Korea’s known nuclear production infrastructure, as well as associated nuclear weapons storage sites.
The effectiveness of the B-2 first wave would enable the 24 F-22 fighters — and the wave of 600 or so cruise missiles sharing the skies — to focus on destroying North Korea’s delivery vehicles. A single good hit from a JDAM or cruise missile is enough to knock out the nascent sea-based leg of North Korea’s defensive triad. Hammering the Uiju and Changjin-up air bases, where North Korean H-5 bombers are based, would further reduce Pyongyang’s most likely air delivery force for a nuclear weapon.
The most difficult target to eliminate when it comes to delivery vehicles is the missile forces. North Korea has a fleet of approximately 200 transporter erector launchers (TEL) of varying size and type spread out across the country, so the intelligence picture would have to be very accurate. With enough information, however, the United States still has more than enough firepower in a single strike to severely reduce North Korea’s TEL inventory.
The U.S. maintains at least a dozen F-22s at Kadena airbase in Okinawa, which is well within the aircraft’s strike range with airborne refueling and/or external tanks. The B-2s can launch from anywhere in the world.
Certainly, Kim Jong Un and his military commanders know all this could happen. They just have never believed the U.S. would do it. They’re so used to us doing nothing that a strike would take them totally by surprise. Their reactions can’t be predicted, but one possibility is removing Kim from leadership.
Another possibility is total war, but imagine how troops in the field would feel knowing that Americans can simply kill from the air. Very demoralizing. It could turn out like the Mother of All Battles did for Saddam. Of course, we’re putting millions of South Koreans in harm’s way, but they’re already in harm’s way.
Tillerson got it right. The time for talk is over.
Awkwardness At State Department: WaPo Makes Tillerson Look Incompetent, But How True Is The Report?
by Chris Queen
It may be the understatement of the year that the Trump administration has been different from anything else we’ve seen. A new report from the Washington Post – if it is to be believed – paints a picture of an awkward culture at the State Department.
On many days, he blocks out several hours on his schedule as “reading time,” when he is cloistered in his office poring over the memos he prefers ahead of in-person meetings.
Most of his interactions are with an insular circle of political aides who are new to the State Department. Many career diplomats say they still have not met him, and some have been instructed not to speak to him directly — or even make eye contact.
The report goes on to detail handwringing from Democrats and anonymous sources that Tillerson and his inner circle are working to minimize the State Department’s role in government.
Current and recently departed State Department officials — all of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to offer candid assessments of what one called the “benching” of the oldest Cabinet department — said Tillerson is paying a price.
The trouble with this report is that, the more you dig, the more fishy it smells. AP Diplomatic Writer Matt Lee dismissed the no-eye-contact assertion altogether on Twitter:
This is not true and people repeating it are making it more difficult to address very real issues. https://t.co/ztEm3mAXd6
— Matt Lee (@APDiploWriter) March 31, 2017
Over at National Review, Jim Geraghty classified the report as unfair and cited scuttlebutt that paints quite a different picture:
I heard through the grapevine that Tillerson has held at least one getting-to-know-you meeting with career foreign service employees and that the event went well. Of course, not everyone’s going to instantly bond over one casual meeting with snacks, but in the eyes of the people I heard from, he was making an effort, and they appreciated it.
Geraghty goes on to call out the WaPo‘s sources, noting that they’re not exactly predisposed to compliment Tillerson:
So we’ve got one Congressional Democrat, one Senate Democratic aide, one foreign diplomat, one current official, and what is likely two former State employees who worked under Kerry or Clinton. Somehow it is less than stunning that they would be critical of Tillerson.
Geraghty admits that Tillerson has made some missteps and acknowledges that things aren’t as smooth as they could be yet but that the department isn’t exactly in the shape that the Post‘s hit piece suggests.
Look, Rex Tillerson may have an introverted streak – and I certainly don’t fault him for it. Nor do I fault him for the mistakes his department has made to date, as long as he and the rest of his team can make the right corrections.
Trump’s Confusing Behavior Toward NATO
On Tuesday night the White House confirmed that President Trump will attend May’s NATO summit, which is set to take place in Brussels.
Trump will participate in the meetings on May 25, press secretary Sean Spicer said in a statement, adding that the president “looks forward to meeting with his NATO counterparts to reaffirm our strong commitment to NATO, and to discuss issues critical to the alliance, especially allied responsibility-sharing and NATO’s role in the fight against terrorism.”
Spicer also said that Trump will welcome NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to the White House on April 12 to “talk about how to strengthen the alliance to cope with challenges to national and international security.”
The announcement, which follows NATO’s announcement last month that Trump was set to attend, eases the worries of some who had expressed concern over Trump’s commitment to NATO.
During the campaign, Trump declared NATO “obsolete” and made other statements that suggested he wanted to reassess the United States’ participation in the organization.
His more recent statements seem to have allayed some of the fears that he might back off from NATO, while other statements still raise red flags. For instance, he voiced his “strong support” for NATO during a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel earlier this month, while at the same time repeating some of his concerns that some of the organization’s members do not pay their fair share in dues.
On Monday, the White House announced that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is skipping this month’s meeting of NATO foreign ministers in order to take part in a meeting between Trump and China’s president the same week. What’s more, Tillerson is planning a tête-à-tête with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a notorious critic of NATO, in April.
What do we make of Trump’s confusing, seemingly schizophrenic actions and statements toward NATO? It’s tough to discern any pattern to this behavior at all, so I suppose time will tell.
This Is Not Iran: North Korea Doubles Enrichment Capability
Someone is going to have to deal with North Korea. The hermit kingdom is no longer just a pain in the world’s rear end, but is legitimately a dangerous threat to world stability. Now the IAEA is reporting that the Norks have doubled the size of their nuclear enrichment facility.
From the WSJ:
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal on Monday, Yukiya Amano, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, described North Korea as rapidly advancing its capacity to produce nuclear weapons on two fronts: the production of plutonium at its Yongbyon nuclear facility and the enrichment of uranium.
As Secretary of State Rex Tillerson remarked, “the policy of strategic patience has ended.” The soft approach with North Korea has failed, and is unlikely to work in the future.
“This is a highly political issue. A political agreement is essential,” Mr. Amano said, but added. “We can’t be optimistic. The situation is very bad. We don’t have the reason to be optimistic.”
In case political doves who think world peace is a matter of soft discussion and appeasement want to compare North Korea with Iran, Armano dispels such ideas. “The situation is very different,” he said. “Easy comparisons should be avoided.”
Very different.
First, North Korea is already a nuclear-capable rogue state. Iran is not (yet) nuclear capable. We can thank American and Israeli efforts for that.
Second, Iran, as much as we’ve tried to isolate it financially and diplomatically, is part of the international community. Iranians travel–generally–freely from and to Iran. Iran has a relatively well-educated, literate working class, and a burgeoning intellectual population. Iran is a fairly advanced country in culture and technology. Yes, they’re run by a cabal of Islamic extremists who regularly encourage “death to America!” chants, but that isn’t the whole country.
North Korea, on the other hand, is a destitute backwater steeped in worship of its own leaders as gods. There’s no working class, only an army, a peasantry, and a starving class. Oh, and a small ruling class who have to worry if they’ll be shot (or be poisoned with VX) because they say the wrong thing about Kim Jong Un.
To make the comparison visual, look at both countries at night from space.
That little dot on the left is Pyongyang. The rest of the country is blacked out. Iran, on the other hand, enjoys electricity.
We can reason with and influence Iran to some extent. Of course, we didn’t have to give away the whole store like former President Obama and his henchman John Kerry did. But sanctions were in fact working, preventing Iran from “breakout.” Now it’s just a matter of time unless President Trump undoes the damage.
North Korea is a whole different ballgame. There’s nobody to reason with. The entire country is one giant prison camp and indoctrination center. There’s no communication in or out unless it’s underground. Whole families are punished if one member is found with contraband. The North makes money by selling coal and iron ore to China, which has restricted that trade after the country’s last nuclear tests.
They also make money by counterfeiting U.S. currency. Every time the U.S. Treasury changes up the $100 bill, North Korean fakes disappear for a while, then come back. If there were a better definition of a rogue, criminal state, I don’t know it.
The only way to deal with North Korea is to threaten the life, safety, and future rule of its leaders. They are willing to sacrifice any number of their citizens to complete their quest for nuclear weapons and delivery systems.
The IAEA’s chief wouldn’t speculate on how many atomic bombs the agency believes North Korea has amassed in its weapons arsenal. U.S. and Chinese officials, citing the dual plutonium and uranium infrastructure, believe it can be as high as 40.
“The situation is very bad…It has gone into a new phase,” Mr. Amano said about North Korea’s overall program. “All of the indications point to the fact that North Korea is making progress, as they declared.”
The Norks cannot be allowed to have 40 nuclear weapons and ICBMs. There’s no good outcome to that. China knows it, Japan knows it, and South Korea knows it best of all.
If Tillerson believes that military strikes are necessary to deal with the north, then he may be right. He’s even taken the extraordinary step of skipping out on the upcoming NATO foreign ministers’ meeting to stay in Washington for Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit. North Korea will certainly be on the agenda.
After years of playing and letting the Norks have their way, now is probably the last opportunity to stop them. It’s certainly high time someone did.
Tillerson on North Korea: ‘Nothing is Off the Table’
by David Thornton
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is in South Korea and his comments are shaking up the diplomatic status quo on the Korean peninsula. Tillerson, who said earlier that the past 20 years of diplomacy was a “failed approach,” is signaling that a new approach is at hand.
“Let me be very clear — the policy of strategic patience has ended,” the Secretary of State said. “We are exploring a new range of security and diplomatic measures. All options are on the table.”
Tillerson noted that the US has provided North Korea with $1.3 billion in economic aid since the Clinton Administration. “In return North Korea has detonated nuclear weapons and dramatically increased its launches of ballistic missiles to threaten America and our allies,” he said.
In an interview with Fox News, Tillerson said, “Nothing has been taken off the table” when asked about President Trump’s comments during the campaign that proliferation of nuclear weapons in East Asia might be a suitable counter to North Korean weapons programs. Japan has resisted developing nuclear weapons since World War II.
Tillerson was also asked about the possibility of military action against the North. “If they elevate the threat of their weapons program to a level that we believe requires action, that option is on the table,” Tillerson replied to NBC News.
“Certainly we do not want for things to get to a military conflict,” he continued. “But obviously if North Korea takes actions that threaten the South Korean forces or our own forces then that would be met with an appropriate response.”
“We have many, many steps we can take before we get to” military action and “we hope that that will persuade North Korea to take a different course of action. That’s our desire.” Tillerson added.
In a St. Patrick’s Day tweet, President Trump signaled his support for Tillerson’s shift in policy, saying, “North Korea is behaving very badly. They have been ‘playing’ the United States for years. China has done little to help!”
North Korea has tested nuclear weapons and missiles with increasingly long ranges over the past two decades. In January, the hermit kingdom threatened to test an intercontinental ballistic missile that could target cities in the contiguous United States. In February, North Korean agents were implicated in the assassination of Kim Jong Un’s half-brother in a Malaysian airport with VX nerve agent.
“Today, North Korea not only threatens its regional neighbors but the United States and other countries,” Tillerson said.
The White House Explores Cutting Funding To The United Nations, And – You Guessed It – The Left Is Freaking Out!
The Trump administration is preparing its budget proposal, and word is that State Department staffers have received warnings that the White House is looking at cutting up to 50 percent of the $10 billion a year in funding that the United States provides to the United Nations.
Just mentioning cutting UN funding get the Left to freaking out, as Colum Lynch over at Foreign Policy demonstrates. Read the breathlessness of some of his article on the cuts:
State Department staffers have been instructed to seek cuts in excess of 50 percent in U.S. funding for U.N. programs, signaling an unprecedented retreat by President Donald Trump’s administration from international operations that keep the peace, provide vaccines for children, monitor rogue nuclear weapons programs, and promote peace talks from Syria to Yemen, according to three sources.
The push for such draconian measures comes as the White House is scheduled on Thursday to release its 2018 budget proposal, which is expected to include cuts of up to 37 percent for spending on the State Department, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and other foreign assistance programs, including the U.N., in next year’s budget.
It remains unclear whether the full extent of the steeper U.N. cuts will be reflected in the 2018 budget, which will be prepared by the White House Office of Management and Budget, or whether, as Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has proposed, the cuts would be phased in over the coming three years. One official close to the Trump administration said Tillerson has been given flexibility to decide how the cuts would be distributed.
Lynch continues his sky-is-falling quoting experts who lament that such “strong and disproportionate cuts” will “create ‘chaos.'” Apparently high on the list of areas ripe for cutting are UN services that offer “family planning” (read: abortions) and pro-Palestinian organizations.
Lynch even quotes a Heritage Foundation analyst who admits that 50-percent cuts to UN funding would be difficult, but the vast majority of the article’s analysis comes from a left-leaning perspective, including a dire warning against cutting funding from – big surprise – a former Obama administration staffer.
The fact of the matter is, drastic cuts to our United Nations funding face a tough road ahead in Congress – and even Lynch takes a breath long enough to admit it. Even if the cuts make it into the finished budget and Tillerson has the latitude to determine how the administration implements them, they’ll likely be more gradual than the worst fears. But that won’t stop the Left from freaking out over them, that’s for sure.
It Doesn’t Betray Conservatism To Praise the President
Tevya implored God in “Fiddler on the Roof,” As the Good Book says, “Heal us, O Lord, and we shall be healed.” In other words, send us the cure. We’ve got the sickness already.
There’s scarcely been a more divisive president, to the country, and to the party which he purports to represent than Donald J. Trump. The man won the Republican primaries with around 40 percent of his own party’s aggregated pre-clinch votes, and lost most caucuses except Nevada, Kentucky and Hawaii. He faced rebellion at his own nominating convention. Most of his own party’s pundits and fellow candidates who conceded believed he would be crushed in November.
The #NeverTrump movement led the charge to keep Trump out of office. This was based on the proposition that Trump was unqualified for the job of POTUS.
President Trump is the same man as candidate Trump. If he was manifestly unqualified for office then, it would follow that he is now. That would mean we have an unqualified man running our country, with which most of the free world (and likely the kleptocratic world of dictators) agrees.
Conservatives, as much as liberals and most Americans, would rather have a qualified person running the government than an unqualified one. And Trump won–though he didn’t win a majority of the popular vote, he did win the race, such as the Constitution provides for winning. He also wasn’t crushed at the polls. Most of the differences people seem to have had about Trump revolved around his policies, with his fitness for office a lesser concern overall.
In other words, most people who voted against Trump, did so because they didn’t like what he would do, not that they thought he was unqualified to do it, although many claimed both. Those who voted for him, either voted for him despite their doubts of his qualifications, or believed he is qualified.
When the results rolled in, most #NeverTrump conservatives admitted we were wrong about Trump’s electability. Therefore, we might have also been wrong about his fitness for office, or at least the importance attached to that issue by Americans.
Very little “new” information is left to be known about President Trump. His tax returns and some leases we won’t see, or discovery on certain lawsuits now settled won’t change anyone’s mind. “New” supposedly-damaging videos (such as the one Shaun King tweeted) contradicting Trump’s claim that he doesn’t know Putin, only serve to reinforce bias against Trump (by the way, it’s not new). Whatever isn’t known about Trump has already been imagined in the worst light by his opponents, and dismissed by his supporters.
As president, Trump hasn’t done a half-bad job being conservative. If any other Republican in the White House did (the positive parts) what he did in one week, we’d all be enjoying champagne and strawberries in the hot tub, toasting success.
Unfortunately, we have to put up with severe intestinal Trumpiness as the price of our success. This means suffering cramps from bouts of protectionism, narcissistic pursuit of large crowds, self-worship, and basking in the delight of putting down opponents for real or imagined slights. The acute irritable bowel symptoms of Trump’s tweets and prevarications may or may not become chronic.
Trump may be the cure, and he may be more of the sickness. But right now, there’s enough cure for conservatives to be hopeful. Bashing Trump over the things we knew he’d do–the tweets and bombast and vanity–is counterproductive. Plus, the liberal press spends an inordinate amount of time doing that already. Our distinctive voice would be lost in the din of their megaphones.
Where conservatives have a chance to be heard is in the places where decision-makers dwell. The Republican retreat in Philadelphia floated some troubling ideas of what should become of Obamacare. We have an opportunity to influence Trump and his administration, along with congressional leadership on the issue. If we fail, then 2018 could be very, very bad for our cause and our party.
This is why we must praise Trump when he does right by conservatives. Trump listens. Where former President Obama (I love writing “former”) was convinced he was right about everything and could not be argued with, Trump can be influenced. As long as he gets credit for what goes right and can blame others for what goes wrong, he is all ears.
Rex Tillerson was singular evidence of Trump’s ability to listen and change course. Now, on torture, Trump has backed off his own opinion in favor of Secretary of State James Mattis’ differing view.
My greatest hope for a Trump presidency is that he would grow in office. That the weight of the presidency would birth in him a seed of statesmanship. There are signs this could happen. But if all conservatives do is bash Trump for who the man became over 70 years of his life, that leaves very little room for him to hear calls for positive change.
We know who Trump is. It took him decades to become this way. He will not change overnight into something he isn’t (read: presidential). We owe it to our country to give him a chance to grow, and that means sometimes overlooking things that cause our eyes to roll and our palms to sweat. We won’t give him a hall pass for those things, but the main stream media will ensure the country hears about every single one.
Conservatives have only one path right now, and it goes through Trump. Either we will see some gains going into 2018, or we will suffer what the Democrats saw in 2010. Praising Trump when he does well doesn’t betray our principles. It may be the only way to preserve them.
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Home > Publications > Articles > Putin’s Russia: A Moderate Fascist State by Vladislav Inozemtsev
Putin’s Russia: A Moderate Fascist State by Vladislav Inozemtsev
Vladislav Inozemtsev
By standard scholarly definition, Russia today is not an illiberal democracy: It is an early-stage fascist state.
On June 24, 2016, the State Duma (the lower house of the Russian parliament), in its final session before the September elections, endorsed a highly controversial bill drastically expanding the capacity of the secret services to intervene in citizens’ private lives and introducing extrajudicial persecution of “extremist” acts. Even Edward Snowden, the famous U.S. leaker hiding in Russia, publicly urged President Putin not to sign it into the law, saying the “bill will take money and liberty from every Russian without improving safety.”
The bill was then approved by the Federation Council (parliament’s upper house) on June 30 and signed by President Putin on July 7. There was no doubt about the outcome of the process; the legislature would not have even debated such a law if an order to do so had not come from the Kremlin administration. Russia’s parliament lacks any power of the purse; it is therefore not remotely comparable in power or function to legislative branches in democracies. It is, please excuse the overused but in this case still perfect metaphor, a Potemkin Village parliament.
Each fleck of news like this adjures us to speak openly about the nature of Putin’s regime. It can no longer be accurately described as an “illiberal democracy,” something on the order of what the Polish or Hungarian governments have become in recent months and now years. It is becoming a fascist state—a moderate one so far, perhaps, but fascist all the same.
Let me immediately parse the term, for it is a bomb that the Russian regime hurls far and wide. In Russia, as far as some other counrty’s regime is concerned, most if not all adversaries and enemies are called fascist, a term whose emotional resonance lies in the constantly recycled mythology of World War II. The term is certainly applied to any streak of Ukrainian politics the Kremlin doesn’t like and to many political moves initiated in the Baltic states, but not to politics and politicians in Hungary, Slovakia, Poland lately, and even the Czech Republic, where far more fascist-like types get on well with Mr. Putin. No, when I and other scholars use the term, we mean a particular regime type as regards three key relationships: the structure of the political economy; the idealized relationship between society, the state, and moral authority; and the posture of the state in regard to other states.
It is true that historians and political scientists still debate the precise nature of fascism. But there is a workable consensus at least for most practical purposes. And one can see this consensus applied to Russia today by Western scholars—tellingly, most often by those with Soviet or Russian roots, like Mikhail Iampolski of New York University or Alexander J. Motyl of Rutgers. They and others have characterized the current Russian state as a fascist one, but a wider range of political scholars does not yet accept this definition. At the same time, in Russia itself this analysis is becoming more widespread, being supported not only by many political activists, such as Yevgeny Ikhlov and several independent commentators and opinion journalists, such as Alexander Sotnik, but by some renowned scholars, like Anton Oleynik, as well. I have also made this case several times, and, as the events unfold, I believe the topic deserves a new exploration sine ira et studio.
The starting point for most observers comes from a striking similarity between current Russian political realities and the most common definitions of fascism. Take the standard and well-respected approach of Robert Paxton: Fascism is
. . . a form of political behavior marked by an obsessive preoccupation with community decline, humiliation or victimhood and by compensatory cults of unity, energy and purity, in which a mass-based party of committed nationalist militants, working in uneasy but effective collaboration with traditional elites, abandons democratic liberties and pursues with redemptive violence and without ethical or legal restraints goals of internal cleansing and external expansion.1
Or consider Umberto Eco’s adumbrations about “the cult of tradition”, and the judgment that “disagreement is treason.” There is a constant search for a “fifth column” consisting of “foreign agents” and perhaps, above all, the “fear of difference” posing as praise for “stability”; there is an “obsession with a plot” with everything nefarious attributed to “outside detractors.” No one who saw the two-hour-plus manifesto-style documentary called Myroporyadok (“World Order”) that ran on Russian state television in December 2015 can possibly miss the point.
Eco added that the fascist subculture relies on “anti-intellectualism and irrationalism,” which echoes uncannily with a religious “revival” in Russia that is hard to distinguish from a promiscuous flirtation with varieties of pseudo-science. Eco also refers to “selective populism” as a means of seducing the population with “newspeak,” which amounts less to outright lying (though in Russia there is that, too) than to a mountainous proliferation of distracting and diluting non-truths that deliberately create enough noise to make it impossible for ordinary people to figure out what is going on either inside the country or out.2
And finally, note Peter Drucker’s point, made almost eighty years ago, that “Fascism is the stage reached after Communism has proven an illusion.”3 If you cannot find a resemblance to Russia over the past quarter century in these descriptions by Paxton, Eco, and Drucker, you aren’t looking very hard.
Nonetheless, many observers both inside Russia and outside of it still resist the conclusion. In Russia this resistance owes much to the historical memory that emotionally prevents people from attributing fascist notions to the country that defeated Nazi Germany at the cost of up to forty million lives. The foundation for such a feeling was cemented by the Soviet insistence on calling Nazi Germany “Fascist Germany” so that the term “fascism” became synonymous with Hitlerism—and therefore cannot apply as a general rubric to Mussolini’s Italy or to Imperial Japan or, of course, to Russia in any way whatsoever. Outside Russia the reluctance to call the Putin regime fascist is partly attributable to political correctness, partly to almost willful ignorance, and partly to a third reason, which we’ll get to in a moment.
Obviously, by describing the Russian regime as fascist there is no need or intent to ape Soviet propaganda and call it Hitlerian. You don’t need to argue that Putin is in any sense comparable with Hitler—even though there are those who believe he may be, including, oddly enough, some of the Kremlin’s own spin-doctors.4
Rather, Russia is coming ever closer to the “classical” fascist state characterized more by its state corporatism than by its anti-liberal nationalism. Russia therefore resembles Mussolini’s Italy or Franco’s Spain more than it does the Third Reich, particularly the Third Reich during wartime when mobilization closed the gap between private enterprise’s elbow room and state direction, if not full command, of the economy. If one starts with a four-part definition anchored in a political economy description, the term “fascist” applies without hesitation even before adding in the aspects of anti-liberal nationalism that cause the regime to resemble the European fascists of the 1920s and early 1930s.
The ongoing étatization of the Russian national economy is accelerating. Long ago Benito Mussolini proclaimed that
. . . the Fascist State lays claim to rule in the economic field no less than in others; it makes its action felt throughout the length and breadth of the country by means of its corporative institutions, [with] all the economic forces of the nation, organized in their respective associations, circulating within the State.5
As Emilio Gentile argued, one of the most important features of Fascism is the “corporative organization of the economy that suppresses trade union liberty, broadens the sphere of state intervention, and seeks to achieve, by technocracy and solidarity, the collaboration of the ‘productive sectors’ under control of the regime, to achieve its goals of power, yet preserving private property and class divisions.”6
This is exactly what Mr. Putin wants to achieve through the establishment of “state corporations” and rejuvenating the “budgetary (kazennye) enterprises.” He is concentrating resources in the state-owned banks and labeling the biggest oil and natural gas companies as “national treasures.” The state’s share in the national economy now exceeds 60 percent, the trade unions are almost invisible, and the oligarchs declare that they are ready to render their property to the state whenever it may need it—as if they really had a choice, hence the anticipatory deference. They know perfectly well that this is a regime that once privatized an oil company, then nationalized it without significant compensation, and now, in an economic pinch, is trying once again to sell the same company to private buyers.
All this, too, accounts for the ongoing pressure on the small- and mid-sized businesses that are believed not to be integral parts of the economy’s engine but rather sources of bribes that profit both bureaucrats and police. With the state securing around 52 percent of all the workplaces in the Russian economy and “feeding” around 35.5 million retirees through a centralized Pension Fund, one can see an étatized economy where market rules, still not really codified by law, only camouflage highly centralized redistribution of all crucial resources. Even formally privately owned businesses of significant size cannot these days exercise any judgment about investments or marketing, or strike deals (especially with foreigners), without approval by bureaucrats on different levels of the hierarchy.
This observation leads us, second, to the recognition that Russia is quickly becoming a country not so much of the “bureaucracy” but of the “enforcement agencies”—and the latter should be studied with greatest possible concern. What we have seen in recent years looks like the increasing restructuring of these agencies in a way that gives the new Duce (or Caudillo, or prewar Führer) near absolute power over the use of violence. Of course this is not abnormal in theory; a sovereign state is defined by its possession of a monopoly on violence. But consider the difference between a modern Weberian state with actual rule of law and one without those characteristics. In a modern state, if a large corporation goes rogue in one way or another, the state bureaucracy can set the law on it. But in Russia, where there is still no real rule of law, the bureaucracy can only act effectively on behalf of the state through the threat of coercion.That is why it matters that, in addition to the Army, the Ministry of the Interior, and the Federal Security Service (FSB), a 30,000-plus strong Federal Guard Service of the Russian Federation was set up in 2002, and the 400,000-plus strong National Guard was added in 2016. Both of these new paramilitary organizations are headed by Mr. Putin’s most loyal companions, and the latter is subjected directly and exclusively to the President.
Meanwhile, the Prosecutor-General’s office (although headed by Mr. Chaika, absolutely loyal to Mr. Putin) was reformed in 2007 through the creation of the Investigative Committee; that Committee is managed by the Deputy Prosecutor General, a long-time Putin friend named Alexander I. Bastrykin. In 2011, the more than 20,000-strong Investigative Committee was made an independent structure, directly subordinated to the President.
In all of this one can see the reproduction of the practices all the authoritarian fascist regimes of the 1920s and 1930s introduced in their countries. First the leader degrades the importance of the former military and paramilitary structures and creates new ones that first shadow and then displace politically the former. In classical cases a revolutionary fascist party created parallel structures to the government, and then once in power the parallel structure “eats” or absorbs its “host”—the Nazi practice of such tactics is of course paradigmatic. But in the Russian case there is no outside revolutionary party; the regime’s highly personalistic character is eating post-Soviet state institutions, such as they are, from within.
Of course these new institutions are plainly unconstitutional. For example, Article 129 of the Russian Constitution defines explicitly the powers of the Office of the Prosecutor General, but the Basic Law says not one word about any Investigative Committee or National Guard that in effect sits above the Office of the Prosecutor General. Again, the parallels with either Sturmabteilungen or Schutzstaffel in Germany are not precise but are disturbing all the same. Imagine a new American administration creating a judicial oversight mechanism with more political clout than the Supreme Court, and the Court being then unable to declare the new entity unconstitutional.
Given the absence of effective rule of law in Russia, and the continuing usurpation of authority backed by coercive apparatus, it is no wonder that other concentrations of wealth and power in society are responding in kind. There is now a proliferation of “private armies” of state corporations as well as “ethnic guards” like those in Kadyrov’s Chechnya, estimated to number about 30,000 armed professionals.7 Such groups are reportedly responsible for assaults on and even killings of dissidents and opposition-minded politicians.
In such an environment, it is not terribly surprising that, third, we see an all-permeating praise for irredentism and militarization. Putin masterfully uses three devices that deeply touch the feelings of his fellow Russian citizens. One is the memory of the country’s military greatness. Therefore Victory Day celebrations nowadays exceed all the excesses of the Soviet period, and these were not small productions. Just to give a feel for how bizarre this has become, some loyalists have proposed granting to the living relatives of those killed in action during the World War II a right to vote in the name of those deceased in the country’s upcoming elections. This cult of the glorious past makes the best excuse for promoting the military rebuilding (the allocations for defense already make around 5.4 percent of country’s GDP, up from 2.8 percent in early 2000s).
Device number two is nurtured anti-Westernism fueled by the ongoing depiction of the end of the Cold War as a result of both plot and treason that led to the Soviet Union’s defeat and demise. These days, Mr. Putin and his team claim that the United States is willing to destroy and dismantle the Russian Federation itself, so the country should stay militarily strong and ready to withstand its enemies not only alongside its borders but in the whole space identified as the “sphere of Russia’s interests.”Device number three is the claim that parts of “historical Russia” were taken away unlawfully; hence the need to cause the “return” of Crimea. Putin does not openly propose to resurrect the borders of the Soviet Union, even though he likes to say that the USSR was “nothing else, as the same Russia, just called by a different name.” This suggests that Putin’s tendency to identify Russian boundaries as encompassing anywhere large numbers of ethnic Russians live is the operating assumption (and here the parallel to prewar Nazi thinking about Germans living outside the Reich is fairly eerie). Russia will try to further “re-collect” its lands, but the effort is likely to resemble Italy’s efforts in Slovenia, not Germany’s attempts to conquer Europe. Russia’s militaristic hysteria, backed up by micromilitarisme thèâtrale, is used mostly for internal purposes, but the emergence of a unpredictable and surgically aggressive Russia is an obvious new reality that the West must take into account.
The fourth element of Russia’s definition as “moderate” fascist concerns the intermingling of symbolism and propaganda, which have been essential to all fascist regimes. In today’s Russia one can see everything typical of other fascist regimes in this regard: the “rightful” re-codification of history as well as attempts to prosecute alternative readings; the arbitrary definition of “extremism” and limitation of political activity; the establishment of the state control over all the major mass media (and attempts to control the internet); approving of highly symbolic but in fact unusable laws and norms. The propaganda machine is the most profound achievement of the Russian regime today. It helps a government that has been unable for close to twenty years to construct even one modern highway between its country’s two capitals—Moscow and St. Petersburg—still claim that it is successfully modernizing the country and putting it on par with the leading global powers. The glorification of the state works; fantasy reigns. Public opinion is reportedly more than 80 percent favorable to Putin, but of course that could be just propaganda. No one really knows, which is why fantasy is actually the right word here.And it’s getting worse.
The populist rhetoric of “national renaissance”, “strong country,” “showdown with the enemies,” and many similar topics is growing stronger from one year to the next. One Russian law-enforcement agency got a new coat of arms recently that features a bunch of the very same fascii from the emblem of the Italian Fascist Party, now proudly held in the clutch of a double-headed eagle.
Vladimir Putin’s experience and career inclined him to become an authoritarian leader, but his capacity to translate an inclination into the regime we see now has depended on the peculiarities of new and weak government organization in post-Soviet Russia. Here another parallel to Germany suggests itself, but one that has nothing to do with Hitler.
The Weimar Republic, following in the wake of the Hohenzollern imperial collapse in 1919, struggled to obey a constitution that was too idealistic and too weak to prevent radical forces from coming to power. But even in this case it took a smidgen of time to formalize Nazi rule through the Ermächtigungsgesetz of March 1933—the “enabling act” that constituted the Nazi “eating” of the Weimar constitution.
In Russia, however, the rise of an authoritarian leader was presupposed by the Constitution of 1993, in which the position of the President as well as his powers perfectly match the status of a Duce, enabling him to appoint ministers to a cabinet he does not formally head, to create new administrative structures, dissolve the Parliament, and so on without constraint from any quarter. Hitler came from outside the Weimar system; Putin was always inside. The current Russian system, it must be admitted, was engineered during the 1990s by the most “democratic” and “liberal” minds Russia could summon—with no small degree of complicity from supposed Western experts and advisers.
But there is another difficult question, foreshadowed above, that needs to be addressed, and it concerns the fascist preoccupation with nationalism. As Roger Griffin pointed out, “Fascism is best defined as a revolutionary form of nationalism, one that sets out to be a political, social, and ethical revolution, welding the ‘people’ into a dynamic national community under new elites infused with heroic values.”8 The history of Europe in the 20th century was overshadowed by the horrors of the extermination of the Jews by the Nazis and their non-German fascist associates, as well as by other sorts of cleansings directed against “inferior” people like the Roma. The Holocaust, caused by the most radical of all the totalitarian regimes, was so profound an historical shock that it seems unthinkable not to link fascism to extreme forms of nationalism—and here we come back to third reason that Western scholars chafe at the idea of the contemporary Russian state as Fascist.
These days the Russian corporatist state by no means promotes any notion of ethno-national superiority. It does not oppress any ethnic group as such. The Chechen fighters that reportedly were stationed in Moscow in 2011–12 when the Kremlin was frightened of a democratic upheaval in the capital is as inconsistent with fascist racial chauvinism as would be Abyssinian police officers in the streets of Rome in mid-1930s, or a Gypsy battalion safeguarding the Reich Chancellery in Wilhelmstrasse during World War II.
But the peculiarity of Russia in this regard consists of a rather obvious fact that differentiates it from all previous fascist regimes: For at least the three preceding centuries, maybe longer, Russia wasn’t actually a nation-state in the Western sense. It was an empire of the older sort that had never first gone through the modern state-building process. Moreover, it was an empire populated and militarily controlled by ethnic Russians settlers, in the Urals, Siberia, and the Far East, where indigenous people (in the Caucasus and in Central Asia) were neither expelled nor killed but were incorporated into one absolutist state.
As a result of this history, both the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union were critically dependent on peaceful (if not necessarily friendly) relations among all the ethnicities inhabiting the vast country. Although World War II was followed by several ethnic purges and a rise in anti-Semitism, neither phenomena ever constituted a main line of government policies. Therefore Russia was unable to develop a “Nazi” ethnic or racial version of fascism, and it will never do so. This explains quite powerfully that today’s Russia is not nationalistic so much as imperialist. Russia is therefore a unique case of a fascist regime essentially free from the racialist elements of Nazism, and this fact perplexes many who try to reflect on its political nature.
That is why, despite the huge attention to the idea of the “Russian world,” noted above, this is not racialist but cultural. It is about language, not blood. Putin’s own way of talking about this proves the point. He has said that he “finds it hard to accept the position that the people as a community do not have specific features” and believes that in the Russian case that involves not only “our common cultural code but also a very powerful genetic code, because genes have been exchanged during all these centuries and even millennia as the result of mixed marriages [and in fact] that this genetic code of ours is probably, and in fact almost certainly, one of our main competitive advantages in today’s world.”9
So it’s not racial purity, but the reverse, that defines what Russians are supposedly about genetically. For Putin and many Russians, the concept of “Russianness” is an open and inclusive one. Of course, the Ukrainians may not accept this approach, for they tend to get corralled into this open-endedness without anyone having asked their view. Nevertheless, on balance the contemporary Russian state manages to be increasingly fascist without being prejudicially nationalistic. So obviously, if Western scholars define this combination a priori as being incompatible with their definition of fascism, then Russia cannot be fascist. The problem here is with their definition.
This becomes clearer when we consider the cult of the leader, the last of the symbolic aspects of fascism we need to parse. The fascist type of state presupposes all forms of adoration of the Ens Supremum, the nation’s Leader. Putin’s cult has not yet reached the tragicomic extremes of Mussolini’s or Hitler’s, but there are similarities. Putin is the leader of the ruling party without claiming personal membership in it; he ever more often makes speeches not in congress halls but in large arenas or squares. His every wish—whether a new resort palace built or a new law approved by the parliament—just happens in a way that shows his power vertical (a term borrowed from Fascist Italy, by the way) is complete. The former Chairman of the State Election Committee said in 2007 that he cannot even imagine Mr. Putin being wrong on anything, and the deputy Chief of his Administration proclaimed in 2014 that “any attack on Putin is an attack on Russia” and, moreover, “there is no Russia today if there is no Putin.” Many Russian analysts denounced all these formulas but these words are in many senses right, and they serve a purpose: the display of optimistic assumptions even when, or because, reality does not warrant them.
Historically, all earlier fascist regimes either were defeated and dismantled in a course of a military conflict (Germany, Italy, and Hungary), or peacefully diminished after they became profoundly outdated (Spain and Portugal). Although the differences between these two outcomes are profound, there is a striking similarity among them: There is no known case of an organized and orderly transition of power from one Führer to another in any fascist state. This fact distinguishes fascist and communist regimes, even though they may be similar in other respects: communist regimes could be institutionalized in part because they possessed a formal ideology, but fascist ones have never been, thanks to the cult of the leader, which seems to displace the sway of formal ideology.
The nature of fascism presupposes the prevalence of personal cult of the ruler over every possible kind of ideology; Emilio Gentile once mentioned “an ‘anti-ideological’ and pragmatic ideology” as a feature of Fascism. That fits today’s Russia: Putin once famously stated that he cannot name any ideology that might be appropriate for Russia, except “patriotism.” So the disappearance of the leader terminates the normal life of a fascist regime and causes its demise. So Mr. Volodin, who insists that, “there is no Russia today if there is no Putin,” is right. Putin correctly understands that the present system cannot survive him. So as long as he does not blunder into a major war he cannot win, the end of Russia’s fascist regime will resemble that of the Franco’s or Salazar’s, not Mussolini’s.
This is not terrible news. In the 1920s and 1930s the world more easily tolerated violent acts, military struggle, death, and hardship; there were not yet any nuclear weapons, and most people expected nothing much better. Fascist movements were on the rise in many countries, with the forceful popular grassroots movements propelling them to power “from below.” The Fascist governments were able to form worldwide alliances. Nothing of the kind is present today. Putin’s Russia looks like a belch of communism and imperialism in a world lukewarm to both; it’s something built “from the top” that is passively supported by the people rather than pushed forward by them. So the main task of the Western powers consists not in trying to undermine or destroy the current Russian regime, but simply to outlive it. As depleted as the power of many Western states today may be, that, at least, ought to be doable.
1Paxton, The Anatomy of Fascism (Vintage Books, 2005), p. 35.
2Eco, “Ur-Fascism,” New York Review of Books, June 22, 1995.
3Drucker, The End of Economic Man (John Day, 1939), pp. 230-1.
4Here the case of Andranik Migranyan, a staunch Putin’s loyalist and the longtime Director of New York-based branch of the Kremlin-funded Institute of Democracy and Cooperation should be noted; immediately after the Russian annexation of Crimea he responded to those who compared Putin to Hitler, arguing that there have been “two Hitlers”: one who ruled the prosperous and peacefully expanding Germany before September 1, 1939, and the other who made all the “historical mistakes” after this date. Mirganyan has insisted that there’s nothing insulting in looking for some similarities between Putin and “Hitler No 1.”
5Mussolini, Fascismo: Dottrina e Istituzioni (Ardita edizioni, 1935), p. 27.
6Gentile, “Fascism: A Working Definition,” in Stanley Payne, A History of Fascism, 1914-1945 (University of Wisconsin Press, 1995), p. 6.
7Ilya Yashin, Kadyrov: The Threat to the National Security (Free Russia Foundation, 2016), p. 27.
8Griffin, The Nature of Fascism (St. Martin’s Press, 1991), p. xi.
9Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly, December 1, 2016.
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Fulbright Summer Institute to the U.K. award takes WSU sophomore to Wales
May 23, 2019 adriana
Washington State University linguistics major and Spokane native Ava Beck will study at Aberystwyth University in Wales for three weeks this summer, thanks to a Fulbright Summer Institute to the U.K. award.
Beck is one of around 60 U.S. students selected to undertake short academic and cultural programs at any of nine hosting institutions throughout the United Kingdom. At Aberystwyth, on that country’s western coast, Beck will join fellow Americans exploring contemporary issues in identity and nationhood “through the lens of Wales.” She will attend classes in the university’s Dept. of International Politics, explore the city, visit the National Library of Wales, and learn a bit of the Welsh language.
“I am eager to learn and study during the experience and apply that knowledge to my future studies,” Beck said. “But I am also eager to just experience a new place and culture. I hope to grow in obvious and subtle ways and to bring this experience back with me to share with my peers as well as those I am closest to. It really is an exciting opportunity.”
The aspiring speech language therapist chose to apply to the Aberystwyth program for two reasons. She is interested that Wales is striving toward bilingualism in English and Welsh. Plus, she believes her academic area of interest—linguistics, or the study of the nature and structure of human language—is “irrefutably connected” to the summer themes of identity and culture.
WSU Insider
Five accomplished men on the female role models that have changed their lives
March 21, 2019 william.herring
Dr. David Leonard, professor of Comparative Ethnic Studies and American Studies at Washington State University, talked about the influence of African American Studies professor and scholar Ula Taylor. Leonard and Taylor first met when he was a graduate student at University of California, Berkeley.
“I arrived in Berkeley with trepidation and anxiety. My fears were quickly assuaged after a lunch with Dr. Ula Taylor,” Leonard recalled. “At the time, I saw such support as ‘normal’ and ‘routine,’ yet it was anything but commonplace—it is the kind of daily labor that is often rendered invisible. This is the essential work, often carried out by faculty of color, particularly women, that deserves recognition because of its impact. This labor isn’t just about support and mentoring but intellectual work. Thank you, Dr. Ula Taylor for giving so much to me and so many others. Thank you for contributing to my purpose.”
Social Issues in Cosplay: Racism
February 12, 2019 adriana
Holly Rose Swinyard, editor of The Cosplay Journal, examines an unpleasant aspect of the cosplay scene – and what can be done to tackle racism in the community
Racism is probably one of the biggest issues in the cosplay community. You’d think with a community that claims to be open, liberal and supportive that this wouldn’t be the case, but here we are.
I’m not going to sugar coat this. This isn’t a “tinge of racism” or a “dusting” of it – the cosplay community, and geek culture at large, has some serious racism embedded in it and is full of racist people. That’s just the case. It is happening. Everywhere.
And it’s not just language or slurs that are commonplace; there are so many people who think that making your skin colour darker/giving yourself more ethnic features (making your eyes look more Asian, making prosthetics to mimic black features etc) is the same as painting yourself blue or green or adding elf ears. Those who do this claim that what they are doing is not blackface or raceface, since, in their minds, what they are doing isn’t mocking people of colour, and yet they are being told over and over again that it is hugely disrespectful to use someone’s race as part of a costume.
“Blackface is part of a history of dehumanization, of denied citizenship, and of efforts to excuse and justify state violence. From lynchings to mass incarceration, whites have utilized blackface (and the resulting dehumanization) as part of its moral and legal justification for violence. It is time to stop with the dismissive arguments those that describe these offensive acts as pranks, ignorance and youthful indiscretions. Blackface is never a neutral form of entertainment, but an incredibly loaded site for the production of damaging stereotypes…the same stereotypes that undergird individual and state violence, American racism, and a century’s worth of injustice.”
wrote David Leonard, then-chair of Washington State University’s department of critical culture, gender, and race studies, in a Huffington Post essay, “Just Say No To blackface: Neo Minstrelsy and the Power to Dehumanize.”
DownTheTubes.net
Duke University Apologizes Over Professor’s Email Asking Chinese Students to Speak English
January 29, 2019 william.herring
Duke University has apologized after a professor cautioned international students against speaking Chinese on campus and urged them to speak English instead.
Yung-Hwa Anna Chow, who advises students in Washington State University’s college of arts and sciences, said international students must already have English proficiency to study in the United States. While students may need to speak English in classrooms and research labs, they should be able to choose which language to speak in social settings, she said.
“To attack these students and say they have to speak English because it’s good for them and that they need to practice more, it speaks to these professors’ privilege and entitlement,” she said.
Ms. Chow, who was raised in Taiwan and began learning English at 12 when she moved to the United States, said speaking a native language allows people to connect with one another, establish a feeling of home and combat homesickness.
“That’s a really important piece for these students,” she said. “If you were traveling to China and you didn’t speak Chinese, would you want to be speaking Chinese all the time or would you feel more comfortable speaking English with your friends?”
CAS undergraduate receives Sigma Xi research grant
January 24, 2019 adriana
AnnMarie McCracken, an undergraduate student at Washington State University, has been awarded a research grant from Sigma Xi, the scientific research honor society’s Grants‑in‑Aid of Research program.
Only 12 percent of the 810 grant applications in 2018 were approved for funding, and only 17 of the approved proposals were from undergraduates.
McCracken is pursuing a double bachelor’s degree with majors in French and in anthropology.
She will receive an $847 grant from the Sigma Xi program’s ecology category for her project “An Isotopic Examination of Dietary Niche Partitioning Between Lynx and Bobcats in a Range Edge Environment.”
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PROF. SRIDAR NATARAJAN
Dean, Chennai Business School
B.Tech (Hons) IIT Kharagpur, PGDBM (Finance & Systems) IIM Bangalore
Prof. Anish K Ravi
Masters in International Business Management
Prof. Vijaya C
PG in Financial Management & Commerce
Prof. A.Panneer Selvam
PGDBA
Prof. Arun K Nair
B.E (Honors), PGDM (IIM, Bangalore)
Prof. Aravind Narasipur
B.E, PG in Human Resource Management
Prof. T Pattabiraman
M.Tech, M.B.A, M.I.E, Cert of IIFT
Prof. A. Venkata Subramanian(Emeritus)
B.Com, PGDM (IIM-B), FCMA, ACS
Prof. Dr. Mythili Venkateswaran
Dean Chennai Business School
Prof. Sridar Natarajan is a Metallurgical Engineer from IIT Kharagpur (1977-82). After a two-year stint as a Quality Assurance Engineer in Tata Motors Co. (then TELCO), he resigned to pursue PGDBM at IIM-Bangalore, specializing in Finance and Systems (1984-86).
Most of his post-management career has been at Ernst & Young and member Firms in India and Saudi Arabia (1986-1998) as a management consultant. In E&Y, he has executed a wide range of assignments from developing costing and accounting systems for manufacturing companies and banks to developing business requirements using CASE tools for retail and manufacturing companies. He was involved in a start-up venture in IT-Training for a couple of years before he entered into the teaching profession. He was the Director – MBA of a leading college in Coimbatore for 3 years. Between 2005 and 2007, he has practiced as an independent management consultant – executing assignments on costing and finance and conducting executive development programs for companies in Coimbatore. He has also been a visiting faculty for Finance and Operations in BIM and PSGIM.
Prof. Sridar joined Chennai Business School as Dean in 2007. He handles Quantitative Techniques and Financial Management as part of the General Management course and Derivatives for the BFS varsity.
Prof. Anish K. Ravi has over 8 years of experience in the BFSI and in his tenure in the industry; he was engaged in various assignments in Product Development, Sales and Marketing. He joined CBS as a Faculty in Marketing and International Business Management. His interest in marketing was born during his undergraduate days. His initial exposure encouraged him to look at marketing as a career and ultimately took him to pursue International Business Management. He is currently pursuing Ph.D. in management.
He teaches Marketing courses like Rural Marketing, Direct Marketing, Sales & Distribution and HR courses like Training & Development.
Ms. Vijaya is a Post Graduate in Financial Management as well as in Commerce, with around 15 years of experience in the academic and financial services fields. She has a gold medal in Management education and a University rank in her graduation. She has worked in leading private banks and wealth management companies servicing High networth individuals. In the academic front, she worked with ICFAI Business School, Wigan and Leigh and The Ethiraj College for Women, apart from Chennai Business School, with which she has been associated for nearly a decade. Along with teaching she had written research articles and case studies for management students worldwide. Her case studies have been published in Management books and are also available online at the international portal for case studies – casecentre.org. She has been a panelist at case writing competitions held for faculty members from various B-schools. She has also been a freelance educationist for a period of 4 years teaching management and finance in institutes such as LIBA and MCF.
Prof. A. Panneer Selvam is a PGDBA from St. Josephs and he is currently heading the Corporate Engagement, taking care of the Placements and Executive Education at CBS. He has been with CBS for close to 8 years, almost right from inception. Formerly, he was the Head of the Retail varsity. He has 32 years of Industry experience in product sales, retail marketing, infrastructure project management, managing automobile component manufacturing unit, and education in senior positions.
He worked with Dunlop India Ltd for 14 years in various senior managerial capacities, which includes a three-year stint as the Regional Sales Manager for south region.
Prof. Panner Selvam was a practicing SAP consultant with Pentafour on the sales & distribution module. He was also heading a Malaysian company for their Indian operations for about 6 years which includes 4 years of global exposure in handling their export and import business.
Prof. Nair holds a B.E (Honors) Degree in Production Engineering and a Post Graduate Degree in Management from the Indian Institute of Management (Bangalore). He has over 24 years of industry experience with the ITC group in India and with business groups in the Middle East. Prof. Nair has handled Business Development and Client Facing Engagements across Asia, Middle East and Europe. He has worked extensively in the areas of new product development in creating new product lines as part of product portfolio expansion. He has also handled Profit Centre Management Roles with a focus on Productivity Improvement, Business Excellence Models and Process Improvement. His areas of academic interest includes International Marketing, Key Account Management, Operations Management and New Product/Process Development.
B.E, PG in Human Resource Management.
Aravind Narasipur is an engineering graduate with a post graduate diploma in Human Resource Management. He switched to teaching and training (data analysis) after a 16 year stint in industry during which he published an article on Peer Reviews (aka Software Inspections) in the Cutter IT Journal (USA). He is currently involved in teaching at MBA programmes (Business Statistics / Quantitative Methods / Marketing Research) and also trains corporates in the area of Data Analysis. He has been actively involved in training for organizations like Ashok Leyland and Infosys BPO. He is also a technical reviewer for the statistics books by the popular authors Anderson/Sweeney/Williams [Cengage] whose books are used widely in MBA programmes in India and abroad.
Prof. T Pattabiraman has had an outstanding career with Ashok Leyland for more than 24 years and led the export thrust as General Manager, Exports. He also had a stint with Binnys and in the State Trading Corporation of India before his tenure at Ashok Leyland.
Prior to taking up his current role as an educator and consultant he was a Vice President at M. M. Exports. He brings to the learning sessions his rich experience of over 40 years in the private and public sectors. He has visited a number of countries as part of his work in initiating joint ventures, tie ups in various markets and export consulting assignments.
Prof. Pattabiraman is a member of apex committees of CII, FIEO, EEPC, FICCI and other export promotional bodies. He regularly takes part in industry-institutional interactions. He has also been associated with government policy making task forces from the trade and industry. He is a visiting faculty in many institutions like IIFT and IIM.
B.Com, PGDM (IIM-B)
FCMA, ACS
Prof. A. Venkata Subramanian has a brilliant academic record to his credit and has over 30 years’ experience in industry, consulting and teaching. He did his B.Com from Loyola College, Chennai and the 2 year full time PGDM from IIM Bangalore, He is also a Fellow Member of the Institute of Cost Accountants of India and Associate Member of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India.
He has been teaching/training for over 6 years – before joining CBS he worked with ICFAI Business School (IBS), Chennai as a Faculty Member. Prior to entering the teaching profession he worked for over 27 years in industry and consultancy with reputed companies in India and abroad. His experience has covered a wide range of areas like Project finance, Joint ventures, Mergers & Acquisitions, Corporate planning & Strategy, Financial planning, Compliance and Corporate governance, Accounting, MIS and training.
Prof. Venkat worked in senior management positions in India / abroad with leading organizations -Shell Group companies, Essar Oil Ltd, PSEG Group (a Fortune 500 US Based large energy company), Torrent Energy, A.F.Ferguson & Co. etc.
Prof. Venkat teaches subjects like Business Strategy, Mergers & Acquisitions, Management Control systems, Financial Management, Accounting for Managers, Personal Financial Planning etc for MBA / Post Graduate Programme students. He has also participated in conducting Management Development programmes, Faculty Development programmes, Management Seminars and other institution building activities. He received the ‘Best Faculty’ award at IBS Chennai for the year 2008-2009.
Prof. Venkat has published various articles and book reviews in areas of Strategy, M&A management, Collaborative advantage, decision making, change management etc. in reputed management magazines.
With 29 years’ experience, including high profile B-Schools like S P Jain Institute of Management, Mumbai and IIM, Ahmedabad, and a variety of organizations across sectors, Mythili has international exposure and experience: UK, India, UAE and Singapore.
In addition to teaching and training, she has been involved in external relations, placement and alumni relations in her earlier roles.
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Aidoo, Abena
PhD, University of Delaware
Tourism and Events Management
Send email to Dr. Aidoo
Email: aaidoo (@gmu.edu)
Science and Technology Campus
Katherine G. Johnson Hall 228A
10890 George Mason Circle
View Abena Aidoo's curriculum vitae in PDF format.
Dr. Abena Aidoo, is an Associate Professor in the Tourism & Events Management (TEM) program, in the School of Recreation, Health, and Tourism, at George Mason University (Mason). During the almost 7 years she has been at the University, she has taught a wide variety of courses such as, Heritage and Cultural Tourism, Tourism Planning and Policy, Introduction to Tourism Management, Ecotourism, the Administration of Sport, Recreation, and Tourism Organizations, and Women and Tourism.
For a little over 3 years, Dr. Aidoo served as the Fieldwork Experience Coordinator for the TEM program, during which she revamped the curriculum of the two required internship courses to enhance the overall experience for students and the partner agencies.
In addition to serving on committees at different levels in the University, Dr. Aidoo has sought to work closely with industry partners, participating in a variety of activities, and she currently serves as a board member for the Greater Prince William chapter of the Virginia Restaurant, Lodging, and Travel Association.
Prior to coming to Mason, Dr. Aidoo worked on her doctorate degree in Urban Affairs and Public Policy, with an emphasis on Tourism Development, at the University of Delaware (UD). At UD, in addition to the work on her dissertation, she worked with esteemed public service faculty on issues surrounding poverty, including food stamps, the revitalization of an abandoned neighborhood, and housing. She received her Master of Human Resource degree from Clemson University, after which she worked as a Residence Life Coordinator at Georgia Institute of Technology. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Psychology from the University of Ghana.
As a Commercial Clerk at the Embassy of the United States in Accra, Ghana, she worked to promote U.S. exports to, and to facilitate U.S. investments in, Ghana. In this position, she was integrally involved in various activities, including the organization of large-scale events for the Department of State and the Department of Commerce, in Accra, Ghana.
Heritage and Cultural Tourism
Tourism Planning and Policy
Tourism as a Socioeconomic Development Strategy
Tourism in Sub-Saharan Africa
School of Recreation, Health and Tourism
Division of Sport, Recreation, and Tourism
Women and Tourism (TOUR - 311)
Administration of SRT Organizations I (PRLS 410)
Introduction to Tourism Management (TOUR 200)
Hospitality, Tourism, and Events Management Practicum (TOUR 241)
Ecotourism (TOUR 312)
Film and Medical Tourism (TOUR 341)
Heritage and Cultural Tourism (TOUR 352)
Tourism Planning/Policy (TOUR 420)
Hospitality, Tourism, and Events Management Internship (TOUR 490)
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New Publication: The Oncogenic Functions of MASTL Kinase
Posted on December 4, 2018 Updated on December 4, 2018
I am very excited to announce our new review paper which is out now in Front Cell Dev Biol [Link]. This is also the first paper from Dr Kamila Marzec who recently joined the lab. Great work!
MASTL kinase is a master regulator of mitosis, essential for ensuring that mitotic substrate phosphorylation is correctly maintained. It achieves this through the phosphorylation of alpha-endosulfine and subsequent inhibition of the tumour suppressor PP2A-B55 phosphatase. In recent years MASTL has also emerged as a novel oncogenic kinase that is upregulated in a number of cancer types, correlating with chromosome instability and poor patient survival. While the chromosome instability is likely directly linked to MASTL’s control of mitotic phosphorylation, several new studies indicated that MASTL has additional effects outside of mitosis and beyond regulation of PP2A-B55. These include control of normal DNA replication timing, and regulation of AKT/mTOR and Wnt/β-catenin oncogenic kinase signalling. In this review, we will examine the phenotypes and mechanisms for how MASTL, ENSA and PP2A-B55 deregulation drives tumour progression and metastasis. Finally, we will explore the rationale for the future development of MASTL inhibitors as new cancer therapeutics.
Source: The Oncogenic Functions of MASTL Kinase
This entry was posted in News and tagged breast cancer, Cancer, Cell cycle, chromosomal instability, CIN, DNA replication, MASTL, Mitosis, phosphatase, PP2A, TNBC, TP53.
New Co-Author Publication in Gut: CDK4 inhibitors for treatment of Pancreatic Cancer
More great news, we have another co-author publication in the outstanding journal Gut. This fabulous work was pioneered by the very talented Dr Marina Pajic and her group at the Garvan Institute. We were very honoured to be involved in such amazing work.
The title of the publication is “Tailored first-line and second-line CDK4-targeting treatment combinations in mouse models of pancreatic cancer”. You can read and access the full article for free here [Link]
Objective Extensive molecular heterogeneity of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA), few effective therapies and high mortality make this disease a prime model for advancing development of tailored therapies. The p16-cyclin D-cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6-retinoblastoma (RB) protein (CDK4) pathway, regulator of cell proliferation, is deregulated in PDA. Our aim was to develop a novel personalised treatment strategy for PDA based on targeting CDK4.
Design Sensitivity to potent CDK4/6 inhibitor PD-0332991 (palbociclib) was correlated to protein and genomic data in 19 primary patient-derived PDA lines to identify biomarkers of response. In vivo efficacy of PD-0332991 and combination therapies was determined in subcutaneous, intrasplenic and orthotopic tumour models derived from genome-sequenced patient specimens and genetically engineered model. Mechanistically, monotherapy and combination therapy were investigated in the context of tumour cell and extracellular matrix (ECM) signalling. Prognostic relevance of companion biomarker, RB protein, was evaluated and validated in independent PDA patient cohorts (>500 specimens).
Results Subtype-specific in vivo efficacy of PD-0332991-based therapy was for the first time observed at multiple stages of PDA progression: primary tumour growth, recurrence (second-line therapy) and metastatic setting and may potentially be guided by a simple biomarker (RB protein). PD-0332991 significantly disrupted surrounding ECM organisation, leading to increased quiescence, apoptosis, improved chemosensitivity, decreased invasion, metastatic spread and PDA progression in vivo. RB protein is prevalent in primary operable and metastatic PDA and may present a promising predictive biomarker to guide this therapeutic approach.
Conclusion This study demonstrates the promise of CDK4 inhibition in PDA over standard therapy when applied in a molecular subtype-specific context.
This entry was posted in News and tagged Cancer, CDK4, Cell cycle, chemosensitivity, cyclin D, Dr Marina Pajic, FUCCI, Garvan, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Kinghorn Cancer Center, Leica, metastatic, p16, palbociclib, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, PD-0332991, PDX mice, personalised treatment, Rb protein.
New Co-Author Publication! Ensa controls S-phase length by modulating Treslin levels.
Great news, we have published a co-authored paper entitled ‘Ensa controls S-phase length by modulating Treslin levels’ in the prestigious journal ‘Nature Communications’. This work was started back in 2011 when I was a Post-Doc in the laboratory of Anna Castro in France. It’s exciting to see those inital discoveries transition into the finished paper.
The article is Open Access and free to download, which you can do so here: http://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-00339-4
The Greatwall/Ensa/PP2A-B55 pathway is essential for controlling mitotic substrate phos- phorylation and mitotic entry. Here, we investigate the effect of the knockdown of the Gwl substrate, Ensa, in human cells. Unexpectedly, Ensa knockdown promotes a dramatic extension of S phase associated with a lowered density of replication forks. Notably, Ensa depletion results in a decrease of Treslin levels, a pivotal protein for the firing of replication origins. Accordingly, the extended S phase in Ensa-depleted cells is completely rescued by the overexpression of Treslin. Our data herein reveal a new mechanism by which normal cells regulate S-phase duration by controlling the ubiquitin-proteasome degradation of Treslin in a Gwl/Ensa-dependent pathway.
This entry was posted in News and tagged Cell cycle, DNA replication, ENSA, Greatwall, MASTL.
New Publication in Cell! The Phosphoregulation of Mitosis
We are incredibly excited to announce that our SnapShot is out today in Cell!
This snapshot of mitosis collates hundreds of phosphorylation events and directly links them with their regulatory kinases and counterbalancing phosphatases, in both time and space, in a highly innovative ‘circtanglar’ cell layout. More importantly, the static PDF version is accompanied by an interactive website that enables users to access direct links to PubMed, UniProt, and Aquaria 3D protein structures for each and every phosphorylation event shown. The pop-up boxes also contain over 100 additional phosphorylation sites on dozens of proteins essential for mitosis. You can access the interactive web version here: http://www.cell.com/cell/enhanced/odonoghue2
Even better news is that until August 04, 2017 the PDF version of the SnapShot is freely accessible for everyone at the following link https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1VDWh_278yyILK
A big thank-you to Jenny, Sam, Marcos and Sean for helping me put together what I hope will be an amazing resource for anyone interested in how cells divide and phosphorylation in general.
This entry was posted in News and tagged anaphase, Cancer, Cdk1, Cell cycle, cell division, cytokinesis, Garvan, kinase, Kinghorn Cancer Center, metaphase, Mitosis, phosphoproteomics, phosphorylation, PP1, PP2A, Vizbi.
8th Garvan Signalling Symposium – Registration Now Open !!!
8th Garvan Signalling Symposium
Date: Monday 31st of October and Tuesday 1st of November 2016
Venue: The Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney
Registration – Abstract submission to 15th of September 2016
The Garvan International Signalling Symposium is a premier meeting focused on the mechanisms of signal transduction. It began as a small meeting organised by Prof. Roger Daly around the visit of Prof. Axel Ullrich to the Garvan Institute in 2001. Since then, ‘Signalling Meetings’ have been held every 2-3 years and the meeting has grown into one of the Garvan Institute’s premiere scientific events. This boutique symposium highlights cutting-edge developments from the Asia-Pacific region and the rest of the world.
We welcome scientists at all levels, including students, post-docs, research staff and senior lab heads. The intimate nature of the meeting and enjoyable social functions promotes a collegial atmosphere and excellent networking opportunities. A poster session will be held on the Monday afternoon with generous prizes. Slots have been reserved for short (15 minutes) talks to be selected from submitted abstracts.
The meeting is held at the Garvan Institute in the glamorous Darlinghurst region of Sydney, close to the city, Oxford Street, King’s Cross and the harbour.
This years exciting program features state-of-the-art technologies to investigate a wide range of diseases including cancer, immunology, neuroscience and metabolic disorders. Special sessions focus on in vivo/intravital signalling, proteomics, control of gene regulation and the structural basis of signalling.
Click Here for more information and to register
Klaus M Hahn
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA
Dr. Hahn’s laboratory develops new means to visualize and control protein activity in vivo, and uses them to study the role of signaling dynamics in immune cell decision making. His laboratory has produced broadly applicable approaches to fluorescent biosensors that report conformational changes of endogenous proteins, fluorescent dyes to visualize protein activity in vivo, and protein analogs that can be controlled by light or small molecules. Current biological studies focus on phagocytosis, platelet production and metastasis.
Dr. Hahn studied at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Virginia, where he received his Ph.D in Organic Chemistry. He was a postdoc at the Center for Fluorescence Research at Carnegie Mellon University, became an Associate Professor of Cell Biology at the Scripps Research Institute, and then moved to UNC-Chapel Hill, where he is the Thurman Distinguished Professor of Pharmacology and Director of the UNC-Olympus Imaging Center. Dr. Hahn is a recipient of an NIH Transformative Grant, the NIH’s James Shannon Director’s Award, and is a fellow of the AAAS. His lab’s work on biosensors was named one of the “10 Breakthroughs of the Decade” by Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology.
http://www.hahnlab.com/
Owen J Sansom
The Beatson Institute, Scotland
Owen Sansom is interim director of the Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute, Glasgow. Owen gained his PhD in 2001 working on in vivo models of apoptosis in cancer. Since then, he has been instrumental in determining the molecular hallmarks of colorectal cancer (CRC), including showing the roles of the tumour suppressor protein APC and the WNT signalling pathway and the involvement of intestinal stem cells in tumourigenesis. In 2005, Owen established his own laboratory at the Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute, where he became Deputy Director in 2010. The Sansom laboratory uses in vivo models and 3D in vitro models to recapitulate CRC and pancreatic cancer to investigate the molecular mechanisms underpinning tumourigenesis and to identify novel drug targets. In 2007 Owen won the BACR/AstraZeneca Young Scientist Frank Rose Award and in 2012 was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and was awarded the Cancer Research UK Future Leaders in Cancer Research prize.
http://www.beatson.gla.ac.uk/invasion-and-metastasis/owen-sansom-colorectal-cancer-and-wnt-signalling.html
Eric O’Neill
University of Oxford, UK
Eric O’Neill is a Senior Group Leader and Associate Professor at the CRUK/MRC Oxford Institute for Radiation Oncology. After completing a Ph.D. at the University of Umeå, Sweden he was a post-doc at the University of Oxford. Subsequently, he was awarded a Marie Curie research fellowship and completed a 5-year post-doctoral position investigating oncogenic and tumour suppressor signalling at the CRUK Beatson Institute for Cancer Research in Glasgow. He is a member of the Association for Radiation Research and an examiner for the Royal College of Radiologists. He has also been on the organising committee for several international conferences.
http://www.radiationoncology.ox.ac.uk/research/eric-oneill
Peter R Shepherd
University of Auckland, New Zealand
Peter Shepherd gained a PhD in Chemistry from Massey University in New Zealand before post doctoral fellowships at Harvard University and Cambridge University. Following faculty positions at University College London, he moved back to Auckland University in 2004 where he is currently deputy director at the Maurice Wilkins Centre, a Centre of Research Excellence. His work focusses on understanding how defects in cell signalling pathways contribute to the development of type-2 diabetes and cancer, particularly focussing on the PI 3-kinase and beta-catenin pathways. His lab also has a strong translational research focus in the form of several ongoing in house drug discovery projects.
https://unidirectory.auckland.ac.nz/profile/peter-shepherd
Tilman Brummer
University of Freiburg, Germany
Dr. Tilman Brummer is currently an independent group leader at the Institute of Molecular Medicine and Cell Research (IMMZ) at the Albert-Ludwigs University (ALU) in Freiburg, Germany. He finished his studies in Biology with a diploma at the ALU followed by a PhD thesis on B lymphocyte signalling with Prof. Michael Reth at the Max-Planck-Institute for Immunobiology and Epigenetics. In 2003, he joined the laboratory of Prof. Roger J. Daly at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney as a postdoctoral fellow. In 2008, he returned to the newly established Centre of Biological Systems Analysis (ZBSA) at the ALU to establish his independent laboratory funded by the Emmy-Noether program of the German Research Foundation (DFG) before moving to the IMMZ in 2012. He is a principal investigator within the Collaborative Research Centre 850 “Control of Cell Motility in Morphogenesis, Cancer Invasion and Metastasis”, the “Spemann Graduate School of Biology and Medicine” and the “Centre for Biological Signalling Studies” BIOSS. Recently, he has been awarded a prestigious Heisenberg fellowship of the DFG.
The Brummer laboratory is interested in the organisation of intracellular signalling pathways and how their intricate control becomes disturbed in human cancer. The laboratory is particularly interested in understanding the regulation of the BRAF and GAB2 oncoproteins and how they contribute to metastasis and drug resistance in solid tumours and leukaemia.
Jennifer Morton
Jen Morton is a joint leader of the pancreatic cancer research team at the Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute. Her research focuses mainly on: (a) Investigating the importance of mutations found in human pancreatic tumours using mouse models, (b) Profiling different genetic subsets of pancreatic cancer to better understand the disease and identify specific targets for therapy, and (c) performing preclinical trials of targeted therapies in clinically and genetically relevant pancreatic cancer mouse models.
Pat Caswell
Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell-Matrix Research, UK
Patrick is based within the Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell Matrix Research at the University of Manchester. Patrick studied Biochemistry at the University of Nottingham, before undertaking a PhD at the University of Leicester and a postdoc in Jim Norman’s lab at the Beatson Institute for Cancer Research. Patrick set up his lab in 2010, focussing on how cell-matrix interactions through integrins generate signals that control key cellular processes such as cell migration, differentiation and survival. The lab is specifically interested in vesicular trafficking, and has recently shown that endocytic trafficking of integrins and co-cargo receptors controls the spatial activation of RhoGTPases to modulate the actin cytoskeleton in invasive cancer cells.
http://www.wellcome-matrix.org/research_groups/pat-caswell.html
Vinay Tergaonkar
Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Singapore
Vinay Tergaonkar obtained his Ph.D. (2001), from National Center for Biological Sciences, Bangalore. During his graduate studies he was awarded an international cancer society (UICC) fellowship for collaborative research at Tufts University, Boston, USA. He has been a fellow (2001-2004) and a special fellow (2004-present) of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of America and conducted his postdoctoral studies at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, California. He joined the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB) in late 2005 as Principal Investigator and became a Senior Principal Investigator in 2010 and Research Director in 2015. He is also a Professor at School of Medicine at National University of Singapore. He has been invited to speak at various international venues and meetings such as the Barossa and Hunter valley meetings in Australia, Genes and Cancer meeting in UK, The Argentine Pharmacological society meeting in Buenos Aires, Aichi and Japanese Cancer Society meetings in Japan and the Keystone Symposia. He serves on Editorial Boards of 1) Molecular and Cellular Biology (American Society for Molecular Biology) 2) Biochemical Journal (Portland Press) 3) Critical Reviews in Oncology/Hematology (Elsevier Press), 4) BMC Research Notes (Biomed Central) and 5) Telomeres and Telomerase. He has received international recognition for his work including the British council development award (2014) and the 2015 Premiers’ fellowship from Government of South Australia.
http://www.imcb.a-star.edu.sg/php/vinayt.php
Daniel Schramek
Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital, University of Toronto, Canada
Daniel Schramek is a Principal Investigator at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, and Assistant Professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto. He obtained his BSc and MSc in Molecular biology from the University of Vienna and undertook his master thesis under the supervision of Prof. Roger Daly at the Garvan Institute in Sydney. He undertook his PhD work under the supervision of Prof. Josef Penninger at IMBA in Vienna, followed by postdoctoral studies with Prof. Elaine Fuchs at the Rockefeller University in New York. In 2015, Dr. Schramek was recruited to the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, where he holds an endowed ‘Kierans & Janigan’ Cancer Research Chair as well as a tier 2 Canadian Research Chair in Functional Cancer Genomics. Dr. Schramek was awarded a prestigious HFSP Career Development Award, the Early Researcher Award from the Ontario Ministry of Research & Innovation as well as a CIHR Foundation grant.
His lab focuses on functional cancer genomics and has generated various in vivo CRISPR-gene editing methodologies to screen for novel tumor suppressors, cancer vulnerabilities as well as therapy resistance genes in various mouse models of human cancers. Through this program, Dr. Schramek specifically aims to identify molecular and cellular mechanisms that regulate epithelial tissue growth in adult homeostasis, cancer and cancer-associated inflammation.
http://www.lunenfeld.ca/researchers/schramek
http://schramek.lunenfeld.ca
This entry was posted in News and tagged Cell cycle, Confocal, Confocal imaging, Garvan, Garvan Institute, Kinghorn Cancer Center, Leica, microscopy, Signalling Symposium, UNSW.
BioEssays Review on Mitotic Phosphatase Specificity now Online
Great News, our review on how phosphatase specificity is controlled during mitosis has been re-published in BioEssays and is now Online!
This review was originally published in Inside the Cell, which unfortunately has shut down.
But the good news is that it is still Open Access, so that means its free for everyone to read! And is now also indexed in PubMed
During mitotic exit, phosphatases reverse thousands of phosphorylation events in a specific temporal order to ensure that cell division occurs correctly. This review explores how the physicochemical properties of the phosphosite and surrounding amino acids affect interactions with phosphatase/s and help determine the dephosphorylation of individual phosphorylation sites during mitotic exit.
The Full-text download for the Article can be found here [Link]
Citation: Rogers, S. et al. (2016) Mechanisms regulating phosphatase specificity and the removal of individual phosphorylation sites during mitotic exit. BioEssays, 38, S24–S32.
This entry was posted in News and tagged amino acid, BioEssays, Cell cycle, cell division, dephosphorylation, Garvan, kinase, metaphase, mitotic exit, Open Access, phosphatase, phosphorylation, phosphosite, PP1, PP2A.
Switching off Cancers Diversity
A defining feature in over 2/3rds of all solid tumours is the continual loss and gain of whole are small parts of chromosomes. This instability, or CIN for short, strongly implicated in tumour initiation, progression, chemoresistance and poor prognosis. CIN is created through failures during mitosis, whereby whole or parts of a chromosome are segregated incorrectly, thereby created daughter cells with unequal chromosome numbers. Consequently, understanding how mitosis is regulated is essential for uncovering the mechanisms allowing CIN to arise and drive cancer. In our recent publication, we discovered the mechanisms controlling the key regulatory pathway critical to ensuring cells exit mitosis correctly. At the centre of this pathway is a gene call MASTL (short for ‘Microtubule Associated Serine/Threonine Kinase-Like’). The primary function of MASTL is to ensure that the cellular breaks (the phosphatase PP2A), is turned off during mitosis so that the accelerator (Cdk1 kinase) can drive the cell into mitosis. Much like a car, having the accelerator and breaks on at the same time is a bad idea, unless you like the smell of burning rubber. To successfully exit mitosis, and to perfectly segregate chromosomes, the cell must take the foot off the accelerator and turn on the breaks. Because MASTL is the central regulator ensuring the breaks are coordinated with the accelerator, it is essential to understand how MASTL is controlled. To this end, we uncovered that MASTL must be rapidly turned off to allow cells to exit mitosis, and this inactivation is carried out by another cellular brake call PP1 phosphatase (Rogers et al, JCS 2016). Now that we have identified and mapped this novel mitotic exit switch, we hope to be able to shed new light on how CIN drives the initiation and evolution cancer. We believe that with further study we will be able to better predict patient response to chemotherapy, and also identify new ways to ‘switch off’ highly unstable tumours, thereby improving treatment for patients that currently have a very poor prognosis.
Image of Interphase HeLa cell stained for Actin (red), DNA (blue) and the co-localisation of MASTL and PP1 by Proximity Ligation Assay (PLA; green).
Credit: Sam Rogers and Cell Division Lab
This entry was posted in News and tagged anaphase, bistability, Bitplane, Cancer, Cdk1, Cell cycle, cell division, chromosome bridge, chromosome instability, CIN, evolution, Garvan, Greatwall, kinase, Kinghorn Cancer Center, MASTL, Mitosis, mitotic exit, phosphatase, phosphorylation, PLA assay, PP1, PP2A.
New Publication: Clinical Overview of MDM2/X-Targeted Therapies
Great news, we have a new Mini-Review published in Frontiers Oncology entitled “Clinical Overview of MDM2/X-Targeted Therapies“, which is apart of the Research Topic Human tumor-derived p53 mutants: a growing family of oncoproteins
Here is a little snippet from the Abstract to wet your appetite!
MDM2 and MDMX are the primary negative regulators of p53, which under normal conditions maintain low intracellular levels of p53 by targeting it to the proteasome for rapid degradation and inhibiting its transcriptional activity. Both MDM2 and MDMX function as powerful oncogenes and are commonly over-expressed in some cancers, including sarcoma (~20%) and breast cancer (~15%).
In this overview, we will review the current MDM2- and MDMX-targeted therapies in development, focusing particularly on compounds that have entered into early phase clinical trials. We will highlight the challenges pertaining to predictive biomarkers for and toxicities associated with these compounds, as well as identify potential combinatorial strategies to enhance its anti-cancer efficacy.
The article is Open Access, which means its free for everyone and anyone to read and download!
You can view and download it directly here [Link]
This entry was posted in News and tagged Cancer, Cell cycle, Frontiers in Oncology, Garvan, Kinghorn Cancer Center, MDM2, MDM4, MDMX, Nutkin-3a, nutlin, p53, RG7112, TP53, ubitquitin.
New Review Article Published!! “Mechanisms Regulating Phosphatase Specificity During Mitotic Exit”
Posted on October 28, 2015 Updated on October 28, 2015
Great News, we have a new review article that has just been published online today in Inside the Cell!
Its Open Access, so that means its free for everyone to read!
The Full Reference and link for the Article can be found below:
Samuel Rogers, Rachael McCloy, D Neil Watkins and Andrew Burgess Mechanisms regulating phosphatase specificity and the removal of individual phosphorylation sites during mitotic exit Inside the Cell [Link]
This entry was posted in News and tagged anaphase, cdc14, Cdk1, Cell cycle, cell division, cytokinesis, Garvan, Inside the cell, kinase, Mitosis, mitotic exit, phosphatase, phosphorylation, PP1, PP2A, proteomics.
Position available: 2016 Honours Student Project in our Lab
Great news we are currently looking for a new honours student for 2016.
The title of the project is “Developing novel biosensors to monitor DNA damage in cancer cells”.
Its a very exciting new project incorporating cutting edge microscopy and fluorescent biosensors.
If you think you have what it takes and are interested please feel free contact myself, or UNSW SoMS.
For more information on the UNSW honours program please visit: http://medicalsciences.med.unsw.edu.au/students/soms-honours/
Below is an example of the images that will be created during the project.
This entry was posted in News and tagged Cancer, Cell cycle, cell division, Chromobody, Confocal, Confocal imaging, DNA replication, Garvan, Garvan Institute, honours, Kinghorn Cancer, live cell imaging, microscopy, PhD, SoMS, SP8, student, UNSW.
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Book Review: “The House of Hawthorne,” By Erika Robuck
Can love bloom between two artists without causing their art to wither and die? That is one of the more intriguing aspects of Erika Robuck’s poignant historical novel, The House of Hawthorne.
Sophie Peabody was a promising painter who was hindered by debilitating headaches. Her family sent her to Cuba in the hope that the warm climate might cure her. There she nurtured her talent as a painter, while also writing The Cuba Journal. She returned to Massachusetts invigorated, but her headaches eventually would return. In the throes of illness, she met Nathaniel Hawthorne when he came calling on her sister, Elizabeth. Sophie and Nathanial were lovestruck. Robuck described the intensity of their feelings in this passage: “When I enter, Hawthorne’s eyes meet mine, and he rises. By the holy angels, I feel my soul at once aflame and reaching through my breast toward him.”
Their courtship lasted more than four years. Nathaniel would not marry Sophie until he could support her financially. He joined Brook Farm, a transcendentalist community and married Sophie in 1842. Their love blossomed in splendidly rendered scenes. Sophie worried that their marital bliss was impeding Nathaniel’s writing. When their first daughter, Una, was born, Sophie observed she had neither the time nor the energy to paint. They had two more children and then moved from home to home as they struggled to support a family. They eventually settled in the Wayside in Concord. Among their circle of friends were New England scions the Alcott family, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry Thoreau.
The publication of Hawthorne’s classic novel, The Scarlett Letter, in 1850, and The House of the Seven Gables in 1851, vaulted him into an exalted placae in literature, but did not ease the family’s chronic financial struggles. it was interesting to learn that published authors had it no easier in the 1800s than they do today.
This is not the story of Hathrorne’s literary talents, but rather it is about the enduring and almost spiritual love between Nathanial and Sophie. Spanning several decades and encompassing their travels to England, Portugal and Italy, their journey was littered with tragedy: the loss of Sophie’s brother and parents, Nathaniel’s parents, and a deadly illness that befalls their eldest daugther. Through it all their love endured.
What carries this story is Robuck’s brilliant prose, which brings Sophie to life as a strong, intelligent character: devoted to her husband, yet independent of spirit and an artist of immense talent.
Book Review: “A Spool of Blue Thread,” by Anne Tyler
Anne Tyler’s 20th novel, A Spool of Blue Thread, is a departure of sorts for her. While it explores the themes of family dysfunction familiar to fans of Tyler’s work, she widens the lens in this multi-generational family saga.
The Whitshanks seem like a family everyone can admire. Red is a second-generation home builder who owns a construction company. Abby, his wife, is a retired social worker who cannot resist trying to fix everybody with whom she comes into contact. The present-day action in the novel centers on the failing health of Red and Abby, who are in their early 70s. Red suffers a heart attack and is beginning to go deaf. Abby suffers from occasional memory loss and is prone to wandering the neighborhood while her family searches for her.
Concerned about the safety of their parents, the siblings rally around them. The loyal son, Stem, who is not a Whitshank by birth, his do-gooder wife, Nora, and their children move in with the Whitshanks. When their rootless and unpredictable son, Denny, shows up to pitch in with his parents’ care, it stirs smoldering hostilites in the family.
The Whitshanks’ spacious, well-appointed home on Bouton Road serves as both a character and a metaphor for this family, in which appearances and myths mask secrets and resentments. Junior, Red’s father, built the house to his exacting standards for a wealthy family, the Brills. Through a bit of chicanery, he convinced the Brills to sell the house to him. Like a lot of Tyler’s characters, Junior learns that when he attains what he craves, it doesn’t make him happy.
This is a topic Tyler has explored throughout her body of work–the restlessness that inflicts family members as they sacrifice their ambitions and their individuality in the service of family harmony.
In this novel, a catastrophic event is the trigger that Tyler uses to send the narrative back in time. Tyler peels back the layers of the Whitshank family, first by exploring the events that led to the relationship between Red and Abby. There is a beautifully rendered scene in which Red wins Abby’s affections away from a rebellious boyfriend. There is a passage about Red’s father, Junior, who is entrapped by a precocious 13-year-old girl into a relationship that causes him to flee North Carolina, but eventually brings about their marriage. There is also a quiet battle waged between Junior and his wife over the color of a porch swing he has lovingly restored for her. These types of passages, which date all the way back to the Great Depression, are not typical in Tyler’s novel, but there is a comon thread of wishes, aspirations, pretensions, and deceit.
In the end Tyler provides a glimmer of hope that Denny might turn his life around, but, like life, the finale is ambiguous. This is what I like about Tyler’s endings, a true-to-life quality.
Ths is one of the most ambitious and satisfying of Tyler’s novels, and that is saying a lot.
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Tag Archives: Stuart Blume
health, science, social dynamics
Vaccination in perspective
September 20, 2017 Brian Martin
To understand debates over vaccination, it’s valuable to look at the history and politics of vaccine development and policy-making.
Australian government health departments and leaders of the medical profession are united in supporting the standard programme of childhood vaccines. Vaccination rates in Australia are high and stable. However, a small number of citizen vaccination sceptics continue to raise concerns.
In the 1990s, Meryl Dorey set up what became the Australian Vaccination Network (AVN), around the same time as vaccine-critical groups were formed in several other countries. Then, in 2009, some citizen vaccination proponents set up Stop the Australian Vaccination Network (SAVN), dedicated to discrediting, silencing and destroying the AVN. There has been a ferocious struggle between SAVN and the AVN. SAVN’s campaign was instrumental in politicians bringing in measures to pressure parents to have their children vaccinated, even though some pro-vaccination researchers opposed the measures.
SAVN is strident in its advocacy, with the mantra “Vaccination saves lives.” AVN members, and quite a few others, remain sceptical. They continue to question the effectiveness of vaccination, raise the alarm about adverse reactions, and suggest vaccination may be implicated in diseases such as autism.
Both sides adopt the mantle of science, claiming the evidence supports their viewpoints. SAVN denigrates vaccine sceptics as deluded or ignorant. Some vaccine critics say proponents are in the thrall of the pharmaceutical companies.
In this highly polarised debate, there is little room for anyone to take an intermediate position, for example saying that many vaccines are worthwhile but others are unnecessary. However, this might well be the view of some parents, though they are given little support to express their views. Any reluctance about vaccination can lead to the stigma of being called an “anti-vaxxer.”
Immunization: How Vaccines Became Controversial
Stuart Blume is emeritus professor of Science and Technology Studies at the University of Amsterdam. He has a lifetime of experience researching the politics of science and technology, and two decades ago began studying the vaccination issue. His approach can be called social history: a study of history taking into account social and political dynamics. Blume brings to the issue the perspectives of science and technology studies, seeing science and technology as subject to social processes.
Blume decided to write a book summarising insights from his research. The result is Immunization: How Vaccines Became Controversial, recently published. I wrote one of the endorsements on the book jacket.
There is much here to ponder. The book does not mesh neatly with either the pro or anti positions in the usual public debate.
Blume tells two sorts of stories, one about vaccines and one about vaccination policy, and neither is a just-so story. Many traditional histories present science as a continual upward trajectory of discoveries and the overcoming of misguided beliefs. Blume, though, follows the path of historians of science who report on uncertainties, mistakes and unproductive paths. The implication is that present knowledge may be just as precarious, in its own way, as past knowledge.
Knowledge about vaccines and the immune system developed gradually, and for many decades there was no assumption that vaccination would prove to be a major route to public health. Smallpox was the initial target for vaccination, but there were many other killer diseases, such as diphtheria and tuberculosis, and other ways to address them besides vaccination. Today, with the focus on vaccination, it is sometimes forgotten that infectious disease can also be addressed through quarantine, sanitation, improved diet and general increases in the standard of living.
Vaccination campaigns are not always the best strategy to improve health. Blume highlights a problem with the polio eradication campaign. In a number of poor countries, resources for public health interventions were siphoned off to support polio eradication, which meant that impoverished people, needing basic medicines, were instead offered polio vaccinations, something less important for their own health.
A related tension permeated vaccination development beginning in the 1980s, when commercial considerations became paramount. Effort was put into developing vaccines for problems in affluent countries, where money could be made, while major illnesses in impoverished populations were left unaddressed.
Stuart Blume
Blume notes that vaccination is often treated in isolation, as a special method of promoting public health, and not compared with other methods. To counter this tendency, he presents vaccination as a technology, in the broad sense of a set of techniques and artefacts, that can be compared to other public health technologies such as sanitation. He sees vaccination as a socio-technical issue, as having both scientific and policy dimensions, and as shaped by social, economic and political influences in both these dimensions.
Blume addresses vaccines separately, rather than as a group. As a result, he does not make a universal judgement about vaccination, as a good or bad thing. In these ways, Blume offers a different perspective than the one taken by most of the campaigners for or against vaccination.
One of the peculiarities of the vaccination debate is that nearly all the disagreement is about whether vaccination is beneficial or harmful, for example whether it has led to declines in infectious disease or whether there are significant numbers of adverse effects. Seldom are comparisons made with other ways of improving health, in particular children’s health, for example addressing poverty. Blume notes some of the disagreements about early vaccines.
As many infectious-disease killers were brought under control in western countries, while others such as HIV were proving too difficult, vaccine developers turned to other diseases, seeing opportunities for profits. Blume writes that the rise of neoliberalism led to significant shifts in the rationale for new vaccines. Whereas previously companies and scientists had freely shared information and vaccines in a common commitment to public health, from the 1980s onwards the pharmaceutical industry became more dominant and less public spirited.
Government health departments in different countries responded to industry pressure in different ways. It became more common to use cost-benefit analysis, especially given that many new vaccines were highly expensive. Health departments sometimes approved new vaccines without as much evidence as they might have required earlier.
Cost-benefit analysis is not a good way to promote vaccines to the public. In several cases, notably measles and mumps, companies adopted a “rebranding” strategy to convince parents that diseases they had known as a routine and unthreatening part of childhood were actually killers to be feared and thus protected against using vaccines.
Blume believes that vaccines have saved millions of lives. Yet he is also sceptical of many of the latest vaccines, developed not as part of a public health agenda but by pharmaceutical companies whose primary aim is profit. Furthermore, there are dozens of new vaccines under development, many of them targeted at non-infectious diseases such as breast cancer.
Vaccination seems to have become a single-method solution for health problems, overshadowing primary health care that addresses the conditions that cause disease in the first place. Think how much easier it is to sell a vaccine than to address poverty and inequality, or illnesses due to industrial chemicals.
Vaccine hesitancy
For many readers, the most interesting part of Blume’s book will be the final chapter in which he addresses current anxieties about vaccination, especially in the west. He dismisses the idea, common among vaccination promoters, that the source of the anxieties is vaccine-critical groups such as the AVN. Sociologically, this explains neither the existence of the groups nor their alleged influence. It is like saying the reason people are concerned about economic inequality is because of protesters.
Blume cites research into the attitudes of parents that suggests something deeper is at play. Rather than dividing people into vaccine-acceptors and vaccine-refusers, Blume addresses a widespread vaccine hesitancy that affects many parents, especially well-educated ones, even when they adopt all the standard vaccinations.
Rather than vaccine-critical groups being the cause of vaccine hesitancy, it is better to understand them as a result of changed perceptions. Blume says vaccination has, for many people, become symbolic of a more general unease and sceptical attitude about the role of pharmaceutical companies and the medical profession. He notes that the usual survey research carried out by vaccination proponents can pick up demographic variations in parental concerns but does not get to their source.
It is perhaps relevant that citizens have no say in the development of vaccination recommendations, and even politicians are usually left out of the picture, as decisions are made by international organisations subject to corporate lobbying. This does not mesh well with people’s increasing knowledge about health matters. The experts might be right but nonetheless be distrusted.
Immunization: How Vaccines Became Controversial provides great insight precisely because it eschews the easy generalisations made by vaccination partisans. Vaccine development was not a straightforward linear process, and vaccination policy has been subject to a variety of influences. Vaccination is usefully seen as a technology, as just one of several approaches to promoting health, and thus judged in a wider context than a narrow calculation of benefits and risks. The contemporary vaccination debate is not just a matter of pro and anti, but should be seen in the wider context of attitudes towards social institutions and citizen participation in decision-making.
Blume does not offer easy answers, but more usefully points to the complexities and contradictions in the history and social dynamics of vaccination. It is essential reading for anyone who wants to get beyond the usual partisan positions in the vaccination debate.
ImmunizationStuart Blume
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Creating Fear: News and the Construction of Crisis
David L. Altheide, Professor David L Altheide
Aldine de Gruyter, 2002 - 223 Seiten
Taking advantage of electronic information bases, Altheide, whose previous interpretive studies of the mass media are well known, uses a "tracking discourse" method to show how the nature and use of the word "fear" by mass media have changed over the years. His analysis examines how some of the topics associated with fear (e.g., AIDS, crime, immigrants, race, sexuality, schools, children) have shifted in emphasis, and how certain news organizations and social institutions benefit from the exploitation of fear.
This book is about fear and its expanding place in our public life. The author documents the rise of a "discourse of fear" in the present era: the pervasive communication, sym bolic awareness, and expectation that danger and risk surround us. Altheide offers explanations of how this occurred and suggests some of its serious social consequences. In doing so, he focuses on the nature and use of social power and social control. The mass media play a significant role in shaping social definitions that govern social action. Relatedly, his methodological and theoretical foundation in classical social theory, existential-phenomenology, ethnomethodology, and symbolic interactionism leads him to view social power as the capacity to define situations for self and others.
Creating Fear is focused on sorting out the ways that the mass media and popular culture help define social situa tions. It helps understand the nature, process, and organiza tion of mass media operations, including news procedures, perspectives, and formats. It recognizes the need to expand our methodological frameworks to incorporate new infor mation technologies and databases and to ask different ques tions. This volume, which attempts to break the circle of fear discourse, will be of interest to sociologists, communi cations scholars, and criminologists.
David L. Altheide
David L. Altheide is Regents' Professor in the School of Justice Studies at Ariona State University. A former president for the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction, he has focused much of his work on the role of mass media and information technology for social control. Among his previously published books are two from Aldine de Gruyter: Media Worlds in the Post journalism Era (with Robert P. Snow) and An Ecology of Communication.
Titel Creating Fear: News and the Construction of Crisis
Frontiers in Molecular Biology
Social problems and social issues
Autoren David L. Altheide, Professor David L Altheide
Verlag Aldine de Gruyter, 2002
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Category Archives: Refugees
Posted by cheztopflight in Politics, Refugees
asylum, calais, discrimination, EU, followtherefugees, France, frontnational, human rights, humanitarianism, immigration, Jungle, middle east, openeuborders, poverty, refugees, refugeeswelcome, war
Someone does pick me up, a Belgian couple obsessed with street art who have driven down to photograph Banksy. I feel a bit guilty getting into their posh car with the mud caked all up my legs, but they don’t seem to mind. We chat a bit about the artwork, and then, revealing that he didn’t quite get Banksy’s message, the man says, ‘I just don’t understand why they have to come here’.
This is why you’re not supposed to get into cars with strangers.
‘Why don’t they stay in Turkey? Or go to India? Where they are safe?’ I relay some of the stories I’ve heard about how refugees are treated in Turkey, how some have spent years in a camp there, how India hasn’t signed the Refugee Convention so they have no rights, not even recognition as a person before the law. He nods thoughtfully and then goes on to agree that some people need help, but doesn’t understand why a doctor and his family in Kabul or Damascus would leave. I say that I think the Taliban, ISIS and co don’t distinguish between middle class professionals and otherwise. That often in these situations it’s the educated who are most targeted. The woman agrees with me and says that we must help them, though she doesn’t particularly want more in Belgium because the government gives them money and some of them don’t have jobs after ten years.
I really don’t know why the universe is doing this to me when I voluntarily returned to the jungle. Surely it should have been Angelina Jolie or Justin Trudeu who stopped to give me a lift.
‘I just don’t think that’s true’ I say. Every refugee I met is so eager to study and work and expresses disdain at the idea of charity. They were all willing to do anything to start an independent life. Not like so many Europeans I meet who would rather live off their parents than work in a restaurant because they believe they’re above that. And considering so many people here think such labor is beneath them, I’m not sure who else they’d get to serve them if they kick out immigrants.
The guy admits he doesn’t know much about it, and contends that Syria is obviously at war, but questions why people in Afghanistan are coming now. I can hear the resignation in my voice when I talk about the Taliban strengthening since 2014 and relay the stories of how many Afghan’s told me they would rather be shot than sent back. That the war in Afghanistan has stretched well beyond a decade.
The woman, who I had concluded was the smart one, then says that she hasn’t made up her mind yet whether she is ‘pro’ or ‘anti’ refugee, as if it were an issue like raising the VAT. The guy then adds that we shouldn’t help the ‘economic migrants’. I’m having flashbacks to painful moments in South Africa when I accepted rides from people who turned out to be raging racists and then ended up with a choice between being stuck or abandoned alone on a hwy. Thankfully, we are almost in Calais and if I’m thrown out now and have to walk I’ll still probably make my train.
‘You don’t need to be ‘pro’ or ‘anti’ refugee’ I say, ‘…they’re just people’.
This couple is not mean. They express real regret that Le Pen has gathered so much support in France and bemoan the right wing in Belgium. They feel bad that there are people living in the Jungle. And they do think we should do something to help. But the ignorance is astounding. The suggestion of sending people to the rich Gulf States is brought up. I can’t hide my disdain when I say I don’t think it would be fair to send an educated professional woman from Damascus to Saudi Arabia. Or a secular young man from Iraq for that matter. I can hear the condescension in my voice when I point out that all Muslims are not the same, but I just don’t care anymore.
They cheerily drop me off, wish me well and joke about how nice it will be to go back to their warm apartment after seeing the Jungle. Even though all they did was stand at the entrance and photograph Banksy.
asylum, australia, calais, EU, followtherefugees, France, human rights, humanitarianism, immigration, Jungle, middle east, openeuborders, poverty, refugees, refugeeswelcome, syria, uk, war
I’ve had enough of the Jungle and head to the exit. The last man I speak to is an Afghan who runs one of the restaurants on ‘main street’. He’s trying to convince me to come in on my way out, but I have to get back to Calais to catch my train to Paris. ‘You are too smiley to be French’ he teases, and when I say I’m from Australia he begins chattering away excitedly. He knows someone on Manus Island, and he has a lot of questions of the non-rhetorical kind.
My heart sinks to my feet and I want to run and hide and vomit. I thought about the possibility of this happening when I left for Athens, but assured myself the numbers were so large the chance of it occurring was miniscule. There are over a million refugees entering Europe this year alone, and only a few thousand that have tried to get to Australia, what are the chances? Yet here I am, literally about to escape the jungle myself when it happens. It’s all very well and good to have long debates about this with volunteers and workers in cafes after a shit day, but I don’t want to stand here and explain my country’s wicked policy to this man who has nothing and knows someone who is directly suffering from it. Why didn’t I say I was a Kiwi. I seriously consider feigning ignorance and just telling him about my neighbour who came from Afghanistan in the 80s and loves Australia and says he’s never had any problems. But I’ve clearly stood there like a mute idiot for too long because he can tell I know what he’s asking about.
Yes, it’s true they can’t leave I say. Yes, it’s true that PNG is not processing their claims even though they’ve been submitted. Yes, it’s true that the Australian government funds the whole thing. Yes, the navy does physically tow them out to sea. Yes, it’s true that people have died, some because they were denied medical care. He tells me his friend said the food was inedible and the guards beat them, then gestures to his restaurant and laughs, ‘at least we make good food!’. Thankfully there are some questions I genuinely don’t have a firm answer to, like if it’s as dirty as the Jungle, or if people have access to better services. Though all reports would suggest the answers to those questions are yes and no, I’m not lying when I say I haven’t seen it. Thank Christ. I’ve been struggling enough with the Jungle in France, I don’t think my soul could handle Australian supported gulags.
The man thanks me earnestly and I’m very confused as to why. ‘You explain me, here is not the worst’ he says. And I realise I’ve given him a gift. The gift that somewhere on a pacific island in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by real jungle, there are people who are treated even more poorly than him. People who are worse off and less human. People who also live in the mud and swamp but are imprisoned. This man, at least, has his agency. He can walk out the door if he wants. What a way to help someone. Maybe I’ll go and find Mimi and tell her about the Somali woman we allowed to be raped, denied immediate emergency health care to, and then flew around the pacific like a ping pong ball so she couldn’t access the courts.
When I get to the exit near the Banksy the mood in the camp has quickly turned and suddenly 7 police vans screech around the corner, riot police pour out and sprint to the other side of the Jungle. There are yells and the police have their batons raised as they run. People shrink into their restaurants and tents and huts and everything goes weirdly quiet. I try and find out what’s going on, but the response I get seems to suggest that this is a relatively regular occurrence; it could be something as simple as an argument that triggers such a reaction.
I can’t wait to get away from this place. A cop stops me and asks if I’ve been taking photos and I lie and say I don’t have a camera. I don’t know why I lie; there are no photos of police on my phone or anything that is controversial. I just don’t want to do what he wants. It’s the only ‘piss off’ I can give them. As I walk onto the freeway to hitch a ride back to Calais I pull down my hoodie even though it’s raining and cold. I’m scared that unless people see my blonde hair and white skin, no one will stop to help me.
Posted by cheztopflight in All, Politics, Refugees
asylum, calais, EU, followtherefugees, France, human rights, humanitarianism, immigration, Jungle, middle east, openeuborders, refugees
Since I began my blog in Athens there has not been one day where I didn’t want to get out of bed. I was absolutely exhausted for those 9 days, but not once did I consider piking. On Sunday morning I did not want to go back to the Jungle. I did not want to see it, hear it, smell it or feel it. I selfishly did not want to absorb its unhappiness. It took a lot of internal self-reproach to get me into the taxi and tell the driver where I wanted to go.
It rained constantly over night and the mud is worse, more like a dirty river or one big puddle that seeps into every corner of every ‘street’. It’s impossible to stay clean. And I’ve made my peace that my boots will not see Paris again. There were also more people than yesterday. Many ‘tourists’ showed up to look at the new Banksy and take photos. And on my way in there were more cops decked out in riot gear.
Inside my tent we use candles, as we have no generators, it is very dangerous. The camp gets set on fire all the time.
A volunteer I met organised a meeting with a British MEP scheduled to speak about opening the border. I spent a good portion of Saturday handing out fliers with her and encouraging people to show up. And they have. Everyone is packed into Cafe Kabul until it becomes clear that there is nowhere near enough room. To my great claustrophobic relief we move to a bigger venue, the only venue here really, ‘the dome’. The Daily Mail article I mentioned tried to make it out as if the Dome was a nightclub. In reality, it’s the only enclosed space that will host more than a few dozen people in the Jungle where they can meet.
This represents the long time I spent in prison in my country. I feel like I’ve gone from one prison to another.
Art is posted on the walls inside giving refugees a chance to express themselves. And some of the quotes that are attached about freedom and living like animals make me squirm. The purpose of the meeting is for everyone to share stories and people who know what they’re talking about to talk about human rights. But it’s all a bit of a mess and ends up in a hopeful chant of ‘UK, UK, UK, UK!’ The British delegation in particular seems a bit overwhelmed, though after everyone sounds their support there are a lot of cheers and applause. It seems cruel that this has given them false hope.
Sometimes I come here and I stand for a few minutes, imagining that this is what England looks like.
After I step outside for some air, 24 year old Ali comes over. He left Afghanistan in August. His uncle is in the Taliban and was trying to recruit him four years ago, but he managed to run away to Kabul. There he found a good job with the municipality and he proudly shows me his id card. He said he had a good life and earned a good salary, until the Taliban started strengthening again and his uncle came for him. ‘I love Afghanistan’ he tells me, ‘the mountains are so beautiful and I would go back to my good life in Kabul if I could… but the Taliban is very, very bad.’ I almost want to laugh at the persuasive tone in his voice, as if he needs to convince me that the Taliban is evil. His uncle first came looking for him last year, and his mother told him to run. He tells me that he couldn’t stay and just say no, they would find him and kill him. ‘I do not want to fight for them’ he says, ‘they do very bad things’. So he left, he travelled through Iran, Turkey, Greece and along the usual route until he ended up in the Jungle two months ago.
Tear gas, why?
He has tried daily to get into England, one time being beaten up so badly by the police his eye socket was broken. Two weeks ago they arrested him and shipped him to a gaol in Metz, near the border with Germany. After telling the judge what he’d been through, that he wanted to get to the UK and if they were going to send him back to Afghanistan ‘could they please shoot him?’ the case was dismissed and he came back to this hell hole. Again I start listing the reasons to claim asylum in France. He shakes his head and tells me he has been through too much to start with a new culture. ‘I know English, and I have friends in UK, people who will help me, it will be quicker to start a life and work.’ While he is open to considering a new country he tells me he is too depressed and there are ‘things wrong with his brain now… I will have problems to learn’.
‘Some days’, he says, ‘I wish they would just come in and shoot us’. It’s not even fear of going back to Kabul, he just has no thirst for life. I try and wonder what that would be like, to have no fear of death, and in a weird way even welcome it. To almost be indifferent as to whether you live or die. Ali shares a minuscule blue ten with 3 other men from Afghanistan. Today it is sunken and the mud has run in. He tells me he is good with clothes and could be a tailor, but would do any kind of job. ‘I just want to work… when you can work, life is good’. What a luxury I have to be irritated at my job for not being everything I want it to be.
Throughout his story he repeatedly shrugs his shoulders and says ‘what can I do?’ and I nod dumbly and understandingly. But he repeats it when we say goodbye, and I realise it’s not a rhetorical question. ‘What would you do?’ he asks, pleading for some kind of guidance or advice. I don’t know what to tell him. I can’t tell him his situation is hopeless or that he’s done anything wrong. And I can’t judge any one decision he’s made. ‘I would have left as well…’ I say, ‘but I wouldn’t stay here’. He nods sadly, ‘I just didn’t want to fight for the Taliban’ he says again before he walks away.
Another man who’s been listening to our conversation walks over. His English is much better, almost unaccented, and he clearly wants to talk. ‘Why do they not want us?’ Again I’m hoping this is a rhetorical question, but again he seems to want an answer. I try to explain why people are nervous and the fears people have about differences and the chance of terrorism. I try to be very delicate in how I pick my words but the pain on his face tells me I’ve clearly failed. ‘There is no Daesh here’ he says. Though I couldn’t say for sure I would tend to agree, purely because I cannot imagine anyone voluntarily choosing to live in the jungle. He then urges me to look up some survey online that shows people from Afghanistan are the most peaceful in Europe. I promise to type that into google, though I’m doubtful about the existence of such a study.
He asks where I’m from, expresses amazement that I have come so far, and I do the usual living in Paris spiel. Recognition flashes over his face and he asks if I was ok when the attacks happened last month. I don’t know why after all the people I’ve met his concern still takes me aback, but it does. I assure him everyone I know was ok. He nods his head, ‘that is good…. but what happens in Paris, it happens every day in Afghanistan.’ He nods goodbye and walks away, but not before delivering the most common line I’ve heard from refugees from Eritrea to Kuwait, ‘we just want a life’.
asylum, britain, calais, discrimination, england, EU, followtherefugees, France, frontnational, human rights, humanitarianism, immigration, Jungle, middle east, openeuborders, poverty, refugees, refugeeswelcome, syria, uk, war
There are teenage boys everywhere. I’m told a story of 13 and 14 yr old brothers who travelled from Kurdistan. They were with their 21 year old brother who managed to get to England two months ago. Now they have no one and have attached themselves to a male volunteer who doesn’t look much older than 21 himself. A child’s right to education is in the International Bill of Human Rights, the Refugee Convention and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. It’s also French and British national law. But the children here do not go to school. Instead they sit here every day in the dirt, sometimes kicking a football around, dreaming of England. If they weren’t traumatised and destroyed before they got here, they certainly will be once they leave.
To counter this, l’auberge des migrants has set up a women’s centre and safe space for kids and their mums to come. Because the teenage boys kept drifting in they also set up a caravan across the road for adolescent males where they can hang out, talk to other guys, and when I see them, breakdance. I meet one British woman called Alice who has started a community centre with her own money and serves 400 hot meals a day. She recently burned through her savings and had to start a crowd funding page. I can’t hide my horror when she tells me she sleeps here. I would not be in this place alone after dark. Every week she allows a Narcotics Anonymous meeting to take place in what is essentially her bedroom. She tells me that opium and heroin are big problems here, and they are trying to give people some support. I guess it’s no surprise that in such a place people turn to drugs, but it’s incredible the amount that is smuggled in here. I’m told that most of it comes from England. More people profiting from refugees misery.
There are several pregnant women. Mimi from Eritrea is 8.5 months along. She lives in one of the huts built by l’auberge des migrants, a small shack where thin wooden boards are nailed together, but better than a flimsy tent. It’s amazing how tidy she keeps it, all shoes are left outside and inside feels very comfortable, kind of like a blanket fort you’d make as a kid. Thanks to l’auberge des migrants there are no longer any women with kids living in tents, they have all been built one of these makeshift cabins that have pitiful looking padlocks on the door. It’s not much, but it’s a space to call their own. Mimi invites us in and offers us tea and food, and tells me how two and a half months ago her husband left and is now in England. She is desperate to get there. I cannot hide the outrage on my face as she tells us they don’t talk on the phone because it is too hard for him to hear about the Jungle. We sit in her tiny room in the dark and the helplessness in her face as she pleads with us to find her a way to Britain is painful. I try and convince her to stay in France and claim asylum here, but she is not interested. Many refugees tell me they fear the French will be unwelcoming and are more likely to be racist than the British. I am not so sure about this. They also worry about how long it will take to learn the language, though considering some have been in the Jungle for a year this seems misguided. Mimi tells me she is expecting to give birth here. On the floor of her shack, unless of course she goes into labour outside in the mud. I open my mouth to reassure her that there’s no way the authorities would let her have a baby here and someone will get her to a hospital, but I stop. I’m not so sure about anything anymore.
I meet two more of Mimi’s friends, also alone and from Eritrea, one of them is also 7.5 months pregnant. I am so surprised by how strongly they are opposed to seeking asylum in France. They treat me with suspicion for even suggesting it and one of them shuts down and just doesn’t want to talk anymore. It’s amazing to me that they have such a rose coloured view of how life will be in England. I don’t get how they can think that having to learn French or go through the asylum process here would be worse than living in this breeding ground of misery. Another thing I’m noticing is that people are less open. In Greece and the Balkans everyone wanted to talk, but in the Jungle residents are so used to journalists coming and asking about their history. At first people were hopeful that telling their stories would result in governments actually doing something, but it has been so long now that they see no point in sharing their pain. They’ve lost all faith that anyone will help.
I say goodbye to Mimi and her friends. Though her little home did offer some shelter from the hideous weather outside, it was beginning to get a bit awkward with me sitting there and no one talking. Almost immediately I regret the decision. There is depression and horror everywhere. Anytime a car pulls up refugees crowd around asking for food or clothes or blankets and are yelled at to keep in line. It resembles cattle being herded. Sometimes the nervousness becomes aggressive, though I don’t see anyone get physical. People are much more desperate here than further south. It’s also a lot colder and no one seems to be looking forward to the future. One man pulls me over and asks where I’m from. He then gets excited and pulls out his phone to tell me his nephew is in Melbourne, and have I met him? And can I help him to get there? I wouldn’t have thought I’d be telling anyone the better option to anything was to stay in the Jungle, but if Manus is anything like this and people are locked in…. Maybe there’s always a worse place, I just wish it wasn’t run by my government.
There is a huge police presence. Saturday was pretty calm, but I’m told that the cops regularly come in here with tear gas, even using it on women and children. Police brutality seems to be a big problem and adds to everyone’s anxiety; the refugees, workers and volunteers. I know it’s naive to think of police as protectors, but here they are regarded by everyone as the aggressors. Complaints have been made to the local station but are dismissed; one guy tells me he was laughed out when he went in to protest about them using tear gas on children. Around the corner from the jungle are a dozen vans full of riot police, just in case. Just in case of what I’m not sure. Certainly not what police are supposed to do. I hear of three different murders that have taken place, and a few cases of sexual assault, none of which have been thoroughly investigated by the police. Why bother, these people aren’t really human and resources are obviously better spent gassing them into submissive terror.
When I got back into town I was in a bit of a daze. I went and got a hot chocolate to fix everything and the very cheery woman who made me the most amazing one ever asked me if I was ok. But I didn’t want to tell her what was wrong in case she turned out to be a racist Front National loon and I’d be obligated to hate her and couldn’t come back for another chocolat tomorrow. There are posters everywhere of the candidates for the Sunday election, and I am pleased to see that most of the Le Pen ones have been defaced. Calais has a weird feel to it. When you’re in the centre you would have no idea that the Jungle was only 4kms away. There are Christmas decorations and music everywhere, and I wonder how many locals have actually visited the camp and know what it’s really like. When you mention the place to anyone you get a mixture of sympathetic tuts and distasteful expressions. The owner of my hotel was not impressed when I asked him for directions. Certainly people did not on the whole react in a similar manner to what I heard in Greece or the Balkans, though given the sheer scope of the Jungle situation perhaps that’s an unfair comparison.
12 Saturday Dec 2015
asylum, calais, crisis, discrimination, EU, followtherefugees, France, frontnational, human rights, humanitarianism, immigration, Jungle, lesbos, middle east, openeuborders, palestine, poverty, refugees, refugeeswelcome, syria, war
I don’t think I’m going to write very well tonight because I am in a bit of shock. It’s very rare that I’m lost for words, but the Jungle is the worst place I’ve ever been. I thought long and hard before committing to that statement, because it’s a big call- and it seems sensationalist. I thought about Soweto and Kibera townships in South Africa and Kenya, the slums I saw in Cambodia, the poor village where I lived in Tanzania, the dire conditions in some of the camps on Lesbos, the chaos in Presevo, the poverty in Addis Ababa, the desperation in Palestine. But I can’t think of anywhere I’ve seen that is worse for the human spirit than the Jungle in Calais. I can’t think of anywhere else I’ve been that was so on edge and sad and without any joy. It is a home you wouldn’t wish upon your worst enemy. A place devoid of hope.
And it’s in France. An hour and a half train ride from where I live. A G7 country, one of the richest in the world, one that prides itself on its observance of human rights, it’s amazing health care and social system, one whose motto is liberte, egalite, fraternite. This makes the place seem even more brutal. It’s more shocking to see babies living in tents in the mud when you know that the resources are there to fix the problem, there’s just not the political will. Civil action forced the government to put in some portable toilets and fund the Jules Ferry Centre where women and children are able to sleep and everyone gets at least one hot meal a day. There are showers, but the queue is 4 hours long, and after nightfall men are locked out. This means that several women and children sleep in the Jungle because they don’t want to leave their husbands and fathers.
Unquestionably, one of the reasons this place is so dreadful is the fact that people here are stuck. While 10 000 could pass through Macedonia in a day, everyone was on the move, heading to somewhere better, a new life and brighter horizons. People were tired and hungry and stressed and dirty and anxious, but they were hopeful, they believed that in a few days or weeks things would be better. In the Jungle, everyone is in a limbo that resembles hell. Each night men still try and jump vehicles to the UK, even though it has become virtually impossible. As long as one person occasionally makes it, people here will not stop trying. The odds are so stacked against them it’s incredible they don’t give up and try to find another path, but the majority of them have friends and family in Britain, communities where they will feel like they belong to something again. So they keep waiting and trying while the months and the years go by and they languish.
And the numbers continue to rise and the sense of misery increases. There are people here from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Somalia, Libya, Palestine, Sudan, Kurdistan, Nigeria and others. Putting that many different languages, cultures, religions and nationalities on top of each other in such a small space, with no infrastructure or resources is bound to be problematic. Violence between and within groups often occurs, there is competition over handouts, and tent cities are segregated. All things considered it’s actually amazing that there aren’t more problems. When you walk down the Jungle’s ‘main street’ there is an abundance of pop up restaurants, such as Cafe Kabul which appears to be the best stocked establishment. There are churches and mosques. There are grocery shops and businesses. There is a book store. One thing that would make a huge difference to everyone is internet access, but organising that seems to be difficult. This seems incredulous to me. If Greece, Macedonia and Serbia can arrange for refugees to charge their phones and go online surely France can.
A few days ago the Daily Mail, Britain’s answer to the Tele, published an article that made it look like refugees were living it up and quite comfortable in this ‘tent city’. I really doubt that any regular reader of the Mail would walk in here. The first thing that struck me about the camp was its sheer size, in space and numbers. At the moment estimates have the population at around 4500, but a few months ago I’m told it was closer to 7000. Tents sprawl in every direction and have sunk into the wet ground. The temperature is not that low, but the rain and the wind cut through my jacket and jumper. There is mud everywhere. And not just wet dirt, the kind of mud that you sink into and traps your feet and cakes on all the way up to your knees. Disease is rampant. One volunteer told me that 80% of the population has scabies, and because they don’t have easy access to showers, hygiene standards are appalling.
There are fences and barbed wire everywhere. On the train from Paris I felt like shrinking in my seat at the site of how many steel walls cordoned off the Eurotunnel. On the hill next to the camp high fences block the roads so refugees cannot get to the trucks that board the ferry. All I can think of when I see these barriers is Israel and the Occupied West Bank and how horrible a feeling it was to be behind similar walls in Bethlehem. Even though in Calais the fence isn’t technically trapping them, it’s a constant reminder that these people are not really free to move. The increasing number of walls being built on this continent has been touted by many as evidence of Europe’s failure. I think its evidence more of humanity’s failure.
On my way in I chat to an elderly French volunteer who comes to the jungle and knits with the women and children three times a week. She loves the children she tells me, and laughs while recounting how the police have searched her many times and only ever found wool and knitting needles. She is horrified that conditions like this exist in France, and when I ask about the election tomorrow she is distraught at the idea of Le Pen, but admits she couldn’t bring herself to vote for Sarcozy now that the socialists have pulled out. She then hangs her head in shame while telling me it was the left who allowed the Jungle to descend into its current state and she has lost all faith with the government.
We come across a group of men from Iraq who are leaving the camp as we go in and she embraces them and asks about their families. They call her Mama and one tells her he has just been granted asylum and is going to Lot. She cannot contain her joy that his family will be somewhere safe and hugs him fiercely. When the men find out I’m Australian they all want to know about the island detention centres, and if it’s true that there people are not even allowed to walk out of ‘their jungles’ . Amazingly, I’d never made this direct comparison. I shudder to think what a jungle would look like where people are not allowed to leave. These guys may have nowhere to go, but at least they are not locked in.
I meet a Sudanese guy as I sludge through the mud. He tells me how he fled Sudan in September and has been in the Jungle for three months. He travelled through Egypt and Libya, took a boat to Sicily and then came through Italy and France. His English is soft and polite and near perfect. He has a wife and two children in a province near Darfur and he is hoping to bring them to the UK ‘once he gets there’. He has tried every night for 10 weeks and been caught, beaten and sent back over and over. ‘Do you think it will get easier?’ he asks me hopefully, ‘Do you think that maybe they will open the border and let us in?’
I’m asked this question at least a dozen times through the course of the day by people who are hoping I will tell them what they want to hear. After what some of them have been through it’s incredible to me that they have any belief left at all. The man looks devastated when I tell him I only think the UK is going to get harder and harder to get into, and I feel as though I’ve personally let him down. But despite his crestfallen face he still shakes my hand and thanks me earnestly before walking off with his friends.
asylum, calais, crisis, discrimination, EU, followtherefugees, France, frontnational, human rights, humanitarianism, immigration, Jungle, lepen, middle east, migrant, openeuborders, refugees, refugeeswelcome, syria, uk
I generally don’t tend to head north at this time of year, at most times of year for that matter, and thankfully for my vitamin d levels in less than two weeks I’ll be on a beach in Sydney and temperatures in single digits will seem like a distant memory. But right now I’m on a train heading to northern France, where the forecast is predicted to be rain, cold and wind, three things that I hate. And I’m heading to a place that is so unappealing its been nicknamed ‘La Jungle’.
The Jungle actually refers to several squatter camps that have sprung up around the northern French town of Calais, where the Eurostar tunnel takes travellers across the channel to England. While refugees have gathered here for years trying to jump trucks, trains, cars or ferries to get to the UK, in the past year numbers have substantially increased and there are now thousands of people. Some have lost their lives in attempts to get to Britain, many have been injured by trying or from police brutality, one man managed to walk the length of the Eurotunnel before being apprehended by police at the other end. Many do not speak French, some have family in Britain, and others simply think they have a better chance at a life there than in Europe, but generally refugees stay here for a long time. While some have managed to get to England, most languish in tents in the mud. Conditions are atrocious, and by all accounts the camps resemble townships. In what appears to be a pattern I’ve seen everywhere from Lesvos to Skopje, governments do not want to acknowledge the full extent of this problem and provide the infrastructure and humanitarian services so desperately needed through fear of giving the situation any element of permanency and losing votes.
Such an approach has failed. Coinciding with my weekend is the second round of the French regional elections, where Marine Le Pen, France’s terrifying duplicate of Pauline Hanson or Donald Trump, is poised to win the first region ever for her far right-wing party the Front National. What is amazing to me is how many people in the previously socialist north seem to be voting for Le Pen as a protest vote. Though as someone who comes from a country that elected a buffoon because a politician changed her mind about a carbon price that the majority of the world is now advocating, this probably shouldn’t be such a surprise. I guess I had more faith in the intelligence of the French, and hopefully they end up proving that faith justified. If not however, and Le Pen wins and takes control of a region, she has promised to do whatever it takes to get the ‘migrants’ out of Calais, and one can only fear to what extent that means she is willing to go.
I’ve spent a lot of time since starting this project obsessing over how governments and people can be so dismissive of refugee’s human rights. Rights that we are all internationally recognised to possess for no other reason than the fact that we are human. You’re not entitled to them because you’re white, rich, male, Christian, straight or born in the west. You’re entitled to them because you are a human being. And it’s dawned on me that the reason some can be comfortable with this is because for many these people are not considered human. While it’s easy to argue that refugees are different, the ‘other’, or even a threat, such arguments don’t justify denying them human rights. It’s harder to get your head around the fact that for so many they are just not people, and this allows us to treat them accordingly. It’s the type of thinking that allows Israel to dismiss war crime accusations for the indiscriminate bombing of Palestinian civilians. It’s the type of thinking that allows the majority of the Australian population to not even blink while the government locks up desperate innocent people on remote pacific islands and denies them the most basic of fundamental freedoms. And it’s this type of thinking that allows France to treat the people in the jungle as an inconvenience rather than people screaming out for help and dignity.
But, however much we may choose to ignore it, these people are human beings. Believing otherwise may make it easier for you, but it doesn’t make it any less of a fact. They are the same species as you and your children. They catch the same diseases. Their bodies function in the same way. They have the same physical, civil and social needs. They could be your kidney, blood or bone marrow donors. A brilliant Banksy that popped up today emphasised the reality that this could be any of us. If you believe that you are entitled to human rights, and most people do, you cannot simultaneously support the deprivation of them for someone else because they are poorer, darker or less fortunate than you.
It’s now been almost a month since I left Serbia and in some ways the world is a different place, particularly my world. There are more military personnel in Paris then I care to see in the city I live, I’ve been patted down before walking into a big store, it takes an absurd amount of time to get into the building at work, and for several weeks any noise on the metro made people jump. Travelling with the refugees through the Balkans gave me a unique perspective after the attacks happened. When Macedonia announced it wouldn’t let through anyone who wasn’t from Iraq, Syria or Afghanistan, I was relieved that ‘my friends‘ had got through when they did. When US governors and a certain presidential candidate started calling for a halt on any humanitarian intake from Syria I was filled with a rage more violent than it would have been 6 weeks ago. And as each country along the way started to build a fence, I wanted to be there to see what it would look like and how it would feel now, with a very physical barrier to increase the terror, isolation and loneliness these people are already dealing with. To increase the sense that no one wants them.
Many people asked me why I didn’t take more photos, or even video footage. It’s important to remember that these people are refugees, which by definition means that they are fleeing persecution, and most likely do not want their identity to be revealed to authorities back home before they have found safety and a durable solution. In Syria there have even been stories of Assad’s government identifying individuals on social media and raiding their property, or worse, punishing loved ones they have left behind. To add to this, many journalists operating in the field have acted unethically in the taking of photos, particularly of children. I witnessed myself on Lesvos questionable media practices. It goes without saying that permission should always be sought before a photo is taken, and from parents if the subject is a minor. But even in these cases a personal judgement must be made as to whether this is the right thing to do. While photos have played a powerful role in this crisis, they can do so without the exploitation of grief, the invasion of privacy or putting refugees and their families at risk.
Thank you all again for your support, so many people responded to my call for clothes and put me in contact with people they knew who have helped at the Jungle. Many have asked me about visiting themselves. The following pages contain very useful information on the situation in Calais and how you can help;
http://www.calaidipedia.co.uk/
https://calaismigrantsolidarity.wordpress.com
Please think twice before you make a move, as there is a chance good intentions can compound pre-existing problems.
Peace, Kate x
même pas peur
Posted by cheztopflight in Economics, Politics, Refugees, Religion, Travel
asylum, australia, crisis, discrimination, EU, europe, fear, followtherefugees, France, FYROM, greece, human rights, humanitarianism, immigration, lesbos, macedonia, middle east, openeuborders, Paris, parisattacks, prayforparis, prayforpeace, prayfortheworld, refugees, refugeeswelcome, safepassage, syria, united nations, USA, war
It seemed like no one on my bus to Belgrade spoke English, but I picked up that the word refugee is not used much by the Serbians, ‘they’ are all ‘immigrants’,*said in an angry voice*, showing the power of language in labeling someone as undeserving. And it’s clear that as in Australia, many Europeans don’t believe refugees have a right to be here.
I am an immigrant. I left my wealthy, stable, safe country to live and work in another because I wanted to experience something different. I had no well-founded fear of persecution, I could have found a better paid and more secure job in Australia than I found here. But no one in Europe has ever questioned my right to be here. No one has ever accused me of taking someone else’s job. And as far as I know, no one has ever worried that I might be a threat to national security.
Every single refugee I spoke to loved their home. Every single one of them spoke of the beauty of their country and said they would go back if they had a future there. We are wired to want to return to where we are from. Every Christmas I go home, because it gets to November and I’m itching to be where I’m from again. For these people, going home is not an option.
I was sitting in my hotel in Belgrade when news of the terrorist attacks in Paris came through, and like everyone who calls that city home I felt sick to my stomach, and wracked with nerves until one by one everyone there who I loved turned out to be ok. There’s really nothing more terrifying than the thought of not feeling safe where you live, and the French have had a taste of that in the last few days. The difference is that for the majority of refugees, they do not have a government who will act to protect them, who will do whatever it takes to ensure their future safety. For some of them, it is the government targeting them. They are not running from an attack on a stadium, or a nightclub, or a restaurant, or a bar. Their villages, cities, and in some cases their countries, are on fire.
We all empathise with the images coming out of France that show people terrified and fleeing. We can all understand that when you hear gun shots and comprehend the threat, you grab the people you love and you run. You run away from the danger, and you keep running until you find protection and feel secure. Refugees don’t get to just run out of the restaurant; they have to run further and faster and for longer until they feel safe. Why is it that we don’t look at the images of people running from war and make that correlation? There was not one story of someone slamming their door in the face of Parisians who ran on Friday. Why can we not #PorteOuverte now?
While I’ll acknowledge that I met some who weren’t running from obvious persecution, the idea that these people are to be feared is something that I understand less now than I did two weeks ago. That the man or woman who comes from a different background is someone you are justified in being afraid of because they are different to you makes no sense. We make these people the other because it allows us to feel safe in our bigotry and more comfortable in our ignorance. Obviously I didn’t talk to every refugee, but these people don’t want to blow up your homes and change your way of life. They don’t want to convert Europe or threaten your children. They don’t want to impose some deranged form of Sharia law. What they want is the same things you do. They want to send their kids to school, finish their own education, get a job, and be able to feed their families. They want to be free and to live without fear.
Almost immediately following the attacks in Paris, Poland announced that it would no longer be adhering to its commitment to accept a mediocre number of Syrian refugees under a previously negotiated EU deal. Hungary is likely to follow. Calls in the US and Australia to halt any intake were loud. As if the two issues were automatically linked. Despite the fact that the vast majority of these perpetrators were European citizens, born and bred here, in our schools, our suburbs and our communities.
What I’m afraid of now is what’s to come. How we will react as a community. If Paris will permanently feel like a city under military protection. If France will feel like a country at war. I’m afraid that people will become more racist. I’m afraid that Marine Le Pen will win the next election. I’m afraid Muslims will no longer feel safe on the streets. I’m afraid that hate speech will become something we accept, stand by and allow to happen.
But when it comes to the refugees, I am not afraid of them. I’ve helped these people out of leaky boats. I’ve comforted them while they’ve howled violently. I’ve walked to border crossings with them in the pitch black. I’ve sat in the dirt and talked with them in their camps. I’ve travelled across a country with them. I’ve shaken their hands and heard their stories and shared their food. I’ve been alone with them in the dark.
And if I’m not afraid of them after that than you don’t get to be either.
Everyone, including the police, started singing
asylum, discrimination, EU, followtherefugees, FYROM, human rights, humanitarianism, immigration, macedonia, middle east, openeuborders, refugees, refugeeswelcome, safepassage, serbia, syria, war
I take the official and ordered crossing from FYROM into Serbia at Miratovac and reach the processing centre at Presevo. This camp is the most chaotic that I’ve witnessed. There are people everywhere yelling, and a heavier police and military presence than I’ve seen before. As this is an entry point, people here are registered and fingerprinted and this takes time. On an average day- 8 hours, on a bad day- 24. After arriving from the border groups are barricaded and held back behind metal rails in numbers of 50 or so. It really looks like something out of a war film. From here they move up the line group by group until they enter the UNHCR tents where they are processed, finger printed, and then board a train or bus to Sid at the Croatian border.
Adis from the United Presevo Volunteers comes out to meet me at the entrance where I’ve had another encounter with a displeased policeman. I’m not going to be allowed into the official tents. I hopefully and helpfully tell the cop that I’m Australian, but this one doesn’t seem to care.
Adis has been in Presevo for a month now. There are about 25 volunteers living in a house, literally crammed into the rafters sleeping on top of each other. These people are phenomenal. Unlike on Lesbos, there is no glamour and prestige in Presevo, there are no pretty beaches and waterside restaurants, and these guys are doing it tough. They work 18 hours days, and from what I can tell, they’re the only reason the situation hasn’t completely spiraled out of control. Before entering the camp it is this group who are handing out water and food and clothes and basic medical care to the refugees who may be here for hours and hours before they are processed. MSF also have a tent to deal with the most serious cases, but policemen often refuse to let people out of the line, even to use the toilet. As a result children defecate in their pants. When groups move forward to be registered people are anxious, and there’s a high risk of babies and children being trampled. I see for myself Adis throw himself into one such movement and act as a human shield to stop a little girl being flattened. The Presevo volunteers work entirely off donations and are desperately in need, with funding left for only a few more days, so if you can spare it- $50 goes a very long way in Serbia.
Volunteers also provide essential information to people who often have no idea what’s going on. Some refugees think that they are in Slovenia and not far from ‘Mama Merkel’. Others arrive having no idea which country they’re in. Something that makes a huge difference is basic communication, so the volunteers have made info sheets explaining where they are and what happens next. It seems incredulous that this hasn’t been done by the state or large NGOs. It’s such a basic and obvious thing to keep people informed, and the times I’ve seen refugees stress is when they don’t understand what’s going on. It would be a simple gesture, as well as an act of basic decency and a sign of respect to acknowledge these people as humans who deserve the courtesy of knowing what’s going to happen to them. It’s also pragmatic and would make everyone’s lives a lot easier.
The volunteers are all young, I don’t see anyone who looks over 40, many are in-between studies or jobs, some have left work to come here. All of them look exhausted and stressed. I ask them about their biggest problems, which seems a stupid question when the whole place is chaos. They tell me how the medic tent is only able to handle priorities, and there are so many problems that priority has come to mean being 8.5 months pregnant and having contractions. If you don’t fit that description, you’re waiting a while. Young men show up with injuries sustained from the boat trip from Turkey, having walked through Greece with serious wounds, but single males are never the priority.
Another huge issue is psychological care. Children often have panic attacks, particularly when they are separated from their parents. I hear one story of a 16 year old diabetic who was refusing to take insulin and effectively killing herself slowly. Another of two teenage girls who fled Syria and had all their belongings stolen in Hungary, one had started cutting herself. A woman died in a hotel room because they switched off the water and she couldn’t take her heart medication. They found her reaching for the pills. A bottle of water is all that would have made the difference. When stocks are low, water is only distributed to ‘special cases’- drinking water– a decision actually has to be made for who stays dehydrated.
The volunteer house is set less than 50m back from the street where the refugees are barricaded. The background noise of people in distress is loud and constant, and I don’t understand how they are getting any sleep at all. One tells me that she sleeps with a walkie talkie next to her ear in case of an emergency, meaning she never sleeps at all. Everyone has nightmares about the screams that sometimes come from the street and mean that something is really very wrong. I am so humbled by these people and their dedication. I could not live how they are living and the difference that they are making is enormous. Recently, Adis started cooking for everyone, but some days there is only enough money for them to have one hot meal. Because they want to be clear that general donations go to the refugees, you can donate specifically to their kitchen.
Something I’ve heard consistently since leaving Greece is stories of the authority’s brutality. While the military generally have a better understanding, policemen are not trained to deal with these kinds of situations. There is no understanding of cross-cultural communication, and it shows. People are shouted at like animals and pointed at like criminals. I see one man pushed to the ground and others dealt with very roughly for daring to take a step forward. But I’m also told stories of compassion, that the cops here are protective of the volunteers, and very, very concerned about the babies. But still there is no order in Presevo. Attempts to separate women and children from men to protect them in the crowds don’t work because wives obviously want to stay with their husbands. And when the crowd surges it’s the most vulnerable who are at risk of being trampled. The power of a group of people of this size heaving with exasperation and aggravation is quite frightening.
As with everything I’ve seen in the last week, there are many stories of humanity at its best. Some of the refugees have helped with crowd control, a Syrian social worker intervened in one tense situation and told Adis, ‘I got your back’. At one particularly busy point a group of kids aged 7-10 helped with running the food distribution tent, excited to be given a role and responsibility, and just something to do other than wait. A Spanish NGO called Clowns Without Borders showed up one day and started entertaining the children, but it ended up having just as positive an effect on the state of mind of the police. One story that gives me chills is of a day where supplies ran out and there was nothing left to give. People were getting anxious when Adis, feeling powerless, started playing music on a whim, and almost immediately the situation calmed. Everyone, including the police, started singing. A moment of normalcy in an otherwise appalling situation prevented disaster. On another occasion when they were linking arms to try and hold a crowd back, a group of Moroccan guys started singing ‘We are the world’. Sometimes all it takes is a song, an act that reminds everyone we are all the same, and a part of something bigger than ourselves.
We do what we can
asylum, EU, followtherefugees, FYROM, human rights, humanitarianism, immigration, macedonia, middle east, openeuborders, refugees, refugeeswelcome, safepassage, serbia, syria, war
I was warned that getting into the Macedonian camps would be impossible, but I managed to walk into Tabanovste with no problems. A dirty train has just pulled up and people empty off it for the usual routine of collecting clothes and food before they walk along the tracks to cross. Eventually, despite my best efforts, some genius figures out that I am not a real refugee and I’m quickly ushered out. The camp director is not impressed that I have infiltrated his kingdom. They are terrified of journalists getting in and don’t believe that I’m not with an organisation. Arbnor asks for my passport, and as soon as he sees the coat of arms his attitude does a complete 180, ‘Kangaroo!’. Suddenly it’s very important that we become Facebook friends because he wants to come to Australia, and it’s very hard to get in he tells me. Oh what sweet irony.
I’m offered tea and an interview. ‘I’m so sorry, I thought you were British or American.’ he chuckles, as if this explains everything. It’s not the first time that my nationality has worked in my favor like this and I take full advantage, though I’m not sure what I’m going to do when he finds me on facebook and asks for an Australian visa. The camp is calm he says because the refugees do not stay very long. FYROM has managed to implement systems to funnel people through the country as quickly as possible and refugees rarely stop. Serbia is only 500 metres away, and 3-5000 people cross here daily. Maximum capacity for overnight is 1000, though it is very difficult to imagine that many people in this space and in reality they end up sleeping outside in the dirt. Arbnor seems proud of his camp, as if it is a competition with others to see who can provide the best service. But he admits that if something happens and people were to stay longer, they would be in trouble.
Everything is fine as long as the borders stay open and people can move on. It is easy to see how quickly this could turn into a full sale disaster if that changes though; basic infrastructure is lacking, and the only thing that allows the system to do anything resembling work is the constant onward movement. Many commentators have predicted that border closures further north could have catastrophic effects on the region which already suffers from its own ethnic and religious tensions.
The taxi drivers of Macedonia seem like a bit of a mafia, and it’s amazing how much money is being made. Refugees have injected millions into the economy through transport, small goods, and even accommodation for the wealthier ones. Crossing the state is at least 100 euro per car, and drivers make the trip three times a day, in a country where the average income is not much more than 300Eu a month. All the drivers I interact with are incredibly sympathetic. ‘We do what we can’ I see them buy water and coffee for the refugees. They hide children in their cars from the police and get angry when discussing how the authorities are corrupt and take money from these poor people. As Vladmir who drove me into Skopje and used to serve In the Yugoslav army points out, Europe’s last refuge crisis was a result of war in the Balkans, and people genuinely seem to want to help. ‘You are 18, 19, still really a child, and you wake up and your life is gone… things you can see, you can never unsee.’ They set up their phones as hot spots so the refugees can contact home, and they provide hugely important information on where they are going and what to expect that I haven’t seen given anywhere else so far. Perhaps most significantly, they treat the refugees as equals and talk to them about their families and their stories. There is no class structure in these cars.
Until June this year Macedonian law actually imprisoned taxis for taking irregular entrants to the Serbian border. Several are currently serving gaol terms for this offence. I hear one story of a driver who picked up a German girl and her black boyfriend, and felt sick about it but asked to see their papers. Vladmir looks ashamed to be telling me this, but says he couldn’t risk a gaol sentence and felt he didn’t have any choice. Understandably the couple were furious and walked away.
He encourages one group to seek asylum in Macedonia. Proving that a huge problem in this situation is a lack of communication, the refugees reveal that they don’t know about procedures here and are heading to countries where they believe they will get papers easily. They are also concerned with being in large countries where there are Arab-speaking communities. A fact that would have the far right screaming with cries of ghetto, it is really just a desire to feel a part of a community. To speak your mother tongue, to laugh and talk with those who share your history. It is no different from Chinatown or Little Italy. It is no different from me being drawn to an Aussie in Paris. None of them want to accept charity. When those who are used to money find out how much people in Macedonia earn they are quickly turned off, and encourage the taxi driver to come with them to Germany.
It is true that a small number of these people are not only running from bombs, one group crossed through the other day from Puerto Rico, another from the Dominican Republic, which seems amazing to me because surely there is an easier way to get to Europe from the Americas than via Greece by Turkish smugglers. My Yugoslav army friend says that there are those taking advantage of the situation. He doesn’t hold it against them though, and seems very wise in his comments that it is human nature to always search for a better life. As long as the refuges keep moving and injecting millions into the FYROM economy I really don’t think that anyone here minds. However, I am given the distinct impression though that benevolence would quickly disappear if all these people stopped moving and decided to settle in Skopje.
I could not stay just sitting any longer
Posted by cheztopflight in Economics, Politics, Refugees, Travel
asylum, discrimination, EU, followtherefugees, FYROM, human rights, immigration, middle east, morocco, openeuborders, palestine, refugees, refugeeswelcome, safepassage, war
I ignored the policeman’s advice about buses for normal people and tried to find a car full of refugees who spoke perfect English. When that failed I settled on one where between two of the four we could manage a pretty decent conversation. When refugees cross into Macedonia they are given the option of a taxi or a train to the Serbian border, for the same price per person. Problems arise because children under seven ride for free so no taxi driver wants to take more than one kid per car. A very large Afghan family will have to wait until the next train which is 10 hours away. In my car are four guys in their twenties who insist that I sit in the front despite the fact that I’m smaller than any of them. They are curious about what I’m doing, but find it less strange than most of the non-refugees I’ve spoken to. We each pay 25 euro, no one asks me to put in more. Before we leave I ask the driver if I have time to buy some water, and three of the four thrust unopened bottles at me.
Mahmoud, 27 and his brother Annas, 25 are from Palestine, Nasa, 29 and Nabin, 20 are from Morocco. For the next two hours we skirt across Macedonia to Tabanovtse. Nasa speaks French perfectly and English well enough so between the two we get by. I point out to him that Morocco is not at war, and he openly agrees and says he had no fear there, but no life. He left three years ago and has been floating around the Middle East ever since. Finally he decided to try his luck and wants to get to Norway because he likes the cold. ‘I could not stay just sitting any longer, I want to change my life. No war, but no future.’ A qualified mechanic, he could not get a job anywhere and wants to start a family. For a year and a half he’s had a Russian girlfriend he met in Egypt, ‘I was not like this when we met’ he assures me, ‘I was clean and had fresh dressing and nice face’. His girlfriend, who he has just left in Dubai, wants to live in Russia. He tells me they’ve just had an argument, ‘I love her, but she drive me so crazy- I had to delete what’s ap.’ The idea from what I can gather is that once he’s established himself as a millionaire mechanic in Oslo the girlfriend will forget about St Petersburg and follow. She paid for his flight to Istanbul and this is a source of great shame for him. He averts my eyes as he says it, and you can tell this man is crippled by how powerless he feels to control his own future. ‘I don’t have anything, sometimes this country, sometimes that country. All I do is food, sleep, smoke.’ He is also very upset by having to accept charity in general. He had two large packs but they were stolen in Turkey and his belongings have been reduced to a plastic bag. ‘For 9 days now I have no shower, no wash. These clothes, they are not mine. I had to take them’
His friend Nabin is sporting an injury he sustained days ago on the boat journey to Greece. But they have not stopped to see a doctor. The 20 year old is incredibly pale and I tell them that once we get to the camp they should speak to a medic. But they are determined not to waste time and want to keep moving. ‘We cannot sleep, we need to move, we don’t like sitting’. The taxi driver later tells me that 10 000 people crossed over yesterday and in reality they will have to sit for a while on the Serbian side to be processed.
Mahmoud is 27 but easily looks ten years older than me. He speaks Hebrew, Swedish, Arabic and some English. He shows me the scars on his head and arms from where the Israeli soldiers shot at him in Hebron. He intervened to help a relative they were trying to take after an argument, and they turned on him. He tells me the situation has become so bad you cannot leave your home without being harassed. ‘We go to sleep, and the next morning there are new houses on our land.’ He feels that there is no hope for him in Palestine and things are getting worse, he acts out how soldiers in Gaza point guns at children. Mahmoud left the occupied West Bank a month ago and travelled to Turkey before crossing the Med. He made the decision to leave his wife and child behind and bring them over later rather than risk putting them on a boat. He shows me photos of his little girl who is 2 and has a huge bow on her head. The next photo is of him clutching someone else’s baby on a boat, less than 6 months old. He tells me the Turkish smugglers were even rough with the children. ‘The babies were very scared on the trip, we all had to help.’
I ask them if they would ever go back to their countries. Nasa says maybe in ten years, to show his children. Mahmoud shakes his head, thinks about it, and then says ‘maybe in twenty’. He then shows me photos of the Al-Aqsa mosque and starts raving about its beauty. When I tell him I’ve been there he grows very excited. I tell Nasa I have also been to Casablanca and travelled in Morocco. Mahmoud’s face clouds over and he says, ‘international travel, that is so nice for you’ and I wish I had kept my mouth shut. While Moroccans can visit 56 countries visa free, it’s harder for Palestinians, and Mahmoud snuck out on a false passport. None of them have any papers, the Palestinians to start with and the Moroccans since Turkey where the smugglers put a gun to their head and took their documentation, claiming they would be turned back otherwise. They are all amazed by how nice people in Europe are, and I am too much of a coward to tell them this will not always be the case.
I mention ISIS. The Palestinians don’t know much about it, but rage visibly flashes through Nasa. ‘These people have no religion’ he tells me, ‘they are not Muslim, they are not human’. He goes on to explain how what they do is harem, and Islam forbids it. As a way of making me understand, he talks about how to be a Muslim it is very important to be clean, inside and out, and no one from ISIS can be clean. When I ask why he thinks people are going to fight with them, his explanation is surprisingly economic. ‘C’est fou, but they think it’s the only way to get a house and money… People like me, who want a better life, but they are crazy.’ He is not worried about any of them coming to Europe this way and laughs when I ask, ‘they take the planes… It is the people running from them who take the boats’.
They ask me about my plans once we get to the camp, and I explain I can’t cross with them but will return to visit that night with a contact in Skopje. Mahmoud immediately grows concerned and tells me this is not a good idea and I need to be careful. ‘I am afraid for you’. After a couple of hours in the car this man is sincerely concerned for my well being and starts quizzing me on how I know this person. His almost brotherly worry is so genuine I’m taken aback.
When we get to the crossing I’m suddenly overcome with I don’t know what. I’ve heard many people describe the situation here as a form of apartheid, and every time I’ve dismissed such a label as excessive and exaggerated. But now that I’m here and I’m living it, now that I go one way and they go another, that’s exactly what it feels like. While I will walk across a border and flash my passport, these kind, generous, funny and smart men who I’ve spent the last two hours talking and joking with, who have shared with me, have to spend hours in a dirty camp being pushed from here to there not knowing what’s going on. These are my friends now and it just doesn’t seem fair. Before I even realise what’s happening I’m blubbering, and the poor, hungry refugees who haven’t slept in days and have been walking for hours try to comfort the privileged, well fed Australian girl who will sleep in a hotel room tonight and can’t keep her shit together. It would have been hilarious in its ludicrousness, but I am so ashamed by my own good fortune that I can’t see the humour in it at all.
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Seven China Energy Group staff members participated in the 2014 ACEEE Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings, with five panel presentations and two poster presentations. The ACEEE conference, held every two years in Pacific Grove, CA, is a pre-eminent meeting bringing together a diverse array of professionals focused on discussing both the technological basis and practical policy-related implementation of actions focused on reducing the... Read More
LBNL Wins Award for 40 Years of Leadership in Energy Efficiency Research and Development
The Environmental Energy Technology Division of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has been selected as one of the three winners for 2014 Champion of Energy Efficiency Awards by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE). The division is awarded for its four decades of leadership on energy efficiency R&D, helping to improve buildings technology and systems in extensive collaboration with industry and states.
Secretary Moniz and Minister Wan Seek to Continue U.S. – China Collaborative Technology Research for Energy Efficient Buildings
In conjunction with the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED), U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz traveled to Beijing and met with China's Minister of Science and Technology Wan Gang to chair the U.S. – China Clean Energy Research Center (CERC) Steering Committee Meeting on July 11, 2014. CERC, launched by President Obama and former Chinese President Hu Jintao in 2009, serves as a framework for joint research in key areas... Read More
Berkeley Lab Researchers Sign a Partnership Agreement with the Shandong Academy of Science
As part of the U.S.-China EcoPartnerships Program and one of the activities of the Sixth U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) signed a statement of intent for cooperation with its Chinese EcoPartner, the Shandong Academy of Science (SDAS), in the 2014 U.S.-China EcoPartnerships Signing Ceremony on July 10 in Beijing, China. Nan Zhou, the Deputy Group Leader of China Energy Group and... Read More
Institute of Electrical Engineering of Chinese Academy of Science Visited LBNL
July 1st 2014
A delegation from the Institute of Electrical Engineering of the Chinese Academy of Science (CAS-IEE) visited Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) on June 26, 2014 as part of their study tour focused on the U.S. developments in renewable distributed energy and their preparation of a report on similar topic for China's National Energy Administration in its deployment of 30 microgrid pilot projects. Lv Fang, head of the delegation, also... Read More
US DOE Assistant Secretary David Danielson and DOE Staff Members Visited Site of China Energy Group Energy Assessment Training
On June 12th, 2014, a delegation from the U.S. Department of Energy (U.S. DOE) led by Assistant Secretary David Danielson visited the Yanshan Petrochemical Company in the Fangshan District of Beijing, the site where Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's (LBNL's) China Energy Group and others conducted a 4-day energy efficiency assessment in 2013 demonstrating the use of U.S. DOE energy auditing methods and tools. The U.S. DOE... Read More
China's Largest Construction Company Visits LBNL
China's largest construction company, the China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC), visited Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory on June 27, 2014 to explore collaboration opportunities. Led by CSCEC Deputy Director, Li Yungui, the delegation members were from CSCEC's Technology Research Center that is seeking technologies that could help the company address increasing challenges facing the Chinese building sector. Vladimir... Read More
China Energy Group Presented at 2nd Shenzhen International Low-Carbon City Forum
Lynn Price, Staff Scientist and the Group Leader of the China Energy Group at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, presented on the topic of “Bringing Science Solutions to the World: Low Carbon Research and Energy Innovation at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory” during the Think Tank Dialogue Panel on behalf of LBNL's Deputy Director, Horst Simon, at the Second Shenzhen International Low-Carbon City Forum in Shenzhen China on June 10-... Read More
LBNL's China Energy Group participated in the 5th US-China Energy Efficiency Forum in Beijing
The Fifth U.S.-China Energy Efficiency Forum was held in Beijing, China on June 11, 2014 with opening remarks from both Dr. David Danielson, Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy within the U.S. Department of Energy, and Xei Zhenhua, the Vice Chairman of Chinas National Development Reform Commission. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratorys China Energy Group signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Chinas Tianjin Energy... Read More
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Working Group III, mitigation of climate change, issues its report summary
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Working Group III, addressing the mitigation of climate change, has issued an executive summary of its Fifth Assessment report. The report updates policymakers on the technical and socio-economic aspects of climate change, including technologies and policies that can reduce impacts. According to its website, "The IPCC Working Group III assesses all relevant options for mitigating climate change... Read More
China Energy Group Gave the First Training on Its Energy and Emissions Modeling Tool in China
At the invitation of a Chinese government think-tank to provide scientific guidance to address China's energy and environmental concerns, the China Energy Group (CEG) of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory gave its first training on its energy and emissions modeling tool in China between March 5 and 28, 2014. The 10-day training in Jinan City on the use of the Green Resources and Energy Appraisal Tool (GREAT), whose development was funded by... Read More
China Energy Group Kick-started Its First Training on Low Carbon Tools in China
In its latest effort to support Chinese cities in reducing carbon emissions, researchers from the China Energy Group of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory trained 20 Chinese researchers of China’s Shandong Academy of Science in Jinan city on March 6-7 in the use of four low carbon software tools. The trainees expressed great interest in the tools. Future training and tool dissemination efforts are planned through a series of upcoming training... Read More
The Bay Area Council’s Economic Institute Highlights LBNL’s China Energy Group
The Bay Area Council's Economic Institute recently released Ties That Bind, 2014 Edition: The San Francisco Bay Area's Economic Links to Greater China, which includes a detailed summary of LBNL's China Energy Group. The report traces the efforts of the group’s founder, Dr. Mark D. Levine, back to 1987 when he highlighted the need for comprehensive energy consumption data collection in Chinese cities and set on a course to carry... Read More
New Berkeley Lab-Designed Tool: MAnufacturing STructure and Energy Research Tool (MASTER)
The China Energy Group of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has released the MAnufacturing STructure and Energy Research (MASTER) tool. The MASTER tool is designed to help users understand how different factors (production growth of industry subsectors, industry structural change, and energy intensity change of industry subsectors) influence overall industrial energy use trends over time. Policy makers often seek such values in order to make... Read More
China Energy Group and Energy Research Institute Staff Members Visit Rocky Mountain Institute for Reinventing Fire: China Project
Four members of the China Energy Group and two visitors from China's Energy Research Institute spent two days working together on their joint Reinventing Fire: China project with Rocky Mountain Institute staff members on December 4 and 5, 2013. The project, which builds on the analysis in RMI's Reinventing Fire project for the U.S., aims to combine the research skills of the U.S. and Chinese team members along with the... Read More
China Energy Group in Energy Foundation China's 16th Senior Policy Advisory Council Meeting featuring Reinventing Fire-China Project
The China Energy Group's Lynn Price, Nan Zhou, and Lixuan Hong participated in the Energy Foundation China's 16th Senior Policy Advisory Council Meeting on November 15 which featured the Group's collaborative project with the Energy Foundation China, Rocky Mountain Institute, and China's Energy Research Institute. The theme of this year's meeting was "Reinventing Fire: Contributing to China's Energy Production and Consumption Revolution". Amory... Read More
China Energy Group’s Lynn Price Named Guest Professor at the University of Science and Technology Beijing
Lynn Price, the Leader of the China Energy Group, was named a Guest Professor at the University of Science and Technology Beijing by University President Zhang Xinxin. The guest professorship is a key component of a multi-year program of China’s Ministry of Education called the Program for Introducing Expertise to Universities. The specific focus of the program is on industrial energy conservation and energy efficiency. Through this program,... Read More
Delegation hosted by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology visits LBNL’s China Energy Group
A 24-member delegation of representatives of local Economic and Information Technology Commissions, selected industrial associations, the China International Engineering Consulting Corporation, the China Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection Group, and others – all hosted by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) – visited LBNL’s China Energy Group on October 31, 2013. China Energy Group members gave talks to... Read More
U.S. – China Clean Energy Research Center, Building Energy Efficiency Consortium (CERC-BEE) Meets at Program’s Mid-point in Wuhan, China
LBNL’s China Energy Group lead a delegation of more than 30 U.S. Clean Energy Research Center, Building Energy Efficiency Consortium members including research leads, industrial partners and technical advisers to meet with Chinese collaborators in Wuhan, China on October 29-31. This year’s U.S.-China gathering, aimed at facilitating the development of work plans for the second half of the 5-year innovation and research program, also included a... Read More
DOE Secretary Moniz Talked Climate and Energy at Tsinghua University
U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Moniz gave a talk on "Climate and Energy: the Road Ahead for US-China Cooperation" at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, on Monday, October 28th. In his speech, Secretary Moniz explained that he believes that "the challenges of energy and climate change are the most urgent facing our generation all around the globe" and that "China and the United States must be part of the solution". Secretary Moniz... Read More
CEG Researchers Present Low Carbon Development Tools and Policies for Chinese Municipality Delegation
A delegation from Yichun Municipality of Jiangxi Province, China, visited the University of California, Berkeley, on October 16, 2013, interested in learning more ideas and experiences in the development of a low carbon economy. Two researchers, Gang He and Lixuan Hong, from the China Energy Group of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, gave the delegation two presentations that focus on the development of a low carbon economy in the United... Read More
China Energy Group participates in BERC Innovation Expo
China Energy Group staff members presented two posters in the Berkeley Energy & Resources Collaborative (BERC) Innovation Expo on Thursday, October 10th. The two posters, both of which received 4th place awards, were: A Provincial-Scale Wind Resource Assessment for China Based on a Decade of Hourly Wind Speed Data, by Gang He Quantifying the Co-benefits of Energy-Efficiency Projects and Programs: A Case Study in the... Read More
China Energy Group Celebrates its 25th Anniversary
The China Energy Group – founded in 1988 by Mark Levine – celebrated its 25th Anniversary at a reception hosted by Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) following the 4th U.S.-China Energy Efficiency Forum in Washington DC. Remarks in honor of the Group were made by Jules Kortenhorst (CEO of RMI), Jon Creyts (Program Director, RMI), and Jiang Lin (Senior Vice President of Energy Foundation and Chairman of Energy Foundation China... Read More
China Energy Group Participates in the 4th U.S.-China Energy Efficiency Forum in Washington DC
Five staff members and two visiting researchers of the China Energy Group participated in the 4th U.S.-China Energy Efficiency Forum, hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy in Washington DC on September 25th and 26th. Lynn Price moderated the session on Energy Management in Energy-Intensive Facilities, Nan Zhou provided an update on the U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center – Building Energy Efficiency (CERC-... Read More
Berkeley Lab Releases Most Comprehensive Databook on China’s Energy and Environment
On Berkeley Lab's News Center website, there's a new story about the China Energy Group's China Energy Databook. "In the five years since the China Energy Group of the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) released its last edition of the China Energy Databook, China has achieved two dubious distinctions: it surpassed the United States in energy consumption and it surpassed the United... Read More
World's Largest Residential Real Estate Developer Meets with LBNL's China Energy Group, Visits Test Facilities
Wang Shi, Chairman and Founder of Vanke, visited LBNL and led a team of Vanke executives and technical experts from China and the U.S. to exchange ideas and information on cutting-edge research, technologies, and emerging areas around energy-efficient buildings in the U.S. and China. Vanke, headquartered in Shenzhen, China, is the world's largest real estate developer and builds more than half of China's green buildings. During his visit, Mr.... Read More
Berkeley Lab EETD to Work With Shenzhen Institute of Building Research on Energy-Efficient Buildings, Low-Carbon Cities
The Shenzhen Institute of Building Research of Shenzhen, China will collaborate with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) on a variety of research and technology development and demonstration projects under a memorandum of understanding recently signed in Shenzhen by both parties. Lynn Price, leader of the China Energy Group in Berkeley Lab’s Environmental Energy Technologies Division (EETD), participated in a ceremony marking... Read More
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He also made two capitals of molten bronze to set on the tops of the pillars; the height of the one capital was five cubits and the height of the other capital was five cubits. There were nets of network and twisted threads of chainwork for the capitals which were on the top of the pillars; seven for the one capital and seven for the other capital. So he made the pillars, and two rows around on the one network to cover the capitals which were on the top of the pomegranates; and so he did for the other capital. The capitals which were on the top of the pillars in the porch were of lily design, four cubits. There were capitals on the two pillars, even above and close to the rounded projection which was beside the network; and the pomegranates numbered two hundred in rows around both capitals. Thus he set up the pillars at the porch of the nave; and he set up the right pillar and named it Jachin, and he set up the left pillar and named it Boaz. On the top of the pillars was lily design. So the work of the pillars was finished. Now he made the sea of cast metal ten cubits from brim to brim, circular in form, and its height was five cubits, and thirty cubits in circumference. Under its brim gourds went around encircling it ten to a cubit, completely surrounding the sea; the gourds were in two rows, cast with the rest. It stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east; and the sea was set on top of them, and all their rear parts turned inward. It was a handbreadth thick, and its brim was made like the brim of a cup, as a lily blossom; it could hold two thousand baths. Then he made the ten stands of bronze; the length of each stand was four cubits and its width four cubits and its height three cubits. This was the design of the stands: they had borders, even borders between the frames, and on the borders which were between the frames were lions, oxen and cherubim; and on the frames there was a pedestal above, and beneath the lions and oxen were wreaths of hanging work. Now each stand had four bronze wheels with bronze axles, and its four feet had supports; beneath the basin were cast supports with wreaths at each side. Its opening inside the crown at the top was a cubit, and its opening was round like the design of a pedestal, a cubit and a half; and also on its opening there were engravings, and their borders were square, not round. The four wheels were underneath the borders, and the axles of the wheels were on the stand. And the height of a wheel was a cubit and a half. The workmanship of the wheels was like the workmanship of a chariot wheel. Their axles, their rims, their spokes, and their hubs were all cast. Now there were four supports at the four corners of each stand; its supports were part of the stand itself. On the top of the stand there was a circular form half a cubit high, and on the top of the stand its stays and its borders were part of it. He engraved on the plates of its stays and on its borders, cherubim, lions and palm trees, according to the clear space on each, with wreaths all around. He made the ten stands like this: all of them had one casting, one measure and one form. He made ten basins of bronze, one basin held forty baths; each basin was four cubits, and on each of the ten stands was one basin. Then he set the stands, five on the right side of the house and five on the left side of the house; and he set the sea of cast metal on the right side of the house eastward toward the south. Now Hiram made the basins and the shovels and the bowls. So Hiram finished doing all the work which he performed for King Solomon in the house of the LORD: the two pillars and the two bowls of the capitals which were on the top of the two pillars, and the two networks to cover the two bowls of the capitals which were on the top of the pillars; and the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks, two rows of pomegranates for each network to cover the two bowls of the capitals which were on the tops of the pillars; and the ten stands with the ten basins on the stands; and the one sea and the twelve oxen under the sea; and the pails and the shovels and the bowls; even all these utensils which Hiram made for King Solomon in the house of the LORD were of polished bronze. In the plain of the Jordan the king cast them, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarethan. Solomon left all the utensils unweighed, because they were too many; the weight of the bronze could not be ascertained. Solomon made all the furniture which was in the house of the LORD: the golden altar and the golden table on which was the bread of the Presence; and the lampstands, five on the right side and five on the left, in front of the inner sanctuary, of pure gold; and the flowers and the lamps and the tongs, of gold; and the cups and the snuffers and the bowls and the spoons and the firepans, of pure gold; and the hinges both for the doors of the inner house, the most holy place, and for the doors of the house, that is, of the nave, of gold. Thus all the work that King Solomon performed in the house of the LORD was finished And Solomon brought in the things dedicated by his father David, the silver and the gold and the utensils, and he put them in the treasuries of the house of the LORD. Scripture Verse Wall Art
A Psalm for giving thanks. Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations. ... Scripture Verse Wall Art
Thus says the Lord, “Go, buy a potter's earthenware flask, and take some of the elders of the people and some of the elders of the priests, and go out to the Valley of the Son of Hinnom at the entry of the Potsherd Gate, and proclaim there the words that I tell you. You shall say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing such disaster upon this place that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. Because the people have forsaken me and have profaned this place by making offerings in it to other gods whom neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah have known; and because they have filled this place with the blood of innocents, and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or decree, nor did it come into my mind— ... Scripture Verse Wall Art
Glory of ChristChrist AtoningThe Effect Of The Word Of GodChrist's Own GloryimagepersonalityThe Beauty Of NatureGod On HighRight Hand Of GodRadiancyGod Sustaining CreationPower Of Christ, ShownHand Of GodGod, Living And Self sustainingRight SidesSalvation, Nature OfKnowledge, Of Jesus ChristCreatorGod's Glory In Jesus ChristMediatorGod, Power OfBeing Cleansed From Sin Scripture Verse Wall Art
Now when the wall had been built and I had set up the doors, and the gatekeepers, the singers, and the Levites had been appointed, I gave my brother Hanani and Hananiah the governor of the castle charge over Jerusalem, for he was a more faithful and God-fearing man than many. And I said to them, “Let not the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun is hot. And while they are still standing guard, let them shut and bar the doors. Appoint guards from among the inhabitants of Jerusalem, some at their guard posts and some in front of their own homes.” The city was wide and large, but the people within it were few, and no houses had been rebuilt. Then my God put it into my heart to assemble the nobles and the officials and the people to be enrolled by genealogy. And I found the book of the genealogy of those who came up at the first, and I found written in it: ... Christian Canvas Art
This type of spiritual encouragement is believed to be why this particular category of art has become increasingly popular for Christian households and churches as a decoration choice. Curiously, not all scripture art has to have words in order to fit into this category. Paintings that depict a symbolized event, such as Psalms 23 or the Lord's Prayer, can also be placed in this category because it's a visual interpretation of the actual scripture rather than a pictorial account of biblical events. Scripture Verse Wall Art
"Now her sister Oholibah saw this, yet she was more corrupt in her lust than she, and her harlotries were more than the harlotries of her sister. "She lusted after the Assyrians, governors and officials, the ones near, magnificently dressed, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men. "I saw that she had defiled herself; they both took the same way.read more. Scripture Verse Wall Art
Now King Solomon sent and brought Hiram from Tyre. He was a widow's son from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in bronze; and he was filled with wisdom and understanding and skill for doing any work in bronze So he came to King Solomon and performed all his work. He fashioned the two pillars of bronze; eighteen cubits was the height of one pillar, and a line of twelve cubits measured the circumference of both.read more.
The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, one of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, and until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the captivity of Jerusalem in the fifth month. Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” ... Scripture Verse Wall Art
Our extensive experience ensures you of the highest quality product. As in most industries, when they start to mature the low price competitors come in to make quick money with inferior products. The Vinyl Wall Decal industry has been no different. Just in the past few years, we have seen a flood of inferior products coming in from overseas. While these products are usually cheap, they aren’t usually even functional. These products come without necessities like pre-installed transfer tape making it almost impossible for you to actually install the product. One company we know of doesn’t even “weed” their products making them useless for most customers. Of course, trying to fight with a Chinese company for a $5 refund is seldom worth the time so most users just end up frustrated and disappointed. Christian Canvas Art
As a secular, non-sectarian, universal notion of art arose in 19th-century Western Europe, ancient and Medieval Christian art began to be collected for art appreciation rather than worship, while contemporary Christian art was considered marginal. Occasionally, secular artists treated Christian themes (Bouguereau, Manet) — but only rarely was a Christian artist included in the historical canon (such as Rouault or Stanley Spencer). However many modern artists such as Eric Gill, Marc Chagall, Henri Matisse, Jacob Epstein, Elizabeth Frink and Graham Sutherland have produced well-known works of art for churches.[1] Salvador Dali is an artist who had also produced notable and popular artworks with Christian themes.[2] Contemporary artists such as Makoto Fujimura have had significant influence both in sacred and secular arts. Other notable artists include Larry D. Alexander and John August Swanson. Some writers, such as Gregory Wolfe, see this as part of a rebirth of Christian humanism.[3] Scripture Verse Wall Art
Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand. What is desired in a man is steadfast love, and a poor man is better than a liar. The fear of the Lord leads to life, and whoever has it rests satisfied; he will not be visited by harm. The sluggard buries his hand in the dish and will not even bring it back to his mouth. Strike a scoffer, and the simple will learn prudence; reprove a man of understanding, and he will gain knowledge. ... Christian Canvas Art
There is not much happening in terms of home decor in my house during this stage of life, but I’ve just recently been trying to think harder about ways to make our living space feel more polished. I’ve always liked the use of inspirational home decor and Bible verses in the homes of others. It just adds small reminders of truth throughout the rooms you visit everyday. When I enter the home of someone with Bible verse home decor it also helps me quickly understand their faith lies. It may even be a conversation starter. Christian Canvas Art
Of David. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. ... Christian Gifts
"The house which I am about to build will be great, for greater is our God than all the gods. "But who is able to build a house for Him, for the heavens and the highest heavens cannot contain Him? So who am I, that I should build a house for Him, except to burn incense before Him? "Now send me a skilled man to work in gold, silver, brass and iron, and in purple, crimson and violet fabrics, and who knows how to make engravings, to work with the skilled men whom I have in Judah and Jerusalem, whom David my father provided. Share Your Faith Products
The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, and his father was a man of Tyre. He is trained to work in gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone, and wood, and in purple, blue, and crimson fabrics and fine linen, and to do all sorts of engraving and execute any design that may be assigned him, with your craftsmen, the craftsmen of my lord, David your father. Share Your Faith Products
and in the cutting of stones for settings, and in the carving of wood, that he may work in all kinds of craftsmanship. "And behold, I Myself have appointed with him Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan; and in the hearts of all who are skillful I have put skill, that they may make all that I have commanded you: the tent of meeting, and the ark of testimony, and the mercy seat upon it, and all the furniture of the tent, the table also and its utensils, and the pure gold lampstand with all its utensils, and the altar of incense, the altar of burnt offering also with all its utensils, and the laver and its stand, Scripture Verse Wall Art
Of course, we also back our wall arts with our amazing “Goof Proof” guarantee. You can read all about there by clicking on this link GOOF PROOF GUARANTEE. In short, it says we guarantee everything about our product. You never have to worry about working with Scripture Wall Art. We have the highest customer satisfaction rating in the industry and nearly 12 years of experience making the best Scripture Wall Quotes out there. Christian Gifts
Artists were commissioned more secular genres like portraits, landscape paintings and because of the revival of Neoplatonism, subjects from classical mythology. In Catholic countries, production continued, and increased during the Counter-Reformation, but Catholic art was brought under much tighter control by the church hierarchy than had been the case before. From the 18th century the number of religious works produced by leading artists declined sharply, though important commissions were still placed, and some artists continued to produce large bodies of religious art on their own initiative. Scripture Verse Wall Art
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.
He also made two pillars for the front of the house, thirty-five cubits high, and the capital on the top of each was five cubits. He made chains in the inner sanctuary and placed them on the tops of the pillars; and he made one hundred pomegranates and placed them on the chains. He erected the pillars in front of the temple, one on the right and the other on the left, and named the one on the right Jachin and the one on the left Boaz. Share Your Faith Products
Scripture Wall Art is the leader in the vinyl wall decal industry specializing in Bible Verse Wall Decals, Romantic Love Decals, Motivational Wall Decals, Decals for Children, Family Themed Wall Decals, and even wall decals for the Laundry Room. With over 1200 designs, we probably already have what you want, however, if we don’t, we will be happy to make it for you. Scripture Verse Wall Art
"The house which I am about to build will be great, for greater is our God than all the gods. "But who is able to build a house for Him, for the heavens and the highest heavens cannot contain Him? So who am I, that I should build a house for Him, except to burn incense before Him? "Now send me a skilled man to work in gold, silver, brass and iron, and in purple, crimson and violet fabrics, and who knows how to make engravings, to work with the skilled men whom I have in Judah and Jerusalem, whom David my father provided. Scripture Verse Wall Art
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← Cry Before Dawn. Review. Button Factory October 11 2013
The Great Hip-Hop Hoax. Film Review →
by Niallhope | October 25, 2013 · 1:34 pm
Stewart Lee – Roisin Dubh – October 23
http://www.stewartlee.co.uk/video.php
British Comedian Stewart Lee has discovered his Irish roots; apparently (one has to have a disclaimer as comedians make things up for laughs) his great great great grandparents, the Hurleys, left Leitrim in 1846. Lee said he planned to do a bit more research on the matter, which was of great importance to him. ‘It seems a lot of people left that year’ he added, deadpan, the crowd laughing before an unexpected hush stilled the room; ‘there must have been a good travel offer or something’.
Comedy is an intensely personal experience and the main yardstick is the ratio of laughter to jokes.
Lee is a hard working, sensitive father of two with his roots in punk rock and the Thatcher era. He tells stories rather than jokes, long, winding narratives which spin off in bizarre directions only to return safely to base somewhere near the end of the show; Lee was warming up new material for a BBC TV series in front of 300 devotees enjoying a rare intimate evening with a performer whose profile is rising as fast as the new Pearl Jam album, which entered the Irish charts at number one this week.
Lee got into a taxi and the driver said to him; “these days, if you say you’re English, you’ll be thrown in jail.” It’s the sort of absurd statement that boils the blood and can either be ignored completely or disarmed with a similarly absurd response. If you say you’re english, continued Lee, quoting the taxi driver, ‘you’ll be thrown in jail.” Really? “These days, you’ll be thrown in jail etc..” the riff continued forever, with no apparent purpose other than embedding the phrase deep inside our skulls.
The taxi driver was ired because he (apparently) filled out his passport form, crossing out ‘british’ and scrawling in his own hand, ‘there’s no black in the union jack’. The ‘victim’ of this injustice was outraged. No one was thrown in jail, of course, the form was merely rejected and returned. But as we all know, (check Lee’s related sketch on You Tube if you don’t) Political Correctness has gone too far. About three hours later, after a number of digressions and (apparent) breakdowns, Lee described how his daughter’s school celebrated diversity; pantheistic pancake day, Chinese new year, etc. But they also marked St George’s day and for that occasion they invited children to wear traditional English dress.
Lee festooned his child with swastikas and union jacks and gave her sharpened coins to throw, as she dressed up as a football hooligan circa 1968 (I think). Off she went to school, there was a fuss, the police were called, Lee was (apparently) arrested and then … long pause and the sucker punch, Lee adds; “these days, if you say you’re English, you’ll be thrown in jail.”
From the moment Lee took the stage it was laughter all the way. Better yet, laughter which didn’t rely on cheap shots (sexism, homophobia etc) or treat the audience as if we were lobotomised morons anxious to gloat over the misfortunes of people with troubled lives for reasons beyond their control.
Filed under el presidente
Tagged as comedy, stewart lee
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Grow, develop and achieve with CPL
We passionately believe that knowledge and skills empower people and businesses to grow, develop and achieve.
Who We Are Our Vision Our Mission Who Can Help You Make It Happen? How It All Began
CPL Training is an international training company and the biggest provider of personal licence training in the UK. We work closely with leading awarding bodies and together we have developed a range of qualifications for the licensed retail, hospitality, security and care sectors.
Over 30,000 people a year undergo face-to-face training with us, and 1.2 million e-learning courses are taken online. Our customers range from individuals who want to improve their knowledge and skills, to corporate customers both large and small.
Our vision is to become a broad-based, global education solutions provider.
Our mission is to break down barriers to learning, howsoever they may arise, helping individuals and organisations to grow, develop and realise their potential. We shall accomplish our mission and realise our vision by developing our blended learning approach and by designing and delivering courses and qualifications that are relevant, up-to-date and accessible. We shall invest in technology and infrastructure, recruit the brightest and the best talent, focus on innovation and invest in our people.
Who Can Help You Make It Happen?
Daniel DaviesChief ExecutiveI
Daniel Davies is an entrepreneur who started in business at the age of eighteen. Daniel is a co-founder of CPL Training and has been personally involved in its rise to be number one in its core market. Daniel remains a hands-on member of the team as well as developing allied businesses to support CPL Training's growth. As Chief Executive, Daniel is responsible for implementing the Board's strategy so that CPL Training can achieve the goals set for it. Daniel also maintains and develops the company's relationships with major corporate clients and their key partners and is responsible for establishing CPL Training's expansion into the delivery of training and qualifications internationally.
daniel.davies@cpltraining.co.uk
Peter MossChief Financial OfficerI
Peter is CPL's Training Group Finance Director and is responsible for both the strategic and day-to-day financial management of the Group. With over 20 years’ experience across the Professional Services, Distribution, Logistics and Retail sectors, Peter has achieved significant success; he has held the position of Finance and Operations Director at a number of multi Fast Track 100 award winning companies. By implementing best practice and practical risk management within CPL, Peter's financial management experience is invaluable across all areas of the Group.
peter.moss@cpltraining.co.uk
Louise SuiManaging DirectorI
With an extensive background in Sales, Marketing and Database Marketing Louise knows how to utilise the opportunities presented to the company through diversifying its markets and adding force to marketing plans, ensuring that she pushes CPL forward as a leader in the Training sector. Louise maintains a very clear message for businesses across all sectors: every organisation can benefit from training, and as an organisation offering blended learning solutions, CPL Training are certainly the ones who can provide it best. Louise also has numerous exciting ideas on how to raise the company profile, grow its training base and maximise business opportunities.
louise.sui@cpltraining.co.uk
Paul ChaseDirector and Head of UK ComplianceI
Paul Chase is a graduate Political Economist with over twenty years of experience in operating licensed retail premises. He is a co-founder of CPL Training and as a Director and Head of UK Compliance he is responsible for ensuring the business targets of his department are delivered to the Board. Widely acknowledged as a sector expert, Paul is also responsible for compliance course development and works closely with awarding bodies, developing and maintaining CPL's licensed retail sector qualifications. In addition, Paul also manages a number of key corporate accounts within the company.
paul.chase@cpltraining.co.uk
The business was formed in 1991 by Daniel Davies and Paul Chase. Initially the activity of the business was to provide a weekend training course for new licensees needing a short course on licensing and compliance and a basic understanding of pub commercials.
The big change for the business came with the publication in 2000 of the Labour Government’s White Paper ‘Time for Reform’, which proposed a radical reform of licensing law. Among the changes was the introduction of a mandatory, nationally recognised qualification for licensees – the Award for Personal Licence Holders (APLH). This was to be a legal requirement for those applying for the new ‘personal licence’ required to authorise alcohol sales. As a result of this CPL Training engaged with a qualifications awarding body, the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry Examinations Board (LCCIEB) to develop this qualification. We went on to develop seven qualifications with LCCIEB, and its successor company Education Development International, all of which were taken into national qualification frameworks in England and Wales and in Scotland.
From January 2005 CPL Training rapidly expanded its network of training course venues to meet demand for the new APLH. Scotland also reformed its licensing system, introducing a similar training requirement to England and Wales – the SCPLH. We started offering this in 2008. It was a period of rapid expansion and growth for the company.
In 2010 we created a new division, CPL Online, having decided to expand our training activities beyond face-to-face training and into e-learning available online. This has become a phenomenal success and we have a portfolio of over 40 courses used widely throughout our chosen sectors. The CPL Online division of our business has also expanded into software development. We are now the leading provider of e-learning to the licensed retail sector and count amongst our clients some of the biggest names in licensed retail and in the care sector.
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Tag Archives: WICCA MEMORABILIA
NETFLIX UK DARK TOURIST ATTRACTION HERE AT THE CRIME THROUGH TIME COLLECTION, LITTLEDEAN JAIL, FOREST OF DEAN, GLOUCESTERSHIRE….CORPORAL PUNISHMENT THROUGH THE AGES ALONG WITH A BRIEF INSIGHT INTO PRESENT DAY CORPORAL PUNISHMENTS TOO…. IT’S ALL HERE AND MORE …
ABOVE: A VERY EARLY POSTCARD IMAGE OF LITTLEDEAN GAOL,SPELT HERE IN THE OLD FASHION WAY .
IT WAS ALSO FORMERLY USED AS A “HOUSE OF CORRECTION “, LATER TO BECOME A POLICE STATION,COURTHOUSE AND NOW IS THE HOME OF THE INFAMOUS CRIME THROUGH TIME COLLECTION .
ABOVE: Original Victorian 3-handcuffed leather body belt and original leather bound handcuffs
ABOVE : EARLY VICTORIAN LITTLE DEAN PRISON WARDEN/GUARD TUNIC BUTTON ( A VERY RARE FIND FOR SURE )
Possibly of little significance to visitors …. however I love this item which has been recently discovered and acquired for display here . Intriguingly this early Victorian Prison Warden/Guard tunic button is worded LITTLE DEAN (AS TWO WORDS) WITH PRISON BENEATH (INSTEAD OF GAOL ) … as opposed to it’s early title as having been “Littledean Gaol”.
BELOW: ORIGINAL VICTIORAN STRAIGHT JACKET THAT WAS FOUND IN LITTLEDEAN JAIL’S ATTIC SPACE BY BUILDERS DURING RENOVATION WORK BACK IN 1986 AND SUBSEQUENTLY DONATED TO THE CRIME THROUGH TIME COLLECTION FOR PERMANENT DISPLAY HERE AT THE JAIL
CORPORAL PUNISHMENT THROUGH THE AGES AS WELL AS AN INSIGHT INTO PRESENT DAY CORPORAL PUNISHMENTS TOO, AS FEATURED AT THE CRIME THROUGH TIME COLLECTION HERE AT LITTLEDEAN JAIL
ABOVE :AN ARRAY OF VARIOUS 19TH CENTURY HANDCUFFS, RESTRAINTS AND LEG IRONS HERE ON DISPLAY AT THE JAIL .
CORPORAL PUNISHMENT IN MALAYSIA FOR RAPE, ARMED ROBBERY , DRUGS ETC
ORIGINAL EARLY 16TH- 17TH CENTURY HANDMADE OAK “VILLAGE PUNISHMENT STOCKS” RESTORED IN THE 19TH CENTURY WITH ADDITIONAL SUPPORTING IRONWORK AND PRESERVED FOR POSTERITY ….. AS CAN NOW BE SEEN AT LITTLEDEAN JAIL,LITTLEDEAN, FOREST OF DEAN, GLOUCESTERSHIRE, UK
VILLAGE STOCKS
Stocks are devices used in the internationally, in medieval, Renaissance and colonial American times as a form of physical punishment involving public humiliation. The stocks partially immobilized its victims and they were often exposed in a public place such as the site of a market to the scorn of those who passed by. Since the purpose of putting offenders in the stocks was to expose them to ridicule and mockery, passers-by were encouraged to throw mud, rotten eggs, moldy fruit and vegetables, smelly fish, offal, and excrement (both animal and human) at those being punished.
ABOVE AND BELOW : WITCHES DUCKING STOOL AND LIFTING PULLY ON DISPLAY AT LITTLEDEAN JAIL
VARIOUS EARLY VICTORIAN LEATHER BOUND WHIPS AND CAT O’NINE TAILS USED WITHIN UK PRISONS ….. HERE ON DISPLAY AT LITTLEDEAN JAIL
VARIOUS WHIPS, CAT O’NINE TAILS , BLUDGEON AND LEATHER BOUND HANDCUFFS USED WITHIN UK PRISONS HERE ON DISPLAY AT LITTLEDEAN JAIL
CLOSE-UP IMAGE OF ROUND HANDLED LEATHER BOUND EARLY VICTORIAN WHIP USED WITHIN UK PRISONS
EARLY VICTORIAN BLACK CLOTH BOUND, ROUND HANDLED CAT O’NINE TAILS USED IN UK PRISONS
EARLY VICTORIAN FLAT HANDLED CAT O’NINE TAILS USED IN UK PRISONS
CLOSE UP IMAGE OF VICTORIAN LEATHER BOUND HAND RESTRIANTS AS USED HERE AT LITTLEDEAN JAIL
EARLY VICTORIAN LEATHER BOUND BODY RESTRAINT WITH ATTACHED HAND CUFFS USED IN UK PRISONS AND NOW ON DISPLAY AT LITTLEDEAN JAIL
CLOSE UP OF ABOVE
BELOW : ORIGINAL 1930’s LEATHER BODY BELT RESTRAINT COMPLETE WITH WRIST RESTRAINTS ACQUIRED FROM THE MONICA BRITTON MUSEUM COLLECTION AT FRENCHAY HOSPITAL , BRISTOL AND NOW ON DISPLAY HERE AT THE CRIME THROUGH TIME COLLECTION , LITTLEDEAN JAIL , GLOUCESTERSHIRE, UK
BELOW: ORIGINAL 1930’s LEATHER RESTRAINT STRAPS ACQUIRED FROM THE MONICA BRITTON MUSEUM COLLECTION AT FRENCHAY HOSPITAL , BRISTOL AND NOW ON DISPLAY HERE AT THE CRIME THROUGH TIME COLLECTION , LITTLEDEAN JAIL , GLOUCESTERSHIRE, UK
PRISON WARDEN INSCRIBED 18TH CENTURY TRUNCHEON AND EARLY VICTORIAN BODY RESTRAINT BELT HERE ON DISPLAY
INSCRIBED GEORGE 1ST PRISON WARDEN TRUNCHEON HERE ON DISPLAY AT LITTLEDEAN JAIL
EARLY VICTORIAN BLUDGEON USED IN UK PRISONS …. HERE ON DISPLAY AT THE JAIL WITH PRISON WARDEN TRUNCHEON AND HIATT STEEL HANDCUFFS
EARLY VICTORIAN BLUDGEON USED IN UK PRISONS
CLOSE-UP OF HIATT STEEL HANDCUFFS
corporal punishment is a form of physical punishment that involves the deliberate infliction of pain as retribution for an offence, or for the purpose of disciplining or reforming a wrongdoer, or to deter attitudes or behaviour deemed unacceptable. The term usually refers to methodically striking the offender with an implement, whether in judicial, domestic, or educational settings.
Corporal punishment may be divided into three main types:
Parental or domestic corporal punishment: within the family—typically, children punished by parents or guardians;
School corporal punishment: within schools, when students are punished by teachers or school administrators, or, in the past, apprentices by master craftsmen;
Judicial corporal punishment: as part of a criminal sentence ordered by a court of law. Closely related is prison corporal punishment, ordered either directly by the prison authorities or by a visiting court.
Corporal punishment of minors within domestic settings is lawful in all 50 of the United States and, according to a 2000 survey, is widely approved by parents.[1]It has been officially outlawed in 29 countries.[2]
Corporal punishment in school is still legal in some parts of the world, including 20 of the States of the USA, but has been outlawed in other places, including Canada, Kenya, Japan, South Africa, New Zealand, and nearly all of Europe except the Czech Republic[3] and France.[4]
Judicial corporal punishment has virtually disappeared from the western world but remains in force in many parts of Africa and Asia.
1 History of corporal punishment
2 Modern use
2.1 Corporal punishment in the home
2.2 Corporal punishment in schools
2.3 Judicial or quasi-judicial punishment
2.4 Pros and cons of corporal punishment
3 Anatomical target
4 Ritual and punishment
4.1 Corporal punishment, paraphilia and fetishism
History of corporal punishment
The practice was recorded as early as c. 10th Century BC in Book of Proverbs attributed to Solomon:
He that spareth the rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him correcteth him betimes.[5]
Withhold not correction from a child: for if thou strike him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and deliver his soul from hell.[6]
It was certainly present in classical civilisations, being used in Greece, Rome, and Egypt for both judicial and educational discipline.[7] Some states gained a reputation for using such punishments cruelly; Sparta, in particular, used them as part of a disciplinary regime designed to build willpower and physical strength.[8] Although the Spartan example was extreme, corporal punishment was possibly the most frequent type of punishment. In the Roman Empire, the maximum penalty that a Roman citizen could receive under the law was 40 “lashes” or “strokes” with a whip applied to the back and shoulders, or with the “fasces” (similar to a birch rod, but consisting of 8–10 lengths of willow rather than birch) applied to the buttocks. Such punishments could draw blood, and were frequently inflicted in public.
In Medieval Europe, corporal punishment was encouraged by the attitudes of the medieval church towards the human body, flagellation being a common means of self-discipline. This had an influence on the use of corporal punishment in schools, as educational establishments were closely attached to the church during this period. Nevertheless, corporal punishment was not used uncritically; as early as the eleventh century Saint Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury was speaking out against what he saw as the excessive use of corporal punishment in the treatment of children.[9]
From the 16th century onwards, new trends were seen in corporal punishment. Judicial punishments were increasingly turned into public spectacles, with public beatings of criminals intended as a deterrent to other would-be offenders. Meanwhile, early writers on education, such as Roger Ascham, complained of the arbitrary manner in which children were punished.[10] Perhaps the most influential writer on the subject was the English philosopher John Locke, whose Some Thoughts Concerning Education explicitly criticised the central role of corporal punishment in education. Locke’s work was highly influential, and may have helped influence Polish legislators to ban corporal punishment from Poland’s schools in 1783.[11]
During the 18th century, the concept of corporal punishment was attacked by some philosophers and legal reformers. Merely inflicting pain on miscreants was seen as inefficient, influencing the subject only for a short period of time and effecting no permanent change in their behaviour. Some believed that the purpose of punishment should be reformation, not retribution. This is perhaps best expressed in Jeremy Bentham’s idea of a panoptic prison, in which prisoners were controlled and surveyed at all times, perceived to be advantageous in that this system supposedly reduced the need of measures such as corporal punishment.[12]
A consequence of this mode of thinking was a reduction in the use of corporal punishment in the 19th century in Europe and North America. In some countries this was encouraged by scandals involving individuals seriously hurt during acts of corporal punishment. For instance, in Britain, popular opposition to punishment was encouraged by two significant cases, the death of Private Frederick John White, who died after a military flogging in 1846,[13] and the death of Reginald Cancellor, who was killed by his schoolmaster in 1860.[14] Events such as these mobilised public opinion, and in response, many countries introduced thorough regulation of the infliction of corporal punishment in state institutions such as schools, prisons and reformatories.
In the 1870s, courts in the United States overruled the common-law principle that a husband had the right to “physically chastise an errant wife”.[15] In the UK the traditional right of a husband to inflict moderate corporal punishment on his wife in order to keep her “within the bounds of duty” was similarly removed in 1891.[16][17] See Domestic violence for more information.
In the United Kingdom, the use of judicial corporal punishment declined during the first half of the 20th century and it was abolished altogether in 1948, while most other European countries had abolished it earlier. Meanwhile in many schools, the use of the cane, paddle or tawse remained commonplace in the UK and the United States until the 1980s. In several other countries, it still is: seeSchool corporal punishment.
Modern use
Corporal punishment in the home
Main article: Corporal punishment in the home
Domestic corporal punishment, i.e. of children and teenagers by their parents, is usually referred to colloquially as “spanking“, “whipping“, “smacking,” or “slapping.” One possible method of spanking is to have the child or teenager lying, stomach down, across the parent’s lap, with the parent bringing their open hand down upon the child’s buttocks. Alternatively, the youngster might be told to bend over, or lie face down across a bed.[18] Spankings may be delivered over the trousers, over the undergarments, or upon the bare buttocks.[19]
In an increasing number of countries it has been outlawed, starting with Sweden in 1979.[2] In some other countries, corporal punishment is legal, but restricted (e.g. blows to the head are outlawed and implements may not be used, and/or only children within a certain age range may be spanked).
In the United States and all African and most Asian nations, “spanking,” “whipping,” “smacking,” or “slapping” by parents is currently legal; it is also legal to use certain implements such as a belt or paddle.
In Canada, spanking by parents or legal guardians (but nobody else) is legal, as long as the child is not under 2 years or over 12 years of age, and no implement other than an open, bare hand is used (belts, paddles, etc. are strictly prohibited). Provinces can legally impose tighter restrictions than the aforementioned national restrictions, but none currently does so.
In the UK, spanking or smacking is legal, but it may not leave a mark on the body and in Scotland since October 2003 it has been illegal to use any implements when disciplining a child.
In Pakistan, Section 89 of Pakistan Penal Code allows corporal punishment. The Government of Pakistan has yet to repeal this law.[20]
Corporal punishment in schools
Main article: School corporal punishment
Legal corporal punishment of school students for misbehaviour involves striking the student on the buttocks or the palm of the hand in a premeditated ceremony with an implement specially kept for the purpose such as a rattan cane or spanking paddle, or with the open hand.
Judicial or quasi-judicial punishment
Main article: Judicial corporal punishment
Countries with judicial corporal punishment
Some countries retain judicial corporal punishment, including a number of former British territories such as Botswana, Malaysia, Singapore and Tanzania. In Malaysia and Singapore, for certain specified offences, males are routinely sentenced to caning in addition to a prison term. The Singaporean practice of caning became much discussed around the world in 1994 when American teenager Michael P. Fay was caned for vandalism.
A number of countries with an Islamic legal system, such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Sudan and northern Nigeria, employ judicial whipping for a range of offences. As of 2009, some regions of Pakistan are experiencing a breakdown of law and government, leading to a reintroduction of corporal punishment by ad hocIslamicist courts.[21] As well as corporal punishment, some Islamic countries such as Saudi Arabia and Iran use other kinds of physical penalties such asamputation or mutilation.[22][23][24] However, the term “corporal punishment” has since the 19th century usually meant caning, flogging or whipping rather than those other types of physical penalty.[25][26][27][28][29][30][31]
Pros and cons of corporal punishment
Main articles: Corporal punishment in the home#Differing views about parental spanking and School corporal punishment#Justification and criticism
See also: Campaigns against corporal punishment
According to its proponents, corporal punishment offers several advantages over other kinds of punishment, such as that it is quicker to implement, costs nothing, and deters unruliness.[32][33]
The American Psychological Association opposes the use of corporal punishment in schools, juvenile facilities, child care nurseries, and all other institutions, public or private, where children are cared for or educated. It claims that corporal punishment is violent and unnecessary, may lower self-esteem, and is liable to instil hostility and rage without reducing the undesired behaviour. The APA also states that corporal punishment is likely to train children to use physical violence.[34]
The professor of philosophy, David Benatar, points out that using this last argument, fining people also teaches that forcing others to give up some of their property is an acceptable response to unwanted behaviour in others. “Why don’t detentions, imprisonments, fines, and a multitude of other punishments convey equally undesirable messages?” According to Benatar, the key difference lies in the legitimacy of the authority administering the punishment: “[T]here is all the difference in the world between legitimate authorities—the judiciary, parents, or teachers—using punitive powers responsibly to punish wrongdoing, and children or private citizens going around beating each other, locking each other up, and extracting financial tributes (such as lunch money). There is a vast moral difference here and there is no reason why children should not learn about it. Punishing children when they do wrong seems to be one important way of doing this.”[35]
Kay Hymowitz in her book, Who Killed Discipline in School? states, “Ask Americans what worries them most about public schools and the answer might surprise you; discipline. For several decades now, poll after poll shows it topping the list of parents’ concerns. Hymowitz says that, “the public’s sense that something has gone drastically wrong with school discipline isn’t mistaken. Over the past thirty years or so, the courts and federal government have hacked away at the power of educators to maintain a safe and civil school environment.”[36]
Anatomical target
Different parts of the anatomy may be targeted:
The buttocks, whether clothed or bare, have often been targeted for punishment, particularly in Europe and the English-speaking world.[28] Indeed, some languages have a specific word for their chastisement: spanking in English, fessée in French, nalgada in Spanish (both Romanesque words directly derived from the word for buttock). The advantage is that these fleshy body parts are robust and can be chastised accurately, without endangering any bodily functions; they heal well and relatively quickly; in some cultures punishment applied to the buttocks entails a degree of humiliation, which may or may not be intended as part of the punishment.
Chastising the back of the thighs and calves, as sometimes in South Korean schools, is at least as painful if not more so, but this can cause more damage in terms of scars and bruising.
The upper back and the shoulders have historically been a target for whipping, e.g. in the UK with the cat-o’-nine-tails in the Royal Navy and in some pre-1948 judicial punishments, and also today generally in the Middle East and the Islamic world.
The head is a very dangerous place to hit, especially “boxing the ears“.
The hand is very sensitive and delicate, and use of an implement could cause excessive damage.[37]
The soles of the feet are extremely sensitive, and flogging them (falaka), as has been sometimes done in the Middle East, is excruciating.
Ritual and punishment
This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2007)
Corporal punishment in official settings, such as schools and prisons, has typically been carried out as a formal ceremony, with a standard procedure, emphasising the solemnity of the occasion. It may even be staged in a ritual manner in front of other students/inmates, in order to act as a deterrent to others.
In the case of prison or judicial punishments, formal punishment might begin with the offender stripped of some or all of their clothing and secured to a piece of furniture, such as a trestle or frame,[38][39](X-cross), punishment horse or falaka. In some cases the nature of the offence is read out and the sentence (consisting of a predetermined number of strokes) is formally imposed. A variety of implements may be used to inflict blows on the offender. The terms used to describe these are not fixed, varying by country and by context. There are, however, a number of common types that are encountered when reading about corporal punishment. These include:
The rod. A thin, flexible rod is often called a switch.
The birch, a number of strong, flexible branches of birch or similar wood, bound together with twine into a single implement.
The rattan cane (not bamboo as it is often wrongly described). Much favoured in the British Commonwealth for both school and judicial use.
The paddle, a flat wooden board with a handle, with or without holes. Used in US schools.
The strap. A leather strap with a number of tails at one end, called a tawse, was used in schools in Scotland and some parts of northern England.
The whip, typically of leather. Varieties include the Russian knout and South African sjambok, in addition to the scourge and the French martinet.
The cat o’ nine tails was used in British naval discipline and as a judicial and prison punishment.
The hairbrush and belt were traditionally used in the United States and Britain as an implement for domestic spanking.
The plimsoll or gym shoe, used in British and Commonwealth schools, often called “the slipper”. See Slippering (punishment).
The ferula, in Jesuit schools, as vividly described in a scene in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.
In some instances the offender is required to prepare the implement himself. For instance, sailors were employed in preparing the cat o’ nine tails that would be used upon their own back, while school students were sometimes sent out to cut a switch or rod.
In contrast, informal punishments, particularly in domestic settings, tend to lack this ritual nature and are often administered with whatever object comes to hand. It is common, for instance, for belts, wooden spoons, slippers, hairbrushes or coathangers to be used in domestic punishment, while rulers and other classroom equipment have been used in schools.
In parts of England, boys were once beaten under the old tradition of “Beating the Bounds” whereby a boy was paraded around the edge of a city or parish and would be spanked with a switch or cane to mark the boundary.[40] One famous “Beating the Bounds” took place around the boundary of St Giles and the area where Tottenham Court Road now stands in central London. The actual stone that separated the boundary is now underneath the Centre Point office tower.[41]
Corporal punishment, paraphilia and fetishism
The German psychologist Richard von Krafft-Ebing suggested that a tendency to sadism and masochism may develop out of the experience of children receiving corporal punishment at school.[42] But this was disputed by Sigmund Freud, who found that, where there was a sexual interest in beating or being beaten, it developed in early childhood, and rarely related to actual experiences of punishment.[43]
Capital punishment in the United Kingdom was used from the creation of the state in 1707 until the practice was abolished in the twentieth century. The last executions in the United Kingdom, by hanging, took place in 1964, prior to capital punishment being abolished for murder (in 1969 in Great Britain and in 1973 in Northern Ireland). Although not applied since, the death penalty remained on the statute book for certain other offences until 1998.[1]
Sir Samuel Romilly, speaking to the House of Commons on capital punishment in 1810, declared that “…(there is) no country on the face of the earth in which there [have] been so many different offences according to law to be punished with death as in England.”[citation needed] Known as the “Bloody Code“, at its height the criminal law included some 220 crimes punishable by death, including “being in the company of Gypsies for one month”, “strong evidence of malice in a child aged 7–14 years of age” and “blacking the face or using a disguise whilst committing a crime”. Many of these offences had been introduced to protect the property of the wealthy classes that emerged during the first half of the 18th century, a notable example being the Black Act of 1723, which created 50 capital offences for various acts of theft and poaching.Background
Whilst executions for murder, burglary and robbery were common, the death sentences for minor offenders were often not carried out. However, children were commonly executed for such minor crimes as stealing. A sentence of death could be commuted or respited (permanently postponed) for reasons such as benefit of clergy, official pardons, pregnancy of the offender or performance of military or naval duty.[2] Between 1770 and 1830, 35,000 death sentences were handed down in England and Wales, but only 7,000 executions were carried out.[3]
There were prisons, but they were mostly small, old and badly-run. Common punishments included transportation — sending the offender to America, Australia or Van Diemens Land (Tasmania), or execution — hundreds of offences carried the death penalty. By the 1830s people were having doubts about both these punishments. The answer was prison: lots of new prisons were built and old ones extended. The Victorians also had clear ideas about what these prisons should be like. They should be unpleasant places, so as to deter people from committing crimes. Once inside, prisoners had to be made to face up to their own faults, by keeping them in silence and making them do hard, boring work. Walking a treadwheel or picking oakum (separating strands of rope) were the most common forms of hard labour.
In 1808 Romilly had the death penalty removed for pickpockets and lesser offenders, starting a process of reform that continued over the next 50 years. The death penalty was mandatory (although it was frequently commuted by the government) until the Judgement of Death Act 1823 gave judges the power to commute the death penalty except for treason and murder. The Punishment of Death, etc. Act 1832 reduced the number of capital crimes by two-thirds. Gibbeting was abolished in 1832 and hanging in chains was abolished in 1834. In 1861, several acts of Parliament (24 & 25 Vict; c. 94 to c. 100) further reduced the number of civilian capital crimes to five: murder, treason, espionage, arson in royal dockyards, and piracy with violence; there were other offences under military law. The death penalty remained mandatory for treason and murder unless commuted.
The Royal Commission on Capital Punishment 1864-1866 [4] concluded (with dissenting Commissioners) that there was not a case for abolition but recommended an end to public executions. This proposal was included in the Capital Punishment Amendment Act 1868. From then executions in Great Britain were carried out in prison. The practice of beheading and quartering executed traitors stopped in 1870.[5]
Juveniles under 16 could no longer be executed from 1908 under the Children Act 1908. In 1922 a new offence of Infanticide was introduced to replace the charge of murder for mothers killing their children in the first year of life. In 1930 a parliamentary Select Committee recommended that capital punishment be suspended for a trial period of five years, but no action was taken. From 1931 pregnant women could no longer be hanged (following the birth of their child) although in practice since the 18th century their sentences had always been commuted, and in 1933 the minimum age for capital punishment was raised to 18 under the Children and Young Persons Act 1933. The last known execution by the civilian courts of a person under 18 was that of Charles Dobel, 17, hanged atMaidstone together with his accomplice William Gower, 18, in January 1889.
In 1938 the issue of the abolition of capital punishment was brought before parliament. A clause within the Criminal Justice Bill called for an experimental five-year suspension of the death penalty. When war broke out in 1939 the bill was postponed. It was revived after the war and to everyone’s surprise was adopted by a majority in the House of Commons (245 to 222). In the House of Lords the abolition clause was defeated but the remainder of the bill was passed. Popular support for abolition was absent and the government decided that it would be inappropriate for it to assert its supremacy by invoking the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949 over such an unpopular issue.
Instead, then Home Secretary, James Chuter Ede, set up a new Royal Commission (the Royal Commission on Capital Punishment, 1949–1953) with instructions to determine “whether the liability to suffer capital punishment should be limited or modified”. The Commission’s report discussed a number of alternatives to execution by hanging (including the US methods of electrocution and gassing, and the then-theoretical lethal injection), but rejected them. It had more difficulty with the principle of capital punishment. Popular opinion believed that the death penalty acted as a deterrent to criminals, but the statistics within the report were inconclusive. Whilst the report recommended abolition from an ethical standpoint, it made no mention of possible miscarriages of justice. The public had by then expressed great dissatisfaction with the verdict in the case of Timothy Evans, who was tried and hanged for murdering his baby daughter in 1949. It later transpired in 1953 that John Christie had strangled at least six women in the same house; if the jury in Evans’s trial had known this, Evans would probably not have been found guilty. There were other cases in the same period where doubts arose over convictions and subsequent hangings, such as the notorious case of Derek Bentley.
The Commission concluded that unless there was overwhelming public support in favour of abolition, the death penalty should be retained.
Between 1900 and 1949, 621 men and 11 women were executed in England and Wales. Ten German agents were executed during the First World War under the Defence of the Realm Act 1914,[6] and 16 spies were executed during the Second World War under the Treachery Act 1940.[7]
By 1957 a number of controversial cases highlighted the issue of capital punishment again. Campaigners for abolition were partially rewarded with the Homicide Act 1957. The Act brought in a distinction between capital and non-capital homicide. Only six categories of murder were now punishable by execution:
in the course or furtherance of theft
by shooting or causing an explosion
while resisting arrest or during an escape
of a police officer
of a prison officer by a prisoner
the second of two murders committed on different occasions (if both done in Great Britain).
The police and the government were of the opinion that the death penalty deterred offenders from carrying firearms and it was for this reason that such offences remained punishable by death.
The only known photograph of the death sentence being pronounced in England and Wales, for the poisoner Frederick Seddon in 1912[8]
In 1965 the Labour MP Sydney Silverman, who had committed himself to the cause of abolition for more than 20 years, introduced a private member’s bill to suspend the death penalty, which was passed on a free vote in the House of Commons by 200 votes to 98. The bill was subsequently passed by the House of Lords by 204 votes to 104.
The Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965 suspended the death penalty in England, Wales and Scotland (but not in Northern Ireland) for murder for a period of five years, and substituted a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment; it further provided that if, before the expiry of the five-year suspension, each House of Parliament passed a resolution to make the effect of the Act permanent, then it would become permanent. In 1969 the Home Secretary, James Callaghan, proposed a motion to make the Act permanent, which was carried in the Commons on 16 December 1969,[9] and a similar motion was carried in the Lords on 18 December.[10] The death penalty for murder was abolished in Northern Ireland on 25 July 1973 under the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1973.
Following the abolition of the death penalty for murder, the House of Commons held a vote during each subsequent parliament until 1997 to restore the death penalty. This motion was always defeated, but the death penalty still survived for other crimes:
causing a fire or explosion in a naval dockyard, ship, magazine or warehouse (until 1971);
espionage[11] (until 1981);
piracy with violence (until 1998);
treason (until 1998); and
certain purely military offences under the jurisdiction of the armed forces, such as mutiny[12] (until 1998). Prior to its complete abolition in 1998, it was available for six offences:
serious misconduct in action;
assisting the enemy;
obstructing operations;
giving false air signals;
mutiny or incitement to mutiny; and
failure to suppress a mutiny with intent to assist the enemy.
However no executions were carried out in the United Kingdom for any of these offences, after the abolition of the death penalty for murder.
Nevertheless, there remained a working gallows at HMP Wandsworth, London, until 1994, which was tested every six months until 1992. This gallows is now housed in the Galleries of Justice inNottingham.[13]
Last executions
England and in the United Kingdom: on 13 August 1964, Peter Anthony Allen, at Walton Prison in Liverpool, and Gwynne Owen Evans, at Strangeways Prison in Manchester, were executed for the murder of John Alan West on 7 April that year.[14]
Scotland: Henry John Burnett, 21, on 15 August 1963 in Craiginches Prison, Aberdeen, for the murder of seaman Thomas Guyan.
Northern Ireland: Robert McGladdery, 25, on 20 December 1961 in Crumlin Road Gaol, Belfast, for the murder of Pearl Gamble.
Wales: Vivian Teed, 24, in Swansea on 6 May 1958, for the murder of William Williams, sub-postmaster of Fforestfach Post Office.[15]
Last death sentences
Northern Ireland and in the United Kingdom: William Holden in 1973 in Northern Ireland, for the capital murder of a British soldier during the Troubles. Holden was removed from the death cell in May 1973.[16]
England: David Chapman, who was sentenced to hang in November 1965 for the murder of a swimming pool nightwatchman in Scarborough. He was released from prison in 1979 and later died in a car accident.
Scotland: Patrick McCarron in 1964 for shooting his wife. He hanged himself in prison in 1970.
Wales: Edgar Black, who was reprieved on 6 November 1963. He had shot his wife’s lover in Cardiff.
Final abolition
The Criminal Damage Act 1971 abolished the offence of arson in royal dockyards.
The Naval Discipline Act 1957 reduced the scope of capital espionage from “all spies for the enemy” to spies on naval ships or bases.[17] Later, the Armed Forces Act 1981 abolished the death penalty for espionage.[18] (The Official Secrets Act 1911 had created another offence of espionage which carried a maximum sentence of fourteen years.)
Beheading was abolished as a method of execution for treason in 1973.[19] However hanging remained available until 1998 when, under a House of Lords amendment to the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, proposed by Lord Archer of Sandwell, the death penalty was abolished for treason and piracy with violence, replacing it with a discretionary maximum sentence of life imprisonment. These were the last civilian offences punishable by death.
On 20 May 1998 the House of Commons voted to ratify the 6th Protocol of the European Convention on Human Rights prohibiting capital punishment except “in time of war or imminent threat of war.” The last remaining provisions for the death penalty under military jurisdiction (including in wartime) were removed when section 21(5) of the Human Rights Act 1998 came into force on 9 November 1998. On 10 October 2003, effective from 1 February 2004,[20] the UK acceded to the 13th Protocol, which prohibits the death penalty under all circumstances,[21] so that the UK may no longer legislate to restore the death penalty while it is subject to the Convention. It can only now restore it if it withdraws from the Council of Europe.
As a legacy from colonial times, several islands in the West Indies still had the British Judicial Committee of the Privy Council as the court of final appeal; although the death penalty has been retained in these islands, the Privy Council would sometimes delay or deny executions. Some of these islands severed links with the British court system in 2001 in order to speed up executions.[22]
Crown dependencies
Further information: Capital punishment in the Isle of Man and Capital punishment in Jersey
Although not part of the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man and the bailiwicks of Guernsey and Jersey are British Crown dependencies.
In the Channel Islands, the last death sentence was passed in 1984; the last execution in the Channel Islands was in Jersey on 9 October 1959, when Francis Joseph Huchet was hanged for murder.[23] The Human Rights (Amendment) (Jersey) Order 2006[24] amends the Human Rights (Jersey) Law 2000[25] to give effect to the 13th Protocol of the European Convention on Human Rightsproviding for the total abolition of the death penalty. Both of these laws came into effect on 10 December 2006. The 13th Protocol was extended to Guernsey in April 2004.[26]
The last execution on the Isle of Man took place in 1872, when John Kewish was hanged for patricide. Capital punishment was not formally abolished by Tynwald (the island’s parliament) until 1993.[27]Five persons were sentenced to death (for murder) on the Isle of Man between 1973 and 1992, although all sentences were commuted to life imprisonment. The last person to be sentenced to death in the UK or its dependencies was Anthony Teare, who was convicted at the Manx Court of General Gaol Delivery in Douglas in 1992; he was subsequently retried and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1994.[28] In 2004 the 13th Protocol was adopted,[29] with an effective date of 1 November 2006.[30]
Like the Crown dependencies, the British overseas territories are constitutionally not part of the United Kingdom. However, the British government’s ultimate responsibility for good governance of the territories has led it over recent years to pursue a policy of revoking all statutory provision for the death penalty in those territories where it had up until recently been legal.
The last executions in an overseas territory, and indeed the last on British soil, took place in Bermuda in 1977, when two men, Larry Tacklyn and Erskine Burrows, were hanged for the 1973 murder of the then territory’s Governor Sir Richard Sharples.[31]
In 1991, the British government extended an Order in Council to its Caribbean territories whose effect was to abolish capital punishment for murder: Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Montserrat and the Turks and Caicos Islands.[32]
The British government was unable to extend the abolition via Order in Council to Bermuda, the UK’s most autonomous overseas territory with powers of almost total self-governance — but warned that if voluntary abolition was not forthcoming it would be forced to consider the unprecedented step of ‘whether to impose abolition by means of an Act of Parliament’.[33] As a result the Bermudian government introduced its own domestic legislation in 1999 to rectify the problem.[34]
Further measures have subsequently been adopted to revoke technicalities in British overseas territories’ domestic legislation as regards use of the death penalty for crimes of treason and piracy. Since 2002, the death penalty has been outlawed under all circumstances in all the UK’s overseas territories.[35]
Public support for reintroduction of capital punishment
A November 2009 television survey showed that 70% favoured reinstating the death penalty for at least one of the following crimes: armed robbery, rape, crimes related to paedophilia, terrorism, adult murder, child murder, child rape, treason, child abuse, or kidnapping. However, respondents only favoured capital punishment for adult murder, the polling question asked by other organisations such asGallup, by small majorities or pluralities: overall, 51% favoured the death penalty for adult murder, while 56% in Wales did, 55% in Scotland, and only 49% in England.[36]
In August 2011, the Internet blogger Paul Staines – who writes a political blog as Guido Fawkes and heads the Restore Justice Camptign – launched an e-petition on the Downing Street website calling for the restoration of the death penalty for those convicted of the murder of children and police officers.[37] The petition was one of several in support or opposition of capital punishment to be published by the government with the launch of its e-petitions website. As of August 12, an e-petition calling to retain the ban on capital punishment has received 20,000 votes[38], 17000 more than the e-petition calling for the reinstatement of the death penalty.[39] Petitions attracting 100,000 signatures would prompt a parliamentary debate on a particular topic, but not necessarily lead to any Parliamentary Bills being put forward.[40]
Also in August 2011, a representative survey conducted by Angus Reid Public Opinion showed that 65 per cent of Britons support reinstating the death penalty for murder in Great Britain, while 28 per cent oppose this course of action. Men, respondents aged 35-to-54 and those over the age of 55 are more likely to endorse the change.[41]
Notable executions in the United Kingdom
Note: This list does not include the beheadings of nobility.
1724, 16 November: Jack Sheppard, housebreaker, was hanged at Tyburn for burglary after four successful escape attempts from jail. His partner-in-crime, highwayman Joseph “Blueskin” Blake, was executed for the same burglary five days earlier.
1725, 24 May: Jonathan Wild, criminal overlord and fraudulent “Thief Taker General”, was hanged at Tyburn (over six months after Jack Sheppard’s and Blueskin’s executions) for receiving stolen goods and thus aiding criminals.
1739: Dick Turpin, highwayman, was hanged.
1746, 30 July: nine Catholic members of the Manchester Regiment, Jacobites, were hanged, drawn and quartered for treason at Kennington Common (now Kennington Park).
1750: James MacLaine, ‘The Gentleman Highwayman’, was hanged at Tyburn, London
1757: John Byng became the only British admiral executed, by firing squad by the Royal Navy. His crime was to have failed to “do his utmost” at the Battle of Minorca during the Seven Years War.
1760, 5 May: Laurence Shirley, 4th Earl Ferrers was executed at Tyburn for the murder of a servant. He is the only peer to have been hanged for murder.
1789: Catherine Murphy was the last woman to be burned to death (legally) in England. The penalty was abolished the next year.
1812, 18 May: John Bellingham was hanged for the murder of Prime Minister Spencer Perceval.
1820: Andrew Hardie and John Baird were hanged and beheaded at Stirling after being tried for their part in the Radical War in Scotland.
1828, 11 August: William Corder was hanged at Bury St Edmunds for the murder of Maria Marten at the Red Barn a year before.
1856, 9 August: Martha Brown was the last woman to be hanged in public, in Dorset.
1861, 27 August: Martin Doyle was the last person to be hanged for attempted murder, at Chester.
1868, 2 April: Frances Kidder was the last woman to be hanged in public.
1868, 26 May: Michael Barrett was executed at Newgate Prison for the Fenian bombing at Clerkenwell, the last public hanging in the UK.
1899, 19 July: Mary Ansell was hanged at St Albans, for poisoning her sister. At 22 she was the youngest woman to be hanged in the post-1868 ‘modern era’ (non-public, and by the ‘long drop’ method).
1910, 23 November: Hawley Harvey Crippen was hanged in London’s Pentonville Prison for the murder of his wife.
1914, 8 September: Private Thomas Highgate was executed by firing squad, the first British soldier to be executed for desertion during World War I.
1915, 13 August: George Joseph Smith was hanged in Maidstone Prison for the pattern of serial killings known as the “Brides in the Bath Murders”.
1916, 3 August: Roger Casement was hanged at Pentonville for treason as one of the seven leaders of the failed Irish Easter Rising.
1920, 2 November: Private James Daly of the Connaught Rangers was shot for mutiny in India, the last member of the British Armed Forces to be executed for mutiny.
1923, 9 January: Edith Thompson and Frederick Bywaters, in London’s Holloway and Pentonville Prisons respectively. The case was controversial because Thompson did not directly participate in the murder for which she was hanged.
1931, 3 January: Victor Betts for murder committed during the course of a robbery. The case had established that a person need not be present when a crime is committed to be regarded as an accessory after the fact.[42]
1941, 15 August: Josef Jakobs was executed by firing squad, the last execution in the Tower of London.
1946, 3 January: William Joyce, better known as “Lord Haw-Haw“, for treason in London’s Wandsworth Prison. He was an American citizen, but was convicted of treason because, as the holder of aBritish passport (albeit fraudulently obtained), he was held to have owed allegiance to the British sovereign. Theodore Schurch, hanged for treachery the next day, was the last person to be executed for an offence other than murder; he was executed at Pentonville. As a member of the armed forces he had been tried by court-martial.
1947, 27 February: Walter Rowland in Manchester for the murder of Olive Balchin despite maintaining his innocence. While he had been awaiting execution, another man confessed to the crime.[citation needed] A Home Office report dismissed the latter’s confession as a fake, but in 1951 he attacked another woman and was found guilty but insane.[citation needed]
1949, 12 January: Margaret Allen, aged 43, for killing a 70-year-old woman in the course of a robbery, the first woman to be hanged in Britain for 12 years.
1949, 10 August: John George Haigh, the “acid-bath murderer”, at Wandsworth.
1950, 9 March: Timothy Evans at Pentonville for the murder of his baby daughter Geraldine at 10 Rillington Place, North West London. He initially claimed to have killed his wife, but later withdrew the claim. A fellow inhabitant at the same address, John Christie, later found to be a sexual serial killer, gave key evidence against Evans. Christie was executed in 1953 for the murder of his own wife. Evans received a posthumous pardon in 1966. In 2004 the Court of Appeal refused to consider overturning the conviction due to the costs and resources that would be involved. See John Christie (murderer).
1950, 28 March: George Kelly at Liverpool for murder, but had his conviction quashed posthumously by the Court of Appeal in June 2003.
1952, 25 April: Edward Devlin and Alfred Burns, for killing a woman during a robbery in Liverpool. They claimed that they had been doing a different burglary in Manchester, and others involved in the crime supported this. A Home Office report rejected this evidence. Huge crowds gathered outside Liverpool’s Walton Prison as they were executed.
1952, 3 September: Mahmood Hussein Mattan, a Somali seaman, in Cardiff for murder. The Court of Appeal quashed his conviction posthumously in 1998[43] after hearing that crucial evidence implicating another Somali was withheld at his trial.
1953, 28 January: Derek Bentley at Wandsworth Prison as an accomplice to the murder of a police officer by his 16-year-old friend Christopher Craig. Craig, a minor, was not executed and instead served 10 years. Bentley was granted a posthumous pardon on 29 July 1993, and the Court of Appeal overturned his conviction on 30 July 1998.
1953, 15 July: John Reginald Halliday Christie at Pentonville for the murder of his wife Ethel. Christie was a serial killer and had murdered at least six other women.
1954, 13 December: Styllou Christofi, aged 53, penultimate woman executed in Britain.
1955, 12 July: Ruth Ellis, aged 28, the last woman to be hanged in Britain. She was the 15th and youngest woman hanged in the 20th century. (See also Mary Ansell, above).
1958, 6 May: Vivian Teed, 24, in Swansea, the last person to be executed in Wales.
1958, 11 July: Peter Manuel, aged 31, second to last person to be hanged in HM Prison Barlinnie and the third to last to be hanged in Scotland.
1959, 9 October: Francis Joseph Huchet, 31, in St Helier, Jersey, the last person to be executed in the Channel Islands.
1959, 5 November: Guenther Podola, the last person to be hanged for the murder of a policeman.
1960, 10 November: Francis Forsyth, the last 18-year-old to be executed in Britain;
1960, 22 December: Anthony Miller, 19, in Glasgow‘s Barlinnie Prison, the last teenager to be executed in Britain.
1961, 20 December: Robert McGladdery, 25, in Crumlin Road Gaol in Belfast, the last person to be executed in Northern Ireland, for the murder of Pearl Gamble in Newry.
1962, 4 April: James Hanratty at Bedford after a controversial rape-murder trial. In 2002 Hanratty’s body was exhumed and the Court of Appeal upheld his conviction after Hanratty’s DNA was linked to crime scene samples.
1963, 15 August: Henry Burnett, aged 21, at Craiginches Prison in Aberdeen for the murder of seaman Thomas Guyan, the last hanging in Scotland.
1964, 13 August: Peter Anthony Allen, at Walton Prison in Liverpool, and Gwynne Owen Evans, at Strangeways Prison in Manchester for the murder of John Alan West, the last people executed in Britain.[14]
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CAROLINE ROBERTS – BRUTALLY TORTURED AND RAPED BY SADISTIC PAEDOPHILES AND SERIAL KILLERS – FRED AND ROSE WEST… IN HER OWN WORDS TELLS ANDY JONES OF THE CRIME THROUGH TIME COLLECTION …” I SURVIVED 25 CROMWELL ST, LIFE GOES ON AND GOD BLESS THOSE WHO DIDN’T .”
Posted on January 11, 2016 by CRIME THROUGH TIME COLLECTION
IN MEMORY OF CAROLINE ROBERTS …
R.I.P. CAROLINE …. SADLY PASSED AWAY AFTER BEING DIAGNOSED WITH CANCER ONLY A FEW WEEKS AGO AT THE AGE OF 61
HAVING PERSONALLY KNOWN CAROLINE FOR A GREAT MANY YEARS … SHE WAS ALWAYS A VERY BRAVE, CARING, MUCH LOVED LADY AND MOTHER WHO HAD SURVIVED APPALLING TORTURE AND ABUSE AT THE HANDS OF EVIL SERIAL KILLERS FRED AND ROSE WEST .
CAROLINE WOULD NEVER SHY AWAY FROM TELLING HER TRAUMATIC LIFE STORY AND ALWAYS FELT A STRONG SENSE OF GUILT THAT SHE SURVIVED WHILST MANY OTHERS DID NOT.
OUR SINCERE CONDOLENCES TO HER DAUGHTER KELLY , FAMILY AND CLOSE FRIENDS .
ABOVE AND BELOW : A BRIEF INSIGHT INTO AN ARRAY OF LOCAL AND NATIONAL NEWSPAPER COVERAGE RELATING TO THE SAD DEATH OF CAROLINE , AGED ONLY 61 .
Early image of Caroline Roberts , at or around the time of the Fred and Rose West’s abuse whilst she was employed as a nanny by them at both 25 Cromwell St and The Green Lantern Cafe in Southgate St , Gloucester
It was good to meet up again with Caroline for a catch-up and a chat . Also for having kindly giving consent to do a few personal collage pieces about her torture and abuse at the hands of serial killers Fred and Rose West, i.e. some signed magazine articles etc as seen below .
These being featured in, amongst and alongside …. The Fred and Rose West 25 Cromwell Street , Gloucester Exhibition .
It was good to meet up again back in April 2016 with Caroline for a catch-up and a chat . Also for giving consent to do a personal piece, for which she kindly signed a few articles etc . To be featured in and amongst and alongside …. The Fred and Rose West 25 Cromwell Street , Gloucester Exhibition .
POLICE OUTSIDE THE FRONT OF NO 25, CROMWELL STREET, GLOUCESTER KEEP AN EYE OUT AS THE SEARCH CONTINUES IN THE REAR GARDEN.
When Caroline Roberts accepted a job at 25 Cromwell Street, the infamous address of Fred and Rose West, she was only 16. Realizing that there was something very malevolent about the couple, she left their employment soon after, glad to be rid of them. The story should have ended there, but a month, later she was abducted by the Wests and suffered violent sexual abuse at their hands before being told that she would be killed and buried. Through a combination of luck and quick thinking, despite the trauma of what happened, Caroline managed to escape to freedom.
BELOW IS SOME INTERESTING AND IN DEPTH HISTORICAL DOCUMENTARY INSIGHT INTO THE HORRORS OF FRED AND ROSE WEST , ALSO FEATURING CROMWELL STREET SURVIVOR … CAROLINE ROBERTS.
BELOW IS SOME INTERESTING AND IN DEPTH HISTORICAL DOCUMENTARY INSIGHT INTO THE HORRORS OF FRED AND ROSE WEST , ALSO FEATURING CROMWELL STREET SURVIVOR … CAROLINE ROBERTS
Caroline’s autobiographical book
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged --, 16 BELGRAVE ROAD, 25 CROMWELL ST, 25 CROMWELL ST EXHIBITION, 25 CROMWELL ST MEMORABILIA, 25 CROMWELL ST MUSEUM, 25 MIDLAND ROAD, ALISON CHAMBERS, ANDY JONES, ANN MARIE WEST, ASYLUM, BANKSEY, BANKSY, BAPHOMET, BAPHOMET STATUE, BEST WORLD CRIME MUSEUM, BIGGEST CRIME MUSEUM IN EUROPE, BLACK MAGIC BAR, BLACK MAGICC BAR, BLACK MUSEUM, BRAYNE COURT LITTLEDEAN, CAROL ANN COOPER, CAROLINE OWENS FRED AND ROSE WEST, CAROLINE RAINE FRED AND ROSE WEST, CAROLINE ROBERTS, CAROLINE ROBERTS BOOK, CAROLINE ROBERTS FUNERAL, CHARLES BRONSON, CHARMAINE WEST, CHET ATKINS, CHILD KILLERS, CINDERFORD, CINDERFORD TOWN COUNCIL, COLLECTION, CRIME, CRIME AND PUNISHMENT, CRIME COLLECTION, CRIME COLLECTIONS, CRIME MEMORABILIA, CRIME MUSEUM, CRIME MUSUEM, CRIME SCENE, CRIME THROUGH TIME, CRIME THROUGH TIME COLLECTION, CRIME THROUGH TIME MUSEUM, CRIME THROUGH TIME MUSUEM, CRIMINAL, CRIMINALS, CROMWELL ST BASEMENT, CROMWELL ST BATHROOM, CROMWELL STREET, DAILY MAIL, DAILY MIRROR, DAMIEN HIRST, DAVID AND PAULINE WILLIAMS, DAVID AND PAULINE WILLIAMS FRED AND ROSE WEST, DC JOHN BENNETT, DEATH, DEATH OF FRED AND ROSE WEST NANNY, DEVIL WORSHIP, DISMALABILIA, DISMALAND, DISORDERLY, ELLEN HAYWARD, ELLEN HAYWARD GRAVE, ELLEN HAYWARD ST ANTHONY'S WELL, ENGLANDS BEST TRUE CRIME MUSEUM, EUROPE'S LARGEST TRUE CRIME MUSEUM, EUROPES BEST THE TRUE CRIME MUSEUM, EUROPES BEST TRUE CRIME MUSEUM, EVIL, EXPLORE GLOUCESTERSHIRE, FOREST OF DEAN, FOREST OF DEAN NEWS CENTRE, FOREST OF DEAN STOCKS, FOREST OF DEAN TOURISM, forest of dean WITCHCRAFT, FRED AND ROSE WEST, FRED AND ROSE WEST EXHIBITION, FRED AND ROSE WEST MEMORABILIA, FRED AND ROSE WEST MUSEUM, FRED AND ROSE WEST NANNY, FRED AND ROSE WEST TOOLS, FRED AND ROSE WEST VICTIMS, FRED AND ROSE WEST WHIPS, FRED WEST, FRED WEST LETTERS, FRED WEST SPADE, FRED WEST TOOLS, GANGLAND, GANGLAND VIOLENCE, GLASTONBURY, GLOUCESTER, GLOUCESTER NEWS CENTRE, GLOUCESTER PRISON, GLOUCESTER TOURISM, GLOUCESTERSGHIRE, GLOUCESTERSHIRE, GLOUCESTERSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL, GLOUCESTERSHIRE MUSEUMS, GLOUCESTERSHIRE NEWSPAPERS, GLOUCESTERSHIRE TOURISM, GLYN DIX FRED AND ROSE WEST, GREEN LANTERN CAFE, HANGED, HEATHER WEST, HOUSE OF HORRORS, IMAGES, JAIL, JOHN WEST, JUANITA MOTT, KEVAN PRICE, LINDA CALVEY, LINDA CALVEY BLACK WIDOW, LITTLEDEAN, LITTLEDEAN GAOL, LITTLEDEAN HOUSE HOTEL, LITTLEDEAN HOUSE OF CORRECTION, LITTLEDEAN JAIL, littledean jail facebook, LITTLEDEAN SOUL, LITTLEDEAN VILLAGE, LITTLEDEAN VILLAGE STOCKS, LUCY PARTINGTON, LYNDA GOUGH, MAE WEST, MAIMERABILIA, MARK TURNER TOWN COUNCILLOR, MEMORABILIA, MUCH MARCLE, MURDER, MURDERABILIA, MURDERER, MURDERERS, MURDERS, MUSEUM, MUSEUM OF WITCHCRAFT AND MAGIC, MYRA HINDLEY, NANNY, NOTORIOUS PRISON INMATE, ONECALL TAXI, PAGAN, PAGANISM, PC KEVAN PRICE, POLICE, POSTCARD, PRISON, PROSTITUTION, R.I.P., RAPE, RAPEMABILIA, RIP, ROSE WEST, ROSE WEST ALBUM COVER, ROSE WEST LETTERS, ROSE WEST UNDERWARE, ROSE WEST UNDERWEAR, ROXANA, ROYAL WITCH, SADISTIC PAEDOPHILES, SERIAL KILLER, SERIAL KILLER ARTWORK, SERIAL KILLER LETTERS, SERIAL KILLERS, SHIRLEY HUBBARD, SHRLEY ROBINSON, SOGLOS, SOILITARY CONFINEMENT, SOUTHGATE STREET, SPELLBOUND GLOUCESTER, ST ANTHONY'S WELL, STEPHEN WEST, SUICIDE, THE, THE BELFRY HOTEL LITTLEDEAN, THE BEST TRUE CRIME MUSEUM, THE CITIZEN, THE CRIME THROUGH TIME COLLECTION, THE DAILY STAR, THE FERN TICKET CINDERFORD, THE FORESETER, THE GAURDIAN, THE GLOUCESTERSHIRE ECHO, THE GUV, the last living slut, THE LAST S, THE LOST GIRLS, THE OCCULT, THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY, THE ORIGINAL TRUE CRIME MUSEUM, THE SHITIZEN, THE SUN, THE TELEGRAPH, THE TIMES, THE TRUE CRIME MUSEUM, THE UK'S TRUE CRIME EXHIBITION, THE WEST FAMILY, THERESE SIEGENTHALER, TONY HUNT WITCH, TOP HAT CLUB SOUTHGATE STREET, TORTURE, TRACEY EMIN, TRUE CRIME, TRUE CRIME COLLECTION, TRUE CRIME COLLECTIONS, TRUE CRIME COLLECTIONS by CRIME THROUGH TIME COLLECTION, TRUE CRIME EXHIBITION, TRUE CRIME GANGLAND ], TRUE CRIME MEMORABILIA, TRUE CRIME MUSEUM, UK'S BEST TRUE CRIME MUSEUM, UK'S LARGEST TRUE CRIME MUSEUM, UNLICENSED BOXING by CRIME THROUGH TIME COLLECTION, WHIPS, WICCA MEMORABILIA, WICCAN, WINSON GREEN PRISON, WITCHCRAFT, WITCHCRAFT AND MAGIC MUSEUM, WITCHCRAFT AND THE OCCULT, WITCHCRAFT AND THE OCCULT MUSEUM, WITCHCRAFT MUSEUM, WOMEN MURDERERS, women who kill, WW2 by CRIME THROUGH TIME COLLECTION., www.crimethroughtime.com, you killed my fuching scooter by crimethroughtimecollection | 1 Reply
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ABOUT – Società Dante Alighieri Libano
The Società Dante Alighieri was founded in 1889 in Italy and it is present now in Lebanon and other 60 countries worldwide. Its mission is to spread the Italian language and culture with a main focus on teaching activities, most of them aimed to allow the students to obtain the PLIDA Official Certificate.
With over two hundred thousand students, the organisation manages almost 3,300 schools and institutes. Società Dante Alighieri is a no profit organisation, member of the European Union National Institute for Culture (EUNIC), ALTE, and also of the CLIQ Association (Italian Language Certification of Quality) together with the University for Foreigners of Perugia, the University for Foreigners of Siena, and Roma Tre University. CLIQ monitors the quality of Italian language testing activities in agreement with MAECI – the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.
Besides this, Dante Alighieri Lebanon provides assistance and help to Lebanese students in the process of enrollment in Italian universities. Through its PLIDA section, Dante Alighieri has developed a 6-level examination system to assess learners of Italian as a foreign language. Every year thousands of candidates take PLIDA exams in 350 PLIDA Exam Centres spread over 50 countries worldwide.
PLIDA exams are aligned with the international standards of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) and are recognised by the MAECI, the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR), the Italian Ministry of Interior, the Italian Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, and the Sapienza University of Rome.
Furthermore PLIDA promotes best practices in teaching Italian as a foreign and second language, and provides training sessions, refresher courses and guidance to syllabus design.
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Jon Stewart Blasts Sen. Rand Paul For Blocking 9/11 Victims Compensation Funding
‘The Expanse’ To End On Syfy With Season 3, Will Be Shopped Elsewhere By Alcon
By Nellie Andreeva
Nellie Andreeva
Co-Editor-in-Chief, TV
@DeadlineNellie
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The current third season of The Expanse will be the space drama’s last one on Syfy. The cable network has decided not to renew the show for a fourth season, with the last episode slated to air in early July. Alcon Television Group, which fully finances and produces the critically praised series, plans to shop it to other buyers.
“The Expanse transported us across the solar system for three brilliant seasons of television,” said Chris McCumber, President, Entertainment Networks for NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. “Everyone at Syfy is a massive fan of the series, and this was an incredibly difficult decision. We want to sincerely thank The Expanse’s amazing cast, crew and all the dedicated creatives who helped bring James S.A. Corey’s story to life. And to the series’ loyal fans, we thank you most of all.”
'Brooklyn Nine-Nine' May Find New Home; Hulu, Others Eye Fox Comedy Amid Massive Outpouring After Cancellation
The Expanse was one of the first series greenlighted after the change in programming direction at Syfy, signaling a return to the network’s roots with the sweeping space opera series in the vein of Battlestar Galactica. The Expanse, from Alcon and the Sean Daniel Co, which was tipped as a potential successor to BSG, was part of a crop of Syfy series that launched in 2015 along with The Magicians, which was recently renewed for a fourth season, and 12 Monkeys, which was renewed for an upcoming fourth and final season.
The Expanse is one of the most well reviewed sci-fi series on TV, with the current third season scoring 100% on Rotten Tomatoes (vs. 95% for Season 2 and 76% for Season 1).
The cancellation decision by Syfy is said to be linked to the nature of its agreement for the series, which only gives the cable network first-run linear rights in the U.S. That puts an extraordinary amount of emphasis on live, linear viewing, which is inherently challenging for sci-fi/genre series that tend to draw the lion’s share of their audiences from digital/streaming.
The Expanse‘s Live+3 linear ratings started with 581,000 among adults 18-49 and 1.378 million total viewers in Season 1. Season 2 slipped to 457K in 18-49 and 1.05M viewers; Season 3 to date is running just below the Season 2 averages, at 400K and 1 million, respectively. That is below the performance of Syfy’s top dramas The Magicians and Krypton, as well as comedy Happy!, but in line with a number of co-productions on the network.
“We are very disappointed the show will not be returning to Syfy,” said Alcon Entertainment co-founders and co-CEOs Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson. “We respect Syfy’s decision to end this partnership but given the commercial and critical success of the show, we fully plan to pursue other opportunities for this terrific and original IP.”
Co-created and written by Oscar-nominated screenwriting duo Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby (Children of Men), the series is based on the bestselling book series by Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck (under the pen name James S. A. Corey). The cast includes Steven Strait, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Dominique Tipper, Cas Anvar, Wes Chatham, Frankie Adams and Thomas Jane.
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Rare total solar eclipse may break hearts in Edmonton
"The chances are, if you don't know it's happening, you probably won't notice anything."
Juris Graney
While a sliver of the United States will get the rare opportunity to witness a total solar eclipse later this month, Edmonton residents will miss out on most of the shadow show because of how far north we are.
A strip of darkness about 100 kilometres wide — known as the path of totality — will, on Aug. 21, cross mainland America from Oregon to South Carolina, marking the first coast-to-coast crossing of the U.S. since 1918.
Such is the excitement among astronomers and the press south of the border, the event has been dubbed the Great American Eclipse.
As great it would be to be in the eclipse sweet spot, it’s slightly less exciting for those in Edmonton, as the maximum coverage of the sun by the moon when it passes over the River City will be 70 per cent.
Detectable dimming in daylight hours starts to happen at around 90 per cent coverage.
“The chances are, if you don’t know it’s happening, you probably won’t notice anything,” said Geoff Robertson, vice-president of the Edmonton chapter of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada.
That’s part of the reason why Robertson and other members of the society are headed south. Robertson said he booked a hotel in Ontario, Ore., over a year ago to secure his spot to see the eclipse.
“I’ve seen lots of partial solar eclipses, but I’ve never seen a total solar eclipse and I don’t imagine I will be here when there is one in Edmonton in 2044,” Robertson said.
The upcoming eclipse will begin in Edmonton at 10:24 a.m., peaking at 11:35 a.m. and end at 12:49 p.m.
And, of course, the viewing opportunities are also dependent on the weather.
Long-range forecasts don’t go all the way to Aug. 21, but the historical average is 21 C with a 47 per cent chance of precipitation, meaning clouds could obscure the partial eclipse.
The RASC Observatory is hosting free activities at Telus World of Science between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. and will be offering free eclipse glasses on a first-come, first-served basis.
They will also have filtered telescopes available to safely view the eclipse.
The good news is that if you can hang around for 27 years, however, Edmonton will get the chance to witness a total solar eclipse on Aug. 22, 2044.
jgraney@postmedia.com
twitter.com/jurisgraney
Police dogs join Edmonton Eskimos for practice ahead of Friday game Off-highway vehicles banned from southern Alberta forests
Worst since 1948: Edmonton the epicentre of syphilis outbreak declared in Alberta
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MINUTES OF THE TWENTIETH SESSION OF THE BRAZILIAN NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL, SECOND BRAZILIAN NUCLEAR PLAN
At this meeting the National Security Council decided to reform the Brazilian nuclear sector by placing it under the direction of CNEN (National Nuclear Energy Commission). The CSN suggested young technicians and academics should be instructed abroad in order to stimulate the development of professionals in that field. One of the objectives of the nuclear policy was the production of nuclear fuel from domestically-sourced minerals. The Brazilian government criticized the monopoly on nuclear fuel by the big powers.
"Minutes of the Twentieth Session of the Brazilian National Security Council, Second Brazilian Nuclear Plan," August 30, 1956, History and Public Policy Program Digital Archive, National Archive (Brasilia). Obtained and translated by Fundação Getúlio Vargas. https://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/116913
His Excellency General Nelson de Mello was the Secretary of the Twentieth Session of the National Security Council
Minutes of the twentieth Session of the National Security Council
On 30 August 156, at 7 PM, in the city of Rio de Janeiro, at Catete Palace, the twentieth Session of the National Security Council was held under the presidency of His Excellency the President of the Republic, Dr. Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira, with the presence of the Ministers of State: Dr. Nereu Ramos, of Justice; Antonio Alves Câmara, of the Navy; Henrique Duffles Teixeira Lott, of War; José Maria Alkmin, of Finance; General Ernesto Dornelles, of Agriculture; Lúcio Martins Meira, of Transports and Public Works; José Parsifal Barroso, of Labor, Industry and Commerce; Clovis Salgado Gama, of Education, Henrique Fleuiss, of Aeronautics; Maurício Campos de Medeiros, of Health; General Octavio Saldanha Mazza, of the Army of Staff; General Anor Teixeira dos Santos, of the Armed Forces Staff; Admiral Renato de Almeida Guillobel, of the Navy Staff; and General Ajalmar Vieira Mascarenhas, of the Air Force Staff. Also present at the meeting were General Nelson de Mello, Secretary-General of the National Security Council; Colonel Antonio Accioly Borges, Chief of Staff of the General Secretariat of the National Security Council; Navy and Army Officers attached to the Staff of the General Secretariat of the National Security Council, acting as advisers to the Studies Commission for Nuclear Policy, respectively Commander Julio Cesar de Sá Carvalho and Artillery Major Carlos Molinari Cairoli. The President of the Republic opens the Session stating that it was the first time he convened the National Security Council since becoming President and he was very glad to establish new contact with the agency to which the highest responsibilities in the life of the country are entrusted. His Excellency adds that the meeting had been convened for the purpose of establishing norms and political bases which the Government must adopt in the field of atomic energy. Next he adds that the convening of the National Security Council aims at evaluating the work of the Studies Commission appointed last April to formulate the Atomic Energy Policy in the form of recommendations; that the appointment of the Studies Commission intended to reach two objectives: in the political sphere: a) to counterbalance the current campaign in the Congress and the press against the present Government to the detriment of its popular and military bases, by means of alleged faults in the nuclear energy policy; b) to look for adequate guidance and set with honesty and patriotism the nuclear energy policy for which the present Government will be responsible, through the National Security Council, a prestigious, unsuspected and authoritative organ able to point out the best solution for such an important problem; that the presidential guidelines to the Studies Commission put forth three basic questions for examination: 1) the creation of the Nuclear Energy Commission; 2) a policy for our atomic minerals and; 3) the convenience of updating existing nuclear agreements; that the study presented by the Studies Commission fully solved these specific problems and set general positive norms for a nuclear energy policy. Continuing his remarks, His Excellency adds that everyone knew that the Government had decided to appoint a Commission to elaborate, in the form of recommendations, the nuclear policy to be followed from now on, since this question galvanized public opinion, provoking debate at the National Congress. The policy followed until now in the field of nuclear energy was the result of agreements and conventions that are the target of criticism that could reach the present government. For this reason, the President of the Republic goes on, we wanted to clarify the issue by adopting a protective policy with norms to be observed in the future. Next, His Excellency designates the Secretary-General of the National Security Council, General Nelson de Mello, to proceed with the reading of the documents for examination by the members of the Council present. (The Secretary-General proceeded with the reading of the documents: “SECRET Ofício dated April 24 1956 From the President of the Republic to the Secretary-General of the National Security Council. SUBJECT: Nuclear energy policy. In order to seek objectivity in its basic plan regarding energy sources, the Government intends to formalize its guidelines in the field of nuclear energy by means of a policy geared to the defense of the highest national interests. In the present conjuncture, the definition of the patriotic intentions of the Government will be further proof of its desire to follow the policy it has imposed on itself to fight for the development of the country. 2. In order to set a policy that encompasses the fundamental issues of the nuclear energy question, I wish to count upon the patriotic and competent opinion of the National Security Council. 3. With this objective in mind, I decided to name a Studies Commission, composed of the Ministers of State of External Affairs, War, Navy, Air Force and Agriculture, the Head of the Armed Forces Chiefs of Staff, the Secretary of the National Development Council and the President of the National Research Council to elaborate, under the chairmanship of the first one named, in the form of recommendations, the Nuclear Energy Policy. These recommendations shall be submitted to the Security Council, at an ulterior meeting, so that it may pronounce itself on the best policy to be followed by the Government in this field. 4. You are from this moment on authorized to proceed, through the General Secretariat, to the gathering of the data necessary for the work of the Commission, as well as to co-ordinate the agencies and advising officials deemed convenient for that objective. (Signed) Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira – President of the Republic”. “SECRET Ofício dated April 24 1956. From the President of the Republic to the President of the Studies Commission on Nuclear Energy Policy, of the National Security Council. SUBJECT: Basic guidelines. Reference: Ofício dated April 27 1956, from the Office of the President of the Republic to the General Secretary of the National Security Council. According to my thinking, explained in the Ofício of reference to the Secretary-General of the National Security Council, it would be convenient for the definition of the nuclear energy policy that the following basic points be examined, besides other aspects deemed necessary by the Commission: a) creation of an autonomous agency for the guidance of all activities in the field of nuclear energy; b) the policy to be followed in the field of nuclear energy, particularly regarding atomic minerals and their export. The interest in adopting an exclusive barter system from Government to Government, aiming at the immediate acquisition of industrial reactors and technical information that result in the use of nuclear energy in the country, should also be studied; c) examination of the convenience to update international agreements, for the benefit of a more realistic policy in accordance with the new possibilities offered by the advancement of science in the applications of nuclear energy. 2. The conclusions that the Government may come to recommend shall be examined so that the National Security Council may give its opinion and permit the Government to initiate more dynamic action in the field of atomic energy, with the aim of overcoming the relative backwardness we are already in, promoting development of our resources in accordance with the high interests of the nation. I avail myself of this opportunity to renew the assurances of my respectful regard. (Signed) Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira – President of the Republic”. CONFIDENTIAL Ofício. Mr. President, By an act of April 24 last, you have decided to request a Studies Commission, composed of the Ministers of State of the Navy, War, Air Force and Agriculture, the Head of the Army Chiefs of Staff, the Secretary-General of the Economic Development Council and the President of the National Research Council, under the Chairmanship of the Minister of External Relations, to elaborate, in the form of recommendations, the Nuclear Energy Policy to be submitted to the National Security Council. 2. At the same date you have set in a secret document addressed to the President of this Commission the basic guidelines which should direct its work, stressing three aspects which should be considered, namely, the creation of a Nuclear Energy Commission as an autonomous agency, the policy to be followed with regard to the atomic minerals and the examination of the convenience to update the existing international agreements. 3. The Commission held five plenary meetings at Itamaraty Palace. The studies carried out on the basis of official documentation provided by the competent agencies permitted to derive from the debates held at the sessions the recommendations that set the main points for a Nuclear Energy Policy which is contained in the annexed document and is composed of three parts. In the first, the basic proposals that make up in their ensemble a definition of the Nuclear Energy Policy are reproduced; in the second, the recommendations are complemented and the essential aspects that should guide their implementation are set; finally, the third part is a brief analysis of the main points of the proposed doctrine. 4. As you will see, the proposed recommendations fully contemplate the basic points contained in the presidential guidelines. The Studies Commission deemed indispensable the creation of the National Nuclear Energy Commission, for the non-existence of such an agency has greatly hindered the responsible definition of the guidelines followed until now. The remaining recommendations, taken in their entirety, set the limits for our exports of atomic minerals and our position vis-à-vis the international agreements. Other aspects of the question of the use of nuclear energy were also examined and make up complementary proposals. It is highly convenient to highlight, Mr. President, that these recommendations were unanimously adopted and constitute, in the opinion of the members of the Commission, the best instrument to achieve the real interests of the country in the present stage of its development. 5. The official documents of the work of the Commission, including the minutes of the Sessions, were sent to the Secretary-General of the National Security Council, to be kept in the records of the General Secretariat of that organ. 6. This Studies Commission, in discharging the honorable and important mission entrusted to it by Your Excellency, wishes to state that its action was guided exclusively by the desire to serve Brazil well, seeking to point the best way for the establishment of a nuclear policy that answers to the best interests of the country, in the present as in the future. I avail myself of this opportunity to renew the assurance of my deepest respect. (Signed) José Carlos de Macedo Soares – President of the Studies Commission for the Nuclear Policy.”REPORT of the Studies Commission for the Nuclear Policy – SECRET. I - The Studies Commission appointed by Your Excellency to elaborate, in the form of recommendations, the National Nuclear Energy Policy to be submitted to the examination of the National Security Council, performed its task on the basis of the presidential guidelines set for this end and arrived at the following set of proposals: 1. To create the National Nuclear Energy Commission as an agency directly under the President of the Republic charged with the nuclear energy sector and shaping its actions according to the governmental guidelines for the National Nuclear Energy Policy. 2. To create the National Nuclear Energy Fund, to be used exclusively in the development of the utilization of nuclear energy. 3. To formulate a wide and intensive program of preparation of scientists, technicians and specialists in the several sectors related to nuclear energy. 4. To establish a program to urgently ascertain our availability in minerals of interest to the production of nuclear energy – quantity, quality, economic value and possibilities of industrial exploitation. 5. To support the national industry of treatment of minerals of interest to the production of nuclear energy and to enlarge it, especially to encompass also uranium ore; To promote its progress so that it reaches a higher stage, that is, the production of nuclear pure metals. To make the establishment of a national program of utilization of nuclear energy a condition for such progress. 6. To exert Government control over the trade – purchase, stockpiling and sale, including exports – of materials usable in the field of nuclear energy. 7. To establish as a fundamental tenet of the National Nuclear Energy Policy to be adopted the production in the country, as soon as possible, of nuclear fuels from nuclear pure materials, under total control and ownership of the Government. 8. To suspend the production of uranium and thorium, its components and ores and of other materials designated by the National Nuclear Energy Commission to be created, until further decision by the National Security Council. 9. Only after obtaining credible data about the existence, in our country, of substantial deposits of minerals usable in the field of nuclear energy and once convenient stockpiling of treated materials is assured, for our program in this sector, the Government may trade abroad certain quantities of these materials, with the highest degree of treatment available in our industry and exclusively for obtaining specific compensation, instrumental and technical, with a view to the development of the industrial applications of nuclear energy in the country. 10. In the international field, the Brazilian program for the production of nuclear energy must take advantage of the scientific and technological experience of all friendly countries, guided only by the criterion of convenience. 11. To comply with the 1954 Agreement, by which we purchased from the United States of America 100.000 tons of wheat, adopting the criterion of payment in dollars as allowed by its Article 6. 12. To cancel definitively, in view of the highest national interest, the export to the United States of the 300 tons of thorium oxide, beyond and independently of any agreement, which was the subject of the Contract in 1956. 13. To use item b of the “Joint Program for the Recognition of Uranium Resources in Brazil”, signed on August 3 1955 with the Government of the United States of America, which reads: “Any of the two Governments may terminate the present program with previous 6 (six) months’ notice to the other Government”, in order to interrupt the commitments stemming from this Agreement, for reasons of national convenience. 14. To establish, in the future, an external policy of short term commitment, by which the Government may be able to negotiate, with all friendly countries, well prepared agreements that permit the installation of nuclear energy in the country. 15. To update existing legislation related to all aspects of nuclear energy in order to adapt it to the National Nuclear Energy policy that will be established. 16. In international commitments of any kind – agreements, conventions, understandings, etc. – whatever their classification – substantive or adjective – that deal with materials usable in the field of nuclear energy, there must always be a clause stating that they will only be valid when approved by the National Congress. 17. To adopt the principle that the National Nuclear Energy Policy formulated under the recommendations that will be approved by the National Security Council can only be changed after hearing that organ, in view of the importance of this issue to the future of the Nation. II In order to complement these recommendations and establish some aspects to guide the detailed examination that should be conducted by the General Secretariat of the National Security Council, with the help of competent organs, authorities and advisers, after the final decision on the national nuclear energy policy, this Studies Commission deems necessary to add the following considerations: 1. In general, the National Nuclear Energy Commission will have under its purview the supervision, planning, coordination and control of all activities related to nuclear energy, both internally and externally, as well as the carrying out of some of them, among which, on an exclusive basis, trade – purchase, stockpiling and sale, including export – of materials usable in the atomic field. It must have a structure capable of: a) Responding, through adequate organization, to all requests stemming from the multiple and complex initial tasks and those that may arise from dealing with the issues under its competence; b. To permit its affiliation, at the appropriate time, to the International Atomic Energy Agency as the Brazilian representative; c) Being responsible for the faithful observance of the National Nuclear Energy Policy, and submit to the National Security Council, through the General Secretariat of this organ, the initiatives that may become international commitments and the important decisions in the internal sphere; d) avail itself of efficient and readily informed technical and scientific advice, in order to permit opportune decisions convenient to our conjuncture in the atomic field; e) to rely on specialists in economics, administration, finance and other fields that may be necessary to accomplish its tasks; 2. The National Nuclear Energy Commission will be financed by the revenues generated by its own activities, budgetary funds and special credits, besides the National Nuclear Energy Fund, to be created by law. 3. In the elaboration of a Program for Personnel Formation, the National Nuclear Energy Commission will have two objectives in mind: a. emergency preparation, utilizing elements of different ages and diverse origins and cultural levels; b. a longer term preparation, preferably recruiting young elements, to guide them in this field of studies. At least in the initial stages of the formidable task of forming such a large and varied number of specialists, the Armed Forces must decidedly support this effort, opening their learning institutions to civilians. The Army Technical School can form geologists and mining engineers, indispensable to the prospection of our mineral reserves. The formation of able personnel, in different degrees, should encompass in the needed proportions elements needed for prospection and those tasked with the later stages of the industrialization of atomic energy. It is necessary to adopt measures to stimulate public interest in general and youth in particular in such issues, including: a. Inclusion in the syllabus of scientific and superior courses of issues related to the wide field of nuclear energy; b. intense dissemination of knowledge on nuclear energy by means of lectures, talks, TV and radio programs, cinema, publication in magazines and newspapers, seeking greater objectivity and simplicity; c. creation of university extension courses, in stages, of short duration, of a practical character, using half days or evenings, and gradually selective, by using facilities and material and human resources from civilian and military institutions. Renowned foreign professors should be engaged to teach in those institutions. A large number of students with proven intellectual capacity and able to return to Brazil should be sent to European and American schools. Attractive remuneration should be provided to the personnel utilized, including fixed wages according to civil service grades and variable bonuses, according to the degree of specialization and sector of activity, as well as measures of protection and guarantee in case of health hazard. It is necessary to create in an appropriate location, preferably away from large urban centers, a Nuclear Study and Research Center, where the largest numbers of personnel and material resources should be concentrated. 4. The National Nuclear Energy Commission shall establish a Program for Distribution of Resources Applicable in the Field of Nuclear Energy in our country. Such a Program shall include wide ranging planning – with the indication of convenient priorities among the activities to be carried out, in view of the scarcity of means – in personnel and material – so as to concentrate efforts on the most promising areas. Its execution will bring together government agencies and private enterprise, utilizing also foreign technicians whose services are engaged by the National Nuclear Energy Commission. Also here the cooperation of the Armed Forces is of great interest. In particular, the Air Force can render important services in aerial reconnaissance and the Army can carry out initial geological investigation in some regions, using, for this end, the elements presently tasked with the Geographic Mapping and Engineering Units, as long as they are reinforced with adequate means for the carrying out of this new mission, or shall create specific units if this becomes necessary. 5. The industry of initial treatment of atomic mineral existing in the country is an important achievement in the technical field and may be maintained as a commercial endeavor as long as it is adjusted to the high national objectives. Through the National Nuclear Energy Commission, the Government shall commit itself to acquiring, within limits and ceilings to be established in the National Program of Utilization of Nuclear, the materials usable in atomic industry to be produced. The ceilings to be established, which shall be periodically reviewed, shall obey the needs of utilization of these materials and its stockpiling, taking into account our financial possibilities. In the future, the financial cover for purchases shall avail itself of the resources of the National Nuclear Energy Fund. The National Nuclear Energy Commission shall also stimulate technical and industrial activities, among which the most important are: (a) urgent industrialization of uranium ores; (b) production of pure nuclear materials and other materials usable in the atomic field. 6. Regarding recommendation no. 7, it is interesting to stress that, despite the tremendous contribution offered to all peoples in the dissemination of techno-scientific information in the atomic field, whose historic initial landmark was the 1955 Geneva Conference, no substantial progress will be achieved in any national program in this sector unless the question of our own nuclear fuel production is solved. In fact, it cannot be denied that there is a true monopoly of nuclear fuels in the hands of the big powers. While the sale of certain kinds of reactors is free of restrictions, there will be absolute dependence of nuclear fuel for their operation. It suffices, in short, to examine the clauses of the agreements that the United States of America has been proposing to several nations, for the supply, or more properly, for the renting of nuclear fuels, to understand immediately the absolute control that they want to exert over this material, over its application – prohibiting military uses – over the special material produced in the reactors, and over the very kind of reactor in which they will be used, among many other restrictions. For Brazil the most important question to be solved is the production of nuclear fuels or fissionable materials. And since the world market offers at least some types of reactors, once we overcome that impasse, we will have reached, without restrictions, industrialization with nuclear energy. In this case, the existing industry of initial treatment of atomic ores and the one to be installed in the future will be able to attain unlimited development, for the chain of utilization of these products will be ensured. 7. The suspension of exports of products usable in the field of atomic energy is a measure of elementary prudence, while we examine our availabilities, so that our future, which may largely depend on this valuable source of energy, is not compromised. When there is a decision to export some of this material, within the scope of sub-item 9 of item I of the present document, maximum effort must be exerted in order to obtain, as specific compensation, facilities or reactors that can produce nuclear fuels in our country. We must utilize, with wisdom and prudence, our bargaining power, always looking toward the solution of that main problem in the nuclear sector. Commitments in such deals must be stipulated in well drafted agreements and always in short term, providing the necessary flexibility in a question that may evolve very rapidly due to technical innovation. In this way we will have better safeguarded our interests. In principle, uranium should not be exported, since even in natural form, that is, without treatment to transform it into U-235, and in view of the percentage, however small, of the fissionable element it usually contains, it may be used in other types of nuclear reactors. One interesting form of agreement, pending more detailed studies, could be the sale of material, once its export is authorized, in exchange for: a. payment corresponding to the price of said material in the international market which we know is considerably below its energy value; b. the cession, or sale, by the buyer, of means for the utilization of nuclear energy – instruments, especially regeneration reactors, or breeders, of the thorium cycle, and technical means of our choice for each concrete case. Materials and services that we should pay for in longer installments. 8. Recommendation no. 10 aims at ensuring our freedom of action to negotiate with all friendly countries, which will permit taking better advantage from our resources and also to find more adequate forms of producing nuclear fuels. One cannot forget that under that aspect, the state of the techno-scientific investigation by European countries is closer to our own situation as a nation capable of acquiring and expanding knowledge, but with limitations in the experimental field. 9. It is of the highest national interest that the 1954 Agreement, by which we receive 100.000 thousand tons of wheat from the United States of America, be paid in dollars and not in atomic ores, which would be our option for payment in accordance with Clause 6 of said Agreement. In fact, we are committed to repay almost half of that amount in dollars, that is, the value corresponding to the salts or rare earths contained in the materials that we had agreed to supply and was refused by the United States, who lost interest because they found more convenient sources. These rare earths are expensive products for us and were practically the only compensation tour exports of thorium compounds. It must be stressed that the United States had not accepted the rare earths corresponding to two years of the 1952 Agreement and took practically three years of thorium oxide from the mentioned Agreement. Doubtlessly they acted that way in view of respectable commercial interests, according to information, and open the way for us to safeguard our highest national interests. In fact, in the case we agreed to export the 300 tons under contract for the current year, beyond and independently from any agreement, the exported material, or to be exported, since the 1952 Agreement, in terms of thorium oxide, would have corresponded to one fifth of our officially recognized reserves. Moreover, taking into account the June 28 1955 communication from the National Research Council to the President of the Republic at the time – which he sent to the Ministry of External Relations, thus bringing to the presidential sphere the final solution of the issue – on that occasion it was deemed preferable to liquidate the 1954 Agreement in dollars “in order to safeguard the high interests of security and the national economy”. Since the respective contracts were finalized only in April 1956, it will fall on the present Government the responsibility to choose its form of execution. It must also be said that, by a regrettable oversight, the interested agency failed to bring the question to the decision of the President of the Republic, as it should have done. 10. On its part, the export of the 300 tons of thorium oxide – a contract also finalized in 1956 – was the subject of a confidential Exposição de Motivos dated April 12 1956, from the Ministry of External Relations to the President of the Republic, who implicitly conditioned his decision to what is expressed in item 2 of that communication, the text of which follows: “That Commission [of Export of Strategic Materials] also decided that the contracts to be signed about such export, between the competent agencies of the Brazilian Government and the United States of America, respectively and in the usual form, the External Trade Office of Banco do Brasil S.A. and the Atomic Energy Commission, should permit the eventual suspension of exports, if this is in the national interest”. However, afterwards, on instructions from the President of the Republic, made public by the leader of the Government at the Chamber of Deputies, such export was suspended until new communication emanating from the recommendations that this Commission would make. This decision, and that of tasking the National Security Council with the formulation of the National Nuclear Energy Policy gave assurances to public opinion, because this is a security factor to be considered, to-day more than ever, on account of the degree of interest with which it follows the evolution of the most relevant national problems. In a nutshell, thus, one must state that it is in the interest of the progress of Brazil and of national security that this invaluable material for the production of energy be only exported against specific compensation. 11. It is recommended to terminate the “Joint Cooperation Program on the Prospection of Uranium Resources in Brazil”, the matter of the Agreement with the United States of America, signed on August 3 1955, for national security reasons, among which the need for better safeguarding our sovereignty and that of interrupting the commitments to which the normal course of this Agreement would commit us – the export of uranium – a sort of compensation for the services rendered by the other contracting party and announced as possible in Article II of said Agreement, in this way: “The Government of the United States of Brazil assures the Government of the United States of America that it is favorable disposed to supply uranium to the United States of America according to terms to be mutually agreed and under conditions compatible with its own internal needs of uranium for nuclear energy purposes. In case commercially exploitable uranium deposits are found, both Governments, through their respective responsible agencies, shall start negotiations for the realization of a contract mutually satisfactory which encompasses development, production and sale of uranium to the United States of America”, and, in particular, because while Brazil is not in a position to utilize the uranium it may possess – which, according to the clause above it would be willing to export – it is highly convenient to stockpile it because of its high energy value and because it is a material that even if not enriched, can be used in nuclear reactors, including as a starting point for future acquisition of enriched nuclear fuels. 12. The studies aiming at the creation of the National Nuclear Energy Commission and the National Nuclear Energy Fund, as well as other measures needed to establish the National Nuclear Energy policy, should be swiftly concluded, with the assistance of competent agencies and elements. Such measures should possibly include the repeal or change of the legislation in force, amendments to draft legislation or formulation of new drafts or substitutes, to be sent to the Legislative, in accordance with the usage regarding relations between the Executive and that power. The existing Commission of the Export of Strategic Materials (CEME) will lose jurisdiction over materials that are deemed to belong to the realm of nuclear energy, being kept under the norms in force or with the changes that specialized studies may advise, in order to deal with the remaining strategic materials. The link between the National Nuclear Energy Commission and the National Department of Mineral Production, of the Ministry of Agriculture, should be the subject of deep examination. In order to take away from the tasks of the National Research Council those belonging to the nuclear energy sector, now totally under the purview of the National Nuclear Energy Commission, a careful study is necessary regarding the appropriate administrative and financial measures, as well as on the establishment of the links between these two agencies and their fields of action. 13. Any international commitment dealing with materials usable in the field of nuclear energy must be submitted to the approval of the National Congress, which will allow the Executive Power to share with it the responsibilities entailed. Such commitments, in view of their importance to national security, must all be submitted to the sovereign decision of the National Congress, whatever their legal classification. 13 Whenever the need arises to change the National Nuclear Energy Policy, or important doubts in its execution come up, the National Security Council should be consulted, for it is a problem closely linked to the future of Brazil, and it is not an exaggeration to stress all prudent and cautionary measures. As a matter of fact, an analysis of previous action would warrant such precaution, because despite the sane policy we had put forth in the atomic sector, in several occasions its execution was not satisfactory, perhaps due to lack of coordination among the agencies. III. In the definition of its recommendations, complemented with observations regarding some basic points, this Studies Commission intended to establish the doctrine it deemed adequate to the needs of our country, in the atomic energy sector, taking into account the international conjunctures, seeking also to guarantee its appropriate execution. The essential points of this doctrine deserve to be recapitulated: The fundamental problem for Brazil, a country endowed with atomic mineral reserves, is to produce, in the shortest possible delay, nuclear fuels, that is, fissionable materials. The best use of this wealth will be achieved when we succeed in transforming it into industrial energy. For that end it is necessary to mobilize: a) technicians; b) capitals; c) raw materials; d) interaction of the above factors. To stimulate progress in the applications, in Brazil, of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, precious assistance can be provided by friendly nations, with which the Brazilian Government shall negotiate agreements that will permit the production of nuclear fuels in our country, necessary for the development of our industry, having always in mind the objective of the nuclear policy described above. In the negotiation of said agreements, it should always be kept in mind that the eventual sale of certain quantities of our atomic materials, which should be decided only after the verification of our industrial and stockpiling needs, will be made against specific compensation. These shall be formulated in an explicit and clear manner by the competent agencies, so that the negotiators may be able to act authoritatively and with full knowledge of the issues involved. The participation of private economy in the industrialization of nuclear energy is admissible, but always under strict control of the State. To guide, coordinate, carry out and verify the application of the National Nuclear Energy Policy adopted by the Brazilian Government, a National Nuclear Energy Commission shall be created, whose unity of action, economy of means, definition of responsibilities, respecting the possible flexibility of decisions, shall contribute to stimulate in an efficient way the process of industrialization of nuclear energy and its applications. Finally, this Study Commission, in discharging the creditable and important mission that His Excellency the President of the Republic entrusted to it, wishes to state that with the National Nuclear Energy Policy now proposed – composed of recommendations, all of them unanimously approved, whose worth and efficacy will derive from its joint adoption – the present Government will have a powerful and dynamic instrument to lead Brazil swiftly forward, as it is urgent, in industrialization with nuclear energy”. The Secretary-General, General Nelson de Mello, adds that the General Secretariat of the National Security Council had already carried out, as later suggested by members of the Study Commission, a study that it intended to submit to the Council about corrections to the wording of some of the draft recommendations and the addition of a few others. Such changes were of form, orfting, without, however, modifying the contents. The changes regarded recommendation no. 12, that reads: “To cancel definitively, in view of the highest national interest, the export to the United States of the 300 tons of thorium oxide, beyond and independently of any agreement, which was the subject of the Contract in 1956,” which would now read: “To cancel the export of the 300 tons of thorium oxide that were the subject of contract in 1956”. General Anor Teixeira fully agrees with the new wording, adding that he had made the original proposal at the Studies Commission. The correction is also approved by the members of the Council. Recommendation no. 13 is then considered: “To utilize item b of Article XVI of the Joint Cooperation Program on the Prospection of Uranium Resources in Brazil, signed on August 3 1955 with the Government of the United States of America, which reads as follows: “Any of the two Governments may terminate the present program, by previous six months’ notice to the other Government”, with a view to interrupt the commitments stemming from this Agreement, for reasons of national convenience”. The new wording proposed is: “To utilize item b of Article XVI of the Joint Cooperation Program on the Prospection of Uranium Resources in Brazil, signed on August 3 1955, which reads: “Any of the two Governments may terminate the present program by previous six months’ notice to the other Government”, in order to interrupt the commitments stemming from this Agreement, so that the Government may negotiate other agreements better adjusted to the recommended nuclear policy”. This change is also approved by all members. Next, the Secretary-General introduces a new recommendation, which would take number 18, with the following wording: “To recommend that regular or extraordinary budgetary resources be requested for the acquisition of materials usable in the nuclear energy field produced by interests industries and other expenses, while the Nuclear Energy Fund is not created”. Minister José Maria Alkmin proposes that instead of extraordinary, the expression special be adopted. The suggestion is unanimously approved by the Council. General Henrique Duffles Teixeira Lott inquires whether the expression other expenses includes contracts of technical personnel, to what the Secretary-General responds affirmatively. The new recommendation is unanimously accepted. The President of the Republic states for the record that he deemed useful and convenient, since the issue was under debate, that the conclusions be published because this would mark the position taken by the competent organs, that is, the National Security Council and the Government itself. His Excellency consults the Council for its opinion. The immediate publication of the approved recommendations was unanimously approved by the members of the Council. General Lott calls attention to a point that had not been fully, but only implicitly, clarified. The exploration of deposits that contain fissionable materials can be undertaken by anyone. The Government will not do what it is doing in the case of petroleum. The Government controls sales within the country, as well as export commitments from Government to Government, but will not prevent activities of production of these minerals as long as prospection, mining and treatment are under the charge of private industry. General Lott stresses that recommendation no. 5 explicitly mentions industrial activity, but not mining, which is a very important point since industrial activity is one thing and mining is something else, and it is not clearly said that private interests could mine those deposits. Admiral Guillobel notes that recommendation no. 5 should read: “support national industry in the prospection, mining and treatment”. Next, Minister Clovis Salgado takes the floor to recall, preliminarily, to the President, that the question of the geologist prospectors, whose need has been very much stressed, was the subject of an Exposição de Motivos from the Ministry of Education, already approved by the President, to the effect that three other centers for the formation of geologists should also be created. He adds that, with presidential approval, work has been started and a decree can be submitted to presidential signature next month. Next, mentioning the main objective of the meeting, he comments on Recommendation no. 7, which reads: “To establish as a fundamental point of the National Nuclear Energy Policy to be adopted, to produce in the country, in the shortest possible delay, nuclear fuels, from nuclear pure metals, under total control and property of the Government”. He understands in this case that the activity reserved by the Government to itself is only the question of nuclear pure metals, which limits is power. He does not consider this to be reasonable. General Lott, in an aside, remarks that the Government control is always exerted; what we wish is to have the monopoly of the production of nuclear fuels, that is, the industrial stage that starts from nuclear pure metals until obtaining fissionable materials, without prejudice to Government initiative, whenever necessary, in the other stages of the industrialization and production of nuclear energy. The President of the Republic recalls that what was under discussion were mere recommendations. The final definition would come in the law, which had not yet been drafted. General Henrique Fleuiss recalls that, in principle, the governmental action would be about pure metals. The Minister of Education withdraws his observation and goes on to read Recommendation no. 17, commenting that the wording seems to exclude the National Congress, since the National Security Council will always have to be heard. This observation was debated, at the end of which the Minister of Justice suggested a satisfactory formula with the following wording: “To adopt the principle that the National Policy can only be changed with prior consultation with the National Security Council”. General Teixeira Lott, in an aside, says that the National Security Council must always be consulted, since it is the technical organ especially entrusted with National Security. The President of the Republic recalls that Recommendation 16 ensures adequately the respect toward the National Congress, albeit for other ends, and contains the explicit wish to recognize it by saying: “International commitments of any kind – agreements, conventions, understandings, etc. – must always contain a clause making clear that they will only be valid if approved by the National Congress”. The Minister of Education, Dr. Clovis Salgado, agrees, despite the fact that the recommendation under examination mentioned only international commitments, and not internal ones. General Anor Teixeira dos Santos warns that Law 1310/51 allows the President of the Republic to draw the National Nuclear Energy Policy. Recommendation no. 17, under examination, advises the President of the Republic to hear the Council, a recommendation, by the way, that could be accepted or not by His Excellency. Minister José Maria Alkmin insists that the Recommendations may be changed after hearing the National Security Council, the appropriate agency, without implications either for the Executive of for the purview of the Legislative. Minister Clovis Salgado stresses that it is not necessary because it is obvious and that the way Recommendation 17 was drafted could give rise to deceitful interpretations. Minister José Maria Alkimin stresses the great usefulness of this recommendation, saying he recently had experienced great difficulties and even did not know at a certain stage how to decide on doubts about the carrying out of the nuclear policy previously followed, because of changes introduced by different agencies, often by their own initiative and without coordination. In the continuation of the debate, Minister Lott says the emphasis is not too much and that it addressed a situation we were experiencing and wish to correct in this meeting, since despite having adopted in the past certain political guidelines in the nuclear energy sector, these guidelines had been changed in some occasions, probably without following the norms now put forth, however obvious. Minister Clovis Salgado withdraws what he had said, since his doubts had not been shared by other members. He adds that this policy is the most adapted to the interests of the country and remarks that everyone should congratulate the illustrious Studies Commission, which had formulated the recommendations and found a realistic, objective and patriotic solution. It is a healthy form of nationalism, adopting in each case the most convenient position at the moment and reserving the right to change it when advisable. At the close of the Session the Secretary-General reads the press communiqué, as follows: “THE HEAD OF THE MILITARY HOUSEHOLD AND SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL DISTRIBUTED THE FOLLOWING NOTE TO THE PRESS: THE NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL met to-day, at 7 PM, at Catete Palace, under the presidency of His Excellency the President of the Republic, with the presence of its illustrious members, Ministers of State and Heads of Staff of the Armed Forces, the Army, the Navy and the Air Force, to consider the Nuclear Energy Policy to be adopted by the Government. This high organ examined the following recommendations proposed by the Commission especially tasked with studying the nuclear energy policy best adapted to the national interest and security: 1. To create the National Nuclear Energy Commission, as an agency directly under the President of the Republic, entrusted with the nuclear energy sector and acting in conformity with the governmental guidelines for the National Nuclear Energy Policy. 2. To create the National Nuclear Energy Fund, to be used exclusively for the development of the utilization of nuclear energy. 3. To formulate a wide ranging and intensive program of preparation of scientists, technicians and specialists in the several sectors related to nuclear energy. 4. To establish a program to ascertain urgently our availabilities in minerals of interest to the production of nuclear energy – quantity, quality, economic worth and possibilities of industrial exploitation. 5. To support the national industry in the prospection, mining and treatment of minerals of interest to the production of nuclear energy and enlarge it, especially in order to encompass also uranium yielding ores. To promote its progress so that it reaches a higher stage, that is, the production of nuclear pure metals. 6. To exert governmental control over the trade – purchase, stockpiling and sale, including export – of materials usable in the field of nuclear energy. 7. To establish as a fundamental tenet of the National Nuclear Policy to be adopted, the production in the country, in the shortest possible delay, nuclear fuels, from nuclear pure metals, under full control and property of the Government. 8. To suspend the export of uranium and thorium, their compounds and ores, and of other materials that may be designated by the National Nuclear Energy Policy to be adopted, until further decision by the National Security Council. 9. Only after having sure data about the existence, in our country, of substantial mineral reserves usable in the field of nuclear energy and convenient stockpiling of treated material is assured, for our program in this sector, with approval by the National Security Council, may the Government negotiate abroad certain quantities of this material – in the highest possible degree of treatment by our industry – and exclusively to obtain specific compensation, instrumental and technical – with a view to the development of nuclear energy applications in the country. 10. In the international field, the Brazilian program for the production of nuclear energy should utilize the scientific and technological experience of all friendly countries, guided only for what is most convenient for us. 11. To comply with the 1954 Agreement – by which we purchased 100.000 tons of wheat from the United States of America – adopting the criterion of payment in dollars as allowed by Clause 6 (six) of the instrument. 12 To cancel the export of the 3000 tons of thorium oxide, object of a 1956 contract. 13. To utilize item b of Article XVI of the Joint Cooperation Program on the Prospection of Uranium Resources in Brazil, signed on August 3 1955, which reads: “Any of the two Governments may terminate the present program by giving previous six months’ notice to the other Government”, in order to interrupt the commitments stemming from that Agreement, so that the Government may negotiate other agreements better adjusted to the recommended nuclear policy. 14. To establish, for the future, an external policy of short term commitment, by which the Government may be able to negotiate with all friendly Governments, well founded agreements that permit the establishment of the atomic industry in the country. 15. To update the current legislation related to all aspects of the nuclear energy sector, in order to adapt it to the National Nuclear Energy Policy which comes to be established. 16. In international commitments of any kind – agreements, conventions, understandings, etc. – whose subject is materials usable in the field of nuclear energy, a clause must always be included stressing that said commitment will only be valid if approved by the National Congress. 17. To adopt the principle that the National Nuclear Energy Policy, formulated by virtue of the recommendations that come to be approved by the National Security Council, can only be changed after this high agency is consulted, in view of the importance of this issue to the destiny of the nation. 28. To recommend that budgetary resources, either regular or special, be requested to address the acquisition of materials usable in the field of nuclear energy produced by interested industries and other expenses, while the Nuclear Energy Fund is not yet created. II. In view of the conclusions arrived at by the National Security Council, His Excellency the President of the Republic decided to approve these recommendations and adopt them as Governmental Guidelines for the National Nuclear Energy Policy, according to paragraph One of Article 5 of Law no. 1310/51.”(Signed) GENERAL NELSON DE MELLO – Head of the Military Household and Secretary-General of the National Security Council. On August 30 1956 at 8:45 PM, after consulting the members of the Council on whether there was any remaining issue to be discussed, the President of the Republic thanked the participants and closes the Session, declaring that he approves, adopting as National Nuclear Energy Policy, the Report presented by the Studies Commission examined in this meeting and unanimously accepted by the National Security Council with the changes suggested and approved in this Session. He adds that the competent authorities will take the necessary measures for the swift carrying out of this new policy. For the record, I, General Nelson de Mello, prepared these minutes which I sign together with the members of the National Security Council present at the Session. (signed) Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira. President of the National Security Council. (The signatures of the other members follow).
National Archive (Brasilia). Obtained and translated by Fundação Getúlio Vargas.
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Journal of Soviet Ambassador in the DPRK A.M. Puzanov for 18 August 1960
Kim Il Sung and A.M. Puzanov discuss China's attempts to sway other communist parties against the Soviet Union.
Journal of Soviet Ambassador to the DPRK A.M. Puzanov for 25 August 1960
The ambassador describes an August 25 meeting with GDR Ambassador Schneidewind.
Note about a Conversation in the Soviet Embassy with Comrade Puzanov
The ambassadors of the Soviet Union and East Germany in North Korea discuss Kim Il Sung's visits to China and the Soviet Union, the personality cult in North Korea, the economic situation in North Korea, and North Korea's policy towards South Korea.
Minutes of Conversation between Liu Shaoqi and North Korean Ambassador Ri Yeong-ho
Chairman of China Liu Shaoqi and Ambassador of North Korea Ri Yeong-ho exchanged views on international communist movement and the growing split between China and the Soviet Union. They concurred that both China and North Korea would not take the "revisionist" path, and would instead strictly adhere to Marxism-Leninism.
Minutes of Conversation between Deng Xiaoping and the North Korean Ambassador to China Han Ik-su
Chairman of China Deng Xiaoping and the DPRK Ambassador to China Han Ik-su exchange views about the relationship between China and North Korea. They reiterate the need to strengthen the unity of socialist camp and the fraternal relationship between China and North Korea. They also agree that the truth about communism is to combine Marxism-Leninism with the actual conditions of one’s own country, not to blindly follow Soviet Union dogma in all circumstances.
Telegram from Czech Embassy in Pyongyang to Foreign Ministry
Minutes of Conversation between Liu Shaoqi and Kim Il Sung
Chairman Liu Shaoqi and Premier Kim Il Sung discussed about friendly foreign relations between China and North Korea, as well as Sino-Soviet Split.
Report from Ji Pengfei on Liu Shaoqi’s Conversation with Kim Il Sung
A brief report on the meeting between Chairman Liushaoqi and Premier Kim Il Sung on reactionary theories and policies of modern revisionism.
Conversation between Soviet Ambassador in North Korea Vasily Moskovsky and Soviet Specialists in North Korea
Soviet specialists in North Korea inform the Ambassador that the Koreans are attempting to acquire large amounts of uranium ore.
Report on Conversation between Song Renqiong and Kim Il Sung
Song Renqiong and Kim Il Sung exchanged views on the mutual assistance between China and North Korea, revisionism opposition, economic situation in North Korea, and situation of the Korean Workers’ Party.
Record of Conversation between Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai, and Pak Seong-cheol
Chinese and North Korean statesmen discuss border issues, conversations with representatives of the Romanian Communist Party, and the unreasonable Soviet attitude regarding the Sino-Soviet debates.
Letter from the Korean Workers Party Central Committee to the Central Committee of the CPSU
The Socialist Unity Party of Germany reports on a critique by North Korea concerning the Soviet Union's effort to call a meeting of all socialist/communist countries. In the attached letter, North Korea expresses concern for a split between socialist countries.
Minutes of Conversation between Deng Xiaoping and Head of the Korean Delegation Kim Gwang-hyeop
Kim Gwang-hyeop, Deng Xiaoping, and Kang Shen discuss matters related to the Communist Parties of Eastern Europe, Japan, and Vietnam.
The Chinese and Korean Delegation in Bucharest exchange information about their visits in Eastern Europe, discussions with the Romanians, the situation in Yugoslavia and Albania, and the possibility of holding the Afro-Asian Conference.
Note by the East German Envoy to Moscow, Rossmeisl, on Talks with Unnamed Soviet Vietnam Specialists
Unnamed Soviet specialists claim that the USSR's aid to Vietnam is worth 1 million rubles per day. They also argue that because of the amount of aid, the Chinese propaganda claiming a lack of Soviet aid is losing ground among the population in North Vietnam, although the rumor still persists in the South.
Record of the Third Conversation between Zhou Enlai and North Korean Vice Prime Minister Ri Ju-yeon
Zhou Enlai, Ri Ju-yeon, and Pak Seong-cheol discuss Japanese militarism, U.S. imperialism, the issue of Korean citizenship for Koreans in Japan, the Chinese 5-year plan, and military preparations.
Report, Embassy of Hungary in the Soviet Union to the Hungarian Foreign Ministry
The Hungarian Embassy reports on North Korea's relations with the Soviet Union and China and Japan's foreign relations.
Polish-Soviet Talks in Lansk: January 18, 1967
Gomulka, Podgorny and Brezhnev discuss an upcoming conference of communist parties. Central to the discussion is the attitude of the Chinese.
Note on a Conversation with the 1st Secretary of the Soviet Embassy, Comrade Zvetkov, on 15 March 1967
A note on Kim Il Sung's concern about the possible impact of "Cultural Revolution" in China on North Korea and his stance on the Sino-Soviet debate.
Col. Mieczysław Białek, 'Record of Conversation with RSR Military Attaché Office'
The Romanian military attaché discusses the Sino-Soviet border conflict and the state of Sino-North Korean relations. The Polish attaché describes Romania as being "under a considerable Chinese influence.
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The Thunderbirds
American Wildlife
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Gladiolus Bloom by Don Mercer
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About Don Mercer
Don Mercer is an author and freelance fine art photographer. Research for one book took him to the middle of Cambodia in 1999, as he was the first from among his wartime unit to return to that country.
During the War in Southeast Asia - known to most as the Vietnam War, he flew over two hundred combat missions as an Air Force pilot in the Cessna O-2A. His combat assignment was as a Forward Air Controller, or FAC. The majority of his combat missions were flown in Cambodia at night when serving in the 19th TASS (Tactical Air Support Squadron) Task Force, with his unit referred to as the Night Rustics. (See: http://nightrustics.org/)
While in Southeast Asia in 1970-71, his interest in photography intensified with the purchase of his first two of numerous Nikon cameras. Black and white, as well as color, 35mm and Super 8 movie films were used at the time. The transition to digital photography was begun in the late 1990s, as well as to more modern cinematography to include DVCAM.
Subsequent to his combat service, Don flew as a T-38 instructor in the Air Force with the 52nd Flying Training Squadron (FTS). In 1974, he separated from the United States Air Force with an Honorable Discharge and began flying the F-105 Thunderchief, affectionately known as the "Thud" - a single seat, single engine fighter - with the 149th Tactical Fighter Squadron (TFS) in the Virginia Air National Guard.
From a period of almost twenty years beginning in 1974, Don owned several aircraft: a Cherokee 140; Beechcraft C-55; and Cessna 414. Travel in these and other general aviation aircraft took him across the United States, to western Canada, to the southern border of Mexico, and among numerous islands in the Western Caribbean.
Concurrent with service in the Virginia Air National Guard, Don entered the life and health insurance business. He co-founded one firm specializing in the sale and service of group insurance products and another having as its objectives the funding of business and estate planning solutions utilizing insurance products.
After he provided both oral and written testimony to a United States Senate sub-committee in 1992 on behalf of consumers, Don served as an expert witness for over five years. His work involved civil litigation, both individual and class action, pertaining to life insurance, annuity, and investment products and issues.
In 2001, he also completed a flight with close friends in a Cessna 210 traveling throughout much of Alaska - Anchorage, Fairbanks, Point Barrow, Prudhoe Bay, and Skagway. They then continued on to White Horse, Yukon, and to Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
During 2003-2004, Don traveled to 44 states, intermittently for over one and a half years, when conducting filmed interviews with over 70 Rustic personnel who served in that operation during the war. This project was completed in order to have an audio-visual record of the Rustic Operation for historical purposes.
Don's first book, "Inverted Flight - A Collection of Verse," was published in 2004. "Lights Out - Destination Darkness / America's Unknown War: Cambodia" was published in 2009. He is currently working on Volume II in the series, "America's Unknown War: Cambodia."
Among Don's proudest accomplishments are the following:
As one of thirteen cadet captains during his first class (senior) year in 1968-69, together with his class officers at Virginia Military Institute, leadership was provided that resulted in the integration of VMI without incident;
In 1996, he spoke before the VMI Board of Visitors in support of admitting women to his alma mater, as the only fair and just solution possible; and
During a period from 1997 to 2011, as Counsel, he oversaw the submission of all awards forwarded to the Air Force Board for Correction of Military Records (AFBCMR) from the Rustic FAC Association for heroism, extraordinary achievement, and meritorious service for some of the men who had served in the Air Force's Rustic Operation during the War in Southeast Asia.
All submissions were approved resulting in twenty-seven medals and awards, all well deserved and long overdue:
Silver Star Medal (5);
Distinguished Flying Cross (13);
Bronze Star Medal (1);
Air Medal (2); and
Aircrew Member Badge (6).
The basis for the delay in submitting these awards were exigencies at the time of the combat missions flown and the long-standing classification of the Rustic Operation in Cambodia for over twenty-five years.
Subsequent to his retirement after more than thirty years in the insurance and investment industries, he has pursued a number of interests: photography; writing; fishing; and travel. Don resides in Virginia Beach, Virginia, with his wife, Noreen. They have three daughters: Noelle; Erin; and Cheerie; together with four grandchildren.
Today, Don may be found: taking photographs of wildlife and landscapes throughout the US; kayaking at his home on Lake Trant; immersed in research reviewing filmed interviews from over seventy Rustic personnel, flight logs, and notes from the war while working on his next book; fishing at varied locations - most recently from Virginia to St. Thomas to Alaska in 2010, in Botswana's Okavango Delta in 2011, and to the upper Peruvian Amazon for piranha and other species in 2013; and enjoying travel dedicated to capturing images as fine art photography.
In October 2013, Don began a personal project of seriously photographing all 59 of our National Parks. As of July 2017, Don has visited 46 of the National Parks in his quest to complete this project by 2019.
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Dragos, a Global Industrial Control System Cybersecurity Startup, Raises $10 Million
Funding Provided by Energy Impact Partners, Allegis Capital and DataTribe
Dragos Is Building the First Industrial Cybersecurity Ecosystem
HANOVER, Md., Aug. 14, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Dragos Inc., (pronounced Dray-gohs), an industrial control system (ICS) cybersecurity company made up of industry experts with the vision of securing global industrial infrastructure, announced today that it has received a $10 million Series A round of venture capital from co-lead investors Energy Impact Partners (EIP) and Allegis Capital, with additional support from DataTribe, a cybersecurity startup studio that initially funded Dragos.
The Series A round will be used to increase the company’s workforce to meet rising customer demand, generated in part through key partnerships with Deloitte, the global audit and financial advisory services firm, and CrowdStrike Inc., a leader in cloud-delivered endpoint protection.
Dragos is the first ICS cybersecurity investment by EIP, which focuses on investments that seek to optimize energy consumption and improve sustainable energy generation.
CRASHOVERRIDE AND DRAGOS REPORT
Dragos has attracted attention for recently producing a report on CRASHOVERRIDE, the malware used to temporarily interrupt power in the Ukraine in a widely publicized cyber-attack last December. CRASHOVERRIDE is the only known malware that disrupts the electrical grid and only the fourth known type of malware to be specifically tailored toward ICS overall.
Founded May 2016 and funded until this point with a seed round of $1.2 million from DataTribe, Dragos has built the first industrial cybersecurity ecosystem. This consists of three core offerings and an assessment tool – the Dragos Platform, the Dragos Threat Operations Center, Global ICS Intelligence, and CyberLens network assessment software. This combination gives customers access to technology to monitor and respond to threats in the ICS, along with intelligence to make informed decisions about threats. Services range from threat hunting to incident response, as well as lightweight software for routine assessments.
The company’s biggest technological differentiator is its behavioral analytics. Instead of “anomaly detection” and other types of machine learning-driven technologies that are hitting the market, the approach of Dragos is to codify human experience facing human adversaries. It identifies adversary tradecraft and turns it into behavioral analytics. As a result, defenders get context of what is going on and recommendations on what to do next, not merely a series of alerts.
“Dragos exists to safeguard civilization,” said Robert M. Lee, the CEO of Dragos. “Critical infrastructure powers the global economy and the fabric of modern society. We all strongly believe that civilian infrastructure should be off limits to any adversaries, no matter where the infrastructure is located in the world.”
Dragos was founded by ICS cybersecurity experts Lee, Jon Lavender and Justin Cavinee, all veterans of the U.S. intelligence community. There they established a first-of-its-kind mission for the U.S. government to identify, analyze and respond to nation-states launching ICS-focused cyberattacks.
“Industrial control systems are unique unto themselves – hybrid digital and analog environments with very different operational temperaments,” said Bob Ackerman, the founder and a Managing Director of cybersecurity investment specialist Allegis Capital. “Unless you have lived your life in this environment, you can’t truly appreciate how different or complex ICS systems are. With Dragos, we invested in the “A” team.”
“Protecting the integrity of the grid has always been a top priority for utility operators,” said Sameer Reddy, a Vice President at EIP and co-leader of the Series A financing. “One of the critical challenges is access to sufficient human capital. The Dragos platform, which is built and managed by true ICS cybersecurity experts, provides significant force multiplication to ICS operators around the world.”
“Energy is essential to our economy and way of life. As a result, energy infrastructure is increasingly a target,” said Thomas A. Fanning, Chairman, President and CEO of Southern Company. “As a founding investor in Energy Impact Partners, Southern Company is proud to support enhancing the resiliency of critical infrastructure, in order to better protect the communities where we live and serve.”
About Dragos Inc.
Dragos Inc., based in Hanover, Md., is the trusted authority on threats to industrial networks (ICS/IoT). The Dragos Platform is an on-premise or cloud-based security technology that continually and passively collects data to perform asset identification, detects cyber threats through industrial specific behavioral analytics, and enables better efficiency and effectiveness of security personnel through the codification of automated workflows, best practices and incident response procedures. The Dragos Platform is continually enhanced through the Dragos Threat Operations Center, a team of experts providing services that include incident response, threat hunting, and compromise assessments. Both are backed by Dragos Intelligence, which allows for the analysis of adversary intrusions and provides the industry with weekly threat intelligence reports and adds new behavioral analytics to the Dragos Platform. For more information, visit https://dragos.com.
About Energy Impact Partners
Energy Impact Partners is a collaborative strategic investment firm that invests in companies optimizing energy consumption and improving sustainable energy generation. Through close collaboration with its strategic investor base, EIP seeks to bring the best companies, buying power and vision in the industry to bear on the emerging energy landscape. EIP’s utility partners include Southern Company, National Grid, Xcel Energy, Ameren, Great Plains Energy, Fortis Inc., AGL, Avista, MGE Energy Inc., TEPCO, PTT Public Company Limited, OGE Energy Corp., TransCanada, and Alliant Energy. For more information, visit www.energyimpactpartners.com.
About Allegis Capital
Allegis Capital is a premier, early-stage venture firm that invests solely in cybersecurity and was the first venture fund to focus strictly on cyber. In addition to Dragos, current investments include Area 1, Bracket Computing, Callsign, Cyber GRX, E8 Security, RedOwl, Shape Security, Signifyd, Synack, tCell.io and vArmour. Allegis is also a founding partner in DataTribe, a cybersecurity startup studio based in Fulton, Maryland. Allegis Capital is based in San Francisco. For more information, visit www.allegiscap.com or Twitter at @AllegisCapital.
About DataTribe
DataTribe, based in Fulton, Maryland, and Silicon Valley, is a cybersecurity startup studio formed with the mission of combining breakthrough innovation in cybersecurity, Big Data and analytics. The technological base of its startups emerge from federal agencies, such as the National Security Agency, or from government research labs. DataTribe draws upon Silicon Valley start-up expertise to help create, define and lead new market segments. As an operating company, it directly takes on the task of building startups from concept to initial customer deployments while significantly lowering risk and preserving returns. For more information, visit www.datatribe.com.
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New Music and Indie Artist Depot
Tag Archive | News
in STUFF I LIKE, VIDEOS, YOUTUBE
STUFF I LIKE: White People Try Black People Food For The First Time
in NEWS, NEWS FEED
NEWS: Steve Francis got his chain snatched at a Houston rap show
By Cory McClanahan
Former Houston Rockets, Orlando Magic and New York Knicks guard Steve Francis got dragged to the floor, stepped on and choked by his own chain, which was later stolen, during an altercation at a hip-hop show in Houston over the weekend.
Francis, 38, was one of many people on stage during a concert by Houston rap duo the Sauce Twinz. For one reason or another, beef began to broil, and before long, Francis found a hand around the gold chain around his neck, then found himself on the floor. Sources told TMZ that the as-yet-unidentified man who grabbed the chain ended up making off with it, and that police were not called to the scene in connection with the fight or the theft.
This is the latest in a string of sad and somewhat concerning updates on Francis over the past year, as the nine-year NBA veteran and former No. 2 overall pick in the 1999 draft — who last played pro ball in China in 2010, making just four appearances for the Beijing Ducks before being cut — has become considerably more likely to make headlines for things going awry or getting weird in nightclubs than for anything else.
in MUSIC, MUSIC NEWS, NEWS FEED
MUSIC NEWS: Drake’s Entire Album Is on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Chart
Seven more songs debut from surprise album, giving Drake a record-breaking 21 entries.
Drake rules 42 percent of the 50-position Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart (dated March 7), as the hip-hop star has 21 concurrent songs on the tally — breaking his own record for the most simultaneously charting hits in the history of the chart. (The new chart will be refreshed on Billboard‘s websites on Thursday, Feb. 26.)
Seven more tracks from his surprise album If You’re Reading This It’s Too Latedebut on the newest chart, joining the 10 already-charting cuts from the set. Thus, all 17 tracks from Drake’s album are charting on the tally.
Drake Becomes First Rapper to Top Artist 100
His grand total climbs to 21 charting tracks, as he’s also a featured act on four additional songs.
Drake surpasses his previous record for the most concurrently-charting songs — 14 – which he matched a week ago (on the chart dated Feb. 25) following the debut of his album.
The new songs enter off the strength of downloads and streaming, with every track from the set logging no less than 1.8 million U.S. streams in the week ending Feb. 22, according to Nielsen Music. Of the album’s tracks, “Energy” leads the pack, taking Streaming Gainer honors and increasing by 201 percent (to 4.6 million clicks), with 82 percent stemming from Spotify plays. Sales of the cut also rise (up 21 percent to 77,000 downloads), driving it 4-1 on Rap Digital Songs — his first No. 1 as a lead act (and fourth overall) on the still-young chart.
Drake Decoded: 10 Subliminal Shots on ‘If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late’
Of his latest arrivals on the chart, “Know Yourself” earns the Hot Shot Debut at No. 23, owed in part to a 13 percent spike in downloads (to 15,000).
If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late remains at No. 1 on R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, selling 129,000 copies in its second week (down 74 percent). The momentum of the new project secures a second week atop the Billboard Artist 100, where Drake became the first rapper to earn a No. 1 spot.
Here are Drake’s 21 titles on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (dated March 7, 2015):
No. 4 – “Only,” Nicki Minaj, featuring Drake, Lil Wayne & Chris Brown
No. 5 – “Truffle Butter,” Nicki Minaj, featuring Drake & Lil Wayne
No. 9 – “Energy”
No. 16 – “Tuesday,” ILoveMakonnen, featuring Drake
No. 17 – “Legend”
No. 19 – “10 Bands”
No. 22 – “Blessings,” Big Sean, featuring Drake
No. 23 – “Know Yourself” (Debut)
No. 26 – “No Tellin’”
No. 27 – “Preach,” featuring PartyNextDoor
No. 28 – “6 God” (Debut)
No. 29 – “Used To,” featuring Lil Wayne
No. 32 – “Now & Forever”
No. 34 – “6 Man”
No. 38 – “Jungle”
No. 39 – “Star67″ (Debut)
No. 40 – “Madonna” (Debut)
No. 42 – “Company” Featuring Travis Scott” (Debut)
No. 43 – “Wednesday Night Interlude” featuring PartyNextDoor (Debut)
No. 45 – “6PM In New York”
No. 49 – “You & The 6″ (Debut)
in NEWS, NEWS FEED, STUFF I LIKE
STUFF I LIKE: Oscar’s First Black Winner Accepted Her Honor in a Segregated ‘No Blacks’ Hotel in L.A.
By Seth Abramovitch
On a February afternoon in 1940, Hattie McDaniel — then one of the biggest African-American movie stars in the world — marched into the Culver City offices of producer David O. Selznick and placed a stack of Gone With the Wind reviews on his desk. The Civil War epic, released two months earlier, had become an instant cultural sensation, and McDaniel’s portrayal of Mammy — the head slave at Tara, the film’s fictional Southern plantation — was being singled out by both white and African-American critics as extraordinary. The Los Angeles Times even praised her work as “worthy of Academy supporting awards.” Selznick took the hint and submitted the 44-year-old for a nomination in the best supporting actress category, along with her co-star, Olivia de Havilland, contributing to the film’s record-setting 13 noms.
The 12th Academy Awards were held at the famed Cocoanut Grove nightclub in The Ambassador Hotel. McDaniel arrived in a rhinestone-studded turquoise gown with white gardenias in her hair. (Seventy years later in 2010, a blue-gown– and white-gardenia–clad Mo’Nique, one of 11 black actors to win Academy Awards since, was the only one to pay homage to McDaniel while accepting her best supporting actress Oscar for Lee Daniels‘ Precious.) McDaniel then was escorted, not to the Gone With the Wind table — where Selznick sat with de Havilland and his two Oscar-nominated leads, Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable — but to a small table set against a far wall, where she took a seat with her escort, F.P. Yober, and her white agent, William Meiklejohn. With the hotel’s strict no-blacks policy, Selznick had to call in a special favor just to have McDaniel allowed into the building (it was officially integrated by 1959, when the Unruh Civil Rights Act outlawed racial discrimination in California).
“Every picture and every line, it belonged to Hattie. She knew she was supposed to be subservient, but she never delivered a subservient line,” says MaBel Collins (center), 77, partner of Edgar Goff, McDaniel’s grandnephew. McDaniel’s descendants were photographed Feb. 13 at The Culver Studios in Culver City, a few yards from Gone With the Wind producer David O. Selznick’s former offices and where most of the movie was filmed.
READ MORE: Hattie McDaniel Defies Critics in 1947 THR Essay: “I Have Never Apologized”
A list of winners had leaked before the show, so McDaniel’s win came as no shock. Even so, when she was presented with the embossed plaque given to supporting winners at the time, the room was rife with emotion, wrote syndicated gossip columnist Louella Parsons: “You would have had the choke in your voice that all of us had.” The daughter of two former slaves gave a gracious speech about her win: “I shall always hold it as a beacon for anything I may be able to do in the future. I sincerely hope that I shall always be a credit to my race and the motion picture industry.”
But Hollywood’s highest honor couldn’t stave off the indignities that greeted McDaniel at every turn. White Hollywood pigeonholed her as the sassy Mammy archetype, with 74 confirmable domestic roles out of the IMDb list of 94 (“I’d rather play a maid than be a maid,” was her go-to response). The NAACP disowned her for perpetuating negative stereotypes. Even after death, her Oscar, which she left to Howard University, was deemed valueless by appraisers and later went missing from the school — and has remained so for more than 40 years. Her final wish — to be buried in Hollywood Cemetery — was denied because of the color of her skin.
McDaniel’s career was defined by contradictions, from performing in “whiteface” early on to accounts that her refusal to utter the N-word meant it never made it onscreen in Gone With the Wind. “We all grew up with this image of her, the Mammy character, kind of cringing,” says Jill Watts, author of Hattie McDaniel: Black Ambition, White Hollywood. “But she saw herself in the old-fashioned sense as a ‘race woman’ — someone advancing the race.” Adds Mo’Nique: “That woman had to endure questions from the white community and the black community. But she said, ‘I’m an actress — and when you say, “Cut,” I’m no longer that.’ If anybody knew who this woman really was, they would say, ‘Let me shut my mouth.’”
A staging for a 1939 Oscars newsreel had McDaniel standing by a table laden with awards; her best supporting actress plaque is up front.
Said McDaniel in 1944 about her disappointing prospects following her Oscar win, “It was as if I had done something wrong.” Selznick’s first move had been to dispatch her on a live, movie-palace tour as Mammy, which played to half-filled houses. But he saw less and less use for his typecast star, and Warner Bros. eventually bought out her contract.
Even after World War II, she continued to play underwritten maid parts in such films as 1946’sSong of the South, Walt Disney’s adaptation of the Uncle Remus stories, now considered a rare racist blot on the studio’s legacy. In her final years, McDaniel found success on the radio, taking over in 1947 from Bob Corley — a white voice actor who mimicked an African-American woman — as the title character in Beulah, a hit comedy series about a live-in maid. It was the first time an African-American woman starred in a radio show, earning McDaniel $1,000 a week. She was cast in the TV version of Beulah in 1951 but shot only six episodes before falling ill. She died Oct. 26, 1952, of breast cancer. She was 57.
McDaniel with Leigh as Scarlett O’Hara in a scene from the 1939 film, which won best picture.
Though she had been married four times — losing her first husband to pneumonia, the others to divorce — McDaniel never had children of her own. The McDaniel bloodline lives on through her sister, Etta. Etta’s grandson Edgar Goff, who devoted much of his life to keeping Hattie’s memory alive, died in 2012. “He was an urban engineer by profession, but his passion was black Hollywood, and the Hattie McDaniel story in particular,” says Edgar’s daughter Kimberly Goff-Crews, secretary and vice president for student life at Yale University. Edgar would regale his kids with stories of their great-great-aunt Hattie, who had hoped her descendants might choose a different path. “My father said that Hattie was pretty clear that she didn’t want the family to be in Hollywood,” says Goff-Crews. “She wanted them to have ‘good, normal’ jobs, so to speak — doctors and lawyers. She was no stage mom.”
In her last days, McDaniel threw a deathbed party, coincidentally attended by her grandnephew’s future life partner MaBel Collins, then 15, who recalls “people milling around, drinking, laughing. Guests would go in one or two at a time and visit with her. I had no idea who that dying movie star was until a couple years later, I saw Gone With the Wind> — and realized that was Hattie in the bed.”
In her last will and testament, McDaniel left detailed instructions for her funeral. “I desire a white casket and a white shroud; white gardenias in my hair and in my hands, together with a white gardenia blanket and a pillow of red roses,” she wrote. “I also wish to be buried in the Hollywood Cemetery,” today known as Hollywood Forever Cemetery. But the resting place of numerous showbiz types — including GWTW director Victor Fleming — had a whites-only policy. Hattie was buried at Angelus-Rosedale Cemetery, the first L.A. cemetery open to all races. In 1999, Edgar successfully lobbied to get a marble memorial to McDaniel placed at Hollywood Forever.
McDaniel also specified what was to become of her Oscar, which an appraiser dismissed as having “no value” in an accounting of her estate. Despite working steadily until her death, McDaniel left the world in debt: Her belongings were valued at $10,336.47 (about $95,000 today), $1,000 less than what she was deemed to owe the IRS. The Oscar, she wrote, was to be left to Howard University, but the award went missing from the Washington, D.C., school during the early 1970s.
In 2011, inspired in part by Mo’Nique’s Oscar-night tribute, W. Burlette Carter, a professor at George Washington Law School, undertook a yearlong investigation of the missing Oscar. Though the school was eventually cooperative, it never gave her permission to search its stacks. Carter, who says the Oscar would today be worth half a million dollars, dismisses one theory that it was tossed into the Potomac River by “angry protesting students” after Martin Luther King Jr.‘s 1968 assassination. She discovered that the Oscar never came to the school from McDaniel’s estate, but was gifted in the early 1960s by actor Leigh Whipper, a friend of Hattie’s from when she ran the Hollywood Victory Committee division that entertained black troops during World War II. The last time anyone remembers seeing the Oscar was 1972, when it was removed from a glass case in the school’s drama department, which has since been gutted. (Howard declined comment.) “It’s a sad story,” says Carter, “but this Oscar represents a triumph for blacks — because we can look back and see that things really are so much better now than they were at that time.”
McDaniel (center), in front of her house on South Harvard Boulevard in L.A.’s West Adams, with World War II volunteers in 1942. McDaniel was instrumental in a 1948 U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down restrictions against African-Americans moving into the area, which is southwest of downtown.
One of 13 children, McDaniel was born June 10, 1893, into extreme poverty in Wichita, Kan. Following the family’s move to Denver, she observed her brothers, Otis and Sam, who dubbed themselves the “Cakewalk Kids” after a dance fad that doubled as a sly caricature of white cotillions. Hattie, determined to avoid her mother’s and sisters’ fates as maids, joined the show, doing impressions in “whiteface” for African-American audiences. “She was in many ways radical,” says Watts. “Her impressions in whiteface, well, people — certainly women — didn’t do that then.”
In 1929, McDaniel landed a gig in a road tour of the hit musical Show Boat. But the stock market crash led to layoffs by producer Florence Ziegfeld Jr., stranding a penniless Hattie in Milwaukee. Undaunted, she took a job as a bathroom attendant at Sam Picks Suburban Inn and stepped in when the venue had no headliner. Her showstopping singing and dancing earned her $90 in tips and a job on the spot.
In 1931, McDaniel moved to Los Angeles, joining acting siblings Etta and Sam. Opportunities were limited to pleasant and abiding servant roles: The moral-code-enforcing Hays Office prohibited mixed-race romances or anything considered to be “threatening behavior” by African-American characters. For an actor who was light-skinned or couldn’t capture the faux “Black English” dialect conceived by white screenwriters, it was difficult to find work. Hattie, with her dark skin and ample figure, started booking parts immediately, including an uncredited speaking role in 1932’s Blonde Venus as Marlene Dietrich‘s servant.
In 1999, McDaniel received a cenotaph at Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Her family decided to keep her remains at the original burial site in Angelus-Rosedale Cemetery.
In 1934, she landed her first studio contract, earning $300 for 11 days of work in Fox’s Judge Priest, a racist comedy that starred controversial African-American performer Stepin Fetchit, who became a millionaire off his “laziest man in the world” character. According to historian Watts, Fetchit gave McDaniel a chilly reception on the set, threatened by her reputation as a rising comedy star. But the film’s director, John Ford, loved Hattie and expanded her role. At 41, with hundreds of uncredited films under her belt, McDaniel finally saw her name on the silver screen, misspelled as “McDaniels.”
By 1935, McDaniel was being touted as “one of the most prominent performers of her race” to promote the Clark Gable comedy China Seas. She and Gable forged a close friendship during filming. (When Gable, who loved pranking her, learned his co-star wasn’t welcome at GWTW’s 1939 Atlanta premiere — Georgia law prohibited blacks in white theaters — he refused to go. Only at McDaniel’s urging did he relent. Also: Among the teen choir members costumed as slaves at the event was a young Martin Luther King Jr.)
It was Bing Crosby, a good friend of Hattie’s brother Sam (the only African-American ever to appear on I Love Lucy), who suggested that Selznick cast “that Queenie from [1936’s] Show Boat” for her defining role. Selznick, married to the daughter of the most powerful man in Hollywood — MGM head Louis B. Mayer — had paid a staggering $50,000 for the rights to Margaret Mitchell‘s 1936 novel. The NAACP made no secret of its disdain for the book’s frequent utterance of the N-word (by then banned by the Hays Code), its sympathetic Ku Klux Klan portrayal and its depiction of slaves as participants in their own subjugation.
A shrewd Hollywood player, Selznick used his status as a Jewish-American bearing witness to the Nazis’ rise when he wrote to Walter White, NAACP executive secretary: “I hasten to assure you that as a member of a race that is suffering very keenly from persecution these days, I am most sensitive to the feelings of minority peoples.” Selznick pledged to omit offending material, though he fought to keep the N-word in the script for historic accuracy. The word, which would have been spoken by Mammy, never appears in the movie, leading some historians to theorize that McDaniel refused to utter it.
McDaniel — who later wrote in the Sept. 29, 1947, edition of The Hollywood Reporter, “I have never apologized for the roles I play” — coveted the part but suspected she’d lose it to Louise Beavers of 1934’s Imitation of Life. As Selznick mounted his “nationwide search,” the hunt for Mammy reached a fever pitch. Even first lady Eleanor Roosevelt suggested her own maid. On Jan. 27, 1939, with Selznick having secured the final funding from his father-in-law, McDaniel got the call she’d been waiting for. Her contract paid $450 a week for 15 weeks of shooting. Mammy was hers. And so, too, would be the Oscar.
in MUSIC NEWS, NEWS FEED, RAP GOSSIP
RAP GOSSIP: Kat Stacks Caught Begging A Houston Pimp For Airfare
HSK Exclusive – Kat Stacks was recently caught on social media begging a pimp from Houston, Texas, to fly her out to the Lone Star state, for work.
in MUSIC NEWS, NEWS, NEWS FEED
MUSIC NEWS: Mannie Fresh Shares His Thoughts On Lil Wayne’s Issues With Cash Money
by Yohance Kyles (@HUEYmixwitRILEY)
(AllHipHop News) Lil Wayne’s issues with his label Cash MONEY have been playing out in the public for two months. Ever since the New Orleans native expressed his desire to leave the company in December, several individuals such as Pusha T, Suge Knight, and Turk have given their opinion on the matter.
The latest observer to weigh in on the situation is former Cash MONEY producer Mannie Fresh. The board master for hit records like “Tha Block Is Hot” and “Go D.J.” believes Wayne is being creatively stifled by the label. According to Fresh, Weezy wanting to branch out musically from the YMCMB camp may play a factor in his desire to cut ties.
“I think he’s going — real talk — ‘I could probably use Drake and Nicki, but I’ve done that so many times,’” said Mannie. “Let’s get out there and do things so I can show that I am bigger than life.”
Wayne’s list of career collaborations includes working with many industry heavyweights. His catalog features cuts with Jay Z, Eminem, Bruno Mars, Destiny’s Child, and OutKast. But Fresh still thinks Wayne is missing that huge crossover joint effort that would solidify his status as one of the elite artists on the planet.
“Wayne has given us some great albums, but he has never given us that album with like a Justin Timberlake on it – with features where like, OK, this is what we expect from an artist of your caliber,” Mannie stated. “If I did do a song and I got Justin Timberlake on it, I got Justin Timberlake fans as well. I think Wayne is starting to see it in that way. Hip Hop can only bring you so far.”
in INTERVIEWS, MUSIC NEWS, VIDEOS, YOUTUBE
VIDEO: Kanye West Epic Grammy’s Rant at E! Party: ‘Beck should have give his award to Beyonce’
NEWS: Porsha Williams Phone Sex Recordings For Sale!
HSK Exclusive – A recording of Porsha Williams having phone sex with her African trick is currently for sale. The recently demoted Real Housewives of Atlanta cast member is heard on audio tape saying “Come over and eat my nasty p*ssy.”
A source is saying Porsha is also heard on tape admitting to her sponsor that she has a hairy and musky punany.
Dig the drop
“Porsha is masturbating on the tape. She’s a real nasty b*tch! She’s said to dude ‘I didn’t shave, because I know you like my p*ssy hairy.’
I want good money for this audio tape.”
Read more at http://diaryofahollywoodstreetking.com/porsha-williams-phone-sex-sale/#hvoWVeBcQXX8o7pH.99
in INTERVIEWS, VIDEOS, YOUTUBE
INTERVIEWS: Bobby Shmurda’s Uncle on Theft Allegation & Bobby’s Fake Friends
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VIDEO: Shoots Rang Out Inside at Zaytoven Movie Premeire “FINESSE” (ATLANTA) [LIVE FOOTAGE]
Shots rang out inside a movie theater in Atlanta during the highly anticipated release of FINESSE the MOVIE
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(-) Remove Reproduction filter Reproduction
Displaying 1 - 25 of 32 items.
"Human Toxoplasmosis: Occurrence in Infants as an Encephalomyelitis Verification of Transmission to Animals" (1939), by Abner Wolf et al.
In a series of experiments during mid 1930s, a team of researchers in New York helped establish that bacteria of the species Toxoplasma gondii can infect humans, and in infants can cause toxoplasmosis, a disease that inflames brains, lungs, and hearts, and that can organisms that have it. The team included Abner Wolf, David Cowen, and Beryl Paige. They published the results of their experiment in Human Toxoplasmosis: Occurrence in Infants as an Encephalomyelitis Verification of Transmission to Animals.
Subject: Experiments, Reproduction, Disorders
John Chassar Moir (1900–1977)
John Chassar Moir lived in Scotland during the twentieth century and helped develop techniques to improve the health of pregnant women. Moir helped to discover compounds that doctors could administer to women after childbirth to prevent life-threatening blood loss. Those compounds included the ergot alkaloid called ergometrine, also called ergonovine, and d-lysergic acid beta-propanolamide. Moir tested ergometrine in postpartum patients and documented that it helped prevent or manage postpartum hemorrhage in women.
Subject: People, Reproduction, Disorders
The Discovery of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
The term Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) was first published in 1973 in an article published in the British medical journal The Lancet. In that article, a group of pediatricians and psychiatrists at the University of Washington Medical School helped to define the morphological defects and developmental delays that can affect children born to alcoholic mothers. Those observations include pre- and post-natal growth deficiencies, minor facial abnormalities, and damage to the developing brain that can result in behavioral, learning, and cognitive abnormalities.
Methylmercury and Human Embryonic Development
Methylmercury (MeHg) is an organic form of mercury that can damage the developing brains of human fetuses. Women who consume methylmercury during pregnancy can bear children who have neurological issues because methylmercury has toxic effects on the nervous system during embryonic development. During the third week of gestation, the human nervous system begins to form in the embryo. During this gestational period, the embryo's nervous system is particularly susceptible to the influence of neurotoxins like methylmercury that can result in abnormalities.
Subject: Reproduction, Disorders
Anencephaly
Anencephaly is an open neural tube defect, meaning that part of the neural tube does not properly close or that it has reopened during early embryogenesis. An embryo with anencephaly develops without the top of the skull, but retains a partial skull, including the face. Anencephaly is one of the most common birth defects of the neural tube, occurring at a rate of approximately one in one thousand human pregnancies. The condition can be caused by environmental exposure to chemicals, dietary deficiencies, or genetic mutations.
Mitochondrial Diseases in Humans
Mitochondrial diseases in humans result when the small organelles called mitochondria, which exist in all human cells, fail to function normally. The mitochondria contain their own mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) separate from the cell's nuclear DNA (nDNA). The main function of mitochondria is to produce energy for the cell. They also function in a diverse set of mechanisms such as calcium hemostasis, cell signaling, regulation of programmed cell death (apoptosis), and biosynthesis of heme proteins that carry oxygen.
Conjoined Twins
Conjoined twins are twins whose bodies are anatomically joined in utero. The degree to which the twins are attached can range from simple, involving skin and cartilage, to complex, including fusion of the skull(s), brain(s), or other vital organs. There are more than a dozen classifications of conjoined twins but what they all tend to have in common is the sharing of the chorion, placenta, and amniotic sac.
Many difficulties can arise with a pregnancy even after the sperm successfully fertilizes the oocyte. A major problem occurs if the fertilized egg tries to implant before reaching its normal implantation site, the uterus. An ectopic pregnancy occurs when a fertilized egg implants anywhere other than in the uterus, most commonly in the fallopian tubes. Ectopic pregnancies cannot continue to term, so a physician must remove the developing embryo as early as possible.
Subject: Disorders, Processes, Reproduction
Developmental Timeline of Alcohol-Induced Birth Defects
Maternal consumption of alcohol (ethanol) during pregnancy can result in a continuum of embryonic developmental abnormalities that vary depending on the severity, duration, and frequency of exposure of ethanol during gestation. Alcohol is a teratogen, an environmental agent that impacts the normal development of an embryo or fetus. In addition to dose-related concerns, factors such as maternal genetics and metabolism and the timing of alcohol exposure during prenatal development also impact alcohol-related birth defects.
Fetal Surgery
Fetal surgeries are a range of medical interventions performed in utero on the developing fetus of a pregnant woman to treat a number of congenital abnormalities. The first documented fetal surgical procedure occurred in 1963 in Auckland, New Zealand when A. William Liley treated fetal hemolytic anemia, or Rh disease, with a blood transfusion.
Subject: Disorders, Ethics, Reproduction
"The Familial Factor in Toxemia of Pregnancy" (1968), by Leon C. Chesley, et al.
In the 1950s and 1960s, researchers Leon Chesley, John Annitto, and Robert Cosgrove investigated the possible familial factor for the conditions of preeclampsia and eclampsia in pregnant women. Preeclampsia and eclampsia, which are related to high blood pressure, have unknown causes and affect at least five percent of all pregnancies.
Subject: Reproduction, Experiments, Disorders
Parasitic Twins
Parasitic twins, a specific type of conjoined twins, occurs when one twin ceases development during gestation and becomes vestigial to the fully formed dominant twin, called the autositic twin. The underdeveloped twin is called parasitic because it is only partially formed, is not functional, or is wholly dependent on the autositic twin.
Cocaine as a Teratogen
Cocaine use by pregnant women has a variety of effects on the embryo and fetus, ranging from various gastro-intestinal and cardiac defects to tissue death from insufficient blood supply. Thus, cocaine has been termed a teratogen, or an agent that causes defects in fetuses during prenatal development. Cocaine is one of the most commonly used drugs in the US and it has a history of both medical and illegal recreational use. It is a drug capable of a wide array of effects on physical and mental health.
Retinoids As Teratogens
Vitamin A (retinol) is an essential vitamin in the daily functioning of human beings that helps regulate cellular differentiation of epithelial tissue. Studies have shown that an excess of vitamin A can affect embryonic development and result in teratogenesis, or the production of birth defects in a developing embryo. Excess intake of vitamin A and retinoids by pregnant women often results malformations to fetuses' skulls, faces, limbs, eyes, central nervous system.
Isotretinoin (Accutane) as a Teratogen
Isotretinoin is a molecule and a byproduct (metabolite) of vitamin A, and in greater than normal amounts in pregnant women, it can cause fetal abnormalities including cleft lips, ear and eye defects, and mental retardation. Isotretinoin is commonly called by its trade name Accutane, and it's a chemical compound derived from vitamin A, or retinoic acid. Doctors prescribe isotretinoin to treat severe acne. For pregnant women, too much vitamin A or isotretinoin can also cause greater than normal rates of stillbirths and fetal disintegrations after the ninth week of gestation.
Diprosopus (Craniofacial Duplication)
Diprosopus is a congenital defect also known as craniofacial duplication. The exact description of diprosopus refers to a fetus with a single trunk, normal limbs, and facial features that are duplicated to a certain degree. A less severe instance is when the nose is duplicated and the eyes are spaced far apart. In the most extreme instances, the entire face is duplicated, hence the name diprosopus, which is Greek for two-faced. Fetuses with diprosopus often also lack brains (anencephaly), have neural tube defects, or heart malformations.
Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome
Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS) is a rare placental disease that can occur at any time during pregnancy involving identical twins. TTTS occurs when there is an unequal distribution of placental blood vessels between fetuses, which leads to a disproportionate supply of blood delivered. This unequal allocation of blood leads to developmental problems in both fetuses that can range in severity depending on the type, direction, and number of interconnected blood vessels.
Effect of Prenatal Alcohol Exposure on Radial Glial Cells
Prenatal alcohol (ethanol) exposure can have dramatic effects on the development of the central nervous system (CNS), including morphological abnormalities and an overall reduction in white matter of the brain. The impact of ethanol on neural stem cells such as radial glia (RG) has proven to be a significant cause of these defects, interfering with the creation and migration of neurons and glial cells during development.
Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator (CFTR) Gene
The Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator (CFTR) gene was identified in 1989 by geneticist Lap-Chee Tsui and his research team as the gene associated with cystic fibrosis (CF). Tsui's research pinpointed the gene, some mutations to which cause CF, and it revealed the underlying disease mechanism. The CFTR gene encodes a protein in the cell membrane in epithelial tissues and affects multiple organ systems in the human body. Mutations in the CFTR gene cause dysfunctional regulation of cell electrolytes and water content.
Corpus Callosum Defects Associated with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
Prenatal exposure to alcohol (ethanol) can result in a continuum of developmental abnormalities that are highly variable depending on the severity, duration, frequency, and timing of exposure during gestation. Defects of the corpus callosum (CC) have proven to be a reliable indicator of prenatal alcohol exposure as it affects the brain. Structural abnormalities of the CC occur along a continuum, like most alcohol-induced anomalies, whereby more severe prenatal exposure results in a greater expression of the abnormal trait.
Effects of Prenatal Alcohol Exposure on Cardiac Development
A variety of developmental defects occur as a result of prenatal exposure to alcohol (ethanol) in utero. In humans, those defects are collectively classified as Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders, with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) representing the more severe defects. FAS is defined by pre- and post-natal growth retardation, minor facial abnormalities, and deficiencies in the central nervous system (CNS). In addition to those defects, prenatal exposure to alcohol impacts cardiogenesis, the developmental stage of heart formation.
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College Student Charged With First-Degree Felony
Posted by Nicole Sadek | Jul 10, 2017 | News
This article was updated 7/11/17 at 4:20 p.m. to reflect the Anthropology Department email obtained by the Wheel. This story will continue to be updated as more information becomes available.
An Emory student is facing a first-degree felony charge after allegedly disarming a police officer during a protest at a Pride parade last month in Columbus, Ohio.
Deandre Miles (18C) was arrested June 17 during a protest at the Stonewall Columbus Pride Parade and later charged with aggravated robbery.
Miles, a Robert W. Woodruff Scholar, had been protesting violence toward LGBTQ people of color at the parade and allegedly jumped on a police officer’s back and reached for her gun while she was arresting two other protesters, according to an account from Columbus Division of Police Officer Bradley Thomas. The officer kept her gun in its holster, according to a complaint filed by Thomas.
Miles’ attorney Anastasia Sydow denied the allegation. Miles, who was in Ohio to conduct summer research at Ohio State University, declined a request for interview because of legal limitations, and directed the Wheel to a June 27 Facebook post.
Miles wrote that they had been charged with “a crime I did not commit.”
Miles, who was released on bail June 19, had been handed a recognizance bond of $100,000, which is only to be paid if the defendant does not show up to court, and a surety bond of $100,000 by Franklin County Municipal Court Judge David Tyack, according to Sydow. Supporters of Miles fundraised the required 10 percent of the surety bond, Sydow said.
Miles waived the right to a preliminary hearing, deciding not to plead guilty or not guilty, Sydow said, adding that the no plea disposition will give the defense team more time to review the case. If prosecutors choose to present the case to a grand jury and the jury indicts Miles, the trial process will begin. As of July 9, Miles is not scheduled to appear in court, according to Sydow.
In Ohio, a person convicted of a first-degree felony could be sentenced to up to 11 years of jail time.
At the Pride parade, Miles, alongside about 10 other protesters, had blocked the parade route at Columbus City Hall to protest 14 deaths of black transgender women and the June 16 acquittal of Jeronimo Yanez, the officer who killed Philando Castile. They attempted to hold a seven-minute moment of silence, according to Black Queer and Intersectional Columbus (BQIC) group co-founder Dkeama Alexis.
Columbus police officers responded to the scene after receiving a tip that the group would block the road, according to WCMH-TV Columbus. Police arrested Miles, Kendall Denton, Wriply Bennet and Ashley Braxton after they allegedly ignored police orders to leave the street, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
Before Miles was released on bail, Alexis and BQIC co-founder Ariana Steele staged a demonstration at the Franklin County Municipal Courthouse June 19. The protesters demanded an investigation “into the excessive use of force” used by police and that the charges against the defendants be dropped, according to NBC4. At that time, only Denton, Bennet and Braxton had been released.
“This has not been an easy time for me, nor for any of us involved in this work,” Miles wrote in the June 27 Facebook post. “The weight of racism and queerphobia had never bored down on me so hard as an officer’s knee, pressing my head into concrete, smearing my makeup on the sidewalk … We must continue to struggle through this tension, until queer/trans folk of color like me are safe and happy living their truths.”
Assistant Vice President of Community Suzanne Onorato said that Emory is working to “support” Miles, but declined to provide additional details. In addition to being a Scholar, Miles is a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow and a member of Emory’s Mu Alpha chapter of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. According to the June 27 Facebook post, Miles had planned to study abroad in England during the Fall 2017 semester.
Young Democrats of Emory wrote a June 28 Facebook post in support of Miles, stating they “unequivocally support Deandre’s work” and asking “everyone to educate themselves about the issues [Miles is] fighting for.”
Anthropology Department undergraduate program coordinator Heather Carpenter sent a June 29 email to the anthropology undergraduate listerv on behalf of the department to inform about Miles’ arrest and the charge against them. “These events are always difficult and we know that many of you following this story may be processing a wide range of reactions/emotions and feeling impacted in different ways,” Carpenter wrote. “Emory Counseling and Psychological Services are always available if you need someone to talk to.” Carpenter attached a June 28 email from Associate Professor Debra Vidali addressed to “Anthropology Colleagues, Students, Staff, and Friends,” which included a link to Miles’ legal defense fund and a statement from Miles. Below is a copy of the email obtained by the Wheel.
Michelle Lou contributed reporting.
CORRECTION (7/10/17 at 7:13 p.m.): The Young Democrats of Emory statement has been updated to clarify that the group was asking “everyone to educate themselves about the issues [Miles is] fighting for.” The statement originally read that the group asked “everyone to educate themselves about the issues they are fighting for.”
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Nicole Sadek
Editor-in-Chief | [email protected] Nicole Sadek (20C) is from Charleston, S.C., majoring in English and creative writing and international studies. Sadek previously served as social media editor, copy chief, managing editor and editor-at-large. This past summer, she worked as an intern for Greece’s daily newspaper Kathimerini, which is distributed exclusively with the International New York Times. You can find her drinking iced coffee and attempting to play the guitar.
Carter Speaks on State of Democracy
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» ICConline - 2013
Mandela: a human face for capitalism
Submitted by World Revolution on 16 July, 2013 - 18:54
This article was written several months ago in response to the annointing of Nelson Mandela in the world media earlier this year when his health took a turn for the worse. Now that news of his death has been announced, it seems appropriate once again to counter the suffocating propaganda of the capitalist class.
In the latter part of his life Nelson Mandela was widely considered to be a modern ‘saint’. He appeared to be a model of humility, integrity and honesty, and displaying a remarkable capacity to forgive.
A recent Oxfam report said that South Africa is “the most unequal country on earth and significantly more unequal than at the end of apartheid”. The ANC has presided for nearly twenty years over a society that threatens still further deprivations for the black majority, and yet, despite having been an integral part of the ANC since the 1940s, Mandela was always seen as being somehow different from other leaders, throughout Africa and the rest of the world.
A true Christian?
His 1994 autobiography Long Walk to Freedom (LWF) is an invaluable guide to Mandela’s life and views. Even though it is likely to portray its subject in a favourable light, it shows the concerns and priorities of the author.
For example, after 27 years of imprisonment, when Mandela was released in February 1990 he showed no sign of personal vindictiveness towards those who had kept him captive. “In prison, my anger towards whites decreased, but my hatred for the system grew. I wanted South Africa to see that I loved even my enemies while I hated the system that turned us against one another” (LWF p680). If this sounds like a Christian saying ‘Love the sinner, hate the sin’ it’s partly because it is. When two editors from the Washington Times visited him in prison “I told them that I was a Christian and had always been a Christian” (LWF p620).
You can also see how this trait in his personality proved useful to South African capitalism. After Mandela left prison one of the main tasks of the ANC was to reassure potential investors that a future ANC government would not threaten their interests. In ‘Mandela Message to USA Big Business’ (19/6/1990)[1] you can read something he said on a number of occasions “The private sector, both domestic and international, will have a vital contribution to make to the economic and social reconstruction of SA after apartheid… We are sensitive to the fact that as investors in a post-apartheid SA, you will need to be confident about the security of your investments, an adequate and equitable return on your capital and a general capital climate of peace and stability.” Mandela might have spoken as a Christian, but a Christian who understood the needs of business.
Consistent nationalist
Mandela was certainly consistent, able to look at the present in its continuity with the past. When, for example, the ANC sat down for the first official talks with the government in May 1990 Mandela had to give them “a history lesson. I explained to our counterparts that the ANC from its inception in 1912 had always sought negotiations with the government in power” (LWF p693).
Mandela often referred to the ANC’s Freedom Charter adopted in 1955. “In June 1956, in the monthly journal Liberation, I pointed out that the charter endorsed private enterprise and would allow capitalism to flourish among Africans for the first time” (LWF p205). In 1988, when he was in secret negotiations with the government he referred to the same article “in which I said that the Freedom Charter was not a blueprint for socialism but for African-style capitalism. I told them I had not changed my mind since then” (LWF p642).
When Mandela was visited in 1986 by an Eminent Persons Group “I told them I was a South African nationalist, not a communist, that nationalists come in very hue and colour” (LWF p629). This nationalism was unwavering. When the 1994 election was approaching and he met President FW de Klerk in a television debate “I felt I had been too harsh with the man who would be my partner in a government of national unity. In summation, I said, ‘The exchanges between Mr de Klerk and me should not obscure on important fact. I think we are a shining example to the entire world of people drawn from different racial groups who have a common loyalty, a common love, to their common country’” (LWF p740-1).
From the mid 1970s Mandela received visits from the prisons minister. “The government had sent ‘feelers’ to me over the years, beginning with Minister Kruger’s efforts to persuade me to move to the Transkei. These were not efforts to negotiate, but attempts to isolate me from my organisation. On several other occasions, Kruger said to me: ‘Mandela, we can work with you, but not your colleagues’” (LWF p619).
The South African government recognised that there was something in his personality that would ultimately make some sort of negotiations possible. And, in December 1989, when he first met de Klerk he was able to say “Mr de Klerk seemed to represent a true departure from the National Party politicians of the past. Mr de Klerk …was a man we could do business with” (LWF p665).
Ultimately this mutual respect led in 1993 to the Nobel Peace Prize being awarded jointly to Mandela and de Klerk, in the words of the citation “for their work for the peaceful termination of the apartheid regime, and for laying the foundations for a new democratic South Africa”. This long term goal was not something personal to Mandela but corresponded to the needs of capitalism. After the Sharpeville massacre of 1960, “The Johannesburg stock exchange plunged, and capital started to flow out of the country” (LWF p281). The end of apartheid started a period of growth for foreign investment in South Africa. Democracy did not, however, benefit the majority of the population. In the fifties Mandela said that “the covert goal of the government was to create an African middle class to blunt the appeal of the ANC and the liberation struggle” (LWF p223). In practice ‘liberation’ and an ANC government has marginally increased the ranks of an African middle class. It has also meant repression, the remilitarisation of the police, the banning of protests, and attacks on workers, as in, for example, the Marikana miners’ strike in which 44 workers were killed and dozens seriously injured.
Mandela was able to say that “all men, even the most cold-blooded, have a core of decency, and that if their hearts are touched, they are capable of changing” (LWF p549). What might be true of individuals is not true of capitalism. It has no core of decency and cannot be changed. The faces of the ANC government are different to their white predecessors, but exploitation and repression remain.
The ANC in their ‘liberation’ struggle used both violence and non-violence in its campaigns. When non-violent tactics were proving unsuccessful the ANC created a military wing, in the creation of which Mandela played a central role. “We considered four types of violent activities: sabotage, guerrilla warfare, terrorism and open revolution”. They hoped that sabotage “would bring the government to the bargaining table” but strict instructions were given “that we would countenance no loss of life. But if sabotage did not produce the results we wanted, we were prepared to move on to the next stage: guerrilla warfare and terrorism” (LWF p336).
So, on 16 December 1961, when “homemade bombs were exploded at electric power stations and government offices in Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth and Durban” (LWF p338) it did not mean that the goals of the ANC had changed – democracy was still the aim. And after May 1983, when the ANC staged its first car bomb attack, in which nineteen people were killed and more than two hundred injured, Mandela said “The killing of civilians was a tragic accident, and I felt a profound horror at the death toll. But disturbed as I was by these casualties, I knew that such accidents were the inevitable consequences of the decision to embark on a military struggle” (LWR p618). These days such ‘accidents’ are often referred to by the more modern euphemism of ‘collateral damage’.
Man and myth
In the 1950s Mandela’s first wife became a Jehovah’s Witness. Although he “found some aspects of the Watch Tower’s system to be interesting and worthwhile, I could not and did not share her devotion. There was an obsessional element to it that put me off” (LWF p239). In the arguments they had “I patiently explained to her that politics was not a distraction but my lifework, that it was an essential and fundamental part of my being” (LWF p240).
These differences led to “a battle for the minds and hearts of the children. She wanted them to be religious, and I thought they should be political” (ibid). And what politics were they exposed to?
“Hanging on the walls of the house I had pictures of Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin, Gandhi and the storming of the Winter Palace in St Petersburg in 1917. I explained to the boys who each of the men was, and what he stood for. They knew that the white leaders of South Africa stood for something very different” (ibid).
There is an interesting contrast here. On one hand, there are four leading members of the ruling capitalist class (and not so different from the South African bourgeoisie) and, on the other, one of the most important moments in the history of the working class.
Mandela said he had little time to study Marx, Engels or Lenin, but he “subscribed to Marx’s basic dictum, which has the simplicity and generosity of the Golden Rule: ‘From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs’” (LWF p137). He might have ‘subscribed to the dictum’, but the history of the ANC has shown it for a century in the service of South African capitalism. Whether in protests or guerrilla struggle, the goals were nationalist, or just for people to let off steam, because “people must have an outlet for their anger and frustration” (LWF p725). In government, the faces changed from Mandela to Mbeki to Motlanthe and now Zuma, but there were no changes in the lives of the majority. The only difference in the Presidents was that Mandela had the best image.
Mandela was very aware of the myth of Mandela. He made a point of saying that he was not a ‘saint’ nor a “prophet”, nor a “messiah” (LWF p676), in a world where most politicians seem to be devoted to self-promotion and enrichment. This modesty was one of the appealing characteristics of Mandela. It could be explained by his Wesleyan background. In his 27 years in captivity he only once missed a Sunday service, “Though I am a Methodist, I would attend each different religious service” (LWF p536).
Whatever the origins of Mandela’s modesty and seeming decency, he is clearly going to be the face of the ANC’s 2014 election campaign. And, beyond South Africa, the Mandela myth will continue to be one of the pillars of modern democratic ideology.
In his career as a lawyer Mandela “went from having an idealistic view of the law as a sword of justice to a perception of the law as a tool used by the ruling class to shape society in a way favourable to itself” (LWF p309). He did not make a similar critique of democracy. In his 1964 court statement he expressed himself as an “admirer” of democracy. “I have great respect for British political institutions, and for the country’s system of justice. I regard the British Parliament as the most democratic institution in the world, and the independence and impartiality of its judiciary never fail to arouse my admiration. The American Congress, the country’s doctrine of the separation of powers, as well as the independence of its judiciary, arouse in me similar sentiments.” (LWF p436) Whatever the character of the man, his life’s work was in the service of capitalist democracy. For its part, capital will certainly continue to make use of his better qualities for the worst possible end: the preservation of its decaying social order.
Car 13/7/13
[1]. http://db.nelsonmandela.org/speeches/pub_view.asp?pg=item&ItemID=NMS036&...
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For the U.S. Army training course, see Ranger School.
The Ranger program was a series of unmanned space missions by the United States in the 1960s whose objective was to obtain the first close-up images of the surface of the Moon. The Ranger spacecraft were designed to take images of the lunar surface, transmitting those images to Earth until the spacecraft were destroyed upon impact. A series of mishaps, however, led to the failure of the first six flights. At one point, the program was called "shoot and hope".[1] Congress launched an investigation into "problems of management" at NASA Headquarters and Jet Propulsion Laboratory.[2] After two reorganizations of the agencies,[citation needed] Ranger 7 successfully returned images in July 1964, followed by two more successful missions.
Block III Ranger spacecraft
Block I, Block II, Block III
Last launch
Related spacecraft
Block II Ranger spacecraft
First image of the Moon returned by a Ranger mission (Ranger 7 in 1964)
Ranger was originally designed, beginning in 1959, in three distinct phases, called "blocks". Each block had different mission objectives and progressively more advanced system design. The JPL mission designers planned multiple launches in each block, to maximize the engineering experience and scientific value of the mission and to assure at least one successful flight. Total research, development, launch, and support costs for the Ranger series of spacecraft (Rangers 1 through 9) was approximately $170 million (equivalent to $1.05 billion in 2018).[3]
Ranger spacecraftEdit
Program Ranger Organization Chart
Each of the block III Ranger spacecraft had six cameras on board. The cameras were fundamentally the same with differences in exposure times, fields of view, lenses, and scan rates. The camera system was divided into two channels, P (partial) and F (full). Each channel was self-contained with separate power supplies, timers, and transmitters. The F-channel had two cameras: the wide-angle A-camera and the narrow angle B-camera. The P-channel had four cameras: P1 and P2 (narrow angle) and P3 and P4 (wide angle). The final F-channel image was taken between 2.5 and 5 seconds before impact (altitude about 5 km) and the last P-channel image 0.2 to 0.4 seconds before impact (altitude about 600 m). The images provided better resolution than was available from Earth-based views by a factor of 1000. The design and construction of the cameras was led by Leonard R Malling.[4][5][6][7] The Ranger program manager for the first six spacecraft was James D. Burke.[8]
Mission listEdit
Block 1 missionsEdit
Ranger block I spacecraft diagram. (NASA)
Ranger 1, launched 23 August 1961, lunar prototype, launch failure
Ranger 2, launched 18 November 1961, lunar prototype, launch failure
Block 1, consisting of two spacecraft launched into Earth orbit in 1961, was intended to test the Atlas-Agena launch vehicle and spacecraft equipment without attempting to reach the Moon.
Problems with the early version of the launch vehicle left Ranger 1 and Ranger 2 in short-lived, low-Earth orbits in which the spacecraft could not stabilize themselves, collect solar power, or survive for long. In 1962, JPL utilized the Ranger 1 and Ranger 2 design for the failed Mariner 1 and successful Mariner 2 deep-space probes to Venus.
Ranger block II spacecraft diagram. (NASA)
Ranger 3, launched 26 January 1962, lunar probe, spacecraft failed, missed Moon
Ranger 4, launched 23 April 1962, lunar probe, spacecraft failed, impact
Ranger 5, launched 18 October 1962, lunar probe, spacecraft failed, missed
Block 2 of the Ranger project launched three spacecraft to the Moon in 1962, carrying a TV camera, a radiation detector, and a seismometer in a separate capsule slowed by a rocket motor and packaged to survive its low-speed impact on the Moon's surface. The three missions together demonstrated good performance of the Atlas/Agena B launch vehicle and the adequacy of the spacecraft design, but unfortunately not both on the same attempt. Ranger 3 had problems with both the launch vehicle and the spacecraft, missed the Moon by about 36,800 km, and has orbited the Sun ever since. Ranger 4 had a perfect launch, but the spacecraft was completely disabled. The project team tracked the seismometer capsule to impact just out of sight on the lunar far side, validating the communications and navigation system. Ranger 5 missed the Moon and was disabled. No significant science information was gleaned from these missions. The craft weighed 331 kg.
Around the end of Block 2, it was discovered that a type of diode used in previous missions produced problematic gold-plate flaking in the conditions of space. This may have been responsible for some of the failures.[9]
Ranger block III spacecraft diagram. (NASA)
Ranger 6, launched 30 January 1964, lunar probe, impact, cameras failed
Launched 28 July 1964
Impacted Moon 31 July 1964 at 13:25:49 UT
10°21′S 20°35′W / 10.35°S 20.58°W / -10.35; -20.58 (Ranger 7) - Mare Cognitum
Launched 17 February 1965
Impacted Moon 20 February 1965 at 09:57:37 UT
2°40′N 24°39′E / 2.67°N 24.65°E / 2.67; 24.65 (Ranger 8) - Mare Tranquillitatis (Sea of Tranquility)
Launched 21 March 1965
Impacted Moon 24 March 1965 at 14:08:20 UT
12°50′S 2°22′W / 12.83°S 2.37°W / -12.83; -2.37 (Ranger 9) - Alphonsus crater
Ranger's Block 3 embodied four launches in 1964-65. These spacecraft boasted a television instrument designed to observe the lunar surface during the approach; as the spacecraft neared the Moon, they would reveal detail smaller than the best Earth telescopes could show, and finally details down to dishpan size.[vague] The first of the new series, Ranger 6, had a flawless flight, except that the television system was disabled by an in-flight accident and could take no pictures.
The next three Rangers, with a redesigned television, were completely successful. Ranger 7 photographed its way down to target in a lunar plain, soon named Mare Cognitum, south of the crater Copernicus. It sent more than 4,300 pictures from six cameras to waiting scientists and engineers. The new images revealed that craters caused by impact were the dominant features of the Moon's surface, even in the seemingly smooth and empty plains. Great craters were marked by small ones, and the small with tiny impact pockmarks, as far down in size as could be discerned—about 50 centimeters (20 inches). The light-colored streaks radiating from Copernicus and a few other large craters turned out to be chains and nets of small craters and debris blasted out in the primary impacts.
In February 1965, Ranger 8 swept an oblique course over the south of Oceanus Procellarum and Mare Nubium, to crash in Mare Tranquillitatis about 70 kilometers (43 mi) distant from where Apollo 11 would land 4½ years later. It garnered more than 7,000 images, covering a wider area and reinforcing the conclusions from Ranger 7. About a month later, Ranger 9 came down in the 90 kilometers (56 miles) diameter crater Alphonsus. Its 5,800 images, nested concentrically and taking advantage of very low-level sunlight, provided strong confirmation of the crater-on-crater, gently rolling contours of the lunar surface.
Surveyor program
Lunar Orbiter program
Pioneer program
Luna programme
Timeline of Solar System exploration
NASA FACTS Volume 2 number 6 PROJECT RANGER on wikisource
^ Cortright Oral History (p25)
^ Dick, Steven J. "NASA's First 50 Years: Historical Perspectives" (PDF). history.nasa.gov. NASA. p. 12. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
^ Thomas, Ryland; Williamson, Samuel H. (2019). "What Was the U.S. GDP Then?". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved April 6, 2019. United States Gross Domestic Product deflator figures follow the Measuring Worth series.
^ Jet Propulsion Laboratory - Malling, L. R. (1962). "Planetary photography- Television camera for a geological survey of the planet Mars" (PDF). NASA-JPL.
^ Jet Propulsion Laboratory - Malling, L. R. (1963). "Space astronomy and the slow-scan vidicon system" (PDF). NASA-JPL.
^ Jet Propulsion Laboratory - Malling, L. R. (1966). "Digital television camera control system Patent" (PDF). NASA-JPL.
^ Jet Propulsion Laboratory - Malling, L. R. (1968). "Reduced bandwidth video communication system utilizing sampling techniques Patent" (PDF). NASA-JPL.
^ "LUNAR IMPACT: A History of Project Ranger, Part I. The Original Ranger, Chapter Two - ORGANIZING THE CAMPAIGN". NASA History. NASA. Retrieved 14 July 2016.
^ "ch8".
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ranger program.
Lunar Impact: A History of Project Ranger (PDF) 1977
Lunar Impact: A History of Project Ranger (HTML)
Both links lead to a whole book on the program. For the HTML one, scroll down to see the table of contents link.
Ranger Program Page by NASA's Solar System Exploration
Exploring the Moon: The Ranger Program
Ranger Photography of the Moon Lunar and Planetary Institute
NASA History Series Publications (many of which are on-line)
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ranger_program&oldid=902241425"
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Falkland Islands economy and Brexit…how tough will it be?
The IMF will release another $ 5.4 billion today for Argentina
Falkland Islands: Brazil flight indicative fares “extremely competitive”
Key economic responsibilities to France and UK in EU new executive team
Thursday, September 11th 2014 - 15:53 UTC
Full article 3 comments
Today I am presenting the team that will put Europe back on the path to jobs and growth said EC chief Jean-Claude Juncker
France's Moscovici, a proponent of government spending to boost Euro zone growth, will run economic and monetary affairs.
Hill, leader of the upper house of parliament, was given a revamped portfolio entitled Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union
But Germany will have several allies at vice-president-level, including Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans, considered Juncker's right hand man
The incoming head of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, unveiled an EU executive team on Wednesday that handed key economic responsibilities to French and British commissioners but overseen by others in a new-look hierarchy.
Naming Britain's Jonathan Hill to a brief including banks and the integration of EU capital markets was widely seen as a gesture to British Prime Minister David Cameron, a vocal critic of Juncker and his support for a powerful Brussels that Cameron says could push Britons to vote to quit the European Union.
Pierre Moscovici, the nominee of French President Francois Hollande and a proponent of government spending to boost Euro zone growth, will run economic and monetary affairs.
But in a mark of the balance among the competing interests of the 28 EU member states that Juncker is obliged to respect, both the economy and finance portfolios will be overseen by two vice-presidents on Juncker's Commission.
Former prime ministers Jyrki Katainen of Finland and Valdis Dombrovskis of Latvia will be respective vice-presidents with oversight of Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness and The Euro and Social Dialogue.
Both northern Euro zone countries are allies of Germany and backers of austerity.
Germany, as economic powerhouse of the Union, is sure of a major say in its affairs. Berlin's representative, the outgoing EU energy commissioner Guenther Oettinger, will be responsible for the digital economy, notably the telecoms industry.
The introduction of an upper layer of seven vice-presidents without their own direct portfolios, including a powerful first vice-president in the shape of Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans, was explained by Juncker as a way to improve the coordination of the Commission's work.
Others have long pointed out that giving each member state a seat on the executive has made it increasingly unwieldy as the EU has expanded greatly. However, some analysts questioned whether the overlap of responsibilities could also now create confusion and fuel rivalries among the various commissioners.
Juncker, a former prime minister of Luxembourg whose appointment by EU leaders in June was fiercely opposed by Cameron, said his goal was to provide the European Union's half a billion people with better prospects after tough years of unemployment and stagnation that fuelled a surge in support for anti-EU parties in May's election to the European Parliament.
In these unprecedented times, Europe's citizens expect us to deliver, Juncker told a news conference. After years of economic hardship and often painful reforms, Europeans expect a performing economy, sustainable jobs, more social protection, safer borders, energy security and digital opportunities.
Today I am presenting the team that will put Europe back on the path to jobs and growth.
In a surprise move, Cameron's Conservative ally Hill, a former public relations consultant and leader of the upper house of parliament who is little known even in London, was given a revamped portfolio entitled Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union. He will be in charge of relations with the European Banking Authority.
One analyst described Hill's job as a major peace offering by Juncker to Cameron, who welcomed the appointment as showing that efforts to create a banking union was not the sole preserve of countries using the euro currency. Britain has feared that Euro zone efforts to regulate financial markets to guard against new crises could hurt London's dominance as a banking centre.
Keeping Britain in the bloc is a major goal for EU leaders in the face of Cameron's demands for Brussels to devolve powers and plan for a 2017 referendum on continued British membership.
The nomination of Nordic allies of free-trading Britain to key roles in global trade negotiations and anti-trust policy may also offer London comfort.
Danish liberal Margrethe Vestager will be in charge of the powerful competition portfolio that gives the EU a big say in the expansion or merger plans of the world's biggest companies.
Sweden's Cecilia Malmstrom will have the task of negotiating the world's biggest trade agreement between the United States and Europe.
Miguel Arias Caneta of Spain will be energy and climate change commissioner, though former Slovenian premier Alenka Bratusek will have the more senior post of vice-president overseeing the development of an energy union.
Elzbieta Bienkowska of Poland is commissioner for the internal market, industry, entrepreneurship and small business.
Juncker noted that he had nine women on his commission, the same number as in the outgoing team led by Jose Manuel Barroso - something that members of the European Parliament had said would be important to their confirmation of the Commission in office.
Of the seven vice-presidents, three are women, including 41-year-old Federica Mogherini of Italy, who was chosen directly by EU leaders as the Union's foreign affairs chief.
Dutchman Timmermans will become, in the president's own words, Juncker's right hand” as first vice-president with direct access to the work of all the other commissioners.
The new Commission is due to take office on Nov. 1, subject to its confirmation by the European Parliament.
Categories: Economy, Politics, International.
Tags: European Commission, Frans Timmermans, Jean-Claude Juncker, Jonathan Hill, Pierre Moscovici.
Crap !!!!
Cameron will be happy he has won [jack xxit]
this is nothing more than throwing crumbs to the pets from the table..
Sep 11th, 2014 - 06:52 pm 0
1. Briton.
Well, that isn't the statement from the key financial publications in the City; nor from respected sources. The new President has to deal with some very crucial aspects; he's not about to shoot himself in the foot. All appointments are key to his direction plans; not to appoint problems.
And Jean-Claude Juncker direction plans are what..
Sep 12th, 2014 - 11:07 am 0
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Effects of advertising on teen body image
The effects of advertising on body image have been studied by researchers, ranging from psychologists to marketing professionals.[1][2][3] "These days we know that the media and body image are closely related. Particularly, the body image advertising portrays affects our own body image. Of course, there are many other things that influence our body image: parenting, education, intimate relationships, and so on. The popular media does have a big impact, though"[4] This is because thousands of advertisements contain messages about physical attractiveness and beauty, examples of which include commercials for clothes, cosmetics, weight reduction, and physical fitness.[5] Researchers have conducted studies in an attempt to see if such advertisements have effects on teenage body image, and what those effects might be.[1]
Researchers, such as Mary Martin and James Gentry, have found that teen advertising reduces teenagers' self-esteem by setting unrealistic expectations for them about their physical appearances through the use of idealized models.[1] Other researchers, such as Heidi Posavac, acknowledge this, but believe that this only applies to teenagers who already possess low self-esteem or a poor self-images.[2]
In contrast, researchers, including Terry Bristol, have found teenagers to be generally unaffected by these advertisements due to the idea that repeat exposure can create an immunity to images and messages in advertisements.[3] Moreover, some researchers, such as Paul Humphreys, have concluded that exposure to such advertisements can actually create higher self-esteem in teenagers.[6][7]
2 Bad effect
2.1 Effect on society
2.2 Effects on young women
2.3 Effects on young men
3 Positive or neutral effects
3.1 Effects on teenagers
Background[edit]
According to Medimark Research Inc., a marketing research company, teenagers are important to marketers because they "have significant discretionary income; spend family money, as well as influence their parents' spending on both large and small household purchases; establish and affect fashion, lifestyle, and overall trends; and provide a 'window' into our society – a view of how it is now and what it is likely to become."[8]
Almost half of the space of the most popular magazines for adolescent girls is made up of advertisements.[1] In an effort to further reach young men with advertisements, branded content is now being included in video games as well.[9] Researches are trying to determine whether or not these advertisements shape the body image and self-esteem of the teenagers that view them.
Bad effect[edit]
Effect on society[edit]
The way beauty is portrayed in the media tends to cause dissatisfaction and negative thoughts about oneself when those results are not achieved. Sociocultural standards of feminine beauty are presented in almost all forms of popular media are bombarding women with these unrealistic images that portray what is considered to be the "ideal body" within this society. Such standards of beauty are unattainable for most women; The majority of the models displayed on television and in advertisements are well below what is considered healthy body weight. Mass media's use of such unrealistic models sends an implicit message that in order for a woman to be considered beautiful, she must be unhealthy. The mindset that a person can never be "too rich or too thin" is prevalent in society, and this makes it difficult for females to achieve any level of contentment with their physical appearance. There has been a plethora of research to indicate that women are negatively affected by constant exposure to models that fulfill the unrealistic media ideal of beauty.
Naomi Wolf's The Beauty Myth noted the beginning of feminist critiques of societal standards regarding female beauty.[10] This "feminine ideal" is the goal of most women in society, although feminists have been working for decades on eradicating this idea (Brownmiller, 1984).[11] The first feminist mass meeting in 1914 included demands such as the 'right to ignore fashion' and the 'right not to have to wear make up'. (Bordo, 1993).[12] unfortunately these demands have not yet been fulfilled as women in today's society still feel the need to dress in a particular way and to wear makeup to feel beautiful and attractive to the opposite gender and within today's society.
However, these efforts to erase the 'ideal body image' are opposed by modern reality TV shows that encourage such behaviour. Extreme Makeover puts individuals through extreme physical changes to change the way they look, which is then viewed by women of all ages. This tends to encourage people to think about their image, and change what they do not like in an unsafe manner. The Swan (2004) went one step further, and had the contestants compete in a beauty contest following their various reconstructive surgeries. These types of TV shows tend to teach women that it is okay to change their image to fit the "feminine ideal", instead of encouraging them to accept the body that they already have.
Rice (1994) states that 'a woman's essential value is based on her ability to attain a thin body size'. Therefore while women continue to diet, they still dislike their bodies. Another statistic, stated by the Media Awareness Network, is that the average model weighed 8 percent less than the average women twenty years ago, compared to models weighing 23 percent less today.[13]
Effects on young women[edit]
A study by A. Chris Downs and Sheila Harrison from Sex Roles found that one out of every 3.8 television commercials has a message about attractiveness in it. They determined that viewers receive roughly 5,260 advertisements related to attractiveness per year (or at least 14 per day). Of these messages, 1,850 of them are specifically about beauty.[5]
In a study published in the Journal of Advertising, Marketing professors Mary Martin and James Gentry noted that images of blonde, thin women are predominant in mass media, and that these characteristics are often portrayed as being ideal.[1] Martin and Gentry also found that advertising can "impose a sense of inadequacy on young women's self-concepts". This is because girls and young women tend to compare their own physical attractiveness to the physical attractiveness of models in advertisements. They then experience lowered self-esteem if they do not feel that they look like the models in advertisements.[1]
Today's models weigh 23 percent less than the average woman, while the average model two decades ago weighed eight percent less than the average woman. This currently prevalent media ideal of thinness is met by only about five percent of the population.[14]
Additionally, a study of Seventeen magazine concluded that the models featured in this popular teen magazine were far less curvy than those portrayed in women's magazines. It was also noted that the hip-to-waist ratio had decreased in these models from 1970 to 1990.[1]
In a study published in Sex Roles, psychologists Heidi Posavac, Steven Posavac, and Emil Posavac found that many young women will express dissatisfaction with their bodies, particularly with their body weight, when they are exposed to images of thin models who are slimmer than the average woman.[2] Early researchers in the area of sex roles in the mass media examined a large number of ads at a time in order to classify and count particular types of representation (Rakow 1986).
Expressing similar sentiments, an aspiring young model was quoted as saying, "Deep down I still want to be a supermodel... As long as they're there, screaming at me from the television, glaring at me from the magazines, I'm stuck in the model trap. Hate them first. Then grow to like them. Love them. Emulate them. Die to be them. All the while praying the cycle will come to an end."[1]
Academic researchers Philip Myers Jr. and Frank Biocca concluded, in their study published in the Journal of Communication, that a woman's self-perceived body image can change after watching a half-an-hour of television programming and advertising.[7] Researchers Yoku Yamamiya and Thomas F. Cash concluded through their study that "Even a 5 minute exposure to thin-and-beautiful media images results in a more negative body image state than does exposure to images of neutral object."[15]
Likewise, a study by Stice et al. in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology concluded that there is a direct relationship between the amount of media exposure that a young woman has and the likelihood that she will develop eating disorder symptoms.[16]
Martin and Gentry also found that the mass media "creates and reinforces a preoccupation with physical attractiveness in young women", which can lead to bulimia, anorexia, and opting for cosmetic surgery. She also concluded that, "exposure to ultra-thin models in advertisements and magazine pictures produced depression, stress, guilt, shame, insecurity, and body dissatisfaction in female college students".[1]
In a study published in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence, Paxton et al. found body dissatisfaction to be more prevalent in young women than in young men.[17]
Low self-esteem that stems from teenage advertising can have detrimental effects on teenagers. Seventy-five percent of young women with low self-esteem report engaging in negative activities such as "cutting, bullying, smoking, or drinking when feeling badly about themselves".
Teen promiscuity is another possible effect of low self-esteem.[18]
People fail to recognize that photo-shop is widely used on models in magazines and in advertisements which gives an unrealistic expectation. An online survey in 2010 consisting of 100 girls aged 13–17 was conducted by Girl Scouts. What they found was that 9 out of 10 girls felt pressure by fashion and media industries to be skinny. More than 60% compared themselves to fashion models, and 46% believed that the ideal body image is portrayed in fashion magazines and refer to the girls in the magazines as who they strive to look like.
Unfortunately thin-idealized bodies are attributed with self control, success and discipline, and therefore proclaimed as being desirable and socially valued. “Being slim means resisting the temptations that surround consumers in countries of overabundance and wealth” (Thompson et al 1995: Halliwell et al 2004).
Effects on young men[edit]
It is more prevalent that young men are more self-conscious and are showing great concern to their bodies. This indicates a huge awareness of both self-appearance and importance to the body itself. In other words, young men tend to be worried about their figure just like young women are. This is present due to the media and the messages it commonly portrays; these messages are mostly targeted toward a younger age group which shows how media has influenced these age groups. According to an online article, it states that "The male body in the media has an impact on how males, especially developing males, perceive their own bodies," said Brennan. "Males are being exposed to the same extreme ideals of body perfection as females."
A study published in JAMA Pediatrics in January shows concerns about physique and muscularity in particular, among young males are "relatively common". The researchers said approximately 18 percent of participants in their study (which included 5,527 males) were "extremely concerned for their weight and researchers found 7.6 percent of young males were "very concerned about muscularity" and were using techniques that could be harmful to obtain an ideal body.[19]
A study by insurer Blue Cross Blue shield found that in 1999 to 2000, use of steroids and similar drugs amongst boys ages 12 to 17 jumped 25 percent, with 20 percent saying they use the drug for looks rather than sports.[20]
Moreover, men in advertisements are more muscular today than they were 25 to 30 years ago.[21]
A 2002 study found that male college students who are exposed to advertisements featuring muscular men show a significant "discrepancy between their own perceived muscularity and the level of muscularity that they ideally wanted to have".[22]
Additionally, a study from the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology by Daniel Agliata and Stacey Tantleff-Dunn found that exposure to media images of lean and muscular men increases muscle dissatisfaction and depression in young men.[23]
Some researchers believe that men are usually more satisfied than women with their physical appearance. Other researchers, however, state that men still struggle with body image. Men believe that they are either too thin or too heavy and therefore do not meet the male ideal body type of lean and muscular.
Since boys are much less likely to discuss their issues about their body image, the statistics pertaining to the number of boys of whom this affects varies because so many instances are unreported. Therefore, it is difficult to precisely determine which gender is more affected by body portrayal in the media. One very thorough study, however, conducted by Alison Field, a professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and a researcher at Boston Children's Hospital, revealed that approximately 18% of adolescent boys, aged 10–17, are concerned about their body and how much they weigh. Furthermore, Frederick and Jamal Essayli from the University of Hawaii at Manoa conducted national online surveys and gathered information from 116,000 men. They concluded that approximately 29% of men were dissatisfied with their bodies specifically because of the media.[24]
Positive or neutral effects[edit]
Effects on teenagers[edit]
Heidi Posavac, Steven Posavac, and Emil Posavac found that young women who are already content with their bodies are generally unaffected by media images of models and other attractive women. They concluded that only those who are dissatisfied with their bodies prior to viewing advertisements will then feel poorly after seeing advertisements featuring thin, attractive women.[2]
Furthermore, Myers and Biocca found that some young women actually feel thinner after viewing advertisements featuring thin, idealized women.[7]
Likewise, a study by psychology professors Paul Humphreys and Susan Paxton suggests that young men who view images of idealized men either feel no different or feel more positive about themselves after viewing such images.[6]
Tamara Mangleburg and Terry Bristol's studies featured in the Journal of Advertising found that teens are not typically swayed by images in advertisements. They suggest the more teens view advertisements, the less they are affected by them and the more they become skeptical of the messages that are in advertisements. This is because repeat exposure to ads can give them a better understanding of the motives behind such ads.[3]
Similarly, Marsha Richins, former president of the Association for Consumer Research, theorized that, "by late adolescence... the sight of extremely attractive models is 'old news' and unlikely to provide new information that might influence self-perception".[1] "[Yamamiya and Cash] used 20 model slides as stimuli, presented for a total duration of 5 minutes found that as the number of stimuli exceeded 10, viewers were somewhat less influenced, probably due to habituation."[15]
Psychological researchers Christopher Ferguson, Benjamin Winegard, and Bo Winegard feel that the media's effects on body dissatisfaction have been over-exaggerated. They believe that media does not heavily influence body dissatisfaction. Instead, they have found peers to have a much greater influence than the media in terms of body dissatisfaction in teenagers.[25]
^ a b c d e f g h i j Martin, Mary C.; Gentry, James W. (1997). "Stuck in the Model Trap: The Effects of Beautiful Models in Ads on Female Pre-Adolescents and Adolescents". Journal of Advertising. 26 (2): 19. doi:10.1080/00913367.1997.10673520. JSTOR 4189031.
^ a b c d Posavac, Heidi D., Posavac, Steven S., and Posavac, Emil J. (1998). "Exposure to Media Images of Female Attractiveness and Concern with Body Weight Among Young Women". Sex Roles. 38 (3/4): 187. doi:10.1023/A:1018729015490. CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list (link)
^ a b c Mangleburg, Tamara F.; Bristol, Terry (1998). "Socialization and Adolescents' Skepticism toward Advertising". Journal of Advertising. 27 (3): 11. doi:10.1080/00913367.1998.10673559. JSTOR 4189079.
^ The Media and Body Image. Mirror-mirror.org (2013-01-24). Retrieved on 2016-12-09.
^ a b Downs, A. Chris; Harrison, Sheila K. (1985). "Embarrassing age spots or just plain ugly? Physical attractiveness stereotyping as an instrument of sexism on american television commercials". Sex Roles. 13: 9. doi:10.1007/BF00287457.
^ a b Humphreys, Paul; Paxton, Susan J. (2004). "Body Image : Impact of exposure to idealised male images on adolescent boys' body image". Body Image. 1 (3): 253–266. doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2004.05.001.
^ a b c Myers, Philip N.; Biocca, Frank A. (1992). "The Elastic Body Image: The Effect of Television Advertising and Programming on Body Image Distortions in Young Women" (PDF). Journal of Communication. 42 (3): 108. doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.1992.tb00802.x.
^ Teen Market Profile. magazine.org
^ "MediaPost Publications Targeting Young Males". Mediapost.com. Retrieved 2011-11-28.
^ Newman, J., & White, L. (2012). Women, Politics, and Public Policy. Oxford University Press. pp. 240–245.
^ Brownmiller, S. (1975). Against our Will: Men, women and rape. New York: Simon and Schuster. Feminity. New York: Fawcett Columbine.
^ Bordo, S. (1990). "Feminism, postmodernism, and gender-scepticism", pp. 133–56 In Linda J. Nicholson (Ed.) Feminism/postmodernism . New York: Routledge.
^ Rice, C (1994). "Out from under occupation: Transforming our relationships with our bodies". Canadian Woman Studies. 14: 44–51.
^ "Mirror, mirror – A summary of research findings on body image". Sirc.org. Retrieved 2011-11-28.
^ a b Yamamiya, Yuko; Cash, Thomas F.; Melnyk, Susan E.; Posavac, Heidi D.; Posavac, Steven S. (2005). "Women's exposure to thin-and-beautiful media images: Body image effects of media-ideal internalization and impact-reduction interventions". Body Image. 2 (1): 74–80. doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2004.11.001. PMID 18089176.
^ Stice, E; Schupak-Neuberg, E; Shaw, H. E.; Stein, R. I. (1994). "Relation of media exposure to eating disorder symptomatology: An examination of mediating mechanisms" (PDF). Journal of Abnormal Psychology. 103 (4): 836–40. PMID 7822589.
^ Paxton, Susan J.; Wertheim, Eleanor H.; Gibbons, Kay; Szmukler, George I.; Hillier, Lynne; Petrovich, Janice L. (1991). "Body image satisfaction, dieting beliefs, and weight loss behaviors in adolescent girls and boys". Journal of Youth and Adolescence. 20 (3): 361. doi:10.1007/BF01537402. PMID 24265063.
^ "11 Facts about Teens and Self-Esteem". Do Something. Archived from the original on 2011-11-29. Retrieved 2011-11-28.
^ Polatis, Kandra (May 16, 2014). "Extreme body image in media impacts males too". Deseret News.
^ Eisenhauer, Lisa. "Do I Look OK?." St. Louis Post-Dispatch (St. Louis, MO). Nov. 7 2005: HF1+. SIRS Researcher. Web. 25 Oct 2010.
^ "Men Muscle in on Body Image Problems". LiveScience. 2006-08-15. Retrieved 2011-11-28.
^ Leit, Richard A.; Gray, James J.; Pope, Harrison G. (2002). "The media's representation of the ideal male body: A cause for muscle dysmorphia?". International Journal of Eating Disorders. 31 (3): 334–338. doi:10.1002/eat.10019.
^ Agliata, Daniel; Tantleff-Dunn, Stacey (2004). "The Impact of Media Exposure on Males' Body Image" (PDF). Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology. 23: 7. doi:10.1521/jscp.23.1.7.26988. Archived from the original on 2011-04-09. CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
^ Adams, Rebecca. "It's Not Just Girls. Boys Struggle With Body Image, Too." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 17 Sept. 2014. Web. 3 Mar 2017.
^ Ferguson, Christopher J.; Winegard, Benjamin; Winegard, Bo M. (2011). "Who Is the Fairest One of All? How Evolution Guides Peer and Media Influences on Female Body Dissatisfaction" (PDF). Review of General Psychology. 15: 11. doi:10.1037/a0022607. Archived from the original on 2012-06-12. CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Effects_of_advertising_on_teen_body_image&oldid=872376412"
Body image in popular culture
Social impact of advertising
CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list
CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown
This page was last edited on 6 December 2018, at 23:01 (UTC).
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This article is about side effects in the context of medicine. For side effects in the context of computer science, see Side effect (computer science). For other uses, see Side effect (disambiguation).
In medicine, a side effect is an effect, whether therapeutic or adverse, that is secondary to the one intended; although the term is predominantly employed to describe adverse effects, it can also apply to beneficial, but unintended, consequences of the use of a drug. Developing drugs is a complicated process, because no two people are exactly the same, so even drugs that have virtually no side effects, might be difficult for some people. Also, it is difficult to make a drug that targets one part of the body but that doesn’t affect other parts,[1] the fact that increases the risk of side effects in the untargeted parts.
Occasionally, drugs are prescribed or procedures performed specifically for their side effects; in that case, said side effect ceases to be a side effect, and is now an intended effect. For instance, X-rays were historically (and are currently) used as an imaging technique; the discovery of their oncolytic capability led to their employ in radiotherapy (ablation of malignant tumours).
1 Frequency of side effects
2 Examples of therapeutic side effects
3 Examples of undesirable/unwanted side effects
Frequency of side effects[edit]
The probability or chance of experiencing side effects are characterised as : [2][3]
Very common, ≥ 1⁄10
Common (frequent), 1⁄10 to 1⁄100
Uncommon (infrequent), 1⁄100 to 1⁄1000
Rare, 1⁄1000 to 1⁄10000
Very rare, < 1⁄10000
Examples of therapeutic side effects[edit]
See also: Serendipity
Possible side effects of nicotine.[4]
Bevacizumab (Avastin), used to slow the growth of blood vessels, has been used against dry age-related macular degeneration, as well as macular edema from diseases such as diabetic retinopathy and central retinal vein occlusion.[5]
Buprenorphine has been shown experimentally (1982–1995) to be effective against severe, refractory depression.[6][7]
Bupropion (Wellbutrin), an anti-depressant, is also used as a smoking cessation aid; this indication was later approved, and the name of the smoking cessation product is Zyban. In Ontario, Canada, smoking cessation drugs are not covered by provincial drug plans; elsewhere, Zyban is priced higher than Wellbutrin, despite being the same drug. Therefore, some physicians prescribe Wellbutrin for both indications.[citation needed]
Carbamazepine is an approved treatment for bipolar disorder and epileptic seizures, but it has side effects useful in treating attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), schizophrenia, phantom limb syndrome, paroxysmal extreme pain disorder, neuromyotonia, and post-traumatic stress disorder.[8]
Dexamethasone and betamethasone in premature labor, to enhance pulmonary maturation of the fetus.[9]
Doxepin has been used to treat angiodema and severe allergic reactions due to its strong antihistamine properties.[10]
Gabapentin, approved for treatment of seizures and postherpetic neuralgia in adults, has side-effects which are useful in treating bipolar disorder1, essential tremor, hot flashes, migraine prophylaxis, neuropathic pain syndromes, phantom limb syndrome, and restless leg syndrome.[11]
Hydroxyzine, an antihistamine, is also used as an anxiolytic.[citation needed]
Magnesium sulfate in obstetrics for premature labor and preeclampsia.[9]
Methotrexate (MTX), approved for the treatment of choriocarcinoma, is frequently used for the medical treatment of an unruptured ectopic pregnancy.[12]
The SSRI medication sertraline is approved as an antidepressant but delays conjugal climax in men, and thus may be supplied to those in which climax is premature.[13]
Sildenafil was originally intended for pulmonary hypertension; subsequently, it was discovered that it also produces erections, for which it was later marketed.[citation needed]
Terazosin, an α1-adrenergic antagonist approved to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia (enlarged prostate) and hypertension, is (one of several drugs) used off-label to treat drug induced diaphoresis and hyperhidrosis (excessive sweating).[14][15]
Examples of undesirable/unwanted side effects[edit]
Main article: Adverse effect
Echinacea – more than 20 different types of reactions have been reported, including asthma attacks, loss of pregnancy, hives, swelling, aching muscles and gastrointestinal upsets.[16]
Feverfew – pregnant women should avoid using this herb, as it can trigger uterine contractions which could lead to premature labour or miscarriage.[17]
Asteraceae plants – which include feverfew, echinacea, dandelion and chamomile. Side effects include allergic dermatitis and hay fever.[citation needed]
Pharmacogenetics: the use of genetic information to determine which type of drugs will work best for a patient
^ Why do side effects occur? - i-base
^ "Common and Rare Side Effects for misoprostol oral".
^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2016-04-29. CS1 maint: Archived copy as title (link)
^ Detailed reference list is located on a separate image page.
^ Boseley, Sarah (2006-06-17). "Drugs firm blocks cheap blindness cure". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2010-05-20.
^ Gracer, Richard (February 2007). "The Buprenorphine Effect on Depression" (PDF). naabt.org. National Alliance of Advocates for Buprenorphine Treatment. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
^ Bodkin, JA; Zornberg, GL; Lukas, SE; Cole, JO (1995). "Buprenorphine Treatment of Refractory Depression". Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology. 15 (1): 49–57. doi:10.1097/00004714-199502000-00008. PMID 7714228.
^ Mood Stabilizers for Bipolar Disorder (Manic Depressive) Archived 2011-11-13 at the Wayback Machine. Leeheymd.com (2003-08-01). Retrieved on 2011-08-17.
^ a b Wing, DA; Powers, B; Hickok, D (2010). "U.S. Food and Drug Administration Drug Approval: Slow Advances in Obstetric Care in the United States". Obstetrics & Gynecology. 115 (4): 825–33. doi:10.1097/AOG.0b013e3181d53843. PMID 20308845.
^ Shen, WW; Mahadevan, J; Hofstatter, L; Sata, LS (July 1983). "Doxepin as a potent H2 and H2 antihistamine for epigastric distress". Am J Psychiatry. 140 (7): 957–8. doi:10.1176/ajp.140.7.957. PMID 6859336. Archived from the original on 2011-09-04.
^ Off-label Use of Gabapentin Archived 2007-08-09 at the Wayback Machine, Idaho Drug Utilization Review, educational leaflet, 2004.
^ "Pregnancy". drugs.nmihi.com. (New Medical Information and Health Information). Archived from the original on 11 October 2008.
^ Deem, Samuel G. "Premature Ejaculation". Emedicine.com. Archived from the original on 2008-12-01. Retrieved 2011-08-17.
^ Gelenberg, Alan J.; et al. (2010). Practice guideline for the treatment of patients with major depressive disorder (PDF). American Psychiatric Association.
^ Cheshire, William P.; Fealey, Robert D. (2008). "Drug-induced hyperhidrosis and hypohidrosis: incidence, prevention and management" (PDF). Drug Safety. 31 (2): 109–126. doi:10.2165/00002018-200831020-00002. ISSN 0114-5916. PMID 18217788.
^ "Filagra Vs Fildena". Filagra100mg.com. 23 February 2017. Archived from the original on 3 July 2017.
^ Wells, Rebecca Erwin; Turner, Dana P.; Lee, Michelle; Bishop, Laura; Strauss, Lauren (2016-04-01). "Managing Migraine During Pregnancy and Lactation". Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports. 16 (4): 40. doi:10.1007/s11910-016-0634-9. ISSN 1528-4042. PMID 27002079.
MedEffect Canada (Health Canada)
definitions.pdf
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Side_effect&oldid=906455700"
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KPXO-TV
ION MEDIA HAWAII LICENSE, INC.
Doing Business As: ION MEDIA HAWAII LICENSE, INC.
Bianca Frye
601 CLEARWATER PARK ROAD
BIANCAFRYE@IONMEDIA.COM
Shea Clark
Vice President, Support & Services
ION Media Networks, Inc.
14444 66th Street N
sheaclark@ionmedia.com
Michael S Hubner
ION Media Networks, Inc. .
Michael S. Hubner
michaelhubner@ionmedia.com
Nielsen DMA Honolulu
Program Title Jacob Two-Two E/I Qubo
Days/Times Program Regularly Scheduled Saturdays and Sundays / 11:00 am and 11:30 am CT
Days/Times Program Regularly Scheduled Mondays - Fridays / 11:00 am and 11:30 am CT
Total times aired 120
Describe the educational and informational objective of the program and how it meets the definition of Core Programming. The programs primary focus is on events at an elementary school filled with animal children and their teachers. The title character and his classmates are a recurring group of diverse creatures. The challenges in each episode are usually social or ethical dilemma with viewers learning about honesty, responsibility, friendship and other prosocial behavior. The programs illustrate that children can overcome new obstacles, accept the difference of others, become aware of their responsibilities and support and help those in need.
Days/Times Program Regularly Scheduled Saturdays and Sundays / 7:00 am and 7:30 am CT
Describe the educational and informational objective of the program and how it meets the definition of Core Programming. The Choo Choo Bob Show is a 30-minute program specifically created for children ages 4-11. Each program features a diverse community of people and puppets who share a love of trains, adventure and music. Viewers are introduced to a fantasy location called "Tiny Land' where a miniaturized environment of model trains and people encourage exploration as well as pro-social behaviors such as courtesy, compromise and patience. The program series proposes situations that require thoughtful choices and provides resolution geared to the unique concerns and abilities of young children.
Days/Times Program Regularly Scheduled Mondays - Fridays / 12:00 pm and 12:30 pm CT
Program Title Nutri Ventures E/I Qubo
Days/Times Program Regularly Scheduled Mondays - Fridays / 4:00 pm and 4:30 pm CT
Describe the educational and informational objective of the program and how it meets the definition of Core Programming. A series designed to promote healthy eating and impart information about each food group in an entertaining context which also contains other educational and informational objectives. The program highlights the distinct personalities of the four young heroes, who are between the ages of 4 and 10, in the episodes in a manner that utilizes how to engage in cooperative behavior and the need to do so. In addition, the series promotes strategic thinking and problem solving as the heroes must devise methods to get past the various creatures standing in the way of their mission.
Days/Times Program Regularly Scheduled Saturdays and Sundays / 5:00 pm and 5:30 pm CT
Describe the educational and informational objective of the program and how it meets the definition of Core Programming. An animated program for children 4 thru 7 with its primary focus on instruction. The program series mantra is knowing stuff in our power. The title character tells stories of his childhood to his grandchildren to show them the importance of play and imagination. Ultimately, imagination helps to solve problems and work together. Each episode will focus on educating and entertaining through stories of adventure and imagination. Included as plot points are struggles between imaginary play and electronic toys illustrating that the program is truly speaking to today's children.
Describe the educational and informational objective of the program and how it meets the definition of Core Programming. Set in medieval times, Jane and the Dragon is an animated show based on Martin Baynton's best selling book about a middle class medieval girl named Jane. Jane is raised in the Royal Court as a Knight in Training after she demonstrates her courage by leaving the castle to conquer the local dragon. The giant green Dragon, whose sense of humor exceeds his ferocity, instead becomes Jane's best friend and a part of her castle community. In each episode, Jane encounters a challenge that tests her problem solving skills and requires her to demonstrate her strength of character as a Knight of the King's Guard. Sometimes Jane learns a moral lesson, and other times she uses her analytical ability to illustrate how a problem can be made less complicated and easily solved.
Program Title Nutri Ventures E/I
Days/Times Program Regularly Scheduled Fridays / 8:00 am and 8:30 am ET/PT or 7:00 am and 7:30 am CT/MT
Days/Times Program Regularly Scheduled Mondays - Fridays / 9:00 am and 9:30 am CT
Total times aired 2
Program Title Artzooka E/I Qubo
Describe the educational and informational objective of the program and how it meets the definition of Core Programming. A live action program which takes place primarily in the craft room of the host. The focus of each episode is finding everyday items and using them to make fun creative art projects. The series encourages creative thinking and imagination produced in a positive manner to support a child's use of imagination and a love of art.
Describe the educational and informational objective of the program and how it meets the definition of Core Programming. Animal Atlas provides visual information from original and detailed footage of animals. The fast moving clips of a variety of species allows viewers to compare and contrast differing physiologies and habitats. The animal subjects are presented as they move informally and comfortably through their living activities, and the narration is well informed and unobtrusive. The program uses an interactive segment with multiple choice questions about the animals covered. The questions have just the right level of engagement and are a worthwhile component of the program. The program's constant reinforcement of species differentiation will facilitate learning for young people between the ages of 13 to 16.
Name of children's programming liaison Jeffrey Maguire
Address 875 Waimanu Street, Suite 630
City Honolulu
State HI
Email Address jeffreymaguire@ionmedia.com
Program Title Secret Millionaire's Club E/I Qubo
Describe the educational and informational objective of the program and how it meets the definition of Core Programming. Secret Millionaire's Club is a series that attracts and engages young viewers, between the ages of 8-12, as they follow the exciting and often comedic adventures of four attractive role models, in narratives designed to introduce children to basic concepts in business, financial literacy, and responsible money management, as well as important practical life lessons.
Describe the educational and informational objective of the program and how it meets the definition of Core Programming. Fishtronaut is a secret agent fish that wears a spacesuit so he can leave his home in Quiet Lake and explore the world outside the water in Smiling Trees Park. All sorts of environmental and nature-related mysteries pop up. With his friends, Marina (an 8 year old girl) and Zeek (a pre-teen monkey), the mysteries are always solved. In each episode, viewers are invited to clap and dance along with the cast to help reveal clues locked inside a magical multicolored ball.
Program Title Thomas Edison's Secret E/I Qubo
Describe the educational and informational objective of the program and how it meets the definition of Core Programming. Thomas Edison's Secret presents accurate, age appropriate scientific principles and concepts by portraying appealing young role models with whom young viewers can easily identify, in clever, comedic and wildly visual science based problem situations. It explores in the context of can do enthusiasm that characterized Thomas Edison's life and experiences. It invites young viewers to join in the adventure of science by making it interesting, challenging, and fun.
Days/Times Program Regularly Scheduled Saturdays and Sundays / 12:00 pm and 12:30 pm CT
Program Title Animal Science E/I Qubo
Describe the educational and informational objective of the program and how it meets the definition of Core Programming. Animal Science is a half hour educational and informational program that provides interesting factoids about a variety of animals. It is specifically produced for the 13 to 16 year old age group, but is also a highly entertaining program for a more general audience, in particular younger children ages 8 to 12. The program's quick moving segments, and cool graphics is sure to capture the interest of the intended audience.
Program Title Zula Patrol E/I Qubo
Describe the educational and informational objective of the program and how it meets the definition of Core Programming. Based on the book series by Deborah Manchester, The Zula Patrol teaches science and astronomy facts to a target audience of children 6 to 10 years of age. The Zula Patrol is a group of six animated aliens, headed by Captain Bula, who carry out a variety of scientific space missions. During their missions, Captain Bula and his crew often encounter their foe, Dark Truder, and his minion, Traxie, who are trying to take over the universe. Over the course of the story, the audience learns different facts about specific space topics such as stars, planets, orbits, moons, asteroids, comets, gravity, and space probes. The information is then highlighted during a segment where crew member Professor Multo delivers his Multo Moments or summary of scientific facts from the story. Typically, the stories also provide a social emotional tag based on tolerance and non violent conflict resolution.
Program Title Zoo Clues E/I Qubo
Describe the educational and informational objective of the program and how it meets the definition of Core Programming. Zoo Clues is a 30 minute program specifically created for young people between the ages of 13 and 16. The program's presentation mix of narration, visuals, and very well chosen topics delivers education and information while it entertains. Zoo Clues will leave viewers with a meaningful perspective about animas and meaningful comparison to their own human characteristics. The show's clever narration links disparate information together in a way that always makes clear that what viewers see is real, natural, and relates to their own life in the real world.
Program Title Adventures from the Book of Virtues E/I Qubo
Describe the educational and informational objective of the program and how it meets the definition of Core Programming. The Adventures from the Book of Virtues is based on the best seller book of the same title, this award winning series is designed to enlighten, inspire and spark the imagination of families everywhere. The classic stories illuminate the core virtues of honesty, work, compassion, responsibility, courage, self discipline, friendship, loyalty, and perseverance.
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| 0.520928
| 0.479072
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WPXM-TV
Nielsen DMA Miami-Ft. Lauderdale
Days/Times Program Regularly Scheduled Saturdays and Sundays / 5:00 pm and 5:30 pm ET
Days/Times Program Regularly Scheduled Sundays / 9:00 am and 9:30 ET/PT or 8:00 am and 8:30 am CT/MT
Describe the educational and informational objective of the program and how it meets the definition of Core Programming. The Choo Choo Bob Show is a 30-minute program specifically created for children ages 4-11. Each program features a diverse community of people and puppets who share a love of trains, adventure and music. Viewers are introduced to a fantasy location called "Tiny Land' where a miniaturized environment of model trains and people encourage exploration as well as pro-social behaviors such as courtesy, compromise and patience. The program series proposes situation that require thoughtful choices and provides resolution geared to the unique concerns and abilities of young children.
Program Title Busy World of Richard Scarry E/I Qubo
Days/Times Program Regularly Scheduled Saturdays and Sundays / 10:00 am and 10:30 am ET
Describe the educational and informational objective of the program and how it meets the definition of Core Programming. The series is specifically designed for preschool and elementary children and each program contains three ten minute stories. These stories are told thru animated animals usually on a quest to solve a mystery while also passing along informational and educational lessons.
Days/Times Program Regularly Scheduled Mondays - Sundays / 8:00 am and 8:30 am ET
Describe the educational and informational objective of the program and how it meets the definition of Core Programming. Fishronaut is a secret agent fish that wears a spacesuit so he can leave his home in Quiet Lake and explore the world outside the water in Smiling Trees Park. All sorts of environmental and nature-related mysteries pop up. With his friends, Marina (an 8 year old girl) and Zeek (a pre-teen monkey), the mysteries are always solved. In each episode, viewers are invited to clap and dance along with the cast to help reveal clues locked inside a magical multicolored ball.
Days/Times Program Regularly Scheduled Monday - Fridays / 6:00 pm and 6:30 pm ET
Days/Times Program Regularly Scheduled Mondays - Fridays / 12:00 pm and 12:30 pm ET
Program Title This is Daniel Cook E/I Qubo
Days/Times Program Regularly Scheduled Mondays - Fridays / 4:00 pm and 4:30 pm ET
Describe the educational and informational objective of the program and how it meets the definition of Core Programming. A totally improvised program featuring a six year old boy, Daniel Cook, the main character (non-actor), who interviews people on a variety of subjects. He shows his excitement, boredom or puzzlement. Daniel visits various locations and interacts with others in learning about the world and how it works showing that learning can be a real adventure filled with moments of discovery when you ask (the right) questions. Daniel relates well and quickly to his pre-school and early elementary school audience.
Program Title Marvin the Tap Dancing Horse E/I Qubo
Describe the educational and informational objective of the program and how it meets the definition of Core Programming. Marvin the Tap Dancing Horse captures the hearts of kids with its charming tales of life in the carnival. Created by Betty and Michael Paraskevas, the series looks at nine year-old Eddy Largo's adventures after he lands a summer job at the local carnival. He soon meets the stars of the show Marvin the Tap-Dancing Horse, Diamonds the Elephant, Elizabeth the Pig and Stripes the Tiger, and discovers that they can communicate with one another. Together, they overcome many obstacles while enjoying the excitement of carnival life. Children learn the valuable lessons of friendship and family, and believing in themselves.
Program Title Mickey's Farm E/I Qubo
Describe the educational and informational objective of the program and how it meets the definition of Core Programming. Mickey, a curious and adventurous Shetland Sheepdog, is a city dog who has just moved to a farm with his best friend, 14-year-old Megan. Each episode follows Mickey as he experiences new things on the farm. Often Mickey gets confused or into a bind, but with the help of Megan, his friends Guy (a wise goat) and Fiona (an energetic ferret), and their Magic Book, a solution is always found and Mickey learns something new. The show is narrated by Sunny (the sun) who is always watching over the activities on the farm. Episodes end with an original song, which reiterates new things learned. The show is intended to motivate children to explore new things, ask questions, problem-solve and make new friends.
Days/Times Program Regularly Scheduled Sundays / 10:00 am and 10:30 am ET/PT or 9:00 am and 9:30 am CT/MT
Days/Times Program Regularly Scheduled Satudays and Sundays / 12:00 pm and 12:30 pm ET
Describe the educational and informational objective of the program and how it meets the definition of Core Programming. Set in medieval times, Jane and the Dragon is an animated show based on Martin Baynton's best selling book about a middle class medieval girl named Jane. Jane is raised in the Royal Court as a Knight in Training after she demonstrates her courage by leaving the castle to conquer the local dragon. The giant green Dragon, whose sense of humor exceeds his ferocity, instead becomes Jane's best friend and a part of the castle community. In each episode, Jane encounters a challenge that tests her problem solving skills and requires her to demonstrate her strength of character as a Knight of the King's Guard. Sometimes Jane learns a moral lesson, and other times she uses her analytical ability to illustrate how a problem can be made less complicated and easily solved.
Days/Times Program Regularly Scheduled Mondays - Sundays / 7:00 pm and 7:30 pm ET
Describe the educational and informational objective of the program and how it meets the definition of Core Programming. An animated program for children 4 thru 7 with its primary focus on instruction. The program series mantra is "knowing stuff in our power." The title character tells stories of his childhood to his grandchildren to show them the importance of play and imagination. Ultimately, imagination helps to solve problems and work together. Each episode will focus on educating and entertaining through stories of adventure and imagination. Included as plot points are struggles between imaginary play and electronic toys illustrating that the program is truly speaking to today's children.
Days/Times Program Regularly Scheduled Sundays / 11:00 am and 11:30 am ET/PT or 10:00 am and 10:30 am CT/MT
Describe the educational and informational objective of the program and how it meets the definition of Core Programming. Doki offers fun characters each with their own strengths and weaknesses (therefore offering a broad representation of possible at-home-viewers). The team is supportive of one another and the "world" of Doki and its characters reflects the media landscape of today's child. Although the most supportive programming involves the audience through presentation of material in a way that demands intellectual interaction on the part of the viewer (i.e., encouraging the viewer to assist on-screen characters to solve problems), and this series might benefit from this type of "interaction," Doki does offer enthusiastic characters, real questions, and an "arguably" realist presentation of discovery. Combined, these elements will keep children engaged and support their learning.
Program Title Jacob Two Two E/I Qubo
Days/Times Program Regularly Scheduled Mondays - Fridays / 7:00 am and 7:30 am ET
Describe the educational and informational objective of the program and how it meets the definition of Core Programming. The program's primary focus is on events at an elementary school filed with animal children and their teachers. The title character and his classmates are a recurring group of diverse creatures. The challenges in each episode are usually social or ethical dilemma with viewers learning about honesty, responsibility, friendship and other prosocial behavior. The programs illustrate that children can overcome new obstacles, accept the difference of others, become aware of their responsibilities and support and help those in need.
Days/Times Program Regularly Scheduled Mondays - Fridays / 10:00 am and 10:30 am ET
Program Title Guess with Jess E/I Qubo
Describe the educational and informational objective of the program and how it meets the definition of Core Programming. Animated barnyard animals encounter everyday situations that raise a "question of the day." Their problem solving is similar to the standard scientific inquiry "asking, testing, and finding a way." The characters focus is on science and nature teaching the program's preschool audience about the world and about how to go about answering everyday questions. The series carefully builds the child viewer's knowledge by offering a question and then little by little adding to the information necessary to answer that question.
Program Title Babar E/I Qubo
Days/Times Program Regularly Scheduled Saturdays and Sundays / 9:00 am and 9:30 am ET
Describe the educational and informational objective of the program and how it meets the definition of Core Programming. Babar, based on the books by Laurent de Brunhoff, is an animated show about a young orphaned elephant who finds the strength to rise above the challenges he faces, including the death of his parents, as he journeys through life. Each episode of the show develops a social emotional message such as taking responsibility, being patient and persistent in hard work, respecting people's privacy, learning to cope with unforeseen changes, and being honest. These messages emerge from the need to resolve a dilemma that is faced by Babar, one of his friends or family members.
Describe the educational and informational objective of the program and how it meets the definition of Core Programming. Animal Atlas provides visual information from original and detailed footage of animals. The fast moving clips of a variety of species allows viewers to compare and contrast differing physiologies and habitats. The animal subjects are presented as they move informally and comfortably through their living activities, and the narration is well informed and unobtrusive. The program uses an interactive segment with multiple choice questions about the animals covered. These questions have just the right level of engagement and are a worthwhile component of the program. The program's constant reinforcement of species differentiation will facilitate learning for young people between the ages of 13 to 16.
Name of children's programming liaison Chris Pearson
Address 14901 NE 20th Avenue
City Miami
State FL
Email Address chrispearson@ionmedia.com
Days/Times Program Regularly Scheduled Saturdays and Sundays / 12:00 pm and 12:30 pm ET
Days/Times Program Regularly Scheduled Fridays / 8:00 am and 8:30 am ET or 7:00 am and 7:30 am CT/MT
Describe the educational and informational objective of the program and how it meets the definition of Core Programming. Fishronaut is a secret agent fish that wears a spacesuit so he can leave his home in Quiet Lake and explore the world outside the water in Smiling Trees Park. All sorts of environmental and nature-related mysteries pop up. With his friends, Marina (an 8 year old girl) and Zeek (and pre-teen monkey), the mysteries are always solved. In each episode, viewers are invited to clap and dance along with the cast to help reveal clues locked inside a magical multicolored ball.
ION Media License Company, LLC
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Global Teams
Envirosell Headquarters
907 Broadway New York, NY 10010 - (212) 673-9100
Adam Kavett
Director of Environmental Strategy
Adam draws on strong expertise in human-centered design and cognitive ergonomics to deliver powerful guidance to refine and reimagine experiences. Adam leads project teams and consults across a variety of industries, leading Envirosell's exploration into non-traditional and unique space types.
Since joining Envirosell in 2011, Adam has led over 100 custom research and consulting projects in 17 countries across 4 continents. His client list includes some of the biggest names in retail and consumer packaged goods.
Outside of retail, Adam has worked on the development of major transit hubs, cultural and educational institutions, and large-scale workplaces for real-estate brokerage firms. He is also Envirosell's in-house expert on wine, beer, and spirits categories.
Adam graduated from Cornell University with a B.S. in Design and Environmental Analysis, concentrating in Human Factors & Ergonomics. He spends most of his free time divided between obsessing over his garden and foraging in specialty grocery stores.
Benjamin Goodheart
Director of Media
Benjamin has been working on video projects ever since he was a teenager and took that passion to task when he studied film at Quinnipiac University. When editing, he’s privy to the equally absurd and mundane footage the research cameras catch in the field. When he’s not wielding tools in Premiere, Benjamin can be found digging through record crates.
Brett Barndt
Senior Director of Client Services and Business Development
Brett brings years of expertise on the client side. Starting in traditional strategy jobs in finance, he found a knack for doing qualitative research for new product development, and contributed to game-changing financial innovations. Early on, Brett recognized that strategy is executed through people and was drawn to helping multi-functional teams work together in new ways, building expertise in change & coaching, collaboration, and design thinking. He has setup and led launch and change programs in large corporates engaging hundreds of participants around the world.
His perspective ranges from traditional corporate strategy, new product innovation, branding and marketing, to selling products at retail. He easily supports clients from traditional strategy to hands-on activation.
At Envirosell, he works with clients to design research proposals to meet their needs, and has been instrumental in introducing new methods and approaches, integrating a belief in the value of change management and design thinking into our process and culture. He leads new partnerships to bring Envirosell’s human-centered and evidence-based design performance practices to AI for sensors in retail.
With a traditional quant management MS after a BFA in Drawing & Design, Brett teaches at Parson’s School of Design in the MS in Strategic Design & Management that mixes B-school and D-school, giving graduates strategy and creative skills for today’s wicked problems. He is also a PhD candidate studying action research for social change with The Taos Institute.
Craig Childress
Craig’s history with Envirosell since 1990 includes having served as a Project Director and later V.P. of Research. He holds a B.A. in environmental psychology, and an M.A. in English from the University of California at Davis, as well as an M.F.A. from the University of Iowa. Originally from Texas and California, Craig managed to drop his Texas accent immediately upon arriving in the Big Apple. He lives in Manhattan with his wife, daughter, and son.
Diana Dawson
Vice President of Consulting
As Envirosell’s VP of Consulting, Diana collaborates with organizations to improve the customer journey, from concept to implementation. Diana advises on a range of issues to create optimal shopper experiences and improve store performance. Drawing from her experience as an MFA in Theatre Arts, Diana facilitates role playing, focus groups, and fast iteration with design firms.
Since 2002, Diana has made a career of observing and analyzing shopping behavior and the influence of store environments on that behavior. Her expertise includes store design, interactive engagements, and communication hierarchies. In Envirosell’s global headquarters, Diana serves as a mentor and supervisor to multiple departments. At home, she is the mother of two teenagers, which gives her the real-world experience to empathize with a crucial customer base.
Diana has worked with hundreds of retailers and service providers, including:
Estée Lauder Companies
An engaging presenter, Diana was the Keynote Speaker at the Sony Global Conference and has spoken at many events, including Vanity Fair’s Consumer & Shopper Insights Forum and Healthcare Design Magazine’s Design Forum.
Larissa Hunt
Director Of Data & Methodology
From applying and optimizing project-specific methodologies to assuring the quality of output, Larissa oversees all things data at Envirosell's Global Headquarters in NYC. Larissa works with other departments and her staff to filter client needs into projects with useful, reliable results. Larissa is also the liaison for 3rd party vendors, including focus groups, moderators, and transcription/translation.
A member of design:retail's 2018 class of 40 under 40, Larissa has worked her way from data intern to Director of Data & Methodology over the course of less than a decade. She received her Master's of Science in Social Research in 2010.
Liam O'Connell
Liam joined the Envirosell team in 2008 after graduating from Tulane University. Since then he has studied consumer behavior across the world, from Johannesburg South Africa to Ivanovo Russia. In his spare time he enjoys reading, hockey and travel.
Paco Underhill
Paco’s first book, Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping, is an internationally recognized bestseller and has been published in 27 languages. His columns and editorials have appeared in The New York Times, Money Magazine and The Wall Street Journal, among others. Paco spends most of his days on the road, as a featured and keynote speaker on six continents. Today he is known as one of our era’s forefront retail anthropologists.
Tom Moseman
Having spent almost half his life working at Envirosell, Tom is considered a “lifer”. His first career was in the theatre where he worked as an actor, director and producer. He believes this was perfect training: theatre creates an external expression of the psychological world; Envirosell examines the behavioral world to reveal the psychological one.
Madeleine Berenyi
Madeleine comes to us from Melbourne, Australia. With a strong background in consumer behavior research and psychology - and a natural love of all things retail - Envirosell suits her to a T. When she’s not at work, you can find her exploring different NYC neighborhoods, and sampling the seemingly endless variety of cuisines available.
Preetika Gupta
Preetika is an energetic, outgoing, innovative and creative person. Her deep interest in people and places across the world naturally contributes to her profession. In her free time she enjoys cooking, reading and spending time with close friends and family.
Ravi Jha
After working with Envirosell’s unique set of research methodologies to grasp the intricate details of data collection and processing, Ravi joined the Project Team to help transform research findings into actionable insights for retail clients.
Ravi started working in Envirosell’s data department while completing a B.A in Psychology and Politics from NYU.
In his spare time, Ravi is an avid runner. He completed the New York City marathon in November 2018.
Safiya Mitchell
Senior Research Associate
Safiya started at Envirosell as a field researcher. She was on her way to visiting all 50 states before joining the NYC office as a research associate. She holds a B.A. in sociology from Cornell University and is passionate about creating intuitive environments where people can thrive. When she’s not talking about human centered design, she’s trying to remedy her over-packing problem.
Haoran (Sophie) Wang
Sophie holds her Master degree in Integrated Marketing Communications from Northwestern University. She is passionate about turning data into stories and actionable strategies with a consumer-centric and data-driven mindset. Her goal is to become a good storyteller that can bring positive impact to target audience. She is a life-long film fanatic, a real foodie, and a big fan of Corgi.
Bryan Splittorf
Bryan comes to Envirosell after applying consumer insights to product development, marketing, sales, and advertising. He holds a B.A. in Psychology from Colgate University and is passionate about using market research to make smarter business decisions. When he's not exercising his mind by diving into data, he enjoys exercising his body by going trail running, lifting weights, and playing Capoeira in Queens.
Patricia Maltez
Patricia loves numbers, so she switched from personal assistant to Accounting. Having joined Envirosell in 2004, she balances her work with her hobbies, including watching futbol (soccer), sewing, knitting and reading spy fiction thriller books. Patricia has the most “favorites” in life out of anyone in the office. Two examples are her favorites TV shows: Castle, Bones and NCIS. And her favorite footballer: “Messi”.
Paul Kelly
Field Coordinator
Paul has worked for Envirosell for over 13 years now, and is an expert in all aspects of fieldwork. He has been team leader on hundreds of retail projects with clients in various industries, traveling globally to cities such as Moscow, Shanghai, and Guatemala City, among others, to team-lead research and teach Envirosell’s methodology to team members. Paul is also a film actor, and has taught public speaking workshops to Law Students at Hofstra University.
Roni Weiss
As Communications Manager, Roni's helps craft Envirosell's PR and social media strategy, along with streamlining internal processes for the NYC office and its relationships with global offices.
Outside of Envirosell, Roni works with Travel Unity, a 501(c)(3) focused on increasing diversity and inclusion in the world of travel.
He lives in Westchester County with his partner, Lauren, and their four children.
Nicole Pineda
Nicole has worked at Envirosell for almost 4 years and currently holds the role of Data Analyst. During her time at Envirosell, she has explored other roles, including Field Interviewer and Researcher, Eye Tracking Technician, and Data Analyst Assistant.
She graduated from CUNY Hunter College with a BA in Sociology and as a Yalow Scholar (students recognized in pursing a career in scientific research).
Joe Parisi
Joseph works on all things data at the Envirosell NYC Office. When he is not computing deliverables and collaborating with project staff, Joseph can be found developing new data analysis systems for the team. He graduated from Cornell University with a BA in Physics. Outside of the office, Joseph is a passionate creative writer, baseball fan, and national park goer.
Field Team Leaders
Michael Bunch
Senior Team Leader
Michael began working with Envirosell after more than 15 years working in healthcare administration. He was initially drawn to this work through his interest in psychology as it relates to human behavior. After traveling the world with Envirosell, he has not only worked for a variety of clients but also for a variety of roles within the company. He specializes in methodology training and in-field problem solving.
Clelia Giron
Clelia is a lifelong New Jersey resident and has been with the company for 10 years working on over 130 projects. She currently specializes in eye-tracking and shop-alongs while also team-leading. She has a BA from Denison University in Communication and Spanish. In her spare time, Clelia enjoys traveling, meeting new people and immersing herself in different cultures and languages.
John has been part of the field staff for over 15 years. A lifelong New Yorker, he received his BA in Cultural Studies from SUNY Empire State College. He taught in NYC public and private elementary schools and still tutors math to children. He has worked on hundreds of Envirosell jobs, touring the world team-leading in-store research for clients in varying industries. Outside of Envirosell, he toured the world as the guitarist in the band Codeine.
Silva Mateosian
Silva is a self-professed product junkie who counts cosmetics research among her favorite jobs in her 15+ years at Envirosell. She moved to NYC when she was 18 to attend AMDA and has worked professionally in theatre all her life. She believes that she uses the same tools for research that she does to create a role onstage and that her experience in both fields has many parallels.
Theresa Bruno
Theresa has a lengthy (continuing) career in theatre and television, during which she has toured internationally and performed in 49 of the 50 states. A born and bred New Yorker, she holds a B.A. in English from Wagner College, where she also studied Music, Theatre, and Education. She joined our team in 2007, and her background in the Arts, in tandem with her travels, provides her with a skill-set uniquely suited to our research. She is also a full-time mom to her 2 year-old son and part-time sounding board for her television writer husband.
Timothy Bush
Timothy has been a Team Leader for 15+ years, during which he has researched for some of the largest clients in Envirosell’s history, and is the creator of most of our concept illustrations for our clients’ ideation sessions and reports. Outside of Envirosell, Tim has authored and/or illustrated more than 25 children’s books, including the long-running ‘Capital Mysteries’ series published by Random House, with two others optioned as feature films.
Envirosell Brazil
Maria Cristina (Kita) Mastopietro
Kita has a BA in Sociology and a Master of Arts degree in Psychology from Stanford University, and taught Social Psychology at the University of São Paulo. She founded and headed Sense since 1990, and joined the Envirosell family in 1988. In addition, she runs an educational non-profit organization for at-risk teens. She is married, has 3 cats and a dog.
Keyla Priscilla dos Reis de Almeida
In her personal life, Keyla loves to travel, to read and to spend time with her parents. In the professional world, she is focused on always learning new things, and enjoys being engaged and stimulated by the next challenge.
Envirosell Italy
Via Eustachi, 31 20129 Milano, Italy - 39.02.29405764
Giusi Scandroglio
Giusi has more than two decades of experience in market research and shopper marketing. While Envirosell Italy is functional throughout Italy and greater Europe, her industry experience also includes working in both North America and Asia. She earned her master's degree in psychology from the University of Padova in Padova, Italy.
Envirosell Japan
Tokyo Opera City Tower 24F 3-20-2 Nishishinjuku Shinjuku-ku Tokyo 163-1424 Japan - 81.3.6859.2267
Koji Fukuta
Representative Director
As the author of Shopper Marketing, Fukuta-san is considered the leading expert of shopper research in Japan. He has extensive experience in delivering store planning workshops and consulting services for commercial store planning in the global market.
Shuho Nirasawa
Nirasawa-san has been in market research for six years. His experience includes conducting research vending machine beverages as well as beverages in convenience stores. Recent projects include a measurement survey on effects of laundry detergent shelf changes in a drugstore.
Envirosell Mexico
Homero 223, 5th Floor Polanco, 11560 Mexico City, MX. - T: +52 (55) 2155-9911
Pamela Rodríguez
Gilberto Hernandez
Envirosell South Korea
2-7 10th Floor, H-Tower 102-19 Nonhyun-dong, Gangnam-ku 135-836 Seoul, Korea - 82 2.3014.1000
Jin Man Nam
Jin Man launched Envirosell Korea in 2002 but has been in the market research world since 1995. He has held several client seminars and published Envirosell Korea Newsletters. Jin Man holds a B.A. in Business Administration from the Korea University in Seoul. He lives in Seoul with his wife and two daughters.
Angela Kim
Angela Kim has been a part of Envirosell Korea since 2012. She a background that includes years of on-trade studies with clients in the Beer and RTD industries as well as other retail-related projects. At Envirosell, she manages incoming projects and is a main communicator with the Envirosell family. She is a mother of a lovely 2-year old daughter.
Tina Kim
Tina Kim is the project manager of Envirosell Korea. As a founding member of Envirosell Korea, Tina has conducted store planning projects from electronics to the airport, focused on the understanding of Korean shopping behavior. She holds a B.A. in Journalism from Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul. She loves traveling- especially if there is beautiful nature to be seen.
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[PAST EVENT] The Foundation & Future of Federalism: Deputy Attorney General Stephen A. Cobb
Law School, Room 127
613 S Henry St
Prior to joining the Office of the Attorney General, Stephen Cobb served in the Obama Administration as Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. In this role, he was part of a front office management team advising on intellectual property legislation and policy implementation, and public outreach in areas related to intellectual property and innovation. As a Presidential Appointee, Mr. Cobb served as a representative of both USPTO, an agency with of 13,000 employees with an annual budget of over $3 Billion, the Department of Commerce within interagency working groups, and acted as a liaison to the White House on cross administration initiatives.
Prior to joining the Department of Commerce, Mr. Cobb served as Counsel and Partner, respectively, at two prominent law firms in Northern Virginia where he represented financial institutions and business entities in a variety of disputes in state and federal courts across the country. Before entering private practice, Mr. Cobb clerked for the Honorable Barry R. Poretz in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Mr. Cobb has also served as an Adjunct Law Professor at the George Mason University School of Law, teaching Negotiation and Legal Drafting. A native of Norfolk, Virginia, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Maryland, College Park and a Juris Doctor from the William & Mary Law School as a member of the Class of 2007.
[[e|kwconnell, Kevin Connell]]
Public Policy Events
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Tag Archives: The Nazz
The Whisky-a-Go-Go: LA’s Contribution to Rock ‘n Roll History
The Iconic Whisky-a-Go-Go Exterior
Fun Facts About LA’s Whisky-a-Go-Go
The Whisky A-Go-Go, at 8901 Sunset Blvd at Clark, West Hollywood, CA became the principal hangout of Sunset Strip musicians and hipsters in the 1960s
The 1967 film The Graduate features Dustin Hoffman’s character Benjamin running out its doors into the street
Johnny Rivers was the first sensation to come out of the club, soon after it opened
The ‘trend’ of having a mini-skirted girl dancing above the crowd in a cage got its start at the club
The Whisky always had two or three bands playing, but they were not always billed.
Often the unbilled bands were simply local bands, but it being Hollywood and all, sometimes unbilled local groups acting as the house band went on to become hugely famous (like The Doors)
At times, the billed bands couldn’t make it, and another band was substituted. While this is common in nightclubs, what was uncommon about the Whisky was that the band substituting could be just as good or better, and possibly even better-known, than the band it was replacing
It was not uncommon for a group to be booked for a week at the Whisky and then to skip a night for a larger gig
The Whisky, in its heyday, was open six or seven nights a week
When no one well-known was billed, local groups from LA would play
A partial list of the acts that played at the Whisky – it is literally a “Who’s Who” of Rock ‘n Roll:
Jefferson Airplane (later Jefferson Starship/Starship)
The Jimi Hendrix Experience
John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers
Lemon Pipers
The Nazz
Chicago Transit Authority (later Chicago)
Blues Image
Count Bassie
Junior Walker
Sha na na
The Five Stairsteps
J Giles Band
Brownsville Station
Edgar Winters
Flo and Eddie
Chambers Brothers
Rufus (featuring Chaka Khan)
and many, many more…
Special thanks to www.ckickenonaunicycle.com
Tagged as Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, Allman Brothers, Bachman Turner Overdrive, Badfinger, band, bands, BB King, billed, Billy Preston, Black Sabbath, Blues Image, Bob Seger, booking, Brownsville Station, Buddy Rich, CA, Chaka Khan, Chambers Brothers, Chicago, Chicago Transit Authority, Chuck Berry, Climax Blues Band, club, Count Bassie, Cream, dance, dancing, Dr. John, Dustin Hoffman, Edgar WInters, Elvin Bishop, Eric Burdon, Eric Burdon & The Animals, Fleetwood Mac, Flo and Eddie, Flying Burrito Brothers, Focus, Foghat, Funkadelic, gig, gigs, Golden Earring, Grand Funk, Grand Funk Railroad, group, Guns 'n Roses, Humble Pie, Iggy and the Stooges, Iggy Pop, Iron Butterfly, J Giles Band, Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, John Mayall, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Johnny Rivers, Junior Walker, King Crimson, LaBelle, Led Zeppelin, Lemon Pipers, Linda Ronstadt, Little Feat, Little Richard, Looking Glass, Los Angeles, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Mothers of Invention, Motley Crue, Mott the Hoople, Mountain, music, Nazareth, New York Dolls, Otis Redding, Pink Floyd, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Redbone, Rick Springfield, rock 'n roll, rock music, Roxy Music, Rufus, Sam & Dave, Sha na na, Smokey Robinson, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, Status Quo, Steely Dan, Steppenwolf, Steve Miller, Steve Miller Band, Stevie Wonder, Sugarloaf, Sunset Blvd, Sunset Strip, Taj Mahal, Ted Nugent, Ten Years After, The Animals, The Beach Boys, The Byrds, The Doors, The Five Stairsteps, The Graduate, The Hollies, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Kinks, The Nazz, The Turtles, The Zombies, Them, Three Dog Night, Traffic, Van Halen, Velvet Underground, War, West Hollywood, Whisky a Go-Go, Yes, ZZ Top
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The White House Is Asking for Signs of Bias on Facebook and Twitter
Jon Swartz
Barrons.com May 16, 2019
The Trump Administration is escalating its dispute with (FB) (ticker: FB), (TWTR) (TWTR), Alphabet’s (GOOG) Google, and other internet platforms over charges they engage in political bias. Late Wednesday, the White House’s Twitter account asked its 18.5 million followers if they have been “censored” or “silenced online,” and directed them to an online form. What follows is a series of questions, asking for examples of political bias from Facebook, Twitter, Google’s YouTube, Facebook’s Instagram, and other platforms.
U.S. lawmakers take jabs at Amazon, Big Tech in antitrust hearing
Taylor Swift made $185 million in 2018, making her the highest-paid celebrity
LVMH Claims a Piece of Stella McCartney's Namesake Brand
Trump Expressed Concern About Pentagon Cloud-Computing Contract
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Communications Systems, Inc. Declares Quarterly Dividend Of $0.02 Per Share
PR Newswire March 1, 2019
MINNETONKA, Minn., March 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Communications Systems, Inc. (JCS) ("CSI" or the "Company"), a global provider of enterprise network infrastructure, voice and data communication products and services for deployments and management of IT networks, today announced that its Board of Directors has declared a cash dividend of $0.02 per common share. The dividend is payable on April 1, 2019, to shareholders of record as of March 15, 2019. This marks the 66th consecutive quarter that CSI has paid a dividend to its shareholders.
CSI Logo (PRNewsfoto/Communications Systems, Inc.)
About Communications Systems
Communications Systems, Inc. provides connectivity infrastructure and services for global deployments of broadband networks. Focusing on innovative, cost-effective solutions, CSI provides customers the ability to deliver, manage, and optimize their broadband network services and architecture. From the integration of fiber optics in any application and environment to efficient home voice and data deployments to optimization of data and application access, CSI provides tools for maximum utilization of the network from the edge to the user. With partners and customers in over 50 countries, CSI has built a reputation as a reliable global innovator focusing on quality and customer service.
This press release includes certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding future financial performance, future growth and future acquisitions. These statements are based on Communications Systems' current expectations or beliefs and are subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances. Actual results may vary materially from those expressed or implied by the statements herein due to changes in economic, business, competitive or regulatory factors, and other risks and uncertainties affecting the operation of Communications Systems' business. These risks, uncertainties and contingencies are presented in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K and, from time to time, in the Company's other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The information set forth herein should be read in light of such risks. Further, investors should keep in mind that the Company's financial results in any particular period may not be indicative of future results. Communications Systems is under no obligation to, and expressly disclaims any obligation to, update or alter its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, changes in assumptions or otherwise.
Communications Systems, Inc.
Mark Fandrich
mark.fandrich@commsysinc.com
Roger H. D. Lacey
View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/communications-systems-inc-declares-quarterly-dividend-of-0-02-per-share-300805125.html
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A Fly Fishing Magazine Unlike Any Other
A once in a lifetime trip to Patagonia.
Spring 2019 - Motivation
By - Judy Muller
photo by George Lewis photo by George Lewis
Some time ago, when I first started toying with the idea of a trip to Patagonia to fish for trout, a good non-angling friend asked me an interesting question. “Why,” she wondered, “would someone spend thousands of dollars to travel thousands of miles to catch the same kind of fish that could be caught in rivers much closer to home, and then, after all that effort and expense, release those fish back into the water?”
What seemed absurd to her seemed entirely sensible to me. “Because,” I replied, “that ‘someone’ is about to turn 70, because life is short and knees are weak, and the chance to wade in beautiful rivers in faraway places and connect even briefly with wild creatures is finite.” Actually, my answer was not nearly as polished as that, but one of the benefits of writing a fish story is the right to take some editorial liberties.
As for the part about putting the fish back in the river, I realize that catch and release fishing is a mystery to non-anglers, and I have given up trying to explain why conserving a fishery is so important, and why, as a famous angler once said, a trout is too beautiful to be caught just once. For the sake of the larger point here, let’s just move along.
The larger point has to do with time’s winged chariot hurrying near, as the poem goes, “hurrying” being the operative term. About a year before I was to turn 70, it occurred to me that I probably had about 15 good years left, if the family’s average life expectancy means anything, and that I should do those things that might not be doable for too much longer. Fishing in the Patagonia region of Chile was one of those things. Chile, in the language of the indigenous peoples, means “where the world ends,” which has a nice ring to it, bucket-list-wise. So I impulsively booked a trip to a place I had read about in a fly-fishing catalogue, the lodge at "El Saltamontes," which means “the grasshopper.” It promised miles and miles of private water, from rivers to spring creeks to lakes, where huge trout were waiting for the grasshoppers that regularly blow into the water, providing a feast that is easily replicated by an artificial dry fly. The lodge only takes 10 guests at a time, providing fishing guides, fine cuisine, and spectacular scenery. I booked it for two, figuring I had a whole year to find someone who might like to go with me, or, as my brother John put it, “to get lucky.” I didn’t, so my brother volunteered to go with me, which turned out to be a perfect choice. We grew up in a family of anglers, and have shared many fish stories over the years. “Dad would have loved this!” became our mantra on this trip, uttered at least once a day, accompanied by the kind of reminiscing that could only have been appreciated by someone who shares your life history. At this age, in fact, we are the only ones left who share that common history, a point that was not lost on either of us.
Fly fishing for trout is a pleasure that stretches back to my childhood, which is probably why it has the power to make me feel like a child. When I wade into a river, peer below the surface of the clear mountain water, see the quick glint of sun reflecting off the back of a rainbow trout or the gold streak of a brown trout darting out from behind a rock or from under the riverbank, my heart quickens just a bit, and in a good way. I become absorbed in that place and that moment. And just for that moment, I forget about all the grown-up stuff I’ve left behind — demands and deadlines, taxes, and teaching. And if I’m lucky enough to fool that fish with an artificial grasshopper tied to the end of my line, I will have the thrill of seeing it charge up from a pool or riffle. And if, in that moment, I can summon the requisite skill, I will set the hook and keep the line tight enough to bring him to the net, where a quick meet-and-greet ends with slipping the hook out and releasing him unharmed back to the river. None of those steps — the cast, the strike, the landing, the release — is guaranteed, no matter how many fish have connected with my line over the years. Each encounter is brand new, an adrenaline rush that never grows old, even as I do.
Starting with my family, then with various friends and lovers, I have fished in some magical places, from Yellowstone to New Zealand, from the Catskills to Canada, from the Sierras to the Rockies, and in places with exotic names like the River of No Return Wilderness. Patagonia was the Shangri-La of them all, and while expectations are often “disappointments under construction,” as they say, my expectations in this case were not just realized, but surpassed.
Getting there involved a 12-hour flight from Los Angeles to Santiago, a three-day layover in that capital city, and a 3-hour flight to southern Chile’s Aisen region, to a little airport in Balmaceda, followed by a 2-hour drive to the ranch. Our host, Jose Gorrono, met us at the airport. In the fly fishing catalogue that first drew my attention to El Saltamontes Lodge, Gorrono is described as a “modern Renaissance man,” the real-life version of the “most interesting man in the world” from the Dos Equis ad. The skeptic in my journalist brain scoffed, chalking it up to typical tourist brochure hyperbole.
Then I met the guy.
photo by - George Lewis
During our week with Jose on his massive estancia, we learned that Jose had designed and built his own electrical generator back in the 80’s, and shared the excess electricity with the local community. He designed and built the beautiful lodge and cabins out of local river stone and rough-hewn logs from the ranch property, where he raises prize horses and alpacas. He had sailed the Pacific Ocean by himself from Chile to Australia many times, and once had to repair his own boat at sea to survive. He had searched for, and succeeded in finding, sunken treasure. And, he had pulled off a self-rescue after a skiing fall during an avalanche, managing to do so with a compound fracture of his arm.
What Jose does not do, apparently, is fly fish. It took a visiting angler (an American) to clue him in to the spectacular fishing conditions on his estancia, which prompted him to set up the fishing lodge some years ago.
Also, it should be noted, he is a quite dashing 60-something, with a head of dazzling white hair and a smile to match. So when Jose flashed those pearly-whites my way, it took me a moment to digest his first words to us. “I do have some news,” he said, adding, “You two are the only guests at the lodge this week.”
For some couples this might have been received as a great windfall: the whole place to ourselves, complete with a master fishing guide and a chef, not to mention a genial host with amazing stories to tell, and miles and miles of great trout-fishing water. My sister-in-law, Susie, would no doubt have been delighted at the prospect of a week to explore a strange land, with exotic birds and plants (she doesn’t really like to fish). But as brother and sister, the prospect of having to spend the next six days talking mostly to each other was something of a daunting prospect. To file under “watch out what you ask for,” we had been dreading the prospect of sharing our vacation time with, say, Americans who wanted to bring up politics at the dinner table. In fact, we were sure that the six very loud Americans aboard our flight from Santiago might be headed for the same lodge, and we were preparing ourselves for a lot of “letting it go” moments. When those guys headed off with another fishing outfit, and Jose told us the news that we would be alone at the estancia, we had to shift our expectations dramatically. This was not one of those moments where we thought, “Dad would have loved this!” Our parents were extremely gregarious people, collecting other people’s life stories like so many souvenirs of each trip. Could we really go a whole week without devolving into sibling rivalry, snarky remarks, and suggestions for self-improvement aimed, of course, at the other person?
The fact that we did so says a lot about a) the power of meditation, and b) the power of nostalgia and shared stories, the kind of stories that would bore other people, but not us, because we were the stars of these stories. There was the time, for example, on a family fishing trip to Yellowstone, when my brother abruptly interrupted his evening bath, stopping his ablutions midstream, because he suddenly saw trout rising to a hatch of insects. I have a lovely rear-view photo of him, wearing nothing but his boots and a hat, hooking a very nice fish. For his part, he regrets that someone (can’t imagine who) lost the video he once took of me false-casting a very, very small trout on my line, back and forth, back and forth, totally unaware that I had caught a fish. In my defense, and because I am the one writing this story, I want to point out that it was a very, very, very small fish. Anyone could have missed it.
And then there was the time we had just come back from a week long trip in Montana, when my father almost died from the rupture of an aortic aneurysm. When he was later recovering from emergency open-heart surgery in Billings, I asked him, “Dad, what would we have done if your aneurysm had ruptured just days earlier, when we were still in the back country?” And he responded, without even a pause, “I would hope you would have had the good sense to prop me up against a tree and keep on fishing. The trip was paid for, after all.”
With a lifetime of such memories to sustain us, and a full week of fishing to create even more of them, we soon settled into a daily rhythm on the estancia. Our cabin had two enormous bedrooms, each with a private bath, and a magnificent view of the river valley. Huge trout in the pond below our porch provided a spectacular air show every morning and evening, leaping for insects and plunging back down with a satisfying splash, producing overlapping rings backlit by some of the most astonishing sunrises, and lovely sunsets, I have ever seen. Each morning at 7:30 am, one of the ranch hands would show up to build a fire in our wood stove, and bring us coffee.
By 9:00 am, we had walked to the lodge to have breakfast with Jose and Brett Just, the chief fishing guide for the ranch who would be heading home for Alaska after we departed. We were there in March, which is late summer/early fall in Chile, and we learned that not only were we the only two guests that week, but we would be the last guests of their season. Over breakfast each day, Brett would help us choose that day’s fishing location from the many miles of private water on the ranch, which amounted to pretty much anywhere we wanted to go, given that we didn’t have to share the water with others.
At 10:00 am or so, Brett would show up at our cabin with a four-wheel drive vehicle, equipped with a picnic lunch for a streamside repast. All dressed up in our waders and layers of clothing, to be removed as rising temperatures demanded, we would head out for new stretches of the river or creek, or on one spectacular day, a lake with a view of snow-capped mountain peaks that mark the border with Argentina. The Patagonia region is spread across both countries, and the fishing is world-class in both.
Somewhere around 1:00 pm, we’d stop fishing as Bret spread out the lunch for us next to the river, usually delicious soup or stew prepared that morning by the chef, with fresh fruit and chocolate. Somehow, having a small bar of chocolate every day began to seem not only normal, but necessary. When you are wearing waders, the insanity of this is not readily apparent.
And then there was the fishing. One visitor, who later wrote about this place for a fishing magazine, called it “possibly the best trout-fishing water in the world.” I don’t have the credentials to make a statement like that, but I certainly can concur that the fishing was extraordinary. Every time I waded out into the Nireguao River, Brett at my side (my brother preferred to fish alone, a short distance away), and cast my line into a pool next to a rock, or some other stretch of liquid perfection, and watched a fish suddenly rush up from the depths and lunge for my fly, I was immersed in a moment of wonder, crystallized around my connection with what was at the other end of my line. I missed a lot of fish, which would normally be a bummer, but not here, because the opportunities to adjust your cast, your approach, your landing, were always there. So was Brett, who gave excellent advice on how to make those slight adjustments. More important, perhaps, he was there to lend his arm for support.
Once upon a (less-arthritic) time, I used to wade into the current with little fear, but I was due for a double knee replacement soon, and my shoulder had just undergone rotator cuff surgery several months before this trip. I was understandably much more cautious wading into deeper water than I used to be, but was surprised to realize that this did not make me feel old. It made me feel profoundly grateful that I could still find a way to do this thing I love so much, even if it meant hanging on to someone’s arm in tricky current, and relying on his steady stride. My brother, who is a few years older, has already had both knees replaced, and both shoulders repaired. He is in great physical condition, and a master fly angler, but even he relied on a wading staff much of the time. No matter. Slowing down has a lot of benefits, not the least of which is being more mindful of everything around you. Some of the best visual memories from this trip, now packed away in my overstuffed brain, had nothing to do with catching fish but with catching a glimpse of something brand new – an ibis staring back from the bank, a Kingfisher in the bough over the pool I was fishing, an alpaca staring through the trees, his fuzzy head framing enormous eyes.
At the end of these days, we would head back to the cabin for a warm shower before another wonderful dinner at the main lodge, preceded by homemade empanadas and local wines if you desire. There is no WiFi at the lodge or in the cabin, making it necessary to walk down the road a bit to Jose’s house if you want to connect to the outside world. Each afternoon, we would spend about a half hour in Jose’s kitchen reading our e-mail and catching up on news, but I was astonished to find that I needed no more than that. After a few days of internet detox, in fact, I debated whether it was really worth the walk. The first step to recovery, as they say, is admitting you have a problem. This was one of the biggest “catches” of the week for me, this realization that my life might be more expansive if my digital connections were more limited.
But this is a fish story, after all, so I should end with something more substantial and less metaphorical. Although, in this case, it may be impossible to separate the two.
Everyone always wants to know about the biggest fish you caught, but I have found, over the years, that the best stories are about the biggest fish you didn’t catch. This was true when I fished with an all-woman’s team in the New Zealand One-Fly Contest (you are allowed one fly on your line for the whole day) and hooked a brown trout so enormous that I thought I had snagged a log. Then the log moved. I fought that fish for what seemed an eternity (probably five minutes), finally getting him to the net, but not quite into the net. At that moment, he took off for another run, headed for fast water and broke off. I sat down on a rock, my arm aching from the effort, and said something to the effect of, “Well, I guess I’m out of the contest now so might as well just fish for fun.” The guide looked at me in horror. “How can you go on after that?” “Easy,” I responded. “That’s the biggest fish I have ever had on my line. I will be dreaming about that fish for a long time, with endless chances to get it right.”
It is humbling to be defeated by a creature with an instinct for survival that outmatches your desire for a “win,” whether that’s an actual score in a contest or a photo you share with friends. And it happened again, in a memorable way, on this Patagonia fishing adventure. One morning, Brett guided us up a small creek off the main river, a creek with lots of great places for trout to hide. The fishing here required some finesse, with fairly long, accurate casts. One bad cast could “spook” a hole and put down the fish. And it was in one of those moments where you just know you have done everything right, when the fly lands lightly in just the right place, so that it floats a few feet downstream to the deeper water where a fish might be hiding, when a huge brown trout, its gold color flashing in the sun, comes roaring up from below and bites that “grasshopper” with a force that almost throws you off-balance. “Yes, yes, yes!” Brett was screaming, more excited than I had heard him before, all the while urging me to keep the line taut: “Strip, strip, strip!”
“He’s huge!” I cried. “I have to get a picture of this one!” And in that nanosecond of hubris, while trying to get my camera out of my pocket, I let the line go just a bit slack, and the fish got off. Brett had that same look as the guide in New Zealand. “Despair” does not really do it justice. But I had to laugh, knowing that the golden creature I had connected with ever-so-briefly had no interest in being in my “selfie” shot, and that, once again, something with a brain the size of a pea had reminded me of the importance of staying in the moment, rather than following the ego as it races ahead to the finish line. The land known as “where the world ends” had been re-christened for me as “where the ego ends,” and where catch and release becomes more about release than catch. Release of expectations, release of vanity, release of anything that is out of the frame of “right here, right now.”
My brother had watched this epic failure from the bank, and I consider it a great gift (happy 70th!) and remarkable restraint that he did not laugh. Loudly, anyway. This took a Herculean effort, I am sure, as he fought against a deeply ingrained family talent for well-timed zingers. But we both agreed on one thing.
Dad would have loved this.
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DUN Magazine is a lifestyle magazine geared toward the female fly angler. Created for women and edited by women, DUN has become the home base for anglers of all skill levels. With the goal of empowering women, not ignoring men, all anglers will find value in DUN magazine's articles focused on education, conservation, destinations and the fun of fly fishing.
Women have been an integral part of fly fishing since A Treatise of Fishing with an Angle by Dame Juliana Berners was published in the late 15th century. Throughout the centuries, women have played vital roles in making the sport what it is today. From rod builders to fly tiers and everything in between, today's female anglers continue to pave the way, making sure that fly fishing is more than casting a weighted line and a fly to a fish.
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DUN Magazine is no ordinary fly fishing publication. This quarterly publication is a work of art destined for your coffee table or favorite display shelf. Each edition weighs in at nearly two pounds, and is over-sized to showcase the photography inside. Standing at 11.75 inches tall and 9.25 inches wide, this is one impressive magazine.
The magazine is eco-friendly, made of recycled papers and vegetable ink. The cover is 80# matte cover stock with a soft touch and an foil stamped DUN logo. The text pages are 80# matte finish, printed with highest quality inks available.
We spare no expense in printing the magazine. This magazine is more like a book than a magazine. You’ve never seen any outdoor magazine like it.
4 Issues for $40.00USD
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Report lays out blueprint for MyCampus 2.0
Published 7 February, 2012
Euan McTear
After consultation with students, staff and the development team behind the controversial system: MyCampus and its introduction last September has been reviewed. The ‘Lessons Learned’ panel used the report to list the range of issues experienced, while outlining 17 recommendations on how the system should be modified for the future.
The report splits the main issues of concern into eight “themes”, which they asked both students and staff to rank in order of importance. From the 88 staff that responded, user interface was the highest ranked, while the same theme was also a concern to the 265 students who replied and ranked it second.
This issue of the user interface was clearly a concern all round, with Recommendation No.6, regarding user interface, explicitly given the highest priority of all recommendations. The goal stated is to:
“Improve the navigability and clarity of language, supported by improved on-screen messages/information, user guides for each aspect of the system and on-line help for all users. Usability and the user experience of staff and students must be given a very high priority”
Related issues included compatibility with browsers such as Chrome and Safari; the lack of confirmation messages on completing an action; and issues with Americanized (yes, we are being ironic, ed.) terminology. The controversial “shopping cart” language was also cited.
The report suggested increased user training to improve interaction with and navigation around the parts of the existing software that cannot be fixed in the near future. As part of this recommendation, a handbook will be put together for advisers and other appropriate administration staff.
The report was clear, however, that this was not to be a criticism of the way the university’s advisers conducted themselves last autumn and the report even praised their “extreme efforts.” It was, rather, the extra burden put on the advisers that was criticised. The report says:
“During registration and enrolment with MyCampus, unrealistic expectations were placed on, for example, Advisers of Study because lines of communication and responsibility were not clear.”
It noted that when students were unclear over where to direct their queries, they generally turned to advisers. As a result, a new, “properly trained help desk” will be set up with a target response time of 24 hours.
Of the many other issues raised and represented in the eight themes, enrolment and timetabling was another hot topic and was ranked as the most important by students.
Proposed changes in this area included the removal of the ‘Course Catalogue,’ so that students would be forced to select classes through ‘MyRequirements,’ eliminating the option of selecting courses that conflict with the degree progression plans of students. Also recommended was providing a means for students to view their current timetable while selecting the remainder of their classes.
Since the launch of the software, one aspect of the project team’s work which Secretary of Court, David Newall, has been quick to praise is that the deadline for implementation of MyCampus was met. However, while noting that a delay would have increased expenditure, the authors of the report attributed many of the problems to a determination to meet the go-live date, which was said to have “compromised decisions.”
Other recommendations of note include plans for academic and administration staff to be added to the MyCampus project board, proposals for international students to be able to provisionally enrol while awaiting confirmation of funding, and increased interaction between students and advisers.
The report is available here, and to all students on your MyGlasgow home page.
MyCampus Issues
The Glasgow Guardian has received several reports from students frustrated by issues with MyCampus over the course of the current academic semester. The University’s online administrative system, with which every current student will be…
MyCampus chaos “likely to continue”
MyCampus (December feature)
Part 1: it will be “MyCampus, but not as we know it” The issues which made the implementation of MyCampus almost farcical when it launched in September should be resolved by the beginning of the next academic year, according…
MyCampus: staff feedback
The following is a body of staff comments given as part of the staff consultation on MyCampus, which was initiated in the wake of the system’s troubled launch in September 2011. There is very little functionality in this system,…
2012: ‘MyCampus, but not as we know it’
The issues which made the implementation of MyCampus almost farcical when it launched in September should be resolved by the beginning of the next academic year, according to the university’s vice principal of learning and teaching,…
MyCampus: on the frontline
MyCampus: Just 42% of postgraduates enrolled
Just 42% of full-time postgraduates enrolled are in the new MyCampus system. Academics say “entire project appears to have been driven by the SMG’s need to control and command us more effectively”. University Senate will today discuss a report…
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Featured Author Event: Kirsten Gillibrand (San Francisco)
Bay Area colleagues take note: Kirsten Gillibrand, the United States Senator from New York, is discussing her new book, BOLD & BRAVE: Ten Heroes Who Won Women the Right to Vote (Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers), on Friday, November 30, at the Nourse Theater in San Francisco as part of Books Inc’s City Arts & Lecture series. This special event begins at 7:30 p.m.
On the eve of the one-hundredth anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment, which granted women suffrage, BOLD & BRAVE looks both backward and forward. It introduces children to strong women who have raised their voices on behalf of justice–and inspires them to raise their own voices to build our future.
Senator Gillibrand was inspired by her own great-grandmother, grandmother, and mother to be bold and brave – to stand up and fight for what she believes in. But who inspired them? The long chain of women before them who spoke out for what’s right–women who taught each generation that followed how to be bold and brave.
The suffragists included in BOLD & BRAVE are: Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Jovita Idár, Alice Paul, Inez Milholland, Ida B. Wells, Lucy Burns, and Mary Church Terrell.
With gorgeous illustrations by renowned artist Maira Kalman, this is a book that will inspire and uplift, a book to be cherished and shared.
Kirsten Gillibrand has served as United States Senator from New York since 2009. A few of her major accomplishments include leading the effort to repeal “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell,” writing the STOCK Act which made it illegal for members of Congress to financially benefit from insider information, and providing permanent health care and compensation to the 9/11 first responders and community survivors. She is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, an advocate for gun control, and a major voice in the fight to reform the justice system for sexual assault survivors in the military and on college campuses. A proponent of transparency in government, Gillibrand was the first member of Congress to post her official daily meetings and personal financial disclosures online.
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Wild. Weary. War-torn. Spread across the northern plains and peaks of Europe’s tallest mountains, these isolated Muslim people groups of the North Caucasus remain a significant challenge to finishing the Great Commission, representing a dangerous and difficult-to-access frontier. Yet this forgotten land boasts unparalleled beauty and legendary hospitality to accompany opportunities for pioneer mission. Though troubles remain, the region is far safer than a decade ago, with the possibility of deeper stability on the horizon, even in the renowned but infamous Chechnya region where war and conflict with the Kremlin in the 1990’s has been superseded by reconstruction and relative political stability.
From the campaigns of Alexander the Great to the caravans of the ancient Silk Road, the North Caucasus has long straddled the crossroads of humanity – Arabs, Mongols, Persians, Russians, Turks -North Caucasus civilization has reacted to and been deeply influenced by a constellation of cultures. It is now a breathtaking patchwork of 40 ethnic groups speaking 70 distinct languages and dialects, but this may include possibly hundreds of additional tribal and clan divisions. Today, the people of this region are striving to have a share of the prosperity that Russia has been enjoying while balancing this with a measure of political and cultural anonymity – a citizen of Dagestan may live within the borders of the Russian federation, but they are proudly Dagestani!
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Sally Faulkner
Last updated 18 August 2014
Isobel: The Invasion
Miss Tremayne: Winter for the Adept[BF]
General Brennan: The Secret of Cassandra[BF]
Image Credit: BBC (this image appears for illustrative purposes only and no attempt is made to supersede any copyright attributed to it)
Born: 1944 (age: 75)
Sally Faulkner is a British actress.
She played Isobel Watkins in the Doctor Who story The Invasion. She later voiced Miss Tremayne in the audio story Winter for the Adept and General Hannah Brennan in The Secret of Cassandra.
She is perhaps best known for her film appearances during the 1970s in the likes of Vampyres, Confessions of a Driving Instructor, Prey, The David Galaxy Affair and Jaguar Lives!
Her television credits include Dixon of Dock Green, Z-Cars, The Sweeney, Target, The Professionals, Bird of Prey, Minder, House of Cards, EastEnders, Just Good Friends, The Bill, Silent Witness and Doctors.
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Mother shocked at five-year-old's bizarre portrait
By Claire Knight| 2 years ago
One of many jobs of a mother is to unconditionally praise her children's artwork, no matter how weird it is. That's exactly what Penny Rohleder did when her son Julian showed her a very interpretive portrait he drew of his beloved mum.
The mother-of-three from Orange, NSW told 9Honey that when her son drew her in grey pencil, she initially didn't notice a little something extra adorning her nether regions.
"He brings me this picture, and I'm like, 'I love it! It's beautiful!' and then my daughter said 'he added something…look at it.' I said, 'what's that red bit on me? And he's like, 'Oh, that's your period.'"
Penny later shared the drawing with blogger Constance Hall, who found the piece "f----- hilarious" and reposted it on her Facebook page where it has garnered reactions, comments and shares from over 24 thousand users.
"I couldn't stop laughing, it was hysterical. I showed my husband and we were both laughing," she said.
Jules and Penny. Image: Supplied
According to mum, it was a surprise bathroom run in that prompted a five-year-old to immortalise his mother's period in pencil.
In October last year, Penny's life changed when she had a pulmonary embolism while pregnant with her third child. "It’s a lung clot. They put me on blood thinners, and I've been on those ever since," she explained to 9Honey. "It makes any kind of bleeding you have really, really bad. When I get my period, you can imagine it's not just heavy, it's horrific, like massacre kind of style."
Waking up one morning with a "massacre" flow, she "raced to the bathroom" only to find Julian had beat her to it. "Here's Julian on the toilet, and I'm like 'buddy, how long are you going to be?' and he goes, 'Oh, a while, mum.'
"So I quickly got in the shower, and he obviously saw the blood. He was like, 'are you okay mum, there's lots of it!' And I said "Yep, mate. I'm fine, I'm all good."
While he admitted her son was "grossed out", he was more concerned with her safety than anything.
"As long as you're going to live," he told her after she reassured him once more that she was indeed okay, and definitely not dying.
When sharing the hilarious picture on Facebook, Penny said that she wasn't sure if she should be "proud or embarrassed" by her son's unique artwork.
Settling on "proud", she puts it down to her son's intuitive and caring nature.
"Julian is my quiet, peaceful sweetheart, he's that kind of kid. He's very placid compared to the other two who are crazy. He's very loving and cuddly, and he loves me," she said.
Julian as photographed by his mother. Image: Supplied.
"Sometimes I get upset about my health issues, and they're always concerned about things like that, especially Julian. I don't know why, he sort of picks up on things like that. He's always asking, 'are you okay' or 'can I get that for you?'
LISTEN: 9Honey SuperMums podcast
Sport Promotion: Ladbrokes members score more! Don’t miss out! Gamble responsibly- ladbrokes.com.au
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Isle of Wight Islanders
The Isle of Wight Wightlink Warriors (formerly Islanders) are a British speedway team. They currently compete in the National League and ride their home meetings at the Smallbrook Stadium.[2]
The Islanders won the Premier League Pairs Championship in 2007 when Chris Holder and Jason Bunyan beat Glasgow in the final.
They also won the Premier League Four-Team Championship at Peterborough in 2007 with a team of Chris Holder, Jason Bunyan, Krzysztof Stojanowski, Glen Phillips and Cory Gathercole defeating King's Lynn, Somerset and Rye House in the final.
After a break of two years the club reformed in 2016 under the promotion of Barry Bishop and Martin Widman.
Isle of Wight Warriors (formerly Islanders)
Track address
Ashey Road
Isle of Wight PO33 4BH
1996 2016 (re-founded)
Jackie Vatcher
www.wightwarriors.co
385 metres (421 yd)
Track record time
66.1 secs
Track record date
Track record holder
Stefan Nielsen
Georgie Wood 9.80
Ben Morley 9.52
Scott Campos 4.505.11
Danno Verge 6.75
Chris Widman 2.77
Chad Wirtzfeld 3.79
Connor King 3.47
Total 40.605
Major team honours
Premier League KO Cup 2003
Premier League Pairs 2002, 2007
Premier League Fours Champions 2007
Young Shield Winners 1998, 2001[1]
National Trophy 2013[1]
1 Mark Baseby
2 James Cockle
3 Nathan Stoneman
4 Lee Smart
5 Chris Widman
6 Kelsey Dugard
7 Layne Cupitt
1 Adam Ellis
2 Ben Hopwood
3 Tom Perry
4 Darryl Ritchings
5 Byron Bekker
6 Danny Stoneman
7 Brandon Freemantle
5 Tom Young (replaced Byron Bekker)
1 Danny Warwick
2 Aaron Baseby
3 Paul Starke
5 Kyle Hughes
Also Rode Mark Baseby
Also Rode Ross Walter
Also Rode Steven Jones
Also Rode Nick Simmons
Also Rode Marc Owen
Also Rode Rikki Mullins
2 Rob Smith
3 Lee Smethills
4 Brendan Johnson
5 Nick Simmons
6 Tom Hill
7 John Rech
1 Tom Brown
3 Chris Johnson
6 Scott Meakins
1 Jason Bunyan
2 Glen Phillps
3 Krzysztof Stojanowski
4 Paul Fry
5 Cory Gathercole
6 James Holder
7 Andrew Bargh
8 Richard Sweetman
Notable Islanders
Davey Watt
Adam Shields
Chris Holder
Ray Morton
Danny Bird
Nick Simmons
Adam Ellis
^ a b Oakes, P (2006). Speedway Star Almanac. Pinegen Ltd. ISBN 0-9552376-1-0.
^ Bamford, R & Jarvis, J.(2001). Homes of British Speedway. ISBN 0-7524-2210-3
2007 Premier League speedway season
The 2007 Premier League speedway season was the second division of speedway in the United Kingdom and governed by the Speedway Control Bureau (SCB), in conjunction with the British Speedway Promoters' Association (BSPA).
Adam Ellis (born 21 March 1996) is a British grasstrack and speedway rider.
Adam Shields, born (8 February 1977 in Kurri Kurri, New South Wales), is an Australian international speedway rider who has ridden for multiple teams in the British speedway. He first rode in the UK for Premier League team the Isle of Wight Islanders in 2002, before stepping up to the Elite League for Eastbourne Eagles and then the Lakeside Hammers in 2007. He missed the end of the 2008 season due a number of injuries sustained during a race. On 5 May 2012, Shields announced his retirement from the sport, citing personal reasons, but returned in 2013 with Eastbourne.
Adam has appeared in the Speedway World Cup for Australia and he won the Australian Under-21 Speedway Championship in 1997.
Ben Morley (speedway rider)
Benjamin (Ben) Morley (born 10 March 1994) is a British speedway rider. He currently rides for Eastbourne Eagles in the SGB Championship and Isle of Wight Warriors in the National League.
Christopher Robert "Chris" Holder (born 24 September 1987 in Sydney, New South Wales) is an Australian speedway rider currently riding for Lejonen in the Swedish Elitserien and for Unibax Toruń in the Polish Speedway Ekstraliga. He became the Australian Individual Speedway Champion in 2008 and followed up with wins in 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2014 (he was runner up in 2009) as well as winning the Australian Under-21 Championship in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008. He finished as runner-up in the Under-21 World Championship in 2007 and 2008. He is
2012 World Speedway Champion. His brother, James, also rode in the UK with the Plymouth Devils in the Premier League and younger brother Jack Holder also rides for the Somerset Rebels in the SGB Premiership.
Cory Gathercole
Cory Gathercole (born 2 December 1986 in Irymple, Victoria) is an Australian international motorcycle speedway rider who rides for the Plymouth Devils in the British Premier League. He was also a member of the Swindon Robins squad in the Elite League.Has represented Australia at Under-23 level.
Craig Boyce
Craig Boyce (born 2 August 1967 in Sydney, Australia) was a motorcycle speedway rider who primarily rode for the Poole Pirates in the British Elite League. After retiring from riding, Boyce became manager of the Australian national team until 2012.Boyce is a three-time Australian Solo Champion. He won all of his championships (1991, 1996 and 1997) with a 15-point maximum.
Daniel Giffard
Daniel James Giffard (born 10 November 1984) in Eastbourne, East Sussex, is a speedway rider in the United Kingdom, who rode with the Redcar Bears in the Premier League.
He has represented Great Britain at Under-21 level.
Derek Sneddon
Derek Sneddon (born 27 July 1982) is a Scottish speedway rider.
Glen Phillips (speedway rider)
Glen Alan Phillips (born 22 November 1982) in Farnborough, Kent, is a speedway, Longtrack and grasstrack rider in the United Kingdom, who rode with the Isle of Wight Islanders in the Premier League.
Henning Bager
Henning Bager (born 18 February 1981) is a Danish motorcycle speedway rider.
James Holder
James (Jim) Holder (born 5 May 1986 in Sydney, New South Wales) is an Australian speedway rider. He is the older brother of 2012 Speedway World Champion and five times Australian Champion Chris Holder, and jack holder who is also a speedway rider,
Jason Bunyan
Jason Michael Bunyan (born 9 March 1979 in Milton Keynes) is a former England under-21 international speedway rider, who rides for the Rye House Rockets in the British Premier League.
Krzysztof Stojanowski
Krzysztof Stojanowski (born 5 January 1979, in Sulechów, Poland) is a speedway rider who rode for the Isle of Wight Islanders in the British Premier League.Stojanowski was appointed captain on his arrival with the Islanders in 2006. In 2007 he was a member of the Premier League Four-Team Championship winning team.
Manuel Hauzinger
Manuel Hauzinger (born 3 December 1982, in Vienna, Austria) is an international motorcycle speedway rider who rode in the UK for the Berwick Bandits in the Premier League. He also rode for the Swindon Robins in the Elite League, replacing Theo Pijper. He made a memorable debut for Swindon against the Eastbourne Eagles, where he scored 8 points and beat Grand Prix star Scott Nicholls.
Hauzinger has won the Austrian National Championship eight times and represented Austria in the 2004 Speedway World Cup.
Paul Starke
Paul Simon Starke (born 18 November 1990) is an English speedway rider.
Tom Perry (speedway rider)
Thomas Andrew "Tom" Perry (born 22 February 1993) is a British speedway and grasstrack rider.
Tomáš Suchánek
Tomáš Suchánek (born 7 April 1984 in Pardubice, Czechoslovakia) is a motorcycle speedway rider who first rode in the UK for the King's Lynn Stars in the Premier League in 2003.
Suchánek is a Czech international, representing them in the Speedway World Cup in 2005 and 2006.In 2008 he signed for the Reading Racers.
Ulrich Østergaard
Ulrich Reinhold Østergaard (born 19 April 1981 in Odense, Denmark) is a Danish speedway rider.
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BEACH WHEELCHAIRS
THE HAMISH FOUNDATION COMMITTEE
PROJECTS AND DONATIONS
HAMISH McHAMISH
ST ANDREWS BEACH WHEELCHAIRS
FRIENDS OF HAMISH
Email: hamish@hamishfoundation.co.uk
By alan.tomkins | 13th February 2018 | 0
"Can't remember when I was last at the water's edge"
Please make a donation on Just Giving by clicking here
The Hamish Foundation and Tourism St Andrews are working together to set up a loan scheme to provide beach wheelchairs in St Andrews.
Tourism St Andrews (TSA) is a local network of people and organisations that exists to promote tourism in St Andrews. It has only been in existence since 2016 but we are already making an impact. We recently organised a very successful Kelpie Maquettes installation outside the British Golf Museum in St Andrews between July and October. We worked with disability charity, PAMIS (Promoting a More Inclusive Society) to provide the Pamiloo, a mobile 'Changing Places' toilet to ensure that celebrations of our national saint's day in St Andrews promoted inclusion, participation and dignity and was accessible to all.
The Hamish Foundation (THF) is a charitable organisation set up to raise funds for the good of the town. We have already raised funds to help Home Start East Fife, and Tayside Children with Cancer and Leukaemia amongst others. We have also helped fund projects such as Santa's Grotto in partnership with Starbucks and Fife Council. In conjunction with Global Treasure Trails we have helped with the development of a family treasure trail for St Andrews. More recently, we have helped raise funds towards lighting up St Andrews for the winter celebrations.
Thank you to the Mary Leishman Foundation for their sponsorship
The beaches in St Andrews are difficult to access for elderly and disabled residents and visitors. Soft sand makes it impossible for wheelchair users and those with restricted mobility to get onto the beach, far less onto the hard sand and down to the water's edge.
At present, there is only one beach wheelchair scheme in Scotland. It operates in North Berwick and, due to its success, it was recently extended to cover Portobello. It is a round trip of nearly 120 miles to Portobello and over 160 miles to North Berwick from St Andrews. There are other beach wheelchair schemes in numerous locations in England.
St Andrews is a popular tourist destination, but more needs to be done to promote 'accessible tourism' for elderly and disabled visitors. Local businesses are trying to do more to attract the ‘Purple Pound’ - the potential spending power of disabled people. We want to provide a first class resource for elderly and disabled residents and visitors to the town.
The Hamish Foundation and Tourism St Andrews are working in partnership to set up a loan scheme to provide paediatric and adult beach wheelchairs on local beaches in St Andrews. Beach wheelchairs are designed to be used on sand and uneven ground. These will enable anyone with mobility difficulties to access the beach more easily alongside their families, friends and carers instead of being restricted to the car park or to access on pavements only. Our project will ensure that everyone will be able to access the beach, making St Andrews a more inclusive place for local residents and tourists. It will also help raise awareness of the issues facing elderly and disabled people and how excluded they can be from activities that the majority of us take for granted.
A 70-year old friend, who used the scheme in North Berwick, explained, "It's the first time I've been able to get to the edge of the water in over 60 years"
WHO WILL BENEFIT AND HOW?
Accessing the beach for elderly and disabled people, and particularly wheelchair users, will benefit them as well as their families and carers. For parents, especially those who have more than one child, the availability of a beach wheelchair will ensure that families can participate in a variety of activities, outings and quality family time on the beach. Elderly residents and visitors with mobility difficulties will also be able to get down to the water's edge and enjoy a stroll on the sand. A number of weddings have taken place on the beach at North Berwick. Their project has enabled some people to attend who would otherwise have been excluded without access to a chair or walker. We expect a similar outcome with our scheme.
A large number of tourist buses come to St Andrews throughout the year. This type of outing is particularly attractive to older people. Access to the beach will be a welcome bonus as the West Sands are world famous, thanks to the film, 'Chariots of Fife'. We plan to run a taster/ publicity day at the 'Chariots of Fife' race on 3rd June 2018.
To cater for more severely disabled people and those who cannot self-transfer we will provide a hoist for transfers. A 'Changing Places' toilet will allow those with a higher level of needs to spend a day at the beach without having to return home to address personal care needs. We will provide a storage container to keep the equipment secure. To enable us to assist those whose carers are not capable of pushing even the lightest person over sand, we aim to provide a motorised, all-terrain wheelchair by summer 2019.
Scotland’s Accessible Beaches App Launched
Beach Wheelchair Assistant needed
Launch of the Beach Wheelchairs in St Andrews
St Andrews this weekend
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Forum Index Non-Hastings Chat
If it's not Hastings related post it here! Politics, religion, whatever you like!
Postby Richard » Fri Feb 22, 2019 12:57 pm
Shamima Begum was one of three British schoolgirls who fled their home in Bethnal Green, east London, four years ago to marry Isis fighters in Syria, probably they were 'groomed' on the internet somehow.
Home Secretary Javid’s latest decision to strip Begum’s citizenship has caused controversy.
The parents were hoodwinked into believing Shamima was going on holiday to Turkey for a few days but she ended up going to Syria.
They must surely be very weak parents if they were totally ignorant of her state of mind?
I think it would be better to allow her back into Britain and then put her on trial but there is no easy answer yet or policy in place to deal with such situations.
There are shades of the Jamaican 'Windrush' deportees, where citizenship rights to remain are being overturned.
Re: Citizenship
Postby seahermit » Sat Feb 23, 2019 4:06 pm
She made a decision to become involved with an organisation which she knew was murdering and bombing civilians. She has expressed no regret whatsoever.
Like joining the Nazis and then, after the war is lost, saying "I made a mistake, can I come back?"
Postby Richard » Sat Feb 23, 2019 7:22 pm
Shamima Begum was an immature child aged 15 at the time of her indoctrination by terrorists, via the internet.
She was impressionable and outside the influence of her woefully inadequate parents.
The girl surely made a mistake but the alleged criminality has yet to be judged in context and with all the facts.
We can't hold a type of 'Kangaroo Court' through public hearsay and knee-jerk reasoning alone.
What do you mean by "public hearsay"? The facts of the situation have been well-publicised and have never been denied by anyone.
I don't believe that at age 15 people are still children to the extent that they don't know the difference between right and wrong and don't see anything wrong with murder and terrorism. In modern times and with all the access to information on the internet, many "children" are probably far more grown-up than you and I used to be - and much more aware of what is going on in the world. I feel no sympathy at all with the perpetrators, only with the victims (in their thousands).
Postby Richard » Sun Feb 24, 2019 9:08 am
Any suspected criminal activity by a British citizen should be prosecuted in the UK.
The practice of depriving individuals of their citizenship while they are abroad, without any form of due process, resulting in them becoming stateless, is illegal under international law.
I suspect that there will be legal challenges if the family can access lawyers to argue the case.
Terrorists always target the youth because they are more susceptible to manipulation, the internet has made this easier and when presented with the other points of views they may be willing to believe them, they don't have the experience to weigh things in the balance as we who are more mature may do.
Tony Blair went to war against Iraq on the basis of alleged weapons of mass destruction held by Saddam, without any examination of the American 'false intelligence' or thought for the consequences.
Isis seems to have arisen on the back of the Iraq war and then subsequently the chaos in Syria.
There were also failings in Afghanistan and Libya.
It seems something of a knee-jerk reaction to banish the girl who became involved with the terrorists when we at least partly provoked the situation that then arose.
It appears that the Syrian uprising started among his own citizens on the ground in Syria but that Assad then used the terrorists to bolster his position.
One huge mess and of course we don't want schoolgirls or anyone else going off to support terrorists but there are lots of arguments and rights and wrongs along the road.
ColinL
Postby ColinL » Wed Feb 27, 2019 7:06 pm
British society needs to examine where it failed a young girl in that she was able to become convinced that at that age (she would not be able to consent to sex in the UK) that she should get married and become a bearer of children to the exclusion of all else as Daesh women tend as far as I am aware to remain indoors.
Our security /IT services enabled three young girls to access dangerous sites, then although it seems they were under some surveilance when they were told they were missing, failed to stop them at the airport or Turkey having landed there. Despite your coment Seahermit that we know the facts, it is not possible to rely on snippets and extracts from newspapers. Richard mentioned the parents being inadequate(no criticism of you Richard) but again statements broadcast by a family friend of the Begum's, who is a retired senior police officer the family were quite average and parents of any ilk do not necessarily know what their children are up to. Certainly mine did not.
It was reported at the time, and again recently that Shamimia Begum had received a leter from the Met that they wanted to speak to her and the letter was found in her school bag after she left. Why on earth would the police have contacted the child first, rather than a simultaneous contact with the parents, social services, the school and the girl? It is ludicrous.
It is a UK problem. If we export our problem a third country then we should fully expect retaliaton of other countries nationals who happen to be here if they revoked the citizenship and told the UK it was our problem.
Postby Richard » Wed Feb 27, 2019 10:43 pm
Hi colinl.
As far as I can make out counter-terrorism police interviewed the schoolgirls over the disappearance of their friend, Shamima Begum but failed to directly notify the parents of the schoolgirls that these preliminary interviews were taking place in the school, instead they just gave letters to the girls to pass onto their parents.
The school failed to explain the seriousness of the situation to the parents when Shamima was classed as a 'missing person' and the two other girls were easily able to join Shamima abroad.
The first thing police should have done was to talk directly to the parents of the other girls and perhaps, after they had departed, question where any of the young school girls got the money from to travel abroad.
Postby seahermit » Thu Feb 28, 2019 2:33 am
Certainly there are failings by the authorities, schools etc. - but it is not all their fault, e.g. the security services are monitoring thousands of "suspect" individuals, young and old, on a day-to-day basis and having the unenviable job of assessing the level/urgency of risk posed in each case. We cannot expect them to be perfect and get it right every time.
We DO know many of the facts and not from snippets and extracts from newspapers - or are the BBC and other news organisations really that unreliable and untrustworthy? But I take your point, in that I am not trying to make a judgement here about one particular case in circumstances which to outsiders are unknown - who knows what family set-up or restricted, introverted life led a young girl to think and eventually act in such an extreme way?
However, none of this alters the basic fact that the parents being "average and ordinary", unaware of quite what their children were up to is an old chestnut and I have never gone along with that. If you as a child had been hanging out on street corners, getting involved with local drugs people or (as in this case) associating with religious extremists, would your parents really have had no inkling of the company you were keeping? They would have been very neglectful and irresponsible parents and this is where I think some of the blame should be directed. Supervision is indeed more difficult these days with the barrage of surreptitious social media to which children are subjected, but parents HAVE to deal with it and try to be in proper communication with their children - there is no other choice, unless one wants the whole situation to just get even worse.
Postby Richard » Thu Feb 28, 2019 9:45 am
I know what my parents would have had to say if, as a child, I came out with the sort of nonsense recently spouted by Shamima. The different cultural background may explain part of the situation.
She has not been made to stop and think and listen to reasoned arguments on both sides by her school and parents.
The school, the police, the council were all inadequate and indicative of inner-city failings.
And the parents expected these public bodies to do the parenting, providing the skills that they lacked.
A 'lose-lose' situation. Good parenting starts at home.
Postby ColinL » Thu Feb 28, 2019 8:54 pm
Richard, with all due respect, you don't know what her parents did or did not do and cannot say whether the parents were inadequate. It is quite possible that the young girl as she then was may not have disclosed her true thoughts to them.
I mentioned previously that bits of pieces of information get published and they maybe misinterpreted or confused and thus innocently false information is circulated, such then as I said to Seahermit we have to be careful. If I have read your previous but one post correctly you may have done this. You mentioned that the 'two other girls were able to join Shamimia abroad'. All three girls from that school travelled together and there is airport video footage of the three of them walking together. There have been other school children who left but as individuals.
Seahermit, you asked if the news and TV press could be trusted to inform us of the 'truth'. It is not that easy. The Media Reform Coalition at Birkbeck College Univ of London published a study last summer and highlighted the fact that it is not possible to say that the press lies, as much as how it edits what it publishes, what is not published as a part of an article, or from whom it seeks external comment thus slanting an otherwise innocuous matter coming over as very controversial.
Another good example is what is seen in pictures published along with comment. A couple of years ago the Express or Sun or similar (cannot remember which) published a photo of Mr Corbyn on Remembrance Day at the Cenotaph with the caption that he was disrespecting the dead by 'dancing a jig'. He had his arm out and his body was seemingly jiving. That however was a carefully edited shot. Had they published the picture of the whole scene, it would have shown Mr Corbyn on one side a Jewish war veteran who was likewise moving with Mr Corbyn; they had known each other for some 30yrs. The threat of an injunction made the paper withdraw the picture from the website. However by that time thousands of people would have been mislead to thinking that he was acting disrepectfully. Once damage is done it is hard to correct. There are many more examples
We have to be cautious of what we are told and what we read because although it might be accurate as a snippet it tells a different story if considered as a whole. One half of the photo was an accurate picture but edited to look different from the scene, although it would have not been worth them publishing a photo of him walking with an elderly Jewish man as it would not convey the image they want to develop
Last edited by ColinL on Thu Feb 28, 2019 9:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Return to “Non-Hastings Chat”
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Emily Bett Rickards plays Felicity Smoak on CW's "Arrow".
Why comic book TV shows are guideposts for industry equality
HS Insider March 29, 2015
Emily Bett Rickards plays Felicity Smoak on CW’s “Arrow”.
Some critics have said that the entertainment industry does not have enough women or people of color. However, I think that there is at least some channels of equality in the media, but it is hiding in a place few would look: comic book television shows.
Shows like “Agent Carter” and the CW’s “Arrow” and Fox’s “Sleepy Hollow” are all examples of shows with strong female characters (“Carter” and “Arrow”) or racially diverse casts (“Sleepy Hollow”).
“Carter” has been lauded many times as being a wonderful feminist work and Peggy Carter, the female protagonist, has been made a new feminist icon. But the show’s creators never intended for it to be that.
“It’s just sort of, well, what would a spy have that you want to hide its true purpose? What would a woman have in her purse? She’d have a tube of lipstick,” Michele Fazekas, the one of the show’s show-runners, told Buzzfeed while describing a scene in which Peggy hides a covert ops tool from onlookers.
The tube of lipstick is just one instance of the realism that lets the characters act like real people and that fosters a mindset of equality.
Though Marvel has its feminist icon, it’s not the only one. DC Comics has its own fleshed out female character: Felicity Smoak from “Arrow.”
No one would have suspected that the timid and utterly adorable IT girl would have become such an integral part of Team Arrow (those who help Queen on his quest to save his city), but she did. She has come so far over the past three seasons, evolved so much, just as—all together now—a real person would.
Felicity is still utterly adorable, but she also is a major player with significant relationships with the rest of Team Arrow, not the least of which is Oliver. Though she has a mild crush on Oliver, she is never reduced to the “unrequited pining”stereotype; her romantic interest in him isn’t her dominant personality trait.
“I think (Felicity)’s rooting for (an Oliver/Felicity relationship), but at the same time, she’s not going to pine … as much as she loves him and adores him … as a friend, she might be benefiting him more,” Emily Bett Rickards, the actress behind Felicity, told Collider. “In the end, it’s about following your own heart. Sometimes that’s hard to listen to.”
As well as these realistic female characters, many comic book shows also help to showcase and push forward racial diversity and “Sleepy Hollow” is perhaps the best example of that.
Out of its six or so principal cast members, half are black and two are female leads for the show. The show exceeds in not only showing that, yes, there are black people in this world, but also that characters of color don’t need to be relegated to ‘token’ parts.
“It was a conscious effort to have a diverse cast just to represent our world. I don’t think it’s realistic for the whole cast to be white,” executive producer Heather Kadin told Buzzfeed.
These characters are real and major, with story arcs that are powerful and feel natural. None of these characters are defined by their ethnicity; none of their arcs are centered on the color of their skin. And when you think about it, isn’t that the way television should be?
Some people say that the entertainment industry is whitewashed, that there’s no diversity. I say that there is diversity—you just have to know where to look.
—Chris Bower
Arts and Entertainment Features Opinion
Happy to be alive on a visit to the Museum Of Death
Students stuck on making prom outfits
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David Thompson of the North West Company surveys Celilo Falls, The Dalles, and Cascades Rapids on the lower Columbia River beginning on July 13, 1811.
On July 11, 1811, Canadian explorer David Thompson (1770-1857) reaches Celilo Falls on the Columbia River after a historic voyage downriver from Kettle Falls. Over the next three days, Thompson surveys Celilo Falls, The Dalles, and Cascades Rapids as he continues down the river. In addition to his scientific work as a geographer, Thompson is the fur agent in charge of the Columbia Department of the North West Company of Canada. He is on a mission to determine whether the Columbia is navigable from its upper reaches to the sea and whether it will provide a viable trade route for the fur company. Thompson is traveling in a cedar plank canoe manned by eight French Canadian and Iroquois paddlers.
July 11: A Strong Rapid
After camping near the mouth of the John Day River on the evening of July 10, Thompson and his voyageurs set off at 5 a.m. on July 11 into a steady headwind. They stopped to visit a village of 63 families, then continued down the Columbia. By midmorning they were tossing through standing waves and almost collided with protruding rocks as they approached Celilo Falls (now submerged beneath the reservoir of The Dalles Dam). The river was so swollen with spring runoff that the Nor'Westers were able to line their way along the left side of the channel without a portage. Over the next six miles, Thompson noted "many strong Rapids, some of them required all our skill to avoid being upset, or sunk by the waves; we passed two Villages but could not put ashore" (Thompson, Travels, iii.271).
In mid-afternoon the current slackened enough for the voyageurs to beach the canoe near a large village that Thompson estimated held 300 families. The inhabitants greeted the visitors with a dance, but because his supply of tobacco was running low, Thompson invited only a few of the most "respectable" men to smoke with him. He learned that they had already formed an opinion of Europeans from the ships that traded near the mouth of the river. "These people have some knowledge of white Men," he wrote, "and so far it was not in our favor" (Thompson, Travels, ii. 247).
This village, situated between the upper and lower Dalles, marked a rough boundary between the Sahaptin and Upper Chinookan language families, and between Plateau and Coastal cultures. The Sahaptin interpreter who had escorted the Nor'Westers down the mid-Columbia departed to return to his home upstream. "I paid him as well as I could for his services, which were of great service to us," Thompson remarked (Thompson, Notebook 27).
The villagers warned Thompson that a dangerous series of unnavigable "Dalles and Falls" lay ahead. He made arrangements to hire horses to portage his baggage the next day.
July 12: The Dalles
"July 12. Friday. A fine Morng but windy. Early got up & waited the promised Horses to be lent us to carry the Things over the Portage, but not coming, we carried them a full Mile to a small Bay" (Thompson, Notebook 27).
This mile-long portage led around the lower Dalles (site of the present-day Dalles Dam), where the river was forced through a steep basalt canyon. "Imagination can hardly form an idea of the working of this immense body of water under such a compression, raging and hissing, as if alive," Thompson wrote (Travels, iii. 272). In a large eddy at the base of the falls, harbor seals cavorted in the waves and chased migrating salmon. The voyageurs "fired a few Shots without effect," then stopped on an island to boil fish for breakfast and re-gum the canoe while Thompson took observations for the latitude and longitude of this important landmark.
About 15 miles farther downstream, green grass and scattered deciduous trees announced "a most agreeable change from bare banks and monotonous plains" (Thompson, Travels, iii. 273). Floating through the Columbia Gorge, the Nor'Westers were immersed in veils of hanging clouds and surrounded by gigantic trees and luxuriant vegetation. Opposite present-day Hood River, the white summits of Mount Hood and Mount Adams came into view. When they met two Chinook men in a canoe, Thompson relied on sign language to communicate.
The Waw thlar lars
Upon reaching the Chinookan men's village on the north shore of the river a short time later, the Nor'Westers stopped to smoke with the chief, who invited them to camp nearby. The villagers, whose name Thompson recorded as "Waw thlar lar," built large lodges from logs, "the inside clean and well arranged, separate bed places fastened to the walls, and raised about three feet above the floor" (Thompson, Travels, iii. 274). The people were in the process of preserving filleted salmon, which hung from poles fixed to the ceiling so as to receive the full benefit of smoke from a fire that was kept burning inside the lodge. Thompson visited for about an hour in the lodge of the chief, who knew "many english words he had earned from the ships when trading with them, some of them not the best" (Travels, iii.274).
This group of Upper Chinookans who lived along the series of rapids known as the Cascades of the Columbia later came to be known as the Cascade Indians, and Thompson was insightful in noting that they spoke a different dialect than their relations a short distance upriver. On their way downstream in October 1805, Lewis and Clark had stopped at a "town" near the head of the Cascades, probably the same village visited by Thompson, but the American party passed through after the fall salmon runs and therefore did not witness the residents in the midst of catching and preserving salmon for winter use.
July 13: The Cascades of the Columbia
The next morning (July 13), the Nor'Westers faced another portage around the Cascade rapids (the site of present-day Bonneville Dam). While the villagers helped the voyageurs carry their canoe and cargo, Thompson recorded several words of the Chinook language. After relaunching their boat at the base of the rapids, the Nor'Westers paddled through the calmer waters of the lower Columbia, then camped a short distance upstream from Point Vancouver, a landmark that Thompson recognized from George Vancouver's account of his 1792 voyage to the Pacific Northwest.
Lower Columbia River Rapids, map detail, 1812
Map of Northwest America by David Thompson, Courtesy Public Record Office, Kew, England
Entrance to Les Dalles (The Dalles)
Drawing by H. J. Warne, Courtesy American Antiquarian Society, Worchester, Massachusetts
Drawing by H. J. Warne, Courtesy American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massacusetts
Cascade Indian
Watercolor by Paul Kane, Courtesy Stark Museum of Art, Orange, Texas
Chinook Indian lodge interior
Drawing by Alfred Agate, Courtesy Library of Congress (2001696058)
Barbara Belyea, Columbia Journals (Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1994); David S. French and Kathrine S. French, "Wasco, Wishram, and Cascades," in Handbook of North American Indians, Vol. 12 (Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1998); Gary Moulton, The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, Vol. 5 (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983-2001); Jack Nisbet, The Mapmaker’s Eye (Pullman: Washington State University Press, 2005); Jack Nisbet, Sources of the River (Seattle: Sasquatch Books, 1994); David Thompson, Notebook 27, F443, Archives of Ontario, Toronto; David Thompson, Travels, Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto.
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Escape the heat - about 1 hour ago
China needs technology and Israel can provide it - about 1 hour ago
‘Moon-forming’ Circumplanetary Disk Discovered in Distant Star System
Astrophysical Journal Letters, July 2019
Newswise — Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have made the first-ever observations of a circumplanetary disk, the planet-girding belt of dust and gas that astronomers strongly theorize controls the formation of planets and gives rise to an entire system of moons, like those found around Jupiter.
This never-before-seen feature was discovered around one of the planets in PDS 70, a young star located approximately 370 light-years from Earth. Recently, astronomers confirmed the presence of two massive, Jupiter-like planets there. This earlier discovery was made with the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), which detected the warm glow naturally emitted by hydrogen gas accreting onto the planets.
The new ALMA observations instead image the faint radio waves given off by the tiny (about one tenth of a millimeter across) particles of dust around the star.
The ALMA data, combined with the earlier optical and infrared VLT observations, provide compelling evidence that a dusty disk capable of forming multiple moons surrounds the outermost known planet in the system.
“For the first time, we can conclusively see the telltale signs of a circumplanetary disk, which helps to support many of the current theories of planet formation,” said Andrea Isella, an astronomer at Rice University in Houston, Texas, and lead author on a paper published in the Astrophysical Journal, Letters.
“By comparing our observations to the high-resolution infrared and optical images, we can clearly see that an otherwise enigmatic concentration of tiny dust particles is actually a planet-girding disk of dust, the first such feature ever conclusively observed,” he said. According to the researchers, this also is the first time that a planet has been clearly seen in these three distinct bands of light.
Unlike the icy rings of Saturn, which likely formed by the crashing together of comets and rocky bodies relatively recently in the history of our solar system, a circumplanetary disk is the lingering remains of the planet-formation process.
The ALMA data also revealed two distinct differences between the two newly discovered planets. The closer in of the two, PDS 70 b, which is about the same distance from its star as Uranus is from the Sun, has a trailing mass of dust behind it resembling a tail. “What this is and what it means for this planetary system is not yet known,” said Isella. “The only conclusive thing we can say is that it is far enough from the planet to be an independent feature.”
The second planet, PDS 70 c, resides in the exact same location as a clear knot of dust seen in the ALMA data. Since this planet is shining so brightly in the infrared and hydrogen bands of light, the astronomers can convincingly say that a fully formed planet is already in orbit there and that nearby gas continues to be syphoned onto the planet’s surface, finishing its adolescent growth spurt.
This outer planet is located approximately 5.3 billion kilometers from the host star, about the same distance as Neptune from our Sun. Astronomers estimate that this planet is approximately 1 to 10 times the mass of Jupiter. “If the planet is on the larger end of that estimate, it’s quite possible there might be planet-size moons in formation around it,” noted Isella.
The ALMA data also add one more important element to these observations.
Optical studies of planetary systems are notoriously challenging. Since the star is so much brighter than the planets, it is difficult to filter out the glare, much like trying to spot a firefly next to a search light. ALMA observations, however, don’t have that limitation since stars emit comparatively little light at millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths.
“This means we’ll be able to come back to this system at different time periods and more easily map the orbit of the planets and the concentration of dust in the system,” concluded Isella. “This will give us unique insights into the orbital properties of solar systems in their very earliest stages of development.”
The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation, operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.
The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), an international astronomy facility, is a partnership of the European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere (ESO), the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS) of Japan in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. ALMA is funded by ESO on behalf of its Member States, by NSF in cooperation with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) and by NINS in cooperation with the Academia Sinica (AS) in Taiwan and the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI).
ALMA construction and operations are led by ESO on behalf of its Member States; by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), managed by Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI), on behalf of North America; and by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) on behalf of East Asia. The Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO) provides the unified leadership and management of the construction, commissioning and operation of ALMA.
Israel News Top News Breaking News Top Stories Business & Economy
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Novel nanoparticles deliver CRISPR gene editing tools into the cell with much higher efficiency
Advanced Materials Jun-2019; 2017YFA0208100; 2016YFA0200104; 21778056; 21790390; 21790391; 21621062; 21435007; UG3 TR002636-01; R21 EB024041
Newswise — MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, Mass. (July 12, 2019) —A research collaboration between Tufts University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences has led to the development of a significantly improved delivery mechanism for the CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing method in the liver, according to a study published recently in the journal Advanced Materials. The delivery uses biodegradable synthetic lipid nanoparticles that carry the molecular editing tools into the cell to precisely alter the cells’ genetic code with as much as 90 percent efficiency. The nanoparticles represent one of the most efficient CRISPR/Cas9 delivery tools reported so far, according to the researchers, and could help overcome technical hurdles to enable gene editing in a broad range of clinical therapeutic applications.
The CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing system has become a powerful research tool uncovering the function of hundreds of genes and is currently being explored as a therapeutic tool for the treatment of various diseases. However, some technical hurdles remain before it can be practical for clinical applications. CRISPR/Cas9 is a large molecular complex, containing both a nuclease (Cas9) that can cut through both strands of a targeted genomic sequence, and an engineered ‘single-guide’ RNA (sgRNA) that scans the genome to help the nuclease find that specific sequence to be edited. Since it is a large molecular complex, it is difficult to deliver CRISPR/Cas9 directly into the nucleus of the cell, where it can do its work. Others have packed the editing molecules into viruses, polymers, and different types of nanoparticles to get them into the nucleus, but the low efficiency of tranfer has limited their use and potency for clinical applications.
The lipid nanoparticles described in the study encapsulate messenger RNA (mRNA) encoding Cas9. Once the contents of the nanoparticles – including the sgRNA – are released into the cell. The cell’s protein-making machinery takes over and creates Cas9 from the mRNA template, completing the gene editing kit. A unique feature of the nanoparticles is made of synthetic lipids comprising disulfide bonds in the fatty chain. When the particles enter the cell, the environment within the cell breaks open the disulfide bond to disassemble the nanoparticles and the contents are quickly and efficiently released into the cell.
“We are just starting to see human clinical trials for CRISPR therapies,” said Qiaobing Xu, co-corresponding author of the study and associate professor of biomedical engineering at Tufts University. “There are many diseases that have long been intractable for which CRISPR therapies could offer new hope – for example sickle cell disease, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, Huntington’s disease, and even many cancers. Our hope is that this advance will take us another step toward making CRISPR an effective and practical approach to treatment.”
The researchers applied the new method to mice, seeking to reduce the presence of a gene coding for PCSK9, the loss of which is associated with lower LDL cholesterol, and reduced risk of cardiovascular disease. “The lipid nanoparticles are one of the most efficient CRISPR/Cas9 carriers we have seen,” said Ming Wang, also co-corresponding author of the study and professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Science. “We can actually knock down PCSK9 expression in mice with 80 percent efficiency in the liver, suggesting a real promise for therapeutic applications.”
In addition to the authors quoted above, the study was led by Ji Liu, graduate student and first author, of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Chemistry, along with co-authors Jin Chang, Ying Jiang, Lanqun Mao, professors of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Xiandi Meng, and Tianmeng Sun from The First Hospital and International Center of Future Science, Jilin University.
This work was partially supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2017YFA0208100, 2016YFA0200104), and the National Science Foundation of China (21778056, 21790390, 21790391, 21621062 and 21435007). Support was also provided by National Institutes of Health (UG3 TR002636-01 and R21 EB024041). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
Liu J, Chang J, Jiang Y, Meng X, Sun T, Mao L, Xu Q*, and Wang M. “Fast and efficient CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing in vivo enabled by bioreducible lipid and messenger RNA nanoparticles.” Advanced Materials 2019 Jun 19:e1902575. DOI: 10.1002/adma.201902575
About Tufts University
Tufts University, located on campuses in Boston, Medford/Somerville and Grafton, Massachusetts, and in Talloires, France, is recognized among the premier research universities in the United States. Tufts enjoys a global reputation for academic excellence and for the preparation of students as leaders in a wide range of professions. A growing number of innovative teaching and research initiatives span all Tufts campuses, and collaboration among the faculty and students in the undergraduate, graduate and professional programs across the university’s schools is widely encouraged.
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Interesting Thing of the Day
Made by humans on Earth. Since 2003.
Solar Sails
The next big thing in space travel
Joe Kissell
Image credit: NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
If you wanted to cross the ocean by ship, you’d probably choose an engine-driven vessel over a sail-driven vessel. The engine will get you where you’re going faster; it enables the ship to be much larger than it could be if it were driven by a sail; and it requires much less manual intervention to keep it going. Besides, you won’t be at the mercy of unpredictable winds. In oceangoing vessels, the technological progression from sails to internal-combustion engines solved a great many problems while creating only a few new ones, such as the need to obtain and store significant quantities of fuel and the pollution that results from burning that fuel. Of course, since the planet is conveniently spherical, you’re always a finite distance from the nearest port where you can fill up. If, on the other hand, you wanted to circumnavigate the globe without stopping for fuel, sails would be the way to go. The trip would take longer and the ship would be smaller, but you’d never have to worry about running out of gas.
This is the very thinking behind an ostensibly retro design for spacecraft: by ditching the fuel and engines you can enable much longer journeys, albeit with some trade-offs. Outfit your ship with a giant sheet of lightweight and highly reflective material, and you’ve got a solar sail, a propulsion system that can take you to the distant reaches of the galaxy without any fuel—pushing you along with the gentle power of light from the sun.
Solar sails are by no means a new idea. In fact, German astronomer Johannes Kepler floated the idea by Galileo in 1610. Kepler imagined “heavenly breezes,” though, and had no concept of the scientific principles that would actually come into play. In 1871, James Clerk Maxwell, a Scottish physicist, predicted that electromagnetic radiation (including light) should exert a small amount of pressure when an object absorbs or reflects it; Russian physicist Peter Lebedev first demonstrated the effect in a laboratory in 1900.
A little more than 20 years later, another Russian physicist named Fridrikh Tsander proposed using this radiation pressure to push a spacecraft along using a large but very thin mirror. In the early 1970s, NASA funded research into solar sails, and for a while proposed that they be used to propel a probe that would rendezvous with Halley’s Comet in 1986 (though the necessary technology turned out to be unavailable at the time). Today, NASA and numerous other groups are actively developing solar sail designs, and several spacecraft powered by solar sails have already been deployed.
Light Pressure
The whole idea of light exerting pressure seems counterintuitive. I’ve personally stood in front of some very bright spotlights without so much as a wobble. And I know from my rudimentary understanding of physics that photons, the particles that make up light, have no mass. Nevertheless, under the right circumstances, light can indeed provide a push. The math, frankly, is beyond me, but according to scientists who seem to know what they’re talking about and can back it up with impressive-looking equations, photons do indeed exert a gentle pressure on objects they hit—and the pressure is roughly twice as great if the object reflects the light than if it absorbs the light, so solar sails would effectively be giant mirrors. But the key word here is gentle. I’ve read various analogies for the strength of the sun’s push, but one I particularly liked, on a NASA webpage, said that if you had a mirror the size of a football field, the pressure of the sun’s light would be about the same as the weight of a first-class letter.
In space, a small amount of pressure goes much further, because other factors such as gravity, air friction, and wind don’t get in the way. Even so, if a solar sail is going to push a spacecraft of any significant mass, it must be enormous. And therein lies a problem: with greater size comes greater mass—not so much from the sail itself but from the support structure that’s needed to keep it rigid and connect it to craft’s payload. The greater the mass to be pushed, the greater the size of the sail that’s needed, and so on. Thus, in solar sail design, thinner and lighter materials are almost always better. Sail thickness is measured in micrometres (µm)—millionths of a meter—with some being as thin as 2 µm. (By comparison, the average human hair is about 80 µm thick.) This brings up a second problem: fragility. You’ve got to fold or roll up a huge sheet of material that’s a zillionth of an inch thick, get it into space, and then unfurl it perfectly—without ripping or mutilating it, and without creating a support structure so massive that it’ll cancel out the sail’s low mass. One promising material is a type of porous carbon fiber that’s much thicker than the polymer films most researchers have used, and yet lighter in weight because of its unusual structure; it’s also highly rigid, durable, and heat-resistant.
Still More Uses for the Force
Proposed solar sail designs have used a wide variety of shapes, from simple squares to disks to pinwheels. As with wind sails, you can change the angle of a solar sail in order to steer the craft; designs that incorporate numerous smaller sails provide greater directional control. But one thing you will not see is a solar sail shaped like a parachute—since light travels in straight lines, that would make for a highly inefficient design. Interestingly, that’s exactly the shape of a certain fictional solar sail—the one used by Count Dooku’s spaceship in Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones.
Besides having an inappropriately shaped sail, that ship somehow managed to zip across the galaxy at a startling speed as soon as the sail unfurled. Real solar sails, because they generate so little force, accelerate quite slowly. On the other hand—and this is what makes them an intriguing option for long-term missions—the velocity continues to increase over time, there being no friction to counteract it. The result is that over a period of months or years, a craft powered by a solar sail could reach speeds far in excess of any rocket-powered design. However, as the craft gets farther and farther away from the sun, the radiation pressure also decreases, so it’s not as though the rate of acceleration can continue to increase indefinitely. Even so, a vehicle with a very lightweight solar sail could reach the orbit of Pluto in about 7 years. (The Pioneer 10 probe, launched in 1972, took 11 years to reach that point.)
Sail On
After many years of ground-based and suborbital testing, as well as a few noteworthy failures, an interplanetary solar sail spacecraft (Japan’s IKAROS probe) was first successfully deployed in 2010. NASA launched the NanoSail-D2 later in 2010. And The Planetary Society launched and successfully tested a small solar sail-powered spacecraft called LightSail 1 in 2015; LightSail 2 is scheduled to launch in June, 2019. Numerous other solar sail projects are in various stages of planning.
Among the future missions envisioned for spacecraft propelled by solar sails are probes sent to explore the inner planets, monitoring stations near the sun, and deep-space exploration. Some proposals even use a giant laser here on Earth, instead of the sun, to push the craft along. Manned missions, however, are a much more distant possibility; a spaceship big enough to hold passengers would require an unfathomably gargantuan sail, and the slow acceleration would be rather inconvenient considering human lifespans. But if we ever encounter a ship sent a long time ago from a galaxy far, far away, it may very well have been carried along by a solar sail.
Note: This is an updated version of an article that originally appeared on Interesting Thing of the Day on June 19, 2006.
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Denmark based Process Automation Startup Leapwork raises $10 Million in Series A Funding, Plans to expand in the U.S.
Posted by Santosh Kumar — April 17, 2019 in Business 0 3
Danish startup Leapwork has closed the Series A investment round with a $10 million investment from Berlin’s e-ventures and London’s DN Capital. The company already has an extensive client base which includes global healthcare firm, tier-one banks, software and aerospace companies and now they want use this new round of investment for expanding to U.S.
Most work which involves computers is very repetitive that’s why companies hire developers for writing codes to automate these repetitive tasks but the process is not very scalable. In an ideal situation, not just developers but individuals across the whole business would be capable of creating automated tasks, which is now being called as process automation. Startups in the process automation space are all working to help companies work more efficiently. That’s what Leapwork does.
Most of the available tools in the market are complicated and code-based which repels non-technical people from going anywhere near them. Ideally, you would have trained software robots for handling mundane and repetitive tasks. The customers of Leapwork already have experienced working with tools such as BluePrism, UiPath, MicroFocus and Tricentis, but they are using Leapwork after realizing the limits of code-based tools.
Leapwork was founded in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2015 and launched its services in April 2017. Leapwork has modern tech stack backed entirely visual system. The staff can use it to automate tasks without the help of developers. There is no need to write any code and the software’s simple user interface is similar to learning Excel or PowerPoint. Leapwork says that they can save up to 75% of employee time.
Leapwork’s CEO Christian Brink Frederiksen said, half of Leapwork’s business comes from the U.S. and the new investment will help us to serve the U.S. customers better and to reach new ones.
Leapwork has gained traction in areas like robotic process automation, data migration and software testing in healthcare and finance. With headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark, Leapwork also has offices in Gurugram, India, Minsk, Belarus, San Francisco, USA and London, UK.
DN Capital’s Thomas Rubens said that they are impressed by the product offered by Leapwork and believe that it has potential to disrupt the automation landscape. Every company has deal with some form of repetitive tasks which could be automated and they also don’t have sufficient developer resources to make it happen.
The company was launched in 2015 by the founders after almost two decades of experience in business-critical IT and enterprise software. The first pilot was launched in July, 2016 with customers in Europe and U.S. prior to this funding round, the company was being bootstrapped by the founders which they could manage considering their successful previous engagements.
Santosh Kumar is a respected voice in the ICT domain. He has authored over 30 studies pertaining to cloud, cybersecurity, AI, and Big Data.
Automation Startup Leapwork
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About the Author: Santosh Kumar
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