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Burson-Marsteller hires Jeremy Gaines, Benjamin Chang for MD roles
May 19, 2016 by Sean Czarnecki
Both have experience in the executive branch.
Gaines (l) and Chang
WASHINGTON: Burson-Marsteller has hired Jeremy Gaines as an MD for its U.S. strategy team and Benjamin Chang as an MD for its U.S. public affairs and crisis practice, the firm said Thursday morning.
Both will be based in Washington, D.C. Gaines will report to COO Nicole Cornish, Chang to Ann Davison, chair of the U.S. public affairs and crisis practice.
"When I took this role [as U.S. CEO] about a year and a half ago, recruiting top talent was and still remains a top priority," Michael Law said. "Both these gentlemen showcase our commitment to be a top-tier PR firm."
Most recently, Gaines was VP of corporate communications for media company Gannett, which was renamed Tegna, where he led all internal and external communications. He also spent 14 years at MSNBC as director of strategic development and VP of corporate communications.
Gaines also had two roles in the Clinton White House as a press assistant and deputy director of press advance.
Chang has also held jobs in both the private and public sectors. He has served as VP and events editor for the Los Angeles Times, SVP of communications at the Albright Stonebridge Group, and principal at the Podesta Group.
Previously, he held a series of roles in the public sector during the administrations of Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush, including director for public affairs and communications and deputy spokesman for the White House’s National Security Council. He was also senior adviser for strategic planning and crisis communications in the State Department’s bureau of public affairs, as well as deputy spokesman for the U.S. Mission to the United Nations from 2004 to 2008.
"It’s this combination of experience that I can bring to the table," Chang said. "I’m quickly learning to mesh that with a strong backbone of analytics, which forms the basis of how we create strategies."
US Democrats
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Lobbying & public affairs
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Why Don Baer isn't surprised by Mike Dubke's resignation
Turkish Embassy hires Burson-Marsteller ahead of Erdogan visit
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Quotes by John Nash
After my return to the dream-like delusional hypotheses in the later '60s, I became a person of delusionally influenced thinking but of relatively moderate behavior and thus tended to avoid hospitalization and the direct attention of psychiatrists.
– John Nash
Bluefield, a small city in a comparatively remote geographical location in the Appalachians, was not a community of scholars or of high technology.
But you see-you-you can't-so-you can't so well argue about these things. I've learned that it's better that I-I don't talk about it.
By the time I was a student in high school... I remember succeeding in proving the classic Fermat theorem about an integer multiplied by itself p times where p is a prime.
I also did electrical and chemistry experiments at that time. At first, when asked in school to prepare an essay about my career, I prepared one about a career as an electrical engineer like my father. Later, when I actually entered Carnegie Tech. in Pittsburgh, I entered as a student with the major of chemical engineering.
I did have strange ideas during certain periods of time.
I had been offered fellowships to enter as a graduate student at either Harvard or Princeton. But the Princeton fellowship was somewhat more generous, since I had not actually won the Putnam competition... Thus Princeton became the choice for my graduate study location.
I later spent... five to eight months in hospitals in New Jersey, always on an involuntary basis, and always attempting a legal argument for release.
I never saw my grandfather because he had died before I was born, but I have good memories of my grandmother and of how she could play the piano at the old house.
I seem to be thinking rationally again in the style that is characteristic of scientists. However, this is not entirely a matter of joy as if someone returned from physical disability to good physical health.
I studied mathematics fairly broadly and I was fortunate enough... also to make a nice discovery relating to manifolds and real algebraic varieties. So I was prepared actually for the possibility that the game theory work would not be regarded as acceptable as a thesis in the mathematics department and then that I could realize the objective of a Ph.D. thesis with the other results.
I thought of the voices as... something a little different from aliens. I thought of them more like angels... It's really my subconscious talking, it was really that... I know that now.
I went to M.I.T. in the summer of 1951. I had been an instructor at Princeton for one year after obtaining my degree in 1950. It seemed desirable more for personal and social reasons than academic ones to accept the higher-paying instructorship at M.I.T.
I would finally renounce my delusional hypotheses and revert to thinking of myself as a human of more conventional circumstances and return to mathematical research.
It's almost as if a demon might have passed from one host to another.
My father, for whom I was named, was an electrical engineer and had come to Bluefield to work for the electrical utility company there which was and is the Appalachian Electric Power Company. He was a veteran of WW1 and had served in France as a lieutenant in the supply services.
My mother, originally Margaret Virginia Martin, but called Virginia, was herself also born in Bluefield. She had studied at West Virginia University and was a school teacher before her marriage, teaching English and sometimes Latin. But my mother's later life was considerably affected by a partial loss of hearing resulting from a scarlet fever infection that came at the time when she was a student at WVU.
My parents provided an encyclopedia, Compton's Pictured Encyclopedia, that I learned a lot from by reading it as a child.
Now I must arrive at the time of my change from scientific rationality of thinking into the delusional thinking characteristic of persons... But I will not really attempt to describe this long period of time but rather avoid embarrassment by simply omitting to give the details of truly personal type.
One aspect of this is that rationality of thought imposes a limit on a person's concept of his relation to the cosmos.
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New Report Reveals Major Threats to Forests and Communities from Bioenergy
Forest Advocacy groups from three continents released a new report today that reveals the threat bioenergy poses to forests and forest-dependent peoples. The report warns that U.S. plans for wood-based bioenergy, biochar and genetically engineered trees (GE trees) will worsen a dangerous situation.
Bonn, Germany - Global Justice Ecology Project, Global Forest Coalition and Biofuelwatch [1] released Wood-based Bioenergy: The Green Lie, [2] at the UN climate talks today in Bonn, Germany. The report shows that increased support for the burning of wood to produce energy (bioenergy) is triggering increased logging and expansion of industrial tree plantations in the U.S., Ghana, the Congo, Brazil and West Papua. U.S. plans for large-scale expansion of bioenergy and the U.S. Climate Bill promotion of biochar [3], combined with the recent USDA approval of a large-scale release of GE trees in the U.S. South, threaten to devastate forests and communities. The demand for trees for so-called "renewable energy" from wood in the form of wood-fired power stations as well as the co-firing of wood with coal is massively increasing. It will further escalate with an entirely new market for biochar through subsidies and carbon offsets. It coincides with a USDA decision to allow the planting of over a quarter of a million GE eucalyptus trees across seven states in the U.S. South. [4] "In spite of global opposition to GE trees, the USDA has approved planting of 260,000 cold-tolerant eucalyptus trees in the southern U.S.," stated Anne Petermann of Global Justice Ecology Project. "Eucalyptus is invasive, flammable, and depletes water. This will set a dangerous precedent that could lead to large-scale releases of GE versions of native trees like poplars-which would contaminate native forests. Trees spread pollen and seeds for hundreds of miles and once contamination occurs it is irreversible." Wood is projected to become the main source of renewable energy in the U.S., and is already intensifying logging in U.S. forests. GE tree plantations are being promoted on the pretense that they can help meet the fast growing demand for wood, but they pose unacceptable risks including the destruction of native forests to make room for new GE tree plantations. Biochar is also a threat. "The Senate version of the U.S. climate bill, the American Power Act has alarming provisions that will dramatically increase production of biochar," explained Rachel Smolker, of Biofuelwatch in the U.S. "The idea that we can heal the climate by burning trees and burying charcoal is unfounded, untested and dangerous. A letter to Congress from 90 top scientists this past week challenged industry claims that burning trees for energy is 'carbon neutral.'" Fiu Elisara Mata'ese, Director of the Samoan NGO Ole Siosiomaga Society expressed his concerns about the impacts that this new demand for wood will have on Indigenous Peoples: "Large scale demand from the North will have serious impacts on Indigenous communities, that will lose their forests to legal and illegal logging, as well as conversion to tree plantations. The argument that these plantations will be on 'marginal' lands, and will not compete with peoples' livelihoods or food production is false. So-called 'Marginal' lands play a vital role in rural people's livelihoods, providing medicinal plants, grazing, food and shelter." "As the U.S. and other nations turn to burning plants for energy, changing use of land will have global ramifications," stated Simone Lovera, Executive Director of Global Forest Coalition. "For example, agricultural lands are shifting to grow bioenergy crops instead of food. New agricultural lands come at the expense of forests. The process ends with displacement of forest dependent Indigenous Peoples and massive land grabs. Wood-based bioenergy is an absolutely false solution to climate change." Contact: Anne Petermann, Global Justice Ecology Project +1.802.578.0477 (in Bonn, Germany) Orin Langelle, Global Justice Ecology Project, +1.802.578.6980 (in the U.S.)
[1] Global Justice Ecology Project (GJEP) www.globaljusticeecology.org is a U.S.-based group working nationally and globally to explore and expose the intertwined root causes of social injustice, ecological destruction and economic domination. GJEP coordinates the STOP GE Trees Campaign www.nogetrees.org . Biofuelwatch www.biofuelwatch.org.uk campaigns against industrial bioenergy in the U.S. and Europe. Global Forest Coalition: www.globalforestcoalition.org is a worldwide network of NGOs and Indigenous Peoples' Organizations from over 35 countries on 6 continents, working on rights-based forest policy.
[2] To download the report "Wood Based Bioenergy: The Green Lie" go to: http://www.globalforestcoalition.org/news/view/197 For more information on bioenergy: http://www.globalforestcoalition.org/paginas/view/244
[3] Biochar is fine-grained charcoal added to soils. It is a byproduct of a form of bioenergy production called pyrolysis. Advocates claim that biochar can help raise soil fertility and mitigate climate change, but there is no clear evidence to back up these claims. There is evidence, however, that biochar could damage soils and climate, accelerate logging and increase demand for industrial tree plantations.
[4] For more information on the USDA approval of genetically engineered eucalyptus trees: http://www.globaljusticeecology.org/pressroom.php?ID=398 P.O. 412 Hinesburg, VT 05461 US
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Home About Us Our organisation GIPA
Obtaining information from the Royal Botanic Gardens & Domain Trust
The Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (GIPA Act) replaced the Freedom of Information Act 1989 on 1 July 2010. The GIPA Act introduces a new right-to-information system. This gives you the right to be given access to information you ask for unless there is an overriding public interest against its release. It addresses personal and non-personal information held by government.
There are four ways in which the Royal Botanic Gardens & Domain Trust makes its information available under the GIPA Act:
Proactive Release
Informal release
Formal release
The Royal Botanic Gardens & Domain Trust is required to provide the following open access information free of charge:
Agency Information Guide
Information formally released under the GIPA Act (disclosure log of formal access applications - these are maintained by the NSW Office of Environment & Heritage)
Government contracts register for contracts valued at $150,000 or more
Information about the Trust contained in any document tabled in Parliament by, or on behalf of, the Trust - other than any document tabled by order of either House of Parliament
The Trust’s record of open access information (if any) that it does not make publicly available on the basis of an overriding public interest against disclosure
A list of major assets (other than land holdings) - included in Annual Reports
The total number and value of properties disposed of during the previous financial year - to be included in Annual Reports from 2009-2010
Guarantee of Service
The Trust will proactively release as much information as possible; however, sometimes this may not be possible, for instance if the information concerns another party’s affairs. You can ask what further information we will make available, in addition to the information already publicly accessible. Contact the Trust if you require further details.
You can ask for specific information (including your personal information) on an informal basis. Contact the Trust if you require further details.
We will give you a decision as quickly as possible. If we can't provide a final decision within 20 working days, we will let you know when to expect a decision.
There is no right of review if you are not happy with an informal decision. If you make a formal application for the information, you will then have review rights.
This is a last resort. You should first see what information is publicly available or will be made available. There may be public interest reasons why the information may not be released informally, or a third party may need to be consulted in relation to the release of their business or personal information, in which case a formal application should be lodged.
For more information on accessing information under the GIPA Act, including personal information, visit the OEH website or the Office of the Information Commissioner.
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There are no gays in Malaysia, tourism minister claims
Nick Duffy March 6, 2019
File photo. Malaysian Muslim students hold placards during a protest against the US glam rocker Adam Lambert's concert in Bukit Jalil, outside Kuala Lumpur, on October 14, 2010. (AFP/Getty)
The Malaysian tourism minister has claimed that gay people do not exist in his country.
Government minister Datuk Mohamaddin bin Ketapi made the claim while speaking to the media at an event in Germany on March 5, according to Deutche Welle.
Asked whether the country was safe for gay people, Ketapi replied: “I don’t think we have anything like that in our country.”
The comments came as the minister was trying to advertise Malaysia as a tourist destination, having spoken of its “natural beauty and welcoming culture.”
Malaysia tourism minister Datuk Mohamaddin bin Ketapi (Creative Commons / StagiaireMGIMO)
It is illegal to be gay in Malaysia, and the government of current prime minister Mahathir Bin Mohamad has been accused of leading a crackdown against the LGBT+ community.
Malaysia Prime Minister: LGBT+ rights are ‘Western values’
Speaking in October, the Prime Minister claimed that LGBT+ rights is a part of “Western values.”
According to the Bangkok Post and Nikkei Asian Review, he said: “Sometimes Asians accept Western values without questioning. We should be free not to change our values according to their wishes.”
He continued: “At this moment, we do not accept LGBT, but if they [the West] want to accept, that is their business. Don’t force it on us.
“The institution of marriage, the institution of the family has now been disregarded in the West. Why should we follow that? Our value system is as good.
“If [the West] one day decided to walk around naked, do we have to follow?”
The leader proceeded to attack LGBT+ families.
He said: “For example in the West now, men marry men, women marry women, and then the family is not made up of father, mother and child, but it’s two men adopting one child from somebody.
“They call themselves a family.”
Malaysia government has cracked down on LGBT+ rights
The Malaysian government is stacked with opponents of LGBT+ rights.
In August 2018, the country’s religious affairs minister Mujahid Yusof Rawa ordered two portraits of LGBT+ Malaysian activists be removed from an exhibition.
He said: “Society cannot accept LGBT being promoted because that is against norms, culture and religion.”
The same month, Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail ordered gay people to keep their sexuality secret, while Deputy Health Minister Dr Lee Boon Chye claimed that LGBT+ people suffer from an “organic disorder.”
Mahfuz Omar, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, claimed LGBT+ people need to be helped to return to their “original identities” and that allowing people to be transgender would cause chaos in society.
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NatWest loan helps sheep farm expand
A sheep farm has expanded its farm shop to include a cafe with funding support from NatWest.
David Prince, of Highfield House Farm, has extended his farm shop to include a café
Highfield House Farm, based in Ashover in Derbyshire, has opened the café in response to customer demand, using a £70,000 loan secured through the bank’s participation in the Government’s Funding for Lending Scheme.
Farm owners David and Sylvia Prince and their son Matt combined the NatWest loan with a £70,000 grant from the Bolsover North East Derbyshire LEADER Programme to develop a 48-seat, 900-square-foot cafe. The new café has resulted in the creation of three jobs and is expected to increase the business’ turnover by 33% in the first year alone.
The Princes have owned the 110-acre farm, which specialises in breeding pedigree sheep, since 1986, and opened the on-site farm shop 12 years later. The shop sells a wide range of local produce, including lamb, bacon – cured on the farm ‒ jam, chutney, honey, cheese, flour and vegetables.
Somewhere to sit and eat
David said: “With so many customers telling us they wanted somewhere to sit and eat, we knew there would be value in it. I approached Rachel from NatWest and she was very encouraging and helped us straight away.”
David also secured a further £32,500 loan from NatWest to invest in a second wind turbine ‒ due to save the business £600 per month in energy costs.
Rachel Borlace, relationship manager for NatWest, said: “David, Sylvia and Matt had an exciting new project and we were more than happy to help. It’s a great, well-loved family business and I’m proud to have supported them through this phase of growth.”
Farming 2014
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Courtesy of Rayford Griffin | "She used to tell me, you need to tell people who your uncle is, but I never really did. I was kind of trying to do my own thing on my own, so to speak." Rayford Griffin, referring to his Aunt LaRue, Clifford Brown's widow.
Courtesy of Rayford Griggin. | Rayford Griffin was inspired by drummers like Art Blakey and Max Roach, who played with his uncle, the great trumpet player Clifford Brown.
Don Botch | Features writer
Don Botch is a features writer for the Reading Eagle.
Follow Don
Wednesday April 11, 2018 12:45 PM
Nephew will pay tribute to Clifford Brown at Berks Jazz Fest
For years, Rayford Griffin felt he couldn't touch his uncle's music. Now, he's honoring him in the way he feels the legend deserves.
Event: Boscov's Berks Jazz Fest presents Rayford Griffin's Reflections of Brownie: A Tribute to Clifford Brown
When: 7:30 p.m. Friday.
Where: Club ECP at the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel, 701 Penn St.
Tickets: $39.
Web: www.berksjazzfest.com
Berks Jazz Fest website
Read more Jazz Fest stories
Written by Don Botch
Rayford Griffin hadn't even been born yet that rainy summer night in 1956 when his uncle, jazz trumpeter Clifford Brown, died in a late-night car crash on the Pennsylvania Turnpike near Bedford.
At just 25, Brownie, as he was known, already had established himself as one of the all-time great trumpeters. To this day, he gets mentioned in the same breath as those whose surnames have become superfluous: Miles, Dizzy and Louis.
Had he lived out his years, many believe, Brownie would've gone down as the best ever.
His legacy was such that for the longest time, his nephew, an in-demand drummer since catching on with Jean-Luc Ponty back in 1980, was apprehensive about tackling his uncle's music.
"The way people reacted when they found out he was my uncle, it seemed like a really big thing to take on," Griffin said.
Finally, in 2015, after some false starts, Griffin released a tribute album called "Reflections of Brownie," which will be the focus of a Boscov's Berks Jazz Fest concert Friday at the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel.
During a recent phone conversation from his home in Los Angeles, Griffin said he realized early in the recording process that there was no need to redo what already had been done at a supremely high level. Instead, he wanted to bring something new to the music.
He came up with contemporary arrangements for classics like "Daahoud," "Jordu" and "Joy Spring," then called in the likes of Rick Braun, Michael "Patches" Stewart, Michael Hunter and Roy Hargrove for the trumpet parts.
Griffin recalls the exact moment when he knew he was on to something.
It was the day Hargrove came in to overdub his part for the jazz standard "Cherokee."
Griffin said he was listening in the control room when Hargrove hit a note that just floored him.
"I couldn't even tell you what note it was," Griffin said, "but it was almost as if somebody pushed a button in my emotional brain, or something. I just bursted into tears, like just immediately."
The retelling of it caused Griffin to get choked up again.
After pausing to regain his composure, he continued: "Sorry, whenever I talk about that the same feeling comes up. I don't know what that's about. But anyway, I kind of took it to be my uncle saying, 'Yeah, you're on the right track. Good job.' "
For Griffin, it was as if a weight had been lifted. He no longer needed to carry around the secret he had kept throughout his career, dating back to when he relocated to Los Angeles and moved in with his Aunt LaRue, Brownie's widow.
"She used to tell me, you need to tell people who your uncle is," he said, "but I never really did. I was kind of trying to do my own thing on my own, so to speak. So I didn't really talk about it that much. If somebody knew already, I'd talk about it, but other than that I didn't really mention it for years and years."
Even Rick Braun, whom Griffin caught on with in 2002, and who grew up idolizing Brown, only found out because Griffin's mother told him backstage at a show in San Diego.
"She was telling Rick, 'You sound good; some of that stuff you're playing reminds me of my brother Clifford,' " Griffin said. "And he was like, 'Your brother Clifford?' And she was like, 'Yeah, my brother was Clifford Brown.' And Rick was like, 'Oh my goodness.' "
Clifford Brown was, by all accounts, an easygoing man who shunned drugs and alcohol in an age when they permeated the jazz scene and even killed some of the greats - Charlie Parker, Billie Holiday - in their primes. Brown was en route from Music City, a club in Philadelphia, to a gig the next night in Chicago when a car driven by the wife of his bandmate, Richie Powell, skidded and overturned. All three were killed.
The tragedy was compounded by the fact that it was his wife's 22nd birthday, and also their second wedding anniversary.
A year and a half later, Geneva (Brown) Griffin, who had been a voice major at Howard University, studying opera and classical music, gave birth to Rayford, who grew up immersed in music. On his parents' blond hi-fi, he would listen to all genres, including numerous jazz albums his uncle had recorded from 1953 to 1956 with drummers Art Blakey and Max Roach.
"I mean, I heard what my uncle was doing and everybody else," Griffin said, "but the drums just really pulled me in."
The cover photo for the Brown-Roach Quintet's "At Basin Street" live album, artfully shot from the floor looking up through Roach's cymbals and tom-tom, sealed the deal, and by age 10, while living in Houston, Griffin got his first marching field drum, complete with shoulder strap. The family soon would return to Indianapolis, and by the time he was in high school, Griffin was playing in R&B bands with Grammy winners-to-be Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds and Daryl Simmons.
He then caught on with the fusion band Merging Traffic, whose first gig was opening for Ponty, who was wowed by Griffin's drum solo.
The two would keep in touch, and three years later Ponty invited Griffin out to Los Angeles to audition for his band. Griffin got the gig, which changed everything.
"It was one of the best calling cards, because everybody held Jean-Luc in high regard," Griffin said. "It immediately put you on a certain level for musicianship, where certain things didn't have to be questioned. So that was cool."
Besides Ponty and Braun, he has played with Stanley Clarke, George Duke, Dave Koz, Anita Baker and the list goes on, and also composed an album of originals back in 2003 called "Rebirth of the Cool."
With "Reflections of Brownie," his idea was to make his uncle's music accessible to people who aren't into straight-ahead jazz, yet maintain its integrity.
Toward that end, he's enthused to have Randy Brecker on trumpet for Friday's show, because the Brecker Brothers' jazz funk sound of the early '70s broke new ground in the aftermath of the hard bop movement that Brownie pioneered.
"I always wondered what my uncle would have done," Griffin said. "Would he have gotten super-modern? What would he have done? So that's part of the concept of what the record is. So somebody like Randy Brecker, to a degree, is an example of what he might've done, because the Brecker Brothers' stuff was so innovative when they first came out, so I'm really pleased to have him onboard doing this."
They'll be joined by Brian Bromberg on bass, Hans Zermuehlen on keys and Andy Snitzer on sax.
It'll be the highlight of a busy week for Griffin, who also will participate in Berks Bop Night on Wednesday, the Berks All-Star Jazz Jam on Thursday and Gerald Veasley's Midnight Jam on Saturday.
Griffin has played the festival a handful of times before, and loves it not only for the shows but for the camaraderie with both longtime fans and the other musicians.
"It's a great hang," he said, "in addition to just playing the music."
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Skye Leppo: Rain? What rain?
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Meet the 3 key people behind Australia’s top agents
21 July 2016 Francesca Krakue
We spoke to the executive assistants of Australia’s top three agents to find out how they help the industry’s best stay at the top of their game.
“Someone once said to me that as an assistant, your role is to make somebody else be the best version of themselves that they can be,” Kierra Hagedorn told REB.
As the executive assistant to Marshall White’s James Tostevin – ranked number two in REB’s Top 100 agents – Ms Hagedorn explained that these words have resonated with her, and every day she strives to do just that.
She takes it upon herself to arrive at work half an hour earlier than Mr Tostevin to set up his day.
“Getting in early allows me to print off anything that he needs to go over, or it allows me to send anything to his phone so that before he gets to the office, he’s already seen [it],” Ms Hagedorn said.
“It means that we don’t have to have a conversation when he gets in; we can get going the second the day starts,” she added.
“I look after everything else, and that allows him to give his clients and vendors the best version of him,” she said.
A synergetic partnership
Years of working together, and now being married, have made for a synergetic partnership between Raine & Horne’s Ric Serrao and his executive assistant Lucy Apoyan.
Ms Apoyan explained to REB that she is often 10 steps ahead of Mr Serrao, in terms of knowing what he needs before he has even said it.
“This takes years of experience and gets fine-tuned when you have worked with someone for so long,” Ms Apoyan said.
“On a day-to-day basis I check his emails and voicemail and respond to or delegate as much as I can, to free him from having to make calls that are not dollar-productive for him,” she said.
“Big things I run past him, but small things I just make the decisions,” she said.
The top agent’s eyes and ears
Speaking to REB, Pru Kelly said that she eagerly sought out REB’s number one agent Alexander Phillips of Phillips Pantzer Donnelly to work for him.
“I’d heard from a colleague that Alex was the best agent in the eastern suburbs and that I should go and find him,” she said.
Four years later, the pair have a very close partnership that empowers them both to do their work to the best of their abilities.
“It’s a really honest, open relationship that we have and we on lean each other for guidance – we motivate each other when we need to,” she said.
Ms Kelly explained that her role as an executive assistant to Mr Phillips has evolved significantly since she began working for him.
“It’s evolved from just being a paperwork administrator to being almost an advisory role, something like a consultant for the preparation of homes,” she said.
As Mr Phillips could see that Ms Kelly was passionate about property styling, a significant aspect of her role now is to provide a concierge service to Mr Phillips’ clients on his behalf, meeting with vendors, tradespeople, stylists, gardeners and handymen to co-ordinate the enhancement of every property he lists.
Ms Kelly said that ultimately her role allows Mr Phillips to concentrate on listing, selling and negotiating.
“He doesn’t have to worry about the day-to-day running of his team or what’s happening in the background; he’s got me as his eyes and ears,” she said.
[Related: Top agent clarifies staff roles]
Last Updated: 21 March 2017 Published: 21 July 2016
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VIDEO: Another day, another revelation in the race to replace Boxer, Dan Walters says.
BUILD ME UP BUTTERCUP: The battle over a potential tuition increase in the University of California system has mostly taken place between UC President Janet Napolitano and Gov. Jerry Brown. Now Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins and Assembly Republican Leader Kristin Olsen are firing their opening shots with a zero-based budgeting process that will require the university to justify of all its costs next year. The review begins with a hearing of the Assembly Budget Subcomittee on Education Finance, 1:30 p.m. in Room 126 of the Capitol. Yesterday, UC finally submitted to the Legislature its long-delayed mandated report on the cost of instruction. The university said it spent an average of $21,800 to educate undergraduates and $37,100 to educate graduate students in the 2012-13 academic year under a “narrow definition” of instruction, and $29,200 per undergraduate and $55,800 per graduate student under a “broader definition.”
CAT’S IN THE CRADLE: Since last year’s effort to establish universal pre-kindergarten for California four-year-olds was scaled back to focus on low-income kids, Democrats have been pushing to expand the program. The first proposal comes from state Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León and Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, D-Santa Barbara, will introduce legislation to create new child care slots for poor working parents, 10 a.m. on the south steps of the Capitol.
SHOT IT THE DARK: Like the buddy comedy you never knew you wanted, Boxer and state Sen. Richard Pan, D-Sacramento, are teaming up to promote their pro-vaccinations bills with a tour of the YMCA Head Start program in Emeryville at 11:30 a.m. Boxer has introduced federal legislation that would require all children attending Head Start preschools across the country to be vaccinated, while Pan is pushing a bill to remove California’s personal-belief exemption for vaccinations.
PUMP IT UP: Last fall, California took the controversial step of regulating groundwater, becoming the last state in the West to do so. Local agencies will now oversee groundwater extraction in order to prevent overdrafting, moving away from the historic practice of allowing property owners to pump any water underneath their land. The state Department of Water Resources is in charge of several components of the legislation, including the development of guidelines for sustainability plans that local groundwater basins must adopt by 2020. The agency will provide an initial overview of implementation during the afternoon session of the California Water Commission’s meeting, which begins at 9:30 a.m. at the State of California Resources Building on 9th Street.
FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHT: Voting access advocacy group Future of California Elections hosts a two-day conference on expanding voter participation, starting at 1 p.m. at the Sacramento Convention Center. California Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye and Padilla will deliver opening addresses, and sessions will examine registration reforms, language and disability access, reaching young voters, improving the voter guide and expanding the balloting period. Sen. Ben Allen, D-Santa Monica, and Assemblyman Sebastian Ridley-Thomas, D-Los Angeles, are also scheduled to participate.
LIKE A PRAYER: The Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento marks the beginning of Lent with an Ash Wednesday liturgy, 8:30 a.m. on the north steps of the Capitol, led by Bishop Jaime Soto.
CELEBRATIONS: It’s a triple birthday. Best wishes to Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, who turns 51, Sen. Bob Wieckowski, D-Fremont, who turns 60, and Assemblyman Jim Patterson, R-Fresno, who turns 67.
Call The Bee’s Alexei Koseff, (916) 321-5236. Follow him on Twitter @akoseff.
Border patrol agents changing diapers. Local Democrat describes life in migrant detention
Rep Doris Matsui and a delegation of 19 other Democrats in Congress traveled to Texas to examine conditions at Customs and Border Patrol processing centers for migrants seeking asylum.
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No swimsuit? No lawsuit
Celine Dion decides suing over skinny-dipping claim is no longer important; Oasis' Noel Gallagher gets nasty. Plus: Joan Rivers won't sing -- so what's the bad news?
Check out this article! https://www.salon.com/2001/09/25/nptues_61/
Amy Reiter
September 26, 2001 2:02AM (UTC)
Celebrity responses to the attacks on the U.S. are getting a little stranger.
Celine Dion and her husband Rene Angelil, for instance, are showing their respect for the victims by dropping their $5 million lawsuit against the Quebec tabloid magazine that claimed that the couple was big into nudity.
Angelil has told the Canadian press that he and his wife (who emerged from retirement to sing "God Bless America" on Friday's telethon) have reexamined their priorities in light of the terrorist attacks. And after much thought, the couple apparently has decided going to court to refute Allo-Vedette's report that they have a proclivity for nude sunbathing and skinny-dipping -- allegations they strenuously deny -- is not high on their list.
Then again, if they'd won the suit, they could have donated the money to the victims of the attack and their families ...
Still dealing with her own stuff
"In light of recent personal events I feel that, for the sake of myself and my family, a short time out of the spotlight would be beneficial."
-- Kate Winslet, who's in the process of divorcing her husband, on why she decided not to attend the U.K. premiere of her film "Enigma" on Monday night.
Jitney jitters
Does she know something we don't know?
Linda Powell, Colin Powell's actress daughter, has decided to pull out of the National Theatre production of the August Wilson play "Jitney" in London.
"She was due to arrive here in October, but has withdrawn from the show for obvious security reasons," a National Theatre spokeswoman told the BBC.
According to the London Daily Mirror, the secretary of state has asked his children not to travel by air for the time being.
Speaking of letting it fly ...
One person apparently unaffected by the embrace-your-fellow-man British/American-unity impulse: Oasis nastyman Noel Gallagher.
Gallagher recently told British music magazine NME that Eminem is totally overrated. "People set their standards too low in their idols these days," he said.
And as for the Backstreet Boys, Gallagher says their music is "rubbish" and adds that they "should be shot."
Just the sort of peace, love and understanding uplift we're looking for these days.
Beneficial bits
Paul McCartney, who was on a plane on a New York City runway during the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, says he's going to do a benefit concert in New York within the next month and donate the proceeds to New York's Bravest. "I also have a connection there," the former Beatle said during an interview on New York radio station WPLJ, "because my father was a fireman in Liverpool during World War II."
Julia Roberts, meanwhile, is digging into her own deep pockets to donate $2 million to help the victims of the attacks. She has designated $1 million for the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund and $1 million to the Sept. 11 Telethon Fund she and so many others were promoting on TV on Friday. Hers is the largest personal celebrity donation aiding victims of the attack reported thus far. Pretty generous woman.
Which brings us to Joan Rivers. Remember how last week I reported that Rivers was among the entertainers lending their voices to a benefit recording of the Sister Sledge hit "We Are Family"? Well, scratch that. According to the New York Post, Rivers backed out of the recording after learning that the project's proceeds would be used to educate Americans about racial intolerance rather than going directly to victims of the terrorist attacks. "I'm just in shock. It's a bait and switch, and no one knows it," Rivers told the New York tabloid. "I'm not intolerant toward Arabs or Muslims, but now is not the time for that. I'm boycotting." Um, Joan ... can we talk?
Miss something? Read yesterday's Nothing Personal.
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This is Your Country on Drugs
Why we say yes to drugs
Resistance to mind-altering substances is futile, according to a new "Secret History of Getting High in America"
Check out this article! https://www.salon.com/2009/07/20/this_is_your_country_on_drugs/
July 20, 2009 2:18PM (UTC)
Not long ago, I was talking with a couple of friends who are about a decade younger than I am. We got onto the subject of recreational drugs and how my friends had recently sworn off Ecstasy. "I know a guy who used to love it, and he's quitting, too," one of them explained. "He's learned a lot about it and says it's just too hard on your body." I remarked that since Ecstasy is the sort of drug most people take only very occasionally, it probably wasn't as dangerous as something like cocaine, which can be addictive, expensive and lethal. "Oh, cocaine's not that bad," said my friend, looking puzzled and leaving me surprised. Hadn't he ever worked for someone who'd gotten so tweaked on coke that he burned out his septum, emptied his bank account and triggered a heart attack? Hasn't every journalist worked with someone like that?
Ryan Grim would understand this disconnect perfectly. One of the theses of his new book, "This is Your Country on Drugs: The Secret History of Getting High in America" -- a cornucopia of unconventional wisdom about our relationship to mind-altering substances -- is that the popularity of drugs waxes and wanes according to a complex sum of factors. One of those factors is the "perceived risk" of using a particular chemical, which also fluctuates. There's a tendency to idealize new drugs, as the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal did with a recently isolated narcotic in 1900. "There's no danger of acquiring a habit," it assured its readers about the drug that had just emerged from the labs of the aspirin manufacturer, Bayer. They named it heroin.
Even when we ought to know better, we don't. "It takes about seven years," Grim writes, "for folks to realize what's wrong with any given drug. It slips away, only to return again as if it were new." I came of age professionally at a time when older journalists and editors were wrecking themselves on cocaine right and left; as a result, I still think of the drug as equal parts perilous and pathetic, as well as hopelessly uncool. My friend, no doubt, came up during a coke lull.
A political reporter who currently works at the Huffington Post, Grim wrote a 2004 article for Slate inspired by a curious observation: LSD, which had been "a fixture of my social scene since the early '90s," seemed to have vanished from that scene. No one he knew was taking it or selling it, and when he approached a drugs-policy researcher for some hard data, they discovered that according to several metrics, acid use was at "an historic low: 3.5 percent." By 2003, it was down to 1.9 percent. Why?
It wasn't just that LSD had gone out of style, although it had, somewhat. Grim found evidence of a perfect storm of causes for the decline. In 2000, the DEA had arrested a man named William Pickard, thought to be the manufacturer of as much as 95 percent of the available acid in the U.S. The Grateful Dead, whose concerts provided an opportunity for suppliers and users to connect and network, had stopped touring after the 1995 death of Jerry Garcia, and Phish, a jam band that had stepped in to fill the gap, also stopped touring by the end of 2000. The rave scene began to fade away under pressure from authorities who threatened to arrest organizers for drug offenses committed at their events.
But if Grim has learned anything from his forays into the tangled world of drug laws (he once worked for the Marijuana Policy Project, which lobbies for the repeal of pot prohibition), it's that the American passion for getting high turns enforcement-centered strategies into a vast game of Whack-a-Mole. "Policies enacted to counter other drugs -- marijuana and cocaine, for example -- have ended up encouraging the meth trade, as have laws against meth itself," he writes. Crackdowns on pot smuggled from Mexico during the 1970s caused growers, dealers and users to turn to heroin, meth and especially cocaine, the last of which was brought in from Colombia via the Caribbean and Miami. When federal authorities finally got around to draining the swamp of crime and corruption in Miami (where one-fifth of all real estate transactions were paid for in cash), coke smuggling migrated to Mexico, and when attacked there, it scattered throughout the region, "creating the cartel structure that exists today." This year, the National Drug Threat Assessment has described Mexican cartels as "the greatest organized crime threat to the United States," whose violence has spilled over the border and whose influence "over domestic drug trafficking is unrivaled."
Grim has a knack for digging up facts and crunching statistics to get unexpected results. The meth "epidemic" that has recently inspired so much media alarm is already in decline, while crack use, never as pervasive as it was depicted in the 1980s, has remained fairly steady since then. Today's kids aren't smoking much pot because pot is a "social" drug, shared among peers who gather in parking lots and other hangouts; teens have less unstructured time now and tend to socialize online. They still get high, only on prescription drugs pilfered from adults or ordered off the Internet. "There's no social ritual involved," he observes, "just a glass of water and a pill," which "fits well into a solitary afternoon."
There's more. Early American settlers drank like fish, even the Puritans (though, as Grim fails to note, this was likely a habit transferred from Europe, where the water in many communities wasn't potable). In the 19th century, the heyday of temperance campaigns, it was more socially acceptable to consume opium than alcohol, and by the end of the 1900s, America was a "pharmacopoeia utopia" in which coke, heroin and morphine were all readily available, either with a doctor's prescription or in patent medicines and products like Coca-Cola, once a cocaine-containing beverage marketed as "a substitute for alcohol." Traditionally, attempts to regulate or prohibit drugs in America have come from the left rather than the right; only with the advent of the counterculture did this change.
Some of Grim's arguments are familiar, but with a twist. By now, most informed people know that anti-drug education and P.R. campaigns directed at children don't work, but Grim has noted several studies indicating that they may actually foster experimentation. He sees the mini-boom in drug use among 10th graders in the late '90s as caused by a confluence of the "inner child" therapy boom exhorting parents to encourage children's curiosity and programs like D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education), which inadvertently directed that curiosity toward exotic chemicals. Despite ample proof of its ineffectiveness, D.A.R.E. continues to be used in three-quarters of all American school districts on some 25 million children. (President Obama even proclaimed April 8 "National D.A.R.E. Day" in honor of the organization's "important work.") Grim thinks that D.A.R.E. and similarly wasteful programs persist simply because they relieve parents from the duty of having awkward (and possibly "hypocritical") conversations with their kids about drugs. Also because no one knows what else to do.
Even less excusable in Grim's eyes is the predominance of law enforcement strategies in America's disastrous war on drugs, initiated by the Reagan administration. Drug courts, in which offenders are directed to court-monitored treatment programs instead of into prison, are, according to Grim, both cheaper and more successful. Yet even politicians inclined to support a treatment-oriented approach to diminishing the American appetite for illegal drugs have opted to emphasize enforcement in order to position themselves as "tough" on crime.
For just this reason, President Clinton replaced his first, reform-minded drug czar, Lee Brown, with retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey, who squandered billions on a scandal-ridden media campaign (planting secret anti-drug messages in prime-time TV dramas) and combating the medical marijuana movement, which is supported by a majority of Americans. Worse yet, overseas enforcement campaigns lead to horrific blowback. Grim points out that aggressive attacks on growers and suppliers cause centralization of the drug trade (only big organizations can afford the losses) and this in turn leads to corruption, as cartel leaders parlay their fortunes into political influence. Not only are we pissing away our own resources on ineffectual enforcement efforts, we have "brought the Mexican government to the brink of collapse, making the prospect of a failed state on America's southern border a very real possibility."
For Grim, most of these mistakes have roots in an elementary error, the inability to accept that "altering one's consciousness is a fundamental human desire." The craving to be more relaxed or more alert, more outgoing or more reflective, happier or deeper or even just sillier and less bored -- in one form other another, this drive has always been and always will be with us, though many of us refuse to admit it. As a result, our political response to drug problems tends to be blinkered. "In reality, there's no such thing as drug policy," Grim writes. "As currently understood and implemented, drug policy attempts to isolate a phenomenon that can't be taken in isolation. Economic policy is drug policy. Healthcare policy is drug policy. Foreign policy, too, is drug policy. When approached in isolation, drug policy almost always backfires, because it doesn't take into account the powerful economic, social and cultural forces that also determine how and why Americans get high."
Yet a simplistic call for legalization fails to take into account the fact that almost all drugs can be very dangerous, and that the impulse to control them may run as deep as the desire to enjoy them. People who trust themselves to use drugs wisely don't necessarily want their kids, or their irresponsible neighbors, or their troubled relatives to enjoy unfettered access to previously controlled substances. For that reason, Grim -- who exhibits a distinct preference for hallucinogens and is prone to idealizing the "psychonauts" who use them to "expand consciousness" -- stops short of calling for the repeal of all drug prohibitions, for the most part, apparently, because he thinks it just won't last. "What would happen if drugs were legalized?" he asks, referring to the "pharmacopoeia utopia" of the late 1800s. "Well, it happened. And history suggests that if we ever legalize them again, it won't be long before we ban them all over again."
"Realism" seems to be the most Grim can bring himself to hope for, which is why he applauds cable TV series like "Weeds," "Breaking Bad" and "The Wire" for their nuanced depictions of the drug trade and the people who ply it. The library-like Web site Erowid.com emerges as one of the few real heroes in "This Is Your Country on Drugs," due to its curators' fierce commitment to objectively and thoroughly substantiating the vast amounts of information -- positive and negative -- they present about virtually every drug under the sun. A little realism would certainly help with regard to cocaine, whose "perceived risk" is rapidly shrinking in my own (admittedly highly anecdotal) experience. In the final pages of the book, Grim remarks that his own observations suggest that "coke's next honeymoon could be right around the corner." Sounds prescient, but not more so than his world-weary conclusion that "America has shown just about zero capacity to learn from its long and complicated history with drugs."
Laura Miller is the author of "The Magician's Book: A Skeptic's Adventures in Narnia."
MORE FROM Laura Miller • FOLLOW magiciansbook • LIKE Laura Miller
Books Drugs Nonfiction Recommended Books
Zinke's drug bust nabbed a lot of pot
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Chicago shooting leaves 13 injured, including toddler
In a reported gang-related shooting in a southwest side park, a 3 year old among those hurt
Check out this article! https://www.salon.com/2013/09/20/chicago_shooting_leaves_13_injured_including_toddler/
CHICAGO (AP) -- Thirteen people have been shot at a park on Chicago's southwest side, including a 3-year-old boy who was in critical condition, in what authorities say was likely a gang-related shooting.
Officer Amina Greer said the shooting occurred shortly after 10 p.m. Thursday.
A witness, Julian Harris, told the Chicago Sun-Times that dreadlocked men fired at him from a gray sedan before turning toward Cornell Square Park in Chicago's Back of the Yards neighborhood and firing at people. He said his 3-year-old nephew was wounded in the cheek.
"They hit the light pole next to me, but I ducked down and ran into the house," Harris said. "They've been coming round here looking for people to shoot every night, just gang-banging stuff. It's what they do."
Chicago Fire Department officials said the child was in critical condition. Officials at Mt. Sinai hospital said Friday that the boy was a patient there, but could not provide an update on his condition. Two other victims were also in critical condition. The others were reported in serious to fair condition.
Greer told The Associated Press early Friday that police have since identified a 13th victim, a 33-year-old woman with a gunshot wound to the back near one shoulder. Other victims included a 15-year-old and a 17-year-old. She added that no arrests have been made and she had no further information to give out at the time.
"It's an ongoing investigation," Greer added.
The shooting comes nearly three weeks after Chicago saw an outburst of violence over the Labor Day weekend that ended with eight dead and 20 others injured. The city's Police Department has responded to shootings that have grabbed national headlines by stepping up its crime-fighting efforts, paying overtime to add patrols to some neighborhoods, including the Back of the Yards, where Thursday's shooting took place.
According to Greer, at least 10 ambulances responded to the scene, transporting victims to several area hospitals. One victim transported himself to a hospital, police said.
Police spokesman Ron Gaines said victims were being interviewed to determine the circumstances of the shooting. He said no one had been taken into custody.
Francis John, 70, said she was in her apartment when the shooting occurred. She said she went down to see what was going on and "a lot of youngsters were running scared." A 30-year resident, she said she was surprised by what had happened.
She told the Sun-Times there hasn't been much gun violence in the neighborhood in recent years, adding the neighborhood went from good to bad 10 years ago, to better recently.
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Terry McAuliffe, Ken Cuccinelli (Reuters/Chris Wattie/AP/Steve Helber)
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. It's called campaign cash
The Gubernatorial election shows just how completely money can distort politics
Check out this article! https://www.salon.com/2013/10/18/yes_virginia_there_is_a_santa_claus_its_called_campaign_cash/
Bill Moyers • Michael Winship
This piece originally appeared on BillMoyers.com.
If you want to see how grossly money can distort democracy, just go to the state of Virginia, where there are no limits on how big a check can be written for statewide office. Groups and individuals from outside the Old Dominion are taking full advantage, pouring millions into a governor’s race they see as a dry run for the tactics they’ll use in the 2014 midterms and the 2016 presidential race – sort of the way the Spanish civil war turned out to be a testing ground for many of the deadly weapons of World War II.
Billionaires like environmentalist Tom Steyer on the left and the Koch Brothers on the right are placing their bets, but as they say at the track, the horses they’re backing are just a couple of hay burners. Once the home of Washington and Jefferson, James Madison and Patrick Henry, Virginia now has a choice between two mediocrities slavishly devoted to their wealthy contributors.
The Democrat, Terry McAuliffe, has been in training for years as courtier to the rich. He has raised hundreds of millions of dollars for the Democratic National Committee, which he chaired for four years, and the campaigns of his Best Friends Forever -- Bill and Hillary Clinton -- who now are shaking down donors for him. Along the way, according to The Washington Post, this gregarious bagman used government programs, his huge Rolodex of political connections, and wealthy investors from both parties to enrich himself. He organized a company to build electric cars and promoted it to investors with a prospectus featuring photographs and ample references to his Clinton ties. He even got the former President to show up at the opening of the plant in Mississippi, along with that state’s former Republican governor, Haley Barbour, who made his fortune as a lobbyist in Washington for the tobacco industry.
Strange bedfellows, these crony capitalists – you may remember that Hillary Clinton’s brother, Tony Rodham was involved, too, searching out foreign investors for the electric cars. When the spotlight of scrutiny crossed their path, McAuliffe resigned from the company, which is now under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The Washington Post also reports that one of McAuliffe’s top twenty donors – at $120,000 -- is the Liberian International Ship and Corporate Registry, which issues flags of convenience to shipping companies that want to dodge taxes and labor regulations, and that McAuliffe invested in an alleged insurance scam that stole identities from the terminally ill. His campaign says that like other investors, McAuliffe was deceived. The fellow in charge of the scheme donated more than $25,000 the last time McAuliffe ran for governor, in 2009. Hmmm…
In a recent debate, his Republican opponent, state attorney general and right wing zealot Ken Cuccinelli, said that if McAuliffe’s elected, they’ll have to change the state’s motto from “Sic Semper Tyrannis” to “Quid Pro Quo.” That’s Latin for you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.
But Cuccinelli is in no position to talk. The candidate was drawn into that Virginia money scandal in which Jonnie R. Williams, Sr., CEO of Star Scientific, a company that manufactures dietary supplements, showered lavish presents and perks on the current governor and his wife. Cuccinelli also received a sprinkling of Williams’ largesse. He recently donated the value of what he says he got -- $18,000 – to charity.
What’s more, his donor list includes considerable checks from big tobacco and big coal, including Murray Energy Corporation, which has often been fined for endangering the health and safety of its miners. Last year, its boss, Bob Murray, was discovered insisting that employees contribute time and money to his favorite anti-regulatory candidates – including Mitt Romney – or else.
Now Cuccinelli’s touting a major tax cut for the rich, with a plan that, according to the liberal Center for American Progress, would give 47% of a proposed tax reduction to the top five percent of Virginians. The state would lose nearly a billion and a half dollars in revenues so the rich can be even richer.
Not surprising, Cuccinelli’s a major climate change denier, as well as a fractious opponent of Obamacare, a woman’s right to choose and gay marriage. He once wanted to make it legal for employers to fire an employee if they were heard speaking Spanish. No wonder he’s the favorite of Citizens United – yes, that Citizens United, the right wing group that got the conservatives on the Supreme Court to give corporations the same free speech rights as real people.
So come Election Day, pity the voters of Virginia. Whether they choose the glad-handing Democrat or the self-righteous Republican, once again, the real winner will be Big Money.
Bill Moyers is managing editor of the new weekly public affairs program, "Moyers & Company," airing on public television. Check local airtimes or comment at www.BillMoyers.com.
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Michael Winship
Michael Winship is senior writing fellow at Demos and a senior writer of the new series, Moyers & Company, airing on public television.
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(PathDoc via Shutterstock/Brave New Films/Salon)
Publishing and the plutocracy: Relying on billionaires like the Kochs to survive is nothing to celebrate
Elizabeth Koch's new Catapult press looks great, but the return to an era of patronage isn't a win in a democracy
Check out this article! https://www.salon.com/2015/09/14/publishing_and_the_plutocracy_relying_on_billionaires_like_the_kochs_to_survive_is_nothing_to_celebrate/
The literary world just got a weird mix of good news and bad news. The good news first: A new independent press is launching in New York: Catapult, as it’s called, “has an annual budget in the high six figures,” according to the Wall Street Journal, “and aims eventually to publish 12 books a year.” It’s founded by a Syracuse MFA grad who studied with George Saunders, and she’s brought aboard the well-regarded Electric Literature co-founder Andy Hunter to serve as publisher and Pat Strachan, a longtime editor at Farrar, Straus and Giroux and Little, Brown as editor-in-chief.
And they seem to be publishing the kind of valuable work that could easily get lost in a marketplace increasingly oriented around blockbuster authors and celebrity memoirs. “Catapult’s first book, released Tuesday, is ‘Cries For Help, Various,’ a surreal and at times laugh-out-loud collection of short stories by National Book Award nominee Padgett Powell, a longtime collaborator of Ms. Strachan,” the Journal reports. “Coming in October: Irish author Gavin McCrea’s ‘Mrs. Engels,’ a debut novel imagining the life of an illiterate Irishwoman who became the lover of Friedrich Engels, co-author of ‘The Communist Manifesto.’ “
These sound like consummate mid-list titles, the kinds of books crucial to the health of the literary world – a lot of the best work comes from midlist authors even while the category has been destroyed by the market. And given the cautious way corporate publishers operate with any author who is not already famous – it’s good for anyone thinking of writing a book that there is another independent house out there.
So what’s not to like?
Catapult’s founder is Elizabeth Koch, the 39-year-old daughter of billionaire Charles Koch. Charles and his brother David are not just right-wing libertarians, of course, but inherited their oil-and-gas corporation from their father, a founder of the John Birch Society, and have spent much of the time since destroying the safety net for the rest of us. They’ve endowed all kinds of shadow groups and bogus think tanks, including groups that deny climate change, sway elections, destroy campaign-finance laws, restrict voting, privatize social security, and so on. Their combined fortune is somewhere around $100 billion.
They also support culture – as in the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center, or millons they’ve given to public broadcasting. Sometimes this comes with no strings attached, but as the New Yorker noted in 2013, David Koch successfully pressured PBS about two documentaries critical of the 1-percent and the brothers themselves, Alex Gibney's "Park Avenue: Money, Power and the American Dream" and the film that became "Citizen Koch," to varying degrees of success. Given the Koch brothers' well-earned reputation for secrecy, it makes you wonder what kind of control they have had at PBS and elsewhere that we haven't heard about.
To be fair, Elizabeth Koch seems highly unlikely to pull this kind of thing. By all reports she is neither obnoxious nor a political extremist, and calls herself apolitical. Highly credible people are working with her, too.
But it reminds me a bit of the publishing imprint begun a few years ago by Amazon – which also included some serious literary folk – and bookstores founded by celebrity authors. In the short-term, these can be good. But they’re also a sign that the system has stopped working.
Specifically, Catapult is the latest chapter in a larger 21st century story: the return to patronage. As with the case of movie producer Megan Ellison (the daughter of Oracle’s Larry Ellison, who earns in one hour about what the average American worker does in a year), letting the very rich or their offspring drive culture is better than nothing. (And Megan Ellison has helped make some very worhty films, among them “American Hustle” and “Her,” happen.) And for much of human history, culture was mostly by and for the very rich and very powerful.
But we were hoping that the whole age-of-democracy thing that we in the West boast about was taking us in a different and broader-based direction. We had co-ops and publishing companies and nonprofits and movie studios and so on that funded culture. A hybrid marketplace -- with a mix of for-profit firms and foundations and public funding -- made a healthy publishing economy possible.
The 1-percent already exerts enormous control over our political life, and as we get deeper into the era of Citizens United – a ruling the Koch Bros are taking full advantage of as they plan to spend $900 million to elect conservative candidates – it will only get worse. Do we really want our culture (including our independent literary culture) driven by them too? Whatever Elizabeth Koch’s politics, this is another sign of us tipping further into plutocracy.
So let’s wish Catapult well. But let’s not give in to the fantasy that all is well in the literary world when the only well-grounded new publisher we’ve heard of lately was founded by the scion of billionaires.
Scott Timberg is a former staff writer for Salon, focusing on culture. A longtime arts reporter in Los Angeles who has contributed to the New York Times, he runs the blog Culture Crash. He's the author of the book, "Culture Crash: The Killing of the Creative Class."
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"I choose unavailable men, broken men"
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Paul Ryan, Ted Cruz (Reuters/Kevin Lamarque/Joe Mitchell)
This is why we're so f*cked: Our politics are only going to get worse
We'd like to be optimistic. But Democrats' demographic dream is just that. We'll need a nightmare for real change
Check out this article! https://www.salon.com/2015/11/23/this_is_why_were_so_fcked_our_politics_are_only_going_to_get_worse/
Paul Rosenberg
November 23, 2015 3:59PM (UTC)
With almost total gridlock in Congress, and a couple of rank amateurs dominating the GOP presidential primary, you can be forgiven for thinking that America has reached a record peak of political dysfunction—especially considering how weak the Democratic Party has been in response, as seen in the recent off-year elections. But if you think we've reached a peak, you might want to think again, according to Peter Turchin, a former theoretical biologist who turned his attention to studying human history more than a decade and a half ago.
As a biologist,Turchin wrote "Complex Population Dynamics: A Theoretical/Empirical Synthesis," which the publisher, Princeton University Press, said, “integrates theoretical and empirical studies into a major new synthesis of current knowledge about population dynamics,” adding, “It is also a pioneering work that sets the course for ecology's future as a predictive science.” But then,Turchin told Salon, “I got a little bit bored, because I didn't feel much challenge.” Having modeled complex population dynamics in nature, his move wasn't as surprising as it might seem. “I started casting around, and I thought it would be interesting to study history, from that dynamical point of view,” he said. “So that's what led to Cliodynamics, basically, trying to treat history is a dynamical science.”
Turchin has written several books on the subject, both academic, "Historical Dynamics: Why States Rise and Fall" and "Secular Cycles" (with Sergey Nefedov), and more popular works, "War and Peace and War: The Rise and Fall of Empires," and the just-published "Ultrasociety: How 10,000 Years of War Made Humans the Greatest Cooperators on Earth." And he's still interested in advancing predictive science.
As with any study of dynamical systems—from the simplest to the most complex—it's logical to focus on critical indicators of when such systems shift from one regime (stability, say, or expansion) to another (instability, or decline). So it was perfectly apt that Turchin wrote a 2010 letter to warning of “growing instability” over the next decade, citing a number of “leading indicators of looming political instability” including “stagnating or declining real wages, a growing gap between rich and poor, overproduction of young graduates with advanced degrees, and exploding public debt.”
“These seemingly disparate social indicators are actually related to each other dynamically,” he wrote, going on to say that “In the United States, 50-year instability spikes occurred around 1870, 1920 and 1970, so another could be due around 2020,” with all the relevant cycles—including a “youth bulge” of people in their 20s—“set to peak in the years around 2020.”
The timing isn't exact in any complex dynamical system, nor is it predetermined how the instability gets worked out—history will always be full of surprises. But Turchin's work strongly suggests things will get even more stressful and chaotic for at least a few more years—and that something much deeper and more profound than normal politics is needed to get our country back on track again, something akin to Bernie Sanders' calls for a “political revolution,” perhaps. In fact,Turchin argues that what we're seeing now represents an unraveling of what makes civilization possible.
“We live in huge societies of hundreds of millions of people, and we don't really understand what makes them function,”Turchin said. “What makes them function is cooperation, and so what we know from studying history, is that cooperation tends to go up and down in cycles. So right now all the indicators we have, we in the United States, and also if you look at the European Union, we are in a down cycle of cooperation, and cooperation is unraveling.”
This is a simple statement, but the reality it points to is far from simplistic. “Cooperation is unraveling at several multiple levels,” he said. “First of all there is much less willingness to cooperate between the rulers, and the ruled, you can see that expressed in the declining measures of the public trust, for government, and similar things. But more critical is what's happening to our elites,” what's known today as the 1 percent. “The 1 percent are not evil people at all, they're critical,” Turchin said. “Complex societies cannot be governed without elites.” But they can act in helpful or destructive ways. “When the elite are prosocial, when they're cooperative, the society is governed well; and when the elite eventually become less prosocial, that's when all kinds of troubles happen.”
This is arguably the heart of Turchin's approach, what he calls “structural demographic theory,” the recognition that inter-elite dynamics are crucial determinants of how well mass societies do, and that they are linked to the population dynamics of the broader society in multiple ways, all of which can be modeled and measured. But it's actually a bit more complicated than that.
“We think of it is a system of three components, the general population, the 99 percent, the elites, the 1 percent in power, and the state,” Turchin said. “The state has its own agency. This is where Marxists are not quite right, because they attempt to treat the state as merely the ego for the elites. But that's actually not a good idea because the states have their own agency. They are interconnected with the elites, but we have to treat them as a separate quantity.”
This becomes vividly clear when it comes to identifying sources stress leading to instability, as Turchin did, for example, in the paper “Modeling Social Pressures Toward Political Instability.” Each of three components has its ways of contributing to instability as conditions worsen.
The easiest to grasp is that coming from the broad population, which can be clearly seen in premodern societies, an early point of focus for Turchin and other pioneers of this approach, such as sociologist Jack Goldstone, author of "Revolution and Rebellion in the Early Modern World," published in 1991, a decade before Turchin became active in the field. “The Malthusian dynamic is that population increases to the point where it starts pressing on its resources, and large segments of the population become immiserated. So their incomes decline, sometimes even below the level that they need to survive. And so that creates a lot of potential for mass mobilization against the existing system,” Turkin said. It's a slow process, generally speaking. “These cycles are very long, typically—roughly speaking a century for the positive side, and the same for the negative turn.”
“As a result if you look at this, that's not the main thing that goes on,” Turchin pointed out. “In complex societies the typical component are the elites, people with power. So as long as the elites are reasonably unified, and reasonably happy, they basically can control their population,” even in formal democracies, like the US and Western Europe. “Three people start plotting a revolution, one of them is an FBI informant,” Turchin said. “So the critical thing is what's happening to the elites, and interestingly enough, it's a very similar dynamic.”
But not identical. When the general population pushes its limits, “the elite actually enters a golden age, because what they consume is human labor; human labor becomes cheap because there is an oversupply.” As a result, “Immiseration for the population means it's actually good news for the elites. And this principle works both for the agrarian societies, and for post-industrial societies, although it's much more complex in postindustrial societies.”
But the golden age for elites causes their population to grow as well—both through reproduction and through social mobility. As a result, “The class of the wealthy and powerful expands in relation to the whole population,” which eventually creates scarcity for them. In particular, “There are not enough positions, power positions governing, in business and government, to satisfy all elite aspirants. And that's when inter-elite competition starts to take uglier forms.” That can be measured in terms of “overproduction of law degrees, because that's a direct route into government, or the overproduction of MBAs,” and, higher up, in the increased competition for House and Senate seats, where the money spent on such contests spirals ever upwards.
“So the competition intensifies, and when competition intensifies, there are losers. There are many more losers now than there were 40 or 50 years ago,” Turchin said, and “Many of them are not good losers,” meaning they devote themselves to frustrating others, further eroding the cooperative ethos societies need to keep functioning.
This in turn connects with the role of the state in moving toward increased instability. “During this pre-crisis phases of the secular cycle, the governments tend to get more and more indebted,” Turchin said. “The reason is, most simply, the inter-elite competition becomes very hot. You have a lot of frustrated elite aspirants, and the states try to respond by providing them with jobs.... even in the historical societies... they would expand the army, so that offices could serve.... That puts a lot of pressure on the state coffers.” (Even nowadays, when elite opinion rallies around the idea that “middle class entitlements” are the great threat to fiscal solvency, Thomas Ferguson and Robert Johnson have pointed out that the actual primary threats are "the excessive costs of oligopoly in health care and defense spending" plus "the contingent liability of another financial crisis," all of them rooted in elite special interest demands on the state.)
At the same, the state also loses revenues, “As the population immiserates and they also become dissatisfied, they become much less willing to pay taxes, or even less able.” The dangers of state indebtedness can play out in different ways, Turchin notes, “But one of the most common routes to crisis is that the state goes bankrupt, and loses the capacity to control their police and army.” Elite factions, already warring with each other, can then drag the county into outright civil war.
The above destabilizing forces are merely the easiest to describe and explain. Turchin's actual model is more complex, as described in “Modeling Social Pressures Toward Political Instability.” Each component—the general population, elites and the state—can be characterized in terms of size or numbers, economics, and culture (most broadly, cooperative-vs-competitive norms, etc.)
The general population's overall size isn't the only salient feature—age structure and urbanization also play important roles. “Age structure is affected by fluctuations in the population growth rate,” which matters particularly because “Youth bulges tend to be politically destabilizing,” while “Urbanization dynamics is in many ways similar to age structure, as rapid population growth also drives rapid urbanization with large groups “concentrated in a structural setting that facilitates collective action.” Hence, Turchin notes that “rapid population growth in excess of employment opportunities can lead to declining standards of living, appearance of a youth bulge, and rapid urbanization,” all of which help drive instability.
Elite numbers are driven by demography—the balance of births and deaths—as well as social mobility. Elite composition refers to established vs. new elites, as well as aspirants elites and counter-elites, described as “radicalized aspirant elites, whose aspirations to secure an elite position/status have been frustrated.” Elite incomes are affected by class relations (less for workers more for them), elite numbers and state expenditures, but wealth is a better, more stable indicator of elite status and power. Elite overproduction increases inter-elite competition and conflict, leading to unraveling of cooperative norms.
The state subsystem is also characterized by size (number of employees or proportion of GDP), economic health (most succinctly, the debt/GDP ratio), and by “an ideological aspect (state legitimacy as measured, for example, by the degree of trust in the state and national institutions).”
Even instability itself can be considered as a component in the model. Although it's a process, not a social subsystem, Turchin notes, “it also has a ‘size’ aspect (the frequency of comparatively minor forms of political violence such as terrorism and riots; and the magnitude of more serious forms such as revolution and civil war, which could be measured by the number of casualties) and a cultural/ideological aspect (growth or decline of radical ideologies).”
This more elaborate model can be much more rigorously tested against historical data, and the paper referred to examines two such examples from American history: the 19th century leading up to the Civil War, and the 20th century from the progressive era through the current state of rising instability. One thing that struck me in particular was how the debt/GDP ratio had actually been decreasing until Reagan took office, when it started rapidly rising, at the same time that trust measures of legitimacy were falling—not just for government, but for institutions across the board.
“The late 1970s is the turning point for literally most of the structural demographic variables,” Turchin pointed out. “In many ways, the coming of Ronald Reagan to power was emblematic of this change. If you think about it, there were people like him even before, like that guy from Arizona, Senator Goldwater in the 1960s, you know. But he got no traction. So why did Reagan get traction? I would argue that [it was] because in the 1970s, the social mood of the elites turned away from this more cooperative stance, to a less cooperative stance.”
One striking indication of this changing mood Turchin cites in his paper is United Auto Workers president Douglas Fraser's resignation letter to the Labor-Management Group, in which he wrote:
I believe leaders of the business community, with few exceptions, have chosen to wage a one-sided class war today in this country—a war against working people, the unemployed, the poor, the minorities, the very young and the very old, and even many in the middle class of our society. The leaders of industry, commerce and finance in the United States have broken and discarded the fragile, unwritten compact previously existing during a past period of growth and progress.
Turchin then notes, “What is remarkable about the letter is that it was written in 1978—the year when real wages stopped growing.... In other words, the cultural and ideological shift that Fraser describes preceded the shift in economic and state-related structural demographic variables. This observation is consistent with the idea that cultural factors were one of the causes of the 1970s trend reversal.”
But it wasn't just “the fragile, unwritten compact” that business leaders were breaking. Increasingly, they were breaking the law outright, firing prounion workers during organizing drives, a violation of the National Labor Relation Act. “Between the 1950s and 1980s the probability that a pro-union worker would be fired during a union drive increased more than 10-fold,” Turchin notes. Such widespread elite lawlessness also clearly reflects the change in mood.
A decade earlier than real wages peaked, the real minimum wage also reached it's highest level. Considering its rise and fall over time, Turchin noted that “the smoothed trend of the real minimum wage may serve as a reasonable proxy for the hard-to-quantify effect of the non-market forces,” and he proceeds to show just how reasonable it is. Turchin shows how three quantitative measures—GDP per capita, the labor demand/supply ratio, and the minimum wage as a proxy for non-market forces—can be combined in a statistical analysis to explain real-wage trends over a period of eight decades (1930-2010). He builds the model in steps, adding each variable in turn, and showing the results of the model's prediction versus the historical record. The last thing he does is add a time lag of 5 years, reflecting the fact that wages are “sticky,” whether formalized in a labor contract or not. The result is a stunningly close fit between model and data, a striking confirmation of the soundness of his approach.
Another trend Turchin points to as a sign of growing instability is the dramatic ten-fold rise in the number of indiscriminate mass murder incidents—events like the shootings in Columbine or Newton, where the identities of those murdered were not important, one victim was as good as another. After Newton, he blogged about it here.
The actual number of people killed in such incidents is “a very small proportion of deaths,” Turchin noted. “They are more a sign, they're canaries in the coal mine.” Their purpose is institutional destruction—to destroy the workplace as a whole, say, rather than the person in charge—and there's been a significant evolution over time, with incidents first focused on the workplace, then spreading to schools, and more recently the government. “That actually fits the progression that structural demographic theory suggests,” Turchin said. The workplace is the focal point of mass immiseration, schools and univeristies are sites of inter-elite competition, and finally attacks on the state reflect state weakening. “So that's why I think this is symptomatic,” he said. Folding this progression into the larger picture is what Turchin finds really worrying, though. “If and when the fiscal disaster strikes and then you have no functioning police... that's when we really will have problems, some serious social dissolution event.”
So, what can be done to avoid such a future? “The best way to prevent it is to act on the deep social processes,” Turchin said. “Everybody now is talking about inequality, although economists actually have no idea why inequality goes up, and especially why it goes down. We need to not really do something to reverse inequality, we need to reverse the situation with the oversupply of popular immiseration and inter-elite competition. These are the deep factors that drive everything else.”
Turchin looks back to the structural-demographic crisis of the early 20th century. “It was resolved quite nonviolently, essentially through reform,” he said. “The New Deal is really the culmination of trends that basically are rooted in an earlier progressive era. So, first of all, all those laws that made worker organizations, worker trade unions, legal and effective, and also the change of the mood on the part of the owner, the capitalists, who basically learned that negotiating with workers is actually a pretty decent way of solving the problems.” These were crucial changes that reoriented the path that society was on, leading to other developments which strengthened the working and middle class base of society, while elite power and influence waned. “The Great Depression was a shock, but afterwards it was that particular dynamic, that was preventing the growth of huge fortunes, so basically, it's really making sure that fruits of economic growth are spread evenly, amongst everybody,” Turchin said. “I'm not saying here that we should take money from rich and given it to the poor. It's basically that we have to make sure that wages grow together with productivity. So, by doing that, you already reverse many of these bad trends.”
But he mentioned something else, as well. “There has to be a new social mood, that has to appear in which you banish people who are actually troublemakers,” such obstructionists in Congress “who are actually destroying cooperation rather than cooperating, those basically have to be ostracized,” Turchin said. In the 1950s and '60s there was substantial cooperation between Democrats and Republicans, but, “Now, of course, instead of Republican versus Democrats, Republicans are also split between the Tea Party and Traditional Republicans. It's this disorientation which leads to a very scorched-earth policy, that's what has to be reversed.”
Easier said than done, perhaps. But it helps enormously to recognize that our current political dysfunction has a great many antecedents, most of which ended very badly, but that we Americans have such a clear example in our own recent history of how to resolve this crisis peacefully. The dramatic spread of concern over inequality spearheaded by Occupy Wall Street, but now even getting sporadic lip service from the GOP is indicative of how shared public awareness can change. “The way to change the situation is precisely to change the social mood and to increase the understanding by both the public and the elites of what kind of predicament we are in,” Turchin said. “This is where our science can really help, not by giving specific policies, because specific policies will have to be worked out in the political process.”
This segues into the subject at the heart of his new book, "Ultrasociety." “There are two kinds of competition. The internal competition destroys cooperation, but competition between groups, external competition, actually nourishes cooperation,” driving it to ever-higher levels. “In that book I actually try and explain how humans evolved to be a highly cooperative species, and what role competition fits into, what role it plays,” Turchin said. The book starts with the example of the International Space Station, an effort ultimately involving the cooperation of over a billion people on three continents. “That’s at least three orders of magnitude greater than the population base of a Gothic cathedral. Quite a shift, isn’t it?” Turchin writes. The book seeks to make sense of how that shift, and earlier ones preceding it, were possible over such a brief span of time in the cosmic scheme of things. The fact that we, as a species, have come so far so fast is the perhaps the most potent argument for optimism we have. In turn, that optimism should make us eager to take on big challenges, like the ones that Turchin describes.
Paul Rosenberg is a California-based writer/activist, senior editor for Random Lengths News, and a columnist for Al Jazeera English. Follow him on Twitter at @PaulHRosenberg.
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Pintxos Tours
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The Pintxo and the Tapa
It is very common to confuse the tapa and the pintxo, since they are two types of appetizer. However, both in their origins and in their format, they are different. What they do share is a great popularity, because almost nobody imagines having a glass of wine or a beer without a good tapa or a pintxo of quality. Do you want to find out everything about both? So, do not stop reading, we'll tell you.
Its origins are confusing. There is a legend, by which we must go back to the Middle Ages, specifically to the reign of Alfonso X the Wise. This king ruled between 1252 and 1284 the kingdoms of Leon and Castile. A foresighted man, he had the idea of forcing the taverns of both kingdoms to offer some food to those who drank wine. The reason? Prevent his subjects from falling quickly into drunkenness.
More plausible we think that story in which another king, Alfonso XIII, in the 20th century, in a visit to Seville decided to stop to drink something. They offered him a wine, which was about to be filled with dust because of a strong wind; but the waiter's agility avoided it by resorting to a piece of bread. The king was interested in that custom, as he seemed to understand, and by name. The young man replied, simply, that it was a lid.
Whatever its origin, in our days, a tapa is an aperitif that is always offered with a drink as a courtesy of the bar. It can also be a small portion of food, which will usually be served on a plate.
The pintxo (pincho)
This is a Basque aperitif of very modern origin, since it dates from the year 30s of the last century. La Espiga, a local located in San Sebastian, offered in those years a type of appetizer that consisted of a slice of bread with some ingredients on top that were pierced by a toothpick to prevent them from falling. The use of the stick was renamed pincho (skewer) or banderilla (tool used in the bullfights, that is stabbed on the back of the bull), and it was these terms that by extension were used to refer to this appetizer.
His popularity grew thanks to the aristocrats of the place, which, attracted by the quality of these *pintxos, from San Sebastián gave to know this venue by all the Basque Country, to extend later his fame by all Spain.
There are differences between tapa and pintxo, although they are interpreted differently depending on each region of Spain. In general, the tapa is courtesy of the bar, while the pintxo is ordered and paid for. The lid is often part or portion of a larger plate, while the pintxo is, more often, a specific preparation, a miniature dish. Pintxos is a term originally used in San Sebastian and by extension the Basque Country, while Tapa has been a term used in the rest of Spain. However, it is common to find bars in Spain that use the term pintxo to distinguish their offer from the rest of the tapas bars in your area.
Another difference is that traditionally the pintxo has been characterized by carrying the toothpick, and is designed to be held with one hand. On the contrary, the lid has generally been served on a saucer.
The best appetizers
Nowadays, tapa and pintxo, with their differences, are the most consumed and typical types of appetizers in San Sebastian, the Basque Country and Spain and constitute a unique element of our culinary culture.
The txakoli of Gipuzkoa
Wine and pintxos pairing
The Michelín Stars in San Sebastián
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Rennie Grove Hospice Care’s 1,500-strong team of volunteers was awarded the ultimate honour available for volunteer groups, The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service in June 2017.
Created in 2002 to celebrate the anniversary of The Queen’s coronation, The Queen's Award for Voluntary Service is the highest award given to local volunteer groups across the UK to recognise outstanding work done in their own communities. It is the MBE for volunteer groups.
Volunteers underpin everything we do at Rennie Grove and make invaluable contributions throughout the organisation. Without them we simply would not be able to provide our high quality services to support adults, children and families in the local community coping with life-limiting illness.
Operating in a wide variety of roles including trustees, van drivers, complementary therapists, family support listeners, shop assistants, receptionists, office helpers and event marshals, over 1,500 volunteers give around 140,000 hours of their time to help the charity every year. An evaluation project undertaken in 2016 put a conservative estimate of the value of this time at £1.5 million.
The official presentation of the Award was made by the Lord Lieutenant of Hertfordshire, Robert Voss on 11 September 2017. In a ceremony also attended by the Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Hertfordshire and Rennie Grove Patron, Countess Verulam, a Certificate signed by the Queen and a commemorative crystal were presented to Chair of Trustees Professor Stephen Spiro.
Throughout 2017, Rennie Grove's Director of Nursing and Clinical Services, Sue Varvel (as well as members of our nursing and volunteering teams) visited shops and offices throughout Herts and Bucks. The aim was to make a personal presentation of a special Queen's Award badge to as many volunteers as possible, and give them the chance to see the crystal and certificate.
To find out more about joining our award-winning team of volunteers, please see our latest list of volunteer opportunities or complete an enquiry form.
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August 17, 2012 / 6:25 AM / in 7 years
UPDATE 5-Mine "bloodbath" shocks post-apartheid S.Africa
* Protesters armed and determined to die - police chief
* President Zuma says violence “shocking”, announces inquiry
* Stunned South Africans question “culture of violence”
* World platinum prices spike, Lonmin shares slump
By Jon Herskovitz
MARIKANA, South Africa, Aug 17 (Reuters) - The police killing of 34 striking platinum miners in the bloodiest security operation since the end of white rule cut to the quick of South Africa’s psyche on Friday, with searching questions asked of its post-apartheid soul.
Newspaper headlines screamed “Bloodbath”, “Killing Field” and “Mine Slaughter”, with graphic photographs of heavily armed white and black police officers walking casually past the bloodied corpses of black men lying crumpled in the dust.
The images, along with Reuters TV footage of officers opening up with automatic weapons on a small group of men in blankets and t-shirts at Lonmin’s Marikana platinum plant, rekindled uncomfortable memories of South Africa’s racist past.
Police chief Riah Phiyega confirmed 34 dead and 78 injured in Thursday’s shootings after officers moved against 3,000 striking drill operators armed with machetes and sticks at the mine, 100 km (60 miles) northwest of Johannesburg.
A sombre-looking President Jacob Zuma, who cut short a trip to Mozambique for a regional summit because of the violence, travelled to Marikana and announced he had ordered an official inquiry into what he called the “shocking” events.
“This is unacceptable in our country which is a country where everyone feels comfortable, a country with a democracy that everyone envies,” he said in a statement read at a news conference. He did not take questions.
Phiyega, a former banking executive appointed to lead the police force only in June, said officers acted in self-defence against charging, armed assailants at Marikana.
“The police members had to employ force to protect themselves,” she said, noting that two policemen had been hacked to death by a mob at the mine on Tuesday.
However, the South African Institute of Race Relations likened the incident to the 1960 Sharpeville township massacre near Johannesburg, when apartheid police opened fire on a crowd of black protesters, killing more than 50.
“Obviously the issues that have led to this are not the same as the past, but the response and the outcome is very similar,” research manager Lucy Holborn told Reuters.
In a front-page editorial, the Sowetan newspaper questioned what had changed since 1994, when Nelson Mandela overturned three centuries of white domination to become South Africa’s first black president.
“It has happened in this country before where the apartheid regime treated black people like objects,” the paper, named after South Africa’s biggest black township, said. “It is continuing in a different guise now.”
Zuma, who faces an internal leadership election in his ruling African National Congress (ANC) in December, called on South Africa to mourn together. “It is a moment to start healing and rebuilding,” he said at Marikana.
“We believe there is enough space in our democratic order for any dispute to be resolved through dialogue without any breaches of the law or violence,” an earlier statement from him said.
Despite promises of a better life for all South Africa’s 50 million people, the ANC has struggled to provide basic services to millions in poor black townships.
Efforts to redress the economic inequalities of apartheid have had mixed results, and the mining sector comes in for particular criticism from radical ANC factions as a bastion of “white monopoly capital”.
In Washington, the White House said it was saddened by the loss of life. “We encourage all parties to work together to resolve the situation peacefully,” spokesman Josh Earnest said.
POLICE PRESENCE
Hundreds of police patrolled the dusty plains around the Marikana mine, which was forced to shut down this week because of a rumbling union turf war that has hit the platinum sector this year.
Crime scene investigators combed the site of the shooting, which was cordoned off with yellow tape, collecting spent cartridges and the slain miners’ bloodstained traditional weapons - machetes and spears.
Six firearms were recovered, including a service revolver from one of the police officers killed earlier in the week.
Before Thursday, 10 people had died in nearly a week of conflict between rival unions at what is Lonmin’s flagship plant. The London-headquartered company has been forced to shut down all its South African platinum operations, which account for 12 percent of global output.
South Africa is home to 80 percent of the world’s known reserves of platinum, a precious metal used in vehicle catalytic converters. Rising power and labour costs and a steep decline this year in the price have left many mines struggling to stay afloat.
Although the striking Marikana miners were demanding huge pay hikes, the roots of the trouble lie in a challenge by the newer Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) to the 25-year dominance of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), a close ANC ally.
“There is clearly an element in this that a key supporter of the ANC - the NUM - has come under threat from these protesting workers,” said Nic Borain, an independent political analyst.
Pre-crackdown footage of dancing miners waving machetes and licking the blades of home-made spears raised questions about the habitual use of violence in industrial action 18 years after the end of apartheid.
“This culture of violence and protest, it must somehow be changed,” said John Robbie, a prominent Johannesburg radio host. “You can’t act like a Zulu impi in an industrial dispute in this day and age,” he said, using the Zulu word for armed units.
World platinum prices spiked nearly 3 percent on Thursday as the full extent of the violence became clear, and rose again on Friday to a five-week high above $1,450 an ounce.
Lonmin shares in London and Johannesburg fell more than 5 percent to four-year lows at Friday’s market open, although later trimmed their losses. Overall, they have shed nearly 15 percent since the violence began a week ago.
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June 2, 2009 / 3:20 PM / 10 years ago
Goldman Sachs names ex-SEC chief Levitt as advisor
Former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Arthur Levitt participates in a roundtable in New York February 22, 2006. REUTERS/Seth Wenig
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Clinton-era Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Arthur Levitt has signed on as an advisor to Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N), the Wall Street firm announced on Tuesday.
Levitt will provide Goldman with strategic advice in a number of areas, namely public policy, the company announced.
Levitt was the longest-serving chairman of the SEC, having led the commission from 1993 until 2001.
The appointment adds to a history of ties between Goldman and the upper echelons of the U.S. government. Former U.S. Treasury Secretaries Hank Paulson and Robert Rubin were both Goldman alumni as was Assistant Treasury Secretary Neel Kashkari, who oversaw the Troubled Asset Relief Program devised by Paulson.
Reporting by Steve Eder; Editing by Tim Dobbyn
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PROPERTY AND PROPERTY INTERESTS
Chapter 504B
Section 504B.206
504B.205 504B.211
Criminal sexual conduct
2014 504B.206 Amended 2014 c 188 s 2
2007 504B.206 New 2007 c 54 art 4 s 3
This section has been affected by law enacted during the 2019 legislative session. More info...
504B.206 subd. 3 has been amended by Chapter 1, Article 6, Section 59
Note: see session law sections for effective dates.
504B.206 RIGHT OF VICTIMS OF VIOLENCE TO TERMINATE LEASE.
Subdivision 1.Right to terminate; procedure.
(a) A tenant to a residential lease may terminate a lease agreement in the manner provided in this section without penalty or liability, if the tenant or another authorized occupant fears imminent violence after being subjected to:
(1) domestic abuse, as that term is defined under section 518B.01, subdivision 2;
(2) criminal sexual conduct under sections 609.342 to 609.3451; or
(3) stalking, as that term is defined under section 609.749, subdivision 1.
(b) The tenant must provide signed and dated advance written notice to the landlord:
(1) stating the tenant fears imminent violence from a person as indicated in a qualifying document against the tenant or an authorized occupant if the tenant or authorized occupant remains in the leased premises;
(2) stating that the tenant needs to terminate the tenancy;
(3) providing the date by which the tenant will vacate; and
(4) providing written instructions for the disposition of any remaining personal property in accordance with section 504B.271.
(c) The written notice must be delivered before the termination of the tenancy by mail, fax, or in person, and be accompanied by a qualifying document.
(d) The landlord may request that the tenant disclose the name of the perpetrator and, if a request is made, inform the tenant that the landlord seeks disclosure to protect other tenants in the building. The tenant may decline to provide the name of the perpetrator for safety reasons. Disclosure shall not be a precondition of terminating the lease.
(e) The tenancy terminates, including the right of possession of the premises, as provided in subdivision 3.
Subd. 2.Treatment of information.
(a) A landlord must not disclose:
(1) any information provided to the landlord by a tenant in the written notice required under subdivision 1, paragraph (b);
(2) any information contained in the qualifying document;
(3) the address or location to which the tenant has relocated; or
(4) the status of the tenant as a victim of violence.
(b) The information referenced in paragraph (a) must not be entered into any shared database or provided to any person or entity but may be used when required as evidence in an eviction proceeding, action for unpaid rent or damages arising out of the tenancy, claims under section 504B.178, with the consent of the tenant, or as otherwise required by law.
Subd. 3.Liability for rent; termination of tenancy.
(a) A tenant who is a sole tenant and is terminating a lease under subdivision 1 is responsible for the rent payment for the full month in which the tenancy terminates. The tenant forfeits all claims for the return of the security deposit under section 504B.178 and is relieved of any other contractual obligation for payment of rent or any other charges for the remaining term of the lease, except as provided in this section. In a sole tenancy, the tenancy terminates on the date specified in the notice provided to the landlord as required under subdivision 1.
(b) In a tenancy with multiple tenants, one of whom is terminating the lease under subdivision 1, any lease governing all tenants is terminated at the latter of the end of the month or the end of the rent interval in which one tenant terminates the lease under subdivision 1. All tenants are responsible for the rent payment for the full month in which the tenancy terminates. Upon termination, all tenants forfeit all claims for the return of the security deposit under section 504B.178 and are relieved of any other contractual obligation for payment of rent or any other charges for the remaining term of the lease, except as provided in this section. Any tenant whose tenancy was terminated under this paragraph may reapply to enter into a new lease with the landlord.
(c) This section does not affect a tenant's liability for delinquent, unpaid rent or other amounts owed to the landlord before the lease was terminated by the tenant under this section.
Subd. 4.
[Repealed by amendment, 2014 c 188 s 2]
Subd. 5.Waiver prohibited.
A residential tenant may not waive, and a landlord may not require the residential tenant to waive, the tenant's rights under this section.
Subd. 6.Definitions.
For purposes of this section, the following terms have the meanings given:
(1) "court official" means a judge, referee, court administrator, prosecutor, probation officer, or victim's advocate, whether employed by or under contract with the court, who is authorized to act on behalf of the court;
(2) "qualified third party" means a person, acting in an official capacity, who has had in-person contact with the tenant and is:
(i) a licensed health care professional operating within the scope of the license;
(ii) a domestic abuse advocate, as that term is defined in section 595.02, subdivision 1, paragraph (l); or
(iii) a sexual assault counselor, as that term is defined in section 595.02, subdivision 1, paragraph (k);
(3) "qualifying document" means:
(i) a valid order for protection issued under chapter 518B;
(ii) a no contact order currently in effect, issued under section 629.75 or chapter 609;
(iii) a writing produced and signed by a court official, acting in an official capacity, documenting that the tenant or authorized occupant is a victim of domestic abuse, as that term is defined under section 518B.01, subdivision 2, criminal sexual conduct, under sections 609.342 to 609.3451, or stalking, as that term is defined under section 609.749, subdivision 1, and naming the perpetrator, if known;
(iv) a writing produced and signed by a city, county, state, or tribal law enforcement official, acting in an official capacity, documenting that the tenant or authorized occupant is a victim of domestic abuse, as that term is defined under section 518B.01, subdivision 2, criminal sexual conduct, under sections 609.342 to 609.3451, or stalking, as that term is defined under section 609.749, subdivision 1, and naming the perpetrator, if known; or
(v) a statement by a qualified third party, in the following form:
STATEMENT BY QUALIFIED THIRD PARTY
I, .................... (name of qualified third party), do hereby verify as follows:
1. I am a licensed health care professional, domestic abuse advocate, as that term is defined in section 595.02, subdivision 1, paragraph (l), or sexual assault counselor, as that term is defined in section 595.02, subdivision 1, paragraph (k), who has had in-person contact with .................... (name of victim(s)).
2. I have a reasonable basis to believe .................... (name of victim(s)) is a victim/are victims of domestic abuse, criminal sexual conduct, or stalking and fear(s) imminent violence against the individual or authorized occupant if the individual remains (the individuals remain) in the leased premises.
3. I understand that the person(s) listed above may use this document as a basis for gaining a release from the lease.
I attest that the foregoing is true and correct.
(Printed name of qualified third party)
(Signature of qualified third party)
(Business address and business telephone)
(Date)
Subd. 7.Conflicts with other laws.
If a federal statute, regulation, or handbook permitting termination of a residential tenancy subsidized under a federal program conflicts with any provision of this section, then the landlord must comply with the federal statute, regulation, or handbook.
2007 c 54 art 4 s 3; 2010 c 299 s 14; 2014 c 188 s 2
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©6 March 2015 Revive Israel Ministries
Netanyahu's Speech
Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke this week in the United States Congress warning of the danger of Iran's current regime obtaining nuclear weapons. The speech lasted 45 minutes, had 107 mentions of Iran, was interrupted 36 times by applause, 23 times accompanied with standing ovations (Yediot, 4-3). Netanyahu referred to the Bible twice: once comparing the current situation with the book of Esther (amazingly the speech took place on the eve of Purim); and the other referring to Moses telling the people of Israel to be strong and courageous.
Netanyahu emphasized that any type of an agreement that would remove sanctions at this time would eventually result in nuclear armament. He also emphasized that the Khamenei government is openly supportive of Jihad and actively funds terrorist groups throughout the world. Sanctions are an extremely effective tool, which risk no lives, do not lead to military conflict, weaken the regime of the Ayatollahs, lessen terrorist funding worldwide and hinder the development of nuclear weapons.
Any agreement would be virtually impossible to enforce. Most estimates state that the impending agreement would allow for 6,500 centrifuges now, and up to 10,000 at the end of 10 years. Netanyahu commented that 10 years may seem like a long time, but in the light of history, it is extremely short.
Much of the press criticized him, as well as top political leaders, both in Israel and around the world. However, in my opinion, many people felt that he told the truth, and were glad that he did so. A surprising expression of support for Netanyahu's position came from the "Al Arabia"-- the newspaper close to the Saudi Arabian government. Their lead editorial article praised Netanyahu and said he correctly understood the situation with Iran much better than U.S. President Obama (Ma'ariv, 5-3).
Covenant Logic
When God makes a new covenant, it can never violate a previous covenant. Why is the Messianic covenant given through Judah? Why is the gospel supposed to go to the Jew first? In this message Asher answers these questions and others as he teaches about God's covenant logic and order. To watch in English, click HERE!
By Eddie Santoro
Israel is in the midst of elections that will have a profound impact on the future of this nation.
In a couple weeks Israelis will go to the polls to elect another new government. Unlike Americans, Israelis vote for a political party and not for a candidate. The many political parties that are vying for the votes of the Israeli electorate go from the extreme left to the extreme right of the political spectrum. The Zionist Union which represents the left is in a tie with Likud which represents the right and the continuation of Netanyahu as Prime Minister.
Economic Complexities
In Israel, the economic situation is a source of great frustration among the people. Prices in Israel are completely out of balance with wages and although in most families both parents are working full time and more, it is very difficult to cover normal monthly living expenses. Added to this is the astronomically high price of real estate, which makes it almost impossible for young couples to buy a home. A recent poll showed that 44% of the voters blame the Netanyahu government for this financial stress. This reaction is strengthening the more liberal parties whose emphasis is a change in the economic reality.
Although many Israelis see the economy as the primary voting issue, the question of the future of the West Bank, the possible creation of a Palestinian State and the division of Jerusalem will be deeply impacted by the results of this election.
What about the Palestinians?
Ten years ago, Israel unilaterally withdrew from the Gaza Strip in the pursuit of peace. The Palestinian decision to ignore this new potential to build a nation and instead use it as a base to attack Israel has profound implications for the creation of any future Palestinian state. There is no doubt that the entire Muslim world would also view the new Palestine as a convenient launching pad for attacking Israel.
There is no easy answer. If Israel's citizens elect a right wing government with Netanyahu as Prime Minister, the government will continue to demand conditions that will protect Israel but be difficult for the Palestinian Authority to accept. This perceived “intransigence” by Israel will probably result in an intensifying wave of anti-Semitism, international boycotts and world isolation.
If Israel's voters choose the Zionist Union block which could move the nation towards a policy of submitting to world pressure and the creation of a Palestinian State, then there will be likelihood of the Gaza War being played out again but on a much larger scale. Although a demilitarized state is one of the primary conditions for a future Palestine, Israel's ability to prevent the smuggling of large and advanced weapons would be all but impossible.
Please join us in praying for God's supernatural involvement in the coming elections that will be held on March 17th.
Esther Fast
Thank you to everyone who joined us this week for the Esther Fast. Next week we will share more in depth about the event.
You Shall Love
By Elhanan Ben Avraham
For every helpless captive brutally beheaded or woman buried to her neck and stoned to death or a man burned alive, at every terror attack of savagery or in a raging riot at a cartoon around the planet, is heard the haunting chants of “allahu akbar!” This is the same chant echoed five times a day from every mosque on the planet. Is this the same God represented by Jesus, who said, “Love your enemies, bless those who persecute you, return good for evil, and turn the other cheek?” It would seem doubtful. The Torah itself, from which Jesus quoted, is based on the foundational commandment in a single Hebrew word: v’ahavta - ואהבת - "You shall love."
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1913: Louis Weber and the Phonophor
Originally planned as a single hearing aid for a friend of the company, the device turned out to be a huge success, and series production was launched in December 1913 – marking the start of the long and successful history of our hearing aids.
This is the first in a series of #ThrowbackThursday posts on the history of our company and its products.
In 1878, Werner von Siemens built a telephone with a horseshoe magnet that considerably improved the device’s voice quality. This led to the discovery that hearing loss sufferers could understand the person they were talking to much better if voice signals were amplified through electrical means. This was the basis for Louis Weber’s 1911 development of the first Siemens device designed specifically to improve hearing: the Esha-Phonophor. The device was supposed to amplify tones without interference, while being as small and inconspicuous as possible. Originally planned as a single hearing aid for a friend of the company, the device turned out to be a huge success, and series production was launched in December 1913 – marking the start of the long and successful history of our hearing aids.
Louis Weber 1913
Berlin, in the summer of 1911: Carl Kloenne, a director at Deutsche Bank, was hard of hearing. He wanted an electric hearing aid. A friend, Professor August Raps, was the head of the Wernerwerk plant in Berlin’s Siemensstadt district, where telephones were being produced at the time. Raps gave his assistant, Louis Weber, the task of producing a device to help with Kloenne’s severe hearing loss. The first models failed to bring the hoped-for success, but finally Weber succeeded in building a device that met all of the challenging requirements.
“I fondly recall the day when privy councilor Kloenne told me, visibly moved, that the new hearing aid had allowed him to participate in a group again for the first time in a long while,” said Weber.
Wernerwerk I, around 1913
At the Wernerwerk plant in Siemensstadt, Weber worked to improve speakers and microphones for telephone systems. In 1911, when he started developing his “apparatus for the hearing impaired,” electric hearing aids from other manufacturers were already on the market, but they were very large, making them both heavy and obvious. When designing his hearing aid, Weber was careful to focus on improving more than sound quality. “The device,” Weber said, “was also supposed to be as small as possible, so it is not very bothersome to the wearer.”
After numerous attempts, he succeeded in producing a highly-sensitive carbon microphone, two of which he combined with a small receiver and a three-volt battery to make his apparatus. Weber took it to Kloenne with the goal of “helping him (Kloenne) with this apparatus where other attempts had failed […]. But to no avail again.”
After that, Weber made what he described as, “one last, desperate attempt.” He had a double headphone made in the place of the single headphone that had been used previously and set off to see Kloenne again. When Kloenne saw the double headphone, he said there would be no point in trying it, since he was completely deaf in one ear. Weber was finally able to convince him to try the device after all, and, “Lo and behold, privy councilor Kloenne was now able to hear even in the ear he had thought was deaf, and he beamed at this success.”
After Weber’s successful development, Siemens & Halske decided to market hearing aids under the name Esha-Phonophor. Esha (pronounced “es-ha”) mirrored the German pronunciation of S&H, the abbreviation commonly used for the company name at the time. The unit was launched in late 1913, in several versions. One configuration, a special ladies’ version, had a microphone and battery that were held in a purse. Another version took the form of a folding camera — a popular accessory at the time — complete with a discreet leather carrying strap. People with hearing loss were also able to choose from one, two, or even four microphones right from the start, for a configuration accommodating their individual level of hearing loss.
Esha Phonophor, handbag size
Weber’s technology stayed in use for a long time, albeit in a revised form and with better materials. One year after the Phonophor, Weber developed a small device he called an “ear telephone,” which was used as a receiver for switchboard operators. This earphone, affectionately known as the “hazelnut” due to its shape, was outwardly very similar to modern in-ear headphones and featured a diaphragm made from an animal’s eardrum. Not long afterward, the headphone was offered as an alternative in newer Phonophor models. One of these new models was presented as a gift to famed X-ray discoverer Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen in 1922, after Siemens & Halske employees learned that he was losing his hearing.
Man with Phonophor 1914
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Simmons Hanly Conroy Files Class Action Lawsuits Against Volkswagen Over Air Pollution Emissions Scandal
admin · September 24, 2015
ALTON, Ill. – Simmons Hanly Conroy, one of the nation’s largest mass torts firms, has filed two class action lawsuits on behalf of its clients throughout the country against Volkswagen Group of America (Volkswagen) for intentionally installing software that allowed its vehicles to circumvent federal air pollution emissions standards.
The Simmons Hanly Conroy class actions specifically allege that Volkswagen purposefully and intentionally breached U.S. laws and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules and regulations by selling in the United States vehicles manufactured by its affiliates Volkswagen AG and Audi AG that purposefully evaded federal and state laws.
The action follows Volkswagen’s Sept. 20 admission that it installed so-called “defeat device” software in 11 million diesel vehicles worldwide, with an estimated $7.2 billion service price tag to remove the devices from the vehicles. The week prior, the EPA issued a Notice of Violation (NOV), accusing the German automaker of using the “defeat device” to deliberately circumvent air-pollution laws. According to the Simmons Hanly Conroy complaints and the EPA’s NOV, the “defeat device” detects when the vehicle is undergoing official emissions testing and turns full emissions controls on only during the test. But during normal operations the vehicles emit nitrogen oxides at up to 40 times the standard allowed by U.S. laws and regulations. According to the EPA, the affected vehicles include various model years, ranging from 2009 to 2015, of Volkswagen Jettas, Golfs, Passats, Beetles and the Audi A3.
In a statement, Volkswagen Group CEO Martin Winterkorn, who resigned from his post Sept. 23 in the wake of the scandal, said, “I personally am deeply sorry that we have broken the trust of our customers and the public.”
Shareholder Paul Hanly
“Volkswagen has made serious errors with far-reaching consequences in defrauding and deceiving the public through its actions,” said Paul Hanly, a named shareholder of Simmons Hanly Conroy and lead counsel for the plaintiffs in the firm’s class actions against Volkswagen. “Our clients have suffered significant losses by purchasing
these affected Volkswagen vehicles. Had they known that their vehicles emit 40 times the federally allowed levels of pollution, they would not have bought them or certainly would have paid much less. In addition, when the issues are addressed through recalls, these vehicles will lose even more value due to the expected decrease in their performance and efficiency.”
The Simmons Hanly Conroy cases are: Matthew Smith, on behalf of himself and all others similarly situated, v. Volkswagen Group of America, Inc., a New Jersey Corporation, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois, 3:15-cv-01053; and Bryce Zucker v. Volkswagen Group of America, Inc., a New Jersey Corporation, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, 4:15-cv-01466.
Other class actions against Volkswagen over the emissions standards cheating scandal have been filed in federal courts in states including California, Florida, Oregon and Utah.
About Simmons Hanly Conroy, LLC
Simmons Hanly Conroy LLC is one of the nation’s largest mass tort law firms and has recovered more than $5 billion in verdicts and settlements for plaintiffs. Primary areas of litigation include asbestos and mesothelioma, pharmaceutical, consumer protection, environmental and personal injury. The firm’s attorneys have been appointed to leadership in numerous national multidistrict litigations, including Vioxx, Yaz and Toyota Unintended Acceleration. The firm also represents small and mid-size corporations, inventors and entrepreneurs in matters involving business litigation. Offices are located in New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, St. Louis, and Alton, Ill. Read More at 104.130.124.231.
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Catholic Church - Longmont
Knights of Columbus - Council #1313
Stay Updated with Council #1313
Thanks to the efforts of Father Michael J. McGivney, assistant pastor of St. Mary’s Church in New Haven and some of his parishioners, the Connecticut state legislature on March 29, 1882, officially chartered the Knights of Columbus as a fraternal benefit society. The Order is still true to its founding principles of charity, unity and fraternity.
The Knights was formed to render financial aid to members and their families. Mutual aid and assistance are offered to sick, disabled and needy members and their families. Social and intellectual fellowship is promoted among members and their families through educational, charitable, religious, social welfare, war relief and public relief works.
The history of the Order shows how the foresight of Father Michael J. McGivney, whose cause for sainthood is being investigated by the Vatican, brought about what has become the world's foremost Catholic fraternal benefit society. The Order has helped families obtain economic security and stability through its life insurance, annuity and long-term care programs, and has contributed time and energy worldwide to service in communities.
The Knights of Columbus has grown from several members in one council to 15,342 councils and 1.9 million members throughout the United States, Canada, the Philippines, Mexico, Poland, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Panama, the Bahamas, the Virgin Islands, Cuba, Guatemala, Guam, Saipan, Lithuania, Ukraine, and South Korea.
Our charitable activities encompass an almost infinite variety of local, national and international projects. From international charitable partnerships with Special Olympics, the Global Wheelchair Mission and Habitat for Humanity to our own Food for Families and Coats for Kids projects and other local charities, the opportunity to work together with fellow Knights and their families is virtually endless. In 2016, the Knights of Columbus set a new all-time record for the 18th consecutive year. Our charitable donations increased from $175 million in 2015 to a new total of $177,500,673 in 2016. In addition, we achieved our highest level of charitable service in 2016, volunteering more than 75 million hours of service.
- taken from: http://www.kofc.org/un/en/todays-knights/about-us.html
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St. Francis of Assisi, Roman Catholic Church | 3791 Pike Road, Longmont, CO 80503 | 303-772-6322
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https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/GOLDMAN-Phillip-York-2544568.php
GOLDMAN, Phillip York
Published 4:00 am PST, Sunday, December 28, 2003
GOLDMAN, Phillip York - At age 39, he unexpectedly passed away at home on December 26, 2003. Dearly beloved husband of Susan Goldman; cherished father of Sydney Jane and Josephine Rose Goldman; beloved son of Melvin & Bonnie Goldman and brother of Tyler Goldman and Colin and Gillian Goldman and the late Alexa Goldman; loving grandson of the late Joseph and Freida Goldman and the late William Jr. and Stella Goldman; son-in-law of Martin and the late Neva Rayl and brother in law of Mimi Rayl. Phillip was an honor graduate of Princeton University and chairman of the Computer Science Advisory Committee and endowed a professorship at the Princeton School of Engineering. After serving as a software engineer at Apple Computer, he co-founded WebTV and became a Vice President of Microsoft following its acquisition of WebTV. Recently, he founded and became CEO of Mailblocks Inc. Phillip was a board member of the Brave Kids Charity. Services will be held Sunday, (TODAY) December 28 at 12:00 Noon at Peninsula Temple Sholom, 1655 Sebastian Drive in Burlingame. Entombment will follow at Hills of Eternity Memorial Park in Colma. Contributions to The Brave Kids Charity are preferred. SINAI MEMORIAL CHAPEL
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Celebrity | Royals
Princess Diana's Close Friend Reveals A Heartbreaking Truth Behind Her Divorce
By Maya | Sep 14, 2018
Whether they love the spotlight or not, the personal lives of celebrities will always be the talk of the town - even if they're alive or not.
While it's been 21 years since the untimely death of Princess Diana, it seems like new inside information about the deceased royal emerges from her "inner circle."
Although Prince Charles' affair with Camilla Parker Bowles was believed to irreparably damage their relationship, according to Diana's personal trainer and confidant, Jenni Rivett, the Princess of Wales never wanted her marriage to end.
Joe Haupt/Flickr
"She loved Charles."
During an interview on the Yahoo News' series The Royal Box, Rivett revealed tidbits of information about Diana, including how working out helped her overcome her eating disorder.
But the most intriguing topic brought up by Rivett was the allegation that Diana didn't initially want to split with the heir to the throne, and wanted to work through their relationship instead.
Tyle/Wikimedia Commons
"Given the choice, she would have stayed and tried to make a happy marriage," Rivett explained.
"She loved Charles. She married for the right reasons. She married for love. It wasn't her that asked for all of this. It was sprung upon her. She wasn't the one that wanted to separate or have a divorce."
"I think she just felt hurt, as you would."
Rivett claims that while she had intended to maintain personal boundaries with Diana, the royal often opened up about her ongoing heartbreak.
"She wanted to be the Princess of Wales and the Queen of people's hearts. She wanted to be a loving mother, which she was, and a loving wife," she said, adding that Diana was devastated when she lost her HRH title following her divorce.
Clarence House/Instagram
"I think she just felt hurt, as you would," Rivett continued. "It was just one thing after another. She had to be such an ambassador for Britain and everyone adored her and loved her and she was still the mother of the future king. Why should she lose her title?"
Diana made her views known in a 1995 interview with Martin Bashir, where she also famously called out Charles and Camilla's illicit relationship when she said, "Well, there were three of us in the marriage, so it was a bit crowded."
"Diana was very protective of William and Harry."
Rivett elaborated further when she explained Diana didn't want her beloved children, Prince William and Prince Harry, to watch their parents go through a divorce like she had to when she was a child.
"As the boys got older and became like her counselors and friends as sons, she began to enjoy life a lot more," Diana's biographer Andrew Morton told Fox News in 2017. "Diana was very protective of William and Harry. [If] you ever criticized the boys... she would be on you like a tigress."
"She was the only one who could criticize those two. Of course, she indulged them... She wanted to be a full hands-on parent herself. And interestingly, Prince William recently said the same about his own children, George and Charlotte. He wants them to enjoy a relatively normal upbringing."
Kensington Royal/Instagram
Recently unearthed letters from Prince Philip to Diana revealed he and Queen Elizabeth II took their daughter-in-law's side when it came to their tumultuous relationship.
"We never dreamed he might feel like leaving you for her."
According to a letter written by Philip in 1992, he said Her Majesty didn't approve of their son's affair, calling him "silly" for risking "everything with Camilla for a man in his position."
"We never dreamed he might feel like leaving you for her," Philip said. "I cannot imagine anyone in their right mind would leave you for Camilla. Such a prospect never even entered our heads."
However, the Prince did tell Diana he didn't approve of her having any extramarital relationships either, and told her she was partially to blame for the downfall of her marriage.
"We do not approve of either of you having lovers. Can you honestly look into your heart and say that Charles's relationship with Camilla had nothing to do with your behaviour towards him in your marriage?" he continued before signing off the letter with "fondest love, pa."
Charles and Diana would end their relationship in 1996 with claims that the Queen wrote to the pair and asked them to divorce.
[H/T: Mirror, Reader's Digest, Fox News]
Do you think Charles and Diana should have stayed together? Let us know in the comments!
Maya has been working at Shared for a year. She just begrudgingly spent $200 on a gym membership. Contact her at maya@shared.com
The Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle Is Being Mom-Shamed Already
Meghan Markle is loving her new role as a Royal mother. On July 10th, the Duchess of Sussex made her first public outing with 2-month-old Archie. Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Archie Harrison Mountbatten-WindsorGettyNew Mom Markle brought Archie to the King Power Royal Charity Polo Day event where dad Prince Harry and Prince William were playing.“She was doting on him, there’s no doubt about that,” an onlooker tells PEOPLE. “She was kissing and
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Midnight Empire
The members of this band are still relatively young, but it doesn't show in their attempt. These guys are ambitious and talented, a combination that generally produces an album of quality. Frontman and lead singer Jacob Henderson has a gritty, though melodic, voice that fully encapsulates the essence of the music they play. On the band's single Misery Henderson's voice reaches level of soaring rock falsetto reminiscent of AC/DC's Brian Henson. The music itself is infused with personal lyrics that bring forth an array of emotions. In the forefront of this emotional barrage is the primal desire to thrash around, to rage like a wild animal. There is also something very sexy about the distortion on the guitars at the beginning of Can't Get Enough, and when the drums kick in you'll want to dance with reckless abandon. Fans of more contemporary rock like The Black Keys would benefit greatly from giving this group a listen, as well as those who hold a fondness for the classic groups mentioned already. So if you're looking to have your face rocked off, even if just a little bit, check out Midnight Empire and rage on.
Jaime Hayon Cosmos
Staying in Lake Tahoe
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Nazi-saluting drunk tries to escape on tug vehicle after EasyJet rampage
Published time: 22 Jun, 2018 16:42 Edited time: 23 Jun, 2018 14:19
© Emmanuele Contini/Global Look Press
A Northern Irish native has been sentenced to three months in jail by Antrim Magistrate’s Court after abusing and attacking staff during a drunken rampage, before trying to get away on an airport tug vehicle.
Paul Anthony Burgoyne, 51, who resides in Shepshed, Leicestershire pleaded guilty to a total of nine offenses on Tuesday, which included common assault and recklessly endangering the safety of an aircraft. He was also fined £500 ($660) and ordered to pay £600 ($795) to the plane’s captain, according to Leicestershire Live.
The commotion started on a flight from George Best Belfast City Airport to Birmingham, where Burgoyne became enraged after flight crew for the budget airline requested that he open a neighboring window blind prior to take-off.
Man tries to force his way onto plane, injures 3 ground staff (VIDEO)
Perturbed by what he apparently considered to be a dictatorial request, Burgoyne reacted by raising his right arm with a straightened hand and shouting: “Alright, mein Fuhrer” – a reference to the greeting reserved for the ruler of Nazi-era Germany, Adolf Hitler.
The bizarre reaction resulted in the aircraft’s pilot deeming the man unfit for travel, and requested that he be ejected from the flight. The court was told that Burgoyne did not react kindly to this request either, swearing at the pilot and crew before attempting to grab the pilot by the throat. The ensuing struggle resulted in Burgoyne smashing the pilot’s £600 ($795) watch.
Once ejected from the aircraft, the chaos continued as Burgoyne turned his attention to a nearby tug vehicle. After kicking the tug, which was still attached to the plane, he attempted a drunken getaway by mounting the vehicle and grabbing its steering wheel.
He then managed to square up to another member of staff before finally being arrested.
Speaking in Burgoyne’s defense, Neil Moore said it was clear from the reports that “alcohol, other illicit substances, and fractious and toxic family relationships” led to the incident.
He described it as “an explosion of anger” and conceded that “obviously, his behavior on that plane is disgraceful.”
Moore argued that Burgoyne “is a decent member of society who holds down a decent job” having left Northern Ireland “to build a new life.”
On passing sentence, District Judge Nigel Broderick hoped the penalty would act as a warning to any others engaged in such behavior.
Despite being brought to jail after sentencing, Burgoyne was released on bail pending appeal.
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Ospreys confirm 16 senior-squad re-signs
Another young Welsh player leaves Next
https://www.rugbypass.com/news/ospreys-confirm-16-senior-squad-members-that-have-re-signed-in-2019/
Ospreys confirm 16 senior squad members that have re-signed in 2019
By Ian Cameron
Also by Ian Cameron
Julian Savea has million euro plus Toulon salary slashed
League legend Long now linked to two Premiership clubs - reports
Ospreys player Hanno Dirksen (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)
Welsh fans taking positives as yet another talent lost to English system
McCaw reveals the key to New Zealand winning a third consecutive World Cup
Date set for 'the biggest decision in the history of professional rugby in England'
Folau wants Rugby Australia to make an 'apology'
Ian Cameron
27 June, 3:36pm
Ospreys Rugby have confirmed that Hanno Dirksen has signed a new two-year deal with the region, making him the 16th member of the senior squad to re-sign in 2019.
Dirksen has been in the region for 10 years, arriving from his hometown of Krugersdorp in South Africa as an 18-year old in the summer of 2009, via Tennessee, USA, and Truro, Cornwall.
The winger’s tally of 38 tries from 136 games is the fourth highest in Ospreys history, bettered only by Rhys Webb (39), Dan Evans (44) and Shane Williams (57), having moved ahead of Tommy Bowe and Nikki Walker in the pecking order during 2018/19.
Dirksen has enjoyed a busy off-season, with his wife Jenny giving birth to their second daughter, but having put pen to paper on his new deal, the 28-year old winger reflected on his status as a senior player having been at the Ospreys for a decade.
“It’s crazy how quick the time goes” said Dirksen.
“It’s nice to be here for another pre-season, another couple of years. There’s a new batch of boys coming in who are the same age I was when I got here, it’s nice to see fresh faces. I hope that I can help them develop, in the way that players like Shane, Tommy or Richard Fussell helped me when I was a youngster.
“I have a family here now and it’s nice to be settled in Swansea so I don’t want to be playing rugby anywhere else. Looking ahead, it’s important we kick-off the season like we finished off, get a good couple of wins in before the boys come back from the World Cup. Hopefully we can have a good season and get involved in the knockouts of both competitions. Those are the games we want to be involved in.”
Dirksen made his Ospreys debut in a LV= Cup defeat to Bath in November 2009. His only other appearance that season, against Leeds at the Liberty Stadium, saw him mark his first start with his first try.
Armed with his first pro contract, signed at the start of 2011, Dirksen established himself in the senior squad during 2011/12, scoring eight tries in 25 games as he played a big part in the region’s fourth league title success.
Probably the best remembered moment of his career came in that season’s semi-final win, a stunning score versus Munster at the Liberty, before he started in the famous win over Leinster in the final.
He completed his century of Ospreys appearances against Connacht at the Liberty Stadium in January 2017, while his 100th Celtic League game was in April this year against Toyota Cheetahs in Bloemfontein, where his father Hansie, a South Africa U21 cap, played during the eighties.
Ospreys Head Coach, Allen Clarke, welcomed the re-signing of Dirksen, highlighting the impact he made last season:
“I’m really pleased that we’ve been able to secure Hanno on a new deal.
“I’ve a lot of respect for what Hanno has come through following a tough time with injury a few years ago. For me, he was one of our standout performers across the whole of last season.
“Because of his level of consistency he really earned the right to be selected in key matches and if you look at our big run of games, our last five, he was integral, scoring tries and carrying ball.
“He is a tremendous character within the squad and will continue to be a huge asset for us over the coming seasons.”
Senior players to have re-signed this year are:
Lloyd Ashley, Cory Allen, Matthew Aubrey, Dan Evans, Luke Morgan, Scott Otten, Ifan Phillips, Luke Price, Nicky Smith and Gareth Thomas
First professional contracts:
Will Griffiths, Dewi Lake, Harri Morgan, Morgan Morris and Tiaan Thomas-Wheeler
New Recruits:
Gareth Anscombe, Gareth Evans and Carl Hogg (Forwards Coach)
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Belinda Moore Promoted to Executive Director of Skender Foundation
Skender Foundation recently announced the promotion of Belinda Moore to executive director. In her new role, she is responsible for developing and implementing the foundation's vision and strategic plan. Moore has been integral to Skender Foundation’s growth since the organization’s inception in 2012, most recently serving as associate executive director since June 2017.
In her tenure with Skender Foundation, Moore also served as volunteer committee chair and member of the Builders’ Board, a subcommittee of Skender Foundation comprising philanthropic-minded leaders working together to inspire positive, sustainable change in Chicago. Previously, Belinda held multiple accounting and administrative roles for Skender, one of the nation’s largest building contractors.
Moore will continue to oversee the planning and execution of events; direct program and committee implementation; coordinate volunteer opportunities; and lead the approval process for grant applications.
“Belinda has been a vital contributor to the foundation's development and success over the past seven years,” said Cheryl Skender, Skender Foundation Chair and President. “Her passion for giving back to the community will continue to drive the foundation’s vision: to perpetuate the legacy of giving.”
2018 was an unprecedented year for Skender Foundation, reinforcing its mission to perpetuate the legacy of giving. It began with the launch of Skender Foundation’s first endowment fund, which will involve an impactful, financial contribution of $150,000 over the course of three years to VOCEL, a nonprofit organization dedicated to early childhood education.
The foundation raised $380,000 at its annual summer fundraiser, Summer Eclipse, and also hosted Skender’s annual volunteer day in September, which saw record attendance and output — producing wood wall panels for two homes benefiting underserved communities via the Appalachia Service Project. The Skender Foundation Board of Directors added two new members and a record number of dollars were raised at the Builders’ Board annual fall event, Harvesting Hope, benefiting Purple Asparagus.
Newer PostSkender Partners with Sleep in Heavenly Peace for Annual Volunteer Day
Older PostSkender Foundation Adds Two New Board Members
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Guts_100
ApostleBob said:
After looking at the 'Dragon Killer' picture from the convention some more, I think the size of it in comparison to those people might be deceptive. The guy and girl aren't right next to it, but are several feet closer to the camera. Might just be a perspective thing.
I don't think so man. The sword doesn't look to scale, not only is it smaller than the Dragon Slayer in absolute size, but the height to width proportion looks wrong (ie, the sword is no long enough).
Whatever, as long as they get it right in the anime.
On the subject of that, I'm not super fond of those three 'face' pictures either. Guts' face is too round and soft, and the others aren't great either. Maybe the animation throughout will change, some shots will look more like the manga, while others look more like ....ahhhh, that posted picture.
And as others have mentioned, hopefully the find Guts' clothes in that first scene with Skully.
IncantatioN said:
Dragon Killer? Why call it that if you're going to stay true to the manga. It also looks a bit short considering it's not bigger than the random guy walking by haha!
NightCrawler said:
EUUUUGGGGGHHHHHHH. .. .. .
They could do a little bit of research... Yeah, it means the same thing, but why not google "Guts' sword" before you print that up...?
As Gobs indicated, Dragon Killer is a correct translation of the original japanese term, "DORAGON Koroshi" (ドラゴン ころし). It's no reason to be upset. Dragon Slayer is simply a more elegant approximation of the term in English, to our ears. But "Killer" is just as correct as Slayer or even Murderer. I also think the replica looks pretty good.
Yeah in this picture the Dragon Slayer looks perfectly fine
http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/303556_2356070505563_1364222559_2778811_3792972_n.jpg
I think the other picture may just be misleading.
Aeons gone, vast, mad and deathless
Nevertheless it was pretty jarring mistake. If they don't know how it is pronounced outside of Japan, why print it in English?
Japan doesn't print stuff in English for the sake of America, they do it because they like printing stuff in English. We don't matter that much.
Also, who decided that "Slayer" was correct in the first place? When was it first called that?
Cyrus Jong
Well, the first Berserk-related product that ever got an "official" English translation that I'm aware of was the Dreamcast game, which called it the Dragon Slayer. Now, there's nothing wrong with "Slayer," I like the term for the sword as well, but the translation of that game was...not very good, to put it lightly.
Cyrus Jong said:
Well in that case, I wouldn't call it a "jarring mistake," to not call it a term that originated from a poorly translated video game. And the thing is, it's just a name on a display in Japan, it has nothing to do with an English translation. Japan just writes names of things in English because they like to, and, as far as Japan is concerned, Dragon Killer is the way to write it in English. When the anime actually gets dubbed I would bet it will be called the Dragon Slayer.
It's no Knight of Skeleton as far as undesirable translations go, that's for sure. Then again, we need to be prepared for discrepancies...
www.knightofskeleton.net
Good boy.
Yeah, it's silly to get upset over "undesirable" translations, but I do it so much! Dragon Killer and Dragon Slayer are the same thing, but it's just that "slayer" sounds cooler.
Though with "skull knight," I think Aaz was telling me that the Japanese text of "SKULL KNIGHT" translates directly to "SKULL KNIGHT" with no wiggle room for any errors. Needless to say, the Berserk Project guys aren't English translating experts and when the movie's released, I'm sure we'll get something real good.
That sword replica doesn't look that bad to me, and they said it was over 2 meters long, so it shouldn't be too small either. Maybe it's the perspective. As for the name "Dragon Slayer", it came from BSOM as far as I know. Sure, "Dragon Killer" isn't so good, but really guys, if you want to nitpick about the Japanese using incorrect names, this is but a drop in the ocean. And I don't think anyone here wants me to start schooling them about the use of proper terms in Berserk in general, official or unofficial.
Though with "skull knight," I think Aaz was telling me that the Japanese text of "SKULL KNIGHT" translates directly to "SKULL KNIGHT" with no wiggle room for any errors.
Well it could always be "Knight of Skull", but that'd be stupid. Less stupid than "Knight of Skeleton" though, and more correct.
Needless to say, the Berserk Project guys aren't English translating experts and when the movie's released, I'm sure we'll get something real good.
That's what it comes down to. These guys know as much about English as the average member here knows about Japanese. It's nothing new.
In other news (i.e. actual news), a new CM is soon to be released. It's currently undergoing Automated Dialogue Replacement (post-recording), which means we'll hear some of the voice acting.
n other news (i.e. actual news), a new CM is soon to be released. It's currently undergoing Automated Dialogue Replacement (post-recording), which means we'll hear some of the voice acting.
Great news. How soon is soon?
Well if I had a date I'd have posted it obviously, so... be patient.
I don't expect it to take a month, but it could be "not so soon". In truth they didn't give any indication.
it's nice to know though. Thanx for the heads up Aaz.
That's great news! I'm looking forward to it.
YOSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!
Crossing my fingers for some Puck action.
Deci said:
You're aware the movie focuses on the Golden Age arc, aren't you?
Well... Who knows when it comes to the commercial. Odds are it's gonna be for volume 36. Last time, they showed scenes from all over the place.
But, at the same time, they'd probably wanna show off what they got going.
Of course, I was just assuming since all the other CMs were from random parts of the manga that this would follow suit.
voodoo_sh
Aaz you named it CM, does it mean it'll have only 15 sec of real movie video like previous CMs ?
voodoo_sh said:
Here is the studio where the film's music is being recorded: http://www.airstudios.com/studios/lyndhurst-hall.aspx
It's a prestigious place apparently. Clara_de_Porras has posted various pictures of it on Twitter (01 | 02 | 03). The names of the people working on the music will be announced later.
Well, that gives us enough information to deduce that it will be, at least in large part, an orchestral score, and not something electronic.
Indeed, although that already seemed likely anyway.
Still hoping for Hirasawa Susumu to be involved in it. If not, it'll be a big letdown for me.
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Savannah triathlon builds on success
Elmo Weeks
Not too long ago, Tim Wallace was a lone-wolf triathlete in Savannah, but these days he's running with a rapidly growing pack.
Wallace, a Savannah physician who has competed in triathlons for more than 25 years, will be one of more than 200 entrants into the second Southeastern Orthopedic Savannah Sprint Triathlon on Sunday at L. Scott Stell Community Park. The competition will consist of a 500-yard swim, a 15-mile bike and a three-mile run, and individuals as well as relay teams are eligible to compete.
The event is sanctioned by the U.S. Triathlon Association, and all levels of triathletes are welcome to participate.
Wallace's wife, Margaret, and his son, Anthony, all plan to be in the race on Sunday, and Wallace said the sport has moved off the fringes and into the mainstream since he entered his first triathlon in the 80s. He said when he first competed in triathlons on Hilton Head Island, S.C., the event was regarded as a "sport for hippies because guys were sleeping in their vans and not even buying hotel rooms."
Now the Savannah Triathlon Team boasts a membership of about 40 athletes, giving triathletes opportunities to train and compete together.
"Savannah is kind of unusual because we've got a bigger contingent of triathletes than most other towns of this size," said Wallace, who estimated he has competed in hundreds of events and finished two Iron Man competitions. "Savannah has a huge triathlete community, and as far as new interest in triathlons this event is perfect for first-time people. Most people are not sympathetic to triathlons because we take up a lot of space during the race, so (L. Scott Stell Community Park) is the perfect place for a triathlon to take place in this area."
The Savannah Triathlon Team was established in 1997 and Savannah has hosted triathlons in the past, but before event organizer Radek Parnica revived the triathlon in Savannah last year the last triathlon in Savannah took place in 2002. Parnica, a native of the Czech Republic, has been in the United States and Savannah for about five years, and the personal trainer and swim instructor felt that the Savannah triathlete community would support a local event.
He wasn't disappointed as more than 150 people participated in the inaugural event last year despite the event being scheduled in October, the end of the season. Parnica said he thinks moving the event to May will make it easier to enter for serious triathletes. According to him, registration has already reached 200 entries.
"When I first found (the park), I was never worried about having enough people," said Parnica, who has won the Charleston, S.C., and Hilton Head triathlons multiple times. "Because I compete and win so many triathlons, I knew I had enough power to bring people into Savannah because people recognize me. There will be a lot of people who haven't done a triathlon before, which is good for me because I'm always looking for people to push their limits, challenge themselves and do something healthy for themselves."
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Opening ceremony marks return of RBC Heritage golf tournament on Hilton Head Island
Dan Hunt @DanHuntBT
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. — The 51st RBC Heritage week officially started Monday with the ceremonial first shot and simultaneous cannon firing on the 18th green at Harbour Town Golf Links at Sea Pines Resort.
The traditional opening ceremony was a welcome sight to many after a storm altered the festivities in 2018.
Satoshi Kodaira, who won last year’s tournament in dramatic playoff fashion, performed the honor of teeing off from the 18th fairway and into the Calibogue Sound as Heritage officials fired off a cannon.
Speaking through a translator, Kodaira said he had no knowledge of the tradition until he was at the tee, adding he was worried the boom would throw him off during the shot.
The 29-year old carried out the duty without a hitch, however.
Kodaira’s victory was the first for a Japanese golfer in the Heritage’s half-century existence and his only victory to date as a member of the PGA Tour.
“It was my first win on the PGA Tour, and being back here where it all started, I’m very happy and excited to be here. It’s a very special place to me,” he said.
Kodaira said last April’s achievement was his most cherished at any level of golf.
“It was the biggest moment and happiest I’ve been in my whole life,” he said.
Currently 68th in the Official World Golf Ranking, Kodaira is coming off a 6-over-par performance last week at the Masters, where he made the cut and finished 61st.
Kodaira said he thinks he may be starting to turn a corner ahead of his title defense after missing the cut in five of seven tournaments from January to March.
“I’m feeling pretty good coming into the tournament. I think I have a good chance. I just need to play some good golf,” he said. “There are a lot of nice feelings and memories rushing back to me here, but at the end of the day I’m here to win and I’m excited to go back and play.”
Before Kodaira’s ceremonial shot, RBC Heritage officials set the stage for spectators around the 18th green with a short program.
Tournament chairman Al Kennickell said he thinks of this year’s event as the first in a new set of 50 years.
“I know for a fact there are people here today that were at the very first Heritage back in 1969,” said Kennickell, a Savannah native and resident. “I’m also quite sure there are people here today that will be at the 100th in 2068.
“If you are here in 2068, I hope that you look back on this day and reflect on the fact that you shared it with folks who had been at the very first Heritage.”
Kennickell’s printing company was responsible for the acclaimed plaid design that was placed on the Harbour Town lighthouse ahead of last year’s anniversary and remains there today. Kennickell said the plaid will come off immediately after this year’s tournament.
“It’s been red and white for 50 years. It’s been plaid for one. I think we want to go back to the way it was,” he said.
Kennickell said he hopes the plaid will make a return in 49 years at the centennial tournament.
Palmetto State tradition
Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette made her first appearance as a speaker at the Heritage, touching on the “rich tradition of golf in South Carolina.”
“The first golf club was started by Scottish settlers in Charleston, and today we have over 300 courses that make us one of the world’s leaders in golf,” she said. “It generates $26 billion in annual economic impact and it’s supporting 31,000 golf-related industry jobs here in our state.”
Tuesday and Wednesday will feature practice rounds and a pro-am, respectively, as golfers start to trickle into the area from Augusta and elsewhere. Tee times for Thursday’s first round are between 7:20 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
The RBC Heritage Presented by Boeing will be telecast on Golf Channel from 3-6 p.m. Thursday and Friday, and 1-2:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday; and on CBS from 3-6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
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Prolactin and autoimmune diseases in humans
Ellie Chuang, Mark E Molitch
Medicine, Endocrinology Division
Prolactin has been shown to have immunomodulatory as well as lactogenic effects. Generally less well known is that prolactin may also play a role in the activity of autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis. Studies have shown decreasing prolactin production to be beneficial in animal models of autoimmune disease. Thus far, double-blinded, placebo-controlled studies of dopamine agonist treatment in humans with autoimmune disease have been done only in lupus patients, and support the potential efficacy of such agents. Small, open-label trials have also suggested potential benefit in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, Reiter's syndrome, and psoriasis. More studies are required to further delineate the mechanisms by which prolactin affects autoimmune disease activity, to determine in which specific diseases prolactin plays a significant role, and to test the efficacy of prolactin-lowering agents as therapy for such diseases. (www.actabiomedica.it).
Acta Biomedica
SUPPL. 1
Published - Apr 1 2007
Dopamine Agonists
Placebos
Medicine(all)
Chuang, E., & Molitch, M. E. (2007). Prolactin and autoimmune diseases in humans. Acta Biomedica, 78(SUPPL. 1), 255-261.
Chuang, Ellie ; Molitch, Mark E. / Prolactin and autoimmune diseases in humans. In: Acta Biomedica. 2007 ; Vol. 78, No. SUPPL. 1. pp. 255-261.
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title = "Prolactin and autoimmune diseases in humans",
abstract = "Prolactin has been shown to have immunomodulatory as well as lactogenic effects. Generally less well known is that prolactin may also play a role in the activity of autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis. Studies have shown decreasing prolactin production to be beneficial in animal models of autoimmune disease. Thus far, double-blinded, placebo-controlled studies of dopamine agonist treatment in humans with autoimmune disease have been done only in lupus patients, and support the potential efficacy of such agents. Small, open-label trials have also suggested potential benefit in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, Reiter's syndrome, and psoriasis. More studies are required to further delineate the mechanisms by which prolactin affects autoimmune disease activity, to determine in which specific diseases prolactin plays a significant role, and to test the efficacy of prolactin-lowering agents as therapy for such diseases. (www.actabiomedica.it).",
keywords = "Autoimmune disease, Hyperprolactinemia, Prolactin, Rheumatoid arthritis, Systemic lupus erythematosus",
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Prolactin and autoimmune diseases in humans. / Chuang, Ellie; Molitch, Mark E.
In: Acta Biomedica, Vol. 78, No. SUPPL. 1, 01.04.2007, p. 255-261.
T1 - Prolactin and autoimmune diseases in humans
AU - Chuang, Ellie
AU - Molitch, Mark E
N2 - Prolactin has been shown to have immunomodulatory as well as lactogenic effects. Generally less well known is that prolactin may also play a role in the activity of autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis. Studies have shown decreasing prolactin production to be beneficial in animal models of autoimmune disease. Thus far, double-blinded, placebo-controlled studies of dopamine agonist treatment in humans with autoimmune disease have been done only in lupus patients, and support the potential efficacy of such agents. Small, open-label trials have also suggested potential benefit in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, Reiter's syndrome, and psoriasis. More studies are required to further delineate the mechanisms by which prolactin affects autoimmune disease activity, to determine in which specific diseases prolactin plays a significant role, and to test the efficacy of prolactin-lowering agents as therapy for such diseases. (www.actabiomedica.it).
AB - Prolactin has been shown to have immunomodulatory as well as lactogenic effects. Generally less well known is that prolactin may also play a role in the activity of autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis. Studies have shown decreasing prolactin production to be beneficial in animal models of autoimmune disease. Thus far, double-blinded, placebo-controlled studies of dopamine agonist treatment in humans with autoimmune disease have been done only in lupus patients, and support the potential efficacy of such agents. Small, open-label trials have also suggested potential benefit in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, Reiter's syndrome, and psoriasis. More studies are required to further delineate the mechanisms by which prolactin affects autoimmune disease activity, to determine in which specific diseases prolactin plays a significant role, and to test the efficacy of prolactin-lowering agents as therapy for such diseases. (www.actabiomedica.it).
KW - Autoimmune disease
KW - Hyperprolactinemia
KW - Prolactin
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KW - Systemic lupus erythematosus
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Chuang E, Molitch ME. Prolactin and autoimmune diseases in humans. Acta Biomedica. 2007 Apr 1;78(SUPPL. 1):255-261.
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www.schoolinsight.com
Twenty-third School from Rockford Diocese Adopts SchoolInsight/TeacherEase
Elmhurst, IL (October 11, 2010) - St. Andrew School in Rock Falls, IL has recently become the twenty-third Catholic school in the Diocese of Rockford that now uses either TeacherEase, SchoolInsight or both solutions to increase the effectiveness of their school. Schools in every Deanery in the Rockford Diocese have partnered with Common Goal Systems to implement the company¡¦s web-based student management system and/or gradebook, which gives them real-time access to student information. The system may be used to take attendance, run report cards, manage demographics, track lunch, create standards-based lesson plans, and more. Parents can view up-to-the-minute grades, assignments and fees via the Internet.
Diocese of Rockford Superintendent Michael Kagan is familiar with Common Goal Systems, both as a superintendent, as well as a former principal of St. James Catholic School in Rockford.
Mr. Kagan explained, "We used the TeacherEase gradebook at St. James and found it very simple for teachers to use with easy access that allowed parents to check student progress. Parents and staff were able to effectively communicate and collaborate regarding a student's progress, both from an academic and behavior perspective."
The 23 schools currently using TeacherEase and SchoolInsight in the Diocese of Rockford have found it to be an affordable and timely way to communicate with parents and make data-driven decisions.
Mr. Kagan added, "Given the effectiveness of TeacherEase, it was well worth the investment. It was reasonably priced, considering the ease of access for parents. Over 95% of the parents at St. James were found to have Internet access. TeacherEase saved parents' and teachers' time by answering questions about their students without the traditional approaches of calling or making teacher appointments."
Because TeacherEase and SchoolInsight are "cloud computing", information can be accessed quite simply with an Internet connection. Catholic school parents in the Rockford diocese are pleased and potential problems are identified early.
"Parents have responded very positively," Mr. Kagan pointed out. "We live in a busy world and parents enjoy the quick access, whether at a home or work computer." He added, ¡§Increasing the speed that information is shared back and forth between school and home allows parents and teachers to collaborate and identify potential academic or behavior issues early, before they become problems."
Common Goal Systems (www.common-goal.com) provides web-based services to help schools and teachers work more efficiently. In addition to the SchoolInsight Student Information System and TeacherEase, the web-based gradebook, the company's other modules include: Health, Discipline, Longitudinal Data, Advanced Scheduling, and Lunch. Using the Software as a Service model (SaaS), the company offers its subscription services via the Internet and is responsible for the deployment, operation, and maintenance of the IT infrastructure. Founded in 2001, Common Goal Systems has hundreds of Catholic school throughout the US and thousands of public and non-public school customers throughout the world. They were recently chosen as the student management system provider for the Diocese of Colorado Springs, Colorado.
- Common Goal Systems, Inc Press Release, October 11, 2010
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Sen. Mary Kay Papen: More legislating, less politicking is needed
This legislative session, I sponsored several bills to improve health care — particularly mental health care...
Sen. Mary Kay Papen: More legislating, less politicking is needed This legislative session, I sponsored several bills to improve health care — particularly mental health care... Check out this story on scsun-news.com: http://scsun.co/1KohXix
Sen. Mary Kay Papen, SilverCity Published 2:24 p.m. MT April 3, 2015
This legislative session, I sponsored several bills to improve health care — particularly mental health care — for the state's most underserved and vulnerable populations. Unfortunately, these bills didn't make it all the way through the legislative process.
For those who don't live at the Roundhouse, let me explain. Bills are introduced into one house or the other. Each house determines which committees will consider each bill. In order to make it to either the House or Senate floor, a bill has to first make it through several committees, with each committee free to make amendments to, or even substitute, a bill along the way. Sometimes bills move through a committee seamlessly; other bills are the subject of extended discussion that can literally last for hours.
Legislative committee chairs decide what bills go on their committee agendas, and in what order. The speaker of the House and the Senate majority floor leader decide the order in which bills are considered in their respective chambers. In 2015, legislators had 60 days to move their bills through legislative committees and both houses for passage.
Bills I sponsored or co-sponsored that did not make it to final passage included proposals to:
— establish community engagement teams to link persons needing behavioral health services to providers;
— give Medicaid providers (of all stripes, not just behavioral health providers) due process and independent review if the Human Services Department decides to stop paying them based on a "credible allegation of fraud"; and
— create a process to place seriously mentally ill people who cycle in and out of hospitals and jails into assisted outpatient treatment (AOT).
Despite being passed out of its last House committee on March 19, the AOT bill was not added to the House agenda until mid-morning on March 21, the last day of the legislative session. Unfortunately, the House vote took place late, since most of the morning was spent debating the capital outlay bill. Since minor amendments had been added to the AOT bill in house committees, it still needed to return to the Senate for concurrence with those changes. With only minutes left before the session ended at noon, there was no concurrence vote because of a filibuster in the Senate.
While there is blame to go around, politics took precedence over helping those New Mexicans most in need. With our mental health system falling apart, with too frequent reports of confrontations between the mentally ill and law enforcement and with one-third of the state's population counting on providers being willing to take Medicaid patients, this should have been the year legislators of both parties acted to improve the lives of marginalized New Mexicans. I am very disappointed that this much-needed legislation did not pass.
Mary Kay Papen, D-Las Cruces, represents District 38 in the New Mexico Senate, where she is president pro tempore.
Read or Share this story: http://scsun.co/1KohXix
Child access prevention laws are unnecessary
Sept. 20, 2017, 1:38 p.m.
COMMENTARY: It's time to end PARCC testing of New Mexico students
COMMENTARY: Commission is working to secure Grant County's healthcare future
March 29, 2018, 12:26 p.m.
Peter Goodman: Change needed on little-known soil and water conservation board
Democrats ready for upcoming pre-primary convention
Commentary: A major victory for forest communities
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CALL FOR PAPERS2014 SEAMEO-JASPER RESEARCH AWARD COMPETITION"Accelerating Regional Mobility through Education, Science and Culture"
The SEAMEO-Jasper Research Award was established in 1990 with the support of the Government of Canada as a way of recognizing exemplary research conducted by Southeast Asian nationals in the region. The yearly award aims to encourage young scholars to conduct researches on a relevant theme on social development in Southeast Asia and to facilitate continued interaction and knowledge-sharing among Southeast Asian and Canadian researchers.
The theme for 2014 SEAMEO-Jasper Research Award is Accelerating Southeast Asian Regional Mobility through Education, Science and Culture with the following thematic strands:
Regional and International Student Mobility and Internationalization of Education
Professional Mobility and Migration of Scientific Talents
Cultural Exchanges and Mobility of Cultural Professionals
Details on the SEAMEO-Jasper Research Awards, the Information Note and Application Form are available on the SEAMEO website:
http://www.seameo.org/go/JasperResearchAward/.
or downloaded from the links below.
information_note_seameo-jasper_2014.docx
seameo-jasper_application_form_2014.docx
Deadline of research submission is on 30 September 2014.
SEAMEO-ACC SPORTS EDUCATION INNOVATION AWARD
The SEAMEO-ACC Sports Education Innovation Award was established by SEAMEO in April 2014 with the support of ASEAN-China Centre (ACC), an inter-governmental international organization headquartered in Beijing, China, and established by the Governments of the Member States of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and China in November 2011, and Taiao Sports Company (Taiao), a renowned sports equipment, facility and service provider based in Beijing, China, as a way to recognize innovative sports initiatives of elementary and secondary schools in Southeast Asia. The Award aims to promote and encourage innovations in sports education that contribute to human resource development in Southeast Asia and foster cooperation and mutual understanding in the region.
The theme for the 2014 SEAMEO-ACC Sports Education Innovation Award is “Amity, Creativity and Development through Sports Education”.
The 2014 SEAMEO-ACC Sports Education Innovation Award intends to highlight the role of sports education in promoting students’ individuality and self-development; generating ingenuity and innovativeness; and fostering understanding and good will.
The Award recognizes sports projects or activities of public or private elementary and secondary schools that are innovative, proven to be contributory to students’ physical development, schooling experiences and outcomes and are known to foster friendships and cooperation among students. This year’s award provides a special focus on schools from remote and poor areas in Southeast Asian region.
Deadline for research submission: 30 September 2014
SEAMEO Secretariat
Mom Luang Pin Malakul Centenary Building
920 Sukhumvit Road
E-mail: secretariat@seameo.org
Details on the contest, Information Note and Submission Form are available on the SEAMEO website, or downloaded here:
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Saxophonist Grady Nichols’ CD, Destinations, is a musical vacation. You can visit the beach (“Beachside”), explore the streets of London (“London Baby!”), go a little country (“Tulsa”), hit the west coast (“You With Me”), spend time daydreaming (“Walk Thru My Dreams”) and come back home again (“Coming Home”). After listening to the CD, you realize you have embarked on a musical journey touring various genres without any layovers.
Grady steps into new territory by peppering this project with a driving banjo, pedal steel guitar, steel drums, and string section which are woven seamlessly into a cohesive contemporary jazz / pop setting. It’s always more fun traveling with your friends and joining Grady on his journey are Grammy winner Bill Champlin who lends his voice and Hammond B-3 chops on “You Know Me.” Grammy nominee Jeff Lorber continues his collaboration with Grady on “You With Me” with LA session king Michael Thompson on guitar.
“When I first met with producer Chris Rodriguez, I explained my passion for the saxophone and how I felt it was a ‘voice’ that could ‘sing’ a lot of styles. I also felt that the sax was a key part in some of the most memorable songs in pop music over the last 30 years. I wanted to tap into all of that with this record. Chris understood how to bring it all together and give me a project that was an absolute blast to make. He and I both listen to a lot of different kinds of music and Chris’s experience performing with Keith Urban, Kenny Loggins, Amy Grant, and Faith Hill brought a bunch of ingredients together and yet stayed true to my voice.”
Grady’s many influences are evident on Destinations. A native of Arkansas, Grady’s main exposure to any type of jazz as a teenager was through the Weather Channel. (He even wrote the network to get a copy of their playlist and began learning about the artists played during the local forecast.) Some of his early influences were David Sanborn, David Foster, Chicago and a myriad of classical film scores.
Grady realizes many fans are not “locked” into one genre and with the digital world, listeners can easily explore an array of music. “Like my audience, I enjoy different styles of music. I try to push the envelope a bit in concert to see how the fans will react. I also attend many concerts and realize a John Mayer or Keith Urban fan may also like my music. So I was inspired to write in the style of a singer-songwriter with the saxophone as the lead voice (“You Know Me”). I re-interpreted Keith Urban’s “Only You Could Love Me This Way” as an instrumental. And my cover of Journey’s “Faithfully” has been a hit in concert for some time now.”
On Grady’s last three projects, he has worked with producers that are also writers/artists/performers. One of the key advantages is the collaborations result in songs that can go from studio to stage. “Chris is a consummate musician and performer. He knows how to get on stage night after night in front of rock, pop, Christian and country audiences and deliver great performances. The songs we developed will work live in front of an audience as well as on the CD.”
Destinations is Grady’s sixth CD. His last project Take Me With You, was produced by artist/writer Zac Maloy (Daughtry, Blake Shelton, Carrie Underwood), featured a guest appearance from Leigh Nash of Sixpence None The Richer and a house remix tune from Andy Caldwell. Fusion/Smooth Jazz Jeff Lorber produced Sophistication with Paul Brown mixing and Chris Botti making a guest appearance. The CD had two national charting singles. In The Fullness of Time was recorded live with Chicago’s Bill Champlin contributing his vocals on a couple of tunes. Grady’s earlier releases were Mysterious Intentions and Between You And Me.
BAND VIDEO
London Baby! 4:47
Superman 4:12
Tulsa 5:20
COVER MATERIAL
I Keep Forgettin’ – Michael McDonald
September – Earth Wind & Fire
I Wish – Stevie Wonder
Who’s Holding Donna Now – El DeBarge
Maputo – David Sanborn/Bob James
Keep Looking – Sade
Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours – Stevie Wonder
Takin’ It To The Streets – The Doobie Brothers
Peg – Steely Dan
Have I Told You Lately That I Love You – Rod Stewart
Turn Your Love Around – George Benson
Rock Your Body – Justin Timberlake
How Deep Is Your Love – The Bee Gees
One Hundred Ways – James Ingram and Quincy Jones
Heart to Heart - Kenny Loggins
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A Summer in the Lab boosts Undergrad Experience
Published: August 09, 2013 | Category: Academics
With blond braided hair and cut-off jeans, Hailee Holt hovers over a beaker that swirls with argon gas and chemical reactions, marking a typical workday for the sophomore chemistry major who stayed on campus over the summer break after securing a research position in SUU’s new chemistry lab.
Holt isn’t simply mixing chemicals for a grade and redundant practice in a standard lab class; she’s laying the foundation for life-saving antibiotics as an undergraduate research fellow with Dr. Nathan Werner, a chemistry professor at SUU who is synthesizing chemicals to help create more potent antibiotics able to withstand the resistance many bacteria have built against one of healthcare’s cornerstone treatments over the past 80 years.
“We’re now finding that some bacteria are resistant to antibiotics,” stated Holt. “Therefore, it’s important that labs identify new molecular structures that are more effective to combat future diseases that can’t be cured with the antibiotics we have now.”
Though she has only just completed her freshman year, Holt discusses her work with confidence. It’s clear she has done her homework, so to speak, and is very comfortable with the subject matter at hand. With three years remaining in her undergrad studies, this early experience and expertise bodes well for Holt’s future prospects when she does apply for graduate school.
“Only one year ago Hailee was just starting college and now she is doing research that most students don’t even touch until they are graduate students,” muses Werner, who says he would have done anything for such an opportunity so early on when he was a student.
“What makes this even more special,” Werner continues, “is that Hailee’s work is entirely original and will make a real impact — it will completely change how antibiotics are made.”
Holt joins a flock of other Thunderbirds who, through the Walter Maxwell Gibson Research Endowment recently gifted to the College of Science and Engineering (COSE), are able to take part in paid research fellowships during the summer months, no longer forcing them to migrate north to get much less experience in much more crowded labs at other universities.
“This research is my golden ticket to graduate school,” said Diana Bishop, who aims to make pharmaceutical production more efficient in her studies of indoles and carbazoles, the base layers of many medicines. Bishop’s work under Dr. Mackay Steffensen is also funded through the Gibson research endowment, and the senior chemistry major is grateful to have snagged a research position on campus this summer when, in previous years she settled for far less among students and faculty she had never before met.
“I’ve gone to other universities during the summer months to do research and I wasn’t allowed to do any of the research because I was an undergrad. Now, I am doing everything.”
In fact, SUU’s undergraduate research students are at a great advantage, as they gain more hands-on research experience than could ever be offered undergrad students at larger research institutions structured with a priority to master’s-and doctoral-level work.
New this year, the Walter Maxwell Gibson Endowment is one of two research endowments SUU students may utilize to complete original research. When combined with the L.S. and Aline W. Skaggs Research Funding, the University’s science students have access to more than $5 million in funding solely for undergraduate research.
Of such an opportunity, chemistry professor and faculty mentor for undergraduate research within COSE, Kim Weaver, explains, “A part of science is about memorizing facts, but there is a whole other side you can’t get from a textbook. Doing research gives you this empowering feeling that you have solved a problem no one else could before you. That is what our students are doing.”
Simply put: these students are experiencing more as undergrads than they could almost anywhere else, the effects of which will carry far beyond their four years at SUU.
The first wave of students with Gibson Endowment fellowships — eight undergrads were selected to study everything from diabetic tendencies among various ethnic groups to geologic mapping, and the forensic importance of local insects to cellular protein isolation — are in the final stages of their summer projects and will soon be publishing their original research in field-respective journals.
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From Futures Game to MLB roster, White Sox prospect makes major-league jump
(Getty Images) https://images.performgroup.com/di/library/omnisport/26/2f/white-sox-prospect-frankie-montas_98z9i7pybqd21la28fxbn063k.jpg?t=-1765918970&w=500&quality=80
The "Futures" is now.
Top White Sox pitching prospect Frankie Montas, who only five days after he lit up the radar gun at 101 mph in his All-Star Futures Game appearance in Cincinnati, will be up with the big team Friday, CSNChicago.com reported, citing confirmation from an unidentified baseball source. He's the club's No. 2 overall prospect, according to MLB.com.
MORE: Seven prospects who impressed | Futures Game fantasy report | MLB's infamous moments
Though Montas, 22, allowed three runs on four hits in two-thirds of an inning Sunday at Great American Ball Park, the Dominican right-hander has a 2.47 ERA and 62-29 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 73 innings (15 starts) at Double-A Birmingham.
It's unclear how long Montas will be with the White Sox, but he'll join the team at a critical stage: It opens the second half with a home doubleheader against the first-place Royals, who the White Sox trail by 11 games. Chicago (41-45) rolled into the All-Star break playing its best baseball of the season after a bad start.
According to CSNChicago.com, Montas presumably would be the team's 26th man for one game, though the White Sox declined to comment on his promotion.
Montas - acquired from the Red Sox in the Jake Peavy trade in 2013 - twice hit 101 mph on the radar gun for the World Team in Sunday's 10-1 loss to the U.S.
Afterward, he assessed how he was doing at the All-Star break.
PHOTOS: MLB's strikeout leaders
"Slider has been better and the changeup, I've started to get a feel for it," Montas said Sunday. "Last year, when I was in High-A, I was doing great. This year, at the beginning, I was not doing how I expected to do. Thank God I figured out some things and I'm doing better.
"Everything is going well."
Apparently, the White Sox concur.
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World steel production - monthly commentary - ISSB.
You are here: www.steelonthenet.com > ISSB > html > Jan_2013.html
World Steel Production Report
ISSB Monthly World Steel Production Review
WORLD STEEL REVIEW, January 2013
Crude steel production in the 62 countries reporting to the World Steel Association totalled 122 million tonnes in November 2012, 5.1% higher than in November 2011. However, the eleven months total was 1,397 million tonnes, just 0.9% higher than the same period last year. Excluding China, the monthly total actually fell by 1.6%, whereas the year to date total decreased by 0.8%.
Steel production in the 27 member countries of the European Union decreased by 5.3% in November 2012 compared to the previous November to 13.5 million tonnes and the eleven months total was 4.8% lower at 157 million tonnes. German production showed a slight drop of 0.2% in November, bringing the eleven months total down 4.1% to 39.6 million tonnes. Production in Italy, on the other hand, fell by 12.9% in November, while the year to date total decreased by 4.5% to 25.5 million tonnes. French steel production fell by 5.4% in the month, while the year to date total only decreased slightly to 14.6 million tonnes. Spanish November production, however, was down by 14.2%, while the eleven months total fell by 13.4% to 12.7 million tonnes. UK monthly steel production increased by 13.5%, bringing the year to date total up 1.7% to 9 million tonnes. The Polish eleven month total fell by 2.7% to 7.8 million tonnes.
In the rest of Europe the largest producer is Turkey, where steel production increased by 4.6% in November, and by 6.5% in the year to date to 33 million tonnes, ahead of the Ukraine and Brazil. The Norwegian eleven months total rose by 16.7% to 646 thousand tonnes, while in Bosnia-Herzegovina the year to date total was up 8.2% to 635 thousand tonnes.
According to ACEA, the European car manufacturers' association, European car registrations fell by 10% in November, and were down by 7.2% in the eleven months. Registrations in Germany, the largest market, decreased by 3.5% in November, and by 1.7% in the year to date to just under 2.9 million cars. French registrations, however, were down by 19% in November and by 13.8% in the eleven months to 1.7 million cars. The UK, on the other hand, showed an 11.3% increase in November, while the year to date total was 5.4% up at 1.9 million cars. In Italy monthly registrations were down by 20% with the year nearly 20% down at 1.3 million cars. The fifth largest market, Spain, was also 20% down in the month and 12.6% down in the year to date at 648 thousand cars, while the Dutch total was down by 10% to 485 thousand cars.
In the CIS countries crude steel production in Russia fell by 0.7% in November bringing the year to date total up 3% to nearly 65 million tonnes. Ukrainian November production was down by 7.9%, making the eleven months total 30.3 million tonnes, a drop of 6.8%. Steel production in Kazakhstan decreased by 14% in the year to date to less than 3.8 million tonnes.
Steel production in the USA fell by 4.8% in November, bringing the year to date total up 3.2% to 81 million tonnes. Canadian production rose by 10.5% in November, and by 5.1% in the eleven months to 12.5 million tonnes. Mexican steel production rose by 11.4% in the month, while the year to date total actually fell by 0.5% to 16.5 million tonnes.
In South America, Brazilian crude steel production rose by 2.4% in November, although the year to date total was down 1.4% to 32 million tonnes compared to last year. Argentinian production in November fell by 18%, bringing the eleven months total down almost 10% to 4.7 million tonnes. Venezuelan crude steel production, on the other hand, was slightly up in the month, although the year to date total was down nearly 20% to 2.3 million tonnes.
Crude steel production in the MENA region was mixed with Iranian production up 12% in November and 10.4% in the year to 13.3 million tonnes. The Egyptian total rose by 15% in the month and by 2.1% in the year to date to 6 million tonnes. However, in South Africa the monthly total fell by 5.6%, although the eleven months total was up by 10% to 6.3 million tonnes. Saudi Arabian production rose by 2.4% in the month resulting in a 1.2% drop in the January to November total to just under 4.8 million tonnes.
In Asia Chinese steel production increased by 13.7% in November, while the eleven months total was up by 2.9% to 660 million tonnes, 47% of the world total. Indian steel production increased by 6.6% in the month, and by 4.2% in the year to date to 70 million tonnes. Japanese production actually fell by 2.3% in November, while the year to date total was down by 0.5% to just under 99 million tonnes. South Korean steel production was also down by 2.7% in the month, but rose by 1.6% in the year to date to over 63 million tonnes. Taiwanese steel production, however, fell by 13% in November and by 11% in the January to November period to 18.7 million tonnes.
Chinese exports of steel in November topped 5 million tonnes, and although it was not the highest monthly total in 2012, it was 22% above November 2011. Steel exports in the first 11 months of 2012 were 13% above the January to November total in 2011. Although China's largest steel export is coated sheet and strip which was 9.9 million tonnes in 2012 (1.2% down on the same period in 2011), the large increases were in exports of wire rod (up 80% to over 5 million tonnes) and also hot rolled bars (up 83% to 5 million tonnes). Exports of hot rolled wide strip increased by 11.6% to 5.5 million tonnes and seamless tubes were up 9% to 4.8 million tonnes.
The large increase in Chinese exports of bars and rods went primarily to other Asian countries, 78% of the total, with South Korea, Singapore and Thailand being the largest markets. Outside of Asia, the USA was the largest market followed by Saudi Arabia.
Phil Hunt
ISSB Ltd
Download previous world steel production reviews from ISSB
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Photo: M. Dixon/Wikimedia Commons
Taking climate change seriously: from adaptation to transformation
Seminar with professor Karen O'Brien, University of Oslo, Friday 16 March
Adaptation has been increasingly promoted as a key strategy for reducing risk and vulnerability to the impacts of climate change. Yet what qualifies as successful adaptation when the impacts are the result of human activities? Who decides the future to which we must adapt? In this talk, Karen O'Brien distinguished between technical problems and adaptive challenges and discuss why successful adaptation to climate change will only be realized through social transformations. The talk drew on research from the AdaptationCONNECTS project, which focuses on the role of creativity, collaboration, empowerment and flexibility in realizing adaptation through transformation.
About Karen O'Brien
Karen O’Brien is a Professor in the Department of Sociology and Human Geography at the University of Oslo, Norway. She is interested in integral approaches to understanding and addressing global environmental challenges. Karen’s current research focuses on the relationships between climate change adaptation and transformations to sustainability. She is the co-founder of cCHANGE.no, an organization that provides perspectives on transformation in a changing climate.
Friday 16 March 2018, 14.00-15.00
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Manhattan median price for flats close to $1.4m
Oct 2, 2015, 5:00 am SGT
http://str.sg/Z6oZ
NEW YORK • A million dollars does not buy what it used to in Manhattan, in New York City.
A combination of high demand and too few listings pushed the median sales price for a Manhattan apartment to just shy of US$1 million (S$1.4 million) in the third quarter of the year, setting a record high, according to several market reports to be released yesterday by major real estate brokerage firms.
The median sales price, which reflects the middle of the market and is less affected by high-end sales, was US$999,000, according to a report by the Corcoran Group.
Reports from other brokerage firms, using different figures and methodologies, put the median price at or just below the million-dollar mark, with most calling it a record.
"It seems like a lot of money anyplace else," said Ms Dottie Herman, chief executive of Douglas Elliman Real Estate, which calculated a median price of US$998,000. In Manhattan, "what you get for a million dollars is not a lot of space", she said, pointing out that buyers on a budget must turn to New York's other boroughs or to the suburbs to find better values.
After rising incrementally over the course of last year, inventory has essentially been flat since January, said Mr Jonathan Miller, president of the appraisal firm Miller Samuel and the author of the Douglas Elliman report.
In the third quarter, Mr Miller said, there were 5,654 available listings, approximately 20 per cent below the 10-year average of 7,047 available listings. "That creates price pressure," he added.
A shortage of inventory, particularly for homes priced at lower than US$1 million, is fuelling competition and increasing the number of commitments made entirely in cash. Apartments that were sold in the third quarter spent an average of 73 days on the market, the shortest time in Miller Samuel data dating to 1996.
"When you have inventory unable to keep up with demand, you're going to have more bidding wars," Mr Miller said in an interview. "We have a tight housing market and it should be no surprise that we're going to see prices at or near records each quarter."
At the highest end of the market, which includes trophy co-ops on the Upper East Side and the luxury condominiums that have been the hallmark of almost all new developments, prices increased 10 per cent to a median of US$5.5 million.
The tight supply has forced buyers to stretch the limits of what they are willing to pay. Fifty-four per cent of all sales in the quarter were at or above their list price, the highest in seven years of record- keeping, Miller Samuel and Douglas Elliman said. The average premium paid was 8.2 per cent.
For Ms Emily Weiss, bidding above the asking price helped her secure a one-bedroom co-op in the Gramercy neighbourhood after several months of looking.
With a budget of about US$700,000, Ms Weiss began her search in April and almost gave up in frustration.
New listings she found online and sent to her broker, Mr Paul Zweben of Douglas Elliman, were snapped up within days.
NEW YORK TIMES, BLOOMBERG
A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on October 02, 2015, with the headline 'Manhattan median price for flats close to $1.4m'. Print Edition | Subscribe
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Home / Bible Commentaries / Adam Clarke Commentary
Adam Clarke Commentary
Introduction Chapter 1
Book Overview - Philemon
1. Recipients, Author and Time of Writing
Author, Addressee and Time of Writing
Paul's epistle to Philemon is one of the few books in the NT whose authenticity has hardly ever been doubted. Paul mentions his own name three times in this his shortest epistle (verses 1.9.19). Twice he speaks of being a prisoner of Jesus Christ. He mentions this also in his other "prison epistles" (Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians).
Philemon is not mentioned anywhere else in the NT. The epistle shows that he was a believing Christian and an esteemed acquaintance of the Apostle. The Epistle is addressed to Philemon, with the church in his house, and to sister Apphia and Archippus. Archippus is also mentioned in Colossians 4:17. This shows that Philemon lived in Colossae. In Colossians 4:7-9 we learn that Onesimus was from Colossae also.
The Epistle was written at the same time as the Epistle to the Colossians, that is 61 to 62 AC, from Rome. In both Epistles Paul mentions his imprisonment and gives greetings from Ephaphras, Marcus, Aristarcus, Demas and Luke. In Colossians the believers are informed that Tychicus, who was the deliverer of the Epistle, was accompanied by Onesimus.
Tertullian (around 160 to 220 AC) and the Muratori Canon (end of 2 nd century) testify that the Epistle was written by Paul.
2. Subject and purpose of writing
This Epistle has often been called a "private" epistle of the apostle. But the mention of the church in Philemon's house shows that the personal circumstances of the Christian are not to be separated from the fellowship of the believers, as they are members of one body (Ephesians 4:25). Onesimus was Philemon's slave who had run away and thereby probably stolen money of him. On his flight he met the imprisoned apostle Paul in Rome and was led to faith in the Lord Jesus by him. This is why Paul calls Onesimus "my son" in verse 10. Onesimus might have known Paul by hearsay. Meantime he had become quite helpful to the apostle in various respects (see Colossians 4:9).
But Paul wanted Onesimus to put things right which he had inflicted upon his master Philemon. This is why he sent Onesimus with Tychicus to Colossae and handed them the Epistle. In the Epistle Paul does not write on the Christian doctrine neither does he mention his apostleship nor his authority connected with it. Paul does not plead for Onesimus' release either but gives an example of the spirit of grace and love with which difficulties in daily matters among brethren might be solved. This grace overcomes social differences (compare Colossians 3:11) and past guilt (compare Colossians 3:13). Martin Luther has said of this Epistle: "This epistle is a masterly sweet example of Christian love."
3. Peculiarities
The Problem of Slavery
Slavery was a fixed component of the social and governmental order in antiquity. A slave was considered a "thing" and therewith the sole property of his proprietor. A run-away-slave as Onesimus was had to fear most severe punishment.
Among the first Christians there were many slaves. This is evident from various passages in the NT (1 Corinthians 7:21-24; 1 Corinthians 12:13; Galatians 3:28; Ephesians 6:5-8; Colossians 3:22-25 : 1 Timothy 6:1-2; Titus 2:9-10). Although slavery was a consequence of man's sin and therefore not according to the will of God, slaves did not receive outward liberty from their often hard fate when they believed in the Saviour Jesus Christ. They were however encouraged to be faithful witnesses for God and His grace through their new life in Christ; and even more so if their masters were not Christians. God does not want to change the world by revolution but by leading people from darkness into His wonderful light. This is why Paul does not question Philemon's authority over Onesimus, his slave. But Paul appeals to Philemon's heart in verses 15 to 21 and this may have produced Onesimus' liberation (compare 1 Corinthians 7:20-24).
Unprofitable - Profitable
Twice in this epistle Paul uses a play on words in respect to Onesimus whose name means "profitable". But Onesimus had not honoured his name when he had fled from his master Philemon and perhaps even stolen something. Onesimus had experienced a radical change. To this the Apostle alludes, in verse 11 , with the words "unprofitable" and "profitable" (Greek: achrestos - euchrestos ). In verse 20 he addresses Philemon directly when saying "I would have profit of thee" (Darby) (Greek: onaimen).
4. Overview of Contents
• Philemon 1:1-3 : Greetings
• Philemon 1:4-7 : Paul Praises Philemon
• Philemon 1:8-21 : Paul Intercedes for Onesimus
• Philemon 1:22-25 : End
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Shullsburg chief of police set to retire
Richard Moyer, Shullsburgs Chief of Police submitted a notice of retirement recently
Kayla Barnes
Richard Moyer, Shullsburg Police Chief, submitted his retirement notice to the city council on Sept. 3. After 27 ½ years working at the Shullsburg Police Department, Moyer’s official last day will be Oct. 9.
Moyer explained that he had always wanted to be in law enforcement growing up, and after graduating from Hazel Green High School in 1983 he attended Eau Claire to obtain his two-year police science degree.
In 1985 he began his career, working at various law enforcement agencies in northern Wisconsin for three years, before coming to the Shullsburg Police Department as a patrolman in June of 1988.
In 1989 Moyer was promoted from patrolman to sergeant, and also implemented the DARE program at Shullsburg Schools.
For the next 20 years, Moyer continued to teach the DARE program, coming into the school about once a week throughout the entire school year.
“I wanted to get to know the kids and let them get to know me,” he said of his desire to implement the program. “I thought it was really important to have that presence at the schools.”
In 2009, Moyer became the chief of police for Shullsburg, and the department was cut down to just one full time officer, which it has remained up to the present. At that time, due to an increase in responsibilities and time constraints, Moyer was no longer able to conduct the DARE classes.
“Hopefully in the future, they can hire more than one officer,” said Moyer. “Shullsburg is just too big for one full-time person.”
Among Moyer’s most memorable events on the job was the time he helped deliver a baby in a mini van while on duty.
“It’s a respectable career,’ said Moyer of the job. “It’s not always easy, but it’s definitely a positive job. The biggest pro is helping people if that means being a first responder on scene or helping someone change a flat tire.”
There are some things however that Moyer won’t miss as much, such as dealing with the politics of the job and having to deal with things like fatal accidents and being the one to tell family members and loved ones that someone they cared about has been killed.
“I really appreciate my family and my wife putting up with the stress and strain that the job has had through the years,” said Moyer. “I’m also thankful for the chance to work with the other law enforcement agencies throughout the county as well as the city workers.”
Moyer said he has had a good career with the Shullsburg Police Department, and has enjoyed working with the citizens and taking care of the town.
Moyer has taken a job as a rural carrier for the post office, which he has already begun and said it has been going great.
“I didn’t plan to do [police work] forever, and I’ve been working for the post office part-time for about 10 years, planning to make the change to full-time at some point,” he said. “It was just time.”
Moyer wishes the new chief the best of luck and hopes they have great success.
“Shullsburg is a great place and it’s a pretty calm place for the most part,” he said. “But it’s going to be a tough job too.”
Moyer said he advises the new chief to not get overwhelmed, to take things in stride and to ask for help from other law enforcement agencies if they need it.
Moyer is married to Peggy, and the couple has three adult sons: Andy, who is a software engineer in Platteville; Sam, who is a banker in Madison and Cody, who is an MP in the army.
The city of Shullsburg is accepting applications for the new chief of police until 5 p.m. on Oct. 9. Application materials and a complete job description are available at the city’s office at 190 N. Judgement St. in Shullsburg or on the city’s website at www.shullsburgwisconsin.org or by emailing m.einsweiler@cityofshullsburg.org.
As Moyer is using vacation days until his official last day on the job, at the regular meeting of the city council held on Sept. 8, the council made the decision to utilize the services of part-time officers to cover 16 hours per week, and contract with the Lafayette County Sheriff’s Department to cover 24 hours per week at the cost of $38 per hour, with coverage to begin at the county’s discretion.
County looks to give jailers special status
Summer Storm
Train derailment shuts down boat landing
One last shot against Cardinal-Hickory Creek
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Current Affairs – December 25-26, 2018
Posted on 26th December 2018 by TalentSprint
Here’s your daily summary of Current Affairs – December 25-26, 2018
Bogibeel Bridge: Modi opens India’s longest rail-cum-road bridge
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated the Bogibeel Bridge, India’s longest railroad bridge of 4.94 km, on the birth anniversary of the late Atal Bihari Vajpayee — December 25 — observed as “Good Governance Day” by the Centre. The bridge connects the south bank of the Brahmaputra river in Assam’s Dibrugarh district with Silapathar in Dhemaji district, bordering Arunachal Pradesh.
Assam Governor: Jagdish Mukhi
Chief Minister: Sarbananda Sonowal
National Good Governance Day: 25 December
Good Governance Day is observed in India annually on the twenty-fifth day of December, the birth anniversary of former-Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Good Governance Day was established in 2014 to honor Prime Minister Vajpayee by fostering awareness among the Indian people of accountability in government. In keeping with this principle, the Government of India has decreed Good Governance Day to be a working day for the government.
‘Sadaiv Atal’ dedicated to the nation and Rs. 100 coin released in memory of former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee
President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 25th December dedicated late PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s memorial Sadaiv Atal at Rashtriya Smriti Sthal in New Delhi to the nation. PM Modi also released a commemorative coin in the honor of former Prime Minister and Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee at Parliament House Annexe in New Delhi today. Speaking on the occasion, Prime Minister said, Atal ji was away from public life for nearly a decade, but the way people paid tributes to him after his demise shows how much he was loved and admired.
Uttarakhand CM launches Atal Ayushman Uttarakhand Yojana (AAYU)
With the ceremonial launch of Atal Ayushman Uttarakhand (AAYU) Yojana on the 94th birth anniversary of the former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on 25th December, Uttarakhand has become the first State in the country where every resident family has come under the umbrella of a health cover amounting to Rs 5 lakh annually.
Governor: Baby Rani Maurya
Chief Minister: Trivendra Singh Rawat
Haryana to rename childcare institutes as Jagannath Ashrams
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on 25th December announced to name all the Child Care Institutes being run in the state as ‘Jagannath Ashrams.’ The Chief Minister made this announcement while addressing the people during a dance competition organized by women wing of All India Vaish Federation, in Karnal on 25th December.
Governor: Satyadev Narayan Arya
Chief Minister: Manohar Lal Khattar
Punjab National Bank launches a special card for Kumbh Mela 2019
Govt-owned Punjab National Bank (PNB) has launched a special card for Kumbh Mela 2019. The bank has partnered with the Uttar Pradesh government to create a model for digitization at this edition of Kumbh Mela, PNB said in a statement issued recently.
HQ: New Delhi
Tagline: The Name You Can Bank Upon
MD & CEO: Sunil Mehta
P.V. Bharathi appointed MD and CEO of Corporation Bank
P V Bharathi has been appointed as managing director and chief executive officer of the Corporation Bank, according to an order issued by the Personnel Ministry on 23rd December. Bharathi is at present Executive Director, Canara Bank. She will take over the charge on or after February 1, 2019, and remain in the post till March 31, 2020 – the date of her superannuation, the order said.
HQ: Mangalore
Tagline: Prosperity for all
Laxmikant Kudalkar, Usha Timothy get Mohammed Rafi Award
The Mohammed Rafi Award, instituted by an NGO headed by Mumbai BJP chief Ashish Shelar, was 24th December bestowed upon late music composer Laxmikant Shantaram Kudalkar and playback singer Usha Timothy. Kudalkar, of the Laxmikant-Pyarelal duo, was given the Mohammed Rafi Lifetime Achievement Award consisting of Rs.1 lakh and a trophy.
Lewis Hamilton awarded Drivers’ Driver of the Year
Lewis Hamilton was awarded Drivers’ Driver of the Year after claiming the 5th World Drivers’ Championship. After this, he became the 3rd man in history to secure the 5th world title. This was a part of the vote given by the F1 management for the first time among 17 of the 20 drivers participating in the event. He was followed by Max Verstappen in the second place, Fernando Alonso in the third place.
Padma Shri awardee Sulagitti Narasamma passes away at 98
Renowned social worker and Padma Shri awardee Sulagitti Narasamma passed away in Bengaluru on 25th December. She had helped deliver more than 15,000 babies in Krishnapura, a remote village in Pavagada taluk in Karnataka. She was 98. Narasamma had been conferred with the Padma Shri by President Ram Nath Kovind on March 20, 2018.
Rabindra Sangeet exponent Dwijen Mukhopadhyay passes away in West Bengal
On 24th December, Veteran Rabindra Sangeet singer Dwijen Mukhopadhyay died at his residence in Salt Lake, West Bengal following various age-related ailments at the age of 91.
Former Mumbai Mayor and Padma Shri Nana Chudasama dies at 85 in Maharashtra
On 23rd December, Former Mumbai Mayor and a 2005 Padma Shri awardee Nana Chudasama died at the age of 85 after a brief illness in Mumbai,Maharashtra.
Posted in Current Affairs, IBPS Clerk, IBPS PO, IBPS RRB, LIC HFL, NIACL Notification, Railways & Govt 2018 Exams, RBI Grade B 2018, SBI Clerk, SBI PO, SSC, SSC CGL | Tagged 2018, Bank, Current Affairs, December, December 2018
Current Affairs – December 27, 2018
Serafim Rostiw
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A Quick Guide to the Iraqi Healthcare Industry
by Jawad Khalaf - Partner - Litigation - j.khalaf@tamimi.com - Baghdad
Ali Al Dabbagh - Associate - Litigation - a.aldabbagh@tamimi.com - Baghdad
The healthcare sector in Iraq offers many opportunities for doing business through trade in medical products or investment in healthcare services.
This article will cover both well-established law for trade in medicines and new developments opening Iraq’s healthcare sector to private investment. We will start with the trade aspect and cover the import process. Then we will move to the legal framework specific to investing in healthcare in Iraq.
Trade in medical products
Importation of medical products, which include medicines, cosmetics, and medical appliances, can follow different business models depending on who the buyer is. There are two broad possibilities in Iraq: the buyer can be the State company for marketing drugs and medical appliances (‘KIMADIA’) or it can be a buyer from the Iraqi private market. On the public procurement side, KIMADIA is the only governmental body authorised to import medical products on behalf of the Iraqi government, and it does so using the usual regulations for public tendering applicable in Iraq. When KIMADIA solicits bids for public tenders, it follows regulations no 1 and 2 of 2014 on implementing government contracts. This entails certain contracting requirements that must be followed by the bidder, such as submitting preliminary guarantees with bids and posting performance bonds from an acceptable local bank, prior to KIMADIA awarding a bid.
According to Iraq’s Pharmaceutical Law (Federal Law No. 40 of 1970) and accompanying instructions (Instructions No. 4 of 1998) regulating scientific offices in the business of marketing pharmaceutical products, importing medical products to Iraq must be done exclusively through Iraqi registered third parties ‘scientific offices’. The only exception is if KIMADIA deems it necessary to import products directly. While KIMADIA has the authority to deal directly with non-Iraqi manufacturers or marketers, it still prefers to deal through Iraqi registered scientific offices whenever possible. Where dealing with the Iraqi private sector, the only way to trade in medical products is through a scientific office.
There are two relevant regulators in the Iraqi healthcare sector, the Ministry of Health and Environment (‘Ministry of Health‘) and the Syndicate of Iraqi Pharmacists. Generally speaking the following should be kept in mind when importing medical products to Iraq,
There are income tax obligations when doing business through third party agents, i.e. scientific offices, as this is considered doing business in Iraq by the relevant tax authorities;
To import or market medical products, both the manufacturer and the medical product need to be registered with the Ministry of Health, who keeps a list of registered products and manufacturers;
To register a manufacturer, the Ministry of health requires a number of documents including, but not limited to, the manufacturer’s / vendor’s articles of incorporation, letters of authorisation, manufacturing licence, Israel boycott letter, and Good Manufacturing Practice (‘GMP’) and Certificate of Pharmaceutical Product (‘CCP’) certificates;
The required documents are different from originating country to country, depending on which authorities are responsible for granting approvals for the manufacturing and selling medical products in the country of origin;
All submitted documents need to be properly legalised and stamped, as per Iraqi law;
For products originating from certain countries, and in certain cases, the Ministry of Health will require the applying party to pay for Ministry inspectors to visit and inspect production facilities;
Changes affecting information provided to the Ministry of Health need to be updated for the registration to remain active;
Registrations need to be renewed after five years, in most cases;
Import licences are issued to scientific offices to import a specific product prior to import, and, as an exception, to parties dealing directly with KIMADIA;
There are certain circumstances where KIMADIA will provide assistance to importers to expedite the registration process at the Ministry of Health for performance of awarded bids;
Scientific offices can carry out registration at the Ministry of Health, and bid on behalf of the parties they represent using properly notarised authorisation letters;
No more than one scientific office can be used to market the same medical product, but multiple offices can be engaged to market different products;
Scientific offices can be agents acting on behalf of their principles or distributers acting on their own;
Scientific offices must be operated by Iraqis and, if they are an incorporated entity, must be fully owned by Iraqis.
Investing in Iraq’s healthcare sector
In 2015, the Iraqi parliament passed the Law on Establishing Private Healthcare Institutions (Federal Law No. 25 of 2015) (the ‘Private Healthcare Institutions Law’), which came into force on 29 June 2015. The new law repealed the old private hospitals law (Federal Law No. 25 of 1985) and some articles in the public health law (Federal Law No. 89 of 1981). The Private Healthcare Institutions Law included major developments and improved the legal framework for private investment in healthcare. The Ministry of Health will issue regulations detailing how it intends to implement the new law. In the meantime, we can point out the following incentives and changes introduced by the new law:
Repealing parts of the public health law requiring licence holders to be Iraqis and allowing non-Iraqis to apply for licences to operate healthcare institutions;
Allowing incorporation of entities with the purpose of operating healthcare institutions, with the approval of the Ministry of Health;
Exempting health care institutions from income tax for the first three years from actual operation, as supported by the Ministry of Health;
Allowing further employment of foreign staff up to certain percentages, depending on the type of employed staff;
Allowing land allocation for free, with approval from the Ministry of Health;
Allowing loans of up to 30 per cent of the cost of establishing hospitals, with the approval of the Ministry of Health.
The Private Healthcare Institutions Law is not the only piece of applicable legislation with incentives. Depending on how the investment is structured, it can be a second, more specific, layer which operates on top of the Investment Law (Federal Law No. 13 of 2006), with its two amendments. Unlike the Investment Law, which requires holding a licence from the National Investment Commission (‘NIC’) to enjoy its benefits, the Private Healthcare Institutions Law does not require prior approval from the NIC. Since Iraqi corporate law allows foreign parties to own 100 per cent of Iraqi corporations, investors can choose to operate without an investment licence. Regardless of the path investors choose to follow, the Ministry of Health remains the relevant regulator for healthcare businesses.
Dealing with the Iraqi healthcare industry must be done through licensed Iraqi third parties; the only exception is public tenders from KIMADIA. Prior registration of products as well as manufacturers and vendors is required to grant import licences. As far as private investment is concerned, the new Private Healthcare Institutions Law marks a positive development for private investment in the healthcare industry, opening it to foreign capital and creating lucrative opportunities for investment in Iraq.
Al Tamimi & Company’s Iraq team regularly advises on healthcare law. For further information, please contact Ali Al Dabbagh (A.AlDabbagh@tamimi.com) or Jawad Khalaf (J.Khalaf@tamimi.com).
Destination: Middle East
Hotel Development: Inception to Operation
Leasing in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Changes to the DIFC Real Property Laws
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Arabian Nights or Northern Lights: Observing Global Anti-Corruption Practices in Full Daylight
by Marja Boman - Senior Associate - Financial Crime - m.boman@tamimi.com - Dubai International Financial Centre
June – July 2018
Combating corruption is a hot topic across the globe. Scoring on top of international rankings, the Nordic countries (being Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland) have traditionally been regarded as the global frontrunners when it comes to anti-corruption. In the Middle East, governments are working hard to decrease bribery and increase transparency in society, which ultimately complements the general promotion of civil rights. Research indicates that free speech, independent media, political dissent and an open and engaged civil society, access to information and the non-existence of censorship are the core elements preventing corruption.
The author previously practised law in Finland, advising Finnish and Scandinavian clients, before locating to the UAE. In this article I seek to provide comparative insights on the topic of anti-corruption practices between the Middle East and the Nordic countries, in light of current developments.
From global harmonisation of laws to local enforcement
Combating corruption on a global level is subject to several international treaties, the provisions of which are then transposed to national laws, harmonising the content thereof. The most important international treaties in this regard are the United Nations Convention Against Corruption of 2003 and the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions of 1997. In Europe, an intergovernmental body called the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) was established in 1999 by the Council of Europe to monitor its Member States’ compliance with the organisation’s anti-corruption standards.
The intention of international treaties is to establish common worldwide legislative standards for anti-corruption laws through imposing obligations on the Member States to bring their legislation in line with the obligations of the treaties. As a result, the laws of different Member States should include similar provisions criminalising the different forms of bribery, which provisions are locally enforced by national authorities. Despite these developments, it goes without saying that the national anti-corruption laws are far from being harmonised and different geographic regions face different corruption related challenges.
Corruption Perceptions
Transparency International is a non-governmental watchdog promoting anti-corruption in the world. It publishes an annual Corruption Perception Index, ranking 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, predicated on information provided by experts and businesspeople.
The Middle East consists of a variety of jurisdictions, many of which are far from homogenous. While some of the countries are still subject to weaker public institutions due to, e.g.; internal conflict, a number of countries in the Middle East, such as Jordan and Lebanon, are taking positive steps towards fighting corruption and increasing transparency and integrity in their societies. The hard work conducted by local governments in the Middle East is gradually attracting the attention of the rest of the world.
This year, the United Arab Emirates (“UAE”) ranked higher on the index than ever before. The UAE reached the 21st position in the ranking being the frontrunner of the Middle East. According to Transparency International, this may be due to good and efficient management of public finances, improved public procurement and better access to public services and infrastructure in the UAE. In 2016, the UAE carried out a significant reform of its criminal laws, which may be reflected in the Index as well.
Nordic countries usually score highest in international anti-corruption rankings. According to the latest Corruption Perceptions Index, Denmark was ranked the 2nd least corrupt country in the world, after New Zealand. Finland and Norway shared 3rd spot and Sweden ranked 6th. Iceland, holding 13th position, appears to be an outlier among Nordic countries.
Considering the rankings, one may ask whether Nordic countries are perhaps a safe-harbour from corruption. Despite the apparently excellent reputation, do corruption related risks still exist for businesses in the Nordics? Are the Nordic Countries the complete opposite to the Middle East?
Finland: There is a snake in paradise
Despite direct bribery being relatively rare in Finland and the rest of the Nordic jurisdictions, the existence of conflicts of interest and the lack of transparency in declaring conflicts of interest have turned out to be a common feature of the Nordic countries. This may be difficult to detect considering it is an inherently subjective evaluation. I suggest corruption does exist in Nordic countries, but that it has taken forms that are relatively difficult to detect by researchers.
In the aftermath of its evaluation round in September 2017, GRECO issued recommendations to Finland aimed at improving its anti-corruption regime, such recommendations being published in March 2018. Six of the recommendations issued by GRECO concerned senior government officials and ministers, and eight of them law enforcement authorities. Regarding law enforcement agencies, GRECO recommends that the Police and the Border Guard develop a dedicated anti-corruption strategy or policy, compile a code of conduct and specify their guidelines for secondary employment, organise training on the prevention and combating of corruption, and reinforce ethical practices in their career-related processes. In addition, it is recommended that the police enhance their risk management, internal oversight, and procedures to be followed by their officials when taking up secondary employment.
When it comes to whistleblower protection, GRECO recommends that the Police and the Border Guard be obliged to report suspicions of corruption and that protection of the whistleblowers be enhanced. At the moment, Finnish law does not include all-encompassing provisions protecting whistleblowers, applicable across different industries and, as a result, whistleblowers are practically protected only by the provisions in the Employment Act regulating grounds for dismissal. When it comes to the GRECO anti-corruption recommendations with regards to judges, public prosecutors and Members of Parliament, the Finnish Ministry of Justice announced in May 2018 that it has duly implemented all the recommendations. Also, the current Minister of Labour is strongly promoting enhancing whistleblower protection in Finland according to his political agenda.
Sweden: a recent extraterritoriality exercise in the telecommunications sector
Finland is not the only Nordic jurisdiction that has recently encountered serious corruption allegations. In Sweden, a local leading telecommunications company and its Uzbek subsidiary admitted paying (on multiple occasions between 2007 and 2010) more than USD 331 million in bribes to an Uzbek government official, who was a close relative of a high-ranking government official and had influence over the Uzbek governmental body that regulated the telecommunications industry. The telecommunications operator, which used to be a listed company in New York, used US bank accounts to move the bribery related assets, which triggered the involvement of the US authorities.
In 2017, the company reached a settlement involving the anti-corruption authorities of the United States, the Netherlands and Sweden. In the United States, the company entered a deferred prosecution agreement agreeing to pay the fine, implement rigorous internal controls and cooperate fully with the Department’s ongoing investigation, including its investigation of individuals. The U.S. authorities agreed to credit any disgorged profits paid to the Swedish and Dutch authorities as a result of related national proceedings in Sweden and in the Netherlands.
In addition to the criminal proceedings faced by the company, the individual directors involved are now being prosecuted in Sweden for bribery. According to the prosecutor, the company paid the authorities to make a preferred decision when considering its operational licenses in Uzbekistan and the prosecuted directors in question were aware of the bribery or even took initiative in the matter.
The loopholes relating to gifts and hospitality in the Middle East
In Europe and in the United States, there is a common trend of companies becoming extremely cautious when it comes to hospitality and gifts, including business to business relationships. Public officials aside, one of the most common corruption related issues that businesses often struggle with is to understand where to draw the line between illegitimate and legitimate, or sometimes even expected, provision of business gifts and hospitality in the Middle East.
There are different legislative approaches to private sector bribery in the Middle East. For example, the UAE has explicitly criminalised bribery in business in Article 236 bis of the Federal Law No. 3 of 1987 as amended by the Federal Decree Law No. 7 of 2016 (“UAE Penal Code”). Another example can be found in Qatar where passive bribery i.e. accepting illegitimate benefits in the private sector has been criminalised in Article 146 of the Law Number 11 of 2004 (“Qatar Penal Code”)..
In light of the above, and importantly for companies doing business in the Middle East, it is highly recommended to adopt restrictive hospitality policies in order to avoid bribery risks in relation to both the public and the private sector. It should be noted that the anti-bribery laws in the Middle East do not usually include exceptions when it comes to gifts of only nominal value, if the corrupt intent can be proven. Also, the definition of a public official tends to be relatively broad resulting e.g. employees of many companies subject to (partial) government ownership being regarded as public officials.
Key take home for global businesses: global vigilance
The above examples indicate that regardless of the jurisdiction – whether the Middle East, the high ranking Nordic countries or elsewhere in the world, no business is entirely safe from corruption related risks. International rankings aside, businesses should pay attention to corruption risks and implement strict compliance policies. As demonstrated above, there is no safe-harbour when it comes to corruption risk management.
Adopting an anti-bribery policy is always advisable irrespective of whether the law so obliges. The policy should be embedded in the business procedures of the company, accompanied by quality training of the personnel at regular intervals to identify and avoid compliance risks.
Similarly to compliance policies, legislators have adopted different approaches to whistleblowing regulations. Businesses should not hesitate to go beyond the statutory requirements and implement independent whistleblowing channels to help foster a compliance culture in their organisations.
It is important to note that bribery is only one aspect of corruption. As demonstrated above, corruption can take many forms. Detecting and avoiding conflicts of interest in business operations can work against presuming corrupt intent, due to which businesses are advised to include relevant provisions on excluding conflicted employees from decision making in order to manage corruption risks. Even though the examples set out above include significant intentional bribery, in many jurisdictions bribery offences are criminalised even if the offence is not intentionally committed.
In addition to local laws and local law enforcement, the extraterritorial effect of certain foreign anti-corruption laws should be observed. For example, US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) is widely known to be enforced also in respect of corruption offences taking place outside the United States. Transacting in US Dollars or employing US citizens may trigger the application of the FCPA and enforcement thereof by US authorities irrespective of the location of the business or any potential bribery activity, including in the Middle East. Businesses are recommended to adopt anti-corruption policies and accounting standards that meet the requirements of all the statutes potentially applicable to their operations. It seems that national authorities are working closely together to resolve cross-border bribery matters making it more difficult for the offenders to escape the jurisdiction of national authorities in an international context.
It seems that the Nordics can no longer take their high ranking in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index for granted. This is partly due not only to international watchdogs, but also legislators and law enforcement authorities realising that the roots of corruption are embedded in conflict of interest which is a prevalent issue in the Nordic countries. At the same time, other countries are also working hard towards efficient enforcement of anti-corruption laws which makes competition at the top level fiercer than ever.
As Transparency International and intergovernmental bodies, such as the United Nations, do not solely consider the content of laws and enforcement statistics, making general changes in improving transparency and integrity in the public sector may also yield a positive effect on anti-corruption. Importantly for businesses, it should be noted that bribery is widely criminalised in the Middle East and bribery laws actively enforced. The efforts made by the governments in the Middle East are gradually being recognised in the international domain.
Taming Financial Crime Beasts in the Middle East Region: Welcome to the Concrete Jungle
The Falcon’s View: What the European Union’s SPV for Trade with Iran Means for Businesses in the Middle East
Tackling the Prickly Issues: Nazaha’s Efforts to Unearth Corruption in Saudi Arabia
Wars & Walls of the Dragon: China’s Geopolitical Ties and Sanctions Risks in the Middle East
Still A Good Guard Dog? A review of the United Kingdom’s financial crime structures post-Brexit
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PREP YEAR IN REVIEW: Small-Schools Girls Basketball Player of the
https://www.thetelegraph.com/news/article/Alton-convent-to-close-next-year-12655211.php
Alton convent to close next year
Published 12:00 am CST, Friday, November 22, 2013
ALTON — Finances will cause the Ursuline sisters’ Queen of Peace infirmary and adjoining convent, a fixture in Alton’s religious community since 1859, to close next year after its residents are relocated.
“Our study showed that we do not have the financial resources to continue to provide quality health care in our own Ursuline facility,” said Sr. Diane Fulgenzi, O.S.U., provincial leader of the Ursuline Sisters of the Central Province, regarding results of an 18-month study.
“As we looked at all the facts, and prayed and reflected together, a consensus of the group emerged that it is time to pursue alternative sites for the health care of our sisters,” she said.
The St. Louis-based Ursuline Sisters of the Central Province reached consensus on their need to relocate the aging population of sisters living in the facilities, 845 Danforth St., to other retirement and health care facilities.
As of this week, there were 35 sisters living in the infirmary and convent — 33 Ursulines and two Divine Providence order sisters.
Susan Whelan, director of communications at Ursuline Sisters of the Central Province, said most of the Alton sisters are in their 80s and 90s, with their ages ranging from mid-60s to 101. She said the order expects the “transition process” of relocating the women to take six to 12 months.
Whelan also said the order has not determined what it will do with its expansive, 27-acre property in North Alton.
“We hope to maintain a presence in Alton,” she said.
The decision means alternate living arrangements will be sought for the sisters who live in the Ursuline Convent, as well as the adjoining Queen of Peace infirmary.
“We are seeking other options to keep the sisters together,” Whelan said. She said there are no other Ursuline residential facilities in the St. Louis area, but the sisters’ alternate housing would not necessarily have to be operated by that specific order.
“Our goal is to find facilities that will offer loving, quality care to our sisters, support the Ursuline values of community, offer availability of the Eucharist and other spiritual opportunities, and provide proximity to other Ursulines,” Fulgenzi said. “It is also our goal to maintain a presence in Alton, where Ursuline Sisters have served since 1859.”
Whelan said the Ursuline Sisters made the decision during a province meeting Nov. 15-18 in St. Louis, which followed the lengthy study and long-range planning process for Ursuline ministries, community living arrangements and health care.
“In terms of health care, our goal has remained to be able to continue to provide quality care that we can afford for the long term,” Fulgenzi said.
Sixty-seven of the 102 Ursuline Sisters of the Central Province attended the province meeting. The sisters living at Queen of Peace and staff members were informed of the direction-setting consensus on Nov. 18.
Ursuline Sisters of the Central Province are part of a worldwide congregation, the Ursulines of the Roman Union, whose sisters serve on six continents and in 36 countries, specializing in education. Central Province communities are located in Illinois, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri and Texas, with their ministries extending to other areas in the United States and in foreign countries.
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Judicial bill is a dog’s dinner, says law chief
Jennifer Bray, Ireland Deputy Political Editor
Shane Ross is confident his judicial appointments bill will become law by the summerSAM BOAL/ROLLINGNEWS
Fianna Fáil has called on the government to clarify comments made by the attorney-general around a Supreme Court case involving Angela Kerins, the former chief executive of Rehab Group.
Séamus Woulfe, the attorney-general, told journalists at a lunch in Dublin on Friday that he expects the court will not rule in favour of Ms Kerins in her case against the Dáil’s public accounts committee. Mr Woulfe also described the Judicial Appointments Commission Bill, which is being championed by Shane Ross, as a “dog’s dinner”, citing the number of amendments made to it.
Mr Ross was defiant yesterday and said that he expected the bill to be enacted by the summer and reiterated a previous claim that politicians were appointing their friends to the bench.
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Universities told to crack down as top degrees double in seven years
Nicola Woolcock, Education Correspondent | Rosemary Bennett
About 79 per cent of graduates were awarded a first or 2:1 last yearREX FEATURES
Universities have been told to take action within a year to stamp out grade inflation after figures showed that first-class degrees were awarded to almost three graduates in ten last summer.
The proportion of students attaining a top degree in England has nearly doubled since 2011, from 15.7 per cent to 29.3 per cent, and increased by 2.1 percentage points in a year.
Most of the increase could not be justified by changes in students, such as whether they achieved higher grades at A level, analysis by the Office for Students (OfS) found. Firsts or 2:1s were achieved by 70 per cent of those who got three Ds or less at A level, similar to a trend reported by The Times after analysis of last…
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View today's edition
Thetimes.co.uk hosts the digital edition of The Times, Britain’s oldest national daily newspaper, and its sister title The Sunday Times.
The Times was founded in 1785 by the editor and publisher John Walter I, “to record the principal occurrences of the times” for the service of the public. It was called the Daily Universal Register for the first three years, until it rebranded as The Times in 1788 – the first newspaper in the world to use the Times name.
In his first edition, John Walter I explained that “like a well-covered table, it should contain something suited to every palate” including politics, foreign affairs, matters of trade, legal trials, advertisements and “amusements”. In its tone and political neutrality, Walter reserved the right of the newspaper “to censure or applaud either [political party]” and to cover contending issues with respectful “fair argument”.
More than 200 years on, these founding principles hold true today. The Times has supported both New Labour and the Conservatives in recent times and supported Remain in the 2016 EU referendum.
The Sunday Times was founded in 1822 as a separate newspaper and has a history of innovation stretching from a female proprietor in 1887 and a female editor in 1894, through to pioneering the publication of large illustrations, book serialisations, separate sections and the first colour magazine supplement in 1962. The Sunday Times supported Leave in the 2016 EU referendum.
The Times and The Sunday Times were first held under common ownership by Lord Thomson in 1966 as Times Newspapers Limited (TNL) and were bought by Rupert Murdoch in 1981. TNL, which is governed by a board of independent directors and a set of legal undertakings that protect the newspapers’ editorial independence, is now part of News UK. Both papers introduced digital subscriptions in 2010 to help ensure a sustainable future for their journalism.
The titles are currently the biggest selling quality print newspapers in the UK and in 2018 The Times was named Britain’s most trusted national newspaper by the Reuters Institute for Journalism at Oxford University.
In 2019 The Times and The Sunday Times won the Daily and Sunday newspaper of the year categories at the British Press Awards among several other prizes for their writing, reporting, investigations and campaigns. Both papers are committed to driving digital innovation in all areas of their world-class journalism.
The Times and The Sunday Times take complaints about editorial content seriously. We are committed to abiding by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (“Ipso”) rules and regulations and the Editors’ Code of Practice that Ipso enforces.
Requests for corrections or clarifications in The Times should be sent by email to feedback@thetimes.co.uk. To complain about a Sunday Times story, please fill out this form. Corrections, clarifications and adjudications are published regularly where warranted.
You can also contact Ipso for advice.
The Times & The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, part of News UK & Ireland Ltd. Further information on News UK & Ireland Ltd can be found here.
News UK & Ireland is part of News Corp, a global diversified media business focused on creating and distributing content that educates, informs and inspires our customers. Further information on News Corp, including ownership information, can be found here.
Editor of The Times: John Witherow
Deputy Editor of The Times: Emma Tucker
Editor of The Sunday Times: Martin Ivens
Deputy Editor of The Sunday Times: Sarah Baxter
TNL Group Managing Editor: Craig Tregurtha
TNL Head of Digital: Alan Hunter
TNL Legal Director: Pia Sarma
TNL Managing Director: Chris Duncan
Chief Executive, News UK & Ireland Ltd: Rebekah Brooks
Registered office: News UK & Ireland Ltd, The News Building, 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF.
Biographies of our management team can be found on the News.co.uk site here
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Advantages And Disadvantages of Open Source CRM System
24/09/2018 24/09/2018 Nancy Patterson
TechsPlace | A CRM or customer relationship management system helps in developing and nurturing meaningful relationships with the customer. Whether big or small, every company can benefit from a well developed CRM system. But quite often the high cost of enterprise grade CRM systems takes them beyond the reach of majority of the organizations as only a handful of companies with good money can afford such advanced, feature rich systems.
The open source CRM market was first opened with the launch of Sugar CRM and today after more than a decade we have almost a dozen good open source CRMs to choose from.
Here is a brief overview of the advantages and disadvantages of open source CRM software or open source developments services, to help you take an informed decision when purchasing one.
Free of Cost
The foremost reason why everyone considers opting for open source CRM is because, generally most CRM systems are free. The source code is free which can be modified according to your requirements. In fact you can save some money by modifying the codes yourself and saving on the license charges.Also new versions are offered time to time that has no extra cost..
A CRM software, deals with managing customers and customer management differs vastly from industry to industry. So it is very difficult to build a one-size-fits-all CRM software, which contains all the features required by any industry. But as open source CRM is customizable, the source code can be altered. They need not have to pay for loads of irrelevant features which they will never use.
No ‘stuck-up’
Usually when you opt for paid CRMs, you have to pay an initial cost and adhere to the license for at least a number of months. Open source CRM does not require that. You can use it till the time it is suitable to you and drop it if it’s not working any longer.
Easy Management
Open source CRM is easy to manage and can be installed at multiple locations according to your requirements without any monetary repercussions. You don’t need to keep a count or monitor it for license issues.
Continuous Improvements
Another advantage to opt for open source CRM is the developer community behind it. Everyone has access to the source code. So it is possible for anyone to fix bugs, and add new features using collective experience. As a result the software keeps getting better as time passes by.
You do not need as many resources for the implementation of the system as is required in other traditional software(s). You can explore the existing codes to understand the product better and can suggest various improvements which might suit your organization best.
Installing open source CRM is easy, but CRM support and maintenance is not. The proper maintenance of open source CRM requires a lot of technical expertise. The user interface of open source CRM is not user-friendly. So, you will need consultants and expertise to choose and customize the right CRM for you. Also resolution of the bugs takes a lot of time.
No central support system
There is no specific place which you can approach with the issues you are facing regarding your open source CRM. All of your solutions or support is going to be from various forums which aren’t always accurate and can take a lot of time to respond to your queries. The other way is to hire experts which again adds to your expenses.
Open source CRM can almost cover all the basic needs of your business, but it might not suit your business if you are looking for full fledged CRM solution. The functionality of open source CRM is limited to an extent and has several shortcomings. By investing further, you can either hire CRM developers to add new features or get ready made plugins for your unique requirements.
Not entirely free
Though it may appear that open source CRM is entirely free, it is not actually. There are many hidden costs in it. The source code is available to all. But if you need to change the code according to your requirements, you will have to incur developer costs and continuous upkeep costs. To run the CRM system you will need to invest in server and firewall infrastructure which may cost a lot of money.
Open source CRM is a major trend in the software and whether to opt for it or not is entirely a decision based on the requirements of a business or entity. Even though open source CRM has many limitations, it is still preferred by many businesses to enhance their relationship with customers. Open source CRM is a major trend in the software and whether to opt for it or not is entirely a decision based on the requirements of a business or entity. Therefore, if you are looking forward to opt for an open source CRM for your organization, you must study all its advantages and disadvantages carefully.
Nancy Patterson
Nancy Patterson is a Marketing Manager a Hire Php Developer. She is a resident of United Kingdom. Nancy is also an experienced Php developer. She also likes to share her thoughts on cms development, open source web development, and web development techniques.
TechnologyCRM system, Open Source CRM System
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Four arrested over death of man shot with crossbow in Anglesey | UK News
Four people have been arrested as part of an investigation into the killing of a retired lecturer who was shot dead with a crossbow.
Gerald Corrigan was struck outside his “extremely remote” home near South Stack Road in Holyhead, Anglesey, at around 12:35am on 19 April.
The 74-year-old was adjusting his satellite dish before a crossbow bolt passed through his upper body, narrowly missing his heart, and right arm.
Mr Corrigan died from his injuries in hospital on 11 May with his family by his side.
On Tuesday, a North Wales Police spokesman said a 38-year-old man from Bryngwran had been arrested on suspicion of murder and a number of other related offences.
Two other men, a 48-year-old from the Caergeiliog area and a 36-year-old, also from Bryngwran, were arrested for conspiracy to commit murder, conspiracy to commit fraud and a number of related offences.
A 50-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of money laundering and fraud-related offences.
Detective Chief Superintendent Wayne Jones said: “This was an unprecedented event which shocked the local community.
“Early this morning officers from the major incident team, assisted by additional resources from across North Wales, executed a number of search warrants as part of the investigation into the death of Mr Corrigan, a pensioner and well-respected member of the community.
Mr Corrigan was killed near South Stack Road in North Wales
“Our continuing investigation has received widespread assistance from our local community, for which I am very grateful.
“Inquires to date indicate that Gerald was deliberately targeted and shot.”
An initial line of inquiry was thought to be that Mr Corrigan may have been accidentally shot by a lamper – rogue night-time hunters who use bright lights to target animals.
Mr Corrigan worked as a lecturer in photography and video in Lancashire before retiring to Anglesey more than 20 years ago.
His family issued fresh tributes following his funeral service.
Marie Bailey, his partner, said: “It is impossible to express my deep sadness and shock at the horrific murder of Gerry. He was my best friend and my soul mate.
“All the time we have been together I have been proud to walk at his side and he stood beside me, always.”
His daughter Fiona Corrigan said: “My dad was a very kind and funny man. He taught me an appreciation of art and nature. There are so many happy moments we shared and I will miss him too much to say.”
Mr Corrigan’s son Neale added: “My father was a wonderful man who cared so much for people.
“My dad believed in the good in people and in life, and in the importance of family, friendship and love. He taught me that we can change, that to forgive brings freedom, and that we should believe in the best in people as no one is perfect.”
Jeremy Kyle guests were warned about his ‘presenting style’ | UK News
UK weather forecast: Two weeks of rain in one morning but 30C on way | UK News
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Ananth V. Annapragada, PhD
Department or Service
Department of Radiology - Texas Children's Hospital
1102 Bates Street, Suite 850, Feigin Center
Professor of Radiology and Director of Basic Research
University of Michigan PhD Doctor of Philosophy, Chemical Engineering 1989
University of Minnesota post-doctoral fellow 1990
Massachusetts Institute of Technology post-doctoral fellow 1991
Ananth Annapragada is Professor of Radiology and Director of Basic Research in the Edward B. Singleton Department of Pediatric Radiology at Texas Children's Hospital. Previously, he was the Robert Graham Professor of Entrepreneurial Biomedical Informatics and Bioengineering at the School of Biomedical Informatics at the University of Texas, Health Sciences Center at Houston. He holds additional positions at the Keck Institute, The University of Houston, Rice University and the University of Texas at Austin.
Ananth received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from The University of Michigan in 1989. After postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Minnesota and MIT, he joined Abbott Laboratories as a Research Scientist in 1991. In 1996, he joined SEQUUS Pharmaceuticals, Menlo Park, CA and stayed on till it was acquired by Johnson and Johnson. In 2000, he started his first academic position at the Cleveland State University and Cleveland Clinic Foundation. In 2003, he moved to University of Texas and subsequently, joined Texas Children's Hospital in June 2011.
Dr. Annapragada's research interests are in the development of nanomaterial based solutions to medical and imaging problems. Some examples of his work in the field are the development of novel nanoparticle contrast agents for both CT and MR, “Intelligent” nanostructures for glucose responsive insulin delivery, and targeted nanostructures for imaging and therapy.
1. Bhavane R, Badea C, Ghaghada KB, Clark D, Vela D, Moturu A, et al. Dual-Energy Computed Tomography Imaging of Atherosclerotic Plaques in a Mouse Model Using a Liposomal-Iodine Nanoparticle Contrast Agent. Circ Cardiovasc Imaging. 2013 Jan 24.
2. Espinosa G, Annapragada A. Cost-Effectiveness of a Novel Blood-Pool Contrast Agent in the Setting of Chest Pain Evaluation in an Emergency Department. AJR American journal of roentgenology. 2013 Oct;201(4):710–9.
3. Wu J, Mu Q, Thiviyanathan V, Annapragada A, Vigneswaran N. Cancer stem cells are enriched in Fanconi anemia head and neck squamous cell carcinomas. Int J Oncol. 2014 Dec;45(6):2365–72.
4. Starosolski Z, Villamizar CA, Rendon D, Paldino MJ, Milewicz DM, Ghaghada KB, et al. Ultra High-Resolution In vivo Computed Tomography Imaging of Mouse Cerebrovasculature Using a Long Circulating Blood Pool Contrast Agent. Sci Rep. 2015;5:10178.
5. Annapragada A. Advances in Nanoparticle Imaging Technology for Vascular Pathologies. Annu Rev Med. 2015 Jan 14;66:177–93.
6. Sabapathy DG, Guillerman RP, Orth RC, Zhang W, Messinger Y, Foulkes W, et al. Radiographic Screening of Infants and Young Children With Genetic Predisposition for Rare Malignancies: DICER1 Mutations and Pleuropulmonary Blastoma. AJR American journal of roentgenology. 2015 Apr;204(4):W475–82.
View a complete list of Dr. Annapragada's publications
* Texas Children's Hospital physicians' licenses and credentials are reviewed prior to practicing at any of our facilities. Sections titled From the Doctor, Professional Organizations and Publications were provided by the physician's office and were not verified by Texas Children's Hospital.
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Party Time in McAllen
By Roberto Ontiveros
WHEN I WAS 15, WEARING EYELINER and dressing like The Cure, I used to go to “Mex” (Mexico) on Friday and Saturday nights. A lot of other kids from McAllen would cross the border into Reynosa as well. You could be dressed like Robert Smith or that dude from Dead or Alive and have access to cheap drinks and cheap thrills and come home safe. I never drank because I didn’t want to get caught, and booze on the breath was the giveaway. My mom, a woman raised in an apostolic church in Mission, would have given me a hard time if she knew I was at these dirty, smoky, hole-in-the-wall discos with dayglow colors and black lights. But most of the kids that went to Mex—some for an after-school cocktail—had their parents’ consent.
Mex was safe … or safe enough. We called it “Mex,” like a brand name, or a soft drink. It was 1990, one year after Mark Kilroy, a University of Texas student, was murdered in Matamoros, across the border from Brownsville, during spring break. We were not scared by his death. This guy was an outsider coming across the border; we were locals. The dives across the border just wanted our money, and the weirdest thing that would ever happen was seeing your eighth- grade biology teacher getting down to Erasure’s “Oh L’amour.”
This isn’t the case anymore. Reynosa closes up at dusk because of drug-related violence in Mexico. People from the Rio Grande Valley and Mexico head to 17th Street, an entertainment district in downtown McAllen, to have a good time in safety. “You can’t tell who is from here or from there anymore,” says a young woman waiting to get into a club, “the crowd is all blended.” But as more people come to the entertainment district, crime and violence are also becoming issues in downtown McAllen.
MCALLEN’S 17TH STREET was once known for spiritual soap and candle shops and prostitutes. Now, it models itself after Austin’s 6th Street. In the space of 12 blocks there are more than 50 urbane-looking establishments, bawdy beer joints and even an Italian-styled pizza place where everyone speaks Spanish and watches Mexican soccer on flat-screen TVs. Who knows where you are? Nearby, the Speak Easy—despite its name—blasts Alicia Keys and Lady Gaga. It started out as a piano bar, but had to change its musical offerings to stay afloat.
Joe Rodriguez is the driving force behind the nonprofit Heart of the City of McAllen Improvement Corporation, which has been on a crusade since 2004 to promote the downtown area and stimulate economic growth in this city of 130,000 people, just across the border from Mexico, and among the poorest cities in the nation. He admits that revitalization has been a struggle. “From 2006 to 2009 we tried really hard to change the image and clean it up, get rid of the drugs and prostitutes. Make it a place people wanted to be,” Rodriguez says.
“We’re never going to be 6th Street,” he says, a statement I’ve heard again and again. “Austin’s always going to be number one, but who will be number two, or three?” asks the 39-year-old, who learned about business selling oranges with his grandfather.
The area is booming, and liquor sales are bringing in considerable money. According to the Texas Comptroller’s office, between June 2010 and June 2011 17th Street was responsible for $1.8 million of McAllen’s beverage tax revenue. Rodriguez and business owners along 17th say the entertainment district is benefiting from the narco-violence in nearby Reynosa. “The revitalization is about giving the people of McAllen, who could just go across any time for a night out, an environment where they can still do that,” he says, “while at the same time, providing for the people on the other side a safe alternative to what they have now.”
BEFORE I EVER went to Reynosa to hear songs by The Smiths and Depeche Mode remixed and blasted out to the five-bucks-all-you-can-drink crowd, my skateboarder friends would ride down 17th Street and catch a bus into Reynosa to skate on the winding streets and grind along the public square, getting home in time for mom’s tacos and “The Cosby Show.” I never went on those bold treks because I was afraid of getting into trouble then.
Now there are other reasons for not crossing the border. You might get shot or abducted. The shops close early in Mexico’s border towns; armed officers are everywhere. Reynosa is a place where people die of drug-related violence. And few of the deaths are documented. Journalist John Gibler writes of Reynosa in To Die In Mexico: “All the talking took place inside a chamber of silence: there were no official statements, no local reports, and no national or international correspondents on the scene, no photographs, no radio interviews, no documentation, only talk. A friend said the city was under siege. A friend of a friend said people were afraid to go outside. Someone heard that the schools were empty. Parents terrified that their children would get caught in the crossfire on their way to school were keeping them at home.”
ON 17TH STREET, the weekend starts on Thursday night and crescendos on Friday and Saturday. The bars open at 9 or 10 p.m. and close at 2 in the morning. The street is a clash of worlds and intentions: The barbershop and the loan office, the ropa usadas and the herbarias are still there. The old Cine El Rey Theatre stands in contrast to the newer clubs, where kids line up to get inside. The landmark cinema once showed Mexican movies featuring Cantinflas and Tin-Tan. Now the theater has changed owners and given way to a hipper rock and comedy-night crowd.
Isaac Guerra, the 35-year-old owner of El Rey, has had his eye on McAllen’s revitalization since the inception of the Heart of the City project. He is an artist and musician for whom generating capital is an aesthetic pursuit. “The best art is making money,” Guerra says. The line almost perfectly echoes one of Andy Warhol’s lesser-known dictums: “Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art.”
Guerra plans to shop around recordings of the comedic talent that performs on his stage to cable television, and launch a Latino version of “Live at the Apollo.’’
The bartender at El Rey, tolerating a group of Texas State University business students demanding items for a scavenger hunt, says, “[17th Street] is never going to be like Austin’s 6th Street.” But you get the feeling that he is proud of that fact.
LOOKING AT THE old buildings on 17th Street, the hotel that has been stripped of its seedy past and made into a dance club, I’m reminded of the spooky fun of going to Mexico at night. As a teenager, I experienced those streets and shadows as simultaneously cursed and sanctified. A girl I knew had a lover she would see only when she went into Mex. They would spend their nights together, and he would go back to his rich, cosmopolitan world in Mexico and she to her lower-middle-class house across from McAllen High School. Another girl I knew would make up her face like a vampire, wear sexy stockings and try to look like a Latina Elvira when she went to Mex. The next day she would be in church giving her life back to the Lord.
Mex was like Casablanca and that donkey island in Pinocchio. With its mix of old culture and new fashion, 17th Street today looks like a grounded Cloud City, the city in the Star Wars series that was ruled by Lando Calrissian. He compromised with the evil empire to secure the city’s economic survival. While 17th Street has succeeded in making money for the city, it has its share of problems—though not as bad as that strip of clubs in Reynosa once was.
Some McAllen residents complain that city leaders may have inadvertently courted criminal activity and violence from the community, and from Mexico, by creating the entertainment district. In 2010, Chief of Police Victor Rodriguez told the McAllen Monitor that 17th Street was a “growing pain” for law enforcement, stating that adding more cops to the force was “a great relief” in addressing crime in the area.
Weary of drug thugs and criminal activity, people who want to go to 17th Street support cops on the sidewalks.
A comment in the Monitor about a December shooting on 17th Street and an increase of police officers in the area suggest that many people thought the street was doomed from its inception:
“Boy, 17th Street is becoming a big problem. Did our city leaders think of this when they created it? Of course not, because they only care about making more money.”
EARLY ON, Rodriguez advised 17th Street’s bars to charge more for drinks, discouraging younger customers in favor of an older clientele that is less likely to cause trouble. Regarding revenue from drinks, Rodriguez notes: “The profits would still be there and there would not be the kind of problems we’re seeing now.’’
Stories of knifings and gang fights are often unsubstantiated, but nevertheless keep people, especially the older, middle-aged crowd, away.
“People say all kind of things, and it’s all rumors,” Rodriguez says. I tell him about the bouncer who, pointing to a young woman standing outside a bar, claimed she was a prostitute.
“Oh, please,” Rodriguez says, shaking his head. “There are only four prostitutes that work this area and I can tell you where they are.”
Pointing a few blocks down the street toward a Catholic church, he says: “They stand right there. They’re about 50 years old, and they weigh about 300 pounds each. They do what they do from noon to 5 p.m. and then they go back home to Mexico.”
Rodriguez says the recent drug violence has turned these ladies of the evening into women of the afternoon. “Even this shoeshine guy comes in early and is gone [back to Mexico] by five.”
“Look, all cities have their problems, their crime and their drugs, and this downtown area is the same,” Rodriguez says.
TED BOROWITZ, a martial arts instructor in his 20s, occasionally goes to 17th Street to meet friends: “[It] can be safe, but they should close it off; no more parking, make it entirely pedestrian. Maybe open some side pocket places. Shut it off to traffic. Get those hansom cabs going. Add some street performers. Jazz it up, and that would force out the other element.”
Sam Tapia, who also visits the area infrequently, says, “17th Street is unfortunately going in a bad direction.” If you’re not dressed right or if you’re over 25 then you don’t get good service, he says. “17th Street used to be a nice place to be. I liked coming. Then it started changing for the worse.”
“So why are you still coming?” I ask.
“Because you can’t go to Mexico anymore,” he says. “And there is nowhere else to go.”
Roberto Ontiveros is an artist, writer and contributing editor to Latino Magazine. His fiction has appeared in The Threepenny Review and the anthology Hecho en Tejas.
Categories: Features
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Lone Survivor's Takeaway: Every War Movie Is a Pro-War Movie
Even if films don't glorify conflict itself, they all come down to good guys against bad guys.
Calum Marsh
Peter Berg’s Lone Survivor opens with documentary footage of a boot camp for the United States Navy SEALs, where hardbodied trainees strain their way through feats of endurance and strength. The point of this sequence, it seems, is to show how exceptional the real-life SEALs are before introducing SEALs as characters. With soldiers’ conviction and might thus demonstrated, the film can then whisk a few of them off on a mission that, as the title suggests, does not end particularly well.
But this montage serves another, more insidious function. Assembled like a high-gloss music video and slathered in Explosions in the Sky’s soaring post-rock, it plays out like an advertisement for the Marine Corps—an affectionate endorsement from Hollywood of the SEALs’ peerless brawn.
Adapted from the memoirs of former Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell (played in the film by Mark Wahlberg, who also co-produced), Lone Survivor is the sort of film you expect to seem at least a little propagandistic. It’s rooted in a tradition of patriotism as old as the motion picture itself, stretching from the John Wayne vehicle The Green Berets to the recent Act of Valor. Many of its more aggressively nationalistic elements are just a matter of following genre protocol.
Consider how Berg introduces our tragic heroes. His opening testimonial is followed by a low-key scene in which an outfit of SEALs laze around their makeshift living quarters, firing off fond emails to loved ones and fretting over forthcoming social engagements. They play games and sing songs and like American beer. They are, in other words, ordinary guys, totally down-to-earth despite being the best at what they do.
Now, compare this exaggeratedly casual introduction with the way the film brings in its Taliban villains. Their unruly gang storms into a quiet village while firing off machine guns and, while screaming unintelligibly, drags a man into the streets and lops his head off with a machete. (Sinister-sounding music accompanies, just in case the sentiment wasn’t clear.) This is cartoon villainy—the realm of the black hat and the twirling moustache. Such gestures serve a straightforward dramatic purpose: They align the audience with the heroes while encouraging them to dislike the bad guys, so that when the battle finally ignites, the viewer’s sympathies have already been sorted out.
During the film’s longest and most spectacular sequence, in which four SEALs face off against a veritable army of Taliban soldiers in the middle of the Afghan mountains, we need to feel an emotional connection to the heroes in a way that we don’t with their enemies. We need to believe, even subconsciously, that while the Americans are three-dimensional characters to whom we can relate, the seemingly endless droves of attackers who besiege them are not—they’re merely The Enemy, a faceless mass, a manifestation of evil. We want to see them shot at, eviscerated, blown to pieces.
This strategy, of course, is nothing new. And because an informed viewer is perfectly capable of distinguishing fiction from reality, it’s doubtful that even the most outrageously jingoistic war films are actually dangerous in any meaningful sense. In other words, nobody will be rushing off to war on account of Peter Berg.
But it is worth considering that movies like Lone Survivor do begin to resemble multi-million dollar recruitment videos—tools of military indoctrination geared toward the young and the impressionable. Films like this contribute to subtle shifts in public perception, helping to legitimize feelings of xenophobia and American exceptionalism. It’s no accident that Lone Survivor ignores the question of whether the SEAL team’s mission was justified or worthwhile, just as it ignores, even more broadly, the merit of the war in Afghanistan to begin with. Not asking is its own kind of answer. It tells us to focus elsewhere: on the heroism of these men, on the bravery of their actions. The moral issues are for another day.
In an interview with Newsweek following the release of Saving Private Ryan, Steven Spielberg declared that “every war movie, good or bad, is an antiwar movie.” What Spielberg means, I believe, is that insofar as every war movie depicts the brutality and horror of wartime, every war movie takes an implicit stand against it—that is, to make war look real is to make war look bad, and to make a movie that makes war look bad is to make a movie that’s anti-war. This seems reasonable enough: Surely nobody leaves Saving Private Ryan under the impression that Normandy was a lot of fun for everybody involved, just as surely nobody leaves Lone Survivor under the impression that the average Navy SEALs operation is a cinch. Therefore, the thinking goes, Saving Private Ryan and Lone Survivor must be anti-war movies.
But it’s important to remember that despite their moralizing, war films are still essentially action films—blockbuster spectacles embellished by the verve and vigor of cutting-edge special effects. They may not strictly glorify. But they almost never discourage.
All war films have heroes, for understandable reasons: to give audiences someone to root for, and because soldiers often really are heroic. But when a film like Lone Survivor transforms its Navy SEALs into infallible supermen tragically bested, it suggests that these men are role models only in death—that it was war that made them noble and heroic. The carnage and difficulties only underline the message. War isn’t great; war makes you great. What is such a sentiment if not pro-war?
Of course, if Peter Berg wants to make a film-length recruitment ad, that’s his prerogative. But it's important, then, to accept that the result is enthusiastically pro-war. When you make a film in which soldiers are paragons of excellence and the action they conduct is ruthless and exciting—in Berg’s world, naturally, the action is rip-roaring and amplified in slo-mo, almost pornographic in its excess—there is no other conclusion. This is a pitfall few war films manage to avoid. Doing so would mean humanizing rather than simply lionizing your heroes; doing that means risking the impression of disrespect. Doing so would mean making warfare unappealing rather than exciting; doing that would mean risking the alienation of your audience.
In fact, it isn’t clear what a thoroughly, effectively anti-war film would look like. Even those that want to be fall short. Jonathan Rosenbaum, in his review of Saving Private Ryan, relates a story of escorting the late Samuel Fuller one day to a screening of Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket. After leaving the picture, Rosenbaum asked him what he thought. He grumbled that it was just “another goddamned recruiting film.” And maybe that’s all they’ll ever be.
Calum Marsh is a writer based in Toronto. He has contributed to Esquire, Sight & Sound, and the Village Voice.
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Abortion Is Already Shaping Up to Be a Hot 2020 Issue
Republicans are relishing a fight after bills in New York and Virginia sought to expand late-term abortion access.
Steve Helber / AP
If you, like most Americans, skipped the State of the Union last week, you may have missed an important sign of where national politics is headed. As Emma Green reports today, President Donald Trump’s vivid criticisms of new state-level abortion bills reveal how important actors in both parties are thinking about the issue. — Matt Peterson
What to Know: Abortion and the 2020 Election
What we’re watching: Recently, attention in the world of religion and politics has been focused on abortion. The big question is how this issue will factor into Republican and Democratic political strategies over the next 18 months, in the lead-up to the 2020 election.
What’s happening: Legislators in Virginia and New York considered bills to expand and simplify access to late-in-pregnancy abortions, which prompted significant backlash from conservatives. Critics focused on a few comments in particular: A Virginia assemblywoman, Kathy Tran, testified that her bill would allow an abortion even as a woman showed signs of going into labor, and Virginia’s governor, Ralph Northam, gave a radio interview in which he appeared to endorse not resuscitating children after they’re born, seemingly in reference to babies with severe disabilities. President Donald Trump graphically called out these legislators, along with Democratic efforts to expand late-abortion access, in his State of the Union address: They “cheered with delight upon the passage of legislation that would allow a baby to be ripped from the mother’s womb moments from birth,” he claimed.
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Emma Green is a staff writer at The Atlantic, where she covers politics, policy, and religion.
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Snowden Probably Did Trick NSA Employees Into Giving Him Their Passwords
An internal memo on the massive NSA leak is painting a clearer picture of how former contractor Edward Snowden was able to gain access to so many secret documents, and it appears he may have been a little sneakier than he says.
Danielle Wiener-Bronner
According to the February 10 memo, sent by the NSA's legislative director, Ethan L. Bauman, to the House Judiciary Committee., an unnamed civilian NSA employee resigned last month after he lost security clearance for giving Snowden access to classified information, and after learning he (or she) might be fired. This is the first personnel-related response to the massive breach, though two other employees, who had their access to secure information revoked in August, are also under investigation for unwitting involvement in the breach.
Though Snowden said last month that “I never stole any passwords, nor did I trick an army of co-workers," the memo implies the opposite. NBC, which obtained a copy of the letter, reports:
At Snowden’s request,” the civilian NSA employee, who is not identified by name, entered his password onto Snowden’s computer terminal, the memo states. “Unbeknownst to the civilian, Mr. Snowden was able to capture the password, allowing him even greater access to classified information,” the memo states. The memo states that the civilian employee was unaware that Snowden “intended to unlawfully disclose classified information.”
The employee shared his public key infrastructure, which allows access to the NSA's computer system and the classified information it stores, with Snowden. Although the employee was not suspected of collusion, he lost his security clearance for having “failed to comply with security obligations."
In November, Reuters wrote that according to sources, Snowden convinced his co-workers that he needed access to their private log-in information to do his job:
Snowden may have persuaded between 20 and 25 fellow workers at the NSA regional operations center in Hawaii to give him their logins and passwords by telling them they were needed for him to do his job as a computer systems administrator"
Snowden said in January that "the Reuters report that put this out there was simply wrong.”
It probably shouldn't be this easy for contractors to access troves of secret government information, and lawmakers are not pleased with how things went down. House Intelligence Committee member Rep. Jan Schakowsky responded by saying that “If it is true that one or more NSA employees felt free to share a password with Snowden or anyone else, we have a serious security problem at the NSA and someone in charge needs to be held accountable." Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy added on Thursday, "For months, I have been asking who is being held accountable, and while the NSA director has testified that they have taken a number of steps as a result of the leaks, it is clear that more needs to be done to protect our national security and our privacy.”
Snowden may be sick of life as "indoor cat" in Russia, but it doesn't seem like he's going to find political asylum anywhere else, for now.
Danielle Wiener-Bronner is a former staff writer for The Wire. Her work has appeared in The Huffington Post and Reuters.
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Prayer For Those Who Persecute You
The Initiative BlogPower Of Prayer Ellen G White Pdf
Sunday School Prayers For Teachers
Power Of Prayer Ellen G White Pdf
Catholic Churches In Cape Coral Fl Nicholson & Carmon Funeral Home in Suffield, CT, has care of arrangements.In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the "Dine with Jesus" Food Pantry at First Church Coral Springs, 8650 West Sample. DRESCHER – Raymond, 89, of Boca Raton, FL died July 1, 1999. Star of David Memorial Chapel, N. Laud.* FOX –
Each of these 80 sections (containing one to three pages each) are compiled from Ellen G. White’s writings. Her quotes bring together in one book all that she had to say on prayer. Topics include: "The Privilege of Prayer," "The Early and Latter Rain," " Goals for Prayer," and "Prayer Defeats Satan."
Timothy Keller is the founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, which he started in 1989. Screenshot from Vimeo If you’re a conservative evangelical Christian who feels called to.
The American Academy of Pediatrics is dedicated to optimizing the well-being of children and advancing family-centered health care. Related to this mission, the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Her torturers were a doctor wearing a white coat and, incongruously, a man in a military uniform. She had this recurring dream until she was ten years old. When she later learned about the Holocaust,
Here’s a fascinating piece in Haaretz on Satmar Jewish attitudes, stemming from the recent murder of a Brooklyn landlord named Menachem Stark, 39, who is said to have been generous inside the Satmar.
The growing number of persons suffering from major chronic illnesses face many obstacles in coping with their condition, not least of which is medical care that often does not meet their needs for.
Ellen G. White (1827-1915) is considered the most widely translated American author, her works having been published in more than 160 languages. She wrote more than 100,000 pages on a wide variety of. and spiritual needs, we must learn the power of prayer. We must plead with the Lord, like the disciples of old, saying, “Lord, teach
Ellen G. White’s Theology of Worship and Liturgy Denis Fortin Dean and Professor of Theology Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary Andrews University Any discussion of worship and liturgy is a touchy subject in most churches in North America—and not only in Seventh-day Adventist congregations. According to Paul Basden,
BY ELLEN G. WHITE p. 5, Para. 1, [CE]. It is the nicest work ever assumed by men and women to deal with youthful minds. The greatest care should be taken in the education of youth to vary the manner of instruction so as to call forth the high and noble powers of the mind. Parents and teachers of schools are certainly disqualified
1 https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/12/16/remarks-president-sandy-hook-interfaith-prayer-vigil. 2 Kellerman 2012.
In the spring of 2006, millions of Latinos across the country participated in the largest civil rights demonstrations in American history. In this timely and highly anticipated book, Chris.
Does prayer in any real sense bring us into possession of the power of God? From personal experience we can answer confidently, Yes, it certainly does! "Prayer is the opening of the heart to God as to a friend. Not that it is necessary, in order to make known to God what we are, but in order to enable us to receive Him."—Steps to Christ, p. 93.
What was a book in early modern England? By combining book history, bibliography and literary criticism, Material Texts in Early Modern England explores how sixteenth- and seventeenth-century books.
May 10, 2015 · -Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 111. He dared not begin that wider stage of His public ministry-which would take Him eventually to Calvary’s cross-without prayer. He dared not begin that wider stage of His public ministry-which would take Him eventually to Calvary’s cross-without prayer.
Redemption by Ellen White (165703) Patriarchs and Prophets by Ellen White (104816) Word to the Little Flock by Ellen White (39504) The Story of Redemption by Ellen White (36498) Thoughts From The Mount Of Blessings by Ellen White (34475) Testimonies for the Church – Volume 1 by Ellen White (32582) The Temptation of Christ (1877) by Ellen.
ST. PAUL — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-presidential nominee who revealed Monday that her 17-year-old daughter is pregnant, earlier this year used her line-item veto to slash funding.
May 01, 2008 · Title- The Power of Prayer. Text- John 15:1-8 John 15:1-8 "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. 3 "You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 "Abide in Me, and I in you.
O Holy Night Hear The Gospel Story The history behind O Holy Night is incredibly interesting for one of the most loved Christmas hymns of the holiday season. Although O Holy Night was created in France, its international appeal was soon apparent and this simple song would help to change the way people listened to. This is globalization at its worst, meaning
In the film, cheesy costume drama depicts the denomination’s origins in 19th-century millennialism, intense Bible study, and the supposed prophetic gifts of Ellen White. Before embarking on health.
Reverence in the House of God. True Reverence: How Inspired.—"True reverence for God is inspired by a sense of His infinite greatness and a realization of His presence. With this sense of the Unseen, every heart should be deeply impressed. The hour and place of prayer are sacred, because God is there.
Gospel Fellowship Church Glen Ellyn Bible Verses About Other Religions The Museum of the Bible. verses intentionally omitted according to Schmidt was Galatians 3:28 which says: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor. Jun 30, 2013. In the Persian scriptures of the Zoroastrians, the Avesta tells the story of how
Anderson, Miriam J. and Gillies, Jamie 2018. There for the moment: extra-legislative windows of opportunity for women’s social movements in politics, a comparison of Canada and Northern Ireland.
a greater power than the power which comes in answer to private prayer. The power given depends on the unity of the members and their love for God and for one another.”—Adapted from Ellen G. White, The Central Advance, February 25, 1903. John Bunyan once said, “You can do more than pray after you have. prayed. But you cannot do more.
Each of these 80 sections (containing one to three pages each) are compiled from Ellen G. White’s writings. Her quotes, brought together in one book, focus on prayer and the power of prayer. Topics include: "The Privilege of Prayer" "The Early and Latter Rain" "Goals for Prayer" "Prayer Defeats Satan"
THE HOLY SPIRIT, THE BIBLE, AND PRAYER. 67 Easy Reading Edition. 10. SABBATH —MARCH 4 March 4–10. His power, and Himself on our lives. Who has not, at some point, experienced how prayer can draw us closer to God?. Ellen G. White said, “We may ask for any gift God promises. Then we are to believe that we receive the prom –
early writings of ellen g. white 3 historical prologue early writings is a work of lasting and special interest to seventh-day adventists, for it embodies the earliest ellen g. white books. these were written and first published in the 1850’s for the edification and instruction of those who with the author had passed
Xenos, an evangelical church of 2,500 mostly white middle-class members, contacted Rhema Christian Center, an inner-city African-American church, to discuss forming a partnership. At the time, Brown.
"I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base.
Sunday School Prayers For Teachers And your prayers may not be answered for a long. While Steve’s mother waited for God to work, she was active. She taught Sunday school and studied her Bible every day. She went to church with her. Community violence was supposed to be the focus of a prayer rally held in Columbus Sunday afternoon. Roberts
power. It was on His knees alone with the Father that the Savior received His greatest strength. “A revival need be expected only in answer to prayer.”—Ellen G. White, Selected Messages, book 1, p. 121. During this week’s lesson, we will explore the role that prayer played in some of the great reviv-als in the Bible.
68 THE HOLY SPIRIT, THE BIBLE, AND PRAYER Lesson 10 SUNDAY—MARCH 5 PRAYER THAT IS PLEASING TO GOD (John 15:7) Many prayers “wear” what may seem like “spiritual clothes.” In other words, they may seem holy and religious. But they are not. Instead, sometimes our reasons for praying are selfish. Read John 15:7.
Counsels On Courtship and Marriage _____ Statements by ELLEN G. WHITE Compiled by P.S. Biant “If those who are contemplating marriage would not have miserable, unhappy reflections after marriage, they must make it a subject of serious, earnest reflection now. This step taken unwisely is one of the most effective means of ruining the
Prayer By Ellen G White found in: Prayer CHL, Communion with God, 40 Days: Prayers and Devotions on God’s Amazing Miracles Book 7, God’s Amazing Grace (2019 Evening Devotional), Steps to Christ – By The Sea – Sharing Booklet, What.
Prayer For Those Who Persecute You prev
Sunday School Prayers For Teachers next
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Harvey Fierstein Biography
Harvey Fierstein is an American playwright, actor and a gay rights activist. This biography of Harvey Fierstein provides detailed information about his childhood, life, achievements, works & timeline.
Birthday: June 6, 1952
Famous: Quotes By Harvey Fierstein Atheists
Sun Sign: Gemini
Also Known As: Harvey Forbes Fierstein
Born in: Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Famous as: Actor
father: Irving Fierstein
mother: Jacqueline Harriet (née Gilbert)
education: Pratt Institute
Harvey Fierstein is an openly gay American playwright and actor famous for his unorthodox and outlandish performances that not only entertain people, but also drive home an important point—that gays and lesbians are inherent components of the contemporary society. The product of a normal middle-class upbringing, he rose to fame with his collection of plays, ‘Torch Song Trilogy’ which he wrote and starred in. The plays which won him two prestigious Tony Awards dealt with the life and loves of a gay drag queen in the early 1980’s. Homosexuality was still considered a taboo topic during those times but Fierstein had the courage and creativity to successfully address this issue in his plays. He was one of the first celebrities to come out of the closet. He was a daredevil who had no qualms about playing a lesbian cleaning woman in his theatrical debut, Andy Warhol’s ‘Pork’ in 1971. A versatile actor, he played Edna Turnblad, the lead character’s mother, in the musical ‘Hairspray’ for which he won numerous accolades. In addition to theatre, he has also acted in a number of films like ‘Garbo Talks’, ‘Duplex’, ‘Mrs.Doubtfire’, etc. Famous for his gravelly accent, he has lent his voice to various characters on shows like ‘The Simpsons’, ‘Mulan’ and ‘Family Guy’.
http://www.masterworksbroadway.com/artist/harvey-fierstein
http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/harvey-fierstein-blasts-russia-new-anti
http://www.queerty.com/harvey-fierstein-is-dumbfounded-by-stupidity-of-arizonas-law-allowing-discrimination-20140223
Jewish Actors
Childhood & Early Life
Harvey Fierstein was born as the younger of two sons of Jacqueline Harriet, a librarian, and Irving Fierstein, a handkerchief manufacturer.
He took creative writing classes in high school and performed in drag. He also performed in drag at various small clubs as characters named ‘Virginia’, ‘Kitty’ and ‘Bertha’.
Quotes: Life, Never, Yourself
He got his first breakthrough when he was offered the role of an asthmatic lesbian in one of Andy Warhol’s few theatrical productions, ‘Pork’, in 1971. The play made its debut at New York’s La Mama Experimental Theater Club.
He soon began to write his own plays and his first production, ‘International Stud’ was performed at La Mama in 1972. The play told the story of a drag queen and was well liked by the gay community.
He decided to continue his education and enrolled at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn from where he earned his bachelor of fine arts in 1973. He taught for a brief period before returning to writing and acting.
Throughout the 1970s, he wrote, reworked and improvised his plays and performed in many of them. He wrote two plays, ‘Fugue in a Nursery’ and ‘Widows and Children First!’ which he would later combine to form a collection of plays.
In 1982, he combined three of his plays, ‘International Stud’, ‘Fugue in a Nursery’ and ‘Widows and Children First!’ to form the ‘Torch Song Trilogy’, which focused on a torch song singing drag queen, Arnold Beckoff. The play became immensely popular.
He wrote the book for the musical play ‘‘La Cage aux Folles’ in 1983. The book musical was based on a 1973 French play of the same name by Jean Poiret.
Along with theater, he was also active in films during the 1980’s playing small roles in ‘Garbo Talks’ (1984), ‘Miami Vice’ (1986), and ‘Tidy Endings’ (1988).
During the 1990s, he was more active in movies than in theater and his movies for the decade include: ‘The Harvest’ (1992), ‘Mrs.Doubtfire’ (1993), ‘Elmo Saves Christmas’ (1996), and ‘White Lies’ (1997).
He starred as Edna Turnblad in the 2002 musical ‘Hairspray’ which was based on a 1988 film of the same name by John Waters.
He played the role of Tevye in the fourth Broadway revival of the musical ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ which opened in 2004.
He appeared in movies such as ‘Common Ground’ (2000), ‘Death to Smoochy’ (2002), ‘Duplex’ (2003), and ‘The Year without a Santa Claus’ (2006).
In 2007, he wrote the book for the musical ‘A Catered Affair’ which was based on a 1956 film by the same name, and on a 1955 teleplay.
He wrote the book for the musical ‘Newsies’ by Disney Theatrical Productions, which made its Broadway debut in 2012.
Quotes: I
Gemini Actors
His best known work is the play ‘Torch Song Trilogy’ (1982) which he wrote and starred in. It revolved around the story of Arnold, a gay drag queen and his quest for love and family. The play is semi-autobiographical in nature as it reflected the dreams and struggles of Fierstein himself.
He wrote the award winning book for the musical ‘La Cage aux Folles’ which was originally produced by the Broadway in 1983 and revived in 2004 and 2010. The play focused on a gay couple and the funny incidents that follow when they receive conservative guests.
He acted as an over-weight woman in the 2002 musical ‘Hairspray’, immediately becoming popular with the audience. The play was basically a commentary on the social injustices prevalent in America during the 1960’s.
Gemini Men
He won the prestigious Tony Award for Excellence in Theatre twice in 1983, one for Best Play and one for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play for ‘Torch Song Trilogy’.
In 2003, he won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical for his portrayal of Edna Turnbald in ‘Hairspray’.
His book for ‘La Cage aux Folles’ won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical twice in 2005 and 2010.
Quotes: Life, Yourself
Personal Life & Legacy
He is homosexual and had relationships with Bruce Bibby and Joe Grabarz.
He is an outspoken gay rights activist who also writes about gay issues.
He has also lent his voice to a few videogames.
He is good friends with actor and director Danny DeVito.
His brother Ronald K. Fierstein is a film producer.
Quotes By Harvey Fierstein | Quote Of The Day | Top 100 Quotes
See the events in life of Harvey Fierstein in Chronological Order
Harvey Fierstein Bio As PDF
- Harvey Fierstein Biography
- https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/harvey-fierstein-3408.php
Quotes By Harvey Fierstein
21st Century | 20th Century | Celebrity Names With Letter H | 21st Century Actors | 20th Century Actors | Actors Names With Letter H | Male Celebrity Names With Letter H | 20th Century American Actors | 20th Century Film & Theater Personalities | 21st Century Film & Theater Personalities | 20th Century American Film & Theater Personalities | 21st Century American Film & Theater Personalities
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6 Movies that should be on every finance professional’s watch list
Here is a list of movies that you should watch as a finance professional
Finance professionals in movies are usually depicted in sharp suits, with ambitions that run higher than the sky and an insatiable greed for money and power. While this portrayal is not the exact truth, it does make for compelling cinema.
Over the years, there have been a lot of movies with the world of finance as its backdrop. If you are associated with the money world, here’s a list of movies you should feel inspired to watch:
1) Trading Places
This 1983 comedy stars Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd in lead roles. While Murphy plays the role of a street con-artist, Aykroyd plays the snobbish managing director of a commodities trading fund. A modern-day spin on the Prince and the Pauper story has the two literally trading places. While Aykroyd languishes in jail trying to exonerate himself of thievery and drug-dealing charges, Murphy uses his smarts to make a success of the business and enjoy the perks of a high-flying lifestyle. The film shows that in addition to your fancy degree, you also need street-smarts to make it big in the finance world.
Related: A beginner’s guide to capital markets
2) Boiler Room
The American crime drama draws the focus to chop stock brokerage firms that use slick sales talk to create an artificial demand for speculative stocks. They dupe innocent investors of their hard-earned money and eventually have the FBI hot on their heels. Boiler Room serves as a reminder that one should invest only in fundamentally sound businesses and carry out strong due diligence before investing.
3) Margin Call
This gripping Wall Street drama is set during the initial stages of the 2007-08 global financial crisis. The story takes place within a 24-hour window. It revolves around greed and investment fraud resulting from over-leveraging the investment firm’s assets. The firm looks to cover its tracks overnight by dumping its toxic securities in the market and setting up a few employees as scapegoats to take the fall. The movie brings to light how some organisations focus on their personal success at any cost.
Related: Money lessons you only learn in your twenties
4) Wall Street
The iconic finance movie pits its two central characters with wealth and power against simplicity and honesty. The movie shows the dark underbelly of insider trading; a competitive and hedonistic work environment where morals and laws have been completely discarded. The archetypical portrayal of success in the movie has inspired many people to literally pursue stock-broking as a career.
5) Glengarry Glen Ross
The film is an adaptation of a prize-winning play of the same name. It showcases the lives of four real-estate agents and their desperate bid to save their jobs after the head office brings in an executioner in the guise of a motivational trainer. The movie portrays the immense pressure and arm-twisting that a lot of employees have to deal with, which in turn leads them to use unscrupulous means to keep the wheel turning.
Related: Guess who said these Bollywood money quotes?
6) The Wolf of Wall Street
This biographical dark comedy revolves around the life of a broker who uses the art of hard-selling and deceit to rise from a small broker to become the Wolf on Wall Street. His organisation uses the pump-and-dump method to defraud investors. Success comes at a price as the decadent lifestyle, drugs, and sex start taking a toll on the protagonist. His life starts to fall apart and the law catches up with him.
Related: 5 Mistakes to avoid while investing in a bull market
While some of these movies are mere exaggerations of the creative mind, others are inspired by real-life incidents. They give an insight into the human psyche and behaviour, and how the truth can sometimes be stranger than fiction.
These kinds of movies have the power to send across a strong message and also entertain in their own ways. See what do Guru, Titanic and The Wolf of Wall Street teach us about money?
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Brian W. Tilker
bwt@torkildson.com
Business Litigation and Employment Litigation
Brian W. Tilker is a Director in the firm's Honolulu office and concentrates his practice on business and employment litigation. He has represented clients in matters involving breach of contract, fraud, unfair business practice claims, Medicaid, condominium association disputes, trademark infringement, mass torts, toxic torts, product liability, real estate, trusts and estates, tax controversy, ERISA, wage and hour, discrimination, harassment and retaliation litigation in state and federal courts, as well as in arbitration forums. He has successfully argued before both state and federal trial and appellate courts.
Prior to joining the firm in 2011, Mr. Tilker practiced law in New York City and worked in the litigation department of a major international law firm.
In addition to vigorously representing clients in civil actions and administrative proceedings, a substantial portion of Mr. Tilker’s practice is dedicated to alternative dispute resolution. Mr. Tilker often assists clients by using alternative dispute resolution as a vehicle to either avoid litigation or mitigate the risks associated with active litigation. He strives to provide practical, creative legal advice that focuses on clients’ strategic and commercial objectives, and believes in preventing and resolving disputes in the most cost-efficient way possible.
J.D., 2004, St. John's University School of Law
Honors: Articles and Notes Editor, St. John's Law Review, Dean's List Graduate, New York Bar Association Legal Ethics Award, J. Gordon Cooney Merit Scholarship
B.S.B.A., 2001, Washington University in St. Louis, Olin Business School
Majors: Finance and International Business
Honors: International Business Student Award (top grade in major)
Adjunct professor at the William S. Richardson School of Law (Legal Writing and Advocacy)
American Bar Association, Litigation Section
Hawaii State Bar Association
New York State Bar, 2005
U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, 2006
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York, 2006
U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, 2009
U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii, 2012
U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, 2016
Ryan v. Salisbury et al., 2019 WL 2121518 (D. Haw. May 14, 2019)
Bruno v. AOAO Waikiki Marina Condominium, 2019 WL 1552362 (Haw. App. Apr. 10, 2019)
Henry v. Adventist Health Castle, 2019 WL 346701 (D. Haw. Jan. 28, 2019)
Martin v. Hotel & Transp. Consultants, Inc., 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 92499 (D. Haw. June 1, 2018)
Crews v. Prudential Ins. Co. of Am., 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 48117 (D. Haw. Apr. 13, 2015)
Sato v. Wahiawa-Central Oahu Health Ctr., Inc. et al., 135 Hawaii 216 (Haw. App. 2015)
Sato v. Wahiawa-Central Oahu Health Ctr., Inc. et al., 2015 Haw. App. LEXIS 133 (Mar. 7, 2015)
Kaheawa Wind Power, LLC v. County of Maui, 135 Hawaii 202 (App. Nov. 20, 2014)
Decampo v. OS Rest. Servs. LLC et al., 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 59141 (D. Haw. Apr. 29, 2014)
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July 24, 2018 / 7:39 AM
Robert De Niro in talks to join cast of 'Joker' origin film
Wade Sheridan
Robert De Niro (L) with Grace Hightower. De Niro is in talks to star in Warner Bros. and DC's "Joker" origin film. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo
Robert De Niro arrives at a photocall for the film "Hands of Stone" during the 69th annual Cannes International Film Festival on May 16, 2016. File Photo by David Silpa/UPI | License Photo
July 24 (UPI) -- Robert De Niro is being eyed to star in DC and Warner Bros. upcoming Joker origin film starring Joaquin Phoenix as the iconic Batman villain.
De Niro is in negotiations to join the project as a talk-show host who plays a role in Phoenix becoming the Joker, Deadline reported.
This would be De Niro's first role in a comic book film.
Joker is being directed by Todd Phillips (The Hangover, War Dogs) based on a script he co-wrote with Scott Silver. The project, set for release on Oct. 4, 2019, is described as being a gritty character study and a cautionary tale.
The film will reportedly be set in Gotham City in the early 1980s, noted The Hollywood Reporter.
Zazie Beetz, who recently starred in Fox's Deadpool 2, is also in negotiations to join Joker as a single mother who catches the eye of Phoenix.
Joker will take place outside of DC's extended film universe and would help launch a new DC Comics banner at Warner Bros. that will allow the studio to tell unique comic book stories using different actors in the title roles. Production is set to begin in September in New York.
'Joker' starring Joaquin Phoenix receives October 2019 release date Zazie Beetz in talks to star in 'Joker' origin film Joaquin Phoenix confirmed to star in The Joker origin movie
Royal Danish Ballet rehearses for 'The Bournonville Legacy'
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China’s total national capacity of grid-connected PV power stations by the end of 2017 is expected to reach more than 100 GWs
According to the statistics from relevant “think tank” department, as of November 2016, the total accumulated capacity of China’s grid-connected photovoltaic/PV power stations had reached more than 76 GWs. Of this total, the newly installed capacity from January to October 2016 had already accumulated up to 30 GWs. Based on the current situation, the accumulated grid-connected capacity would exceed 76 GWs by the end of 2016. Analysts from PVMEN also estimate that the amount would be approximately 110 GWs by the end of 2018.
One other thing to note is that among current grid-connected power stations, many stations total a capacity of 5 GWs, both under construction and completed, have not received subsidies.
The total accumulated capacity in 2017 is about to reach 100 GWs
The total designed capacity of PV power stations with subsidies in 2016 issued by the government is 23.83 GWs. And among the 5.5-GW LEADER projects, most have not started construction, except a 500-MW project located in Zhangjiakou. According to the rules, these projects need to be completed and connect to the grid by the end of 2017.
As early as mid-October, the government launched the first batch of photovoltaic poverty alleviation projects totals a capacity of 5.16 GWs. But there’s no provision for the completion date in the document. So, there would be a considerable proportion of the projects needs to be extended to complete in 2017.
Among the 12.6-GW designed capacity of general PV power stations in 2016, an approximate capacity of 5 GWs is going to be completed in the first half of 2017.
These three types of indicators of the grid-connected projects allocated in 2016 will be finished in 2017, with a total estimated capacity of about 15 GWs.
In accordance with established practices, the total capacity in 2017 will be inferred from the distribution of subsidy indicators in 2015 and 2016. Assuming 5 GWs for the general indicator, 5 GWs for the newly added LEADER projects, 5 GWs for the photovoltaic poverty alleviation projects and 5 GWs for the industrial and commercial distributed systems without subsidies, the newly added scale/capacity in 2017 will reach 20 GWs.
And actually there’re many power stations being built without receiving subsidies from the government, just like the 5-GW mentioned in the second paragraph. So, based on these data, the total national capacity of grid-connected PV power stations by the end of 2017 is expected to reach more than 100 GWs. Like that, it would not be hard to achieve 110 GWs by the end of 2018.
Moreover, the “green certificate” system in the energy field of China is probably to be implemented in 2017. Several large traditional power generation enterprises whose business has a sizable ratio of thermal power generation will focus on the development of renewables. Also as people’s understanding of renewable energy continues strengthening, there will be fierce competition in the distributed photovoltaic market.
The estimated capacity by the end of 13th Five-Year period
The 13th Five-Year Plan for Power Development issued recently has referred: “…the total capacity of solar power generation is to reach 110 million kilowatts or more by 2020, including more than 60 million kilowatts for distributed PV power generation and 5 million kilowatts for solar thermal power generation,” It is said that the forthcoming 13th Five-Year Plan for Energy and 13th Five-Year Plan for Solar Energy Utilization also require that photovoltaic power generation capacity should reach around 110 GWs, by the end of the 13th Five-Year period.
It should be stressed that the 13th Five-Year Plan only provides the basic goals of the development of PV power generation, not the upper limit requirements. Taking the example of the 12th Five-Year Plan, it required that by the end of 2015 the total capacity of solar power generation should reach 21 GWs; but in fact, solely, the actual amount of photovoltaic power generation was 43 GWs – which doubled the originally designed goal of all types of solar power generation.
So far, we can expect that the capacity by the end of the 13th Five-Year period (2020) will hit 150 GWs.
By Toky| 2016-12-16T10:06:36+00:00 December 16th, 2016|News|Comments Off on China’s total national capacity of grid-connected PV power stations by the end of 2017 is expected to reach more than 100 GWs
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Update=>Confirmed: Chaffetz Announces Early Resignation From Congress
by Cristina Laila May 18, 2017
187Share
TGP reported earlier that sources were saying Rep Jason Chaffetz was going to announce his resignation from Congress before his term came to an end.
Jason Chaffetz sent out a tweet with his letter to his constituents attached announcing his resignation effective June 30th, 2017.
Jason Chaffetz said in a letter to his constituents:
Dear 3rd District Constituents:
Serving you in the U.S. House of Representatives for nearly nine years has been a rare honor and privilege. When I first ran for Congress in 2008 I promised I would get in, serve, and get out. I told voters I did not believe Congress should be a lifetime career. I knew from day one that my service there would not last forever.
As you know, after careful consideration and long discussion with my wife, Julie, we agree the time has come for us to move on from this part of our life. This week I sent a letter to Governor Herbert indicating my intention to resign from Congress effective June 30, 2017.
My life has undergone some big changes over the last 18 months. Those changes have been good. But as I celebrated my 50th birthday in March, the reality of spending more than 1,500 nights away from my family over eight years hit me harder than it had before.
TGP recently reported that Chaffetz announced he would not be seeking reelection in 2018 and apparently he has plans to have a “substantial role” at Fox News.
Jason Chaffetz currently serves as the chairman of the House Oversight Committee. Yesterday, the committee asked former FBI Director, James Comey to testify next Wednesday at 9:30 AM.
Thank you!! Letter to the constituents of Utah’s Third Congressional District https://t.co/uTUhho9QQv
— Jason Chaffetz (@jasoninthehouse) May 18, 2017
Featured photo: Chaffetz twitter avatar
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From the archive blog
Kurt Cobain: an icon of alienation
In the days after Cobain's death on 5 April 1994, Jonathan Freedland reported from Seattle for the Guardian's Weekend magazine, charting the troubled life of a reluctant rock star. On the 20th anniversary of Cobain's suicide, we republish the piece
• Would the real Kurt Cobain please stand up
Jonathan Freedland
@Freedland
Sat 5 Apr 2014 08.00 EDT Last modified on Thu 27 Jun 2019 06.30 EDT
'I thank you,' Kurt Cobain wrote in his suicide note, 'from the pit of my burning, nauseous stomach'. Photograph: Kevin Mazur/WireImage
It smells like nirvana. Up here in Madrona, one of Seattle's smartest neighbourhoods, the air from Lake Washington breezes new and sweet. The trees, their leaves shiny, add an extra tang of their own, and what breath you have is taken away by the view. It's the kind of place which makes visitors sigh, "I could live here." No wonder the street signs welcome you to "Madrona - The Peaceable Kingdom".
But one house on the hill has been spoiled. Black plastic tarpaulins hang from the trees to keep out prying eyes, bed-sheets have been pulled across the windows. Nevertheless, you can still see into the room above the detached garage, the room estate agents would call "the mother-in-law apartment".
The patterned lino is visible, so is the bare table, and the vase of pink tulips placed on the floor to mark the exact spot where Kurt Cobain took a shotgun and blew his brains out.
The birds keep singing outside, undisturbed by the police paraphernalia that has cordoned off the driveway since Cobain's body was found. Occasionally a robin comes down to peck at the pools of red candlewax, leftovers from the vigil of fans who gathered here the moment Seattle radio stations declared April 8 the day the music died.
They were mourning the passing of the king of grunge, the frontman of Nirvana whose 1991 hit, Smells Like Teen Spirit, was credited with exporting the Seattle sound worldwide, injecting "indie rock" into the mainstream, and so altering the course of modern music. The grown-up media followed close behind, reporting that Kurt Cobain's death had deprived the world's twentysomethings of a spokesman, that Generation X had lost its crown prince.
To outsiders, the fuss was hard to fathom. For one thing, Nirvana's music is an acquired taste, a blend of punk and metal, in which melody is often buried under layers of sheer noise. And Cobain's story seemed so obvious, so familiar. The words "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide" came so easily - and Kurt Cobain's demise had all the elements. From the coma induced by a tranquilliser-and-champagne cocktail in Rome a month earlier (now regarded as a first suicide attempt), to the tales of long-term heroin addiction, to the self-pitying note he left behind - it was a saga of self-destruction that made Cobain look like nothing more than a Nineties Sid Vicious.
Nirvana photographed in Belfast in 1992. Photograph: Steve Pyke/Getty Images
But the seven thousand Seattleites who gathered in a memorial service for him - venting their sense of betrayal by chanting a chorus of "Fuck You, Kurt", led by the star's widow, punk singer Courtney Love - felt they had lost something special. "Kurt died for your sins," bellowed one overwrought fan to his fellow mourners. Another showed off the K-U-R-T scar she had razored on to her wrist. There was a ritual burning of flannel shirts, the trademark garment of grunge.
For these people, and for the ten million others who bought Nevermind, Nirvana's blockbuster album, Cobain was a musical original. He was, too, a symbol of his generation and even of his country. But not quite in the way those early obituarists would have you believe. KurtCobain's life and music were much more complex, more riven by tension, than the simple, voice-of-alienated-youth eulogies let on. His 27 years included ironies and confusions that do not fit easily into the conventional Generation X wisdom, but ultimately reflect what it is that distinguishes today's under-30s, and perhaps modern America itself.
This roomy house, complete with skylights and an exterior of grey, wood-slice tiles, is a case in point. Generation X-ers are meant to be the slacker generation, yet here was the slacker-in-chief living the yuppie dream: married, padding around a $ 1.1 million luxury mansion with a garden for his baby daughter to play in, and Microsoft and Boeing executives for neighbours.
It proved to be no refuge for Kurt Cobain, the boy who had come from blue-collar nowhere and made himself an international star and millionaire. Holed up inside the house overlooking the perfume-scented lake, he pumped his veins full of heroin, wrote his rambling suicide note, and did so much damage to his head that police could only identify his body through fingerprints. Dental records were no use, because nothing was left of his mouth.
The neighbourhood will soon be back to normal. No one would ever admit it, but there is probably some relief that there will never again be nights like the one last year when police arrested Cobain after a resident reported hearing the sounds of domestic violence. (He and his wife insisted they were merely jamming and then play-fighting around the house). And no repeat of the March 18 episode - just days after the Rome crisis - when Love called out the emergency services after her husband locked himself in the bathroom with three pistols, a rifle and 25 rounds of ammunition.
Now the house will be quiet. And soon there will only be a trace of irony hanging over the sign, not 50 yards from the Cobain residence, that says "Madrona - drug free zone."
The cover of the Guardian's Weekend magazine on 23 April 1994. Image: The Guardian
Listening to tonight's line-up at the Crocodile Cafe, grunge's equivalent of the Liverpool Cavern, you realise that Kurt Cobain got lucky. Nirvana once performed at the Crocodile to an audience of six, and they could easily still be here. They did not invent the sound called grunge, but they got the breaks: among them a session on the John Peel show, and the cover of Melody Maker. (Seattle acknowledges that Britain was first to shift the city from the furthest northwestern tip of the US to the centre of the rock universe.)
The punters at the Crocodile, in their punk-hippie hybrid garb of goatees, dungarees, and clothes from Value Village (this area's Oxfam) all say grunge died long before Kurt Cobain. It died when it became big, when the fashion industry got hold of it. Now, they say, they dress the way they do because "we're poor and it rains a lot", and if they occasionally still tie a flannel shirt around their waist, well, that's because it gets cold.
They give equally short shrift to the notion that Cobain was any kind of spokesman for Generation X, or that any such thing exists. "It's just a way to market us," says Teresa de la Rosa, 24. Next to her is Gary Paul, 28, who, despite a college degree is working as a postman - a textbook case of the X syndrome which has overeducated kids working in low-status, low-paid jobs, from office temps to despatch riders. All around him are people in the same position, but he is adamant that there is nothing that unites them. "I think the media are making a big thing of it," he says.
Kurt Cobain would find such talk gratifying. He was utterly disdainful of his own role as the "voice of a generation". Central to his message was a rejection of what he saw as the crude, commercial motive of labelling an age group. The "Teen Spirit" satirised in Cobain's most famous song is a deodorant aimed at young girls.
The fact that Nirvana made millions by appealing to a niche market, partly defined by youth, was an irony not lost on Cobain, who wrote the words and music to all Nirvana's songs, as well as singing and playing the guitar on all of them. The opening lyric of In Utero, the band's last album, was direct: "Teenage angst has paid off well, Now I'm bored and old."
It seems funny, this contract that existed between Kurt Cobain and people like the Crocodile crowd: they deny they are a group, and he denied that he represented them. But one can't fully escape the other. So much of what these kids are about - even if they deny it - was reflected in his short, urgent life.
Oh well, whatever, never mind: 'That was his message, that life is futile'. Photograph: Stephen Sweet/Rex Features
Take the definitive extract of Cobain poetry, the couplet in Teen Spirit that manages to evoke disillusion, fatalism and inertia in a stroke. "I found it hard, it was hard to find," he croaks, "Oh well, whatever, never mind."
"That was his message, that life is futile," muses 26-year-old Bob Hince, who has completed six years of study in molecular biology but is now heading for Alaska to work as a salmon fisherman. His dyed red hair nearly covers his eyes, falling behind the lenses of his retro, Buddy Holly glasses. He's drinking bloody Marys tonight, and paying no attention to Flake, the band strutting furiously on stage.
"It's just ambivalence. You're at a crossroads, and you don't know what to do," he says. "What am I supposed to be?" Hince says his employment prospects have left him feeling bottled up with anger. "We all are. We all feel the monotony, we all feel we cannot control our circumstances."
And all those feelings are there, in the music. If it's frustration you're after, there's the screaming rage of Cobain's singing, the screech of metallic guitar noise and lyrics like, "Gotta find a way, a better way." Alienation? Try "Stay Away", or the verse which explains, "I'm not like them, but I can pretend." Paralysis? How about Come As You Are, which urges, "Take your time, hurry up." And for sheer pent-up anger, taken neat, there's Tourette's, a hoarse tirade on In Utero. Lyric: "Fuck, shit, piss."
The untrained ear might strain to hear what's new in all this. After all, punk, with its near-identical message, happened a long time ago. Nearly 20 years have passed since the Sex Pistols swore at Bill Grundy, and the Adverts - to name but one - snarled, "It's no time to be 21, To be Anyone."
Kurt Cobain saw this point himself. "I'm the first to admit that we're the Nineties version of Cheap Trick," he said once, and he constantly cited the influence on him of charmingly-named, if little-known British punk bands like the Raincoats and the Vaselines. But punk never made the breakthrough in the US that it did in Britain. The Sex Pistols may have reshaped the pop landscape in the UK, but punk stayed marginal here. "It didn't really catch on," remembers Jeff Gilbert, Seattle-based writer for Guitar World.
The result was a vacuum which Kurt Cobain stepped into effortlessly. "Things had gone soft on us and Nirvana gave it a real boot to the butt," says Gilbert. What Never Mind The Bollocks did for the UK, Nevermind did across the Atlantic.
But Cobain did more than resuscitate punk to rehash perennial themes of teen rebellion. He had an instinctive feel for what made his audience's growing pains different from those of their predecessors. According to Newsweek, "grunge is what happens when children of divorce get their hands on guitars". The one hard item of demographics amid all the guff about Generation X is that, more than any other group in history, they come from broken homes.
The childhood home of Kurt Cobain, in Aberdeen, Wasington state. Photograph: Elaine Thompson/AP
"I know only two people whose parents aren't divorced, and one of them - his mother got shot," muses Bob's friend, Mara Rivet, 22, an assistant at Tower Records. She knows that Kurt Cobain's mum and dad, a secretary and a car mechanic, split when he was 10. She's heard him sing, "As my bones grew, they did hurt/They hurt really bad/I tried hard to have a father/But instead I had a Dad."
Bob, Mara and friends understood what Cobain was up to when he jetted off to Hawaii to marry Courtney Love, leader of the band Hole, in 1992. They watched the ceremony (not knowing that Cobain was juiced on heroin at the time), and wished him luck. They had heard the star say he proposed to Love because she was "the best fuck in the world", and they'd seen him show the scratches on his back to prove it, but they identified with another, deeper motive. They knew well that urge to find a home, to belong to a family.
"I was in search of the Brady Bunch, and I didn't find it," smiles Mara, deploying one of the X-ers' favoured cultural touchstones. She ran away after her parents' break-up, and curses Cobain for inflicting a similar, parentless future on the 19-month-old Frances Bean he has left behind. Having seen Cobain's attempt at domestic bliss fail, she is more pessimistic than ever. "There is no Brady Bunch family, goddammit. It's TV, and you're not told."
The cynicism is unsparing. Bereft of the idealism of flower-power, or even the exuberant iconoclasm of punk, grunge is a movement entirely without coherent politics. "There are little things we do, like vegetarianism," says Mara, "but we all know that in the end it'll all be futile."
"There's nothing to believe in anymore," says Mindy Brown, enjoying a night off from looking after her three-year-old daughter. She remembers taking sedatives to calm her fears of a nuclear holocaust. Now she gets her news from MTV. "We all believe there's nothing to believe in."
Kurt was the same way, stumbling only rarely into politics. He occasionally called on his fans to support the rights of women and gays. But he spoke just as often about his passion for guns. He kept an M-16 and 10,000 rounds of ammunition in the hall cupboard, unselfconsciously parroting the right-wing line about the right of Americans to protect themselves.
This is what distinguishes Nirvana and its generation most from the teen rebellions that have come before. Hippies and punks were both public movements, whether they were strumming to stop the Vietnam war or spitting about Anarchy In The UK. Both believed in the possibility of change. But Cobain, like the 20-plussers who listen to him, was private and self-absorbed. "What is wrong with me?" he sang. "I'm so tired, I can't sleep."
He knew this introspection was unattractive, once describing his public image as a "pissy, complaining, freaked-out schizophrenic who wants to kill himself all the time." But that only made him loathe himself more. In this, he was a Generation X exemplar. "We're spoilt, rotten brats," says Mindy. "Slap Us!"
A young Kurt plays guitar. Photograph: Uncredited/AP
Typically, Cobain's suicide note, read by Courtney Love to the thousands at the Seattle service, did not complain about Aids or divorce or homelessness or any of the other things said to be preoccupying the post-1965 generation. It talked about the chronic stomach condition which Cobain always said impelled him to use heroin, "to medicate himself".
"I thank you," he wrote, "from the pit of my burning, nauseous stomach …" It was somehow a perfectly apt ailment. For one thing, it proved that Cobain's pain was no affectation: he felt it deep in his gut. But it was also grimly appropriate that the boy-prince of the brat generation should die complaining of a tummy ache.
"Our parents built up this sense of expectation, and we can't live up to it," whines Bob Hince about his economic future. Cobain reflected even this, the ugliest of Generation X's traits: its passivity, its self-pitying feeling of entitlement, its expectation that mummy and daddy owe them a future.
Cobain was smart enough to send up the sentiment. "Here we are now, entertain us," he wailed in Teen Spirit. And his grieving widow, reading his suicide note to the fans, was able to show similar contempt. When she came to the passage in which Cobain moaned that he was a "sad, little, sensitive Pisces-Jesus man", she stopped reading and yelled at the ghost of her dead husband, "Oh, shut up!"
Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love with their daughter Frances Bean at the MTV Video Music awards in 1993. Photograph: Ron Galella Ltd/WireImage
Aberdeen, Washington is not yet a shrine, but it may become one soon. Already, graffiti adorns the wall of a burnt-out restaurant: Kurt Cobain RIP. This shabby, peeling town of 16,000 lumbermen, loggers and fisherman, was where the frail, blue-eyed blond with a penchant for drawing and poetry grew up. The 100-mile road between here and Seattle is full of lorries packed with tree-trunks, stacked like cigarettes. There is timber everywhere, firs and pines scraping the sky like sharp pencils, and cut into tiles on the houses - including the neat, green one where Kurt Cobain's mother still lives.
Her son was born in February 1967, and, he said later, he was happy for seven years after that. (In his farewell letter, he wrote that he had felt "hateful toward all humans in general" from age seven onwards). His parents divorced when he was eight, and he didn't speak to his father until he started making hit records.
After the divorce, the child turned inward. The teachers at Aberdeen High School remember him as withdrawn, someone the other kids would avoid. "When I had him in class, the anger was definitely there," recalls Bob Hunter, a soft-spoken art teacher whose classes Cobainmade a point of attending. (He bunked off most of the others, only to sneak back into the library.)
Surveying his art-room, Hunter points out Kurt's seat, close to his own. A rock station is playing on the radio, just as it would have done then. Cobain used to offer a song-by-song critique of whatever came on, usually "pretty sarcastic", says Hunter. The teacher held on to oneCobain effort which he thought showed exceptional "originality, creativity and sophistication". It was a pencil drawing that showed, in 12 stages, the transformation of a sperm into a foetus.
Ironically, given his ultimate fate, Cobain seems to have been far more obsessed with birth than death. Several hired cleaners fled his Seattle home after they spotted his collection of model foetuses, bought from a medical supplies manufacturer. He used the smashed remnants of some of them to assemble a collage for the sleeve of In Utero - which led the Wal-Mart store chain to ban the record.
Cobain was bored by school and dropped out, passing up an art school scholarship. He became a janitor at the YMCA, living with the family of another Aberdeen High teacher, LaMont Schillinger, whose sons were friends of his. Cobain came to stay for a few days, after a row with his mother's boyfriend. He ended up rooming there for a year.
"I think Kurt was a kid that nobody ever got to know," says Mr Schillinger now. Cobain later told a biographer that he began shooting up heroin while he stayed at the Schillingers', but the head of the household thinks his former lodger made the story up, mischievously seeking to inflate his own rock 'n' roll myth.
The boy LaMont Schillinger remembers took his turn cooking, cleaning, chopping wood. He may have also been running around town spray-painting "Abort Christ" on born again Christians' pick-up trucks, but at the Schillinger table he sat quietly, even during grace.
Nirvana in 1992: Dave Grohl, Kurt and Krist Novoselic. Photograph: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
The teacher's pupils have been asking about the suicide, accusing Kurt Cobain of an act of gross selfishness. "He was an inward-directed person," Mr Schillinger has been telling them. "I don't think there was a choice."
At Rosevear's music store, the only one in town, Kurt Cobain's spirit was always in the air, even before he died. Manager Les Blue, a music enthusiast with Wayne's World looks, had thought of putting up a No Nirvana sign - to deter the legions of wannabe guitarists who all try out the merchandise the same way, playing the intro to Smells Like Teen Spirit.
Blue has strong memories of Aberdeen's most famous son, from the days when he, Blue, managed the local drive-in. "He graffitied the hell out of my bathroom," he says. In red marker, Cobain wrote HEROIN next to a picture of a syringe, and the words SID AND NANCY.
He heard Nirvana play before they were Nirvana - when they were Pen Cap Chew; Ted, Ed, Fred and Skid Row. "They kinda sucked," he recalls.
Their eventual success was, says Blue, an inspiration to Aberdeen, a town depressed by cutbacks in the logging industry, forced by environmental regulations. "People thought, 'If they can do it, anybody can do it."' A cassette of Blue's own band is on sale at the counter, just in case.
There is an irony in this late embrace of Kurt Cobain by the people of his hometown. It takes only a brief visit to the local music venue to see how miserable a time he would have had fitting in here.
In Aberdeen, which even now has Wild West-style saloons and card rooms, new bands cut their teeth at the Pour House, a wooden tavern where the men wear tattoos and mean it. This must have been a harsh training for the waif-like performer, who, once in liberal Seattle, was fond of donning his wife's cotton dresses, lining his eyes, and painting his nails a lurid red.
Many in Cobain's position would have gloated as Nirvana's success turned many of the redneck jocks who had made a sport of beating up young Kurt into loyal fans. But it gave the singer no pleasure. The chorus of In Bloom was a musical jeer at the band's new audience: "He's the one who likes all our pretty songs, and he likes to sing along, and he likes to shoot his gun, but he don't know what it means," sneered Cobain.
It twisted his stomach to think that he was providing a soundtrack to the lives of those he despised. When he learned that his song, Polly, an ironic essay with a rapist-narrator, had been used as musical accompaniment to a real-life gang rape, he was horrified. On the sleeve notes for his Incesticide album, he issued a plea: "If any of you in any way hate homosexuals, people of different colour, or women, please - leave us the fuck alone."
Kurt during the recording of the MTV Unplugged session at Sony Studios in New York in November 1993. Photograph: Frank Micelotta/Getty Images
The fact that Nirvana struck a chord not only with Generation X, but with a large swathe of blue-collar white, male America - men with despair and alienation of their own - was just one of dozens of problems Kurt Cobain had with success. For a champion of the punk ethic of anti-commercialism, multi-million record sales were a confusion. And intrusion by the press into his private life was insupportable for a man who had been a loner since childhood. "It was so fast and explosive," he said once, "I didn't know how to deal with it. If there was a rock star course, I would have liked to take it. It might have helped me."
The life that suddenly became possible for Kurt Cobain was riddled with contradiction. The layabout rock-star now lived in a Seattle suburb with a little girl, a working wife, and a home in the country. He was feeding a heroin habit that was draining $ 400 a day (the largest daily dose dispensed by his cash-machine), driving to his dealer in a Volvo.
You could hear the pop junkie and the doting dad fighting it out in the music. On Nirvana records, din and harmony alternate within a single song, sometimes at the same moment. Last year Cobain clashed with the producer of In Utero, who wanted a harder, less commercial sound for the album. Cobain triumphed, and you can hear the melodies, many of them Squeeze- or even Beatles-esque, struggling to break through the sheet metal on top. He promised that future work would be more tuneful, acoustic - even ethereal.
Hippies, punks and every other teen movement in history would have taken this Volvo-driven volte-face as a sell-out. But not the twentysomethings, the children of Reagan and Thatcher who have shed politics and who came of age in the consumerist 1980s. X-ers don't have a problem with the system - they just can't find their place in it.
They cheered as Cobain seemed to find his. And this is the strangest irony of all. Sceptics have rightly debunked the Generation X idea for failing to account for all those in their mid-20s who are not working in McJobs, but married and high-achieving. These Xuppies probably outnumber the slackers five to one - yet the bizarre fortune of Kurt Cobain was that, by his success, he reflected them, too.
That's why stock analysts listened to Nirvana on their car CDs. His disenchantment with success-without-meaning - singing, "I do not want what I have got" - spoke to them, too. Douglas Coupland's novel, which dumped the Generation X moniker into the language, coined another new term: Successophobia. He defined it as "The fear that if one is successful, then one's personal needs will be forgotten".
Cobain had a bad case of successophobia. "I just hope," he said in January, "that I don't become so blissful I become boring." One of his best chorus lines was, "I miss the comfort of being sad."
He coped by mixing his blood with the soothing nectar of heroin, but its healing power could not last. He had wanted to call his last album, I Hate Myself And I Want To Die. He decided not to because, he said, no one would realise he was joking.
This April 1994 photo provided by Seattle police shows items found at the scene of Kurt Cobain's suicide. Photograph: Seattle PD/AP
Looking at the house on Lake Washington Boulevard, with its space, its quiet, its pure aroma, you feel about Kurt Cobain the way nations around the world often feel about America: why are those who have so much so desperately unhappy? Kurt Cobain's anguish might have been just as poisonous, just as lethal had it remained anonymous. He took his own life for private reasons - it has been reported that his family had a history of suicide - even if those reasons were magnified by the lens of fame. And, in the end, the greatest impact of his death will be private, too.
It is now late afternoon, and a black limousine has turned into the driveway. A pale Courtney Love steps out, her platinum hair looking lank, hugging herself in a plain, grey tunic. She clutches a copy of Newsweek, the one which shows a staring picture of her dead husband.
She heads immediately for the garage-apartment, getting closer to the spot where Kurt Cobain's body lay for three days before it was discovered. She doesn't see the nanny coming out to greet her, cradling the couple's newly-bereaved baby daughter. For Courtney Love is looking the other way, shouting simply, "Where are you?"
• First published in Guardian Weekend on 23 April 1994
Courtney Love considering host of 'new Brad Pitts' for lead role in Cobain biopic
Plans for the Kurt Cobain film are under way, according to the Hole singer, who is currently considering demo reels
Nirvana's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame collaborations: why they worked
At the grunge band's induction last night, remaining members reunited for performances with Joan Jett, St Vincent, Lorde and Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon. Here's why each choice provided a masterful stroke of musicianship
Would the real Kurt Cobain please stand up?
Film-makers, musicians and authors have reimagined and reinvented the Nirvana frontman ad nauseam – and that’s a problem. On the 20th anniversary of Cobain’s death, Everett True, who knew the singer, struggles to resurrect the spirit of the band
Nirvana's Kurt Cobain – in pictures
Saturday marks the 20th anniversary of Kurt Cobain's death. From the early days of fatherhood to their famous MTV Unplugged session, here's a selection of images of the late rock icon
Nobody knows Kurt Cobain like you do
Alan Light
Britpop and Kurt Cobain 20 years on - don't look back in anger
Nevermind Kurt Cobain: rock stars who inspired musicals – in pictures
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U.S. urges Latvia to step up reform after money-laundering scandal
Gederts Gelzis
Published: May 16 at 12:54 p.m.
Updated: May 17 at 6:02 a.m.
By Gederts Gelzis
RIGA (Reuters) - Latvia came under renewed pressure to accelerate financial reforms as a senior U.S. official, at a meeting with its prime minister, underscored the urgent need for stricter controls after a money laundering scandal.
His remarks come more than a year after the United States acted to shut down ABLV, a Latvian bank it said was linked to North Korea's nuclear weapons program, to money laundering and Russian corruption.
Marshall Billingslea, who heads the Office of Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes at the U.S. Treasury, said during a visit to Latvia on Thursday that the Baltic state required "urgently needed legislation" that was "long overdue".
"The new government is moving swiftly but there is a lot that has to be done," said Billingslea, praising Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins's intentions but highlighting the need for results. "The proof is in the pudding."
The bank's closure was the first in a series of European money-laundering scandals that later sucked in Nordic lenders, prompting a pan-European debate about how to control such financial crime.
ABLV, and Latvia's supervision of its winding-down, remains at the center of tension between Latvia and Washington, which wants tighter control of the bank's liquidation, people with direct knowledge of the matter have said.
After Latvia secured independence in 1991 from the then-Soviet Union, more than a dozen of its banks promoted themselves as a gateway to Western markets for clients in former Soviet states, promising Swiss-style secrecy.
That policy has now been abandoned under U.S. pressure but despite forecasts by Latvian officials a year ago after the shuttering of ABLV that many other banks would also close, they are still open.
The United States, which through the dollar currency holds large sway over financial markets, is pushing back against Russian influence globally.
Billingslea visited Latvia for talks with Karins, who is seeking to pass legislation to give parliament more power in hiring and firing the country's bank supervisor.
The bank supervisor has accused the Riga government of interfering in his work and said the legal changes, which also grant the regulator more power to close banks with "dirty money", were a veiled attempt to oust him.
Latvia faces a review by international money-laundering standards watchdog Moneyval in the coming months, which some officials fear could label the country as risky, alongside the likes of Serbia and Pakistan.
Karins, who took over as prime minister in January, said alongside Billingslea that he was serious about reform.
"My focus...is to put the system in order," Karins told reporters. "If Latvia...failed to implement Moneyval's recommendations, it would push our country into the grey list or even black list, which would mean a recession. It would mean lost jobs."
Latvia's central bank governor is also being investigated for corruption, including bribery linked to ABLV, after being detained more than a year ago. He has yet to be prosecuted, returned to his job and denies the allegations.
(Additional reporting and writing by John O'Donnell; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
Updated 5 minutes ago
Wall Street edges higher as Fed's Williams boosts rate-cut hopes
Progress made on disentangling North Atlantic right whale
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Posted on 31 December 2013 21 August 2015
Minae Mizumura: 本格小説 新潮社 (A True Novel)
The latest addition to my website is Minae Mizumura‘s 本格小説 新潮社 (A True Novel). This book has been very well received both in Japan and elsewhere and, perhaps not surprisingly, had appeared in other European languages before appearing in English earlier this year. It was worth the wait. It is a superb Japanese take on the Wuthering Heights story, but told in that languid style that the Japanese (used to) do so well. It has the Cathy-Heathcliff tragic love affair but is also an exploration of memory and the past, the joys of the Japanese countryside, complex family relations and the nature of the novel. Minamura, who has lived and taught in the United States and is familiar with Western literature, tells the story of a novelist called Minae Mizumura who tells the story told to her by a young man who got much of it from a Japanese woman, about Taro Azuma, a man who had a difficult early life but managed to get himself to the United States and, by dint of hard work and brain power, became very rich, all the while struggling with reconciling himself with his past, which included his Japanese birth and Yoko, his Cathy Earnshaw. Some critics have said that it is too long and too slow. I was not bored for a minute and enjoyed every word of it. I can thoroughly recommend it to anyone interested in the modern novel.
Michael Ondaatje: Anil’s Ghost
The latest addition to my website is Michael Ondaatje‘s Anil’s Ghost. This is another superb novel by Ondaatje on war, truth and perspective, this time focussing on the conflict in Sri Lanka, the country of his birth. It tells the story of Anil Tessera, a forensic pathologist and Sri Lankan by birth but who has spent much of her adult life in the West. She is now working for a United Nations human rights investigation, looking into political murders in Sri Lanka. She and her colleague, Sarath Diyasena, a local archeologist, find evidence of a body concealed in an ancient site. However, their investigation is hindered by Anil’s suspicion of Sarath’s connections, trying to identify the body and, inevitably, the fact that they are getting too near to people in power. We also meet Sarath’s brother, a doctor who deals with accidents and emergencies, who devotes his life to helping those that have been injured, while trying to keep away from politics, which is naturally not always easy. We also meet Ananda, a painter of Buddhas, who has been traumatised by the disappearance of his wife and who helps them give a face to the dead man. Ondaatje does not hold back on the horrors of war but, as with The English Patient, there is a lot more to this book.
Benjamin Markovits: Childish Loves
The latest addition to my website is Benjamin Markovits‘ Childish Loves, his third novel about Lord Byron. Unlike his previous two, this one mixes in (semi-)autobiographical details with Byron’s story, as we follow the story of an author/teacher called Benjamin Markovits, who receives the manuscripts of two novels about Byron, written by a former friend who had killed himself, which happen to have the same titles as the ones written by the real Benjamin Markovits. The fictional Markovits then decides to study Peter Sullivan, the dead author, to find out what you can learn about people from the books they write – how much is true. Sullivan had been forced to leave his previous school for an alleged homosexual encounter with a student (the charge was subsequently withdrawn) and Markovits the character is eager to see how this affected his views of and writing on Byron. The book is interesting for its study of the nature of truth, how we find it and how we recognise it but its prurient study of the lives of Byron and Sullivan tend to get somewhat boring. Benjamin Markovits was selected as one of Granta’s Best Young British Novelists.
Steven Hall: The Raw Shark Texts
The latest addition to my website is Steven Hall‘s The Raw Shark Texts. I found it a rather contrived novel that did not really work for me. It tells the story of a young Englishman, Eric Sanderson, who has had something of a breakdown – eleven times – since the accidental death in Greece of his girlfriend. The latest incarnation of Eric Sanderson has the task of trying to ward off conceptual sharks which, while conceptual, can also bite and kill, while trying to track down a mysterious guru, with the aid of the Un-Space Exploration Committee. Of course, a girl joins him to help him, in good sub-Murakami style and together they save the world from Mycroft Ward, who is trying to take over everybody’s consciousness. I may have enjoyed this when I was young and carefree but, frankly, it now seems a little silly and proof and that no-one can wrote Murakami like Murakami. Steven Hall was selected as one of Granta’s Best Young British Novelists.
Laos and Cambodia
A Cambodian library
We have just returned from a holiday in Laos and Cambodia, finally seeing Angkor Wat. I have two novels from Cambodia on my site and two from Laos and, though I was given another Cambodian novel in English, it seems unlikely that many more will be added. Though the Khmer Empire was undoubtedly very literate in its heyday, that was a long time ago. Jayavarman VII will join Suppiluliumas of the Hittites as one of my favourite kings, not least because of their respective names but also because they seem to have both been great statesman. The Khmers certainly seem to have been highly literate as there are inscriptions carved on walls and stelae and most sites seem to have what are called Libraries (see left) where, apparently, they stored texts written on palm leaves. These have, of course, all disappeared but continued to be used by monks, though many were destroyed by the Khmer Rouge.
Stele with ancient Khmer script
The situation, today, however, is less promising. I asked our guide in Laos about Harry Potter and all he knew was the films. He was not aware that they came from books. (The books have not been translated into Lao but two have been translated into Khmer – ហេរី ផោតធ័រ និង សិលាទេព and ហេរី ផោតធ័រ និង បន្ទប់ សម្ងាត់, i.e. the first two). I saw relatively few libraries (apart from the ones at the ancient sites) or bookshops in either country and those that I did see tended to have predominantly books in English and other foreign languages. The books that they had in Lao or Khmer tended to be for foreigners learning the language or children’s or technical books. Moreover, unlike in other countries, I did not see people reading. The reasons are clear. In Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge entirely emptied Phnom Penh, a city of 2 million people. Not only did they kill two million people and destroy its infrastructure, they also destroyed the literary culture. Bookshops, publishers, libraries and writers all disappeared. They have not really reappeared. The US dropped over 3 million bombs on Laos, making it the most bombed country in the world ever. When bombs are raining down on you, writing books is not a top priority. The country remains a single party state, nominally Communist, though allowing private property and private enterprise. Literature does not seem to be a priority. Indeed, instead of reading, people in market stalls and cafés tended to crowd around television sets, watching what seemed to be appalling soap operas, many dubbed or subtitled and imported from China, Thailand or Vietnam, three countries which continue to have a considerable influence, not always benign, on the two countries. Sadly, it would seem that the literary life has been replaced by the modern, Western-style electronic media life.
Posted on 9 December 2013 17 August 2015
Lawrence Durrell: Tunc
The latest addition to my website is Lawrence Durrell‘s Tunc. This is the first of a two-part series and tells of a young inventor, Felix Charlock, who invents something that seems like a spy bug but also involves storing data in a computer and analysing it, all with a slight science fiction touch. He is seduced by a mysterious and powerful company, called Merlin, to work for them. The seduction takes the form of lots of money and Benedicta, daughter of the founder of the company, with said founder now – maybe – dead. He marries Benedicta and takes the money (and enjoys the luxurious lifestyle) but has considerable doubts as to whether the marriage with the enigmatic and often absent Benedicta and the financial rewards are justified. We get the usual Durrell flourishes – mysterious expatriates in Eastern Europe, even more mysterious potentates and the innocent abroad story. I quite enjoyed it but did not think up to the standard of the Alexandria Quartet, even though Durrell himself considered it superior.
Juan Francisco Ferré: Karnaval
The latest addition to my website is Juan Francisco Ferré‘s Karnaval, a superb novel about the Dominique Strauss-Kahn affair. Ferré takes the story of Strauss-Kahn and his alleged rape of an African chambermaid in a luxury New York hotel and makes a wonderful novel about a character called DK (the D standing for dios i.e. the Spanish for god) and how he represents power (particularly sexual power), arrogance and lust. From DK’s letters to world leaders, offering his advice, to a documentary film with interventions from various celebrity talking heads, from DK’s sexual history to his discussion with powerful financial figures, from exorcisms and strange voices to both DK’s view and the maid’s view of what happened and the aftermath, Ferré piles on a complex picture of power and arrogance and celebrity and the downfall of a man who has these traits and who becomes larger than life in this novel. It is part biography, part satire but much more in Ferré’s telling of the tale. Sadly, it is not available in any other language as yet.
Arnon Grunberg: Tirza
The latest addition to my website is Arnon Grunberg‘s Tirza, finally published in English this year. This is Grunberg’s masterpiece and a first-class piece of writing it is. It tells the story of Jörgen Hofmeester, a publisher’s editor, married and the father of two daughters, Ibi and Tirza. Jörgen drifts through life, as he drifted into his job (and out of it), his marriage (and out of it) and into fatherhood. His wife had walked out around three years ago and he has been left to bring up the two daughters though the eldest had soon left for university. The novel starts with the unexpected appearance of his wife, who has nowhere else to go, though the reunion is far from happy. The following day is Tirza’s birthday party and this brings its own problems, not least because Tirza introduces her boyfriend, a Moroccan called Choukri, who reminds Jörgen of Mohamed Atta. The pair are off to Africa – they choose Namibia as it seems to be the cheapest place to get to – and set off the next day. When Jörgen does not hear from them, he sets off to Namibia to find them. The skill of this book is the portrait of Jörgen, a man not fully into touch with the world and happy to drift through it, despite being a concerned and, generally, good father to his daughters. Grunberg describes his actions in great detail to really show us the man and his foibles, leaving with us with a funny but touching book, superbly written.
Juan Francisco Ferré: Providence
The latest addition to my website is Juan Francisco Ferré‘s Providence. Though the book is in Spanish and has not been translated into English, the title is in English as it refers, in part, to the city in Rhode Island, where much of the novel is set. I say in part, as Providence also refers to a video game, a website, a film/film script and Alain Resnais’ film of that name. Providence is also the birthplace of cult horror writer H. P. Lovecraft, who appears in this novel and has clearly influenced Ferré. The book tells the story of Alex Franco (one of several characters to share a surname with a famous person), a young Spanish film maker. After his first feature-length film flops at Cannes, he is approached by an attractive but older woman who asks him to develop a film script based on a book by an obscure Russian writer, called Providence. This reminds him of an event seven months previously in Marrakesh, when a mysterious Lebanese businessman got him to agree to a sort of Faustian pact. Franco heads off to Providence, where he will teach film and write the script. Much of his time in Providence seems to be spent having sex with inappropriate women but he does discover the dark side of Providence, the Lovecraftian side, if you will and things generally do not go well for him. This is a post 9/11 novel – it is mentioned more than once though is not key – and shows a world where chaos and menace are ever-present. I felt that he got too bogged down in the Providence story, even if we did get his potted view of the history of cinema, though the book starts and finishes well.
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Campaigns and Elections
Failing the Electoral Standards
May 9, 2005 Issue
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe has been monitoring elections in emerging democracies ever since the fall of the Berlin wall, but now it has done something different a
By Andrew Gumbel
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe has been monitoring elections in emerging democracies ever since the fall of the Berlin wall, but now it has done something different and uniquely controversial. It has turned its attention to the United States, issuing a report that highlights numerous areas in which this past November’s presidential and Congressional elections failed to meet international standards.
One would have thought the voter reform movement in this country would jump at the chance to see the United States judged by the same criteria as Ukraine, Georgia or Kyrgyzstan–especially since the report finds it badly wanting. Here, in black and white, is authoritative proof that the disenfranchisement of ex-felons, the uneven rules applied to provisional balloting, the unreliability of voter registration procedures and the dual role of election supervisors who also help run partisan political campaigns are not merely objectionable but also violate international norms to which the United States, as a participating member of the fifty-five-nation OSCE, is a leading signatory.
And yet the OSCE’s twenty-nine-page report, published in April has not generated a single column inch in any US newspaper. There are both good and bad reasons for this. For a start, the report has come out five months after the election, virtually guaranteeing its lack of topicality. It is also written in excruciatingly careful prose, belying the pointedness of its conclusions. There is no summary sentence stating explicitly that the United States has failed to meet its international commitments. (That has to be inferred.) Nor does it allude to the fact that Ohio was just a few tens of thousands of votes away from another Florida-style meltdown. This is a document that takes every conceivable step to avoid being controversial, even as it delivers its damning assessment.
Therein, though, lies the real story. The OSCE report has been the hottest of political hot potatoes for months, its reticence the result of an escalating diplomatic battle pitting the United States against the countries of the former Soviet Union, not unlike the cold war standoffs of old.
OSCE sources complain that US officials made “inappropriate” phone calls in the run-up to the report’s publication, in the hope that its conclusions would not come down too hard on the dysfunctions of its electoral system. Russia and the other former Soviet republics, meanwhile, have accused both the United States and the OSCE itself of a glaring double standard–making no bones about criticizing the conduct of their elections (in Georgia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and, most recently, Kyrgyzstan) while skirting over the inadequacies of voting in the world’s sole remaining superpower.
There is far more to this debate than mere diplomatic brick-throwing. At stake is the integrity of the single most powerful institution pressing for global democratization–a phenomenon President Bush professes to cherish these days. There is little doubt that the reason the Russians, Belarusians and the rest want to get the OSCE off their backs is that they are terrified of a Ukraine-style democratic uprising in their own autocratic backyards. (Kiev’s Orange Revolution was sparked, in part, by a withering OSCE election report, as was the popular revolt against Eduard Shevardnadze in Georgia.) But the reason they feel able to protest so vehemently comes right back to the United States and the fact that this country’s electoral house is in such manifest disarray.
The Russians have been banging the “double standard” drum ever since their own OSCE observers saw Florida’s electronic voting machines melt down during the 2002 midterms–a fiasco less well remembered than the punch-card disaster of 2000 but one that has poisoned just about every effort at electoral reform since. The Americans, admittedly, did not help themselves when, at an OSCE meeting on international election standards right after the Florida primary, they refused to acknowledge the slightest flaw in their domestic system.
OSCE officials sought to get around the mounting fracas in a couple of ways. First, they indicated they would entertain the possibility of much bigger election observation missions to the United States in the future. And then they commissioned a report drawing up universal standards applicable to all democracies, both emerging and established. This report came out in October 2003 and, to the attentive reader at least, suggested eleven areas in which the United States was falling short–the failure to establish nationwide voting procedures, the felon problem, the inequitable distribution of voting machines in poorer areas, the lack of money and media time accorded to third-party candidates, and so on.
The international tensions, though, continued to mount. By 2004 the OSCE’s reports on the former Soviet zone were proving so incendiary that President Putin personally ordered his OSCE ambassador to make the neutering of the OSCE’s election monitoring division his top priority.
In response, the OSCE seriously considered a full-scale observation of the Bush-Kerry presidential race, which would have involved hundreds of international monitors spread out across the entire country. The treacherous waters of US politics, however, made this option next to impossible, not least because the person pushing hardest for a major monitoring mission, the president of OSCE’s parliamentary assembly, turned out to be a black Democratic Congressman from Florida, Alcee Hastings. The OSCE realized a full-scale mission could easily be misinterpreted as a partisan assault on the Republicans, so it backed off.
It opted instead for a so-called “targeted observation mission,” focusing on just a handful of districts in swing states. Even this, though, ran into trouble. No European government wanted to risk the wrath of the United States by offering up observers–the whole EU ended up providing just two people, both from the Netherlands–and barely any state or county officials in this country wanted to allow the OSCE near their polling stations, even though they had a commitment to grant access under the terms of the OSCE’s founding 1990 Copenhagen agreement.
The OSCE appealed to both the State Department and the National Association of Secretaries of States for help, only to be told there was nothing either of them could do. As a result, the OSCE deployment on November 2 was patchy at best in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida and a couple of less contentious states.
The Russians were not impressed. At a high-level meeting in Sofia last December, the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, denounced the OSCE as a divisive and dishonest organization. “Election monitoring is not only ceasing to make sense,” he said, “but is also becoming an instrument of political manipulation and a destabilizing factor.”
The delay in publication of the OSCE’s final report on the US election only infuriated the Russians and their allies further. At this point they are threatening to withhold their portion of the OSCE budget unless the whole institution is restructured, starting with its election monitoring division. The actual content of the US report does not appear to have mollified them.
The Russians want the OSCE to prune back its monitoring procedures, so that instead of taking stock of the target country’s overall democratic health, as it has routinely done, it would merely measure voting procedures against a narrow technical checklist. The problem with such a list is that it would create boundless opportunities for loopholes and political sleight of hand–such skulduggery has been going on in the United States, for starters, for the past 200 years. Senior OSCE officials believe it would effectively gut their organization and the work they have done for the past fifteen years.
And so the debate rages on. The moral of the story is that meaningful electoral reform is not only a burning issue here in the United States. The democratic future of much of the world could depend on it.
Andrew GumbelAndrew Gumbel is the author of Steal This Vote: Dirty Elections and the Rotten History of Democracy in America (Nation Books) and a US correspondent for The Independent of London.
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A heated exchange of views on Lakshmi Chaudhry's slam of Harry Potter and a more civilized exchange between Jonathan Schell and Peace Action's Kevin Martin on nuclear proliferation.
By Jonathan Schell and Our Readers
MUGGLES FOR HARRY POTTER!
Letters from muggles of all stripes–parents, grandparents, teachers, doctors, librarians, readers old and young–were unanimous in decrying Lakshmi Chaudhry’s “Harry Potter and the Half-Baked Epic” [Aug. 13/20], her review of the final book of the series. Letters featured such terms as “humorless,” “sanctimonious,” “asinine,” “off the mark,” “nonsense,” “half-baked” and “a review that might have appeared in The Weekly Standard.” A reader opined that Chaudhry had “splattered herself with her own ink. Perhaps the quill she used came from Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes.” No letters were delivered by owl. –The Editors
I was taken aback by Lakshmi Chaudhry’s venomous attack on the Harry Potter saga. Looking behind the cheap point-scoring, I find it hard to see what her problem with the book really is. On the one hand she criticizes Voldemort for being a cardboard villain but then has a go at Harry for not being a cardboard hero and at the series for not having a cardboard and crystal-clear moral. I suspect–based on her pulling Bush into the last sentence–that the real problem is that J.K. Rowling didn’t use the final battle to mirror the great battle in American politics. Perhaps she’d have liked to see Harry lead the charge to impeach Voldemort?
STIG EDVARTSEN
Is Lakshmi Chaudhry really Rita Skeeter in disguise, and is this really the Daily Prophet? That could explain why you failed to pick a reviewer with no ax to grind to critique the Harry Potter books. You could have chosen a high school or college student or even me, a grandmother who’s a retired librarian, editor and writer with two degrees behind my name, and who has read all the books seven times. We could all tell you that Chaudhry/Skeeter missed the major points of the epic. First and foremost–it’s a great story! The imaginative weaving of several plots, the character development and the creation of another world all draw the reader into caring participation with the characters. Good conquers evil! All classes of creatures care! And yes–love and unselfishness are important. Got a problem with that, Skeeter?
ANNE MORROW DONLEY
Augusta, Me.
Lakshmi Chaudhry’s critique was shortsighted. The books are written to appeal to young readers, and Rowling has hit that mark dead-on. If Chaudhry doesn’t know that adolescents are preoccupied with themselves and where they fall into the scheme of things, she is, well, preoccupied with being an adult. Most children don’t know anything about Hitler or World War II. Rowling brings a taste of the “real world” into a story that children can and want to relate to. It is a beginning. I feel the books do much good in giving kids an idea of the horrors that lurk “out there” without destroying hope that sacrifice and perseverance can win in the end.
CYNTHIA HOOK
Scottsdale, Ariz.
The charge of “moral fuzziness” leveled against the Harry Potter books recalls the term “moral clarity” that right-wingers ascribe to themselves. Harry gradually achieves maturity by understanding the flaws in his various fathers and by assuming responsibility when their foresight fails. Only when he understands that his idolized teacher, Dumbledore, was driven by his own acute sense of failure does he at last gain the insight necessary to undo Voldemort.
There are no fathers endowed with wisdom or queens radiating gentle beauty; good and evil are not cosmic forces embodied in hero-saints and demon-villains but the result of human steps and missteps. These moral and psychological perceptions drive the drama, and they drive fundamentalists wild.
JAY HOCHSTEDT
Edinburg, Tex.
I wonder if Lakshmi Chaudhry has spent any time reading Harry Potter with a child, the actual audience for the series. My son has thoroughly enjoyed the books, and I have read them so we can discuss them. I have encouraged him to dig deeper, to ask questions and to wrestle with some of the larger issues developed in these books.
This final volume follows the kind of quest that only a 17-year-old could undertake: the hard task of making the transition from child to adult. Because of his youth and inexperience Harry is not the most contemplative of heroes, and this lends credibility to his character. In a sense he is a typical 17-year-old, thrust into a situation that is clearly beyond him, trying to make the best of it. This means that he will approach events in a way that strikes many adults as shallow or naïve. Guess what? This is a more accurate representation than is usually trotted out for our perusal.
As for the epilogue–this is where I think Chaudhry displays a blind elitism and a misunderstanding of the series, as she finds this domestic tableau simplistic and shallow. I find it note-perfect. It represents the core of what Rowling was trying to describe as Harry’s deepest yearning: a loving family.
Chaudhry wants cosmic significance. What most of us want is the love of family and friends safe to find their future. When boiled down, the solutions to the grand conflicts in history and in the present offer that opportunity. Perhaps that is simply too banal for Chaudhry. If so, that is a pity.
KEN A. GRANT
Beaverton, Ore.
Chaudhry seems to suggest that a real hero never doubts. I submit that all people doubt. The difference between the courageous and the cowardly doesn’t lie in the doubts but in what they do with them. That Harry ruminates about lost time with his parents, has personal preferences and friendships, and begins to doubt Dumbledore makes his actions all the more heroic. The cowardly wallow; Harry moved forward. Regardless of his needs, he completed his mission for the benefit of the wizarding, and muggle, world.
ROBIN WHITAKER
What’s odd about Chaudhry’s review of the latest Harry Potter book is that anyone would bother to analyze it. The Potter franchise is a series of by-the-numbers tales in which special, somewhat nerdy kids gain access to magical powers within the context of a fantasy world. This is a formulaic genre, not intended, as Chaudhry seems to believe, to contain some deep intellectual reflection on current political themes and events. The series has made J.K. Rowling and her publishers rich and has provided an escape for a certain category of kid. It’s a product. Through whatever magic, it became a hit. End of story.
C. FRENSLEY
Verona, Wisc.
In this age of agonizing over the death of the book and will Johnny ever learn to read, we should be tickled pink that millions of kids and parents and grandparents are reading together and enjoying it!
JEAN BASS, grandma
NO NUKES–THEN & NOW
Silver Spring, Md.
Thank you to my wonderful colleague and friend Jonathan Schell for “The Spirit of June 12” [July 2], his insightful review of the past twenty-five years of national and international nuclear politics. His description of the grassroots nuclear disarmament movement, its strengths, victories, shortcomings, hard-to-quantify direct effect on policy, as well as the urgent challenges we still face are very much on the mark.
However, it is incorrect to state there is “no heir to…the freeze movement.” Organizationally, there certainly is: Peace Action (formed from the merger of the Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign and the Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy, or SANE), still the largest peace and disarmament organization in the country, with more than 100,000 members. And many other organizations that either started or grew during the freeze heyday in the early 1980s are still going strong.
While the grassroots fervor of the freeze has yet to re-emerge, the impact on public opinion, if not yet on government policy, lives on in the solid support for the global abolition of nuclear weapons, more than 70 percent in opinion polls. And without a doubt, the mass rejection of George W. Bush’s quagmire in Iraq is due in no small part to the efforts of peace groups and organizers who trace their roots to the freeze movement, as well as newer organizations and activists.
Peace Action is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary with, among other things, a new book, Peace Action: Past, Present and Future (see www. peace-action.org).
Executive director, Peace Action
SCHELL REPLIES
I stand corrected by Kevin Martin. Peace Action is the undoubted principal heir to the nuclear freeze movement of the 1980s. The credit due Peace Action is all the greater for its having remained vital and strong while so many–the press, academia, foundations, even the public–turned their backs on the nuclear question. Special honor is due those who remain faithful and active in a cause in the lean years as well as the fat–to the winter soldiers of the antinuclear movement–so permit me to join in heartfelt congratulations to Peace Action on its fiftieth birthday.
It has not, of course, been alone in its long march. The American Friends Service Committee, Women’s Action for New Directions, the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom and Physicians for Social Responsibility, among many others, have never wavered in their dedication to nuclear abolition. A new group, the National Religious Partnership on the Nuclear Danger, is marshaling antinuclear sentiment in communities of faith. On the West Coast, the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation is at work educating a new generation on the nuclear facts of life, and the Western States Legal Foundation keeps a sharp expert eye on the nuclear weapons labs. The Lawyer’s Committee on Nuclear Policy has been steadily refining its excellent proposal for a Nuclear Weapons Convention. Recently, the committee issued a fine, deeply informed fresh appraisal of the nuclear dilemma–Nuclear Disorder or Cooperative Security?–which sets forth the new forms that nuclear danger has assumed while people were looking the other way.
Also noteworthy is an article in the Wall Street Journal, in which former Secretary of State George Shultz, former Defense Secretary William Perry, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and former Senator Sam Nunn called for a revival of Ronald Reagan’s vision of “a world free of nuclear weapons.” The article marks a sea change in established opinion, which previously (with the hugely significant exception of Reagan) had formed a solid phalanx of opposition to nuclear abolition. It would not be more surprising if the four horsemen of the apocalypse had turned around and started galloping the other way. This development creates the happy possibility of finding common ground between those who were on opposite sides of the barricades. And as Martin points out, something like 70 percent of the public agrees with the emerging consensus. Like the antinuclear movement and the defecting nuclear priesthood, people understand that the problem is not just proliferation or nuclear terrorism but nuclear weapons themselves–all of them–which help no one and menace all.
The nuclear danger is ripe and overripe for public rediscovery, which has in fact already begun. This time, it’s clear that the goal of all efforts would not just be amelioration–a freeze or reduction or a test ban–but the long-deferred holy grail of all who have struggled against the danger for more than sixty years: the abolition of nuclear arms.
Jonathan SchellJonathan Schell (1943-2014) was the Lannan Fellow at The Nation Institute. His books include The Unconquerable World: Power, Nonviolence and the Will of the People, an analysis of people power, and The Seventh Decade: The New Shape of Nuclear Danger.
Our ReadersLetters submitted by our readers are read and published in the magazine.
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Marcus Samuelsson: Dad prepared him for race in kitchen
Growing up in Sweden, chef Marcus Samuelsson learned many lessons that would follow him into the kitchen as an adult, from how to smoke mackerel to the best technique for forming meatballs
Marcus Samuelsson: Dad prepared him for race in kitchen Growing up in Sweden, chef Marcus Samuelsson learned many lessons that would follow him into the kitchen as an adult, from how to smoke mackerel to the best technique for forming meatballs Check out this story on thenorthwestern.com: http://oshko.sh/1EObUjr
Kelli Kennedy, Associated Press Published 4:18 p.m. CT Feb. 24, 2015
This Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2012 file photo shows Chef Marcus Samuelsson, owner of the Red Rooster, at the restaurant in New York. Growing up in Sweden, Samuelsson learned many lessons that would follow him into the kitchen as an adult, from how to smoke mackerel to the best technique for forming meatballs. But the one that stuck with him the most came from his father and was about skin color, not culinary skill. Samuelsson, who was born in Ethiopia and adopted by a Swedish family after his mother died, said his father taught him early that life in the restaurant industry would be different as a black chef from Africa.(Photo: AP)
MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – Growing up in Sweden, chef Marcus Samuelsson learned many lessons that would follow him into the kitchen as an adult, from how to smoke mackerel to the best technique for forming meatballs. But the one that may have stuck with him the most came from his father and was about skin color, not culinary skill.
Samuelsson, who was born in Ethiopia and adopted by a Swedish family after his mother died, said his father taught him early that life in the restaurant industry would be different as a black chef from Africa.
“It was my job to break down those barriers. I carry many barriers, like being an immigrant, being from Africa. But it also gave me a focus and a work ethic. You have to be a little bit more precise,” Samuelsson said during a recent interview during the South Beach Wine and Food Festival.
Today, Samuelsson runs three restaurants, including the Red Rooster Harlem in New York, has won multiple James Beard Foundation awards, was the youngest person to ever receive a three-star review from The New York Times, and was tasked with planning and executing the Obama administration’s first state dinner.
But it didn’t come easily.
“I remember when I was a young kid trying to get (a job in) a three-star Michelin restaurant, it was very clear to me that I couldn’t be one of the good guys. I had to be the best,” he said.
Now a judge on Food Network’s “Chopped” and best-selling author says he is focused on helping shape the next generation of talent. “Part of our trade, regardless of race, is to mentor and be in a mentor-mentee relationship,” he said. “Of course as a person of color, I think about this. I think about what is the tribe that I bring with me.”
That’s why he’s passionate about events like the Harlem Eat Up this May, a festival he created to educate others about Harlem’s history and spotlight local chefs, artists, music and theater.
“I think the dialogue around black men has been very heavy and focused on very important issues, but there’s also another side and a celebration of how far we’ve come,” he said. “To me, leading a kitchen and creating jobs in Harlem, with the festival, with the restaurants, is my example of how to lead as a black man.”
But he always stays close to his Swedish and Ethiopian roots. In 2000, he reconnected with his biological father and met his 18 sisters and brothers for the first time in Ethiopia, where he learned about local spices and how to make staples like injera bread. He also opened a restaurant in Gothenburg, Sweden.
Food is one of the few places where diversity is celebrated, he said. “It’s been a life challenge to figure out how to bring my culture with me and I’m really grateful that I have an audience and an opportunity to do that.”
Read or Share this story: http://oshko.sh/1EObUjr
Sawdust City Classic basketball tourney tips off Saturday
Events: EAA and other things to do in Oshkosh
Oshkosh Pet of the Week: Spooky the cat
Oshkosh Pet of the Week: Fancy the rabbit
Miss Wisconsin 2019: Miss Racine, Onalaska win Thursday preliminaries
Miss Wisconsin 2019: Susan Fochs, Elise O'Connell win Wednesday preliminaries
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Raymond Ibrahim: Obama’s Love for Jihadis and Hate for Christians
StaffRebel Columnist
(This article by Raymond Ibrahim originally appeared on raymondibrahim.com on November 19, 2015)
Obama recently lashed out against the idea of giving preference to Christian refugees, describing it as “shameful”: “That’s not American. That’s not who we are. We don’t have religious tests to our compassion,” loftily added the American president.
Accordingly, the administration is still determined to accept 10,000 more Syrian refugees, almost all of whom will be Muslim, despite the fact that some are ISIS operatives, while many share the ISIS worldview (as explained below).
Yet right as Obama was grandstanding about “who we are,” statistics were released indicating that “the current [refugee] system overwhelmingly favors Muslim refugees. Of the 2,184 Syrian refugees admitted to the United States so far, only 53 are Christians while 2,098 are Muslim.”
Aside from the obvious—or to use Obama’s own word, “shameful”—pro-Muslim, anti-Christian bias evident in these statistics, there are a number of other troubling factors as well.
For starters, the overwhelming majority of “refugees” being brought into the United States are not just Muslim, but Sunnis—the one Muslim sect that the Islamic State is not persecuting and displacing. After all, ISIS—and most Islamic terrorist groups (Boko Haram, Al Qaeda, Al Shabaab, Hamas, et al)—are all Sunnis. Even Obama was arguably raised a Sunni.
In this context, how are Sunnis “refugees”? Who are they fleeing? Considering that the Obama administration defines refugees as people “persecuted by their government,” most of those coming into the U.S. either aided or at least sympathized with the jihad against Assad (even if they only revealed their true colors when the time was right).
Simply put, some 98% of all refugees belong to the same Islamic sect that ISIS does. And many of them, unsurprisingly, share the same vision—such as the “refugees” who recently murdered some 120 people in France, or the “refugees” who persecute Christian minorities in European camps and settlements. (None of this should be surprising considering that Al Azhar—the Sunni world’s most prestigious university of Islamic law, which co-hosted Obama’s 2009 “A New Beginning” speech—was recently exposed as teaching and legitimizing all the atrocities that ISIS commits.)
As for those who are being raped, slaughtered, and enslaved based on their non-Sunni religious identity—not by Assad, but by so-called “rebel” forces (AKA jihadis)—many of them are being denied refuge in America.
Thus, although Christians were approximately 10 percent of Syria’s population in 2011, only one percent has been granted refuge in America. This despite the fact that, from a strictly humanitarian point of view—and humanitarianism is the chief reason being cited in accepting refugees, Obama’s “compassion”—Christians should receive priority simply because they are the most persecuted group in the Middle East.
At the hands of the Islamic State, which supposedly precipitated the migrant crisis, Christians have been repeatedly forced to renounce Christ or die; they have been enslaved and raped; and they have had more than 400 of their churches desecrated and destroyed.[i]
ISIS has committed no such atrocities against fellow Sunnis, they who are being accepted into the U.S. in droves. Nor does Assad enslave, behead, or crucify people based on their religious identity (despite Jeb Bush’s recent, and absurd, assertions).
Obama should further prioritize Christian refugees simply because his own policies in the Middle East have directly exacerbated their plight. Christians and other religions minorities did not flee from Bashar Assad’s Syria, Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, or Muamar Gaddafi’s Libya. Their systematic persecution began only after the U.S. interfered in those nations in the name of “democracy” but succeeding in only uncorking the jihadi terrorists that the dictators had long kept suppressed.
Incidentally, prioritizing Christian refugees would not merely be an altruistic gesture or the U.S. government’s way of righting its wrongs: rather it brings many benefits to America’s security. (Unlike Muslims or even Yazidis, Christians are easily assimilated into Western nations due to the shared Christian heritage, and they bring trustworthy language and cultural skills that are beneficial to the “war on terror.”)
Finally, no one should be shocked by these recent revelations of the Obama administration’s pro-Muslim and anti-Christian policies. They fit a clear and established pattern of religious bias within his administration. For example:
When inviting scores of Muslim representatives, the State Department is in the habit of denying visas to solitary Christian representatives.
When a few persecuted Iraqi Christians crossed the border into the U.S., they were thrown in prison for several months and then sent back to the lion’s den to be enslaved, raped, or murdered.
When the Nigerian government waged a strong offensive against Boko Haram, killing some of its terrorists, Secretary of State John Kerry fumed and called for the “human rights” of the jihadis (who regularly slaughter and rape Christians and burn their churches). More recently, Kerry “urged Tajikistan not to go overboard in its crackdown on Islam.”
When persecuted Coptic Christians planned on joining Egypt’s anti-Muslim Brotherhood revolution of 2013, the U.S. said no.
When persecuted Iraqi and Syrian Christians asked for arms to join the opposition fighting ISIS, D.C. refused.
When the UN Security Council held a meeting to discuss the genocide against Christians and other minorities, although “many high level delegations from UN member states addressed the Security Council meeting, some at the Foreign Minister level, the United States failed to send … a high ranking member of the State Department.”
Most recently, as the White House works on releasing a statement accusing ISIS of committing genocide against religious minorities such as Yazidis — who are named and recognized in the statement — Obama officials are arguing that Christians “do not appear to meet the high bar set out in the genocide treaty” and thus likely not be mentioned.
In short, and to use the president’s own words, it is the Obama administration’s own foreign and domestic policies that are “shameful,” that are “not American,” and that do not represent “who we are.”
Yet the question remains: Will Americans take notice and do anything about their leader’s policies—which welcome Islamic jihadis while ignoring their victims—or will their indifference continue until they too become victims of the jihad, in a repeat of Paris or worse?
[i] Even before the new “caliphate” was established, Christians were and continue to be targeted by Muslims—Muslim mobs, Muslim individuals, Muslim regimes, and Muslim terrorists, from Muslim countries of all races (Arab, African, Asian, etc.)—and for the same reason: Christians are infidel number one. See Crucified Again: Exposing Islam’s New War on Christians for hundreds of anecdotes before the rise of ISIS as well as the Muslim doctrines that create such hate and contempt for Christians who are especially deserving of refugee status.
RAYMOND IBRAHIM is a widely published author, public speaker, and Middle East and Islam specialist. His books include Crucified Again: Exposing Islam’s New War on Christians (2013) and The Al Qaeda Reader (2007).
Deborah Graupner commented 2015-12-29 17:59:38 -0500
Oops, it should be “down.”
J Kay – That statement is a veiled threat from the first black president. I think it’s pretty safe to say that the president is definitely not a Christian, and he is practicing his evil Taqiya. In the Bible, it says that you will know them by their actions. Everything B.O. has done has been to undermine America, and now his mini-me is in office in Canada, thanks to the same B.O. and the evil UN. This world is going done, just like it says in the Bible!
J Kay Kay commented 2015-12-27 10:30:03 -0500
“The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam” sounded like a strange thing for an American president to say. The only thing that I could draw from it is that he favours Islam over Christianity and as Andy Neimers mentioned below, perhaps he’s practicing Taqiya.
The Asian Times has a 3 part series this week, by Angelo Codevilla, Romancing the Sunni where he writes, “For more than a quarter century, as Americans have suffered trouble from the Muslim world’s Sunni and Shia components and as the perennial quarrel between them has intensified, the US government has taken the side of the Sunni. US foreign policy in the Middle East had moved to the Sunni side in 1979 after the Shia Islamic Republic’s overthrow of Iran’s secular Shah.”
Perhaps that’s why America is bringing in Sunni-only refugees.
http://atimes.com/2015/12/romancing-the-sunni-a-us-policy-tragedy-in-three-acts-act-i/
Andy Neimers commented 2015-12-24 01:44:00 -0500
And in your face on the golf greens of Hawaii – A MERRY CHRISTMAS!….
Even the likes of astute US commentators like Krauthammer cannot face the possibility that Barak Hussein Obama is a Muslim practicing the lies of Taqiyya… But once you accept that possibility, everything he has done in the past seven years, to make the Muslim Caliphate grow stronger makes sense, like all the pieces of a jigsaw finally snapping into place…
Wayne Allen commented 2015-12-06 01:47:29 -0500
Political correctness prevented any mention or discussion of Obama being a Muslim. The religion of the President of the United States was not supposed to be important. After all, all religions are the same, aren’t they? No they are not!
Brent Mcfadden commented 2015-12-03 18:45:56 -0500
Muslim brother hoods sisters Obama/Trudeau ! Welcome to them! UN bank will fund them till the whole world is burning. The carbon tax is the money supply along with the drug trade all controlled through the treasonest leaders of the free world.
You’re right on Peter…. It is more and more apparent that Obama is practicing Taqiyya and everything he does, and has done, makes sense after you accept that reality… The American people are growing wise to that fact more and more, as evidenced by the questions being posed to Republican candidates in recent months… It is the majority of the US news media that have to come to grips with that reality, but which they are reluctant to do given their shoddy vetting of “Barak Hussein from Chicago” in 2008… Sooner or later they will have to do so as things deteriorate even more on the international stage… I also believe that historians will dig up the truth in coming years and decades as to what really happened under the Obama/Valerie Jarrett regime… Our American neighbours were “had”, we were had, and the Western World was had… He will go down in history as a traitor and a Muslim “fifth columnist”… It remains to be seen how much more damage he can do in the coming 13 months… The only comfort I have, is that if things do deteriorate even more, or Obama does attempt an “executive order coup”, he is going to be met with a rebellion in in the ranks of the US military… Real Americans will not just stand by…
Cathy R commented 2015-12-01 19:39:24 -0500
Obama is one cruel and dangerous Islamic criminal. He will go down in history with this identity. When the entire truth is uncovered and released to the world he will be arrested and thrown into prison. He should get the death penalty for treason and being responsible for allowing the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent people in the middle east. Trudeau is now proving to follow in Obama’s footsteps. The conservative opposition party and the people of Canada has to get him out of office by impeaching him or whatever means necessary. There is a war going on right now with islam in the world and Trudeau is inviting them in. This is treason and is grounds for impeachment. Once he’s gone the next leader cannot under any circumstances allow any muslim refugees into our country ever. The more muslims who are here causing trouble that are deported, the safer our country is going to be.
Peter Mac isaac commented 2015-12-01 15:16:12 -0500
The overwhelming preponderance of evidence would lead one to suspect that Mr. Obama is actually a Muslim practicing Taqiyya and Kitman http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/quran/011-taqiyya.htm and actively supporting the Quran taught Hizrah http://www.missionislam.com/knowledge/hijrah.htm It also explains his total unwillingness to call radical Islam by its name and to denounce Sharia law.
After researching all other possibilities this is the only rational conclusion an educated person can arrive at. I challenge a rebuttal.
Marty Ashfield commented 2015-12-01 13:28:44 -0500
Keith you are so right. I have been called a racist for saying exactly the same thing for a long time, that ‘All Terrorists are Muslims and all Muslims are Terrorists’. All the so called peaceful Muslims might not kill or rape, but they do cheer on the ones that do and will rape and kill when they feel that they have the upper hand.
In the old West there was a saying that ‘the only good Indian was a dead one’, well, this now fits the Muslims, and should be our battle cry or mantra, ‘the only good Muslim is a dead one!’.
I know that I will be or could be in huge shit for saying things like that, but I stopped being ‘Politicaly Correct’ a while back.
Besides I’m at the age that I don’t give a fuck, if someone doesn’t like what I say or how I say it, then too fucking bad!
LONG LIVE THE JEWS AND THE CHRISTIANS!
I believe that Obama is a member of the Muslim brotherhood, and was implanted by the UN, just like our empty headed kid that was illegally placed in our parliament, by the same UN crooks. He has always been a traitor to America, but the smooth tongued devil kept playing that old race card, to fan the hatred of those who are mentally unstable, so that he can manipulate the events in his favour. He doesn’t even follow the laws of America! He makes his own laws based on his hatred of Christians, and white people.
Elton Braun commented 2015-12-01 12:34:11 -0500
Bad enough if Obama was just demonstrating the lefts’ stupid stubborn refusal to identify the enemy and now the victims as well but the evidence appears to indicate that he’s actually being complicit in supporting isis. This makes him a very dangerous man indeed. The lefts’ war on Christians and Jews is alive and well.
Keith Barnes commented 2015-12-01 12:07:52 -0500
All Terrorists are Muslims and all Muslims are Terrorists. The so called peaceful Muslims will become Instant killers, when instructed to by their Mosque leaders.
One Muslim, in any country is one to many. The Quran instructs them to kill all Christians and this is what they will do.
As long as we have Traitors leading the western world, we are doomed to a very uncertain future. People like Obama and now Trudeau are in the process of dragging us down the path of no return.
Obama has a lot of power and is dangerous, Trudeau is also dangerous but simple minded, he obeys his Muslim masters. Cameron, I suspect is more involved with the UN Marxist. This makes little difference, they all have the same agenda and are working well toward their goal of ‘One World Order’. This will be achieved, first by controlling populations with Sharia Law, creating fear and confusion amongst all peoples, When populations become disorientated, they cannot organize themselves to fight back.
The Obama’s and Trudeau’s of this world need to be stopped, now. BEFORE IT IS TO LATE.
Evelyn Cooper commented 2015-12-01 11:42:54 -0500
. . and our News Media (Canada and USA) and our new PM will just look the other way.
Steve McQueen commented 2015-12-01 10:53:47 -0500
Obama is a muslim – his father was a muslim – terrorism will continue to thrive while Obama remains in charge.
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Repeat Infringers
In accordance with Section 512(i)(1)(A) of the DMCA, TheSportster.com will, in appropriate circumstances, disable and/or terminate the accounts of contributors who are repeat infringers.
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Don’t Talk Back: The Last Word In Answer Records
Best Eric B And Rakim Songs: 20 Trailblazing Tracks
You’ll find answer records in all walks of music. Some are aggressive, some motivated by a sense of injustice, and others show contempt through wit.
Ian McCann
The Coasters sang “Yakety Yak – don’t talk back,” a stipulation that just had to be ignored. It practically invited a reply, and sure enough it got one: ‘Blibberin’ Blabberin’ Blues’ by Gino Parks. You can’t blame Gino. A struggling R&B singer hangin’ around Detroit’s music scene scufflin’ for a lil’ success, anyone in that sit’ation woulda done the same: make a response to a song that’s already popular. Answer records are a surefire route to chart action, aren’t they? Except in Gino’s case, it wasn’t. Tamla, his record label, was embroiled in legal action over another record that owed its “inspiration” to The Shirelles’ ‘Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow’. Suffering cold feet over Gino’s opus, they didn’t release his record properly. Don’t talk back, Gino. They done told you so.
Listen to the best answer records on Spotify.
Clearly, Gino wasn’t the first to sneak along this shortcut to success. And he was not the last. The answer record has been around since the start of the 20th Century, replying when no reply is required, and making a nuisance of itself. An answer record often provides a riposte to a question that was never posed. In 1908, singer Billy Murray wailed ‘I’m Afraid To Come Home In The Dark’ and, no doubt down to cognitive-behavioural therapy to fix that morbid fear, was able to record ‘I Used to Be Afraid To Come Home In The Dark’ the next year. No matter that the former left no question unanswered, he answered it anyway. The die was cast: every so often, someone would have a hit and some other bright spark would find a excuse to answer it. The only difference in this instance is that Billy used his own awful voice to answer his ditty.
You’ll find answer records in all walks of music. Some are aggressive (‘Roxanne’s Revenge’ by Roxanne Shante, part of a street opera we’ll come to later); some are motivated by a sense of injustice (Big Youth’s ‘African Daughter’, replying to a Prince Jazzbo 45); some show contempt through wit (Muddy Waters’ ‘Manish Boy’, answering Bo Diddley’s ‘I’m A Man’); alas, many are just a pointless attempt to pull in some dollars. Some, though, are better than the originals, which must be truly annoying: they knew where your bandwagon was headed better than you did.
Damita Jo must have been an irritant to Ben E King. In 1960, as lead singer of The Drifters, King enjoyed a mega-hit with ‘Save The Last Dance For Me’; Jo replied with ‘I’ll Save The Last Dance For You’. The following year, King went solo with the monster ‘Stand By Me’ and Jo was lurking with ‘I’ll Be There’ – which is probably what King was worried about! Without matching the quality of the songs which prompted them, Jo scored her two biggest US pop hits.
Sometimes an answer record emerges from an act that you might think has, well, more class. When The Miracles were struggling Detroit R&B kids, they saw the opportunity to sneak a hit by replying to The Silhouettes’ smash ‘Get A Job’. The Miracles’ ‘Got A Job’ was a decent record, but also a rare instance when Smokey Robinson wins no prizes for originality.
Sometimes circumstances conspire to create an answer record and the result doesn’t make sense. A female vocal group from Harlem, The Bobbettes wrote a tune moaning about their teacher, ‘Mr Lee’, but when it was recorded for Atlantic, it was turned into a ballad of romantic longing and became a big hit in ’57. But the girls couldn’t follow it up and spent three years off the chart. So they returned to their original blueprint and recorded ‘I Shot Mr Lee’ – yes, they (hopefully only lyrically) gunned down the educator they professed to love. It wasn’t logical, but maybe a lot of people could identify with wanting to wipe out a loved one, because it gave The Bobbettes their second hit.
For answer records to be viable, they’re often recorded in a style of music that moves quickly – an example is the Roxanne saga. In 1984, hip-hop act UTFO and Full Force cut ‘Roxanne, Roxanne’, and this amusing tale of several guys chasing an unobtainable woman was a smash. Answer records began popping up; a 14-year-old rapper styling herself Roxanne Shante cut ‘Roxanne’s Revenge’. Then came a deluge of tunes from girls professing to be Roxanne, including The Real Roxanne (who wasn’t the, uh, real Real Roxanne, as someone else voiced the first record by that name), numerous male acts dissing the fictional girl in the original song, and, eventually, records telling everyone to shut up about goddamn Roxanne. Good idea – though some of the answer records were better than the original, including Shante’s opus.
On the other hand, some answer records take years to gestate. Generation X’s 1977 debut release, ‘Your Generation’, shot at an earlier cohort of musicians, specifically The Who, sniping at their ‘Substitute’ single while referencing their 1965 45 ‘My Generation’ in the title. (Ironically, Generation X stole their name from a 1965 book which featured interviews with mods, a youth cult The Who were identified with.) An even longer gap between original record and reply came with Billy Paul’s ‘Me And Mrs Jones’ and Amy Winehouse’s ‘Me And Mr Jones’ – which was more inspired by the original than it was a straight answer, and actually written about the rapper Nas (real name Nasir Jones). Amy’s 2006 song arrived years behind Barbara Mason, who’d offered a swift and direct answer to Billy Paul’s 1972 original with the same title Winehouse used.
While answer songs can be disrespectful, such as Bob Dylan’s ‘Clothes Lines Saga’, which parodied Bobbie Gentry’s ‘Ode To Billie Joe’, that’s not always the case; they can simply continue the story of the original, such as Roger White’s ‘The Mystery Of Tallahatchie Bridge’, or Ann LeSear’s ‘Take Him Back (Taxi)’, which tells the other side of J Blackfoot’s deep soul ballad ‘Taxi’.
Answer songs may be clinging on the coattails of somebody else’s idea, but there are benefits to the artist who sang the original song. It’s possible they’ll land a writer’s credit if the tune is identical to theirs, which means publishing royalties; and at the very least, it’s confirmation that they’ve made it – who would bother to answer a song nobody’s heard? For the rest of us, it’s just more of something we enjoy. Like the original? You’re sure to love the reply…
Related Topics:Amy WinehouseBo DiddleyMuddy WatersNasPopPure PopSmokey RobinsonThe MiraclesThe Who
James Henry
The last t
The last two playlists I’ve tried to download haven’t worked. I’ve done this many times before without any trouble.
I’m starting to understand
‘Every Breath You Take’: Behind Sting And The Police’s Signature Song
‘Rock And Roll Circus’: Behind The Rolling Stones’ Wildest Extravaganza
Johnny Clegg, South African Musical Hero And Anthropologist, Dies At 66
‘Stay With Me’: The Story Behind Sam Smith’s Breakthrough Song
Bo Diddley’s Second Hit Makes Him A ‘Diddley Daddy’
‘Cosmo’s Factory’: Creedence Clearwater Revival’ Hit-Making Machine
Stream Some Pop...
So You Think You Know Abba?
Pop Legends
Chris Stapleton Collaborates With Ed Sheeran, Bruno Mars On New Track, ‘Blow’
Emeli Sandé Releases New Single, ‘Shine’, New Album, ‘Real Life’ Due In September
Billie Eilish And Justin Bieber Team Up On ‘Bad Guy’ Remix
Sting & Shaggy Perform For NPR’s ‘Tiny Desk’ Concert Series
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National Geographic and Heart of the Continent Partnership Introduce Heart of the Continent Geotourism MapGuide and Website
Geotourism: Tourism that sustains or enhances the geographical character of a place — its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage and well-being of its residents Travelers seeking unspoiled places and culturally authentic experiences now have a valuable new resource in a comprehensive “Geotourism MapGuide” and website for the Heart of the Continent region. The landmark project has taken two years to plan and execute and is a historically significant asset for everyone who visits or lives in the region.
The Geotourism MapGuide, with its Heart of the Continent Mobile App, highlights the enchanted landscapes and enduring people of northeastern Minnesota and northwestern Ontario. It is designed to showcase to local, national and international audiences the natural, cultural and historic attractions that define the region.
Roll-out events are planned for the Heart of the Continent Geotourism Mapguide and website:
March 19, 10:00 AM at Glensheen Mansion in Duluth, Minnesota
March 19, 4:00 PM at Grand Portage National Monument in Grand Portage, Minnesota
March 20, 10:00 AM at Fort William Historical Park in Thunder Bay, Ontario
All sites and attractions that have been nominated and now reside on the website are invited to attend and receive their certificate of participation from National Geographic Society. The keynote speaker is James Dion, Director of Tourism Programs, Maps Division for National Geographic Society.
National Geographic’s acclaimed mapmaking and sustainable tourism expertise helped produce the Geotourism website along with the U.S. Forest Service, Ontario Parks, Voyageurs National Park, Fort William Historical Park, Tourism Northern Ontario, Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation Board, Thunder Bay Tourism, St. Louis County, City of Duluth, Arrowhead Regional Development Corporation, Atikokan Economic Development Corporation and many others.
The Heart of the Continent area designated for the map stretches from the outer boundaries of Duluth, Minnesota northeast along the North Shore of Lake Superior to Thunder Bay and Sleeping Giant Provincial Park, then west to International Falls/Fort Frances and south along St. Louis County’s western border, including communities and private and public lands. Since the project was launched in February 2014, locals have nominated for inclusion more than 400 of their favorite points of interest; historic, cultural and natural landmarks; events; artisans; and attractions that capture the region’s unique character and beauty. The website may be viewed at www.traveltheheart.org. Residents and visitors may continue to nominate new sites, events and special places for the website, which will be dynamic and constantly changing.
"The Heart of the Continent Geotourism MapGuide and website showcase what makes the region so culturally and geographically significant,” said James Dion, Director of Tourism Programs, Maps Division for National Geographic Society. “More than ever, this project underscores the importance of connecting the local trans-border communities, smartly sharing the region’s tremendous scenic, historic and cultural assets, and helping them thrive together for future generations."
The Heart of the Continent Geotourism MapGuide:
Is one of only 22 Geotourism programs worldwide
Showcases many of the 400-plus sites nominated by local residents
Is a resource designed to improve local, rural economic development
Provides access to a niche national market of “geo-tourists”
Will grow with the addition of hundreds of more sites and events
Highlights the resources of the region encompassing a major portion of northeastern Minnesota and northwestern Ontario, including communities and over five million acres of public land
Provides a long-term resource for promoting the Heart of the Continent to the nation and the world.
"Heart of the Continent Geotourism partners see this project as a great opportunity to work closely with other groups to promote the region and its assets," said Paul Pepe, Tourism Manager for the City of Thunder Bay.
“The Geotourism strategy for the Heart of the Continent will strengthen the case for responsible, meaningful tourism by embracing all tourism assets uniquely distinctive to the locale. Effective stewardship of these economic assets will produce benefits in a way that encourages the type of investment needed to preserve our unique heritage. We’re thrilled to see the partnership that has developed with National Geographic and local organizations in this regard,” said Frank Jewell, St. Louis County Commissioner.
The National Geographic Society has worked with community-based alliances to develop similar Geotourism MapGuides and websites in other regions around the world. Geotourism MapGuide projects have been completed or are ongoing including in the Central Cascades (Oregon, Washington), Four Corners (Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah), Greater Yellowstone (Idaho, Montana, Wyoming), Lakes to Locks Passage (New York, Quebec), Newfoundland, Portugal’s Douro Valley, Redwood Coast (California), Sierra Nevada (California, Nevada), and the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia-Herzagovina, Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo and Serbia.)
Founded in 1915 as the Map Department of the National Geographic Society, National Geographic Maps is responsible for illustrating the world around us through the art and science of mapmaking. Today, National Geographic Maps continues this mission by creating the world’s best wall maps, outdoor recreation maps, travel maps, atlases and globes that inspire people to care about and explore their world. For more information, visit natgeomaps.com.
Chris Stromberg
HOCP Coordinator
HOCP@heartofthecontinent.org RESOURCES
http://www.HeartoftheContinent.org
Tagged: Duluth, geotourism, guide, heart of the continent, HOCP, information, Lake Superior, map, map guide, mapguide, National Park, northeastern Minnesota, northern Minnesota, partnership, promotion, region, Thunder Bay, tourism, visitor, visitor guide, visitor information, Voyageurs, Voyageurs National Park, website
Voyageurs National Park’s Campsite Reservation Program Is Underway
Voyageurs National Park’s new reservation/fee amenity program is up and running on www.recreation.gov. The 51 campsites on the reservation system are filling fast. Don't miss your opportunity to reserve yours! Here's how to find and reserve a campsite using the new system:
Where it says "Search for places and activities" choose Voyageurs National Park.
Select "Permits and Wilderness."
Then, select the area you are interested in.
You may also make a reservation using the National Call Center at 877-444-6777. Just ask for "permits."
Tagged: camping, campsite, information, Minnesota, National Park, reservation, visiting, visitor, Voyageurs
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Anyone with information about his whereabouts is asked to call the Limestone County Sheriff’s Office at 256-232-0111.
Updated: Jun 18, 2019 7:37 PM
Posted By: Josh Rayburn, Scottie Kay
Meth-Addicted Squirrel
Limestone County Sheriff's Office says this is a squirrel on meth
Police arrested one man Monday and began searching for another after a search warrant at an apartment on Piney Chapel Road uncovered methamphetamine, drug paraphernalia, ammunition, body armor, and a squirrel said to be on drugs.
Ronnie Reynolds, 37, of Ardmore is charged with possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, and loitering at a known drug house. He was released from the Limestone County Jail on $4,000 bond.
Mickey Paulk, the squirrel, Ronnie Reynolds
Mickey Paulk, 35, is wanted by investigators for possession of a controlled substance, certain persons forbidden to possess a firearm, and possession of drug paraphernalia, said Stephen Young, Limestone County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson.
WAAY 31 talked with folks who live near where the search warrant happened and where the 'attack squirrel' was found.
“I love animals. I don’t like to kill animals," Billy Clem said. "I just don’t believe in killing or harming animals.”
Billy Clem‘s best friend is his Great Dane, Romeo. So, when the animal-lover heard a squirrel was found locked in a cage at a home just down the road from his, he was upset.
“It’s sad, because that squirrel should be out in a tree somewhere, not in a cage," Clem said. "It's not anything anybody could be proud of, that’s for certain.”
Deputies say they got a tip that Mickey Paulk was using the animal to attack, and giving it meth to keep it aggressive.
“It’s sad that a man is sick enough to do an animal like that," Clem said. "I think they should lock him in a cage and leave him for a while, and let him know how the squirrel felt in there.”
While hearing about this attack squirrel was pretty surprising, Clem said the drug raid didn’t necessarily shock him.
“Cars are coming in and out all night that shouldn’t be coming in and out at that time of night," he said. "These young people—if they were in their right mind and not on drugs, they wouldn’t be doing the things they’re doing.”
Investigators told WAAY 31 they contacted wildlife agents who said the best thing to do would be to release the squirrel into the wild. They did that, and said they weren't able to safely test it for meth.
If Clem sees the squirrel in his yard, he said he'll keep his distance.
“Well, I’ll stay away from it, I’ll tell you that! I don’t want a hyped-up squirrel around me!”
It’s illegal to have a pet squirrel in Alabama, so additional charges for that, as well as animal cruelty charges, could be possible.
Anyone with information about Paulk's whereabouts is asked to call the Limestone County Sheriff’s Office at 256-232-0111.
Limestone County sheriff seeks property damage suspect
Lauderdale County sets charges, bond for ‘attack squirrel’ owner drug suspect
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Joe Biden asked for a pen. Then he reversed a position he’d held for four decades.
By Matt Viser and
Matt Viser
National political reporter covering campaigns, Congress and the White House
Joe Biden was in the car on the way to a Democratic gala in Atlanta on Thursday night when he turned to an aide and asked for a pen. The former vice president began scrawling his evolving thoughts on the Hyde Amendment, preparing to make one of the biggest shifts of his 2020 presidential campaign.
Later that night, reading from those notes and diverting from the prepared teleprompter text, he would reverse a position he had held for nearly four decades and for the first time call for repealing the federal law that sharply restricts the use of taxpayer money for abortion. It was the culmination of days of debate within his campaign and external criticism over an issue that has become fundamentally important for the Democratic Party.
It concluded the rockiest week of his campaign, one in which he struggled in the limelight after a period in which his campaign performed more smoothly than many Democrats had expected. He has been attacked for his vote on a 1994 crime bill, criticized for avoiding multicandidate events, and came under fire when his campaign lifted lines unattributed for use in his policy documents. None of the stumbles are fatal in themselves, but allies express concern that when they are considered together, Biden could begin to undermine his campaign’s central argument: that he has the best chance of beating President Trump.
“Democrats see him as a strong candidate against Trump; polls have confirmed that. But the way he runs his campaign affects his electability argument,” said Neera Tanden, the president of the liberal Center for American Progress. “Many successful campaigns have missteps, but a series of them may well hurt the electability case.”
Biden’s campaign has drawn strength so far from the conviction among a broad section of the electorate that he is best positioned to defeat Trump. Early polls in the industrial Midwest find him easily beating Trump in hypothetical matchups, and a recent Quinnipiac University poll found Biden beating Trump by four points in Texas, usually safely Republican territory, even as Trump won hypothetical contests against other Democratic candidates.
“I have not seen any faltering on any part by folks who say they are going to support Biden,” said South Carolina state Sen. Dick Harpootlian (D), one of the vice president’s top boosters in the state. “Again, what is driving this is who is going to beat Donald Trump. Everybody believes Joe Biden has the best chance of doing that in 2020. The rest of these folks are untried.”
But there are ample precedents for an aura of electability to wear off over the grueling course of a campaign, particularly among candidates unable to deftly adjust to their party’s changes. Hillary Clinton faltered in her 2008 presidential campaign by wavering on issues such as driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants, giving her rivals opportunities to present her as a tentative leader.
Biden has a long political record filled with positions that could hamstring his campaign in the coming months, including several issues that his rivals have already begun to target. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has criticized Biden for supporting free-trade deals, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has hit him for siding with the banking industry on bankruptcy legislation.
Biden voted for the Iraq War in 2002 — something he later said was a mistake but which led another opponent, Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), to add a reference to it as he tweaked Biden on his abortion reversal Friday. Biden has declined to back away from his support for the North American Free Trade Agreement. Unlike most candidates in the race, he says he does not support the federal legalization of marijuana but thinks possession of the drug should be decriminalized. He was also a supporter in the Obama White House of an effort to allow religious institutions to opt out of the contraception mandate included in the Affordable Care Act — an issue his campaign has declined to speak about since he announced his presidential candidacy.
During a recent visit to Nashua, N.H., Biden argued that the 1994 crime bill he wrote had not generated mass incarceration, prompting a swift response from rivals who pointed out that the bill offered clear incentives for states to build more prisons.
The challenge for Biden is to balance the political realities of the Democratic primary electorate with his own desire to cast himself as campaigning away from the larger pack of Democratic candidates. For the first weeks of his campaign, Biden has parried on many of these topics, as his aides have argued that the debate among liberal activists on Twitter and cable television does not reflect what they see as the moderate core of the Democratic Party.
He has so far kept a light public campaign schedule, largely avoiding the news media, even as other candidates have made themselves available as part of their daily schedules. When 19 presidential candidates gather Sunday in Iowa for a state party event, Biden plans to be in Washington attending the graduation of a family member.
The debate over the Hyde Amendment burst into public view on Wednesday when the Biden campaign reaffirmed to NBC News that the former vice president still supported the prohibition on federal funding of abortion, with the exception of rape, incest or danger to the life of the mother.
The campaigns of Bill Clinton in 1992, Barack Obama in 2008 and Hillary Clinton in 2016 said they supported a repeal of Hyde, though all signed or voted for legislation that included the provision. In a reflection of the recent leftward pull of the party, Biden was immediately criticized by a range of abortion rights groups, and phones started ringing with complaints.
“Everybody called,” said one adviser, who like other Biden aides spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal campaign deliberations. “All the people called. Everyone called.”
As soon as she saw the report, the actress and liberal activist Alyssa Milano called Biden campaign manager Greg Schultz.
“I said, ‘This is not okay,’ ” Milano said in an interview. “ ‘And I’m going to have to publicly say something.’ ”
Biden still backed the amendment at that time, advisers say, but the campaign was also in the midst of a debate over health-care policy. Internally, some advisers were arguing that Biden’s policy needed to account for coverage of abortion, particularly for low-income women.
Advice to Biden within the campaign was mixed. Some urged him to abandon his support for the amendment — pointing out that it was a barrier to health-care access for poorer women — while others said he should not change a view he had held for decades.
“The question became how do we take care of low-income women and women of color that wouldn’t be covered with the Hyde Amendment in place?” one of the advisers recalled.
“From the VP’s perspective, he’s a man of deep faith” who has wrestled with the subject of abortion, the adviser added. “But I do think, lay the question on the table, what can we do? ‘Sir, we can repeal the Hyde Amendment.’ ”
Advisers resisted any notion that Biden changed his mind solely because of political pressure, and they insist that his views shifted in recent days.
“If he wanted to go with political whims, he would have come out for Medicare-for-all and apologized for the crime bill,” one adviser said. “That is not what he has done, because it’s not what he believes. But this is something he believes.”
There is ample early evidence that Democratic voters’ focus on denying Trump a second term may make policy positions less determinative in the 2020 primaries than in past primary contests.
A Monmouth Poll in late January found that 56 percent of Democrats would prefer to back a stronger candidate against Trump, even if they do not agree on issues, than a weaker candidate who aligns more with their beliefs. A similar question asked of New Hampshire Democrats in May found 2 in 3 saying that beating Trump was more important.
In 2016, sentiments ran the other way.
A warning sign for Biden supporters loomed in the candidate’s seeming inability to recognize the importance the Democratic base has placed on abortion rights as Republicans have fought to diminish them.
On Wednesday night, Rep. Cedric L. Richmond (D-La.), Biden’s campaign co-chairman, launched a strong defense of Biden, saying on CNN that “he is guided by his faith. His position on the Hyde Amendment has been consistent.”
The next day, Richmond called the reversal “a profile in courage.”
“I thought he took in today’s climate and the world how it is and not how we want it to be,” Richmond said.
Milano has not endorsed any candidate, but she has offered advice to Biden.
“I have tried to be very honest with Joe about how I feel and how he needs to grow in this time to meet the demands that the party has evolved on these issues,” she said. “He’s showing that he can listen to women throughout the country who made their voices heard on why he was wrong in taking this stance.”
“His ideology is changing,” she said. “He’s progressing.”
Milano attended the speech in Atlanta and cheered when Biden announced that he opposed the Hyde Amendment.
She approached him afterward backstage.
“I’m proud of you,” she recalled telling him. “Thank you for doing this.”
“He said, ‘You don’t have to thank me,’ ” she said. “ ‘This is the right thing. It would be unfair for women everywhere to hold this stance on this issue.’ ”
Senate poised to pass Sept. 11 victims bill, after votes demanded by Sens. Mike Lee, Rand Paul
Opinion This French intellectual diagnosed America’s current political malaise — in 1943
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Trustbusters are bypassing the biggest tech company of them all
Regulators are circling all the tech giants but one: Microsoft. Its past battles offer clues for survival.
Bill Gates arrives with his wife, Melinda, at the U.S. District Courthouse in Washington in 2002 for an antitrust hearing. (Stephen Jaffe/AFP/Getty Images)
By Jay Greene
Reporter focused on technology coverage in the Pacific Northwest
SEATTLE — Trustbusters are targeting the biggest names in tech, bar one: Microsoft.
That’s because the software giant learned some key lessons during its epic battle with regulators two decades ago, notably working with partners rather than using its market power to prevent rivals from emerging. Tech companies rarely complain these days about Microsoft abusing its hegemonic products, such as its flagship Windows, which still dominates the personal computer operating system business, or newly acquired ones such as LinkedIn, which rules the professional social networking market.
“Conduct is still really important under antitrust laws,” said Andrew Gavil, an antitrust professor at the Howard University School of Law and the co-author of a book on Microsoft’s antitrust history. “One thing Microsoft learned is that the corporate culture and the attitude that you have that helped you grow has to change.”
[Amazon could face heightened antitrust scrutiny under a new agreement between U.S. regulators]
In recent weeks, the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission have divvied up Apple, Amazon, Google and Facebook for supervision, an early step in potential heightened antitrust scrutiny. But Microsoft so far appears to be in the clear, even though it survived its own probe into market dominance that started in the 1990s — one of the last major antitrust cases in the United States.
President Trump said Wednesday the U.S. government “should be suing Google and Facebook and all that,” joining regulators and lawmakers pushing for closer scrutiny of those tech giants, in part because of concerns about mishandling the trove of consumer data they hold. Privacy abuses have not historically been the purview of antitrust law, but Makan Delrahim, the assistant attorney general in charge of the antitrust division, recently argued that a lack of competition can reduce the quality of some services and erode consumer privacy.
“Where competition pushes companies to develop quality elements that better satisfy consumer preferences, our enforcement can protect that sort of competition too,” Delrahim said in a speech this month.
[Trump signals U.S. government ‘should be suing Google and Facebook’]
Microsoft, the largest company in the world measured by market capitalization, has its own massive stash of consumer data, everything from information about how consumers use its Outlook email service to the job history and professional contacts of members on LinkedIn. But because online advertising isn’t the engine that drives its revenue, the company hasn’t pushed limits in its use of that data, Gavil said.
Regulators zeroed in on Microsoft two decades ago after rivals complained that it leveraged its Windows monopoly as it entered new markets and used it to erect barriers to those who competed against it. A federal judge found that Microsoft violated antitrust law in 2000, and ordered the company snapped in two.
But an appeals court reversed the breakup order, in part because the judge failed to hold hearings on a remedy. He was removed from the case after holding “secret” interviews with reporters. The subsequent judge on the case approved a settlement in 2002 in which Microsoft agreed to, among other concessions, give computers makers more freedom to include rival software on their PCs.
It took Microsoft time, but in the years that followed the settlement, the company matured. Former chief executive Steve Ballmer, once referred to the open-source operating system and Windows rival Linux as a cancer because of its threat to intellectual-property rights. Now, Microsoft actively supports Linux development and even spent $7.5 billion last year to acquire GitHub, a coding-collaboration site that’s particularly popular with open-source developers.
Shortly after the Justice Department sued Microsoft, a rankled Ballmer lashed out at the then-attorney general in a speech to software vendors saying, “To heck with Janet Reno.” Last year, Microsoft invited regulation of facial recognition technology, arguing that the companies battling for supremacy in the market couldn’t be trusted to police themselves.
[Microsoft calls for regulation of facial recognition, saying it’s too risky to leave to tech industry alone]
The current disinterest from the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice in Microsoft may also stem from the fact that it no longer holds sway over tech the way it once did. Two decades ago, software companies had to develop programs for Windows — and play by Microsoft’s rules — if they wanted to reach the vast majority of computing consumers. These days, app makers bypass Windows altogether, creating programs for mobile devices and the Web.
“The big difference between Microsoft in 2000 and Microsoft today is that there is very little lock-in with respect to Microsoft’s own customers,” said Herb Hovenkamp, an antitrust professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
Microsoft spokesman Dominic Carr declined to comment on the recent regulatory scrutiny of tech companies.
Yet despite the profound pain Microsoft endured in its antitrust war, its tussle with regulators may provide a blueprint for what today’s tech behemoths should do, antitrust experts say.
The software giant vigorously fought government efforts to break the company apart, a remedy some critics believe could be justified for today’s tech giants. Remaining intact gave Microsoft the ability to survive on the vast profits from Windows, providing it with time and capital to pursue new markets, such as cloud computing, the business that’s fueling its current run.
“Contest every issue. Don’t give in on anything,” Hovenkamp said of the lessons Microsoft’s antitrust battle provides. “Lawyering up really helps.”
By doing just that, Microsoft managed to extend its fight, which began during the Clinton administration, into the Bush administration. Reno’s successor John Ashcroft didn’t share her zeal for breaking up Microsoft. The settlement was widely seen at the time as a victory for Microsoft, one that did not preclude it from tying its own products into Windows. Microsoft has continued to include its browser with Windows, but Google’s Chrome has beaten it out.
[The Case Against Microsoft Was an Antitrust Bust, or Was It?]
That’s why the Microsoft case is a cautionary tale for today’s trustbusters, too. There’s little doubt the antitrust trial sucked Microsoft’s executive focus away from running its business. But the long and expensive trial ended with a settlement that left Microsoft intact, and free to continue many of the same tactics about which rivals complained.
Microsoft didn’t lose out to Google, Apple and Facebook in Web search, mobile devices and social networks because it was hamstrung by the antitrust action, said Brad Silverberg, who ran the Windows division when Microsoft launched its seminal Windows 95 operating system and was a figure in the antitrust case.
“That conventional wisdom suits people’s narrative. It’s just wrong. It’s not how it happened,” said Silverberg, who co-founded Fuel Capital, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm, after he left Microsoft.
Microsoft lost in those markets because the new breed of rivals was quicker to grasp the potential of emerging technology and more innovative in creating new products and services.
It wasn’t just browsers. The software giant’s Windows Mobile phone operating system predated Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android, and yet lost to both. Microsoft’s Bing badly trails Google in Web search, even though the company debuted its predecessor, MSN Search, 15 years ago. Microsoft even took an ill-fated run at social networking with its So.cl project that allowed users to follow one another as well as favorite topics, but watched Facebook seize the market.
Microsoft didn’t compete because it was focused on protecting and extending its Windows empire.
“Microsoft didn’t lose to Apple and Google and Facebook because of antitrust,” said Silverberg. “It just didn’t have the right internal DNA.”
Jay Greene Jay Greene is a reporter for The Washington Post who is focused on technology coverage in the Pacific Northwest. Follow
Last Updated:11:33 AM 07/18/2019
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Roland Fryer is a MacArthur Grant winning behavioral economist at Harvard University where, at the age of thirty, he was the youngest person ever awarded tenure, though he is now temporarily in eclipse because of sexual harassment charges. Fryer takes on as his major field of inquiry a major policy issue that has plagued social science ever since Brown v. Board of Education was decided in 1954: why is it that the achievement scores of African American students continue to lag significantly far behind the achievement scores of white students and that nothing much seems to be able to close the difference? Various theories have been offered. These include the idea that African American students are anti-intellectual, or that there are no books in their households, or that African American students need teachers of their own race to motivate them and act as role models, or that the conditions of poverty make it difficult for African American students to focus on schoolwork or that the socio-economic status of a family overdetermines the likelihood of academic success, people of lower SES always getting lower scores than the children of a higher SES. Fryer pursues this issue possibly because he was a poor Black kid who somehow made it and wants to open the gates for others. He uses some very sophisticated statistical analysis to make his cases in his studies of the matter but, I am sorry to say, is somewhat rickety in his reasoning. His studies are very valuable, however, because they open a window onto the present state of social scientific thinking on this matter.
In SOCIAL STRUCTURE Tags educational policy; Roland Fryer; Black student achievement; "going for white"; small group tutoring
People come into life as if into the midst of a movie, trying to catch up with what has gone before as the story continues to follow its course, except that people in their real lives, or so I claim, are so taken up with the decade or two when they entered the scene, and maybe even a little bit with the times before that, that those are the times that continue to transfix and inspire them, that being when they got their bearings and those being what their bearings continue to be, while in movies we forget that we learned the beginning only through inference and cared about when we came in not at all but just want to get on with the story now that one knows what is going on. Let’s go over present, past and future of the moment you came into your own story in more detail.
In SOCIAL STRUCTURE Tags movies; "Casablanca"; cosmopolitanism; time; social space
A long time ago, Marxist social theorists thought that advertising was the new opiate of the masses, up there along with religion and drugs. In making people think they were happy in a society in which they were exploited or at least not dealt with fairly, the rich able to continue in their money grubbing ways by lulling most people into a sense that they were both in control of their lives and also satisfied with those lives. Automobiles let people think they were free because you could get into your Chevrolet and tour the American countryside, going where you wanted when you wanted, when, in fact, people were tied down to their boring and unsatisfying manufacturing and white collar jobs, prisoners of the wage/salary system. People could improve their love life if they wore the right lipstick and deodorant, and that would make up for the unpleasantness of work life, sex another opiate of the masses. Cigarettes would relax them and appliances and dishwasher detergent would make the life of the harried housewife so much easier that she had time to indulge her fantasies of romance. There was nothing that advertising couldn’t fix.
In SOCIAL STRUCTURE Tags advertisements; Marxian opiates; health care ads; automobile ads; ads for "Crest"
Both life and literature are usually understood in terms of drama. People make choices which alter them and their circumstances and it is problematic what will come next. That is especially true of courtship, where people know that life with this person will be different and somehow unexpected, and so our romances, which means potential marriages, makes each of us a hero or heroine within our own lives, and that is even true of arranged marriages, where at least the woman is going to live with a new family and put up with a man whom she may barely know. It is also true of the years one spends in college, transforming oneself into a different person, each person the hero of his or her own bildungsroman. So everyone is either young Werther, or the young artist portrayed by James Joyce. Prince Hal became a different person when he became Henry V and Hamlet became a different person we find out only when he returned from college to a home he found passing strange. This dramatic texture of life continues throughout the life cycle, though often, in its later stages, because of changes not of one’s choosing: the death of a spouse leading a person to alter their sense of their place in the world as well as possibly their living arrangements. Even retirement can lead to life alterations if for no other reason than that a person has to find out what they want to do with their time, which is a matter of choices not previously thought possible. Are their hobbies to be expanded into new vocations? Is it time for something different: a bucket list rather than an intensification of an already established side of one’s personality?
In SOCIAL STRUCTURE Tags Heroic life; stable life; Talcott Parsons; "The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit"
I have come to understand that Carol Gilligan, whom I thought would be a passing fad when she first published, has come to be treated as a serious psychological theorist, taught along with Freud and Erikson, all of these psychological theorists treated as purveyors of what are, after all, just their own opinions about the driving forces in human psychological life. Well, that is not what theory is about, and any sensible theory of theory would not find room within it for Gilligan.
In SOCIAL STRUCTURE Tags Carol gilligan; the idea of justice for men; the idea of justice for women; Shulamith Firesstone.; what theory is
A Broadened Definition of Deviance
I don't know how many people any longer read "The New York Review of Books" now that the publisher fired the editor, Ian Buruma, some months ago, because he published an article by some Italian who had been accused of sexual harassment but never convicted, apparently because of the pressure of the university publishing houses that supply the magazine with most of its advertising. The magazine never explained in its own pages what it had done even though there are now two people listed as editors. I know people who still carry around the latest issue and apologize for still reading it. But it really is a good publication because it does long essay reviews by prominent scholars who will give you a summary of a field of learning, whether it is Turkish history or Renaissance art or new insights in metaphysics, into which is tucked some remarks about new books in a field, usually also written by well established scholars.
In SOCIAL STRUCTURE Tags deviance; scholars and laity; professionals and laity; athletes and non-athletes; immigrants and native born, Michael Messing
Part-Timers
Academics lament what is happening in universities and colleges. Promising young scholars cannot secure permanent, tenure bearing, lines so that they can move up the ladder and devote themselves to what brought them into the profession, which was to pursue the advancement of knowledge or, at the least, the preservation of cultural interest in the authors and genres which they care about. There may not be a need for a new biography of Napoleon, but it is a good idea to remind people of every new generation of what he was and how he altered the world for good and bad and that his times were thrilling. The same is true of Montaigne and Dickens. I have known scholars who devoted their careers to reading and rereading a particular author and publishing their reflections on the author. We all need those reference points so that we can think of ourselves as cultured, though there are those who think we need less culture and more STEM (which means “science, technology, engineering and medicine”) because those are the things that profit the world while books are the kinds of things you can buy after you have made money doing something useful. Never mind that literature and history help you understand politics and the human soul: from Jane Austen, how people flirt, and from Jane Austen and others, how people contemplate their economic circumstances. The view of STEM advocates is that the soul does not need to be cultivated, even though that is what “culture” means. But there is another explanation, a structural one rather than a cultural one, that can show why part timers and short contract assistant professors have for a generation or two now been replacing full time professors in the humanities, the part timers making their livings by covering a few sections at one college with a few sections at another and so carrying heavier class loads and making less total money than someone on a tenure track, and short contract people moving from one campus to another until they find some sort of full time employment, possibly outside of academia.
In SOCIAL STRUCTURE Tags professions; paraprofessions; college instructors; the downward mobility of professions
Work Allegiance
Work allegiance is a concept that refers to the engagement of employees and employers in the activities they carry out while on the job so that they can go on with these activities. That is aside from the motivation to do the job that is created by its remuneration, which is the reason most people go to their jobs whether they like them or not. Work allegiance has to do with the features of the job that are satisfactory or pleasing and so lead people to be able to get through the day, however much they also count the minutes until they can line up in front of the time clock and punch out for the day. Even slaves need some measure of work allegiance so that they can work through the day and go home to their families rather than just sit down in the fields and die. Work allegiance is the concept that looks at work in the exact opposite way than does the concept of work alienation, which was so much in favor among a previous generation of sociologists,who were concerned with how workers were disengaged from their work, just measuring out the time they had to operate as if they were machines while enduring their task of servicing machines. That was the kind of work that dominated the industrial age.
In SOCIAL STRUCTURE Tags work satisfaction; work alienation; religion and work; everyday satisfactions of work
Playacting
A profession provides expert knowledge and judgment in dealing with matters functionally important for the maintenance of society, the profession allowed by law to largely regulate itself in exchange for a probity that requires professionals to treat their customers as clients, which means professions are there to serve the best interests of those who seek their services rather than just make as much money as possible when they peddle their products and services, which is the case with non-professional enterprises. Doctors are supposed to only prescribe to you the drugs you need. According to this definition of profession, which was provided by Talcott Parsons, doctors, lawyers, professors and baseball players are all professionals rather than only workers plying a trade.
Moreover, and as a consequence, professionals are involved very deeply in the culture of their profession and regard themselves as engaging in a high calling and are also very passionate about their work. They are invested in the way of life of their professional communities, a medical student, for example, not leaving his hospital for months on end, and dating only nurses because the two lines of work share the sophistication of the health professions about how much suffering there is in human life, that patients can die, and that it may be necessary to make instantaneous decisions about medical interventions with possibly tragic consequences to follow. So a professional is suffused with the matter of his occupation, while ordinary occupations allow people to care primarily about other things, like family or culture. We do not expect butchers to have a love affair with meat even if they have a finer sense of the textures of various kinds of meat than do the rest of us, and even though, in my experience, many of those who own and operate hardware stores are infused with a great deal of knowledge about the stock they carry, from what size nail to use to what are the various kinds of tools you can use to remove paint, and so hardware people earn the title of “professional”, at least as a courtesy. Moreover, professionalism isn’t all about the money, either, even if doctors and lawyers do make out better than most butchers and hardware shop owners. A poet is also a professional, part of a community of poets, going over a phrase in the head time and time again to get it right, and earning some begrudging praise for that dedication to his calling however silly a cause it might seem to be.
There are also a set of occupations that can be called dishonorable because they earn the disdain of the general population however much they are professions in all other ways, including in that they perform functions that are essential to society. There are a number of currently admired professions, including the police and the military, that were generally regarded as dishonorable before the Nineteenth Century except for those who had risen to the higher ranks, because they drew their members from the more unsettled parts of the society. Sailors were unmarried and had girls in every port. Police were drawn from the social classes they were supposed to supervise. The establishment of orderly and professionally educated police and military helped give those professions prestige, as the growing scientific basis and professional education for doctors and lawyers in the Nineteenth Century also turned what might or might not be a useful employee into someone respected with an awe that had in previous generations been reserved for generals and high clergymen.
There is a different explanation, however, for why some professions remained and remain largely dishonorable even if the practitioners of them are wealthy and honored and famous. It has to do with the nature of the activity the profession performs rather than the social classes from which the professionals are drawn. Military people engage in killing people wholesale and that was once discrediting because once a killer always a killer, the coarseness of the calling compensated for by the fact that veterans of a largely civilian army go through a period of rehabilitation and are honored for having suffered PTSS. So professionalism compensates for the inherently gruesome nature of the tasks that a soldier undertakes. There is a lot of pomp and circumstance available to make military men think well of their calling and to supply emotional support for them when some of their number are lost in battle. These people are to be honored because they died for their country, however grueling and gruesome was the work they did on their way to death.
The same thing is true with actors and actresses, whose wealth and fame and claims to a bourgeois lifestyle does its best to make up for the fact that the kernel of an actor’s job is to feign emotions, which is a very transgressive thing to do and so makes actors a version of that equally old profession, prostitution, where practitioners feign sexual emotions, or indeed have desensitized sexual feelings, in order to provide commercially available services. Both professions engage in a dishonorable activity, the actor and actress earning the dishonorable repute in which their occupation had for long been held because they feign an even broader range of emotions in an even more public way. So there is more to the sense that actors and actresses are prostitutes aside from the fact that they were once drawn from the same set of people. The craft of an actor or actress is not only to feign emotions but, according to one theory, the Stanislavski Method, actors use the feigning of emotions as an excuse and reason to conjure up and display emotions from their personal lives that would normally be a source of embarrassment if they were displayed to strangers. In an exact sense, play actors prostitute their emotions for cash and notoriety. It is a professional calling in the sense that play actors, for whatever reason, have a need to display themselves, whether this display earns derision or praise, as well as because they are members of a community devoted to doing so, and also because playacting has been considered a vital role in society for more than two thousand years.
The "bourgeois" sense of propriety about the display of private feelings is violated for the entertainment of strangers, and a craft is made of simulating feeling, as if the ways we appear to be honorable or sincere or loving were mechanisms to be mastered, rather than unalienable parts of ourselves. Play actors are therefore simultaneously off putting and liberating, sacrificing themselves to provide a momentary mental liberation for the audience. This is costly to the play actor, who faces the professional hazard of the profligate use of acting skills in his or her own personal life. Emotions are schooled and so untrustworthy, the person becoming theatrical offstage as well as on. The play actor is therefore dishonorable, even if he claims to be able to feign emotions only on the stage, without it affecting the rest of his life. A likely story. Moreover, evidence to support this suspicion that feigning emotion is a rejection of bourgeois life comes from the supposed fact that on-screen or on-stage loves become "real" passions. When does the feigning begin, and when does it end? Imitating immoral or licentious behavior gives not only expertise in feigning, which might be generalizable, but a kind of experience of licentious behavior that is not too far from the real thing and is difficult to segregate from it. Play acting therefore presents an illusion of the liberation of licentious behavior, but also the illusion of being licentious in an only illusory way.
Bourgeois play actors defend the honor of their craft, whether for themselves or to win the affections of their audience, by both feigning and living otherwise bourgeois lives, though this is often stretched to mean that nude scenes made with a minimum crew or only as part of the job do not therefore violate rules of modesty. The point is the play actors are always violating rules of modesty, of which sexual modesty is a small but significant part, because they show both respectable and unrespectable motives -- like greed or jealousy-- which are not regarded as fit emotions for public display.
Dickens, like Shakespeare before him, is acutely conscious of the way the theatre violates proprieties by its very existence --not by its message, or by its conveyance of illusions, but by what it does to its actors and directors. Dickens associates the theatre with the circus. The travelling company in “Nicholas Nickleby” is like the travelling circus in “Hard Times”. Each is a band of wandering players, anachronistic to the commercial world, filled with peasant vices and virtues but more self-conscious about them, and so engaged in the pretense of being as noble as the nobility they mimic. They are melodramatic not because life is not melodramatic but because the melodrama of ordinary, non theatrical life arises from the circumstances of life and from the florid personalities that are the makeup of every person, while play-actors have a go at it, embellishing on melodrama when it needs no embellishing and so falsifying their own presentation of life by giving it an illusory grandeur.
And so it is sensible to think that actors and actresses are not to be trusted, so good are they at feigning feelings they do not have. They can manipulate lay people into thinking they love them or that they are to be trusted or that they are reflective people. As one actress once told me, “I am not beautiful, but I know how to act as if I am.” Most ordinary people are more given to hemming and hawing, not knowing if they expressing correctly what they want to say about themselves, or are more abrupt in their physical advances than they would be if they were schooled in how to appear to be loving. So ordinary people communicate themselves clumsily, and so can be relied upon to be authentic, to show the seams of their performances, while actors and actresses are inauthentic because, as Bert Lahr put it, “Once you learn to fake authenticity, you have it made.”
Erving Goffman claimed that everybody puts on performances so as to seem competent in the way they go about their lives. But few of us are as adroit as actors and actresses in seeming competent whether we are or not in any number of aspects of life. Teachers may have mastered their patter well enough so that they are articulate in front of groups of people other than their students, but that does not mean they can feign personal emotions or know how to be what they think a good patient would be like in front of their doctor, but actors and actresses have very generalizable skills at feigning, and that is why people are either taken in by them or don’t trust them. It isn’t easy for an actor or actress to overcome the innate dishonor of their profession, however famous the person may become.
In SOCIAL STRUCTURE Tags the idea of the professional; the military as a dishonorable profession; the actor as a feigner
Trust is confidence that a person will reciprocate in a favorable way to an overture on your part. The person will return a phone call, listen to your pain, bail you out with money when called upon to do so. Trust is what makes the social world go round. But to be clear: trust is not an expectation in that you can command it or presume it. Rather, trust is built up over time. If you are constantly late for appointments, a friend will not rely on you to be on time and so make plans accordingly, maybe to meet in a restaurant where he can catch a cup of coffee while waiting for your arrival rather than on a street corner and so left adrift in the middle of winter. The friend knows he is indulging you for your lateness. Only when you show up regularly on time will the friend trust you to do so and take it as a surprise rather than an offense when you are late, being late an offense in that you have not given the appointment sufficient attention or priority to plan ahead to be on time. Maybe the person who is regularly late is someone who over schedules, but all that means is that he or she is in a position to stiff people or that he or she is egotistical enough to think that other people have time on their hands. Trust, then, is akin to capital. It can be built up or squandered, and a person can hoard it or try to dispense with it, but your trust account is always measurable, by friends and intimates, and, through your reputation, by anyone else, just as if you had a trust score calculated by an agency to go along with your credit score.
In SOCIAL STRUCTURE Tags Trust in marriage; trust in professions; trust in government; trust in friendships
Three Perennial Issues
Here are three perennial political issues. They keep turning up when pundits can’t think of a topic for a new column and so revive old controversies in the hope of getting some mileage out of them. So here we go again.
There is some talk lately of doing away with the Electoral College because of what is taken to be its inherent inferiority to a straight out popular vote plurality as the basis for choosing a President. And, indeed, the Electoral College does not serve the purpose it was originally designed for, which was to have the President chosen by a body of wise men rather than the population as a whole so that the fractious and unenlightened spirits of the mass of the population could be held in check. It hasn’t worked that way since the election of 1824 when the lack of a majority for any candidate in the Electoral College sent the election into the House of Representatives, where the establishment forces were able to prevail and so allow John Quincy Adams to become President in preference to Andrew Jackson, the uncouth Westerner, though Jackson took the Electoral College the next time around and became what had been expected: a racist who disrupted the banking system however much he was loyal to the idea of the nation remaining united despite the slavery issue. And there was the election of 1876, when the Electoral College settled the Hayes-Tilden election in favor of the Republican candidate, presumably as a trade for the removal of Union troops from the South, although historians disagree about whether there was a trade off or whether removing Union troops was by that time inevitable, the North having come to understand that the South would continue to rule itself as its white population saw fit, never mind the results of the Civil War.
In SOCIAL STRUCTURE
My Uncle Jack
My Uncle Jack was a ne’er do well, which meant, in his case, that it took him a long time to settle into a career and into family life. He was drafted in the last days of World War II and never saw combat and reenlisted even though, as far as I could gather, he spent his time in the military losing his corporal’s stripes and residing in the stockade. When he left the Army, he used his G. I. Bill of Rights to study hairdressing, again for reasons I never understood, but he dropped that because, he said, it had too many fags in it, which even my early adolescent knowledge of the world told me he should have known going in. He took a job as a security guard at J. C. Penny and carried around with him a picture of the notorious bank robber Willie Sutton so that he might get a reward for identifying him if he ran across him in the street. Shortly afterwards, Sutton was indeed identified by Arnold Schuster, who was very proud of what he had accomplished and gave newspaper interviews about it, and Frank Costello, the mobster, thought Schuster was too proud of himself and had him murdered. Jack did not see the irony of this but my mother thought that it showed the wisdom of not wishing for something you might get.
In SOCIAL STRUCTURE Tags memoir; World War II; people as stereotypes; upward mobility
Border Cruelty
It is time for a screed about what is happening at America’s southern border. There has been a long term decrease in illegal border crossings from Mexico, but there has been in the last year or two an increase in the number of families, mothers and children, who have made that crossing, presumably to avoid the violence and lack of income opportunities that plague their home countries, which are El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. So how are these refugees greeted? Children are separated from their parents and the mothers deported without their children even though they had surrendered at the American border to American Border Police so that they might apply for political asylum, which is their right under international and American law. But the President has said that he doesn’t think it right to allow them that loophole and, in fact, has made it harder for immigrants to ask for asylum and forced many of them to remain in Mexico without food and shelter until it is their turn to apply for asylum which, some reports say, means that one family a day will be processed.
In SOCIAL STRUCTURE Tags refugee crisis; Donald Trump; atrocity; scandal; war; humane policy choices
What's Wrong With Slavoj Zizek
Slavoj Zizek is a contemporary Slovenian social thinker who is well versed in Hegelian Idealism, Marxism, Lacanian psychoanalysis and film theory and, I am told, is very well thought of among young people. It is easy enough to see why he is appealing: his broad range of references, his graceful writing style, his willingness to bring in what would not seem apposite subject matters, but even there you have the beginning of a sense of why he is unreliable. He mentions “Gangnam style” which was a South Korean video and dance that made it into popular culture for a little while, but doesn’t have enough weight, less important than hoola hoops, for saying something about society. He reflects on the relation of North to South Korea, possibly because he had lectured in Seoul, when it would be more important to evaluate the meaning of capitalism in the United States, still its center, and so I am pressed to ask this question of his “Trouble in Paradise”, the title itself a reference to an Ernst Lubitsch film: what does he mean, really, by capitalism, other than it is the opposite of what is not yet, which is true socialism? That Hegelian opposition will not do, and so let us tease out his definition by bypassing his fascination with the Hegelian trick of turning everything into a negation or a negation of a negation, which is a philosophical parlor trick that doesn’t mean anything at all. Zizek says, with glee, that capitalism is a system which has two negatives: those in the surplus labor pool, who can’t get jobs, and those in the pool of educated persons who do not think they need jobs, and so capitalism includes both those it needs to keep the price of labor down, and those who it creates who seem surplus to the economy as a whole. All Zizek is saying in this formulation is that everything that happens in capitalism is a product of capitalism and so part of what is a combined mind set and social structure which does not have mechanisms which are either more or less essential. That holistic approach does not do justice to the complexity of what we know to be capitalism, where levels of taxation and central planning differ in, let us say, the United States and Sweden.
In SOCIAL STRUCTURE Tags Slavoj Zizek; "Trouble in Paradise"; alternatives to capitalism; the Great Recession
Norms and Values in the Age of Trump
I cry at television commercials, especially when they include babies or dogs, which happens a lot in ads for car companies and banks. A recent ad that caught my eye was for a company that would invest your money. It featured a baby lying on its father’s chest while the dad moved around part of his portfolio (or maybe it was to take out a loan) with a few computer clicks. The baby snuggled up, looking very comfortable, outfitted in an undershirt and a diaper. I thought that a very pleasing image because it meant the baby could hear his father’s heart and that would be comforting because the baby had for so many months during his gestation period heard its mother’s heart. The familiar would be comforting. And that made me reflect on, of all things, a basic sociological concept that had been troubling me ever since graduate school: the idea of norm. Let me explain.
In SOCIAL STRUCTURE Tags Donal Trump; Emile Durkheim; norms; values; deviance
Why the South and the Midwest Support Trump
In the introduction to his very comprehensive but unoriginal study of the intellectual history surrounding the Protestant Reformation,”Fatal Discord: Erasmus, Luther, and the Fight for the Western Mind”, Michael Massing, the author, wants to show that the debate between these two towering figures is still relevant. He does so by saying that American Evangelicalism, what with its insistence on piety and the examination of the personal consciousness and its reliance on group sentiments, is a descendant of Luther rather than Calvin. While this may be no more than a rediscovery of what Troeltsch said some hundred years ago when he distinguished sects, in which all people were equal in their faith and distrustful of outsiders, from churches, which create big tents so that people of very disparate levels of faith can claim to be believers, it also points out a valid observation of American religion, which is that conformity to a creed which will not brook objection is the basis of a community rather than what follows from community, and that community sets itself up against the enclosing and hostile world so as to fight for its distinctiveness, whatever that might be and whatever that might come to encompass, such as deviant political views or racial prejudice. I want to go a bit more deeply into the way Lutheranism is a key to American religion by pointing to two strands of it that emerge from considering a basic paradox in Luther’s theology.
In SOCIAL STRUCTURE Tags Michael Massing; Passive Christianity; cultural individualism; upwardly mobile Evangelicals
2/9: Tone and Texture in "Pride and Prejudice"
Tone is a set of feelings evoked by a novel and we have long established names for characteristic sets of feelings. These are the names of the genres: comedy, tragedy, melodrama, romance, and all those others, the hybrids, such as tragicomedy, referred to by Hamlet in his speech to the players. Texture, for its part, is the way these characteristic features are established through the stylistics of the text: how a text combines dialogue with description, how it leaves ironies hanging in the air; what it takes to be a joke or a resolution or even a mere development in a conflict. Jane Austen who, as the narrator of her novels, is a distant, jaundiced and amused authorial voice, works her will largely by how she structures her scenes so as to allow for verbal confrontations, a playwright as much as a novelist, which makes sense given her debt to Shakespeare. But as a novelist, she was quite good at changing and managing different tones within the same novel. This is certainly the case in "Pride and Prejudice", where there is a conflict between two families that differ in much more than wealth. The Bennets and the extended family of Mr. Darcy differ in tone. The Bennets are comic, always being a bit silly, though not always as much as Mrs. Bennet. Elizabeth desperately wants to escape from that. The wealthy families, on the other hand, are given over to melodrama. They take themselves very seriously, and they exaggerate their emotions, as when Darcy finds the first ball he attends terribly dull. They are also touched by tragedy, which is what happens when Mr. Wickham ruins Darcy's sister, though the reader does not find that out until much later, when Darcy reveals his family disgrace to Elizabeth and so clinches the case that he really loves her by going into an intimacy that would be, at the time, truly shocking and from which his sister would not be expected to recover.
Darcy and his family also have the virtue of taking situations into hand when they need to with resolution as if a good deal depended on how you handled life rather than just responded to it. Darcy is not judgmental about Lydia falling for Mr. Wickham. Foolish girls will do such things. He just sets out to do the things that will make the situation right. He arranges for a marriage by paying off Wickham's debts and may have had a hand in seeing him assigned to a military post in the north where he and Lydia will be out of the way, seen only occasionally on visits. Darcy's first marriage proposal to Elizabeth may seem unromantic but it was full of good sense. There is a problem in the marriage of people of such different wealth and disposition and so his willingness to create structures that will help resolve the differences between the two shows just how much he loves her even if he cannot put it that way and comes over, eventually, to her view that a marriage must brook no such impediments: it must be done for purely romantic reasons and so Darcy puts aside his misgivings about how well Elizabeth will do as mistress of Pemberley. For her part, Elizabeth has to put aside her amusement at Darcy's haughty manner and take him to be the recently converted non-snob he now claims to be, knowing full well that he cannot give up that part of his character, nor would she want him to.
Texture, on the other hand, refers to the various techniques of writing that are used in moving ahead the plot through whatever tone or combination of tones the author chooses to engage. Texture is created by the balance between dialogue and narration, in the nature and type of authorial voice used in the novel, in the extent of the description of such atmospherics as furniture or architecture or countryside, in whether scenes are long or short, and on whether the author indulges in subplots to pass the time or give some relief from the central action of the novel. Dickens was long on subplots and atmospherics while having a strong authorial voice inclined to sympathy for the unfortunate lives being portrayed, while Jane Austen was short on subplots and atmospherics while also having a strong authorial voice inclined to a rational appreciation of the circumstances that drove her characters to have the deep emotions that they only sometimes expressed.
So how is it that these two people, Elizabeth and Darcy, being of such different temperments, of two different styles, come together? They are brought together by Mr. Binkley and Jane Bennet, Darcy accompanying Binkley on his visits to the Bennet household, events that seem deeply unpleasant to all concerned, even to Mrs. Bennet who so much wants to move them in the right direction. Binkley and Jane, it is pointed out over and over again, are simple souls who do not see the complications of themselves falling into a love match, while Elizabeth and Darcy, at the beginning of their love affair, can see nothing but the obstacles that stand in their way. That is the way, by coincidence, that their love affair is able to prosper.
Consider the way Jane Austen uses both tone and texture to distance the reader from the scandal of Lydia's elopement, which is not just a shame on the family but a disaster for it because it means that none of the young women will be able to make a suitable marriage. The incident is rendered comic because Mr. Collins, when he comes to console them, candidly speaks of the very bad news in just the condescending and censorious tone that is likely to make the family regain a sense of amour propre. Only Mr. Collins would be so full of gloom and doom, however much what he says is true. No politeness here. Small mindedness may be rampant everywhere, but nowhere so clearly as in Mr. Collins. And the texture of the novel also distances the rendition from the emotions conveyed by the events themselves. The story of the elopement is revealed through letters concerning Lydia's disappearance, then her location, then her marriage, and then her impending visit, when, only then, does Lydia let the cat out of the bag by referring to something she was not supposed to, which was Mr. Darcy's presence at her wedding. So all becomes clear to the discerning Elizabeth, as it never becomes clear, fortunately, to the obtuse Lydia, that Darcy had arranged it all, and so introduced himself back into the story of the lives of the Bennet family, and contributed to changing Elizabeth's mind to him--clinched it, really, in that Elizabeth had already softened to him. That prepares the stage for he and his friend, Mr. Bingley, to reappear in the neighborhood, and propose their respective marriages, never mind that Lydia and Mr. Wickham have been moved off the stage so that their very unpropitious marriage can work itself out. What will happen when Wickham runs out of money this next time is not discussed by Jane Austen.
The way Jane Austen organizes her dialogues is so characteristic that it can be abstracted out to be a principle of organization and so part of the texture of the work as a whole. We have already observed the way she manages the conversations that take place at Netherfield between Elizabeth and Darcy, others present in the room. The dialogue is abbreviated, a quick set of piercing exchanges that leave the others in the room far behind and so bored but the conversations themselves crackling with bon mots and devastating insights. In the last one of these, Elizabeth says Mr. Darcy is mean and Mr. Darcy says that Elizabeth deliberately misunderstands people. Both are correct. There is nothing more to be said because each has reduced the other to some basic insight about the person: an emotion that is core to their characters.
Ending a conversation after hitting some bedrock after the preliminaries are out of the way is not the way most conversations in the real world proceed. Rather, people return over and over again to old themes and insights, to digressions, to newly invented rejoinders and side issues. But it is the way in which Jane Austen conversations operate because she is a rationalist who thinks that conversations actually do something. They clarify issues, get down to axiomatic disagreements, and then there is nothing left to say and so they are over. That is very much in keeping with Jane Austen's view of the novel itself, each of her own not simply giving the reader a window into a way of life with which the reader is unfamiliar and delicious to savor, but so as to solve a problem that Jane Austen has set up in the early pages of the novel. "Pride and Prejudice" opens with two eligible gentlemen of means coming into the neighborhood doubtlessly in search of brides, and by the end of it have been married off to girls who are either early or late all too glad to have them. Similarly, "Mansfield Park" is about how a poor relative taken in by a wealthy family makes her way with the family, changing it more than changing herself, and "Emma" is about a busybody who finally has to grow up and cope with her own feelings rather than the feelings of others. How will she manage that? "Persuasion" is also simple and straightforward in its story. How does a romance get rekindled, if it can, some years later, between people whose prior romance had not worked out? That is an intellectual problem for Jane Austen to contemplate, even as it is an emotional one as well, "Persuasion" having the most poignant of all her plots.
That this is Jane Austen's approach to dialogue and to plotting--start with a problem and end it with a solution or at least a recognition that there is no where else to go--is telegraphed many times, perhaps most successfully in Mr. Collins' proposal to Elizabeth, which is farcical and always included in the movie versions of the novel because the irony of the scene is so readily grasped: that Elizabeth wants nothing to do with the man and that he persists anyway totally oblivious to her feelings. In spite of her not even wanting to be alone with him so he could propose, he clears the room, thanks to Mrs. Bennet, and then gives the rational basis for his decision--his comfortable position and the fact that his patron, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, thinks he should marry--and when Elizabeth tries to let him down gently, he claims that is because girls are likely to turn down a proposal the first time out of modesty, and when she perseveres, saying that something as important as a proposal is not likely to be turned down a first time out of form lest the proposal not be repeated, Mr. Collins says right out loud why he thinks she should not turn him down: the family estate is entailed to him anyway and this is the only way for the family to get out of that difficulty, and that Elizabeth is not likely to attract another suitor. All of this is hardly gallant or likely to win over a girl. Elizabeth says her answer is final and flees the scene, but Mr. Collins will not accept that a conversation is terminated when it is over and so appeals to Mrs. Bennet to get Elizabeth to reconsider before he changes his mind, and so she appeals to Mr. Bennet to interceded, at which point, Mr. Bennet, fully aware of the disaster to his family that his judgment portends, says he will not speak to Elizabeth if she accepts the proposal, and Elizabeth, of course, is much more concerned with the judgment of her father than of her well-meaning but marriage obsessed mother.
The same principle applies to other instances of conversation in "Pride and Prejudice". There is a point to Lady Catherine de Bough's chatter, which is to intrude herself into everyone else's decisions about how they live their lives and even about things she knows nothing about, such as music, when she claims authority without being able to play herself, and people do not quarrel with her about that. She criticizes Elizabeth's family for having done without a governess and having introduced all the daughters into society, and is piqued at Elizabeth unwilling to declare her age, that to her an impertinence, however trivial a matter it is, so that Elizabeth complies by admitting to being twenty-one. So we know what conversations are about at Rosling: hearing what Lady Catherine has to say. Lady Catherine, however, is not Wilde's Lady Bracknell. She is neither wise nor witty; she is, instead, boring and boorish and no one should have to put up with her but they do simply because she is rich.
There is a different purpose in Elizabeth's conversation with Mr. Fitzsimmons, who provides crucial information to Elizabeth when she makes casual reference to the fact that Darcy seems to look after Bingley, perhaps trying to probe into a relationship where one seems so clearly the intellectual superior of the other. What Fitzsimmons reveals is that Darcy had helped Binkley by discouraging him from an inappropriate and unnamed relationship, which Elizabeth quickly enough recognizes to have been the one with her sister. So the exchange of gossip, as that takes place when any of us discuss friends who are not present, results sometimes in useful information, and that is the purport if not the intention of such conversation. Talk has purpose.
The reader has been so well schooled in Jane Austen's view of dialogue, which is that it is over when it is over, and that extending it is ridiculous and shameful, that we are prepared to see Elizabeth's rejection of Darcy's first proposal just as she perhaps did not mean it to be: categorical and final, the end of the matter. That is the person she is, not a dissembler in the manner of Mr. Collins. Darcy understands that and, given that he is not very articulate in person, sends Elizabeth a letter where he candidly admits to having intruded between Bingley and Jane, but defends his behavior towards Wickham. In a letter, Darcy can deliver an extended argument that makes clear that he is both candid, showing his real motives, owning up to those that the one who receives the letter will disapprove of, as well as feeling honorbound to explain what others might misunderstand. He does in writing what Elizabeth does in speech: make points.This theory of conversation is also why it is very brave of Darcy to raise the question of marriage one more time, much later, after the Lydia-Wickham marriage, and after Lady Catherine has already informed Elizabeth of Darcy's continuing interest in her. This time, true to form, she does not hesitate, but quickly gives her consent, which means that it is an actual and rational and fully emotional assent, true to both her own and Jane Austen's sense of dialogue.
The movie versions of "Pride and Prejudice" are not true to either the novel's tone or its texture. Elizabeth as played by Greer Garson is too regal and self-possessed to be Elizabeth, while Laurence Olivier has just the right tone of arrogance and even a bit of meanness, though he is made out to be more articulate than he is in the novel. That film becomes a romantic comedy where spats rather than issues are at stake, demonstrating only that these are independant and therefore well matched people, sort of like in Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy movies. The very well received, and deservedly so, multipart BBC production of "Pride and Prejudice" stars a much too beautiful Jennifer Ehle who is matched in her sweetness by a heartthrob Colin Firth, and so there is established a tone of not at all bittersweet romance, the emotions syrupy rather than rough. Keira Knightley, in the 2005 version directed by Joe Wright, is also regal and so self-possessed that no one could fault her virtues, thus betraying the real conflict that is going on in Darcy's soul, and which Jane Austen, who is no great fan of her heroines, is out to portray, while her soulmate, the most recent Darcy, is more moody than arrogant, a Heathcliffe without the moors, and so providing a drama that is deeply Romantic, full of feeling and poignant and pregnant expressions.
I much prefer the authorial voice of Jane Austen herself, which is clearly present in her narrative, ordering her story so that it is clear what happens first and what goes next and how complications ensue and are resolved, ever mindful, that voice, of how people respond to their good sense and not just their emotions, and come to decisions that are reasonable under the circumstances. Jane Austen is an Enlightenment, not a Romantic, writer, however much her sense of the thickness of custom and culture, in that it is real rather than imaginary obstacles that get in the way of our lives turning out as we would like, and that people are amazing in their ability to thwart what in other times would have been thought of as their fates, which, in the case of this novel, is that all of the Bennet girls would have been condemned to very unsatisfactory even if necessary marriages.
The third movie version takes an interest in the atmospherics of nature that is true to a Romantic consciousness but not to Jane Austen, who did not show much interest in descriptions of nature. Elizabeth stands on a bluff and Darcy arrives through a mist. In that movie, Elizabeth also lives in a house where pigs wander through, and so much too ramshackle for this respectable if not wealthy family. That a house befits your station is important to Jane Austen. Darcy's Pemberley is grand, while the Bennet house is not, although comfy enough, as in the Greer Garson version, and Mr. Collins' house is even more bare than that, with only a mere suggestion of a garden.
The movie versions are a backdoor way of making another distinction between tone and texture. Tone and texture are two characteristics of literature that are particularly relied on as resources for the novel, while structure and language are more important in lyric poetry and drama. The tone of a novel is front stage. It is what preoccupies the reader. How will the story turn out? What are the motives of the characters? The texture of a novel, on the other hand, is what is upstage, the scenery, as it were, of the novel, and so absorbed indirectly by the reader. The texture of a novel has to do with the social world it creates, the kinds of situations and social circumstances which people encounter. The costumes, manners, occupations, beliefs, institutions, of the society provide the texture of a novel, and the reader, like the audience to the movies that are the lineal descendants of the novel, is awash in that world which is an alternative to the present one for its vividness and its strangeness, but not so off as to be unrecognizable as the world of understandable situations that the reader does inhabit. In that sense, all novels are historical novels, in that they create a world just slightly different (and a bit before) the actual present, and embellish the setting so that it seems exotic and so sets off feelings which are perhaps more familiar to the time or setting of the reader than of the place and time described. That is one reason why the novel is told in the past tense: because it is a chronicle of what is past, although it contains information and characters new to the reader who has not heard this novel before. The reader wants to know what will happen to Elizabeth and Darcy but is also caught up, inevitably, in the manners and manors of Regency England: how people speak and how they live.
In CRITICISM, SOCIAL STRUCTURE, ROLES, JANE AUSTEN Tags Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
1/9 Jane Austen: Dialogue in "Pride and Prejudice"
Jane Austen, after Cassandra Austen, published 1870, National Portrait Gallery, London
“This is the first of a set of nine essays that will appear weekly to show some of Jane Austen’s complexity, her charm, her never failing realistic evaluation of the human condition, however much she may seem to be showing only the most obvious of conflicts and resolutions, although that too was a part of her irony: to show what might seem obvious to be very complicated indeed. I do so by engaging in close textual analysis of the text, which is a technique not usually applied to the novel because it is such an ungainly form, and going into detail about only two of her novels: “Pride and Prejudice” and “Mansfield Park”. That analysis is set in the context of sociological observations that will show what she has to say still bears learning. The reader of the series should come away resolute in a desire to plunge even more deeply into Jane Austen, even beyond what had been thought a sufficient understanding of her novels.”
George Saintsbury, a most neglected early Twentieth Century literary critic, ranked Jane Austen, along with Charles Dickens, as the most distinguished of the English novelists. I would go much further than that and assign to her the title of greatest novelist I have ever read. That is because, when it comes to technique, she can organize a gigantic set of characters into a plot that moves at the pace of a play, and write dialogue that both crackles with wit and complexity, revealing levels of character it takes a lifetime of study to fully appreciate, and she also evokes a social ambiance that is fully aware of the historical and economic forces at work, all this while seeming only to offer up an amusing diversion about the restricted lives of the country gentry in Regency England. Moreover, while her novels may all involve courtship as the defining feature of their plots, each novel is different, exploring different aspects of the nature of life, such as the nature of the past in “Persuasion” and, in “Pride and Prejudice”, the very difficult to access aspects of class differences that lie beneath the obvious ones, such as wealth and manners, which are so easy to ridicule-- something which Austen is by no means reluctant to do. Fun is to be had, but there are more serious issues afoot which are ubiquitous and yet amorphous. Jane Austen’s themes are universal and as deep as it gets. I sometimes wish that Jane Austen were used to train Senators and diplomats and psychoanalysts in how to do their jobs. Rereading Jane Austen shows her to be even better than we remember her to have been.
A first cut at establishing the greatness of Jane Austen as a novelist can be done by comparing her to another great Nineteenth Century novelist, Leo Tolstoy, who also describes courtships that take place at balls and large social gatherings where people who are largely strangers to one another converse, flirt, and dance with one another. Leo Tolstoy is a describer. A central moment in “Anna Karenina” occurs when Anna dances with Vronsky at the ball. They have flirted with one another, but that is all. Something happens during that dance that moves them into being potential lovers. Tolstoy decided not to let the reader hear what it is that they said to one another, like a movie director who shows an argument or some other impassioned conversation taking place behind a window or a glass door, the lips moving, but not letting the audience know exactly what is being said, only indicating its purport. So is conveyed the information of a death or other bad news or the particularly good news of the declaration of peace after a war.
Why did Tolstoy do what he did? It is not that he does not have the talent to do conversation. He does many conversations between Pierre and Andre, between Levin and Kitty. But he hides the most important conversations because they are not the active forces in moving along the narrative. The actions that would be enunciated in words are already established, predetermined, by the characters and the circumstances of the people involved. We know why Anna would fall in love with Vronsky, and we know why he would fall in love with her to the extent he could. Words do not make things happen; they only can be used, therefore, to describe feelings and thoughts that are there for otherwise established reasons. Tolstoy is less concerned to explain what happened between Anna and Vronsky then to investigate its causes and consequences, even to her humiliations and eventual suicide. Indeed, one of the few times words count in “Anna Karenina” is when Anna’s husband speaks overtly to her about what is going on and gives a cynical account of how he will hide her secret for the sake of propriety. He reveals to the reader what had not been known to the reader before: how callous a man he is, one who took out the insult to his self respect by a refusal to acknowledge even his own feelings, not even willing to tell Anna how hurt he had been in his own soul by her action. It makes the reader think about what their personal life had been and whether that had not provided reason enough for Anna to look elsewhere for male companionship.
But that pulling back of the curtain on the intimate life of a Russian Victorian couple is used only to suggest what had already happened, not what was made to happen in the words, however much words had sealed the doom of the relationship. The words made neither of them free. This strategy of Tolstoy’s, to shroud pivotal conversations, is used in “War and Peace” and in “Resurrection”, and even in “The Death of Ivan Ilyich”, where there no conversation about death but only an internal monologue. That fact suggests Tolstoy’s sense of how alone people are at the time of their deaths, as well in the lives they lived before that.
Jane Austen, for her part, is a writer of dialogue, perhaps because she was so influenced by Shakespeare and Milton, neither of whom had much time for description but a lot of time to have their characters wax on at great length about one thing or another, some of those words, amazingly many of them, crucial for the movement of the narrative. Consider some scenes from “Pride and Prejudice” that serve the same function as the dance scene in “Anna Karenina”.
Elizabeth later admits to her sister and father that it was not love at first sight between herself and Darcy. Indeed, most of her early encounters with Darcy had been contentious. But over the long run, she had so grown on him that she says to her sister, when she does not think he will ever call on her again, that she very much regrets that he may be out there in the world thinking poorly of her. That is as fine a declaration of love as there is.
The long courtship of Elizabeth and Darcy over the course of years, takes place at occasional meetings that are remarkable for the slow pace of the developing candor between them. In fact, at first they barely speak to one another. Elizabeth overhears Darcy making a disparaging comment about her looks. At subsequent occasions, he finds himself trailing her and thinking more kindly of her looks, Jane Austen catching on to the fact that men who begin to think about a woman seriously gradually find her to be more attractive than they originally thought, their sense of a woman’s character informing their perception. Elizabeth notices that he has been overhearing her conversations and calls him on it, and he does not respond, but Darcy’s sister notices what is happening, and jumps ahead to tell Darcy that he should expect Mrs. Bennet to be a mother-in-law who is constantly visiting.
The first extended contact between the two takes place when Elizabeth walks three miles through the mud to visit her ailing sister at Mr. Bingley’s estate, and the women of the family comment on how much worse for wear Elizabeth looks, Darcy keeping to himself his admiration for Elizabeth’s devotion to Jane. That evening, in response to Mr. Hurst’s platitude about how accomplished women are, Jane downplays her own education and remarks that it is not much of an accomplishment to do the things that women do (or as we might say today, are allowed to do), such as stitching screens, and when Elizabeth leaves the room, the woman think it rude for Elizabeth to have disparaged her own sex, Darcy again left to cultivate his own thought that what Elizabeth said constituted an insight, allowing himself only to say that women who do something that is cunning, which is to say, requires some mind, are thought despicable, a remark that leaves others troubled for reasons they cannot say, perhaps because it is too foreign a thought for them to consider. Both Darcy and Elizabeth are caught up in a world of philistines, men and women who are devoted only to card playing and eating and gossip when they are in one another’s company.
Next day, Mrs. Bennet, another uninvited guest, shows up to see how Jane is doing and manages to be provincial enough to defend country living over town living, which even Elizabeth thinks is going too far, but that does not keep Elizabeth from offering another original thought, which is that love poetry puts an end to love because it substitutes for it and serves as a way to end a relationship. Darcy finds this piquant observation amusing rather than just contrarian.
And so the days pass while Jane convalesces. As if to outdo herself, or merely because she cannot resist the urge, Elizabeth does indeed turn rude in dealing with her host, Mr. Bingley, when he remarks that he dashes off his own correspondence while Darcy labors over his. Elizabeth says that he claims a false modesty because, in fact, he is proud to do things quickly, even if thoughtlessly, and so to say he would leave this estate if he took a mind to, it would mean he would neglect whatever business had been left undone, and so leave his life to chance. Darcy enters the conversation to say that a friend who asked someone to leave their estate to immediately attend upon him had offered no reason and so such a request should not be honored, to which Elizabeth replies, raising the moral stakes, that a friend need have no reason to make such a request, friendship sufficient reason to honor the request. Bingley is getting hot under the collar and Elizabeth plunges the dagger in all the way when she says that being simple does not mean being of bad character, something Bingley cannot take as a compliment. Bingley will have no more of arguments, and one wonders whether Darcy has no other friends that he spends so much time consorting with a person who is so much his intellectual inferior.
It is out of such conversations that a courtship is constructed: talk that is abbreviated, elusive, about apparently more general matters such as what is the meaning of friendship, and usually in the presence of others so that Darcy and Elizabeth do not have to confront or contend with one another, especially since their obviously growing interest in one another meets with the disapproval of all those around them. That has not changed by the time Darcy makes his first proposal to Elizabeth. He blunders about it, as if there could not have been a way to refer to their difference in positions in a less insulting way, though he is so conflicted about it, so much a prisoner of convention, that it would have been difficult for him to form a better way of saying it even if he had been much more clever than he is or nearly as clever as Elizabeth, who is able to meet not just him but Lady Catherine on equal rhetorical terms.
Early on in the novel, Jane gives forth with a sententious statement, something unusual for her, as the narrator notes, but which is key to understanding the novel. Jane says that pride is a belief in one’s own powers, while vanity is a concern with what other people think of you. Darcy is guilty of both. He is so prideful that he remains mute before most of the people with whom he associates, while he is overly concerned with the prejudices of his relatives about Elizabeth as ungainly, unmannered and overly intellectual and what they will think of her should she become his bride and so someone who has risen far above her station. So he is the one who has to overcome pride and prejudice while Elizabeth is not particularly prideful, but rather dismissive of her own accomplishments, and is not vain in that she is unmindful, to a fault, of how she might come off to other people. It is up to Darcy to see the diamond in the rough and attend to it accordingly, invoking and transforming his own feelings and beliefs. That is the gravamen of the novel: it is up to the man to be up to the task, even for an Elizabeth worthy of his love.
This point is more than adequately made by the last of the conversations at Bingley’s estate, which again takes place with others in the room. Miss Bingley asks Elizabeth to stroll around the room with her and Darcy declines to draw them insisting that there are only two reasons the two woman would do that, and he is prompted by Miss Bingley to name them: either to share a confidence or else to show off their figures. Noone is shocked, however candid Darcy may be, and Elizabeth enjoins Jane’s distinction between vanity and pride to get Darcy to say that pride will get a man to control his vanity, which leads to something of a direct confrontation, Elizabeth saying that makes Darcy perfect, if he says so himself, which brings Darcy out enough to defend himself by saying that he does not trust his own temper and that a bad opinion once formed is not likely given up. Elizabeth does not give up in spite of the fact that such self-deprecation on Darcy’s part might be thought a way to make peace. She finishes him off by saying that his propensity is to hate everyone, and the best he can reply to that is that her defect is to misunderstand him, which is true enough. Darcy emerges from the encounter warning himself that he will never get the better of her and so pursuing her is a dangerous thing to do. Elizabeth and Jane return home in the next chapter. The couple, not yet a couple, know well enough what they are each about, though they have not yet learned to see what they take to be vices are also virtues.
The pace of a Jane Austen novel picks up as it reaches its end. What had been told at a leisurely pace, as we shall see again when considering “Mansfield Park”, turns feverish or even operatic. What that means in the case of “Pride and Prejudice” is that the quality of the many important conversations that take place towards the end of the book change from being stilted or out of control to being eloquent, each character coming to say exactly what they want to say, nothing more and nothing less. This happens when Lady Catherine confronts Elizabeth and tries to get her to promise never to marry Darcy, which, as Elizabeth notes in her response, must be a prospect more real than she would have thought it to be for otherwise Lady Catherine would not be here to get a denial and a promise. Elizabeth does not go further than she wants to, as she often has before, especially as she had in denying Darcy’s first proposal, because all she says is that she is not engaged to Darcy but will not promise what will happen in the future. So Elizabeth is forewarned of what will happen when Darcy does show up again, he clearly having discussed what a marriage to Elizabeth would mean for his family, his sister already thinking well of her, whatever Lady Catherine might think. So she can accept his apology for her having treated him so badly after he first proposed, even if he had very clumsily though not untruthfully put the question of the differences between their stations in life. She had over-reacted then, but not this time, accepting him for the snobbish and proud man that he is because he is also a person of depth and integrity who seeks to right wrongs, very much a knight who had embarked on a quest to save the honor of Lydia through the means appropriate in Regency England: no duels, just payoffs.
And then Elizabeth handles her father in just the way he has to be handled to give his consent to the marriage, as if he could do otherwise even if he does not want to lose the apple of his eye. Elizabeth treats his permission as something that is freely given, not just to secure a fortune that would get his family out of hock, by declaring, truthfully, what her feelings are, which is that she truly loves Darcy. A father would not be fooled by a false declaration. As Jane Austen well knew, that scene brings a tear to every reader’s eye, and is a meaty scene for whomever plays Mr. Bennet, whether it is Edward Gwenn, Benjamin Whitrow, or Donald Sutherland. Mr. Bennet is shown to have deep feelings rather than just the avoidance of feeling that might come from having been cooped up in his library to avoid the nagging wife he must have found charming twenty years before. And so the next generation embarks on its life journey, as that is always measured by the circumstances of courtship and marriage, which may seem to be and are rendered comic, but is for most people the dramatic highpoints of their life, when they themselves become heros and heroines rather than character actors who fill up the background.
I have been told that Jane Austen’s portrayal of the courting dynamics of two hundred years ago do not hold up for the present generation which is given up to a “hookup” culture where a series of one night or abbreviated sexual relationships do not provide the basis for a long term relationship because the premise of long term relationships is that there is a process of delayed gratification whereby people try to come to understand one another before they become committed to one another and so afterwards become sexual familiars. But people can engage in sex while still holding in abeyance whether they want to have a long term relationship. People can start a new relationship, as Madonna puts it, “for the very first time”. Romance is possible even after previous sexual experience. Courtship is the process of making up one’s mind about having a stable rather than a temporary relationship. The point about stable relationships is that they are stable. People know who they are sleeping with every night, what their habits are like, what they smell like. There is less tension than there is in unstable relationships. People fall into an emotional division of labor as well as a financial one that suits their personalities and capacities. Couples become codependent. The desire to do that does not seem to have changed even if circumstances present different difficulties in Jane Austen’s time, when there were not enough eligible men in the neighborhood, and so one would have expected any girl to take up the first offer, which Elizabeth does not do, though it is suggested to her that she ought to, and the circumstances in our own time, where there is a plethora of men to pick for one night stands and therefore girls have to use other criteria to decide whether one of these or a man drawn from another pool is a subject for courtship.
The insight Jane Austen has is that courtships are conducted through conversations in which people either explain who they are or give off who they are through their words. Not everyone is equally articulate. Elizabeth pays an unwarranted compliment to Jane when she says her sister always reports what she thinks, which is perhaps because Jane is so pure so as not to be able to lie, but may also be because Jane does not have the mental equipment to dissemble. Her courtship with Mr. Bingley is an easy one because they are so well suited to one another’s personality that they cannot but be candid, while the courtship between Elizabeth and Darcy is fraught with difficulty because both of them have their reasons not to be candid: he to protect his wealth and the feelings of his family a well as his own privacy, she to overcome the embarrassment of her family. But most of us communicate well enough to engage in courtship, to plight our trow, according to the customs of the time, and that is the drama of courtship that remains fascinating whether in romantic comedies or in farces or in romances or in the serio-comedies and tragedies of Jane Austen.
In CRITICISM, ROLES, SOCIAL STRUCTURE, JANE AUSTEN Tags Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, D'Arcy, literary dialogue, witty repartee, textual analysis
The Harvard Case
The lawsuit brought against the Harvard University admission process breaks new ground in the discussion of affirmative action. Previous cases in the affirmative action debate that were settled in the Supreme Court decided that race could be considered one factor in deciding whether to grant admission to a candidate, even though the Fourteenth Amendment guarantee of equal protection of the laws would lead one to think that race, religion and national origin should not be used as a basis for discrimination, even to achieve a good end, because it violated the idea that one could not be deprived of life, liberty or property (and admission to an elite college is a matter of some value) without due process of law, which means that the rights of a person cannot be abridged without a trial of personal culpability for a wrong. Sandra Day O’Connor in Grutter v. Bollinger (2003) declared that the Fourteenth Amendment had to be suspended for a while, perhaps a generation, so that the nation could right the wrongs of discrimination. Creating a diverse student body that included African Americans justified what was constitutionally unpalatable.
In SOCIAL STRUCTURE Tags affirmative action; Chinese students suing Harvard; diversity; fairness in college admissions
Chomsky's Imperialism
A reader, Daniel Nikolic, asks a good question. He wants to know if there is a grain of truth in Noam Chomsky’s views on international relations that goes beyond his exaggerated statement of them. My answer to that is a categorical “no”. Either the theory of imperialism is true or it is false. That theory, which goes back to C. Wright Mills and before that to Lenin and where he got it, the British writer, J. A. Hobson, claims that the main explanation for international relations is that nations want to capture one another’s territories so that they can exploit the mineral wealth of the place and the labor of the inhabitants for the economic benefit of the imperialistic nation. The contending theory, that of realpolitik or geopolitics, is that nations are in quest of ever increased security, however powerful they are, so that their risk in dealing with other nations goes down. International relations is like a game of monopoly. You want enough money so you can afford to pay the rent even if you land on an expensive property owned by an opponent. You take risks only when you have no alternative, such as when you put all your money on a hotel hoping not to land on an opponents property because your only chance of survival is if the dice run your way. Sometimes nations are in that quandary, as Britain was in 1940, but most of the time you roll the dice when you are secure enough to withstand misfortune, as was the case in both Vietnam and Iraq, where the United States could sustain defeats and yet quickly rebound. There is so much the imperialist model cannot explain, as why we went into Vietnam, where there were no natural resources discovered until after the war was over, and which we can now access because Vietnam is an ally rather than an adversary, while the theory of realpolitik can explain all of international relations, back to the Peloponnesian War between Sparta and Athens.
In SOCIAL STRUCTURE Tags Noam Chomsky; imperialism; realpolitik; Persian Gulf War; Mexican War
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Governing Council Executive
Governing Council Members
What is an academic health science centre?
Ethics Approval and Support
Grants-in-Aid and People Support Program
Scientific Advisory and Leadership Team
Past Symposia
A+
logoHealth Research Trax
Call for research ideas
Western Alliance Academic Health Science Centre is calling for innovative ideas to conduct health-services research relevant to the western region of Victoria.
Grants-in-Aid Program 2018
Western Alliance was the first Australian academic health science centre and network established exclusively to focus on regional and rural/remote health outcomes. It is an alliance of academic institutions and health service providers, and aims to improve the impact, quality and quantity of research in the western region of Victoria.
Each year, Western Alliance invites submissions of ideas for innovative research projects. The intention is to support the development of collaborative, applied and translational research to improve regional and rural/remote health outcomes. This year, the emphasis in the Grants-in-Aid Program is on supporting innovation and building capacity to undertake and lead research in the region’s health workforce. We are particularly keen to receive submissions from professionals in medical, nursing and allied health disciplines who may have limited research experience but can offer fresh ideas for clinical or non-clinical translational research in the health services context.
A total of $300,000 is available for this round of funding.
The Call for Research Ideas is now closed.
Information and eligibility criteria
Please read the information and conditions of award carefully.
Aim of the program
The Grants-in-Aid Program aims to foster cutting-edge research to improve our understanding and the delivery of health services to regional and rural/remote populations.
Persons working in a public/private hospital, general medical practice or other health service, or in a university or recognised research institute in the western region of Victoria are eligible to submit their ideas for consideration.
In order to be eligible for funding support at stage 3, the developed proposal must demonstrate
(1) its relevance to regional health outcomes, (2) the building of capacity to undertake and/or lead research, (3) regional, cross-institutional collaboration and (4) knowledge translation beyond traditional approaches (such as academic/scientific publication and conferences).
Applied research: The use of scientific method to investigate, understand and develop innovative approaches and technologies that solve practical problems in a real-world context.
Collaborative research: Research involving cross-disciplinary, cross-institutional or multi-jurisdictional approaches.
Translational research/knowledge translation: Research that enables its findings to be applied into clinical practice, policy, administrative decision-marking or further research.
Submission and mentoring process
Eligible submissions of up to a maximum of 300 words are assessed and supported through a rigorous process of mentoring and review, based on the merit of the proposed research, the extent of its alignment with the principles and priority themes of Western Alliance and the relevance and significance of the proposed work in enhancing our knowledge of health outcomes and improving the way we care for patients and their families in the western region.
Stage 1: All eligible submissions are reviewed by Western Alliance’s Scientific Advisory and Leadership Team (SALT). Up to 12 submissions will be invited to the next stage.
Stage 2: Successful applicants from Stage 1 will be invited to participate in a workshop facilitated by experts with relevant research, clinical and related expertise, to support the development of their idea into a research proposal. Applicants will be paired with mentors to advise them on the development of their research proposals. At the conclusion of stage 2, a limited number of applicants will be invited to submit their proposal for funding support from Western Alliance.
Stage 3: Research proposals will be reviewed by the SALT and recommendations made to the Board of Directors, who may elect to provide applicants with: (1) A grant to conduct the research;
(2) Support to apply for external funding; (3) Constructive comments and/or further mentoring/ training to improve the research proposal.
Key dates in 2017
The call for research ideas closes at 5:00 pm on 5 June 2017.
The Research Development Workshop is to be held in Geelong from 10:00am to 4:00pm on 25 July 2017. Invited applicants must attend in person.
Applicants invited to participate in Stage 2 may be invited to present their research idea to the Annual Symposium (8 September 2017).
Invitations to submit a research proposal for funding support will be distributed to eligible applicants following the workshop.
The invitation to submit a research proposal will close at midnight on 3 September 2017.
Successful grant applicants will be notified in November 2017.
How to submit your research idea
Submissions closed on 5 June 2017.
If you have a question about the process outlined above or would like more information about the program, contact Dr Renée Otmar on telephone 4215 2896 or email reneeotmarwesternalliance.org.au.
Conditions of award
Western Alliance wishes to support research into the causes of diseases and the treatment and care of people in the western region of Victoria. The funding body is Western Alliance Health Research Ltd (Western Alliance), a Registered Charity.
At stage 3, applications for Grants-in-Aid will be considered for specific projects to support:
Salaries for research workers
Salaries to enable clinicians to undertake research
Research operating costs (data collection)
Attendance at conferences relevant to regional and rural/remote health
Translation and dissemination.
The following are some examples of activities not eligible for funding support: institutional overheads, routine clinical equipment, membership dues/ subscriptions.
The Board of Directors will decide which, if any, applications to approve for funding support after considering the recommendations of the SALT and the availability of funds.
In applying for research funding from Western Alliance, applicants confirm that they will:
Ensure the ethical conduct of research under the grant.
Report regularly on progress made towards agreed milestones.
Lodge a final report within three months of the termination of the grant.
Inform Western Alliance of any applications submitted to other organisations/ funding bodies for the same project.
Acknowledge the support of the Western Alliance in all publications and presentations arising from work carried out under the grant.
By virtue of the signature of the appropriate administrative officer on the application form, institutions confirm that they will ensure:
That monies granted by Western Alliance will be administered by the institution only for the purpose designated by Western Alliance and in accordance with any directions given by Western Alliance.
That regular financial statements (outlining budget and expenditure against the project) will be provided as agreed by the institution to Western Alliance for each grant funded by Western Alliance.
That facilities and infrastructure support will be provided and maintained to allow research under the grant to proceed.
Any funding support offered will be conditional upon the relevant institution and the applicant(s) entering into an agreement with the Western Alliance.
Recipients of grants may be asked to present the results of the research funded by Western Alliance at a public symposium, in media and/or other promotional activities.
About the author: Western Alliance
If you would like to write an article for our Talking Points newsletter or In Brief blog, email Cassandra Hamilton (cassandrahamilton@westernalliance.org.au) or call 03 4215 2900.
Health Research Trax
Subscribe to Talking Points
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Have scientists have changed the name of the Lesser-spotted dogfish to Small-spotted catshark?
Home › Questions & Answers
The world of animal and plant taxonomy is a tumultuous one, in a nigh-constant state of flux as new discoveries and improvements in genetic techniques change our understanding of how species are related. In recent years I have a number of times come across comments, often on the BBC’s Springwatch programme, that scientists have changed the name of a very familiar member of Britain’s shark fauna, the lesser spotted dogfish (Scyliorhinus canicula). Such statements are typically followed by a stir on their Facebook page. In short, however, no - scientists haven’t changed anything.
When early naturalists such as Carl von Linné (aka Linnaeus) started classifying animals in the eighteenth century, they began by clumping similar species together in big groups. In these early days, almost all sharks, from dogfish to great white sharks, were grouped together in the Squalus genus, squalus being the Latin word for shark.
When this shark was first described, in 1825, it was put with all the other sharks in the Squalus genus. In the early 1900s, however, when biologists realised that Squalus needed sorting, this species, along with several others, was moved into the Scyliorhinus (catshark) genus.
Line drawings of the Small-spotted catshark (Scyliorhinus canicula), often called the "Lesser spotted dogfish", and the Spiny dogfish (Squalus acanthias), a true member of the dogfish family (Squalidae). Notice how the shape of the head and position of the fins are different for the dogfish and catsharks. In catsharks (Scyliorhinidae family) the dorsal (back) fins are shifted towards the rear, the caudal fin (tail) prostrate and there are three sets of ventral (belly) fins: from front to back, pectoral, pelvic and anal. In dogfish, the dorsal fins are spaced more widely, the caudal fin more erect and there are only two sets of ventral fins: pectoral and pelvic. There are various other anatomical features that separate the families, including tooth and dermal denticle (scale) shape, but the external appearance provides the simplest guide. - Credit: Food & Agriculture Organization of the UN (Fisheries & Aquaculture Department)
The first major attempt to comprehensively classify all the sharks known to science happened in 1984, when South African ichthyologist (fish scientist) Leonard Compagno published the first of his two-volume tome Sharks of the World. Compagno reserved the Squalus genus for the dogfish and agreed with the early naturalists that Scyliorhinus canicula indeed was a catshark, based on their tooth arrangement and body anatomy, particularly the shape of the tail and the position of their fins. Hence, Compagno endorsed the idea that it was incorrect to call a member of the catshark family a lesser-spotted dogfish.
The issue comes, however, because fishermen had the understandable habit of referring to any common/abundant sharks as “dogfish”, regardless of their actual classification, and that name stuck in many circles. Consequently, people got used to calling them dogfish, even though technically this shark has been considered a catshark for at least the last 100 years. The recent pushing of the correct vernacular name of small-spotted catshark appears to be an attempt to correct this historical ‘dogma’. After all, to quote Confucius:
“The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their proper name.”
More questions about
Chondrichthyes
Learn more about Sharks & Rays
Learn more about Sharks & Rays (Elasmobranchs)
Learn more about Sharks & Rays in British Waters
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Don fought in four major ETO campaigns of WWII, Normandy, The Netherlands, The Bulge, and Germany ending in Austria. He was wounded three separate times. For him, World War Two ended after the 101st Airborne Division had occupied Hitler’s home in Berchtesgaden, Germany. He was finally honourably discharged on December 31, 1945 in Camp Atterbury, Indiana, at age 20. From there he returned home January 01, 1946 to Detroit, Michigan.
Born: 05 Apr 1925
Enlistment date: 05 Apr 1943 Fort Riley, Kansas
Units: A Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st
Airborne Division
Rank: Private First Class
Specialisations: Machine Gunner
Qualifications: Combat Infantryman Badge, Parachutist Wings
Decorations: Bronze Star, Purple Heart with two Oak Leaf Clusters. World War II Victory Ribbon, Good Conduct Medal, EAME Theater Ribbon with 4 Bronze Stars and 2 Bronze Arrowheads, Presidential Unit Citation, Distinguished Unit Badge with 1 Bronze Oak Leaf, French Croix de Guerre with Palm, Belgian Croix de Guerre, Belgian Fourragere, Netherlands Orange Lanyard
Discharge Date: 31 Dec 1945
Other Information: Don joined the army paratroops on his 18th birthday, April 5th, 1943 in Detroit, Michigan. Through an error in military records he was sent to Fort Riley, Kansas and took basic training in the last active horse cavalry unit in the US, Troop E, 2nd Regiment, 1st Horse Cavalry. On completing basic training he affected a transfer to the Army Paratroops in Fort Benning, Georgia where he completed his paratrooper training. He then joined the 101st Airborne Division in Aldbourne, England the last week of February 1944 and was assigned to A (Able) Company, 506 Parachute Infantry Regiment.
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Submitted by zyxware_shop_admin on 18th November 2011
CentOS 5.7 is based on the upstream release EL 5.7 and includes packages from all variants including server and client. All upstream repositories have been combined into one to make it easier for end users to work with. CentOS conforms fully to the upstream vendor's redistribution policy and aims to be 100% binary compatible. CentOS 5.7 is the seventh update to the CentOS 5 distribution series, it contains a lot of bug fixes, updates and new functionality. CentOS is developed by a small but growing team of core developers. In turn the core developers are supported by an active user community including system administrators, network administrators, enterprise users, managers, core Linux contributors and Linux enthusiasts from around the world.
About CentOS
CentOS as a group is a community of open source contributors and users. Typical CentOS users are organisations and individuals that do not need strong commercial support in order to achieve successful operation. CentOS is 100% compatible rebuild of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux, in full compliance with Red Hat's redistribution requirements. CentOS is for people who need an enterprise class operating system stability without the cost of certification and support.
http://www.centos.org/
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There is no charity in the Indian society: J&K Governor Satya Pal Malik
According to Governor Satya Pal Malik, successful people in other parts of the world donate most of their earnings to society.
Dec 04, 2018, 07:44 AM IST
Russia offers Sukhoi Su-35 to Turkey after US stops sale of F-35 Lightning II
New Delhi: J&K Governor Satya Pal Malik, who made headlines for dissolving the state assembly last month, has said that the Indian society is not charitable.
Speaking at an event on Monday, Governor Malik said that unlike wealthy people in other parts of the world, donating money is an idea that is still largely missing in India. "The problem with our society is that charity doesn't exist here," he said. "Successful people across the world donate most of their earnings to society. But here, there is a man in Mumbai who has a 14-storey house,but he denied when asked if he does any charity."
While Malik's comment may be a blanket statement devoid of facts and figures, other studies and surveys have pointed in the same direction as well. A study by Bain & Co in 2010 found that charitable giving was only 0.6% of the country's entire GDP at the time. This was more than Brazil's 0.3% and China's 0.1% but fell woefully short of countries like the US (2.2%) and UK (1.3%). The same study said that while Indians tend to give money to friends, family and religious institutions but largely ignore charitable organisations.
Among those noted for their philanthropist ways, Azim Hashim Premji of Wipro figures prominently on top, followed by Nandan Nilekani, Narayana Murthi and Mukesh Ambani.
CharitySatya Pal MalikAzim Hashim Premji
Andhra, Odisha, Sikkim, Arunachal polls likely to be held with Lok Sabha 2019 elections: EC sources
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Tag Archives: Ike & Tina Turner
Beatles, John lennon
The Beatles’s “Come Together” covered by Springsteen, Joss Stone, Joe Cocker, Aerosmith, and more..
July 22, 2014 Egil Mosbron 5 Comments
“It was a funky record – it’s one of my favorite Beatle tracks, or, one of my favourite Lennon tracks, let’s say that. It’s funky, it’s bluesy, and I’m singing it pretty well. I like the sound of the record. You can dance to it. I’d buy it!”
~John Lennon (Playboy interview, 1980)
The Beatles recorded “Come Together” July 21, 1969.
We had a post here at JV yesterday: July 21: The Beatles recorded Come Together in 1969, and it got me thinking that there might be some great cover versions of this classic around..
We have to start with the original version (off course):
One comment over at our FB page suggested that Lennon’s live version from MSG, NYC in 1972 was even better than the original.. I tend to disagree, but it is a great version.
Continue reading The Beatles’s “Come Together” covered by Springsteen, Joss Stone, Joe Cocker, Aerosmith, and more.. →
AerosmithArctic MonkeysBruce SpringsteenCome TogetherIke & Tina TurnerJoe CockerJoss StoneThe Beatles
Music Calendar, Otis Redding, Soul
Today: Otis Redding released I’ve Been Loving You Too Long in 1965 – 48 years ago
April 19, 2013 Egil Mosbron
Otis Redding’s “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” is an R&B hit love ballad of the ’60s that has lost none of its soulful power with the passing decades. Redding’s success with the single was second only to that of his ever-popular classic “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay.”
~Joslyn Lane (allmusic.com)
I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” became Redding’s first Top 40 single, in June 1965. And when Redding performed a scorching drawn-out version at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 — in front of the audience he called “the love crowd” — the single made the transition from hit to legend.
~rollingstone.com
I’ve Been Loving You Too Long (Monterey ’67):
Miami: 1965
2:49 (mono version, April 1965)
3:09 (stereo version, July 1965)
Volt/Atco
Jerry Butler
“I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” (sometimes issued as “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now)”) is a song written by Otis Redding and Jerry Butler. It appeared as the A-side of a 1965 hit single by Otis Redding – and subsequently appeared on his thirdalbum, Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul. Although Redding had been appearing in the U.S. Billboard Pop and R&B charts as early as 1962, this was his first big hit, reaching #21 on the Billboard Hot 100, and was his first Top 5 Billboard R&B chart, peaking at #2. The B-side of the single “Just One More Day,” was also a minor hit, reaching #15 on the R&B and #85 on the Pop chart. The song is ranked #110 on the Rolling Stone magazine’s list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
Album version:
I’ve Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now) by Otis Redding
I’ve been loving you too long to stop now
There were time and you want to be free
My love is growing stronger, as you become a habit to me
Oh I’ve been loving you a little too long
I dont wanna stop now, oh
With you my life,
Has been so wonderful
I can’t stop now
There were times and your love is growing cold
My love is growing stronger as our affair [affair] grows old
I’ve been loving you a little too long, long,
I don’t want to stop now
I’ve been loving you a little bit too long
I don’t wanna stop now
Don’t make me stop now
No baby
I’m down on my knees Please, don’t make me stop now
I love you, I love you,
I love you with all of my heart
And I can’t stop now
Please, please don’t make me stop now
Good god almighty I love you
I love you, I love you, I love you
I love you, I love you
I love you in so many different ways…
I love you in so many different ways….
Live 1967 – London:
Notable cover versions:
The first cover of the song was a recording by The Rolling Stones in 1965 — shortly after Redding’s original version became a hit.
The most widely known cover version of the song was by Ike & Tina Turner in 1968. It was the lead track from their 1968 Blue Thumb album entitled Outta Season.
Live at Altamont Festival 1969:
Aretha Franklin recorded a cover for her album Young, Gifted and Black (1972).
Playlist of the day:
Other APR-19:
Continue reading Today: Otis Redding released I’ve Been Loving You Too Long in 1965 – 48 years ago →
Alan PriceAretha FranklinBob DylanI've Been Loving You Too LongIke & Tina TurnerJerry ButlerMontereyOtis BlueOtis ReddingSoulSouthern SoulStaxThe AnimalsThe Rolling Stones
Today: Phil Spector is 73
December 26, 2012 Egil Mosbron
I am dysfunctional by choice, and I love my attitude problem.
~Phil Spector
If the average man is made in God’s image, then Mozart was plainly superior to God.
Strictly speaking, Phil Spector wasn’t even a performer — he’s a musician, but he very rarely released records under his name. However, as a producer — and, to a significant extent, songwriter, label owner, and session player — he has influenced the course of rock & roll for more than all but a handful of performers.
~Richie Unterberger (allmusic.com)
The Ronettes – Be My Baby – Stereo:
Harvey Phillip Spector
December 26, 1939 (age 73)
The Bronx, New York City, U.S.
Record producer, songwriter, session musician
Philles Records, A&M Records, Apple Records, Warner Spector, Phil Spector International, Pavillion Records, ABKCO Records, Sony Legacy
The Ronettes
The Crystals
Darlene Love
The Righteous Brothers
The Teddy Bears
Ike and Tina Turner
The Beatles (Let It Be)
Bob B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans
Starsailor, Ronnie Spector, Sonny Charles and the Checkmates Ltd., Cher, Cher & Harry Nilsson, Jerri Bo Keno.
http://philspector.com
Ike & Tina Turner – River Deep – Mountain High:
Phillip Harvey “Phil” Spector (born Harvey Phillip Spector on December 26, 1939) is an American record producer and songwriter.
The originator of the “Wall of Sound” production technique, Spector was a pioneer of the 1960s girl-group sound and produced over 25 Top 40 hits in 1960–1965. Some of his famous girl groups are The Ronettes and The Crystals. After this initial success, Spector later worked with artists including Ike and Tina Turner, John Lennon, George Harrison, and the Ramones with similar acclaim. He produced The Beatles’ album Let It Be, and the Grammy Award–winning Concert for Bangladesh by former Beatle George Harrison. In 1989, Spector was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a non-performer. The 1965 song “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin'”, produced and co-written by Spector for The Righteous Brothers, is listed by BMI as the song with the most U.S. airplay in the 20th century.
In 2009, Spector was convicted of second-degree murder in the 2003 shooting death of actress Lana Clarkson in his Alhambra, California home. He is serving a prison sentence of 19 years to life.
Righteous Brothers – You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’:
The Wall of Sound:
The Wall of Sound is a music production technique for pop and rock music recordings developed by record producer Phil Spector at Gold Star Studios in Los Angeles, California, during the early 1960s. Working with such audio engineers as Larry Levine and the session musicians who became known as The Wrecking Crew, Spector created a dense, layered, reverberant sound that came across well on AM radio and jukeboxes popular in the era. He created this sound by having a number of electric and acoustic guitarists perform the same parts in unison, adding musical arrangements for large groups of musicians up to the size of orchestras, then recording the sound using an echo chamber.
Album of the day:
Back to Mono (1958–1969) – Released November 12, 1991
At the time Back to Mono was released in 1991, Phil Spector’s reputation as one of pop’s great visionaries was intact, but there was no way to hear his genius. It wasn’t just that there were no collections spotlighting his productions, there weren’t collections of artists he produced. It wasn’t until Back to Mono that there was a thorough overview of Spector’s greatest work, and while it’s not without flaws, it still stands as one of the great box sets.
~Stephen Thomas Erlewine (allmusic.com)
Back to Mono is not available on spotify… So we’ll have to do with another collection:
Other December 26:
Continue reading Today: Phil Spector is 73 →
Be My BabyCurtis MayfieldIke & Tina TurnerJay FarrarPhil SpectorRighteous BrothersRiver Deep Mountain HighThe ImpressionsThe RonettesWall of SoundYou've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'
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The Anti-Boycott Resolution: Entrenching the Status Quo, Denying Justice
At this year's American Anthropological Association (AAA) annual meeting, anthropologists will vote on two resolutions concerning Israel's systematic violations of human rights.
Resolution 2 endorses the Palestinian call for boycott as an effective and nonviolent means to pursue their fundamental rights. By contrast, Resolution 1, submitted by the group, "Anthropologists for Dialogue on Israel/Palestine" (ADIP), rejects the boycott in favor of "dialogue."
Anti-boycott Resolution 1 must be seen for what it is: a thinly disguised vindication of an unjust status quo. Last year in Washington, D.C., the AAA's membership voted overwhelmingly against a remarkably similar anti-boycott resolution. This year, boycott opponents are attempting to achieve the same goals – only this time they have added a mild reprimand of the occupation, boilerplate diplomatic talking points, and a vague charity program. Despite its perfunctory references to Palestinian human rights, Resolution 1 does not propose any concrete actions for pressuring Israel or its academic institutions into ending their discriminatory practices. Instead, it proposes "focusing research, debate, and teaching in and about the region," as if the many anthropologists of Israel/Palestine who support an academic boycott have not been doing precisely this for decades. In restricting its criticism of Israeli policy to empty words, Resolution 1 disregards the unanimous conclusion of the AAA's Task Force on Engagement with Israel/Palestine that censure alone would "be an insufficient course of action."
Instead, Resolution 1 invokes "dialogue" as the only permitted form of dissent against a regime of separate and unequal systems of law and education. This approach perniciously sidesteps the radical inequality of the colonizer-colonized relationship. It creates a false parity between Israelis and Palestinians, and presents the "two sides" as if they were equally culpable. As anthropologists of the region have shown, this form of dialogue has for decades been a fig-leaf for continuing oppression, leading to deepening colonization in Palestine.
Even a cursory reading of Resolution 1 reveals that, by design, the so-called dialogue it proposes excludes Palestinians. Amongst the 17 signatories of this resolution, there is not a single Palestinian scholar. Nor, as of this writing, has a single Palestinian author been featured on the ADIP website. This dialogue also excludes most anthropologists of Israel/Palestine – practitioners of the very "anthropological engagement" that ADIP advocates – the vast majority of whom support the Palestinian call for substantive action through academic boycott.
In so doing, Resolution 1 proposes a remarkably paternalistic course of action. It asks us to overrule the voices of Palestinians on the ground. The academic boycott is part of a broader grassroots movement for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) supported by over 170 Palestinian civil society organizations, including the Palestinian Federation of Unions of University Professors. ADIP claims to know better than the indigenous people of Palestine what course of action they should take in order to achieve their rights. So much so that they need not even talk to them, even while demanding a "dialogue" on how best to maintain the discriminatory status quo.
Resolution 1 also idealizes Israeli universities as precious islands of dissent against the state. But as the Task Force report makes clear, Israeli universities are deeply complicit in the assault on Palestinian human rights and academic freedom, through both their close collaborations with the Israeli state and their discriminatory campus policies. The anti-boycott resolution does nothing to challenge these basic infringements of Palestinian rights nor to address the underlying issue of institutional complicity in the occupation. Rather, it draws a strong line between the university and the state where one does not exist, and tries to absolve Israeli universities of their role in sustaining and furthering the occupation.
The one seemingly concrete measure proposed by the ADIP resolution is a fund for "Scholarly Endeavors in Conflict Areas." This is not a call for action, but a suggestion to put out a collection box. Resolution 1's proposed fund is an empty gesture, and a misleading one at that. The scheme would be implemented only in the unlikely event that the Association raises additional funds equivalent to 0.99% of the Association's overall expenditure – $54,300 using the 2014 budget. Our Palestinian colleagues seek solidarity, not more empty promises of charity or handouts masquerading as "engagement."
At this year's AAA, we will have a clear choice. Resolution 1 represents an endorsement of the deeply flawed status quo in Israel/Palestine. As members of a discipline with an unfortunate history of collaborating with colonial regimes, we anthropologists should be especially wary of the paternalistic attitudes betrayed by this proposal. Resolution 2 will uphold the AAA's rich tradition of supporting human rights struggles at home and abroad. We hope the Association will choose wisely.
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Ashley Strickland Freeman is a 2017 IACP Award winning food stylist, recipe developer and tester, author, and editor. She grew up in Savannah, Georgia and realized her passion for food and cooking at a very young age. After receiving a degree in Journalism from The University of Georgia and a degree in Culinary Arts from The French Culinary Institute (now International Culinary Center) in New York, New York, she moved to Birmingham, Alabama where she worked in the Oxmoor House test kitchens, developing, testing, and food styling recipes for cookbooks for the brands of Southern Living, Coastal Living, Cooking Light, Weight Watchers, Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, Health, and Gooseberry Patch. From there she transitioned to the editorial side and was the Food Editor of over 30 publications before becoming a freelancer in 2013.
Her latest projects include The Beach House Cookbook by Mary Kay Andrews, published on May 2, 2017, and food styling and recipe development for Terra's Kitchen. She is also a recipe editor for Emeals, an online meal-planning service. Over the past three years, she has written two books: Southern Living Ultimate Book of BBQ: The Complete Year-Round Guide to Grilling and Smoking and 28 Days of Clean Eating: The Healthy Way to Kick Dieting Forever and served as editor of Trick Out Your Mac ‘n’ Cheese, Trick Out Your Dish: 110 New Twists on Your Favorite Foods, and The Egg Cookbook: The Creative Farm-to-Table Guide to Cooking Fresh Eggs. She was also copy editor for Beach Cocktails: Favorite Surfside Sips and Bar Snacks, The South's Best Butts: Pitmaster Secrets for Southern Barbecue Perfection, The Southern Cookie Book, Southern Living United Tastes of Texas: Authentic Recipes from all Corners of the Lone Star State, Simply Sweet Dream Puffs: Shockingly Easy Fun-Filled Treats, Christmas with Southern Living 2014: Our Best Guide to Holiday and Decorating, and Simply Sweet Color Cakes: Wow-Worthy Desserts Anyone Can Make; developed and tested over 150 recipes for Betty Crocker and Pillsbury publications; and served as a food stylist of six cookbooks.
Ashley is based in Charleston, South Carolina and frequently works in Savannah, Georgia and South Florida. Besides editing, developing and testing recipes, and creating content for her blog, The GastroNomad, she loves being a new mom to son Anderson and traveling with her husband.
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Digital Daily
1959 Racial Slaying of Mississippi Teen Could Get Fresh Look
Britta Lee, Regional Content Editor
In this Aug. 9, 2018 photo, Eberlene King poses with a photograph of her brother William Roy Prather when he was about 15-years-old at her home in Doraville, Ga. Prather was shot in the face on Halloween night 1959 in Corinth, Miss., and died the next day. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
CORINTH, Miss. (AP) — Eberlene King remembers her 15-year-old brother as he lay dying, after White teenagers cruised through their Black neighborhood in a pickup on Halloween night 1959 and shot him in the face.“His eyes … were hanging out,” King recalled. “His head was full of pellets.”
William Roy Prather died the next morning in their hometown of Corinth, Mississippi, a few miles south of the Tennessee line.
Eight White teens were charged with murder, but only one was convicted. Jerry Darnell Glidewell, then 16, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in January 1960 and served less than a year in state prison. Six of the seven others in the truck got a year’s probation through youth court, and an 18-year-old walked free.
The Black teen’s slaying has never drawn much attention, even as federal and state authorities in the past 15 years have re-opened investigations of racially motivated killings from the civil rights era.
Now, the U.S. Justice Department says it has referred Prather’s killing to the state of Mississippi “for potential prosecution.” The Associated Press dug into the case to reveal information not previously reported, including details about the Justice Department’s investigation and AP interviews with King and Glidewell.
It’s unclear whether a district attorney will pursue charges against any aging defendant in a decades-old case where witnesses’ memories may be fading and some pieces of evidence, including the truck and the shotgun, have disappeared.
The case is briefly mentioned in a report the department filed in March — the same one that said the department is reviving its investigation into the brutal 1955 killing of another Black teenager in Mississippi, Emmett Till.
“Although prosecution of some of the subjects may be barred by double jeopardy and other subjects are deceased, the Department referred the matter to the state of Mississippi to determine whether any state prosecutions might be appropriate,” the Justice Department said of the Prather case.
The state prosecutor whose territory includes Corinth, District Attorney John Weddle, did not return multiple calls seeking comment.
King said FBI agents knocked on her door a few years ago and hand-delivered a letter from the Justice Department. The letter said no federal charges could be brought in the killing of her brother, based on laws that existed in 1959. It said “the only possible prosecution” would be for the state to bring unspecified charges against one suspect who was 18 at the time of the crime.
A statue honoring the Confederate soldiers who fell at the battle of Corinth.
Corinth — pronounced coh-RINTH by locals — is home to about 14,600 people, 70 percent of them White and 24 percent Black.
In the city, once besieged during the Civil War, schools and neighborhoods remained segregated through the 1960s. While some Black residents remember fear and violence, others say the town was quiet as long as everyone, in the language of the times, “remembered their place.”
The 1950s and ’60s saw racial strife throughout the South, as Whites resisted racial integration. Prather’s slaying came four years after Till’s brutal killing galvanized the civil rights movement and three years before violence erupted about 80 miles (129 kilometers) southwest of Corinth at the University of Mississippi when the first Black student enrolled.
A Confederate soldier still statue stands sentinel outside the courthouse on Corinth’s town square.
Inside the courthouse, old handwritten records show that on Jan. 26, 1960, Glidewell pleaded guilty to manslaughter: “Ordered to serve 5 yrs. in State Penitentiary, the last 4 yrs. of which suspended on good behavior.”
Glidewell, who goes by his middle name Darnell, now lives off a hilly country road north of Corinth. He answered the phone on a recent morning, and an Associated Press reporter asked about Prather’s killing.
“They charged me with that, yeah,” said Glidewell, now in his mid-70s.
As to what happened that Halloween night, he said: “I’d rather not talk to you on the phone.”
But Glidewell responded to a few more questions. He said investigators spoke to him about the case several years ago, and one said: “‘Don’t worry about it.’”
“It’s all over with, you know?” Glidewell said. “But I ain’t heard any more from it. … That’s over 50 year ago.”
Glidewell said “four or five” of the people with him that night are still alive. “I don’t know where they live right now,” he said. “I don’t ever see them.”
Their names don’t appear in court records near Glidewell’s, but they are listed in the Justice Department letter.
After the phone conversation, an AP reporter and photographer drove to Glidewell’s house and knocked on the door. His wife said he has liver cancer, his memory is failing and he did not want to talk.
The Justice Department letter says that, based on investigators’ interviews with witnesses, a group of white teens drove through a black neighborhood of Corinth on Halloween night 1959. Black witnesses said they saw the White teens throwing firecrackers at the Black teens, and some young Black people threw rocks and bricks at the truck. Investigators were told the White teenagers got a shotgun and shells from a home of one person in their group, then returned to the Black part of town, where Glidewell shot Prather.
“Glidewell reported to police that before he fired the shotgun several of the subjects said, ‘There they are, shoot,’” the Justice Department letter said.
News reports from the time said Prather was not among those who had thrown rocks or bricks at the truck.
“Although Glidewell and some of the subjects contended that Glidewell had shot straight up in the air, the autopsy report indicated that Glidewell had aimed the shotgun dead-straight at your brother’s face,” the Justice Department letter said.
King, now 73, said her older brother was “a real quiet person” who had helped his friends clean up a church on Halloween night.
“He didn’t deserve what happened to him. … Well, nobody deserves that,” King said in a phone interview from her home near Atlanta. “He would just go to school, go back and do his chores at home.”
Eberlene King
The Justice Department letter says the all-White grand jury that indicted Glidewell recommended he be treated with “leniency.” The grand jury recommended that six of the remaining White teens have their cases sent to youth court, and that the one 18-year-old in the group have his case sent to a July 1960 grand jury; investigators found no record indicating any indictment against him.
A judge put the younger teens on probation and released them from that by March 1961, writing that each “‘would make a good citizen,’” according to the Justice Department letter.
Johnnie Sue Johnson, a second cousin of Prather, lived near the funeral home and went to view his body; she was 13. She said his face was swollen from being shot. “He looked like he was 90-something years old,” Johnson said from her home in Champaign, Illinois. “It was just awful.”
One of Johnson’s nieces, Gennella Graham, was born in 1975 and grew up in Corinth but had never heard of Prather’s death until the summer of 2017, when she took a course at Tougaloo College in Jackson and was assigned to write about her hometown’s “hidden history.” Graham, who teaches English at Corinth High School, was given Prather’s name and called her aunt. Johnson told her about the killing and about their kinship to Prather. Johnson also told her that Prather’s friend who was with him that night, Lavelle Powell, survived but lost hearing in one ear because of the shooting. Powell later moved away from Mississippi, and he died a few years ago.
Gennella Graham
Graham wrote a poem about Prather, which says, in part:
“Write that I,
“Wanted to fight,
“Wanted to live,
“But no one asked what I thought,
“What I wanted.”
This school year, Graham will teach her 11th grade students about William Roy Prather.
“I know he just lived 15 years on this earth. But I would like to know — what was he interested in? Did he have a girlfriend? … Did he have a job somewhere? Where did he attend church?” Graham said. “I just want them to know that he was important. When you die, that’s not the end of your story.”
Follow Emily Wagster Pettus on Twitter at http://twitter.com/EWagsterPettus .
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Should Colts Quarterback Curtis Painter be Full-Time Starter
Posted on October 9, 2011 by coltzilla
Story brought to you by Coltzilla.com
During training camp, as rumors began stirring that Peyton Manning may not be ready for the Colts’ season-opener against the Houston Texans, the backup quarterbacks were Dan Orlovsky and Curtis Painter.
No offense to either player, but they weren’t the guys Colts fans wanted to count on. Orlovsky has had his share of mistakes, most notably when he was with the Detroit Lions a few years back and scrambled out of the red zone for a safety. Colts fans won’t ever forget Curtis Painter with his blunders, who was just plain awful in the last two games of the 2009 season, putting up a 9.8 rating with 83 yards and two picks versus the Bills and Jets.
With that, the Colts needed a backup they could truly count on. Players that were up for grabs seemed like Brett Favre, Kerry Collins, and even former backup Jim Sorgi. The Colts wound up going with Collins, talking the 38-year-old out of retirement. He only had about three weeks to prepare.
When the signing was announced, Collins wasn’t really in for a warm welcome. Well, at least from Reggie Wayne, who was on Team Painter.
Here is Wayne’s full quote, via the Associated Press:
“We don’t even know him, we ain’t vanilla, man, we ain’t no simple offense. So for him to can come in here and be the starter, I don’t see it. I think that’s a step back.
“Who says Kerry’s going to be the starter? Just because we bring him in doesn’t mean he’s the starter. He’s got to learn too, right? Unless they gave him a playbook months ago, he’s got to learn to.
“I don’t care who you are, I mean I’m not going to let anyone just come in here and just push someone [like Curtis Painter] aside like you’re that dog now, you know what I mean?”
As the Colts enter Week Five of the NFL season, Wayne has been all but right on Collins. The Colts took a major step back putting him ahead of Painter.
The Week Three Sunday night match-up against the Steelers is a perfect example of this. There were many times the Colts made major stops on defense, sometimes getting turnovers and ending up in Steelers’ territory. Every time Collins was behind center, Indianapolis did not score. They were just atrocious in the red zone under Collins.
Towards the second half of the game, Collins was ruled out due to a concussion. In came Curtis Painter. It was a big moment, because nobody knew what was going to come from him. It started off. . . okay, as Painter missed on a huge touchdown when he overthrew Pierre Garcon.
After that, Colts fans saw the 2009 Curtis Painter, as he fumbled — which was recovered by Troy Polamalu for a touchdown to put Pittsburgh up 20-13. Fans quickly wished Collins was back in the game. A Collins return wasn’t in the cards and the team gave the kid a chance to redeem himself. After all, there was still time and the Colts could still come back.
That’s when Painter started clicking, making big throws, and later led to a game-tying touchdown by Joseph Addai.
This brought questions to if Painter was the guy. The Colts had options, could target a player like David Garrard, but it was too late. The Colts had no choice: Painter was their guy for next week.
Painter wasn’t really that bad versus Pittsburgh. Even though it looked bad on paper, going five-of-eleven for 60 yards with a 62.7 rating, it was still better than Collins. Painter played about a third of the game and only had 30 yards less than Collins. He actually led the Colts to a touchdown on offense, not just field goals.
Against Tampa Bay, Painter excelled. He started clicking right from the first drive, connecting with receivers like Peyton Manning did. After the first drive, Indianapolis was up 3-0.
Later in the game, Painter would connect with Pierre Garcon for an 87-yard touchdown, longer than Manning has ever had in his career. He connected with Garcon again for a 60-yarder.
The Colts lost 24-17, but Painter played solid in his first NFL start. While he only completed 43-percent of his passes, he had 281 yards with two touchdowns and a 99.4 rating. Collins’ highest yard-total and rating was 197 yards and an 82.3 rating.
Indianapolis is aiming for their first win of the season against the Kansas City Chiefs. Painter started again.
This brings us to the question: should Curtis Painter be full-time starter over Collins?
There’s no question he should be. Painter has only played one-and-one-third of the games this season and already has just as many yards as Collins, who has played about two-and-two-thirds. He has already matched him in touchdowns and has beaten him in quarterback rating.
Painter has had far more success — like actually being able to score in the red zone. He can connect much better with his receivers. Really, Painter has all-around just been a better QB than Collins and, he has earned the right to become starter for the rest of the season (unless, you know, Peyton Manning comes back).
Painter needs to have a good game (he has so far) and hopefully he can lead Indianapolis for their first victory of the season.
Team Painter all the way, my friends.
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4 decapitated bodies found in Egypt’s Sinai, Islamic State ‘copycats’ suspected
A map of the Sinai Peninsula. Credit: Kaidor via Wikimedia Commons.
(JNS.org) The decapitated bodies of four men were found in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, where the Egyptian military has been fighting jihadists over the past year.
The bodies were found by residents of Sheikh Zaveid, near Rafah, just two days after the men were abducted, AFP reported. Egyptian officials believe they were targeted for their ties to the Egyptian military.
An Egyptian security source told Al-Masry Al-Youm that those responsible for the murders were trying to imitate the methods of execution favored by the Islamic State.
On Wednesday, the Islamic State released a video of the decapitation of American journalist James Foley, who was captured in Syria in 2012, and promised to decapitate another captured American journalist if President Barack Obama does not end its operation against the terror group.
Most of the terrorist attacks in the Sinai have been launched by the Al-Qaeda-linked group Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, which was declared a terrorist organization by the U.S. earlier this year.
Similar Islamic State copycat groups also exist in the nearby Gaza Strip, where Islamic State and Al-Qaeda-linked terror groups have claimed to fire rockets on Israel and said that 13 of their fighters have been killed during Operation Protective Edge, Israel National News reported.
Posted on August 20, 2014 by JNS.org.
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Young at Art: Center presents the world through the eyes of children
By Gayane Abrahamyan
ArmeniaNow Reporter
Henrik Igityan, founder and director of the Aesthetic Center believes that all children are talented.
For 30 years, the Armenian National Aesthetic Center has offered children a chance to turn their imaginings into art.
It was founded on the base of the Children's Art Gallery in 1970, at that time the only one in the world dedicated to exhibiting only children's art. Today this gallery has branches in six cities of Armenia, where 3,500 children make their first steps in the world of art, acquiring a rich knowledge of art history, literature, Biblical themes, and national art.
Colorful works of art created by children down the years decorate numerous exhibition halls of the gallery. Next to the works of Armenian children there are also paintings, graphical and sculpture works of children from 150 countries.
Henrik Igityan, founder and director of the Armenian National Aesthetic Center, assures that the republic will have a bright future if there are centers where children can get acquainted with mighty force and spirit of art.
The country appreciated the value of its work by including the building of the Children's Art Gallery in the Lincy Fund's multi-million dollar renovation program for cultural centers.
Paintings of nine-year-old Hayk Hovsepyan add bright colours to the museum's exhibiton.
The once grey and semi-dilapidated building, which was illuminated only with the warm colors of children's paintings, today has a magnificent new look. Moldy storerooms, where works of art created by the pioneering Seventies generation are kept, have been reconstructed and now correspond to all international standards.
The picture gallery has been completely renovated with a new marble floor and window displays corresponding to European standards. New lighting makes an altogether more welcoming and presentable atmosphere for visitors to works of art.
Nine-year-old Hayk Hovsepyan has been attending the center since he was five and is already an award winner of several competitions. His paintings distinguished by bright coloration, as well as being displayed prominently in the museum, also helped to illustrate a Bible for Children published by the center two years ago.
Published in two languages, the Bible is illustrated with thematic pictures created solely by children.
The remodeled gallery has a magnficent new look enlightened with the children's paintings.
"During her visit to Moscow a few weeks ago, the First Lady Bella Kocharyan presented this book as a gift to the First Ladies of Russia and the USA, Liudmila Putina and Laura Bush. They were astonished and delighted by the unique color sense of Armenian children and the individual approach to Biblical themes," says director of the center's art studio Samvel Baghdasaryan.
Children have also illustrated a number of other books, such as Armenian Fairy Tales, Hovhannes Tumanyan's Fairy Tales and Let There Be Light. These have been published in seven European languages. A version of the Armenian epic David of Sasoun is also being prepared, again with publication in multiple languages.
The Fine Arts College of the Aesthetic Center has eight studios, where children aged from 4 to 18 learn oil, pastel, water color painting, sculpture, and different crafts such as carpet work, metal-work, ceramic, woodwork, and needlework.
Anyone can enter As Igityan says: "All children are talented, their talents must just be found out."
Hye Profile: India's Ambassador seeks to win hearts and investment in Armenia
Naghdalyan Murder: Sargysan claims he was blackmailed into paying money
Pause for Thought: Political reflections on a Parliamentary crime
This week Armenia was commemorating the fourth anniversary of October 27 terroristic act in Armenian parliament and paying tribute to its victims. Among others Stepan Demirchyan visited the cemetery and laid flowers on the grave of his father, late speaker of National Assembly Karen Demirchyan.
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Educative Dragon Bridge over the River Hang
The Dragon Bridge (Vietnamese: Cầu Rồng) is a bridge over the River Hàn at Da Nang, Vietnam. Construction of the bridge began on 19 July 2009 (the same day as the inauguration of the nearby Thuận Phước Bridge) when the Prime Minister of Vietnam Nguyen Tan Dung and many high-ranking government officials attended the groundbreaking ceremony. Dragon Bridge is 666m long, 37.5m wide and has six lanes for traffic. It opened to traffic on March 29, 2013, at a cost os nearly VND 1.5 trillion dong (US$88m). The bridge was designed by the US-based Ammann & Whitney Consulting Engineers with Louis Berger Group. Construction was undertaken by Company No. 508, an affiliate of Civil Construction Engineering Corporation No.5, and Bridge Company No. 75.
Fact “Festival for the Dead”
A Waura Indian woman watches the activities of this year's “quarup”, a ritual held over several days to honour in death a person of great importance to them, in Xingu National Park, Mato Grosso State, August 24, 2013. This year the Waura tribe is honouring their late cacique (chief) Atamai, who died in 2012 and helped created the Xingu Park, and his important contribution in facilitating communication between white Brazilians and Indians. (Photo by Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters)
Fact Day of the Dead
Angel Paz, dressed as a calavera, waits with family for the start of the Gran Procession of the Catrinas, to mark the upcoming Day of the Dead holiday, in Mexico City, Sunday, October 23 2016. (Photo by Anita Baca/AP Photo)
Fact Hang 20 Surf Dog Classic
Waldo, a 6-year-old Tibetan Terrier belonging to Susan and Mike Leverette of Sebastian, competes in the third heat of the medium dogs division at the Hang 20 Surf Dog Classic at Carlin Park in Jupiter Saturday, August 29, 2015. “The waves are a little bigger than we are used to”, said Susan. (Photo by Bruce R. Bennett/The Palm Beach Post)
Fact Kingdom of the Dead
Dried and shrivelled corpses, some fully clothed and some in coffins, line the wall of a vault of the Pantheon Cemetery on the summit of Cerro del Trozado in Mexico. They were removed from the crypts because of non-payment of cemetery fees. The hot dry air stopped the bodies from rotting. Most of them were placed here between the turn of the century and WW I. (Photo by Three Lions/Getty Images). Circa 1955
Photo selection
Touching “Living Dead”
A man dressed as a zombie poses during the Thrill The World 2009 event, which sees fans from all over the world dance simultaneous to Michael Jackson's “Thriller” at Luna Park on October 25, 2009 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)
Matthew McGrory
Fact City of the Dead
A man sleeps between tombstones in front of his single-room home on a hot night in the Cairo Necropolis, Egypt, October 13, 2015. In the sprawling Cairo Necropolis, known as the City of the Dead, life and death are side by side. Amid a housing crisis in Egypt, and with the population of greater Cairo estimated at about 20 million, people count themselves lucky to have a place to call home in the graveyards that date back hundreds of years. (Photo by Asmaa Waguih/Reuters)
Fact Reburying the Dead
A grave cleaner holds up a skull during exhumation works at the Cemetery General in Guatemala City May 24, 2013. If a lease on a grave has expired or not been paid, grave cleaners will break open the crypts to remove and rebury the bodies. (Photo by Jorge Dan Lopez/Reuters)
algeria 1962 | tsar+nicholas+1 | flood in jamaica | til death | kevin+warhol | morgan+freeman | sex shope | tim flach | south+park+s11 | the good wife s07e05 | -1' OR 3*2<(0 5 401-401) -- | ol164fd photo | hegre art | tigers raised monks | Pope | vladmodel katya y111 | disaster+in+july+30 | the dead weather horehound | pergola | image of women in persepolis | july 12 | war+band | small girl xxx | Naked+Women | chloe
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McDonald's All-American Week Player Evaluations (Part Two)
Continuing our scouting coverage of the 2012 high school class all-star game circuit, we look at the likes of Alex Poythress, Brandon Ashley, Isaiah Austin and Marcus Smart.
-Mcdonald's All-American Week Player Evaluations (Part One)
Alex Poythress, 6-9, Power Forward, Northeast High School
Committed to Kentucky
Alex Poythress had as good a week relative to expectations as anyone in Chicago, opening the eyes of recruiting gurus and NBA scouts to his considerable long-term potential.
Poythress' intrigue begins with his excellent physical tools. He's measured out consistently between 6-8 and 6-9 in shoes in a number of different settings over the past two years, and has a nice 7-1 wingspan to go along with a frame that should be able to add plenty of weight over time.
He's an outstanding athlete as well, explosive around the rim with good agility for a player his size, allowing him to make his presence felt on a regular basis in transition, crashing the offensive glass, and as a playmaker defensively.
Offensively, Poythress is still searching for an identity, as he's clearly not a post player, but doesn't appear to have the skill-level to play on the wing full time either. He shows nice form on his jump-shot, and has the ability to make shots with range out to the 3-point line, even if he was somewhat streaky in this area over the course of the week. His ball-handling skills are similarly a work in progress, and his decision making skills are still catching up to his overall talent level, as he made a handful of questionable plays over the course of the week that demonstrated his lack of experience playing on the wing.
Nevertheless, Poythress' athleticism, instincts and aggressiveness help him find ways to impact games, and he has plenty of time to continue to polish up his skill-set as he's still only 18 years old.
Defensively is where Poythress might be most intriguing right now. He has the size, length and mobility to guard either forward position effectively, as he's able to stay in front of smaller players on the perimeter and is competitive enough to handle himself on the block as well. With a year (or more) of experience underneath his belt playing for a coach like John Calipari at Kentucky, he has a chance to really develop this part of his game, which would make him even more interesting for the NBA.
Also an excellent student reportedly sporting a 3.9 GPA, Poythress had pretty much every college coach in America calling him trying to recruit him over the past few years. It will be interesting to see what kind of role he plays at Kentucky next season as he appears tailor-made to replace Terrence Jones as a face-up power forward. He mentioned in Chicago that he's been recruited to play similarly to the way Michael Kidd-Gilchrist did on the wing.
Brandon Ashley, 6-8, Power Forward, Findlay Prep
Committed to Arizona
Brandon Ashley had a bit of a non-descript week here in Chicago, which has become somewhat of the norm in the occasions we've watched him play over the past few years.
From a physical standpoint, it's not difficult to see what the recruiting services like about him as he's a very fluid and mobile power forward who can play above the rim and shows very good quickness for a player his size. His frame is underdeveloped at the moment but should fill out very nicely in time.
Offensively, Ashley has terrific instincts and shows the potential to do a bit of everything. He likes to step out onto the perimeter where he can knock down shots with range or attack his matchup in a straight line and draw plenty of fouls. He can also go into the post and use his quickness, agility and soft touch to score effectively and get to the free throw line.
While Ashley's versatility is intriguing, he isn't always able to impact the game the way you'd expect a player of his caliber to. He tends to fall in love with his jump-shot at times, which isn't consistent enough at this stage, and is a little turnover prone handling the ball on the perimeter. If unable to simply beat his man off the dribble with his first step he doesn't have much of a plan of attack, showing a limited feel for passing to teammates or utilizing countermoves.
Perhaps the worst thing that can be said about Ashley is that he doesn't always show a great sense of urgency in his time on the court. His intensity level fluctuates greatly and he seems to let games come to him, which isn't rare considering his age. The place where that shows up the most right now is in his work on defense and as a rebounder. His fundamentals here aren't great, as he rarely boxes out his opponent or gets into a real defensive stance.
To Ashley's credit, he readily admits that these are issues he must address. This is one of the reasons he decided to commit to Sean Miller at Arizona, whose teams at Xavier were always known for the intensity and toughness.
If Ashley can address his shortcomings and continue to expand his all-around game over time, there's little doubt he'll emerge as a very intriguing NBA prospect, possibly similar to former Arizona power forward Derrick Williams, whose name undoubtedly came up in Miller's recruiting pitch.
Isaiah Austin, 7-0, Center, Grace Preparatory Academy
Committed to Baylor
A player who has made some serious strides both physically and in terms of his mentality, Isaiah Austin had a strong week here in Chicago, even if it's clear that he still has a long ways to go to reach his significant potential.
A legit 7-footer with a gigantic 9-3 standing reach, Austin has obviously put a great deal of work into developing his extremely lanky frame. His upper body looks noticeably stronger, and he continues to move extremely well, even if his high hips and very thin legs remain a concern.
Offensively, Austin has the makings of a versatile skill-set, thanks to his excellent fundamentals. He has some basic post moves in his arsenal which are very effective if strength isn't too much of a concern, as he keeps the ball up high, has solid footwork, and shows excellent touch around the basket, releasing the ball from a vantage point that few can contest.
Additionally, he has good instincts as an offensive rebounder, having the wingspan, hands and agility to go out of his area on a regular basis and secure his team extra possessions.
On the perimeter, Austin has the ability to knock down shots with range out to about 18 feet, as well as solid ball-handling skills for a player his size, at times showing the ability to create his own shot and pull up off the dribble in impressive fashion. He has a good basketball IQ and appears to understand how to play within a team concept, which should make him very easy for Scott Drew to integrate into Baylor's offense next season.
Defensively, Austin is an incredible presence inside the paint with his combination of length and mobility, being extremely difficult to shoot over when rotating from the weak-side when dialed in. He blocks and alters plenty of shots both on and off the ball, which will make him a commodity throughout his career at the center position.
A large part of Austin's development will hinge on the continued development of his frame, particularly his lower body, which is very thin and makes it difficult for him to hold his ground effectively at times inside the paint. This is compounded by the fact that he's not the toughest or most physical big man around, while his high center of gravity makes it difficult for him to bend his knees and move his feet laterally effectively at times.
Obviously still in a very early stage of development, Austin suffers from lapses in intensity on occasion and is still learning how to make his presence felt on both ends of the floor on a consistent basis. He's not always the first to offer up his body and scrap for extra possessions, particularly on the defensive glass, where he could still become more effective boxing out.
A player who is likely many years away from reaching his full potential as a prospect even now, Austin is showing consistent improvement, which is all you can ask for at this stage. It's easy to see why he's so highly regarded, and considering his excellent off-court demeanor and intelligent nature, it appears likely he'll find a good amount of success in basketball eventually.
Marcus Smart, 6-3, Shooting Guard, Marcus High School
Committed to Oklahoma State
Previously unknown to us heading into the event, Marcus Smart had a strong week here in Chicago, and looks like a great get for Travis Ford at Oklahoma State.
Undersized for a shooting guard at around 6-3, but with a chiseled frame, long arms and solid athleticism, Smart is surely big enough to be effective at the college level, but may give some scouts pause with his lack of size.
Smart makes up for that with what appears to be great versatility on both ends of the floor, as well as a winning spirit and a real competitive streak.
Offensively, Smart shows the ability to make shots both with his feet set and off the dribble, from the 3-point line as well as in the mid-range area. He's at his best using his superior strength to overpower opponents en route to the basket, though, finishing through contact and drawing plenty of fouls in the process.
Smart is also extremely effective on defense, playing with a real chip on his shoulder here and being very effective with his combination of length and aggressiveness.
A good, but not elite athlete, it will be very interesting to see how the different parts of Smart's game translate to the college level. He's a surprisingly complete player for his age, and is known as a great leader and a winner on every stage he's played at. While he's unlikely to become a full-time point guard, it may not be a surprise to see him take on more of a combo guard role in college, as he clearly has the basketball IQ and unselfishness to do so, which would likely improve his NBA prospects considerably.
Alex Poythress SF/PF
Brandon Ashley PF
Tongxi
Isaiah Austin C
Marcus Smart PG
Terrence Jones PF
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist SF
Derrick Williams PF
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Tag Archives: Luxurious
Singapore Travel – Introducing The Luxurious Marina Bay Sands Resort and Casino
December 13, 2014 Turis Indonesia Leave a comment
Over the last year and a half, Singapore has launched two brand new integrated resorts. One of the resorts is the luxurious Marina Bay Sands Resort and Casino, which is located right in the city center in the Marina Bay area of Singapore. It is owned by the Sands Corporation, which is the same American company that is famous for their flag ship Sands Casino in Las Vegas, United States. Here are some highlights of what the Marina Bay Sands Resort and Casino has to offer.
The Casino
The casino at the Marina Bay Sands Resort is a two story gambling facility with all the popular games such as Black Jack, Baccarat, and Roulette. Also they have many jackpot slot machines available. As with all casinos in Singapore, all Singapore citizens and permanent residence holders must pay a 100$ levy to enter.
The Shoppes At Marina Bay Sands
The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands is a huge shopping complex that is connected to the resort hotel and the casino. It boasts all the luxury brand name stores, such as the two story flag ship Gucci store, and the Louis Vuitton store located outside in the crystal pavilion. Furthermore, there are many dining options, from the normal food court, to celebrity chef restaurants. There is also a skating rink indoors and a stage theatre for the performing arts.
Art Science Museum
The Art Science Museum is the structure located outside that resembles a giant lotus flower. It is a daring piece of architecture that brings a unique vibe to Singapore’s downtown skyline. New exhibits are regularly placed here with the most recent one being the Titanic Artifact Exhibit.
Sands Skypark
The Sands Skypark is the viewing deck on the top of the resort hotel. It provides stunning views of the Singapore skyline, as well as the ocean front. If you are a guest at the hotel, you can also go to the other part of the Skypark which boasts a giant infinity pool from where you can swim and catch the amazing view of the city from above.
The Marina Bay Sands Convention Center offers public spaces for rent, which is suitable for trade shows, banquet functions, and even training events and seminars. The facilities are modern, and are equipped with the latest audio and visual equipment.
The luxurious Marina Bay Sands Resort and Casino is suitable for all types of visitors. With all these varied facilities and entertainment offerings, this integrated resort is definitely one of the major attractions in Singapore to see.
Alec Chan is a travel writer, intrepid traveler, and food enthusiast, who is very passionate about traveling.
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CasinoIntroducingLuxuriousMarina Bay SandsResortSingaporeTravel
Singapore Hotels Are Known Globally For Luxurious Accommodation Facilities
Singapore tourism competes well with its regional rival cities such as Bangkok, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Shanghai. Singapore being a city-state in style of Greek city states attracts travelers from around the world. The transformation of a commercial city Singapore to a popular tourist destination has been made possible by governmental efforts. The government has announced that the city area would be transformed into a more exciting place by lighting up the civic and commercial buildings.
Singapore is showing a unique model of successful development. Consisting of 63 islands including mainland Singapore. With human maneuvering and natural beauty endowed to Singapore by nature, Singapore tourism is an exciting traveling experience. With sophistication in medical facilities and amenities wide number of tourists comes for medical checkups and operations. Recent trends show Singapore is developing itself as a medical tourism center in East Asia earning nearly USD 3 billion in revenue.
‘The Merlion,’ a popular tourist attraction in Singapore was designed as an emblem for the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) in 1964 by Mr Fraser Brunner. Some major tourist attractions in Singapore like Singapore Zoo, CHIJMES – The Singapore Art Museum, Clarke Quay, St Josephs Church, Fort Siloso, Little India, Chinatown Heritage Centre, Changi Village, etc. offer enthralling tourism experience to travelers are known globally.
Singapore is dotted with numerous tourist attractions such as Statues of Sir Stamford Raffles, Changi Chapel and Museum, Sentosa Island, East Coast Park, and many others. Accommodation facilities in Singapore are of international standard and match to best hospitality standard world over. Hotels in Singapore offer comprehensive range of accommodation facilities to travelers at affordable tariff. Moreover, various luxury hotels in Singapore are preferred accommodation for business travelers.
Star Singapore hotels such as Amara Hotel, Carlton Hotel, Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel, Marina Mandarin Hotel, Pan Pacific Singapore Hotel, Hotel 1929, Link Hotel, the Elizabeth-A Far East Hotel, Traders Hotel, Aspinals Hotel, and many others facilitate travelers with standard accommodation facilities and amenities. Our Singapore hotels list enables you to choose best possible option for staying in Singapore.
Singapore hotels such as Fragrance Hotel, Fragrance Hotel – Ruby, Fragrance Hotel – Sapphire, Garden Hotel, Hotel 81 Orchid, Albert Court Hotel, Hotel 81 Gold, Hotel 81 Hollywood, Hangout @ Mt Emily Hotel, Summer Tavern Hotel, Fragrance Hotel – Joo Chiat, Fragrance Backpackers Hostel, and many others offer fascinating range of accommodation facilities to travelers at affordable tariff. Additional requirements of accommodations are being fulfilled by various hostels run by YMCA and YWCA.
Star hotels in Singapore offer facilities such as round the clock room service, airport pick & drop, swimming pool, internet, bar, gym, restaurant, massage center, conferencing facilities, and many others.
Nancy Eben:
Star hotels in Singapore and tourist attractions in Singapore
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nancy_E
Find More Singapore Hotel Articles
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Energy Biz: Japan has high hopes for Space Solar Power
From: http://energycentral.fileburst.com/EnergyBizOnline/2008-5-sep-oct/Tech_Frontier_Solar_Space.pdf
Japan is working hard toadvance its laser and microwave research so that solar power generated in space can be beamed to Earth in two decades, Scientific American reported this summer. By 2030, the Japanese hope to generate 1,000 megawatts at an orbiting solar generator and transport it to Earth. To learn more about the effort, EnergyBiz e-mailed questions to Hiroaki Suzuki with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, also known as JAXA. He is one of 180 Japanese scientists working on the program, according to Scientific American. It also reported that the ultimate cost of such a project could climb to tens of billions of dollars, but the Japanese are intent on mastering the technology first, and then driving down the cost to levels that are competitive.
We have investigated two types of space solar panel systems, laser and microwave.With laser-based systems, Earth-orbiting solar condenser mirrors concentrate solar energy and divert it to laser amplifiers. A direct solar pumping solid-state laser diode uses the concentrated solar energy to amplify a low-power seed laser beam. The amplified laser beam is transmitted to Earth. Thus, this type of system uses no solar cell panels. Radiators dissipate the laser generator’s waste heat into space. A ground-based photovoltaic device converts the transmitted laser beam into electricity. This system can also be used to produce hydrogen with photocatalytic hydrogen generation or water electrolysis.With microwave-based systems, primary mirrors collect solar energy that solar panels convert to electricity that powers semiconductordevices to generate a microwave beam. A ground-based rectifying antenna array collects the transmitted microwave beam and converts it into electricity that is supplied to commercial power grids.
In the elemental technology development study, a laser amplifier with a direct solar pumping solid-state laser diode made of yttrium aluminum garnet ceramic doped with neodymium and chromium is being studied. The atmospheric transmittal propertiesof a high-energy laser beam and beam-pointing technology are studied for their applications in a laser-based system. For the microwave-based system, a large-scale phased array antenna, microwave amplifier, retro-directive beam control, and rectifying antenna are being studied. For both systems, a large-scale, ultra-light reflective mirror is also studied.
In the ground energy transmission demonstration, a kilowatt-class experiment for laser and microwave system is planned and is expected to be conducted within five years.System concepts and architectures of commercial-grade microwave- and laser-based space solar panel systems have been studied for years. System concepts and architectures have been developed and associated key technologieshave been identified.
Although a preliminarycost estimate has been conducted, it includes a lot of ambiguities. We are not ready to show you our cost analysis. We expect space solar panel systems will be competitive with the existing power plants in 20 to 30 years, if the space transportation cost is considerably reduced. It should be noted that solar systems do not emit CO2, nor do they create nuclear waste.
We are proposing a roadmap that consists of a stepped approach to achieve 1-gigawatt-class commercial space solar panel systems in 20 to 30 years. That means 2030 would see the very beginning of commercial systems. We expect the ultimate percentage of electricity derived from space will be more than several tens of percent. By the way, Japanese total electricity generation was about 275 gigawatts or 990,000 gigawatt-hours in 2005.
Posted by TheVision at 10/27/2008 03:04:00 PM 2 comments:
NSS PositionPaper on Space Solar Power
Exerpts From: http://www.nss.org/legislative/positions/NSS-SSP-PositionPaper.pdf
Space Solar Power: An Investment for Today – An Energy Solution for Tomorrow
The United States and the rest of the world need to find alternative sources of energy besides fossil fuels. The National Space Society believes that one of the most important long-term solutions for meeting those energy needs is Space Solar Power (SSP), which gathers energy from sunlight in space and sends it to Earth. We believe that SSP can solve our energy and greenhouse gas emissions problems. Not just help, not just take a step in the right direction; solve. SSP can provide large quantities of energy to each and every person on Earth with very little environmental impact. The NSS recommends that SSP be considered along with ground-based solar collectors and wind turbines as a safe, renewable, and clean energy option.
Solar energy is routinely used on spacecraft today, and the solar energy available in space is literally billions of times greater than we use today. The lifetime of the sun is an estimated 4 to 5 billion years, making SSP a truly long-term energy solution. Space solar power can have an extremely small environmental footprint, perhaps competitive with ground-solar and wind, because with sufficient investments in space infrastructure, the SSP can be built from materials from space with zero terrestrial environmental impact. Only energy receivers need be built on Earth. As Earth receives only one part in 2.3 billion of the sun's output, SSP is by far the largest
potential energy source available, dwarfing all others combined. Development cost and time, of course, are considerable. This makes SSP a long-term solution rather than a short-term stop-gap, although there are some intriguing near-term possibilities.... While all viable energy options should be pursued with vigor, SSP has a number of substantial advantages over other energy sources...
All of these technologies are consistent with the laws of physics, are reasonably nearterm, and have multiple attractive approaches. However, a great deal of work is needed to develop economically competitive space solar power. The NSS encourages both the private sector and governments to devote substantial resources toward SSP research and development.
SSP deserves a place alongside ground-based solar collectors, nuclear power plants, and
wind turbines as potential solutions to energy dependence and global greenhouse-gasinduced
warming. If SSP is given serious consideration, NSS expects it will play a growing, and perhaps dominant, role in providing safe, clean, renewable energy for our planet for the foreseeable future and beyond.
The Vision of NSS is people living and working in thriving communities beyond the Earth, and the use of the vast resources of space for the dramatic betterment of humanity.
The Mission of NSS is to promote social, economic, technological, and political change in order to expand civilization beyond Earth, to settle space and to use the resulting resources to build a hopeful and prosperous future for humanity. Accordingly, we support steps toward this goal, including human spaceflight, commercial space development, space exploration, space applications, space resource utilization, robotic precursors, defense against asteroids, relevant science, and space settlement oriented education.
Read more about Space Solar at NSS web page: http://www.nss.org/settlement/ssp/index.htm
By the way, recently the National Space Society has constructed tremendous on-line resources for information on Space Solar and Planetary Defense can be found here:
Space Solar Library:http://www.nss.org/settlement/ssp/library/index.htm
Planetary Defense Library:http://www.nss.org/resources/library/planetarydefense/index.htm
Posted by TheVision at 10/26/2008 11:59:00 AM No comments:
New Space Industrialization Video & Libraries
New pro-Space Industrialization video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBnJLPpGIGQ
US Chamber Endorses Space Solar
http://www.uschamber.com/NR/rdonlyres/edm2xkduw3eezq2xt3fp6clc6um23mm3kyvqltppnb3spuognhdo26fkjdl3vcuusjkqf7ckvtsuh4cnwxvbsh2tolc/SECSpaceBasedSolarPowerWhitePaper.pdf
http://www.nss.org/settlement/ssp/library/2008-SECSpaceBasedSolarPowerWhitePaper.pdf
The appropriate policy question is: "Should the U.S. Government invest in SBSP research, as part of a diversified portfolio of renewable energy programs, including consideration of new approaches that may not have been previously studied?" Our answer to that question is yes. We must explore all potentially significant sources of sustainable energy that might contribute, even if only to a limited extent in the near term, to assurance of security and prosperity. Facing this challenge represents a responsibility not only to our own nation but also to the global community in which we live.
SBSP should be addressed through an incremental roadmap approach, involving both Government and private sector investment. This roadmap should be constructed to address at the outset key questions about SBSP, including technical viability and cost-effectiveness. The roadmap should consist of a series of milestones, each built on the availability of information generated by prior research. If research results are positive, each milestone should lead to increased government and private sector effort and investment. If justified by research findings, a move from research to demonstration projects should be initiated. Beyond this, milestones should be designed to maximize opportunities for multiple applications of research results, so that improvements in existing technologies and development of new ones could have near-term applications in addition to SBSP (e.g., communications satellite power supplies, terrestrial solar power generation).
The Space Enterprise Council of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce supports the National Security Space Office recommendation of a research program addressing space-based solar power, to explore whether or not this potential energy source could enhance commerce and security. The importance of alternative energy research is becoming increasingly clear, given the urgency of the national and global need for energy that is inexhaustible, affordable, and environmentally clean. Assuring access to energy is particularly relevant to U.S. national security, not only for supply of reliable power to deployed forces but also for avoiding international conflicts that might arise because of energy shortages.
SBSP is unusual among renewable energy options because it might satisfy all four of the following criteria critical to investment decisions: environmental cleanliness, sustainability of supply, flexibility of location, and capacity to generate continuous rather than intermittent power. The cost of SBSP-generated electricity would initially be greater than that provided by fossil fuel or nuclear power but could be comparable to other alternative energy sources, particularly for baseload power. In addition, SBSP might offer an attractive approach, not only for satisfying today's needs but also for meeting tomorrow’s much greater requirements. We cannot accurately predict environmental and other consequences of harvesting energy from natural Earthbound sources (e.g., wind, ocean current, geothermal, biofuels), when these methods are scaled up to considerably higher levels. By providing an additional source of renewable energy, SBSP might help avoid potentially negative consequences if limits to the cost-effective expansion of other renewable sources become evident. Beyond enhancement of energy production per se, SBSP might help create new economic opportunities through resultant technology advances in space launch, space utilization, and technological spin-offs applicable to a host of materials and processes. For example, SBSP research might lead to improvements in the efficiency of solar cells that power communications satellites, as well as power management systems for terrestrial solar power systems. Also, to the extent that SBSP is integrated into terrestrial solar power production, development of SBSP ground infrastructure might generate revenue even before deployment of systems in space. In this and related applications, SBSP could emerge as an enhancement for, rather than a competitor with, terrestrial solar power generation.
Space Solar News
From: http://indiapost.com/article/usnews/4044/
Targeting India on climate change is unfair: PranabSunday, 10.05.2008, 09:24pm (GMT-7)India Post News Service. Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee before an enlightened audience at the Asia Society in New York on Sept 30...his speech on 'India and Global Challenges: Climate Change and Energy Security', which was part of a series of talks by Asian leaders hosted by the Asia Society at its New York headquarters in conjunction with the opening of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) from September 22 to October 3.
"Later, during a question-answer session, the External Affairs Minister said that despite having vast deposits of thorium, India could not pursue production of nuclear energy as access to critical nuclear technology was denied to it over the last 30 years. He said India was now collaborating closely with the US to tap space solar power."
His remarks follow the call at the 2007 International Astronomical Congress for a Global Aerospace Mission in Space and Energy to realize Space Solar Power. Dr. Kalam's speech here, particularly about 40 minutes in:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1713823180734591638&hl=en
And Dr. Kalam (then India's President), laid out space as among the greenest technologies, laying out the challenge of space solar power:
http://asia.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=22431
Perhaps significant, considering the recent headline:
Obama says India will be top priority
http://www.headlinesindia.com/india-and-world/us/india-to-be-top-priority-in-my-presidency-obama-3030.html
A stronger relationship with India and a close strategic partnership will be a 'top priority' of a Barack Obama administration, says the Democratic presidential candidate. "The US should be working with India on a range of critical issues from preventing terrorism to promoting peace and stability in Asia," Senator Obama said in an exclusive interview. "Joe Biden and I will make building a stronger relationship, including a close strategic partnership, with India a top priority." On his agenda for working with New Delhi, he said, "I also believe India is a natural strategic partner for America in the 21st century and that the US should be working with India on a range of critical issues from preventing terrorism to promoting peace and stability in Asia."
This follows earlier, and longstanding remarks of his running mate:
http://www.cfr.org/bios/1451/joseph_r_biden_jr.html
Biden (D-DE) called U.S. ties with India the “single most important relationship that we have to get right for our own safety's sake” (Rediff.com).
And for the United States, no relationship is more important than the one we are building with India.” — Senator Joseph Biden, November 16, 2006
Posted by TheVision at 10/26/2008 10:34:00 AM 2 comments:
Neil Tyson on CNN/D.L. Hughley Obama & Asteroids
Hillarious interview with Neil Tyson tonight on CNN late night comedy news talk show host D.L. Hughley:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhXOwlXfsug
HR 6063 Becomes Law!
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h110-6063
On Oct 15, the President signed HR 6063, the 2008 NASA Authorization Act into Law. Find the full text here: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h110-6063
Most significantly, it contains the following language:
TITLE VIII--NEAR-EARTH OBJECTS
SEC. 801. REAFFIRMATION OF POLICY.
(a) Reaffirmation of Policy on Surveying Near-Earth Asteroids and Comets- Congress reaffirms the policy (g)) (relating to surveying42 U.S.C. 2451set forth in section 102(g) of the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 (near-Earth42 U.S.C. 2451(g)) (relating to surveying near-Earth asteroids and comets).
(b) Sense of Congress on Benefits of Near-Earth Object Program Activities- It is the sense of Congress that the near-Earth object program activities of NASA will provide benefits to the scientific and exploration activities of NASA.
SEC. 802. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) Near-Earth objects pose a serious and credible threat to humankind, as many scientists believe that a major asteroid or comet was responsible for the mass extinction of the majority of the Earth’s species, including the dinosaurs, nearly 65,000,000 years ago.
(2) Several such near-Earth objects have only been discovered within days of the objects’ closest approach to Earth and recent discoveries of such large objects indicate that many large near-Earth objects remain undiscovered.
(3) Asteroid and comet collisions rank as one of the most costly natural disasters that can occur.
(4) The time needed to eliminate or mitigate the threat of a collision of a potentially hazardous near-Earth object with Earth is measured in decades.
(5) Unlike earthquakes and hurricanes, asteroids and comets can provide adequate collision information, enabling the United States to include both asteroid-collision and comet-collision disaster recovery and disaster avoidance in its public-safety structure.
(6) Basic information is needed for technical and policy decisionmaking for the United States to create a comprehensive program in order to be ready to eliminate and mitigate the serious and credible threats to humankind posed by potentially hazardous near-Earth asteroids and comets.
(7) As a first step to eliminate and to mitigate the risk of such collisions, situation and decision analysis processes, as well as procedures and system resources, must be in place well before a collision threat becomes known.
SEC. 803. REQUESTS FOR INFORMATION.
The Administrator shall issue requests for information on--
(1) a low-cost space mission with the purpose of rendezvousing with, attaching a tracking device, and characterizing the Apophis asteroid; and
(2) a medium-sized space mission with the purpose of detecting near-Earth objects equal to or greater than 140 meters in diameter.
SEC. 804. ESTABLISHMENT OF POLICY WITH RESPECT TO THREATS POSED BY NEAR-EARTH OBJECTS.
Within 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director of the OSTP shall--
(1) develop a policy for notifying Federal agencies and relevant emergency response institutions of an impending near-Earth object threat, if near-term public safety is at risk; and
(2) recommend a Federal agency or agencies to be responsible for--
(A) protecting the United States from a near-Earth object that is expected to collide with Earth; and
(B) implementing a deflection campaign, in consultation with international bodies, should one be necessary.
SEC. 805. PLANETARY RADAR CAPABILITY.
The Administrator shall maintain a planetary radar that is comparable to the capability provided through the Deep Space Network Goldstone facility of NASA.
SEC. 806. ARECIBO OBSERVATORY.
Congress reiterates its support for the use of the Arecibo Observatory for NASA-funded near-Earth object-related activities. The Administrator, using funds authorized in section 101(a)(1)(B), shall ensure the availability of the Arecibo Observatory’s planetary radar to support these activities until the National Academies’ review of NASA’s approach for the survey and deflection of near-Earth objects, including a determination of the role of Arecibo, that was directed to be undertaken by the Fiscal Year 2008 Omnibus Appropriations Act, is completed.
SEC. 807. INTERNATIONAL RESOURCES.
It is the sense of Congress that, since an estimated 25,000 asteroids of concern have yet to be discovered and monitored, the United States should seek to obtain commitments for cooperation from other nations with significant resources for contributing to a thorough and timely search for such objects and an identification of their characteristics.
SEC. 1105. INNOVATION PRIZES.
(a) In General- Prizes can play a useful role in encouraging innovation in the development of technologies and products that can assist NASA in its aeronautics and space activities, and the use of such prizes by NASA should be encouraged.
(b) Amendments- Section 314 of the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 is amended--
(1) by amending subsection (b) to read as follows:
‘(b) Topics- In selecting topics for prize competitions, the Administrator shall consult widely both within and outside the Federal Government, and may empanel advisory committees. The Administrator shall give consideration to prize goals such as the demonstration of the ability to provide energy to the lunar surface from space-based solar power systems, demonstration of innovative near-Earth object survey and deflection strategies, and innovative approaches to improving the safety and efficiency of aviation systems.’; and
(2) in subsection (i)(4) by striking ‘$10,000,000’ and inserting ‘$50,000,000’.
Posted by TheVision at 10/25/2008 10:40:00 PM No comments:
Canadian Asteroid Defense & Schedule of Events
Check out this new Canadian-based Global Asteroid Protection Society:
http://stoprocks.com/
They join a long-line of organizations which have called for action:
Space Frontier Foundation: https://webmail.hq.af.mil/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.space-frontier.org/Projects/TheWatch/
Association of Space Explorers: https://webmail.hq.af.mil/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.space-explorers.org/
B612: https://webmail.hq.af.mil/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.b612foundation.org/press/press.html
ProSpace: https://webmail.hq.af.mil/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.prospace.org/
Planetary Society: https://webmail.hq.af.mil/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.planetary.org/programs/projects/apophis_competition/
AIAA: https://webmail.hq.af.mil/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.aero.org/conferences/planetarydefense/ & position paper: https://webmail.hq.af.mil/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.planetarydefense.info/resources/pdf/Asteroids-Final.pdf
Gaia Shield Group: https://webmail.hq.af.mil/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://gaiashield.com/two.html
Lifeboat Foundation: https://webmail.hq.af.mil/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.lifeboat.com/ex/asteroid.shield
Secure World: https://webmail.hq.af.mil/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://75.125.200.178/~admin23/index.php?id=16%26page=Near_Earth_Objects
National Space Society: https://webmail.hq.af.mil/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.nss.org/settlement/asteroids/
Marsdrive: https://webmail.hq.af.mil/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://marsdrive.com/news/asteroid-to-hit-mars.html
Which reminds me, the Canadians have a project called NEOSat, which will spend half its time doing Space Situational Awarness, and the other half doing search for Asteroids. It will use a 15cm diameter telescope. It is about the size of suitcase, and weighs 65kg. They hope to launch it in 2010. Unfortunately, it still apparently needs to find an opportune ride to orbit...perhaps on a polar weather satellite.
http://mithridates.blogspot.com/2008/07/canada-to-launch-neosat-satellite-to.html
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080629/NEOsat_asteroids_080630?s_name=&no_ads=
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080626/asteroid_hunter_080626/20080626
The Europeans are also doing interesting work. They are pushing the asteroids onto the agenda for SSA. Currently they still have Don Quiote mission on the books, and one can hope against their troubles that they will not completely abandon it. Particularly in Britain, leading Study Group 14 for the UN COPUOS, and Dr. M. Vasile who is comparing a number of different methods continues to turn out useful work comparing various options.
http://space.newscientist.com/article/dn12761
Another interesting site that will get quite a bit more press early next year is the international Association of Space Explorers (ASE), theinternational organization of astronauts and cosmonauts from 33 countries:
http://www.space-explorers.org/committees/NEO/neo.html
Not in particular this paper, which says:
http://www.space-explorers.org/committees/NEO/docs/COSPAR-paper.pdf
- Within 10-15 will be tracking~300,000 NEOS =>45m (Tunguska Size) due to projected upgrades, of which 10,000 will have non-zero probability of earth impact in next 100 years and 50-100(.5-1%) are likely to appear threatening enough to warrant active monitoring or deflection!
Back in the US, the official site for the Iowa State Asteroid Deflection Center (ADRC), where eventually the presentations will be posted.
http://www.adrc.iastate.edu/
In fact, here is the layout for near term events:
- Dec 2008 - Dedicated National Space Society (NSS) Ad Astra magazine
- Spring 2009, Association of Space Explorers (ASE) issues its report, "Asteroid Threats: A Call for Global Response" to the United Nation's Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space
- March 23-27 Lunar & Planetary Science Conference
- April 23-24 Space Law Conference: Near Earth Objects (NEOs): Risks and Opportunities, Lincoln, Nebraska
- April 27-30 International Planetary Defense Conference, Grenada, Spain
www.congrex.nl/09c04/First_Announcement.pdf
- October 2010 National Research deadline of review of NASA NEO report to congress
- October 2010 The deadline for the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) to recommend a lead agency to Congress
Iowa State Hosts Asteroid Deflection Research Symposium
Iowa State visionary Dr. Bong Wie (supported by Dr. Tom Shih) brought a number of significant agencies from across the US Government and who had expertise or organizational equities in Planetary Defense together with world-class researchers to discuss how to tacke the problem of Asteroid Deflection. The group has jokingly been called the planetary defense volunteers, as at present, no organization has been directly assigned responsibility.
The conference included participants from NASA, DTRA, USAF, AFRL, DHS, DIA, LLNL, Sandia, and NSF as well as the National Academies National Research Council which is now conducting a review of NEO discovery and deflection for the Congress. It also included represenatives from several corporations such as Lockheed, Orbital Sciences, Emergent Space, as well as a number of representatives from SIGMA, a unique think tank (http://www.sigmaforum.org/) which provides pro-bono services to government agencies. Correspondents from the Discovery Channel and National Geographic were also present.
Lindley Johnson provided an excellent overview of history and current NASA efforts, and details of 2008 TC3 incident.
Mark Boslough of Sandia provided compelling computer simulations of Low Altitude Airbursts that he asserted dominated the near threat, and he also made the case that deflection of asteroids for Geoengineering (to Earth-Sun L1 then create dust to create shadow) to avert rapid climate change was even more compelling for him in the near term. He discussed some fascinating and counterintuitive physics of Airburst phenomena that require much lower mass to cause equivalent damage, can create cratering, peristent vortices at temperatures above the melting temperature of rock, and a sort of massive plume where the colder, thicker atmosphere acts as a kind of rocket nozzle for the heated air.
Topics discussed ranged from solar sails, to kinetic impactors, to gravity tugs, to antimatter, fission, and fusion devices, and both deflection and disruption was discussed. The group seemed to think that there was no one best way, but that it would be useful to have a number of tools in the tool kit, but that there was much work to be done to create the underlying tools and common scenarios to allow decisionmakers to make proper selection.
While the conference was mainly technical, a significant theme, perhaps best articlated by Dr. Pete Worden, NASA Ames director, is the near term problem is not so much technology as Command and Control (C2)...who identifies the threat, who validates/believes it, who builds it, who decides, who tests, who tells whom, etc. Links to in-situ resource utilization, space industrialization, prizes and private sector participation (Tom Matula's asteroid bounty idea, Public-Private protected IP/limited liability) were discussed. International aspects were discussed.
Near-term missions for survey (such as NASA Ames MAAT) were discussed, but it was apparent that the existing vehicles for funding such missions currently have criteria to select for the best science or exploration technology, and that critical planetary technology missions are unfortunately not compelling under these criteria.
A spirited discussion took place around the topic of whether or not the discovery program had actually reduced risk, and the role of fear and rationality in decisionmaking. For an excellent discussion of these issues, see the following essay:
http://www.gaiashield.com/AMMAD/WWAMMAD.pdf
Asteroid Deflection Seminar to Happen in DC
A formal announcement of the ADRS 2008 can be found at
http://www.engineering.iastate.edu/news/news-article/article/2148/5828.html
Ames, Iowa—The Iowa State University Asteroid Deflection Research Center (ADRC) is sponsoring an Asteroid Deflection Research Symposium on October 23–24, 2008, at Doubletree Hotel Crystal City-National Airport, Arlington, Virginia. The purpose of this symposium is to exchange technical information and to develop an integrated multidisciplinary R&D program for asteroid deflection/fragmentation using high-energy as well as low-energy options, according to Bong Wie, the Vance D. Coffman Chair Professor in Aerospace Engineering at Iowa State and ADRC director. Planetary defense researchers from such agencies as NASA, the U.S. Air Force, the Air Force Research Laboratory, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, Sandia National Laboratories, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and the National Research Council as well as industry and academia, plan to participate in the symposium. These are researchers who are currently involved in exploring and/or developing various options for asteroid deflection/fragmentation. The ADRC was established at Iowa State last spring to coordinate and lead a research effort to address the complex engineering and science issues of asteroid deflection. The collision of a moderately large asteroid or comet (also referred to as a near-Earth object) with Earth would have catastrophic consequences. Such events, Wie points out, have occurred in the past and will likely occur again in the future. “For the first time in history,” he adds, “we have practically viable options to counter this threat, but there is no consensus on how to reliably deflect asteroids in a timely manner. This research symposium is a first step in bringing researchers together to discuss options and develop a roadmap for determining the best solution.”
See Brochure at: http://www.adrc.iastate.edu/fileadmin/www.aere.iastate.edu/ADRC/ADRS_2008.pdf
NASA SpaceGuard Shacks Asteroid Strike Prediction
In an extraordinary dress rehearsal of future events to come, the SpaceGuard Survey, for the first time ever discovered an asteroid before impact, and tracked it to impact. Discovered only 20 hours in advance, within 8 hours and 21 minutes, using only four observations, it accurately predicted the time of impact to less than a minute. The asteroid, 2008 TC3, a 5 meter charbonacious chondrite, created an atmospheric detonation (bolide) of 1.1 to 2.1 kilotons over a remote region in Sudan.
Serendipidy played an important role, as a week later, the survey would have been looking at a different section of sky.
The event set off a flurry of notifications through US and international agencies. Such notifications are important not only in the case that a larger impact could cause casualties, but even a smaller impact such as this one might be mistaken in some tense regions as a nuclear test or strike.
See Orbit at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEMXqN3Zze8
See Flash Explosion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPWqB5Zo53M&NR=1
Video of TC3 a few hours before Impact:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9D5fE6QXrpg&feature=related
Fly with TC3 Animation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cxa2PUluqVU&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PF8d08atkug&feature=related
See TC3 to Ground: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FW3oaZgCz0&NR=1
From: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2008/10/07/sudan-hit-by-apollo-asteroid/
Sudan hit by Apollo Asteroid
7 10 2008 Posted by Dee Norris
A recently discovered Apollo Asteroid, 2008 TC3, exploded over Sudan at about 1046 EDT on October 7, 2008. 2008 TC3 was discovered on Monday by an observer at the Mt Lemmon Observatory near Tucson, Arizona. 2008 TC3 is notable in that it is the first Asteroid of its size that was identified before impact and tracking it put the entire Spaceguard tracking system to an extreme test. TC3 is estimated to be only two to five meters in diameter but exploded with the force of a one kiloton nuclear device. Asteroids of this size hit the Earth every few months according JPL scientists. No deaths have been reported yet. The important lesson here is that Spaceguard is able to identify and track these smaller objects as well as the larger ones. A 20 to 50 meter asteroid exploding over a major city could result in a significant loss of property and life. The most imagined dire consequences of AGW could never stack up to the actual consequences of a larger asteroid actually impacting nearly anywhere on the Earth. If for this reason alone, funding for space exploration needs to be continued.
From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_TC3
2008 TC3 (Catalina Sky Survey temporary designation 8TA9D69) was a meteoroid 2 to 5 meters (7 to 16 ft) in diameter that entered Earth's atmosphere on October 7, 2008, at 02:46 UTC (5:46 a.m. local time) and burned up before it reached the ground.
The meteoroid was discovered by an observer at the Catalina Sky Survey (CSS) 1.5 meter telescope at Mount Lemmon, north of Tucson, Arizona, USA, about a day before the impact.[2][3] The meteoroid was notable as the first such body to be observed and tracked prior to reaching Earth.[4] The process of detecting and tracking a near-Earth object, an effort sometimes referred to as Spaceguard, was put to a test. In total, 586 astrometric and almost as many photometric observations were performed by 27 amateur and professional observers in less than 19 hours and reported to the Minor Planet Center, which issued 25 Minor Planet Electronic Circulars with new orbit solutions in eleven hours as observations poured in. Impact predictions were performed by University of Pisa's CLOMON 2 semi-automatic monitoring system[5][6] as well as Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Sentry system. Spectral observations that were performed by astronomers at the 4.2 meter William Herschel Telescope at La Palma, Canary Islands are consistent with either a C-type or M-type asteroid. The meteoroid, also considered a bolide[7] due to its fiery explosion, is confirmed to have entered Earth's atmosphere above northern Sudan at a velocity of 12.8 kilometres per second (8.0 mi/s). Estimated trajectory has the object coming out of the western sky at an azimuth of 281 degrees, and an altitude angle of 19 degrees to the local horizon.
Meteosat 8 / EUMETSAT IR image of the 2008 TC3 explosion. Copyright 2008 EUMETSAT
It exploded tens of kilometers above the ground with the energy of around one kiloton of TNT, causing a large fireball in the early morning sky.[8] Very few people inhabit the remote area of the Nubian Desert where the explosion took place; The Times, however, reported that the meteoroid's "light was so intense that it lit up the sky like a full moon and an airliner 1,400 km (870 miles) away reported seeing the bright flash."[9] A low-resolution image of the explosion was captured by the weather satellite Meteosat 8.[10] The Meteosat images place the fireball at 21°00′N 32°09′E / 21.00, 32.15.[11] Infrasound detector arrays in Kenya also detected a sound wave from the direction of the expected impact corresponding to energy of 1.1 to 2.1 kilotons of TNT.[12] Meteoroids of this size hit Earth about two or three times a year.[13]
The trajectory showed intersection with Earth's surface at roughly 20°18′N 33°30′E / 20.3, 33.5[14] though the object was expected to break up perhaps 100–200 kilometers west as it descended, somewhat east of the Nile River, and about 100 kilometers south of the Egypt–Sudan border.
According to U.S. government sources[15][16] U.S. satellites detected the impact at 02:45:40 UT, with the initial detection at 20°54′N 31°24′E / 20.9, 31.4 at 65.4 km altitude and final explosion at 20°48′N 32°12′E / 20.8, 32.2 at 37 km altitude.
From: http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news159.html
Don YeomansNASA/JPL Near-Earth Object Program OfficeOctober 6, 2008
A very small, few-meter sized asteroid, designated 2008 TC3, was found Monday morning by the Catalina Sky Survey from their observatory near Tucson Arizona. Preliminary orbital computations by the Minor Planet Center suggested an atmospheric entry of this object within a day of discovery. JPL confirmed that an atmospheric impact will very likely occur during early morning twilight over northern Sudan, north-eastern Africa, at 2:46 UT Tuesday morning. The fireball, which could be brilliant, will travel west to east (from azimuth = 281 degrees) at a relative atmospheric impact velocity of 12.8 km/s and arrive at a very low angle (19 degrees) to the local horizon. It is very unlikely that any sizable fragments will survive passage through the Earth's atmosphere. Objects of this size would be expected to enter the Earth's atmosphere every few months on average but this is the first time such an event has been predicted ahead of time.
Update - 6:45 PM PDT (1 hour prior to atmospheric entry)
Since its discovery barely a day ago, 2008 TC3 has been observed extensively by astronomers around the world, and as a result, our orbit predictions have become very precise. We estimate that this object will enter the Earth's atmosphere at around 2:45:28 UTC and reach maximum deceleration at around 2:45:54 UTC. These times are uncertain by +/- 15 seconds or so. The time at which any fragments might reach the ground depends a great deal on the physical properties of the object, but should be around 2:46:20 UTC +/- 40 seconds.
From: http://www.kqed.org/quest/blog/2008/10/09/asteroid-2008-tc3-strikes-earth/
Okay, so Asteroid 2008 TC3 wasn’t an Earth-killer, but rather a crowd-thriller. It wasn’t miles across-not even tens of meters across. It was, perhaps, a few meters in size, similar in volume to mid-size car. In fact, it didn’t even hit the Earth’s surface, but vaporized in the atmosphere.
Sounds a bit anticlimactic-and that’s not the half of it. It’s not even a rare event! Objects of this size are believed (and sometimes observed) to enter Earth’s atmosphere a few times each year. So what’s the blog deal? Observers on the ground reported the fireball lit up the skies with the intensity of the Full Moon. A nearby airliner (not in danger, as the fireball exploded tens of kilometers above the ground, well above the airliner’s flight path) reported seeing a bright flash.
In a sense, this event was kind of a dress rehearsal for the international system of predicting, and possibly defending against, impacts on Earth by much larger asteroids and comets. We already know of thousands of Near Earth Objects (NEOs-asteroids and comets that cross Earth’s orbit and are large enough to cause a catastrophe should they strike the Earth). It is also expected that there are many thousands more that we haven’t yet detected, being small enough to “fly under the radar” of our NEO detecting network.
Early detection and sustained tracking of NEOs is key to the protection plan against impact disaster. If we can accurately predict an impact far enough in advance, we could potentially send a spacecraft to it and gently “nudge” it off course and deflect the eventual impact.
So ends the existence of another chunk of rock that had, up to that point, been serenely orbiting the Sun for billions of years…
From: http://dorigo.wordpress.com/2008/10/07/asteroid-2008-tc3-hits-sudan/
Asteroid 2008 TC3 Hits Sudan October 7, 2008
An asteroid with a size of a few meters in diameter hit the Earth a few hours ago. The news is reported by the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams, circular 8990. Below is the expected trajectory of the body. The small asteroid was discovered yesterday at Mt. Lemmon by R.A.Kowalski, as an object with a visual magnitude of about 30.4. The object was then at about 450,000 kilometers from our planet. Those who were able to look up this night might have spotted it before it entered our atmosphere only with a telescope, since its expected magnitude was probably around 11. A bright fireball might have been observed over northern Africa, and a possible fall might have resulted, depending on the composition of the rock.
More information is available at the CBAT site.
UPDATE: the body was 5 meters in diameter. It was a carbonaceous chondrite, and its darkness explains why the diameter had been underestimated by luminosity measurements before the impact. It is quite likely that many small bodies will be found in northern Sudan, which is above the impact point of the asteroid. Also worth noting is that dr. Peter Brown, from West Ontario University, detected a sound wave from the impact with detectors located in Kenya.
The fireball made by the body at 4.46AM yesterday has been spotted by a airplane pilot from Air France-KLM, according to Jacob Kuiper, a meteorologist from the Netherlands who had informed the pilots of the possibility before the impact. The fall has freed an energy of about two kilotons of TNT, about a tenth of the energy of the first atomic bomb over Hiroshima.
UPDATE: thanks to the Meteosat, we now have a picture of the event. It is a temperature scan, which shows the impact of the object with the atmosphere. It is the first time that the impact of a body with the Earth is predicted and then observed. Near-Earth object surveys are getting better and better…
http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00001684/
The Planetary Society Blog
By Emily Lakdawalla
Oct. 7, 2008 16:15 PDT 23:15 UTC
Over the last 24 hours it has been tiring but really fun to watch the drama of asteroid 2008 TC3. It has happened so quickly that it's necessary to convert all times to UTC in order to see how events have unfolded across the globe. Fortunately for my sanity, nearly all of the events are neatly collected on the Minor Planets Mailing List. To briefly review: the night before last (my time), or at 06:38 UTC on October 6, astronomers at the University of Arizona discovered an object provisionally called 8TA9D69 that appeared to be on a collision course with Earth. Three other observatories reported sightings within the next few hours -- Sabino Canyon and Siding Spring in Arizona and a Royal Astronomical Society site in Moorook, Australia. Together these four observers provided enough data on the object so that a Minor Planet Electronic Circular was issued at 14:59 UTC the same day, giving 8TA9D69 the more formal name 2008 TC3, and advising the astronomical community that "The nominal orbit given above has 2008 TC3 coming to within one earth radius around Oct. 7.1. The absolute magnitude indicates that the object will not survive passage through the atmosphere. Steve Chesley (JPL) reports that atmospheric entry will occur on 2008 Oct 07 0246 UTC over northern Sudan."
The object wouldn't be more than a big meteor, but even so, it represented the first time ever that an object had been observed before it was to hit Earth, and, clearly, astronomers around the world scrambled to their telescopes to observe it before it was to pass into Earth's shadow (and, therefore, invisibility) just before 01:50 UTC. The observations were partly for the thrill -- seeing an object in its last hours, before it met a fiery fate in Earth's atmosphere -- but they also had a more important purpose: to refine the orbit of the object, which would, in turn, improve the predictions of where it would hit. Over the next 11 hours, fully 24 Minor Planet Electronic Circulars were issued with further observations, pinning down 2008 TC3's final path with high precision. One terrific set of images, from Eric Allen, is shown at right. Like many of the amateur astronomers participating in the impromptu 2008 TC3 observing campaign, Allen's work has been aided by Planetary Society members, through the Gene Shoemaker Near Earth Object Grant Program. With the object so close to Earth, the parallax of different observers on different parts of the globe allowed much greater precision than is usual, given the short observing arc. The initial impact prediction was confirmed by JPL scientist Paul Chodas at 01:45 UTC: "We estimate that this object will enter the Earth's atmosphere at around 2:45:28 UTC and reach maximum deceleration around 2:45:54 UTC at an altitude of about 14 km. These times are uncertain by +/- 15 seconds or so." After positional information, the next challenge was to obtain spectral data -- information on the color of the object, which would help to classify it and determine its origin. The first I heard of such data being captured successfully was from this item on the MPML by Alan Fitzsimmons and coworkers at Armagh Observatory: "We obtained optical spectra of 2008 TC3 using the 4.2m William Herschel Telescope and ISIS spectrograph on Oct 6.93-6.94UT. The spectra cover the range 546-995nm at a resolution of 4nm. Initial analysis of the spectra via comparison with the solar analogue 16CygB reveals a featureless reflectance spectrum with no indication of the silicate absorption feature longward of 800nm." Presumably there were other observers who were able to obtain spectral data, though not as many as were gathering positional information. Time quickly ran out to observe the asteroid, however. Astronomers in Spain recorded 2008 TC3's entry into Earth's shadow, hiding it from view for its final hour of descent. The image is below:
2008 TC3 disappears into Earth's shadow, on its way to impactTraveling from right to left in this image, asteroid 2008 TC3 entered first the umbra (at 1:47:30 UTC) and then the penumbra (at 1:49:50) of Earth, disappearing into shadow for the final hour of its approach to burning up in the atmosphere over Sudan. The view is a six-minute exposure tracked at sidereal rate (so stars stay fixed). Exposure start time was October 7, 2008, at 01:45:23 UTC. The view is half a degree wide, comparable to the size of the full Moon. At the start of the exposure 2008 TC3 was at a distance of 29,600 kilometers, approaching at a speed of 7.61 kilometers per second. The periodic light variation along the early part of the trail indicates a fast rotation of the intruder around its spin axis. Credit: La Sagra Sky Survey, Spain The atmospheric entry occurred over an extremely remote location on Earth, just 20 hours after it was first discovered. As yet there are no confirmed images of the fireball -- it's possible there may never be any. There is one possible sighting: one resourceful enthusiast, Jacob Kuiper, the General Aviation meteorologist at the National Weather Service in the Netherlands, called an official of the Air-France-KLM airline at the Amsterdam airport to inform him "about the possibility that crews of their airliners in the vicinity of impact would have a chance to see a fireball. And it was a success! I have received confirmation that a KLM airliner, roughly 750 nautical miles southwest of the predicted atmospheric impact position, has observed a short flash just before the expected impact time 0246 UTC. Because of the distance it was not a very large phenomenon, but still a confirmation that some bright meteor has been seen in the predicted direction." (This via spaceweather.com.) And there's more than one way to detect an asteroid impact. Even in relatively unpopulated areas, there are seismological stations scattered around the world, using infrasound to record seismic events. One such station seems to have detected a 1 to 2-kiloton blast associated with the impact. This is according to Peter Brown, of the University of Western Ontario [hey, that's the same university that's home to asteroid mapping genius Phil Stooke]. Brown said:
A very preliminary examination of several infrasound stations proximal to the predicted impact point for the NEO 2008 TC3 has yielded one definite airwave detection from the impact. The airwave was detected at the Kenyian Infrasonic Array, (IMS station IS32), beginning near 05:10 UT on Oct 7, 2008 and lasting for several minutes. The signal correlation was highest at very low frequencies – the dominant period of the waveform was 5-6 seconds. The backazimuth of the signal over the entire 7 element array is shown in the attached map – it clearly points to within a few degrees of the expected arrival direction. Moreover, assuming a stratospheric mean signal speed of 0 28 km/s, the arrival time corresponds to an origin time near 02:43 UT, which is consistent with the expected impact time near 02:45:40 UT given expected variations in stratospheric arrival speeds. The dominant period of 5-6 seconds corresponds to an estimated energy (using the AFTAC period at maximum amplitude relationship from ReVelle, 1997) of 1.1 – 2.1 kilotons of TNT. The five other closest infrasound stations were briefly examined for obvious signals and showed none – more detailed signal processing of these additional data are ongoing in the search for additional signals.
Detection of the 2008 TC3 impact by infrasoundAn infrasound station (intended for the detection of seismic events) in Kenya recorded the blast associated with the atmospheric entry of asteroid 2008 TC3 over Sudan. Credit: Peter Brown, University of Western Ontario All in all, I think the episode of 2008 TC3 has proven that the world's astronomical community, at least, is prepared to respond when an object on a collision course is detected. Within just a few hours of its discovery, the digitally connected world knew exactly where and when the object would hit, and also that it posed no threat. It was a wonderful simulation of the first part of the call to arms when a truly threatening object is detected. But of course we now have to ask ourselves: what would have happened if the object was much bigger than 2 meters in diameter? Reassuringly, the first thing that would have happened is that the detection most likely would have happened much earlier. The bigger and more hazardous an object is, the brighter it is, and the sooner we will detect it. We will likely have way more than 20 hours' warning of an incoming dangerous object. Still, though, the warning time for a tens-of-meter-diameter object could only be measured in days. If we'd had three days' warning of a dangerous impactor heading for Sudan, what could the world have done? The remote location of the impact would have been fortunate for humanity in general, but disastrous for the few people who lived out in that remoteness. Could the developed world have done anything to prevent yet another humanitarian disaster from befalling the Sudanese? The Planetary Society is seeking answers to these questions. We have joined the Association of Space Explorers and the B612 Foundation in their efforts to develop an international framework for planetary defense, and we plan to hold both an invited workshop and a public meeting on these issues in the summer of 2009, as a part of the International Year of Astronomy. When the time is right, we will push for action on this issue from the United Nations' Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. A final plea to wrap up this story: if you'd like to support these efforts to protect our planet from hazards from space, please vote with your wallet by sending a donation our way. Any amount is helpful!
Labels: asteroid, bollide, impactor, NASA, warning
Energy Biz: Japan has high hopes for Space Solar P...
Iowa State Hosts Asteroid Deflection Research Symp...
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DRAWSON Blair
“Blair Drawson … has worked as an editorial illustrator for many of North America’s most notable magazines – among them, Time, The New Yorker, Esquire, Rolling Stone and the New York Times Magazine.” Details. 3, March/April 2018.
He was part of a group of young Toronto graphic artists in the late 1980’s, which included Jamie Bennett, Jeff Jackson, Anita Kunz, Maurice Vellekoop and Rene Zamic whose work had spread throughout both the North American and European markets. . “I was in New York at a symposium a couple of weeks ago and everyone was talking about what a hotbed of talent Toronto has become.” Said Kunz, “Art directors now seem to be on the look out for people from Toronto.”
Canada Post issued a stamp in this illustrator’s honour 5, April 2018.
BOOK TEXT:
Dust jacket:
Not Wanted On The Voyage. Writ., Timothy Findley. Viking/Penguin Books Canada Ltd., 1984.
Stones. Writ., Timothy Findley. Viking/Penguin Books Canada Ltd., 1988.
The Telling Of Lies. Writ., Timothy Findley. Viking/Penguin Books Canada Ltd., 1986.
Periodical text:
“Great Canadian Illustrators.” Details. 3, March/April 2018: 6-7. Canada Post Corp.
Newspaper:
“Vital Designs.” Writ., Christopher Hume. The Toronto Star, 20 Nov.1988: G1.
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« Localisation
Incentivising crunch »
Profitability in a market where successes are rare
This week I wanted to share a really great article over on Lost Garden that echoes a lot of things I’ve been saying for a long time. Not just for indies (although it’s especially relevant for them), but for larger companies too. Some standout quotes that I feel are most apt:
Game development is inherently unstable. Technology, markets, profit margins and teams shift regularly. Any of these can quickly destroy a previously comfortable business.
In the 90s, Sierra expected 1 out of 4 games to be a success and pay for the other products that failed to turn a profit. Recently, Mike Capps, the previous president of Epic, claimed that he couldn’t promise more than a 10% chance a game would be a success. If you made 10 games, on average, you’d expect only 1 would be considered a success.
Your budget is likely Target Revenue * Success Rate. So if there’s a 10% chance of reaching $500,000, you should spend $50,000 on each project.
Over time success has been dropping. 25% is almost never seen in modern game markets. […]Given a set of equally competent games, only a fraction will become profitable.
What happens if that profitable game make $600,000? It earned 6X its costs! You made a profit of $500,000, enough to make 5 more games. However, you are still on the long road to bankruptcy, despite an apparent success. There’s only a roughly 40% chance those 5 swings at bat will result in a success. Long term, you’ll find yourself out of money or in debt.
It is a disservice to other developer to claim that a breakeven project is a financial success. Break even means almost nothing. You are still on the knife’s edge of baseline survival and should operate financially exactly as if you had achieved nothing.
You cannot bank on individual successes being repeated reliably. Games, even those developed by the best of developers, are not reliably successful. Maybe they miss the moment where the audience is really looking for them, maybe they get the quality bar wrong, maybe there are technical constraints that rob the title of what it needs to really work. It doesn’t matter, because unless games development suddenly becomes much more predictable than it is, a business making games has to assume that some if not most of their games will fail. If that business wants to be one which survives, it needs to be profitable across all its games, success or fail.
A team where the developers are taking low wages, putting everything they have into their first game, makes for a great story for the press. Make or break. But it’s terrible business. A team that’s taking their funding and figuring out how many months that will let them operate for, and then planning a game to fit that period, is a team that’s most likely going to fail. Even if they survive the first game and limp on to make a second, even if through talent and luck and timing they magic up a massive success that not only makes all its costs back but also nets enough to fund their next game several times over, chances are the next game will not match the first’s success, nor the one after that.
This is true even for larger teams. The publishers are the ones who have to look at viability longer term, so often developers can ignore that and just live title-to-title, but the same pitfalls are there. If you’re a developer whose best title only earned back twice what it cost, then you shouldn’t be surprised if the publisher drops your team after the next title that only earns back a quarter of what it cost. They just can’t afford to take the risk that your next title will be a flop rather than a mediocre hit, because you’ll have become a losing bet. You have to deliver the massive breakout hits if you want to make them confident that over time you are a reliable generator of income, and not a drain on their coffers overall.
When we’re looking at whether making games is viable, we need to be looking at long-term profitability of the team, not just per-title. Anything you do to hide the true cost of your development is really just selling yourself short, setting yourself up for a later failure. Don’t lie to yourself about the cost of your time, or the extra hours you’ve put in. Don’t hide the costs of one game in something else. A game that is profitable, as long as you don’t count the months you spent eating just ramen, is not a profitable game. Don’t believe your own hype. It might be hard to accept, but there are no guarantees that the business you love is a profitable one.
This entry was posted on Thursday, April 30th, 2015 at 11:02 am and is filed under Industry Rants. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
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Analytical Methods Blog RSS
Analytical Methods Blog
Archive for the ‘Board News’ Category
New Analytical Methods Associate Editors: Chao Lu and Zhen Liu
We are delighted to announce two new appointments to the Analytical Methods Editorial Board. Professor Chao Lu and Professor Zhen Liu have both recently started as Associate Editors.
Chao Lu is currently a Full Professor of State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology. He received his Ph.D. degree in Analytical Chemistry from Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2004. He has been a visiting scholar in Kanazawa University from 2004 to 2005, Hong Kong University from 2005 to 2007, and University of Texas at Arlington from 2007 to 2009. He holds 15 patents, and has published more than 100 peer reviewed articles. His current research interests include the synthesis and characterization of advanced functional nanomaterials for chemiluminescence, electrochemiluminescence, fluoresecence, biosensors, and bioimaging.
Read Chao Lu’s most recent Analytical Methods articles below:
Hydroxyl radical induced chemiluminescence of hyperbranched polyethyleneimine protected silver nanoclusters and its application in tea polyphenols detection
DOI: 10.1039/C7AY00903H
Anal. Methods, 2017, 9, 3114-3120
Silver nanoclusters as fluorescent nanosensors for selective and sensitive nitrite detection
DOI: 10.1039/C6AY00214E
Zhen Liu is Distinguished Professor at Nanjing University, China. He obtained his PhD from Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Academy of Sciences of China in 1998. After post-doctoral training at Hyogo University (former Himeji Institute of Technology) in Japan as a JPSP scholar (2000-2002) and at the University of Waterloo in Canada (2002-2005), he joined Nanjing University as a Full Professor in 2005. He was appointed as Adjunct Professor at the University of Waterloo (2011-2014). He was awarded the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (2014). His research interests include separation science, affinity materials, molecular imprinting, bioassays, single cell analysis, hyphenated analytical approaches, and nanomaterials for cancer therapy. He is particularly interested in integrating multidisciplinary knowledge, expertise and skills to overcome challenges in life science, such as disease diagnosis and cancer therapy. He holds 12 patents, and has authored and co-authored more than 130 peer-reviewed papers, 2 books and 7 book chapters. He serves as an executive council member of Chinese Mass Spectrometry Society and a board member of the Society for Molecular Imprinting.
Read one of Zhen Liu’s Analytical Methods articles below:
Development of poly((3-acrylamidophenyl)boronic acid-co-N,N-methylenebisacrylamide) monolithic capillary for the selective capture of cis-diol biomolecules
Submit your best articles to Professor Chao Lu and Professor Zhen Liu now!
You can keep up to date with the latest developments from Analytical Methods by signing up for free table of contents alerts and monthly e-newsletters.
Introducing the newest members of the Analytical Methods Advisory Board
We are delighted to announce the appointment of 3 new members to the Analytical Methods Advisory Board.
Wendell Coltro, Instituto de Química, Brazil
Wendell Coltro is an Associate Professor at the Instituto de Química from Federal University of Goias in Brazil. His research focusses on the development of electrophoresis microchips, 3D printed microfluidic chips and disposable devices for bioanalytical and forensic applications, including rapid tests and clinical diagnostics. Wendell has published numerous papers in Analytical Methods and our sister journal Analyst. Read his most recent Analytical Methods article on “A fully disposable paper-based electrophoresis microchip with integrated pencil-drawn electrodes for contactless conductivity detection” here.
Lisa Holland, West Virginia University, USA
Lisa Holland is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry at West Virginia University. Her research group uses capillary electrophoresis and capillary chromatography to investigate physiological processes. There are numerous advantages to employing these miniaturised separation techniques, including high resolution of individual components, reduced solvent use, and the opportunity to develop them into portable and affordable devices. These techniques serve as enabling tools and methods to study disease, improve biological therapeutics, evaluate nanomaterials, and screen toxicity.
Zachary Schultz, Ohio State University, USA
Zachary Schultz is an Associate Professor at Ohio State University. His lab uses vibrational spectroscopy for label-free detection in biophysical and interfacial systems. Combining a range of technologies, such as nanostructures and laser spectroscopy, Zac’s research aims to detect chemical properties and image systems at the molecular level to solve problems in metabolomics, protein receptor signalling and active plasmonics. Zac was named as an Outstanding Reviewer for our sister journal Analyst for 2016. Read his most recent Analytical Methods article on “Multiscale X-ray Fluorescence Mapping Complemented by Raman Spectroscopy for Pigment Analysis of a 15th Century Breton Manuscript” here.
Analytical Methods is guided by an international Editorial Board and Advisory Board – more information on all our board members can be found on our website. We welcome the knowledge and expertise our three new Advisory Board members will bring to the journal and we very much look forward to working with them. Welcome to the Analytical Methods team!
Andy Wain – Our New Advisory Board Member!
We are delighted to announce our new Advisory Board member – Andy Wain!
Andy Wain is a principal research scientist for the National Physical Laboratory, allowing him to explore his research interests which include heterogeneous catalysis, electrocatalysis, electrochemical imaging and molecular spectroscopy. Whilst at NPL, Andy has been a part of the Electrochemistry Group and is also the lead scientist of a catalysis initiative focusing on supporting industry with state of the art catalysis methods. Andy received an undergraduate Master’s degree in Chemistry from Oxford University in 2003. Continuing his studies at Oxford University, in 2006, he obtained his PhD in electrochemical electron spin resonance spectroscopy. After finishing his studies in Oxford, he spent two years as a postdoctoral research associate at California State University Los Angeles. During this time, his research focused on novel electrochemical approaches to studying bio-molecule modified interfaces. In 2013, Andy became a chartered chemist (CChem) and in 2015 he became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC). He has published three book chapters and over 40 papers.
Read Andy’s critical review in Analytical Methods:
Combined Electrochemical-Topographical Imaging: A Critical Review
M. A. O’Connell, A. J. Wain
Introducing new Analytical Methods Reviews Editor: Professor Tony Killard
We are delighted to announce the appointment of Professor Tony Killard as our Reviews Editor. Tony has been a member of the Analytical Methods Editorial Board since 2015.
Tony Killard received his BA(Mod) Natural Sciences in Microbiology at Trinity College, Dublin in 1993 and his PhD in Biotechnology at Dublin City University (DCU) in 1998. He became Principal Investigator at the Biomedical Diagnostics Institute, DCU in 2005. In 2011, he was appointed to the Chair in Biomedical Sciences at the University of the West of England and was made Adjunct Professor at the Biomedical Diagnostics Institute in October 2011. His areas of interest are the development of chemical sensors, biosensors and biomedical diagnostic devices; application of novel electroactive materials (nanostructured conducting polymers and electrocatalysts) to electrochemical sensors and biosensors, while also making these amenable to low cost mass production using technologies such as screen printing, inkjet printing and polymer MEMS fabrication; Integration of these sensors into functional diagnostic devices and systems e.g. point of care diagnostics using novel techniques such as breath monitoring and printed electronics technology and development of novel approaches to blood coagulation monitoring.
We welcome Tony and his expertise to the position of Reviews Editor, alongside our 11 existing Associate Editors.
Get in touch if you are interested in submitting a review to Professor Killard!
Introducing new Analytical Methods Associate Editor: Professor Jill Venton
We are delighted to announce the appointment of Professor Jill Venton as our newest Associate Editor on the Editorial Board.
Jill Venton is a Professor of Chemistry and Neuroscience at the University of Virginia. She got her PhD from University of North Carolina and was a postdoc at University of Michigan, before starting at University of Virginia in 2005. She was promoted to Associate Professor in 2011 and full Professor in 2016. Professor Venton has been a member on the advisory board for Analytical Methods’ sister journal Analyst since 2012.
Her research is in electrochemical sensors for making real-time measurements of neurotransmitters. Her lab develops novel electrochemical sensors using carbon nanomaterials and is known for making real-time measurements of adenosine in rats and dopamine in the fruit fly brain. She has won many awards including the Society for Electroanalytical Chemistry Young Investigator Award, Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar, and Eli Lilly Young Analytical Investigator award. She is also active in many outreach education programs to elementary teachers and students.
“I look forward to working with authors to publish high quality work in Analytical Methods, in order to strengthen the reputation of the journal.”
We welcome Jill Venton and her expertise to the Analytical Methods Editorial Board as Associate Editor alongside our 10 existing Associate Editors. This appointment strengthens the Editorial Board, with all papers handled by an expert in the field. Submit your paper to Professor Venton today!
Introducing the new Analytical Methods editorial board Chair: Scott Martin
Scott Martin is Professor and Department Chair of Chemistry at Saint Louis University. He received his BS and MS degrees from Missouri State University and a PhD in analytical chemistry from the University of Missouri-Columbia. His research interests involve the use of microchip devices for monitoring biological systems. This includes development of methods for analyzing cells on-chip through integration of multiple techniques such as cell culture, electrophoresis and electrochemistry.
Up until now, Scott has been making a valuable contribution to the journal through his work as an Associate Editor. He first joined the editorial board in 2013.
We have complete confidence that the future of Analytical Methods is in extremely safe hands.
He will have the unenviable task of following up the fantastic work of former chair, Susan Lunte. The entire Analytical Methods team would like to thank Sue for her continued support and commitment. Thankfully, we are not losing Sue, as she is becoming a member of our advisory board.
Introducing new Analytical Methods Associate Editor: Professor Chris Easley
We are delighted to announce the appointment of Professor Chris Easley as our newest Associate Editor on the Editorial Board.
Chris Easley is Knowles Associate Professor at Auburn University, USA. The Easley Laboratory focuses on the development of novel microanalytical techniques for performing unique experiments on biological systems. His laboratory’s research spans across multiple scientific disciplines, from analytical chemistry to molecular and cellular biology, using techniques which include ‘microfluidics, fluorescence microscopy and spectroscopy, passive flow control, molecular biology, aptamer selection, and electrophoresis’.
We welcome Chris Easley and his expertise to the Analytical Methods Editorial Board as Associate Editor alongside our nine existing Associate Editors. This appointment strengthens the Editorial Board, with all papers handled by an expert in the field. Submit your paper to Professor Easley today!
Introducing new Analytical Methods Associate Editor Professor Juewen Liu
We are delighted to announce the appointment of Professor Juewen Liu as our newest Associate Editor on the Editorial Board.
Professor Liu is Associate Professor at the University of Waterloo, Canada and is an expert in nanotechnology, targeted drug delivery and nanomedicine. He has a particular interest in using DNA and lipids as functional polymers and building blocks to interface with nanoparticles and hydrogels utilised for bioanalytical techniques. Applications include detecting heavy metals instantly in water samples and targeted drug delivery.
We welcome Juewen Liu and his expertise to the Analytical Methods Editorial Board as Associate Editor alongside our nine existing Associate Editors. This appointment strengthens the Editorial Board, with all papers handled by an expert in the field. Submit your paper to Professor Liu today!
Dr Stuart Chalk – new Advisory Board member for Analytical Abstracts
Analytical Abstracts would like to welcome a new Advisory Board member to the Board: Dr Stuart Chalk.
Stuart Chalk
Dr. Stuart J. Chalk is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry. Dr. Chalk’s research emphasis is in the areas of environmental monitoring, XML tools for Chemical Informatics, linked chemical data, and the semantic web. Dr. Chalk joined UNF in 1996. Since then he has received an Undergraduate Teaching Award, published the first two UNF patents, and was co-PI on an NSF funded grant for the Analytical Sciences Digital Library (http://www.asdlib.org), a digital library for the enhancement of analytical science education. In 1997 he created the Flow Analysis Database, an online resource for searching the flow analysis literature (http://www.fia.unf.edu/).
Currently, Dr. Chalk is working on colorimetric methods of analysis for the determination of cyanide, nitrate/nitrite and phosphate/arsenate. He is the software and metadata architect of an open source electronic laboratory notebook called the Eureka Research Workbench and designer of the Experiment Markup Language (ExptML), a markup language created to capture and store research data from scientific experiments (http://exptml.sourceforge.net). Dr. Chalk is also one of the authors of the Lower St. Johns River Report (http://www.sjrreport.com), a City of Jacksonville Environmental Protect Board grant, and is the curator/developer of the UNF Environmental Center’ Digital Archive project.
Stuart joins the rest of the Advisory Board in the oversight of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s premier current awareness and information retrieval service for analytical scientists.
Congratulations Milton Lee!
Editorial Board Member Milton Lee was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award, sponsored by LC-GC Europe, in recognition of his ’outstanding achievements in hyphenated chromatographic techniques and for distinguished service to the international chromatographic community’.
See some of his contributions to Analytical Methods below.
Size separation of biomolecules and bioparticles using micro/nanofabricated structures
Jie Xuan and Milton L. Lee
Anal. Methods, 2014,6, 27-37
DOI: 10.1039/C3AY41364K, Critical Review
Equilibrium distribution sampling device for preparation of calibration mixtures for gas chromatography-mass spectrometry
Xiaofeng Xie, Tai V. Truong, Jacolin A. Murray, Jesse A. Contreras, H. Dennis Tolley and Milton L. Lee
Anal. Methods, 2013,5, 6312-6318
DOI: 10.1039/C3AY41393D, Paper
One-step conversion of dipicolinic acid to its dimethyl ester using monomethyl sulfate salts for GC-MS detection of bacterial endospores
Aaron N. Nackos, Tai V. Truong, Trenton C. Pulsipher, Jon A. Kimball, H. Dennis Tolley, Richard A. Robison, Calvin H. Bartholomew and Milton L. Lee
Anal. Methods, 2011,3, 245-258
Differentiation of Bacillus endospore species from fatty acid methyl ester biomarkers
Tai V. Truong, Aaron N. Nackos, John R. Williams, Douglas N. VanDerwerken, Jon A. Kimball, Jacolin A. Murray, Jason E. Hawkes, Donald J. Harvey, H. Dennis Tolley, Richard A. Robison, Calvin H. Bartholomew and Milton L. Lee
DOI: 10.1039/B9AY00198K, Paper
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Charles Miles
Candidate for South Hadley School Committee
About Charles
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School Budgeting – Why We Need to Revamp Our Process
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Since my latest ad, shown below in this blog post, and my statement for Town Reminder, a few people have asked me to detail the source of the numbers and concerns I’ve cited about spending in the school system.
I’m going to set aside one question–whether or not the vocational program itself is a worthy endeavor. I believe it is–it’s very important to have a vocational program. There is an open question of whether or not culinary was the right choice, but I’ll examine that in a different post. The real question here is: where did the money come from? How was it spent? What are the implications for open government?
2016 School Spending
The 2016 school expenses break down in their entirety to 28 million dollars. You can see the detailed breakdown at Cleargov.com, a fantastic site that breaks down town and school spending in all it’s detail with nice charts and graphs, and gives useful comparisons to similar nearby towns. This is a service the town subscribes to and the money is provided from the town accounts, so it’s accurate.
As you hear people making various claims about the school finances, test scores, graduation rates, etc., this site is a great place to assess if they are actually giving you real numbers.
The numbers that I’ve been concerned about are reinforced by the Cleargov data, but they come from two authoritative sources. The 2016 approved budget for the schools, and the 2016 end of year report. I received both of these documents under an open records request. Think of them as the before and after. The budget was prepared by Dr. Young, approved by the school committee, then approved by Town Meeting. The End of Year Report shows how they actually spent the money, and is a document that the schools are required to submit to the state.
The before document is the Fiscal Year 2016 approved budget. This is the document which was approved by the school committee and Town Meeting. I want to highlight some specific items in that budget:
You can dive into the details in the full document, but the key point here is that for paraprofessional and teacher salaries, the town budgeted approximately $10.8 million.
Further down in the document, you’ll see some lines we’ll examine later:
Maintenance of Buildings – Contracted Services – $127,531
Extraordinary Maintenance – $55,000
Under other instructional services, a total of $368,552 was budgeted for combined textbooks ($190,919), instructional software ($57,283), instructional hardware ($120,350).
The after document is the FY 2016 End of Year report. This document is not published on the school system website, but it is reported to the state (by every school system in the state), and I obtained a copy directly from Dr. Young in response to a public records request.
When I got these documents, what I was trying to find out was simple: what are the differences between the before and after. I honestly wasn’t expecting to find a lot of differences, because in general, these are very precise values. But naturally there will be some–prices change, people change jobs, get raises, etc. What I didn’t expect was the magnitude of the changes.
For teacher/paraprofessional salaries: $9.9 million spent. The total reduction in budget was $915,000.
For the other line items, we saw corresponding increases:
Maintenance of building – contract services: $233,234 (an increase of $105,703)
Extraordinary maintenance contract services: $608,410 (an increase of $553,410).
Finally, in other instructional services, an additional $302,350 was allotted to Contracted Services under the vocational program.
The total extra increase in spending here: $961,463
What It All Boils Down To
The bottom line is: the budget for educator salaries was reduced by $915,000, and the budget for contracting related to the vocational program was increased by $961,463. Was this a direct transfer? We don’t actually know the answer to that, because the school committee never voted on it in a public forum. And that is where my concern lies.
See, I’ve watched every school committee meeting of the last two years and read all the minutes, and nowhere could I find mention of a near-million dollar budget change. So naturally, I asked the question. I submitted yet another public records request, asking for the minutes of the meeting when it was voted on to make this budget change. The response I received after a couple of weeks was quite interesting. Dr. Young sent me an email that stated the following:
…budget transfers are not required to be approved by the School Committee, and thus no such minutes or records exist… (click to view the complete email chain).
Dr. Young’s assertion that the school committee is not required to vote on budget changes is mistaken.
In 1993 the state legislature passed education reform, which stated that the school committee has the authority to review, approve and make changes to the budget for the school system as a whole. A year later, the DOR ruled conclusively that they could not delegate that authority to the superintendent or anyone else. The opinion stated “only the school committee has the authority to transfer amounts between line items (allocations) in its budget and cannot delegate this authority to any other municipal board or officer.”
Which takes me back to the question of: when did the school committee decide to make these budget changes? Why did they not vote on it in a public meeting?
Process Matters
I want to be clear that I’m not opposed to the vocational program, nor do I have issues with Dr. Young. My concern is with the process (or lack thereof) for the school committee itself. The school committee has three primary responsibilities: to set policy, to determine the budget, and to supervise and guide the superintendent who reports to them. Given that the committee went five years without conducting a performance evaluation of the superintendent, and that they are not exercising their authority as required by law to manage the budget process including all changes to it, I believe they are failing two out of three of those responsibility areas.
What Should Have Happened?
In an ideal world, the school committee and Dr. Young would have had a discussion about the goals of this project, with meetings held in public to discuss the implications and get public input. Once it was costed out, they could have sent that plan to the capital planning committee and ultimately built it in to their budget and had it approved by town meeting. The law doesn’t require them to go through capital planning. But it does require them to vote on any changes to the budget. That didn’t happen.
Our town supports education. We want strong schools with great programs and great teachers. It is almost certain that this project would have been approved, though it might have been improved by including opportunities for other stakeholders to speak and be part of the process. That’s how democracy is supposed to work.
This might have taken a little bit longer. But it would have avoid the appearance that the committee had padded payroll categories by hundreds of thousands of dollars in order to push through a program that had not gone through normal channels.
What I Plan To Do Once Elected
As a school committee member, I’ll call for the following:
We need to be asking more questions at the school committee meetings. If a new program is brought up, then we need to ask the question: How will we pay for it?
Once the budget is approved, I’ll insist that the school committee vote on changes in public during the regular meetings of the committee. That’s the law.
For major changes (those requiring changes of large dollar amounts), I’ll push for special public meeting announcements, inviting members of the public to participate in these discussions.
Some interesting discussions about this issue took place at a selectboard meeting, providing further background. You can read those minutes here.
Below is my ad about this issue. I tried to keep it light, but real.
Charles Miles for School Committee from Charles Miles on Vimeo.
← Why We Need More Transparency in School Spending
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