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Cindy Busby Talks My Mom’s Letter From Heaven and Autumn Stables [Exclusive]
Posted by Heather M on April 19, 2019 at 11:46 am
[Warning: General spoilers ahead.]
When I spoke with Cindy Busby last month for The Killer Downstairs, we also chatted about two of her other projects—My Mom’s Letter From Heaven, which premieres Saturday on Lifetime, and Autumn Stables, which is streaming now on Hallmark Movies Now and Amazon Prime. Both films address grief and healing, and Busby loved working on them.
My Mom’s Letter From Heaven stars Jordyn Ashley Olson (Legends of Tomorrow) as a teen spiraling in the years after the death of her mom (Busby) until she receives a lost letter that helps put her back on track. Busby’s Date My Dad co-star, Barry Watson, and Hallmark favorite Karen Holness also star.
“I was able to play a little part in this movie. I’m really happy to play the mother,” shares Busby. The reason I really wanted to be a part of [it] was I got to work with Barry Watson again, and Michael Scott, who directed episodes of Date My Dad, and one of [our] producers, so it was a nice reunion.”
“I’ve been really, really blessed to work with such supportive, incredible people in the industry who welcome me back with open arms, which is such a gift. I’m always jumping for the opportunity when I can work with people I know.”
“It’s all about relationships, and when you love somebody, you want to work with them. For me, it’s an easy choice. That’s what I got to do with My Mom’s Letter From Heaven. To work with Barry again in such a different story and as different characters…we got to play husband and wife in this.”
I got to work with the one and only super awesome @realbarrywatson again in “My Mom’s Letter From Heaven” premiering this Saturday April 20th 10/9c on @lifetimemovies check it out! #tearjerker have that Kleenex handy! Set your VHS! #lifetime Directed by: @mm_scott Produced by: @reeloneentertainment
A post shared by Cindy Busby (@cindy_busby) on Apr 16, 2019 at 8:40am PDT
“It’s such a beautiful, moving story, and it’s heart-wrenching and it’s a story of grieving and growing together. I’m very excited for people to see it and I think people are going to see Barry in a beautiful, vulnerable light. He’s so talented. I was just blown away.”
Autumn Stables is the story of Autumn, a young widow and former horse trainer who’s faced with new life choices when she finds herself unable to maintain the horse ranch she ran with her late husband. A too-good-to-be-true offer from an interested buyer, Jake (WCTH‘s Kevin McGarry), turns out to be exactly that, but then it becomes something much more than business for both of them.
Busby was thrilled to return to her Heartland roots in a Valentine for the fans of that show, which just wrapped its 12th season. “I was on Heartland for years and to play a character who’s owning a stable and working with horses, that was an homage and gift to my fans, and Kevin was and is on Heartland but we never worked together,” she explains.
“For us to combine forces for the fans, it was so awesome. He’s an incredible human being and such a great actor. We had an immediate bond. He felt like a brother. He’s charming and funny and that shows up on screen.
“The horse culture is massive. I really love that movie because it about growth and falling back in love with yourself and with someone after you’ve had extreme loss. Where do you go when your whole world blows up and how do you move past that?”
“I think it’s a really beautiful story about second chances. The imagery and cinematography is beautiful and the characters are fantastic. I loved it. It was a perfect project for me at the time and another character I really, really fell in love with.”
“I didn’t grow up with horses but as soon as I booked Heartland, I took lessons and continued while I was on the show. I have a huge appreciation for that world. Horses are magical beings who are so strong. I love them. I know how people are so obsessed with horse culture. Once you’re in it, you’re in it. I wish I had been in it at a much younger age.”
My Mom’s Letter From Heaven airs at 10 pm and 12 am ET Saturday night on Lifetime. Autumn Stables is streaming on Hallmark Movies Now and Amazon Prime. Here are sneak peeks of both.
Images and video courtesy of Lifetime and MarVista Entertainment.
Tags: Amazon Prime, Autumn Stables, Barry Watson, Cindy Busby, Date my Dad, Exclusive Interview, Exclusive Interviews, Hallmark Movies Now, Heather M, Karen Holness, Kevin McGarry, Lifetime, Michael Scott, My Mom's Letter From Heaven, TV Movie Goodness
Author: Heather M Senior Writer/Columnist: Heather began writing about TV way back when Jensen Ackles was Alec on Dark Angel (so, "dibs.") EDITOR NOTE: No dibs!. She never got on the reality bandwagon. Instead, her TV viewing must be scripted. She's intensely loyal to actors, writers, and directors and loves comedy, drama, suspense, and sci-fi equally. If it was filmed in Vancouver (or Canada, really), she's going to be all over it. Don't look for snark. If she's made the time to watch it, she likes it (or loves it), because life's too short to watch sh-tty TV. But she will call BS when it's right there for the taking. By day, she writes marketing communications for the IT sector. She's a lifelong Texan (minus the pre-K years), so you'll have to accept the liberal use of "y'all." You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @approximofnice.
Cindy Busby Talks My Boyfriend’s Back Wedding March 5 [Exclusive]June 6, 2019
Cindy Busby Talks Lifetime’s The Killer Downstairs [Exclusive]February 28, 2019
Catherine Lough Haggquist Talks Jingle Around the Clock and Christmas Pen Pals [Exclusive]December 21, 2018
Niall Matter Talks Marrying Father Christmas and Making Movies for Hallmark [Exclusive]November 2, 2018
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Or Item Name
Browsing food and drink within 10 miles of Headgate Theatre
Dedham Art and Craft Centre, High Street, Dedham, Essex, CO7 6AD (7 miles, 10 km)
Brasserie 1 at Five Lakes Resort
Five Lakes Resort, Colchester Road, Tolleshunt Knights, Maldon, Essex, CM9 8HX (8 miles, 13 km)
www.fivelakes.co.uk
International food with a great British twist, including fish, grilled meats and steaks, salads and much more.
Coffee Shop at Marks Hall Gardens and Arboretum
Marks Hall Gardens and Arboretum, Marks Hall, Coggeshall, Essex, CO6 1TG (10 miles, 15 km)
www.markshall.org.uk
Our Visitor Centre has a tea room which serves tea, coffee and a variety of home made cakes. Light lunches are also available.
Kings Arms, Broad Green, Coggeshall, Colchester, Essex, CO6 1RU (7 miles, 12 km)
Gun Hill, Dedham, Colchester, Essex, CO7 6HP (6 miles, 10 km)
Stratford Road, Dedham, Colchester, Essex, CO7 6HW (6 miles, 10 km)
20-21 Middleborough, Colchester, Essex, CO1 1QX (0 miles, 1 km)
Restaurant at The Sun Inn
The Sun Inn, High Street, Dedham, Essex, CO7 6DF (6 miles, 10 km)
15 – 19 Head Street, Colchester, Essex, CO1 1NX (0 miles, 0 km)
The Granary Restaurant at Waldegraves Holiday Park
Waldegraves Holiday Park, Waldegraves Lane, West Mersea, Colchester, Essex, CO5 8SE (8 miles, 12 km)
www.waldegraves.co.uk
The Granary offers a superb selection of hot and cold meals taking advantage of the masses of quality fresh produce local to Mersea Island. Eat in the superb comfort of the Restaurant or on the decking overlooking the Swimming Pool.
Guide Price: Main courses range from £6.95
235 Lexden Road, Colchester, Essex, CO3 4DA (2 miles, 3 km)
High Street, Dedham, Essex, CO7 6DF (6 miles, 10 km)
The Tiptree Tea Room, Museum & Jam Shop
Wilkin and Sons Ltd, Factory Hill, Tiptree, Colchester, Essex, CO5 0RF (8 miles, 13 km)
The Tiptree Tea Room offers traditional table service, comfortable surroundings with delicious food prepared on the premises. Enjoy the terrace in the summer months, explore the museum and visit the Jam Shop for Tiptree products and gifts.
Essex Rose, Dedham, High Street, Dedham, Essex, CO7 6DE (6 miles, 10 km)
Wivenhoe Park, Colchester, CO4 3SQ (2 miles, 3 km)
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The Baptist Evangel
Where the Religious Right is Wrong by Matthew Mills is an amazing book. Matt is a civil lawyer in Granbury, Texas, and attends a reformed Baptist church in Fort Worth. As soon as I heard about it, I bought the book through Amazon and read it carefully. I was surprised but delighted, because it is right on target. The author says, "The main purpose of this book is to explore how Christian citizens ought to view certain political issues from a Biblical standpoint, but it's not really meant to serve as a blueprint." He accomplishes that in eight chapters and 215 pages.
I am not surprised that one chapter is entitled, "The Total Depravity of Man" simply because I know Matt's solid commitment to covenant theology. I am surprised that he espouses some of the same political views that I do. I have never run across any one else who does.
I knew Jerry Fallwell personally, hosting his Moral Majority in 1975 when I pastored a church in Omaha, Nebraska, and was still hopeful or maybe wishful. I also drove him from the DFW Airport to a fundraiser in downtown Fort Worth in 1988, but I began to question the effectiveness of his efforts when they disappointed me year after year, especially on the issue of abortion.
I decided that all politicians are liars and no longer vote for candidates but against them. Over the years I have come to be anti-war, anti-foreign aid and anti-government. After six trips to the Middle East, I have become LESS pro-Israel and even more anti-foreign aid. I do not see soundness in any political party. I deplore McCain's hawkishness, John Boehner's weakness, Hillary Clinton's loudness, and Barak Obama's pro-gayness.
I also believe that our government is not based on religion but on a constitution, our founders being deists who did not think like evangelicals. We are not a monarchy or a theocracy. We cannot expect a government like that of Shlomo (Solomon).
I am not quite ready to denounce Israel as Brother Mills did. I still think the Jews (Judah) were dispersed by the Greeks and Romans into many places and that the present conflict with the Palestinians was brought on when Arab nations keep attacking them. But I do agree with Matt that the Jews are not the true spiritual children of Abraham but neither are we (the U.S.)
What Matt said in his book about war and patriotism and nation-building, the rich and powerful, the economic/banking system and foreign policy were absolutely on target. Our policies are against everything taught in Scripture. Get the book at Amazon.
Great for Study Courses
As a Baptist you will not agree with everything in this book, but the author is well versed in the subject about which he writes and is quite prolific. He presents the five points well and shows how they are understood differently by Evangelicals. A companion study of the 1689 Baptist Confession could certainly be beneficial because it gives the Baptist a better understanding of baptism, the key disagreement we have with Michael Horton, who is Professor of Systematic Theology and Apologetics at Westminster Seminary California. Over all, the book is not for beginners, but great for the growing Christian.
You may find the forward odd but hospitable, since it is written by Roger Olson, Professor of Theology at George W. Truett Seminary, Baylor University, Waco, Texas, and author of Against Calvinism.
For Calvinism is published by Zondervan.
We recommend Psalms and Hymns of Reformed Worship
This is virtually the same hymnal used by Charles Spurgeon at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, London. It has been updated into 738 Psalms and Hymns. It "follows Spurgeon in allocating the first 150 hymn numbers to versions of the Psalms." It also retains "Spurgeon's title for this section - Spirit of the Psalms - because it perfectly describes the 'new song' approach which is taken in this selection. This is in the tradition of Isaac Watts and a host of other writers who produced...renderings of the Psalms."
This hymnal is available at the Metropolitan Tabernacle bookshop on the web.
Solid Ground Christian Books has leather-bound editions of the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith as well as the more common paperback.
They offer many puritan classics and a wide variety of commentaries. They have John Calvin, John Owen, Thomas Manton, John Gill, John Bunyan, Jonathan Edwards and Charles Spurgeon.
Solid Ground has Boyce, Broadus, and Wayland. They have children's books, classics and commentaries. We think you will find them a delightful source for your study guides.
Don't take our word for it. Look at their website: www.solid-ground-books.com or P.O. Box 660132, Vestavia Hills, AL 35266 (205)443-0311
The Baptist Evangel - all rights reserved.
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Ryan was born and raised in San Diego, California. He went to Valhalla High School. He was a four year varsity player. He was named first team all-league all for years of high school baseball. He is in the top three in almost every record at Valhalla High School for both hitting and pitching..
After high school, Ryan attended San Diego State University for two years where he was coached and mentored by Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn. Ryan transferred to Oklahoma City University for his junior year. At the end of his junior year at OCU, Ryan was drafted in the 4th round by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2011.
He played with the Dodgers in the Minor Leagues for one season. In 2012 Ryan was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies. He spent four seasons with the Phillies in the Minor Leagues reaching as high as Double A (Reading Phillies) for two seasons. Ryan posted a career 3.18 ERA over five seasons of professional baseball.
Ryan's brother, Sean O'Sullivan. also plays professional baseball. Sean has been in the Major Leagues with the Angels, Royals, Padres, Phillies, and the Red Sox. Sean is currently playing in overseas in Korea. Ryan's younger brother, Casey, is committed with a full scholarship to play baseball at San Diego State University. Ryan is married and currently living in Forest Hill, MD.
Ryan is the General Manager for The Baseball Warehouse as well as the head coach of the 11 U and 14 U TBW Badgers teams.
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THE ESCAPE ACT - A HOLOCAUST MEMOIR
Project Media
Historical Media
Testimonies / Interviews
The Escape Act's Blog:
Circus Jews
A Celebration of Jewish Circus People, Past and Present
This blog was created to complement and expand on my main research into Circus Jews Under National Socialism. In this blog I will alternate writing about past and present: one post about a historical Circus Jew, then another interviewing a present-day Circus Jew, and back and forth...
Historical Jews: I will write the bios of deceased Jewish circus people / families, complete with photos and (whenever available) videos of their work.
Present Day Jews: I will conduct interviews with a wide, diverse range of Circus Jews, asking each the same 13 questions.
5/26/2018 1 Comment
Past: Marcel Marceau
Our very first entry is about a circus person whom even non-circus people know. A circus celebrity, if you will, who became a legend for his groundbreaking work in the field of mime: none other than French artist Marcel Marceau.
Not many people know Marceau was Jewish; even fewer know that he was a member of the French Resistance during World War II, and that he courageously and defiantly saved dozens of Jewish children - by using his skills as an artist. I hope this first blog post will serve to both reinstate Marceau's great artistry as well as shed light on his humanity.
Marceau was born Marcel Mangel on March 22nd 1923 in Strasbourg, France. His father was a Polish Jew (and a kosher butcher, no less) and his mother a Ukranian Jew.
When Marceau was 16 years old, his family had to flee from the Nazis to the city of Limoges. There he joined the French Resistance, using his artistic skills to forge the ages of Jewish youth on their identity cards, making them too young to be sent off to labor camps.
Later, when the French Jewish Resistance decided to evacuate the Jewish children hidden in an orphanage west of Paris, Marceau, masqueraded as a Boy Scout director and led campers on hikes in the Alps, smuggling them into neutral Switzerland. He undertook this perilous journey three times, using mime to keep the younger children quiet and calm to facilitate their escape.
He gave his first major performance to Americans in an army tent before 3,000 soldiers after the liberation of Paris in August 1944. During that time he served as his liaison officer with General Patton due to his knowledge of English, French and German.
When the war ended, Marceau returned home to discover that his father has been deported to Auschwitz, where he was murdered. That devastating experience made it to one of his darker sketches, "Bip Remembers", in which he portrayed his childhood with his father as well as waves of soldiers being mowed down by machine guns.
Although "Bip Remembers" is the only sketch in which he deliberately drew on his Jewish experiences, Marceau reflected on his Jewish origin's relationship to his stage work:
"The people who came back from the camps were never able to talk about it. My name is Mangel, I am Jewish. Perhaps that, unconsciously, contributed towards my choice of silence. But in my art I belong to the world, beyond religion, to Jews, Christians, and even Muslims."
He studied mime at the Sarah Bernhardt Theater in Paris and in 1947 created his most iconic character, "Bip". According to Marceau, when he was five years of age, his mother took him to see a Charlie Chaplin film, which entranced him and led him to want to become a mime. Bip was inspired by the work of Charlie Chaplin, Harpo Marx and other early film stars. He also drew on – and revived – older, European traditions of silent theatre, such as the Italian Commedia dell'arte.
In 1949, following his receipt of the Deburau Prize, Marceu founded Compagnie de Mime Marcel Marceau, the only company of pantomime in the world at the time. The ensemble played the leading Paris theater, as well as other theater throughout the world. He toured the United States in 1955-1956, a tour which ended with a record-breaking return to standing-room-only crowds in San Francisco, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and other major cities. His extensive transcontinental tours included South America, Africa, Australia, China, Japan, South East Asia, Russia, and Europe.
His career also spanned many TV appearances and movie roles, including in a movie of another renowned Jew - Mel Brooks. He was also an author, Marceau published numerous books of poetry and illustrations, as well as books for children.
In 1978 Marceau founded his own school, Ecole Internationale de Mime de Paris, and in 1996 he established the Marceau Foundation to promote mime in the United States.
On April 30th 2001, Marceau was cited for his humanitarianism and acts of courage in aiding Jews during the Holocaust when he was awarded the Wallenberg Medal, which is bestowed by the United States Raoul Wallenberg Committee to “individuals, organizations, and communities whose courage, selflessness and success against great odds personified those of Raoul Wallenberg himself.” Many who learned that Marceau was going to receive the medal asked, tongue firmly in cheek, if a mime could be expected to give the Award lecture, to which he famously replied: “Never get a mime talking, because he won’t stop.”
Marceau died on September 22nd 2007, ironically Yom Kippur - the Jewish Day of Atonement. As such, and in accordance with Jewish tradition, he had the zechut (merit) to die with the proverbial clean slate, having been forgiven by God for all his sins.
He is buried at the Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.
*Marceau had a 20-year friendship with famed singer Michael Jackson, and Jackson attributed some of his signature moves to be influenced by Marceau's stage physicality.
*If you have kids and want to teach them about Marceau's life, and his resistance stint in particular, there's a great book from Jewish publishing house Kar-Ben titled Marcel Marceau - Master of Mime.
MANUEL HERNANDEZ
My Mom made me go see this Marceau guy in the 1960s. I got to see him in Cambridge, Mass., in 2000. I'm grateful for more than 40 years of his time and attention.
All Aerialist Aerial Theater Ballet Broadway Circademics Clown Cordes Dancer Dressage Education Equitation Europe Extra Flying Trapeze Founder France Germany History Holocaust Hungary Israel Juggling Mime New York Past Poland Present Ringmaster Rope San Francisco Silks Social Circus Static Trapeze Strongman Television Theater The Netherlands United States
© 2019 Stav Meishar
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Firm Background
Pro Bono Commitment and Corporate Social Responsibility
Theobald Associates pursues a long-standing and deeply rooted commitment to providing pro bono support to clients from the charitable and not-for-profit sectors.
Prior to his departure, Bradley served on the firmwide Pro bono Committee of Morrison & Foerster and held the post of pro bono coordinator for the London and Brussels offices. Accordingly, Bradley was responsible for overseeing and administering the efforts and contribution of Morrison & Foerster to pro bono work within the United Kingdom and Europe.
This commitment has continued following the founding of Theobald Associates and involves undertaking specific pro bono matters, as well as maintaining long-standing relationships with a number of charitable and community enterprises.
In accordance with this commitment, Bradley holds office as a Trustee and Director of the registered charity, The White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood.
In 2015 and 2016, Theobald Associates have provided financial support to its existing community partner, Tottenham Hale International Studios CIC, in order to help with the funding of community-based workshops for children living in the surrounding area to the artistic students.
Existing Not-for-Profit Partners
Contact a Family (http://www.cafamily.org.uk/)
White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood (http://www.whiteribbonalliance.org/)
Tottenham Hale International Studios CIC (http://thistudios.com/)
© Theobald Associates 2016
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"Collaborate! Communicate! Celebrate!"
by Andrea Bertola Shaw
Sherry Eaker of 'Backstage' and leslie Shreve of SAG and AFTRA Women's Committees Hosted the First Collaboration Awards Event, September 18, 2006
UPDATE: JUNE 2007 -- 2006 COLLABORATION AWARD WINNERS TO HAVE A FULL PRODUCTION IN WASHINGTON, DC! See In the News
Jennifer Maisel
Playwright Jennifer Maisel and Director Wendy McClellan will receive the first Collaboration Award presented by The New York Coalition of Professional Women in the Arts & Media. The Award recognizes new works or works-in-progress by women working with women.
The winners will be honored at a special event on Monday, September 18, 2006 at 7 p.m. at The Cherry Lane Theatre in NYC (38 Commerce Street). The evening will include a reception, performances from the winners, a panel, and trademark networking. Tickets are $10.00 in advance and $15.00 at the door.
Wendy McClellan
Four other collaborative teams are being honored with an award certificate. They come from disciplines in dance, theater, musice theater, varrying backgrounds, and a variety of styles.
Other HONOREES for the award include Deepa Purohit (AEA, SAG) and Nandita Shenoy (SSDC, AEA, AFTRA) for Sahana, (previously called Exiled), a play with music and dance exploring the multicultural experiences of three generations of a family of South Asian women; Janet Gari (DG) and Sharon Talbot (AEA, AFTRA, SAG) for First Born, a musical inspired by the life of Ms. Gari’s sister, Margie, the first born of show business icon Eddie Cantor’s five daughters; Jane Comfort (SSDC) and Joan LaBarbara (AEA, SAG, AFTRA), for Fleeting Thoughts, a dance program with a vocal score, and Pamela Dunlap (AEA, SAG, AFTRA) and Sharon Sharth (DG) for Grace, a comic play about a woman “hurtling toward 40 and desperately single.”
American Theater Magazine, September 2006
The jam-packed awards event, "Collaborate! Communicate! Celebrate!" on Sept. 18 will be hosted by Sherry Eaker, editor of Backstage, who will collaborate as moderator with leslie Shreve, National Co-Chair of the Women's Committees of SAG and AFTRA, an Emmy Award winning activist and a producer at NYC WildFlower Productions. Tips on collaborating ups-and-downs will be elicited from winners in a quick Q&A conducted by director Aixa Kendrickand playwright Cindy Cooper, and signature networking (see Blatant Self-Interest Networking Events Past Events) will help attendees identify their own future collaborators. A reception will follow.
Teams from ten states and the United Kingdom submitted applications for the Award, which carries a prize of $500. The winning entry is a full length play entitled Birds that merges reality and fantasy in modern day New York City. Against a backdrop of 9/11, a woman tries to break free from her past through a series of clandestine encounters. “I see the unfolding of the play as one of a caged bird tearing itself free,” says playwright Jennifer Maisel. Director Wendy McClellan says she sees the play as a “noir-esque” video game, the characters as iconic images moving through the play as through a video game. This is the third collaboration for Maisel and McClellan.
Maisel, a member of the Dramatists Guild, has an MFA in dramatic writing from the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University and has had plays produced at the Humana Festival at Actors Theatre of Louisville, Theatre J in Washington, DC and Center Theatre in Chicago, among others. She has received grants from the Fund for New American Plays, has twice been a finalist for the Heideman Award from the Actors Theatre of Louisville, and has written for television and films. She lives in Los Angeles.
McClellan, a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, has directed productions at The Kennedy Center, the Players Theatre in New York, Actors Theatre of Louisville, P.S. 122 in New York and Oasis Theatre in Los Angeles, among others. She is the director of the Apprentice/Intern Company at the Actors Theatre of Louisville.
The Coalition of Professional Women in the Arts & Media was organized in 1990 to work for the advancement of women in the performing arts and media industries. Members and Affiliates include: Actors’ Equity Association (AEA); American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA); Dramatists Guild (DG); The Fund for Women Artists; League of Professional Theatre Women/NY; New York Women in Film & Television; Screen Actors Guild (SG); Society of Stage Directors & Choreographers (SSDC); Women Make Movies, and Writers Guild of America, East.
tagged with Coalition, Collaboration Award, WomenArts
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Fake Professor at Wikipedia
Wikipedia is under attack yet again by the mainstream media. This time, it is because a now former high ranking administrator (Ryan Jordan known as Essjay at Wikipedia) there has been found to have fabricated his credentials by claiming to be an academic with multiple degrees he did not have.
Wikipedia already has an article on the controversy of course. It notes:
The Essjay controversy arose after The New Yorker magazine disclosed that a prominent English Wikipedia editor and administrator known by the name "Essjay", who was also briefly employed at Wikia, had lied about his age, background, and academic credentials, including claiming to have a doctoral degree. At the recommendation of the Wikimedia Foundation, Stacy Schiff interviewed Essjay as a source for a July 2006 New Yorker article which described Essjay as having notable academic credentials, which he confirmed at the time.[1] In February 2007 an editor's note was added to the original article, explaining that Essjay now said these credentials were non-existent and were part of an online persona he had created in part to avoid cyberstalking.[2] Essjay had described himself on his user profile as "a tenured professor of theology at a private university in the eastern United States."[3] According to the note, he now said he was Ryan Jordan, a 24-year-old community college dropout from Kentucky and that he had relied on sources such as Catholicism for Dummies when editing articles.
While shocking, this kind of deception is not new and is not limited to Wikipedia. Does anyone remember Jayson Blair? He both plagiarized and fabricated articles at the New York Times for several years. I do not think Blair has proven that the New York Times is a bad resource though despite his fraud.
And let's not forget about Stephen Glass at the New Republic. 27 of 41 stories written by Glass for the magazine contained fabricated material. He wrote such fake gems as a 15 year old at national hacker convention and a Church of George Herbert Walker Bush, Jesus Christ. I still like the New Republic as a resource despite the Glass incident.
People fabricating degrees is not new either. The Chronicle of Higher Education frequently exposes people in higher education with diploma mill degrees. For example, history adjunct Fred Ruhlman at the University of Tennessee was reported at Cliopatria, "(His) "doctorate" is from "the American University of London", a notorious diploma mill and his book, Captain Henry Wirz and Andersonville Prison, was withdrawn from publication by the University of Tennessee Press because of its plagiarism from William Marvel's Andersonville: The Last Depot." While embarrassing for the University of Tennessee, it hardly means UT degrees are now worthless.
I can find those fake Blair articles in my library right now in the microfilm versions of the New York Times. Those fake Glass articles from the New Republic are still in the bound periodical section of the library too. However, every edit Essjay has made is being examined and altered if it is found to be problematic. Unlike the mainstream press who have their mistakes archived forever in libraries, Wikipedia can be fixed when the fraud is discovered.
What is the lesson here? We need to teach our students how to critically evaluate any information they find. This includes stuff in print and online. Further, we should never be allowing our students to use encyclopedias (be it Wikipedia or the Encyclopædia Britannica) as a main source for a paper. Encyclopedias exist to give background information to get the research started. They should rarely be cited.
As Wikipedia has thousands of editors from around the world, it is not surprising that bad Wikipedians can be found just like bad academics with fabricated credentials in higher education can be found and bad writers with fake stories can be found in the mainstream media. The Essjay fake professor incident can be cited as a successful example of how the Wikipedia community was able to detect and fix the problem. However, this is such a good story, I guess I am not surprised that so many news sources are taking the whole incident out of context. In the meantime, I have no doubt that Wikipedia will continue on strong and that my students will continue to keep using Wikipedia . And I will have to keep educating them about the appropriateness of using encyclopedias as their main sources...
Posted by M at 6:14 AM
Labels: Wikipedia
Jennie W said...
Just one more reason why I won't let my students cite Wikipedia!
Do you let them use the New York Times or the New Republic? After all, Blair and Glass put false info in those publications and they are still sitting on the library shelves, errors and all.
People have been know to lie, even in academia. Is it really surprising that it happened at Wikipedia?
Wikipedia can be used as a teaching tool. Let the students use it but then make them prove what they find by using more scholarly resources. I do not think banning students from Wikipedia is the answer. They just read it anyone but do not list it on their references page!
Steve Muhlberger said...
The number of offers I've had to write encyclopedia articles in recent years has made me pretty suspicious of expensive special purpose encyclopedias from reputable presses!
I'm actually thinking of making an assignment where the students have to edit Wikipedia articles by checking all their facts.
As to my policies - I let them use it for discussion, but not a source in papers. I try to make it clear that I'm not merely being annoying, but that they need to VERIFY all the facts in Wikipedia because there is no way to know if it is accurate or not.
The Giza Archives Project
A History Of Absinthe And Its Tools
History of Mauritius
Fun Geography Games
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The areas that typically work together weren’t firing together as much. Instead, other areas of the brain were getting more involved than usual—areas related to a visual network, for instance. These differences suggest “that instead of having distinct brain networks the way you or I would, there was more of a blending of these networks,” says Smith, who studies the neuroscience of emotion. “It does make intuitive sense that a condition associated with atypical sensory association and atypical emotional association would have different wiring in the brain.”
In my case, I enjoy the most when it occurs naturally in a real world situation. I would suggest you to play some online response related games (color-word match etc.,) for couple of minutes daily and try 1 or 2 ASMR trigger videos at a time. I hope you will get to experience ASMR on some videos at least. Even you play response related games like the color-word match or odd - even number match or the Vowel & consonant related Yes/No kind of games found in the internet for 10 to 15 minutes, I believe you will get at least a basic feeling of ASMR when you are simply resting or when you are calm without having to induce it through videos. Hope this helps. Trust me, it is a really, really good feeling. If it still doesn't work, forget it, no hard feelings. Like I said, I experience it once in blue moon, but never crave for it although I enjoy it when it happens naturally :)
I have repeatedly tried listening to ASMR YT videos, however, I have found them actually highly irritating and not calming. The whispering (extreme soft speaking) cause me great annoyance. You are right in that not all people respond to ASMR videos in the same manner. However, a back massage with calming music, listening to powerful worship music, dialogue of a spiritual nature, sitting by water and meditation on Scripture are triggers for this sensation.
“Our research studies consistently show that ASMR is a relaxing, calming sensation that increases feelings of social connectedness,” Giulia Poerio (a co-author of the study), told Newsweek. “Importantly, we found that ASMR videos produce significant reductions in heart rate in people who experience ASMR. So we now have more objective evidence of the idea that ASMR is relaxing. It’s not just people telling us that ASMR makes them feel relaxed—their physiology is telling us the same thing too.”
Hidden on YouTube among the videos of aspiring singers crooning Justin Bieber and amateur gamers playing FortNite is a star unlike the others. Her name is Spirit Payton, and her claim to fame is making noise. In her most popular video, with upwards of 13 million views, you’ll find her noisily chewing pickles next to a microphone. Yes, 13 million people have watched Spirit eat pickles—and they love it. Welcome to ASMR.
I’m totally with you in similarity on that. I can get it from reading or watching something profound, and also being engaged in a deep connection with someone. I believe ASMR is the main reason why I used to believe in, and what I used to describe as, my third eye. Like Carlos Cruz, I also get the sensation from music, actually having been utterly attached my whole life to gaining these feelings from listening to music.
If YouTube videos are any indication, the most popular ASMR stimuli are whispering, tapping, watching someone have their hair brushed, and repetitive tasks like folding laundry. However, people can also experience ASMR from a bevvy of events like getting their hair cut or listening to music—there are a wide range of triggers and what works for one person may not work for you. ASMR slime videos may fit the bill—or not.
Having previously practiced yoga and meditation for over 10 years, I can induce ASMR at will, or "bliss", as it's called in the spiritual community. It's often part of the very first steps on a spiritual journey, though no requirement. These videos didn't induce ASMR in me though, so maybe it's a different sensation than "bliss", or different triggers.
My main trigger is watching someone concentrating silently on a mundane task (writing, drawing, ironing, cleaning, doing a puzzle) and them not being aware that I am aware of what they are doing. I also find sometimes that having a haircut can produce the same sensation. I also find that the feeling can sometimes be accentuated by gently rubbing the back of my neck with something like a pen or the end of my glasses. I haven’t yet found a video that works as a trigger – it needs to be there for real and even then doesn’t and won’t happen “on demand”.
I can trigger my ASMR at any time and it helps me gather my thoughts and calm down easily. It is weird to do, I have just recently found out about it and I was really strange knowing that not everyone could just do it anytime, sometimes or not at all so this is so strange before I found this out I thought I was just giving my self goosebumps just without the bumps so those are my feelings I just had to get out of my system.
But given its popularity, why has the psychological research community neglected the sensation until now? There could be lots of reasons. For one, it’s an inherently personal, private experience, and perhaps one that hasn’t traditionally lent itself to cropping up in conversation all that often. That, coupled with the fact that it’s a difficult sensation to explain to someone who doesn’t experience it, may go some way to explaining why there wasn’t even a term to describe it until 2010. “Before the online community existed, I’ve heard many people who experience ASMR say they thought they were the only ones that experienced it,” says Barratt. “I think the lack of evidence that ASMR was experienced by such a huge group of people may be why it was overlooked, or written off as an oddly described version of frisson (‘goosebumps’), in the past,” she adds.
Hi! I am not sure if I experience ASMR or not. The only thing that I know is when someone whispers, speaks (low/high notes) close/near my back I get chills/tingles/tickling sensation. But when the sound doesn’t travel straight to my back, I dont get chills. I have been searching for answers and ASMR is the only thing close to it. I hope that you guys can help me. Thanks.
For many people they might have experienced the sensation of ASMR before but not necessarily understand it, or seek it out too seriously. When you first find the ASMR community online it can be a very exciting time, knowing that you are part of a group and a very welcoming community. However it can also be very overwhelming and it isn’t particularly clear where to start. For some great tips to help you get the most from your ASMR you should check out our free ebook.
An article titled "An examination of the default mode network in individuals with autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR)"[38] by Stephen D. Smith, Beverley Katherine Fredborg, and Jennifer Kornelsen, looked at the default mode network (DMN) in individuals with ASMR. The study, which used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), concluded that there were significant differences in the DMN of individuals who have ASMR as compared to a control group without ASMR.
There is no solid data about ASMR, no published research studies — not yet. The term “ASMR” is nonclinical, coined in 2010 by a woman named Jennifer Allen who started an ASMR Facebook group and later became part of a team — along with Richard — that collected and analyzed anecdotal information about the sensation. Richard also notes the work of Bryson Lochte, a Dartmouth College undergrad who has used neuroimaging technology to study ASMR for his senior thesis but has not published his results.
Daniel and Prunkl keep a folder full of this man’s transgressions and have notified the local police. “Sometimes it scares me,” Daniel confesses, quieter now. “It does scare me that this guy could be anywhere.” Similarly, Makenna Kelly fears that kids at her bus stop will follow her home and leak her address online. “I just go down to the clubhouse and wait ten minutes just to make sure nobody knows where I live.”
On 12 March 2012, Steven Novella, Director of General Neurology at the Yale School of Medicine, published a post about ASMR on his blog Neurologica. Regarding the question of whether ASMR is a real phenomeonon, Novella said "in this case, I don't think there is a definitive answer, but I am inclined to believe that it is. There are a number of people who seem to have independently experienced and described" it with "fairly specific details. In this way it's similar to migraine headaches – we know they exist as a syndrome primarily because many different people report the same constellation of symptoms and natural history." Novella tentatively posited the possibilities that ASMR might be either a type of pleasurable seizure, or another way to activate the "pleasure response". However, Novella drew attention to the lack of scientific investigation into ASMR, suggesting that functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and transcranial magnetic stimulation technologies should be used to study the brains of people who experience ASMR in comparison to people who do not, as a way of beginning to seek scientific understanding and explanation of the phenomenon.[39][40]
Though this should already be obvious, let me state it bluntly: you will not be calmed by this video for single “Never See the Signs.” The song itself is a hulk of melodic, dirgy rock underpinned by buzzing synths. Eoin’s “It’s so serious in here / it’s so claustrophobic / Get me out of here” vocal hook reaches menacingly for your neck, even over a mid-tempo groove. But hey, Drenge haven’t ever really been about tunes to mellow you out. Since debuting widely in 2013, off the back of a Tom Watson (a right-on politician in his forties) co-sign that probably still haunts them to this day, they’ve consistently put out the sort of guitar-heavy tracks that make people want to use words like “meaty” and “janky” as descriptors. Theirs is music designed to be played loud, preferably somewhere you can slam your body around, ideally while wearing breathable cotton/no shirt at all. As they gear up to release their third album Strange Creatures on Friday February 22, we’ve got the first watch of that Samuel Higginson-directed video.
"Basically, it feels like the amazing chills you get when someone plays with your hair or traces your back with their fingertips," says Heather Feather, a popular "ASMRtist" with nearly 400,000 YouTube subscribers. The dulcet tones of famed soft-spoken painter Bob Ross are among the most common ASMR triggers. Indeed, "Bob Ross" is among the terms most frequently associated with ASMR—and so are "Heather Feather" and "GentleWhispering," another top ASMRtist on YouTube.
Mockery is a problem for any child in the limelight – one of Jacob Daniel’s fellow ASMRtist United founders quit YouTube after being picked on at school. Kelly says there are rumours that one girl at school said she was “annoying”, but most people think her channel is “cool”. Yet Kelly isn’t just a famous ASMRtist – she is also a meme. On social media, people edit her videos into short clips and share them with relatable captions.
There is little scientific research on the phenomenon—the first scientific paper on it was published on the open-access journal PeerJ in 2015. That study had nearly 500 people who subscribed to Facebook or Reddit ASMR groups fill out a questionnaire about their online ASMR habits and why they engaged in them. Most people said they watched the videos to help them relax, de-stress, and get to sleep. (Only five percent said they watch the videos for sexual reasons.)
Scientists don’t know enough about the phenomenon to know if everyone can become a tinglehead, or if only people who have brains wired a certain way can. In my personal experiences with ASMR, it happened most powerfully–but rarely–when talking to my uncle. However, I have also experienced less powerful ASMR episodes when getting a haircut, an eye exam, and occasionally when conversing with a significant other while we relaxed in bed.
The concept itself has existed before the term ASMR was coined. In 2007, a user under the handle okaywhatever51838 created a thread titled “Weird Sensation Feels Good” on steadyhealth.com, where Jennifer Allen first came across others describing ASMR. In 2008, one user within that forum thread called the sensation Attention Induced Head Orgasm (AIHO). In early 2010, another forum user called it Attention Induced Observant Euphoria.
A study done by Google, the parent company of YouTube states, ASMR videos are mostly watched by people between the ages of 18 and 24. Osbourn has noticed this trend and thinks there’s a correlation with mental health. “Our generation is more open to talking about mental health, we are so much more aware of ‘I’m struggling mentally, and I need help, and I’m going to find the help that I need,’ than any other generation, in my opinion,” she said.
“One of our main aims is to try to draw attention to ASMR as a topic worthy (and capable) of scientific research, in the hope that it might galvanise future research efforts,” they explain. Of the group, three of them (Emma, Giulia and Tom) experience ASMR, whereas Theresa doesn’t. The study is still in an early stage – data collection has just finished – but this diversity in experience, they believe, is a critical component to their research. “So we starting thinking about how we might first and foremost investigate this phenomenon at the most basic level: what might it take to convince someone who doesn’t experience ASMR that it is a genuine and consistent experience for some people?” they explain. “Theresa doesn’t experience ASMR, and has valuable scepticism of the experience. It adds to the diversity of our research group and the questioning of our approach from a non-ASMR perspective,” they add.
Have you ever undergone a sleep study? I suspect you have narcolepsy, as I do. Have a night time sleep study followed directly by a daytime sleep study. This is the only way to determine whether or not you have narcolepsy. Do not waste money having either of these done without the other as it will not lead to any conclusion as to whether or not you are narcoleptic. Often when only a night time sleep study is done and some sort of disturbance is found, it is assumed that this is the only cause of the symptoms. This is not necessarily true as day time narcoleptic symptoms are in no way influenced by night time sleep quality or duration. Although I often suffer from insomnia as most narcoleptics do, my night time sleep study showed no disturbances over a full 8 hours of sleep. During my daytime sleep study which proceeding directly after, my average daytime sleep onset latency was 3.2 minutes. This is the time between lying down with eyes closing to clinically asleep, recorded during several trials throughout the day in which I was made to sit up out of bed and remain awake for 2 hours prior to being told to lie down with my eyes closed until falling asleep, then being woken after 15 minutes of sleep. My results were extreme. But anyone who can fall asleep in less than 5 minutes has narcolepsy. Many people believe that they can and have done so, however, with the exception of extreme sleep deprivation, similar to POWs and other torture victims, this is just not the case unless he person is narcoleptic. Other sleep disorders, such as apnea or restless leg, will not result in the level of sleep deprivation necessary to produce a 5 minute or less daytime sleep onset latency. Narcolepsy is the only disorder that will do so. There are also REM sleep abnormalities experienced by narcoleptics which can be found during such a sleep study. I hope that helps. There isn’t much that can be done for narcolepsy. There are prescription drugs that may help. But for me, being diagnosed was most beneficial in that it gave an explanation for my behavior that at least some people could understand, as opposed to having people viewing your behavior as irresponsible, rude, lazy, etc.
Given that ASMR is open to misunderstanding and misconceptions, a healthy dose of scepticism is important for future research in the area. Anecdotally, the Sheffield group point out that some ASMR enthusiasts use the videos therapeutically, to help with symptoms of insomnia, anxiety or depression. This is echoed in the findings from Barratt and Davis’s survey; their data showed that, for people who scored as having moderate to severe depression, 69% reported using ASMR videos to help ease their symptoms, and generally reported a greater improvement in mood than individuals who were not depressed. But these are self-report measures, and further work needs to be done to pinpoint to what extent there may be an actual therapeutic effect.
I first encountered ASMR, as do most people, as a child. I never knew exactly what it was. I experienced it when certain teachers spoke, during certain TV shows and at the dentist. I didn’t understand the sensation but enjoyed it, and would try and stay very calm and relaxed every time it happened to try and lengthen my experience of it. You can read the full story of how I found ASMR in this post.
In 2012, Steven Novella, a neurologist at the Yale University School of Medicine wrote a blog post about ASMR, asking “the most basic question—is it real? In this case I don’t think there is a definitive answer, but I am inclined to believe that it is… It’s similar to migraine headaches—we know they exist as a syndrome primarily because many different people report the same constellation of symptoms and natural history.” He goes on to speculate as to what ASMR could be—possibly small seizures, or “just a way of activating the pleasure response.”
KFC has embraced the trend. In this recent YouTube video, the actor George Hamilton, portraying Colonel Sanders, whispers sweet nothings about pocket squares and enjoys the sounds of KFC's new crispy fried chicken. "This is a community that is absolutely infatuated and enthusiastic about the sensorial experience of sound," KFC CMO Kevin Hochman said in The Washington Post. "There's a lot of comfort that's associated with ASMR, and that's what our food delivers."
It seems at the moment that the answer is no. Not everybody reports experiencing this sensation. Most people discover it by accident in their childhood, however some adults experience it for the first time. If you haven’t experienced ASMR before, it might just be that you haven’t found your personal triggers yet. Check out our article detailing the common triggers to see if any of them do it for you.
Smithsonian: "How Researchers Are Beginning to Gently Probe the Science Behind ASMR" — "The burgeoning Internet phenomenon was so new, it didn’t even have a name. It was so strange and hard to describe that many people felt creepy trying. It resided at the outer edge of respectability: a growing collection of YouTube videos featuring people doing quiet, methodical activities like whispering, turning magazine pages and tapping their fingers. Some viewers reported that these videos could elicit the most pleasurable sensations: a tingling feeling at the scalp and spine, coupled with euphoria and an almost trance-like relaxation.
Best Satisfying ASMR: Though this channel was established less than a year ago, it has almost 2 million views. Their most popular video involves pressing a metal grate (akin to a cooling rack bakers use) into colored slime and pulling up. The stretching and drawing up produces a sound slightly different than the crunchy slime, but still sensational to some.
In the first peer-reviewed article on ASMR, published in Perspectives in Biology in summer 2013, Nitin Ahuja, who was at the time of publication a medical resident at the University of Virginia, invited conjecture on whether the receipt of simulated medical attention might have some tangible therapeutic value for the recipient, comparing the purported positive outcome of clinical role play ASMR videos with the themes of the novel Love in the Ruins by author and physician Walker Percy, published in 1971.[5]
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YIVO Vilna Online Collections project
e-sources
From the announcement by Jonathan Brent:
"Take a moment to open vilnacollections.yivo.org on your smartphone or computer. You will find The Edward Blank YIVO Vilna Online Collections that comprise the YIVO archive and library looted by the Nazis during World War II. Some of it came to YIVO in NYC after the War; the rest remained in Lithuania and was discovered in 1991. With our Lithuanian partners YIVO is digitizing 1.3 million pages of documents and 12,200 books that include rabbinical texts, diaries, letters, communal records, literary manuscripts, photographs, Yiddish theater, eye-witness accounts of pogroms and the Holocaust, and much more.
The Vilna Collections project website unites our treasures in Lithuania with those in NYC for the first time since 1941. In the search bar, type in some individual, place, book or event you may wish to examine. Though images are daily being added onto the website, you will shortly find entries with attachments of “digitized files.” Open a file and you will be able to explore the lost world of East European and Russian Jewry in ways never before possible—as will anyone else around the globe. $700,000 is still needed to complete this project, but launching this website now helps us realize its historic importance for all who seek the meaning of who we are as a people."
"The Edward Blank YIVO Vilna Online Collections project is an international project to preserve, digitize, and virtually reunite YIVO’s prewar library and archival collections located in New York City and Vilnius, Lithuania, through a dedicated web portal. The project will also digitally reconstruct the historic, private Strashun Library of Vilna, one of the great prewar libraries of Europe.
This project is a partnership between the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, the Lithuanian Central State Archives, the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania, and the Wroblewski Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences, and includes the cataloging, conservation, and digitization of documents and books in both New York and Vilnius.
In May 2017, some 170,000 pages of previously unknown documents, lost to history for almost 70 years, were discovered in Vilnius, significantly expanding the scope of our project."
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Libyan Americans celebrate after Gadhafi's death
The news of his death prompted celebrations in the cities of Tripoli and Misrata.
Libya's rebel government said the former dictator was cornered by insurgents in his hometown, then was shot and killed. Gadhafi ruled the north African nation for 42 years until an uprising forced him from power earlier this year.
For many Libyan Americans and nationals in Chicago, the day began with an early morning phone call from loved ones back home. Though many see Gadhafi's death as a step towards democracy, there is apprehension about what lies ahead.
"We've got the business of building a new country, and it's going to be difficult. I think it's going to be more difficult than bringing down Gadafi," said Khalid Smeda, Libyan doctor.
Ibrahim Elfirjani of Orland Park went to Libya in February to join the revolutionary fighters. On Wednesday night, his son was beaming.
"I'm really proud of what he's doing. I'm really proud that I'm his son," said Sanad Elfirjani, son.
Elfirjani, along with other Libyan Americans and nationals sang Libya's national anthem, celebrated with food and fellowship, mourned those who died, and reflected.
"The 42-year dictatorship has ended, bringing joy, happiness and hope to Libyans worldwide," said Sarah Burshan, Libyan American.
Libyan student Nizar Senussi was on the phone all day with relatives back home.
"They are absolutely ecstatic," said Senussi. "I kind of wish I was home. The feeling there is, Chicago is kinda cold today. But the warm feeling I got inside, nothing beats it."
There was also jubilation at the Aduib home in southwest suburban Bridgeview. They have been glued to news reports and hope they will now be able to safely visit loved ones.
"When we were overseas last year, constant fear that we that we just have to hide. We can't speak. We can't say our names out loud. We can't speak to other people we don't know," said Abdulraoof Aduib.
"It is not just for the Libyans. It is for the world at large that this dictator is gone and the democracy and the freedom and the rule of law will be established in Libya," said Mohamed Aduib.
Gadhafi was accused of backing multiple acts of terrorism, including the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103. Among the 270 people killed was Evanston native Bill Mack who worked as a puppeteer for Jim Henson.
"It's not closure, by any means, it's just the end of another chapter in this whole thing. And this thing has had so many chapters over the last 22 years, and I expect there'll be more," said Richard Mack, victim's brother.
Richard Mack once headed the flight 103 victim's group.
"My hope now is that all the evidence that we know is out there that he was the guy that ordered this will now come to light, and we'll actually all get to see that," said Mack.
Though hopes are now high for an open and free Libya, already there are signs of friction between competing factions charged with forming the new government.
"There's a significant risk that what you will see replace the existing regime is one that turns out to be as oppressive," said Tom Mockaitis, DePaul University history professor.
"It's not an easy process, but it's one that is not impossible, and definitely people are up to it. I think the Libyan people are creative, intelligent, passionate, innovative people, and they'll be able to rebuild their nation into what they want it to be," said Ahmed Rehab, Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Gadhafi ruled Libya for nearly two thirds of his life. Some local experts ABC7 spoke with say it could take a year or more for any new government to form. There have already been growing pains with Egypt's transitional government and that very well could be the case with Libya.
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Potential Whistleblowers Face Daunting Choice
Blog January 10, 2019
Shauna Itri, MA, JD, Shareholder at Berger & Montague PC
With images of Edward Snowden or Karen Silkwood in their minds, it’s scary for most people to consider being a whistleblower in the workplace. However, while fraud in the clinical trial industry is extremely rare, as in any other profession, it has its occasional bad actors who subvert regulations either through carelessness or malice.
That’s where Shauna Itri, MA, JD, shareholder at Berger & Montague PC, comes in. “I think a lot of times, people [who come to us] are experiencing some sort of fraud” internally or externally, “or they know there’s unfair competition because their competitors are” committing fraud, she says. “I don’t think people know of [laws like the False Claims Act] and that there’s an option out there for them to come forward and receive a reward for doing the right thing.”
Maybe one out of 100 people will experience fraud that rises to the level of bringing a False Claims Act suit, but it does happen, Itri says. Often peppered with questions after she speaks on the subject, she says a few of her cases have begun when an attendee reaches out to her after the session is over.
Under the False Claims Act, a whistleblower does not have to show the alleged abuse is harming them directly, Itri says. “You can stand in the shoes of the government, and it’s a very different type of law than anything else out there because with normal litigation and other statutes, you have to be the person that is harmed—you’re the one that’s hit by a car, for example.”
Updates on Fraud, Waste, and Abuse in Clinical Research and the False Claims Act
Join us at ACRP 2019 for a primer on the False Claims Acts in clinical research, and dive into fraud enforcement trends and various related “hot button” issues. Presenter Shauna Itri will discuss how non-compliance compromises the financial and operational viability of current trials, as well as potential loss of funding, risks of fines and penalties, settlement costs and more.
View Session Details >>
Clearly, however, there are several pros and cons for the would-be whistleblower to carefully consider.
“A pro is you feel like you’re doing the right thing,” Itri says. “Number two, you might have a great reputation [for being honest] if it comes out from under seal and you filed this case. Three, you might get an award, which is a huge pro because a lot of these cases [can involve] hundreds of millions of dollars, and it results in huge rewards.”
It’s the cons that merit especially close consideration. For example, the case might not be successful. “Then you’re outed as a whistleblower and I think it might be hard to get a job [anywhere else] in the healthcare industry,” Itri says. “I always have to work very closely with clients in advising them about these cons. If it’s a younger client, they’re just getting started and they love the healthcare industry, and the case is like 50/50, I might say ‘Hey, I don’t know if this is in your best interest.’”
In a different scenario, where the potential whistleblower is older and nearer retirement or leaning toward exiting the healthcare field, Itri suggests “they might want to take a little bit more of a risk if the case is a really good one.”
Finally, Itri says to be wary of how lawyers set their fee structure if they take your case. Avoid lawyers who want to bill hourly, she advises. Her firm pays all the costs and gets a piece of the settlement only if the client wins the case, she explains.
Author: Michael Causey
Experts Advocate ‘High-Touch, High-Tech’ Clinical Trial Approach
Certification Key When the Clinical Research Associate Role Moves into Mission: Impossible Territory
Innovative Heart Study Could Advance Clinical Trial Design
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Tags: artificialintelligence
The Real Danger To Civilization Isn’t AI. It’s Runaway Capitalism.
Spot-on take by Ted Chiang:
I used to find it odd that these hypothetical AIs were supposed to be smart enough to solve problems that no human could, yet they were incapable of doing something most every adult has done: taking a step back and asking whether their current course of action is really a good idea. Then I realized that we are already surrounded by machines that demonstrate a complete lack of insight, we just call them corporations.
Related: if you want to see the paperclip maximiser in action, just look at the humans destroying the planet by mining bitcoin.
Tagged with ai artificialintelligence singularity future capitalism corporations insight metacognition tedchiang
A minority report on artificial intelligence
Want to feel old? Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report was released fifteen years ago.
It casts a long shadow. For a decade after the film’s release, it was referenced at least once at every conference relating to human-computer interaction. Unsurprisingly, most of the focus has been on the technology in the film. The hardware and interfaces in Minority Report came out of a think tank assembled in pre-production. It provided plenty of fodder for technologists to mock and praise in subsequent years: gestural interfaces, autonomous cars, miniature drones, airpods, ubiquitous advertising and surveillance.
At the time of the film’s release, a lot of the discussion centred on picking apart the plot. The discussions had the same tone of time-travel paradoxes, the kind thrown up by films like Looper and Interstellar . But Minority Report isn’t a film about time travel, it’s a film about prediction.
Or rather, the plot is about prediction. The film—like so many great works of cinema—is about seeing. It’s packed with images of eyes, visions, fragments, and reflections.
The theme of prediction was rarely referenced by technologists in the subsequent years. After all, that aspect of the story—as opposed to the gadgets, gizmos, and interfaces—was one rooted in a fantastical conceit; the idea of people with precognitive abilities.
But if you replace that human element with machines, the central conceit starts to look all too plausible. It’s suggested right there in the film:
It helps not to think of them as human.
To which the response is:
No, they’re so much more than that.
Suppose that Agatha, Arthur, and Dashiell weren’t people in a floatation tank, but banks of servers packed with neural nets: the kinds of machines that are already making predictions on trading stocks and shares, traffic flows, mortgage applications …and, yes, crime.
Precogs are pattern recognition filters, that’s all.
Rewatching Minority Report now, it holds up very well indeed. Apart from the misstep of the final ten minutes, it’s a fast-paced twisty noir thriller. For all the attention to detail in its world-building and technology, the idea that may yet prove to be most prescient is the concept of Precrime, introduced in the original Philip K. Dick short story, The Minority Report .
Minority Report works today as a commentary on Artificial Intelligence …which is ironic given that Spielberg directed a film one year earlier ostensibly about A.I. . In truth, that film has little to say about technology …but much to say about humanity.
Like Minority Report , A.I. was very loosely based on an existing short story: Super-Toys Last All Summer Long by Brian Aldiss. It’s a perfectly-crafted short story that is deeply, almost unbearably, sad.
When I had the great privilege of interviewing Brian Aldiss, I tried to convey how much the story affected me.
Jeremy: …the short story is so sad, there’s such an incredible sadness to it that…
Brian: Well it’s psychological, that’s why. But I didn’t think it works as a movie; sadly, I have to say.
At the time of its release, the general consensus was that A.I. was a mess. It’s true. The film is a mess, but I think that, like Minority Report , it’s worth revisiting.
Watching now, A.I. feels like a horror film to me. The horror comes not—as we first suspect—from the artificial intelligence. The horror comes from the humans. I don’t mean the cruelty of the flesh fairs. I’m talking about the cruelty of Monica, who activates David’s unconditional love only to reject it (watching now, both scenes—the activation and the rejection—are equally horrific). Then there’s the cruelty of the people of who created an artificial person capable of deep, never-ending love, without considering the implications.
There is no robot uprising in the film. The machines want only to fulfil their purpose. But by the end of the film, the human race is gone and the descendants of the machines remain. Based on the conduct of humanity that we’re shown, it’s hard to mourn our species’ extinction. For a film that was panned for being overly sentimental, it is a thoroughly bleak assessment of what makes us human.
The question of what makes us human underpins A.I. , Minority Report , and the short stories that spawned them. With distance, it gets easier to brush aside the technological trappings and see the bigger questions beneath. As Al Robertson writes, it’s about leaving the future behind:
SF’s most enduring works don’t live on because they accurately predict tomorrow. In fact, technologically speaking they’re very often wrong about it. They stay readable because they think about what change does to people and how we cope with it.
Tagged with minorityreport ai artificialintelligence film sci-fi sciencefiction spielberg technology prediction future
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« Does Rhode Island Have an Identity Crisis? | Biden mulling one term presidency »
On Cuba, this is not your father's Democratic Party
By Silvio Canto, Jr.
The U.S. is back, or at least the U.S. flag is up at the new embassy in Havana. By the way, I still have memories of the old U.S. Embassy. It was a very nice building on Malecón Drive, the avenue around Havana Bay.
As a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Cuba, and uniquely aware of the tragedy in the island, I was open to negotiations with the Castro regime. In other words, I was open to a conversation – not the monologue that has taken us to this post. I was hoping that we could sit down and demand a few things, especially given that Raúl Castro needs this a lot more than we do. Castro is no longer subsidized by the USSR, credit lines are not available because the regime can't pay back loans, and even Venezuela can't do the oil thing anymore at $45 a barrel.
We had all of the cards. Unfortunately, it was Obama holding the cards for our side. Yes, I'm talking about the same Obama-Kerry team that negotiated the Iran nuclear deal.
The Washington Post editorial gets it right:
What’s unfortunate about the scenario planned for Havana is that Mr. Kerry has decided to omit the very people in Cuba who embody the values that the American flag represents: human dignity, the wisdom of the individual above the state and free access to basic rights of expression in speech, assembly and thought.
These people — the dissidents in Cuba who have fought tirelessly for democracy and human rights, and who continue to suffer regular beatings and arrests — will not be witnesses to the flag-raising. They were not invited.
The official U.S. explanation for excluding the dissidents is that the flag-raising ceremony is a government-to-government affair. This is lame. Inviting the dissidents would be a demonstration to Raúl and Fidel Castro of what the flag stands for: people freely choosing their leaders, a pluralism of views and a public engaging in the institutions and traditions of a healthy civil society.
Not inviting them is a sorry tip of the hat to what the Castros so vividly stand for: diktat, statism, control and rule by fear.
Once upon a time, we had a Democratic Party that did not tip its hat to dictators. I wonder what Truman, JFK, LBJ, and Scoop Jackson think of this travesty. Furthermore, I wonder what the families of the thousands executed by this regime think of the U.S. legitimizing the Castro brothers.
It's not a good day.
P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.
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Jake Owen to Preview 'Greetings From... Jake' During Album Release Party
posted by Taylor Fields - Mar 25, 2019
Greetings From... Jake (Owen). The country singer/songwriter is finally releasing his brand new album Greetings From... Jake on March 29th, and the night before the album's official release day he's giving fans a special preview during his iHeartCountry Album Release Party presented by Marathon on Thursday, March 28th. And fans from all around the country will be able to tune in and watch live!
Jake Owen's Greetings From... Jake is the Florida native's sixth full-length studio album and follows 2016's American Love. The new record showcases 14 new songs including the previously-released "I Was Jack (You Were Diane)," "Down to the Honkytonk," "Drink All Day," "Catch A Cold One," "That's On Me," and "Made For You." The album also features collaborations with Kid Rock ("Grass Is Always Greener") and Lele Pons ("Señorita").
During his iHeartCountry Album Release Party, hosted by The Bobby Bones Show's Amy Brown, Owen will perform some of his new music live for fans.
How To Stream The Concert
Fans can tune in free for a video stream of the exclusive iHeartCountry Album Release Party with Jake Owen presented by Marathon via iHeartRadio.com/JakeOwen on Thursday, March 28th at 8pm local time.
Get pumped for Jake Owen's iHeartCountry Album Release Party by checking out songs from his new album Greetings From... Jake below.
"Down To The Honkytonk"
"Drink All Day"
"That's On Me"
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It was change in 2015, what word will politicians in campaigning...
It may appear too early to begin to envisage the political campaign currencies that would be used in the 2019 elections. Yet here in...
Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, has in a video, admonished Nigerians to vote and defend their votes. Calming the apprehensive nerves of Nigerians who...
Money will flow in 2019 election, like it did in Ekiti
Interesting, though the Ekiti election may seem, for faithful onlookers and believers in a better Nigeria, it is the usual setback. The tragic fact...
House of Rep. candidate, Akin Alabi speaks on policy focus ahead...
As Nigeria moves closer to an election year, YNaija is encouraging young and vibrant candidates in the upcoming elections to reach out to the...
What you should demand from your ideal candidate on security
Insecurity is now a major issue in the country. It is as real as every other challenge that hinders the progress of the country,...
Peter Obi’s Market Engagement and Mobilization; A force to reckon with
By Ozoemena Nonso Noel The Vice Presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, (PDP); Peter Obi, has been on the move, ever since the campaign...
Saraki for President is a real possibility now, but will he...
However long it was going to take, Bukola Saraki’s defection from the All Progressives Congress (APC) has been in the making since he emerged...
Resolving traffic issues in Lagos would be a major priority- Sanwo...
2019 Lagos governorship All Progressive Congress (APC) candidate, Babajide Sanwo-Olu has said the traffic situation in Lagos will be a thing of the past...
This 32-year-old Muslim running for governor in America may be a...
“I’m relatively young, I’m relatively brown, and I’m relatively Muslim. And so to a lot of people those would be disqualifying. But I also...
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MusicMusic video
Miki Imai unveils the Digest for her upcoming Album “Sky”
Back in March, we reported that celebrated singer Miki Imai would be releasing her latest studio album “Sky” on June 6th. Now that this date has drawn closer, several videos have been uploaded to Youtube in order to promote the release.
First, the music video for lead track “Anata wa Anata no Mama de Ii”, which features a series of gorgeous landscape shots which are juxtaposed with Imai’s performance of the ballad. More recently, the digest for the album itself was made available on Universal Music Japan’s Youtube channel, allowing fans to preview the remaining nine songs on the record.
Read on below to find both the PV and the digest for “Sky”.
(via imai-miki.net)
Miki Imai
Shiina Ringo’s music is now available on Spotify & Apple Music, announces arena tour Avex Entertainment’s “Star Island” held for the 2nd year
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Eliminating Kickoffs from Football Would Be Beyond Stupid
August 29, 2016 David Poole
Every year around this time, I get pretty excited for college football to begin. I usually search YouTube endlessly, trying to find the perfect compilation of hard hits and highlights to satiate my hunger. It doesn’t take long before I settle onto a video, or two, or three and become lost in a sea of tackling carnage.
As a former player, this gets me seriously hyped. The feeling of laying the perfect hit on someone (not injuring them, of course) is indescribable. It’s a precise mix of timing, force, and just the right amount of aggression to send a message that I’ve come to play. I’m putting the crowd and the opposing team on notice that I’m not one to be trifled with.
I say this because these are the types of elements that make football as unique and addictive as it is. On the flip side, for every highlight reel tackle, there are unfortunate incidents where players are severely injured and on the rarest of occasions, players lose their lives.
All that said, there’s a serious hot button issue circulating around all levels of football concerning the overall safety and necessity of kickoffs. As we know, football itself is undergoing a massive overhaul in the realm of player safety. And to a larger degree, it’s the financial bottom line of these changes that can and will impact the game. The latter is a conversation for another time. For now, let’s narrow our focus on whether kickoffs are actually necessary.
I cannot imagine the game without the kickoff. It’s the moment in time where my adrenaline was at its highest. From the stare down with the opposing special teams unit to the roar of the crowd anxiously waiting to set things off. It was where you sized up your blocking or coverage assignment, determined your plan of attack, and ultimately “laid a hat” on someone.
I played football in a time that’s much different than what I witness now. The players are, by and large, the same but the mentality of the game is different. Due to the game’s massive popularity and subsequent financial viability, other interests have crept into the fold. I digress. That’s another story for another time.
I am going to look at this subject with as much of an unbiased eye as possible. I am all for player safety. The intent of the game is not to deliberately injure one another. However, it is a game of controlled aggression, intimidation, physicality, will-bending, and dominance. The key word being controlled.
With those parameters in place as a cornerstone mentality to be effective in the game of football, it seems a little incongruent to now scale back that approach in the name of “safety.” So it’s “safe” to say that I am not in favor of removing kickoffs from the game. However, I am open to understanding the argument from a different perspective, if possible.
The Impact of Removing the Kickoff from the Game
Admittedly so, from a physical perspective, the kickoff is the most intense and physically vulnerable a player can and will be of the three phases of the game. Depending on your team, (kickoff or return) you are exposed to the most amount of physical contact in any given amount of time.
On the kickoff team, your job is to sprint 60 or so yards, while maintaining proper lane coverage and tackle the returner. Now, before you get remotely close, you must bust through the return wall and seek out the ball carrier. And by bust I mean literally run smack dab into another human being at top speed, hoping to weaken the wall set up to protect the returner. Depending on your size and the speed at which you cover ground, this can be a tremendous impact. Think of it like charging soldiers in war time. Once they clash, it can be a disorienting experience.
On kickoff coverage, at top, straight-line speed, it’s extremely difficult to change direction on a dime. Few are blessed to do so. For the others that are not, those players are exposed to serious injury to their lower extremities with every kickoff.
Usually, you’re coached to establish lane coverage as quickly as possible (that’s where the sprinting comes in) and once you’ve reached the return team, breakdown (slow down, widen your stance to gain balance, center yourself and prepare to take on a blocker or tackle the returner). Now keep in mind, the blockers for the return team are charging you and high speeds as well. So if you break down too early, you’re liable to get obliterated. In the end, it just becomes a demolition derby with bodies flying everywhere.
By eliminating the kickoff, there will be less direct collisions between players at high speeds and awkward angles. Also, blindside blocks, blocks in the back, and helmet-to-helmet hits will be lessened. Not eliminated, but lessened.
According to a study by the Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, 16% of injuries occur during kickoffs. Although the percentage is low, they are finding that those injuries are the most severe. In May of this year, Pop Warner football leagues have eliminated the kickoff for teams 10 years of age and under.
The NFL and NCAA rules committees have not had any formal discussion on eliminating the kickoff and will not broach the subject until after the 2017 season. Instead, they have moved up the kickoff placement to the 35-yard line to increase the number of touchbacks, therefore limiting the amount of returns and possible injuries. I can understand the intent of the rule change. Less is more in the vein that players will sustain less injury, therefore keeping quality players (product) on the field at all times. Get my drift?
Why the Kickoff is Necessary
Kickoffs have been a part of the game since its inception. Throughout all the modifications in football over the years, the kickoff has remained one of the few constants. It’s how you begin the game, simply put. It’s as iconic as the tip-off in basketball or the face-off for the puck in hockey. It wouldn’t be football without it.
Safety aside, let’s looks at the importance of the kickoff. First, it’s a positioning battle. It’s all about location in football. Where you begin determines the strategy you use to score.
If you start on your own 40-yard line, offenses don’t feel the pressure of being backed up to their own goal line. In that, offenses are more prone to exact more diverse play calls.
If you start at the 25-yard line or closer, typically, the offense will scale back the offense until they establish a better yard placement on the field, which is why you see more runs and short passes in those situations.
Another aspect to look at in regards to the importance of the kickoff is that it directly affects the type of personnel each team carries. Every team has a return specialist. Usually, they have great top end speed and elusiveness to maneuver through the carnage and gain as many yards as possible.
However, they may be lacking in other skill-sets that would not enable them to play offense or defense. Players like Devin Hester, Ted Ginn, Jr. (to a lesser degree) and the like would not have the opportunity to play football if it weren’t for special teams. This isn’t limited to just returners, I’m talking the entire special teams units altogether. Every player has a specific skill-set, and it just so happens that it fits in line with either setting up or disrupting a return.
Just as field position is vital to the game of football, momentum is just as, if not more, important. Momentum sparks, drives, and changes the complexions of the game. How many times have you seen your team down by a score with seconds to go, only to have a kickoff, or punt return for that matter, completely change the outcome. Kickoffs are as majestic as the Hail Mary. The fortunes of a team are transformed in the blink of an eye.
Happy Medium?
In the end, I may be a football purist, but I do see and understand the level of concern folks may share. It’s the purist in me that always comes back to, “this is football!” It’s meant to be violent. I’m not advocating deliberate injuries. However, I am in favor of setting a tone. Tackles, stiff arms, jukes, and kickoff returns set a tone. It’s that very tone that either helps earn the victory or invites defeat.
Is there a happy medium that can be reached? Frankly, I don’t think so. If we go by an adjusted field placement, they’ll be a shift in strategy that could possibly augment the game, making it less exciting. Not to mention, you eliminate the crowd’s involvement. There’s nothing more exciting than to see thousands of bulbs flash during teh opening kickoff.
I can’t imagine a crowd getting hype over the offense and defense simply taking the field. There’s no momentum, no emotion, no signifying moment that lets the player and you, the fan, know that there’s a battle brewing. Until the 2017 season ends and the rules committee bump heads on whether to change a rule as vital to the game as the quarterback, we’ll just savor these moments and enjoy football the way it was meant to be.
E-mail David at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @VirgosAssasin.
Featured image courtesy of Erik Drost/ Flickr
2017 football seasoninjury concernskickoffNCAA football rules committeeNFLspecial teams
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Summaries for Patients |1 January 2002
Factors Associated with Helicobacter pylori Infections in the United States That Are Resistant to Usual Antibiotics
The summary below is from the full report titled “Risk Factors for Helicobacter pylori Resistance in the United States: The Surveillance of H. pylori Antimicrobial Resistance Partnership (SHARP) Study, 1993–1999.” It is in the 1 January 2002 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine (volume 136, pages 13-24). The authors are JM Meyer, NP Silliman, W Wang, NY Siepman, JE Sugg, D Morris, J Zhang, H Bhattacharyya, EC King, and RJ Hopkins.
Helicobacter pylori is a type of bacteria that can cause stomach ulcers. Infection with H. pylori is usually successfully treated with a combination of several antibiotics. However, some H. pylori bacteria are able to grow despite treatment with the usual antibiotics. Such bacteria are “antibiotic resistant.” If doctors knew the information that predicts when a patient will be resistant to treatment, they could be alert for possible resistance before they treat a patient who is at high risk for infection by resistant bacteria. However, no one has fully described what characteristics place patients at risk for H. pylori resistance.
To estimate how frequently antibiotic-resistant H. pylori infection occurs in the United States and to identify factors associated with resistance.
The researchers studied 3624 patients with H. pylori infection who had participated in 1 of 20 studies of treatment of H. pylori infection.
The researchers of the present study contacted the researchers who led the 20 past studies and collected information on whether each patient's infection was resistant to any of three antibiotics (clarithromycin, metronidazole, and amoxicillin). They also collected patients' characteristics, such as age, state of residence, sex, ethnicity, presence or past occurrence of a stomach ulcer, and method used to test for H. pylori. They then calculated the frequency of resistant H. pylori infection and searched for associations between the patient characteristics and resistance to antibiotics.
Overall, 10% of infections were resistant to clarithromycin, 37% were resistant to metronidazole, and 1% were resistant to amoxicillin. Patients who lived in the northeastern or mid-Atlantic regions of the United States, were older, were women, and had no active ulcer were more likely to have resistance to clarithromycin than patients without these factors. Patients who were women, Asian, or were in 1 of the 20 included studies in the earlier 1990s were most likely to have metronidazole resistance. Amoxicillin resistance was very infrequent and was not associated with any patient characteristics.
Resistance patterns for bacteria vary over time, so it is not known whether these results, which were based on data from 1993 to 1999, apply to current times. This study also does not tell us whether knowing that these patients were at risk for resistance would have improved their outcomes.
Doctors should consider the factors identified to be associated with clarithromycin and metronidazole resistance. When a patient has these factors, doctors may choose to test for resistance or prescribe an alternate antibiotic treatment for H. pylori.
Factors Associated with Helicobacter pylori Infections in the United States That Are Resistant to Usual Antibiotics. Ann Intern Med. 2002;136:I–67. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-136-1-200201010-00003
Risk Factors for Helicobacter pylori Resistance in the United States: The Surveillance of H. pylori Antimicrobial Resistance Partnership (SHARP) Study, 1993–1999
Update in Gastroenterology
The Relationship among Previous Antimicrobial Use, Antimicrobial Resistance, and Treatment Outcomes for Helicobacter pylori Infections
Long-Term Persistence of Resistant Enterococcus Species after Antibiotics To Eradicate Helicobacter pylori
Effects of Antibiotic Treatment for Helicobacter pylori on Normal Bowel Bacteria
Procalcitonin-guided antibiotic prescribing did not reduce antibiotic use in suspected LRTI in the ED
Review: Procalcitonin-guided starting and stopping of antibiotics in acute respiratory infections reduces mortality
Review: In primary care, CRP testing, shared decision making, and procalcitonin reduce antibiotic prescribing for ARI
In C difficile infection, adding IV bezlotoxumab to standard antibiotics reduced recurrence at 12 weeks
Community-Acquired Pneumonia
Clostridioides difficile Infection
Peptic Disease
Gastroenterology/Hepatology, H. Pylori, Infectious Disease, Peptic Disease.
SigR, a hub of multilayered regulation of redox and antibiotic stress responses.
Mol Microbiol 2019.
[Adequate Perioperative Use of Antibiotics in Thoracic Surgery].
Zentralbl Chir 2019.
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HANSARD 1803–2005 → 1970s → 1979 → May 1979 → 24 May 1979 → Lords Sitting
HL Deb 24 May 1979 vol 400 cc484-6 484
§ 11.15 a.m.
Lord JANNER
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the second Question which stands in my name of the Order Paper.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they have taken in conjunction with other Governments to deal with terrorism.
§ Lord TREFGARNE
My Lords, the Government will maintain and, indeed, strengthen the United Kingdom's support for international co-operation against terrorism, including hijacking. This cooperation, which covers both legal and practical measures, is continuing in the European Community, the Council of Europe, the United Nations, the International Civil Aviation Organisation, and other international groupings, as well as bilaterally.
My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for that reply. Will he be good enough to investigate once more the PLO, which has claimed responsibility, for example, for an incident in Nahariyya very recently in which a child of four was shot in the head and afterwards hit on the head, its skull being bashed in with the butt of a rifle? Will the noble Lord realise that in incidents of this kind the PLO is claiming responsibility and that it is an international gangster movement? Will he please investigate the position now and see to it that the PLO's office here is not maintained? The organisation is acting not only against Israel or any other country, but also against ourselves.
My Lords, the PLO is essentially a political organisation. Most of the terrorist acts that come to our notice are committed by organisations which are certainly affiliated to the PLO— 485 not necessarily by the PLO itself. Of course we unreservedly condemn all terrorist acts, whether committed by the PLO, organisations affiliated to it, or anyone else. With regard to the question of the PLO office in London, I should say that any organisation is entitled to establish an office in London, provided that its subsequent activities do not conflict with British law. The PLO representative who has, I think, worked in the Arab League Office since 1971, has no diplomatic immunity or any other appropriate status, and we so far at least have no evidence of any unlawful activity by the PLO office here in London.
§ Lord MURRAY of GRAVESEND
My Lords, has the noble Lord seen the report in this morning's Daily Mirror about the likelihood of General Amin investigating the possibility of placing atomic devices in at least six capitals in collusion with other terrorist organisations, and will the Government at some time make a Statement on this matter?
My Lords, I regret that I did not read that report in the Daily Mirror, but I shall look into the matter.
§ The Earl of KIMBERLEY
My Lords, can the Minister say whether any progress has been made in the last few months with regard to countries that harbour terrorists—I have in mind, for instance, Air Libya and other airlines or countries which are members of IATA—in such a way that IATA can say that the airlines of these countries are not allowed to land at "civilised" airports throughout the world?
My Lords, the noble Lord will probably recall that the Bonn Declaration produced a statement to that effect. As for IATA, I think that the most effective aviation forum for these matters is the International Civil Aviation Organisation, which I consider is dealing with the position rather effectively. On 4th October 1977 it passed a resolution which has yet to be ratified by all the members, but we hope that it will be in due course. With regard to the position in the United Kingdom, my right honourable friends the Secretary of State for Trade and the Home Secretary have the necessary powers to take any measure 486 which might seem appropriate under the Protection of Aircraft Act 1973 and the Policing of Airports Act 1974.
§ Lord WIGG
My Lords, I wonder whether the Minister would accept rather belatedly a little assistance from me in trying to explain the relationship between the terrorist group and the PLO. Would he accept that it is almost an exact replica of the relationship between the Stern Gang and the Hagarah when they blew up the King David Hotel, and when they hanged two British soldiers in an orange grove near Nathania, and then mined their bodies?
My Lords, I agree that it is sometimes rather difficult to draw distinctions, but I should say that the PLO has very often disclaimed responsibility and indeed has condemned a number of the terrorist acts which have taken place.
My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for his answer. Are the Government aware that actions of the kind taken by my noble friend have resulted in entire misrepresentation of the situation so far as the incident at the King David Hotel is concerned, for example? I might direct my noble friend's attention to my reference to this matter the day before yesterday. Would he please understand that the PLO, with its affiliates, is a danger to the civilisation of the world; and that, in so far as our own country is concerned, the PLO office is, either itself or through affiliates, connected with those who are attacking our soldiers and forces in Ulster?
Several noble Lords
Speech, speech!
My Lords, that is rather a long supplementary question. I think I can answer it, though, in just a few words. We continue unreservedly to condemn all terrorist acts, whoever commits them, whether it be the PLO, affiliates to the PLO or some other body. The PLO office in London continues to comply with the law, and while it does so we cannot do anything about it—nor should we.
Back to THE HELSINKI AGREEMENT
Forward to CUBAN AND USSR PERSONNEL IN AFRICA
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What happened to the global economy and what we can do about it
Jump-Starting America
White House Burning
13 Bankers
← What Is Citigroup Hiding From Its Shareholders Now?
Vaguely Monthly Roundup →
“Middle-Class Economics”
Posted on February 27, 2015 by James Kwak | 13 Comments
By James Kwak
Supposedly President Obama is making “middle-class economics” one of the key themes of his final two years in office. I don’t really know what this is supposed to mean in a country where people making ten times the median household income call themselves “middle class” and there are tens of millions of people in poverty.
For starters, I think it’s important to understand the distribution of wealth in the country as it stands today. That’s the theme of a story I wrote on Medium earlier this week, “The Magnitude of Inequality,” which uses charts and pictures to try to convey just how unequal a society we live in.
Yesterday I published another story on Medium about one of Obama’s “middle-class economics” proposals: the forthcoming Department of Labor rule that will try to protect people’s retirement savings from financial advisers’ conflicts of interest. It’s a complicated topic to understand, and the administration proposal will undoubtedly help—but not very much, given the scope of the retirement security problem.
This entry was posted in Commentary. Bookmark the permalink.
13 responses to ““Middle-Class Economics””
2016 | February 27, 2015 at 1:19 pm |
Asking the question is like asking Hillary, if she is as pure as the white-driven snow: The president’s remarks are a set-up for the next Democratic nominee, but as many have been saying, too little, too late.
Hillary made her attempt to coop Senator Warren in that meeting last December, but no can do says Senator Warren. Indeed, Senator Warren could be more polished in her rhetoric by presenting a less combative tone in her Senate floor and public speaking engagements but the President-in-Standing Hillary Clinton, has other plans; http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/ elections/hillary-clinton-embraces-2016-speculation-silicon-valley-n312186:
“Hillary Clinton dropped a number of hints about her expected presidential run in 2016 and laid out what could be the tenets of a potential campaign in front of a women’s conference in Silicon Valley on Tuesday… The former secretary of state said she is checking the final items off her list of things that must be in place before she officially announces her campaign, saying she will make a decision “in good time.”
At the end of the article……
“But the most prevalent message throughout her remarks was the need to update what she described as an economy “operating like 1955” that continues to favor men…. Hillary Clinton told the women gathered that they don’t have to run for public office to start bringing about change.”
Does that also apply to Hillary, herself….amending the quote to reflect a more accurate view of Hillary’s thinking: “…I don’t have to run for President…in order to bring about the Change We Can Believe In….so, investors, my advice and council to you, would be to have your attorney’s phone number nearby when your 401k goes south next time around.
Anonymouse | February 27, 2015 at 6:46 pm |
Investing is a mess these days, I suggest you stay away from it. If your smart enough to make the money, then you are smart enough to invest it. The more people involved with handling your money, the more ways things can, and eventually will, go wrong.
Bud Meyers (@BudMeyers99) | February 28, 2015 at 11:12 am |
“It’s important to understand the distribution of wealth in the country as it stands today.”
Let’s start first by just looking at wage distribution — because wealth can be inherited.
Only 20% are Middle-Class, Most Don’t Come Close
http://www.economicpopulist.org/content/only-20-are-middle-class-most-dont-come-close-5679
Blissex | February 28, 2015 at 11:54 am |
It is because “middle class” has been redefined as “middle income”, which has been take to mean “median income”.
The middle class is those people whose job is represent the upper class in managing their business and properties, that is licensed professionals and executives. Conversely the working class are people whose job is to do what they are told by middle class people executing the strategic plans of upper class people.
Usually people in middle *class* jobs earn indeed a multiple of middle *income* people in working *class* jobs.
Annie | February 28, 2015 at 4:37 pm |
The “Middle Class” created itself through HONEST WORK and collective bargaining power at the “economic” table.
The biggest MACRO historic identifier of the “middle class” is that it picked itself up by it’s own bootstraps, so to speak. It created a civilization NOT DEPENDENT ON “minimum wage” SLAVE LABOR.
Get over yourselves already, there is NO WAY a collection of 480 people can be worth 2.08 TRILLION because of HONEST WORK. It was a HEIST and instead of claw back, we are being told that we WANT to see 24/7 footage of depraved hooliganism in the Middle East or Scott Walker’s beady eyed rat face busting up unions.
Well maybe we should ask the ones waiting for when white man is the minority in USA what the USA is going to be like when they are the majority….more environmentally friendly because no one knows how to maintain the infrastructure….? And how will this polyglot of multiracial “greed is good” and slave labor stand up to Russian and Chinese civilizations who are also just waiting for when USA is non-white for their clawback…
No one is getting real about 2016….only way left for the current status quo of CIA and Homeland Security psychos to protect and INCREASE income inequality is to have another “event” big enough to complete the military coup of “labor” enslavement….”work will set you free”….
We are dealing with a depraved elite, as usual….
It’s called Grade A insanity, a competition to equal no others. No field excluded, make your own rules, turn them into law, then fight to the death for your beliefs, and of course pass down the trade to other like minded individuals until the end of time. Works so far, no proof to suggest otherwise, carry on.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/28/pope-francis-throwaway-culture-globalization_n_6775396.html?utm_hp_ref=religion
There will be nothing to pass down soon enough – proof is WWI, WWII, WWIII, etc etc etc – keep blowing up stuff
More misery for others = more $$$$ for ME ME ME
A global economy with THAT math “fact” as it’s global culture – MERCILESS cannibalism?? Protected by “political correctness” speech?
With the riches of Africa under their feet for the taking since earth was “created”, the middle east “traders” always head north to STEAL.
Liars thieves and murderers will not be able to maintain USA for even the next 5 years….FACT. Even the IQ of their imported slaves sin’t what it used to be, they will never get it even if all they have to do is be “perfect” in one task….
“london bridge is falling down falling down falling down, my fair lady….”
2016 | March 2, 2015 at 4:50 pm |
http://www.wsj.com/articles/hillary-clinton-seen-launching-presidential-bid-in-april-1425254392
Could it be any more disgusting.
Anonymouse | March 3, 2015 at 8:39 am |
Only if she broke the law by using a private email acct while sec of state, other than that all the reports are good for Hillary.
2016 | March 3, 2015 at 10:19 pm |
Scott Walker will implode by year’s end b/c that’s what happens when you drop out of college – so no need to be concerned….
[posted comment from Huffington Post]: “The Boston Herald, which uncovered the findings, explains:”
Elizabeth Warren, who has railed against predatory banks and heartless foreclosures, took part in about a dozen Oklahoma real estate deals that netted her and her family hefty profits through maneuvers such as “flipping” properties, records show.
A Herald review has found that the Democratic U.S. Senate candidate rapidly bought and sold homes herself, loaned money at high interest rates to relatives and purchased foreclosed properties at bargain prices.
Land records from Warren’s native Oklahoma City show the Harvard professor was active in the often topsy-turvy real estate market in the 1990s, including:
• Purchasing a foreclosed home at 2725 West Wilshire Boulevard from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for $61,000 in June 1993, then selling it in December 1994 for $95,000 — a 56 percent mark-up in just 18 months.
• Buying a house at 200 NW 16th St. for $30,000 in August 1993, then flipping it for $145,000 — a 383 percent gain after just five months.
• Lending one of her brothers money at 9.5 percent interest to buy a home at 1425 Classen Drive for $35,000 in August 2000. He sold the place three months later for $38,500 — a 10 percent gain in 75 days.
• Providing her brother with financing to buy a $25,000 house at 4301 NW 16th St. in 1994. He sold the property four years later for $42,000, a 68 percent increase.
• Giving her sister-in-law a mortgage in 1996 to buy a $31,000 home at 2621 NW 13th St. Three years later, the sister-in-law sold the place for $45,000 — a 45 percent boost in three years.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Someone needs to vet the above information, then get back with me on their findings..………..say…. what’s…. this… I stumbled upon, chortles the Junior Senator from Massachusetts:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jan/9/hillary-clinton-furious-with-husband-bills-ties-to/
You appear to be the one, juggling that is.
Hillary did NOT (yet) say she was running for POTUS. Instead, recently releasing SOS e-mails as a way to take a practice run down that gonads gawking gauntlet gibberish known as the Lame Stream Media. Either way, Hillary could still get caught up on her readings: http://web.archive.org/web/20080930045039/https://baselinescenario.com/
I know I’m amazing…but what are you.
Well were not impressed, not with Hillary, not with you, or even the insanity of politics for that matter. Now the study of people, the technology of man, body mechanics, that’s a different story.
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Triple Play: 8% of Europeans Have It
Archive November 2006
According to a study published in late August by Forrester Research, only 8% of Europeans had triple play service (bundling high-speed Internet, VoIP and IPTV services) as of June 30, 2006. That’s not much, but still up from 5% in 2005. This European Consumer Technology Adoption Study (ECTAS) conducted by Forrester Research surveyed 25,447 consumers across seven European countries (France, United Kingdom, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, Spain and Sweden). A similar study had already been conducted mid-year 2005.
The overall penetration rate for triple play reached 8% in the second quarter of this year. That’s up 3% compared to the same time last year, but disparities among the countries polled are far from negligible. The country with the highest adoption rate is the United Kingdom with 13%, just ahead of France with 12%. The Netherlands and Spain are closer to the average with 10%, but triple play does not yet seem to have caught on in Germany, Sweden and Italy.
European average
Can triple play generate real excitement? So far, interest has stagnated. Of Europeans who don’t yet have triple play, 36% say they are very interested in this type of service, but that’s just 1% more than last year. Among internet users who already have a broadband connection, strong interest has dipped from 49% in June 2005 to 47% this year.
French consumers are more enthusiastic about triple play than most Europeans; 50% of those surveyed, and 60% of those with high-speed internet, said they were very interested in this type of offer.
What will it take for Europeans to switch to triple play? Most of all, cheaper monthly internet access (say 50% of Europeans). Second, a single bill for everything (40%), and being assured higher quality internet service with more fluid data flows.
If Europeans had to choose a telecom operator for triple-play, 26% would stay with their landline telephone provider. In most cases, that means the country’s historical operator. Only 10% would prefer to go through an ISP or cable operator.
In an earlier June 2006 study, Forrester Research cast doubt on whether there was real interest in triple play, using the term “financial suicide.” The weak revenue outlook and sizeable investments necessary for triple play could lead to significant losses for historical telecom operators.
Forrester projects that 10 years of losses could reach a cumulative 3,700 euros per subscriber. At present, each new customer costs operators several hundred euros a month, whereas subscriptions generally top out at 50 euros. That makes the investment too expensive for operators who also have to lay new fiber optic networks.
Europeans also hesitate to pay for internet TV when they already enjoy extensive channel selection for free, especially in Germany. But in France, 87% of households still get only the six traditional channels and don’t yet get DTT. That’s the niche where IPTV could get a foothold.
By Anne Confolant
Atelier European Meet-Up!
Cross-border e-commerce: SMEs have good cards to play
European Parliament calls for legal rules on robotics
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Four Strong Autism Winds
Four strong winds that blow slowly
Seven seas that run high
All these things that don’t change come what may
Now our good times are all gone
And I’m bound for moving on
I’ll look for you if I’m ever back this way
Guess I’ll go out to Alberta
Weather’s good there in the Fall
Got some friends that I can go to workin’ for
Still I wish you’d change your mind
If I asked you one more time
But we’ve been thru that a hundred times or more
– Ian Tyson
Ian Tyson’s Four Strong Winds is viewed by many as Canada’s unofficial national anthem, a tale of Canadian migration to Alberta in search of work. Today Alberta continues to draw Canadians in search of work. But it is also a magnet attracting Canadian families with autistic children in search of its government funded autism treatment. In neighboring Saskatchewan meanwhile government funding for autism is virtually non-existent.
In Parliament the Scott-Stoffer private member’s motion calling for a National Autism strategy to deal with this national health crisis was passed while the Shawn Murphy bill seeking inclusion of autism treatment under medicare was defeated by the Harper Conservatives and the Bloc Quebecois on spurious jurisdictional arguments. Canada would not have a national medicare system at all if this feeble rationalization was employed consistently. Indeed why do we even have a federal Health Minister, at present Tony Clement, if the federal government has no role to play in health issues? The reality is that prior to the election of the Harper Conservatives Canadians had long recognized the need for federal provincial cooperation to address health issues of national magnitude that might be beyond the ability of smaller or poorer provinces to address.
To most Canadians the hundreds of studies documenting the effectiveness of ABA in treating autism should be enough to justify extending a federal hand to ensure that Canadians do not have to move to Alberta to seek treatment for their autistic children. To most Canadians the fact that 47-50% of autistic children can be rendered indistinguishable from their peers by school age, with intensive behavioral intervention, would be enough to justify federal involvement. For most Canadians the improvement in quality of life, the increased ability to communicate, to function in society, to avoid self injurious behavior would be compelling motivations justifying an effective national autism strategy. Since Stephen Harper is Prime Minister though a different argument, one which does not rely upon empathy or compassion, must be found – studies show that autism treatment saves governments very substantial sums of money, in reduced government services, over the life of an autistic person.
How about it Mr. Harper, how about offering a real national autism strategy to address Canada’s autism crisis? You have clearly said no. Still I wish you’d change your mind, if I asked you one more time.
Autism funding drawing parents to Alberta
Last Updated: Monday, January 16, 2006 | 9:37 AM MT
Alberta’s coverage of an intensive therapy for children with autism is prompting some families to move to the province to receive additional care for their children.
“I used to see easily a kid a month that came to Alberta for autism services,” Calgary pediatrician Dr. Neil Cooper said. “Probably it’s been 10 years that we’ve been in this office that we’ve seen kids come from other provinces, mostly because of the funding.”
The therapy – known as intensive behavioural intervention – is time consuming and expensive, but parents like Kim and Mike Stafford say it’s worth it.
The Moose Jaw couple moved to Calgary 18 months ago because Alberta’s health care system pays for the therapy, which they say has led to a big difference in their son.
When six-year-old Trey was diagnosed with autism, a developmental disorder which can be accompanied by severe problems with social interactions and language, three years ago, it seemed he had retreated into his own world, his parents say.
However, since he’s been involved in intensive behavioural intervention, his progress has been remarkable, they say.
For example, although now Trey spends part of each morning spelling words, he could barely even say them a year ago, Kim Stafford said.
“Now he knows all the kids’ names in his class. He can write down the names, he can spell them. It’s really wonderful to see,” she added.
The treatment involves speech therapy, physiotherapy, music and games – between 20 to 30 hours per week. It costs around $60,000 per year.
The Saskatchewan Health Department would only pay for one hour a week, which the Staffords say was inadequate, so they moved to Alberta. Almost immediately, Trey began receiving the full 30 hours, the Staffords said.
Roger Carriere, executive director of the Saskatchewan Health Department’s community care branch, said the therapy is expensive and there are questions about its effectiveness. He also noted there are many other priorities competing for Saskatchewan’s health dollars.
May 31, 2007 Posted by autismrealitynb | aba, Alberta, Applied Behavior Analysis, autism disorder, bloc quebecois, Canada Health Act, Conservative Party, Saskatchewan, Stephen Harper, Tony Clement | 1 Comment
Autism Champ? NO! Mike Lake Champions Bigfoot! LOL
Politicians must pick their battles carefully, decide which causes to champion, decide on which issues they will invest their energies and political capital. For Edmonton Area MP and Autism Dad Mike Lake the choice is clear cut. Lake did NOT support the cause of autism in voting against MP Shawn Murphy’s motion to amend the Canada Health Act to include treatment for autism. Mr. Lake did not protest his party’s decision in the recent federal budget to fund ZERO dollars towards the cause of autism in Canada. In fairness to Mr. Lake though he does have a more important cause to champion- BIGFOOT!!!! Yup, Mr. Lake is the official BIGFOOT Champion. Mike Lake Bigfoot Champion!!
Bigfoot risks extinction, says Canadian MP
Wed May 2, 1:52 PM ET
OTTAWA (AFP) – Bigfoot, the legendary hairy man-like beast said to roam the wildernesses of North America, is not shy, merely so rare it risks extinction and should be protected as an endangered species.
So says Canadian MP Mike Lake who has called for Bigfoot to be protected under Canada’s species at risk act, alongside Whooping Cranes, Blue Whales, and Red Mulberry trees.
“The debate over their (Bigfoot’s) existence is moot in the circumstance of their tenuous hold on merely existing,” reads a petition presented by Lake to parliament in March and due to be discussed next week.
“Therefore, the petitioners request the House of Commons to establish immediate, comprehensive legislation to affect immediate protection of Bigfoot,” says the petition signed by almost 500 of Lake’s constituents in Edmonton, Alberta….”
May 5, 2007 Posted by autismrealitynb | autism disorder, bigfoot, Canada Health Act, Conservative Party, Mike Lake, Stephen Harper | 5 Comments
FEAT BC Response to Betrayal of Autistic Children by Mike Lake & Conservatives
Personally I found the actions of Alberta MP Mike Lake in voting down Bill C-304 one of the more disheartening aspects of that defeat. Mr. Lake is a parent of an autistic child in Alberta where the province has the money to fund treatment for autism. He pretends to have the cause of autistic children at heart. Yet he was the front man for the Conservative Party which killed a bill which would have opened up funding for autistic children to receive evidence based effective treatement wherever they reside in Canada. Mr. Lake’s wisdom and advice? Go after your provincial governments! What Mr. Lake does not mention is that not all governments have the cash resources to provide the treatment. And he has the nerve to smear Charlottetown MP Shawn Murphy for daring to bring the bill to the floor of the House of Commons? You can claim to care and advocate for autistic children in Canada Mr. Lake. Few parents of autistic children in Canada will believe your audacious claim.
The response of FEAT BC to Mr. Lake’s audacious betrayal of autistic children follows:
Ottawa’s Ongoing Refusal to Provide Autism Health Care
Why Federal Conservatives and Mike Lake MP are Wrong in Killing Bill C-304!
On February 21, 2007, MPs were asked after several hours of debate at Second Reading to vote on whether to refer Bill C-304 to the Committee Stage for detailed examination or whether to kill the Bill. Regrettably, the Conservative and Bloc Quebecois MPs ganged up to kill it, along with any hope that families with children afflicted by autism may have had that the discrimination against them in Canada’s Medicare system may come to an end within the foreseeable future. On that day Alberta MP Mike Lake issued a “Media Statement” explaining his motives for voting against Bill C-304 and many Conservative MPs have been sending it to parents of autistic children as an explanation of why they refused to allow the Bill to be examined by a House Committee and opted instead to defeat it. The Media Statement is a disingenuous, flawed and misleading text that must be refuted. The words in bold below are those of Mike Lake. The text in italics is the annotation.
As background, please consider this:
• The cause and cure of autism are not yet known.
• The medical and scientific community have known for over twenty years that the early diagnosis of autism combined with the immediate application of Intensive Behaviour Intervention (IBI) therapy treatment based on the principles of Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) can lead to as many as 48% of autistic children developing to such an extent that they become indistinguishable from average kids. IBI/ABA constitutes the core healthcare need of autistic children.
• The “universality” of Medicare, one of they key five principles of the Canada Health Act (CHA), does not apply to autism. Regrettably, not one province offers the treatment under Medicare. While some provinces offer nothing, or next to nothing, others offer treatment programs under social service departments that are plagued with lack of resources and expertise, as well as unconscionable waiting lists and discriminatory age cut-offs. Of all the provinces Alberta is considered to be the most helpful to parents in terms of financial assistance and access to treatment, and many parents have opted to move to Alberta solely because of their child’s autism.
MEDIA STATEMENT of MIKE LAKE, MP dated February 21, 2007
Tonight, I will vote on a Private Member’s Bill titled “An Act to provide for the development of a national strategy for the treatment of autism and amend the Canada Health Act.”
I have a son with autism. I have heard from countless other parents of children with autism, virtually all of whom are wholeheartedly encouraging me and my colleagues in all parties to support this bill. There is nobody who wants to help these families more than I do. Nobody.
Mr. Lake here conveniently omitted making any reference to the reason why “countless” parents were encouraging him to support Bill C-304. Any discussion of whether and how to address a problem has to begin with some discussion of the nature of the problem. The fact is that Medicare has a huge discriminatory gap. Between the time that Bill C-304 was tabled (May 17, 2006) and defeated, the U.S. Centres for Disease Control (CDC) has reported that the prevalence rate of autism has increased (again). 1 in every 150 children can be expected to be diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). In response to this growing public health crisis the U.S. government passed the ”Combating Autism Act” which will pour an additional $1 billion over five years into improved autism diagnosis, treatment and research. In contrast, the Canadian government adopted an ostrich approach to crisis management.
If I were to vote to support Bill C-304, some parents of children with autism would be very happy with me; my colleagues who disagree with me would support me because of my unique family experience; my constituents would applaud my compassion and sympathize with me; and there seemingly would be no downside.
The problem is this. Bill C-304 is bad legislation. It proposes an ad hoc amendment to the Canada Health Act that changes the entire meaning of the document. It would set a precedent that would eventually undermine the entire Canadian health care system when taken to its logical extension.
If there are some flaws with a proposed piece of legislation, but its underlying purpose and intent are valid and good, then why not try to fix it at the committee stage and propose amendments? Why not offer positive alternatives, instead of killing the Bill?
The clairvoyance about the death of Medicare is a shameful attempt at fear mongering that is akin to saying the doomsday clock will move a minute closer to midnight if autistic children get access to public health insurance. Bill C-304 contains two parts. The first, which Mr. Lake completely omitted making any reference to, would require the Minister of Health to meet with his provincial counterparts and develop a National Autism Strategy and require that he table the plan of action. If this part of the Bill was not a problem, then why not support it or at least propose an amendment or alternative Bill that would contain this part? Candour would necessitate that at least this first element of the Bill be recognized for what it is: something that is long overdue and that would be good if it finally happened.
Regarding the proposed amendment to the CHA, what is this “logical extension” that Mr. Lake is referring to? He provides no explanation of why such an amendment would undermine the “entire” Medicare system or justification for his hyperbole. The sky will not fall any more than the institution of marriage collapsed after the legalization of same-sex marriage.
If this Bill were to pass, autism would be the one and only disorder or disease named in the Canada Health Act. Cancer is not named. Neither is diabetes or cardiovascular disease. Why autism and not these? Why not Down Syndrome? Why not Schizophrenia?
In the interpretive section of the CHA, there are named services specified under “extended health care services”. Moreover, the regulations provide some of the operational rules for the CHA. If it had the will to fix the autism treatment problem, the federal government certainly has more than enough levers, legal and financial, to get the job done.
Mr. Lake misses the point about adding autism treatment to the CHA. Cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, etc. are already dealt with and covered by Medicare. If you feel sick you go to the hospital and if you are diagnosed with cancer you get treatment. Medicare covers the core healthcare needs of those Canadians who suffer from those medical problems. However, autism is not covered. Medicare discriminates against those who suffer from autism by not providing the recognized core treatment. That’s why the autism community has pursued every avenue it could to get autism treatment into Medicare, including this one.
Under the Canada Health Act, the provinces are clearly responsible for decisions on which medical treatments they will fund. If we are to maintain the integrity of the Act, only the provinces can make those decisions.
While it is true that the provinces have the right to decide which treatments to cover, they do not have the right to decide which people to cover or not cover. Everyone must be in Medicare for his or her core health needs. The functional effect of not funding autism treatment is that the provinces exclude from Medicare an entire (and growing), identifiable group of Canadians.
Mr. Lake argument here is a classic illustration of obstinate thinking. If a statutory amendment will affect other parties, the traditional Canadian procedure is to consult with those parties and attempt to develop consensus. Negotiations occasionally result in surprising and positive outcomes, as was the case with the Health Accord of September 2004, which involved billions of dollars and specified specific medical services (except autism). There is a crisis, which by any measure is an epidemic, and the federal government has had 11 consecutive years of budget surpluses. There is no reason why the federal Minister of Health could not raise this matter and the potential amendment with his provincial counterparts. If this element of the Bill is so problematic, why not have the Standing Committee on Health examine the Bill and explore alternatives such as the “Combating Autism Act” in the U.S.? Regrettably, now that Bill C-304 is dead no House committee will have a chance to explore the feasibility of this process or alternatives.
In my opinion, it is completely unacceptable for any province not to fund Applied Behavioural Analysis (ABA) for those who need it. If voters feel as strongly as I do about this, they must let their provincial governments know and then hold them accountable at election time.
This argument is clearly specious. It is exceedingly difficult for a minority (e.g. families struggling with autism) to “hold government accountable” for any specific policy failings, including the healthcare neglect of their children. They simply do not have enough votes to do what Mr. Lake says.
The autism community has nonetheless been letting the provincial governments know for years about the need for ABA in Medicare and the responses have always been inadequate. Time and again, in practically every province, and with every political party, the matter has either been ignored, or excuses have been proffered with crocodile tears, or, as was the case in Ontario during the last election, promises were made that were broken. For example, former Opposition Leader Dalton McGuinty stated in writing during the last election in a letter to a mother of an autistic child that the age six cut-off from treatment in Ontario was discrimination and that if he was elected he would do away with it. Once he became Premier he not only continued the practice, he continued litigating a case on the issue. When the government lost at the Superior Court he immediately announced an appeal to the Court of Appeal. When the “Auton”case from BC was heard before the Supreme Court of Canada in 2004 every province and the federal government intervened against the kids being able to access treatment in Medicare. The fact is that the provinces have been negligent and irresponsible on the autism file and federal leadership is needed. If Mr. Lake feels as strongly about this as he says, what has he done to address the crisis (apart from contributing to the death of Bill C-304)?
The sad thing is that Shawn Murphy, the Liberal Member of Parliament who is sponsoring this Bill, knows all of this. He has been in Parliament since 2000 and would never have supported this piece of legislation when he was in government.
Children with autism need treatment. Accusatory personal arguments among politicians is not going to help. The autism community is not naïve. Political parties frequently make promises and fail to fulfill them. What any MP would have done yesterday is not relevant to the February 21, 2007 vote on whether to refer Bill C-304 to the Committee stage. The autism community is grateful that Bill C-304 was tabled in the House and that its contents had to be addressed.
What he apparently doesn’t understand is that this is not an appropriate “wedge issue” to exploit for political gain. These are real people, with real challenges, who are absolutely desperate for real solutions. This Private Member’s Bill gives false hope to families who deserve so much more than to be treated as pawns in some political game.
It is highly inappropriate to call the wholesale healthcare neglect of tens of thousands of Canadian children a “wedge issue”. This trivializes and minimizes what is in fact a catastrophic issue for families who are going broke and/or falling apart trying to pay for medically necessary autism treatment on their own.
Before Mr. Lake starts to accuse anyone of spreading false hopes he should take a look at his own Party. They are the governing party now with the hands on the levers of power. They cannot blame anyone else if they used false hopes to get into power with no intention of using it as stated. The Conservatives ran in the last election (2006) on Healthcare and Childcare. Autistic kids need both. The Conservative platform certainly provided hope. Now we know it was false.
Before the election many of his Conservative colleagues attended autism rallies on Parliament Hill and spoke about the need to do something, including speaking at press conferences, including Colin Carrie, Steven Fletcher, Pierre Poilievre, Gary Goodyear, Peter Goldring, Guy Lauzon, Stockwell Day, Randy Kamp, Gord Brown, James Lunney, Mark Warawa, Scott Reid, Carol Skelton, and Marjory LeBreton.
Pierre Poilievre had an Op-Ed article of his published in “The Hill Times” in March 2005 in which he accused the then government of a “shameful low in Liberal hypocrisy” for intervening in the “Auton” case against autistic children. He further went on to say ”So what can be done? We must amend the Health Act so Medicare will include effective, scientifically validated autism treatment for children with autism;” Now that Pierre Poilievre is a Cabinet Minister and voted against this amendment with his caucus, shall we call it a “new low in Conservative hypocrisy”?
On the first anniversary of the “Auton” decision Alberta MP Peter Goldring spoke at an autism rally on Parliament Hill and issued a November 17, 2005 press release titled “Golding calls for funding for early autism treatment: federal government has national role” in which he stated “the current situation of no financial contribution from the federal government, specifically dedicated to the early treatment of autism, is unacceptable”. He further added, ”The true measure of a government is in how it treats its citizens who are most in need. At present, in terms of the needs of the many autistic children across Canada, our federal government measures very poorly. Things must change, soon”.
Similarly, B.C. MP Randy Kamp also attended the rally and issued a press release (November 21, 2005) in which he stated “Minister Dosanjh has been unsupportive of autism groups since his days as Premier of B.C. I understand their frustration with him. As the federal Health Minister, he now has an opportunity to do the right thing and I call upon him to have compassion for autistic children and move forward with a National Autism Strategy”.
On a more positive note, in 2006 Mr. Murphy’s Liberal colleague, Andy Scott introduced a Private Member’s Motion, M-172, on a national strategy for autism. To his credit, Mr. Scott designed his motion not to divide the House, but to build consensus among members of all parties. Mr. Scott’s carefully considered motion chose to focus on areas within the federal realm, and the Government (and the vast majority of members of the House) agreed with him – with a few minor amendments.
The fact is that a motion is not binding and is not law. The motion was watered down by the Conservatives who insisted on amendments to the original motion in order to make it palatable enough to support. The passage of the motion was historic but no one is expecting it to result in any government action and certainly no meaningful improvements with respect to access to treatment.
What is interesting in terms of action is that after almost a full year of sending letters to parents saying that autism is a provincial issue and has nothing to do with the federal government, the day before a previously announced FEAT BC autism rally on Parliament Hill in late November, 2006, the federal Health Minister Tony Clement held a press conference which he began by stating that the autism situation is now so serious, that doing nothing was “not an option”. He proceeded to outline five new autism initiatives that by his own description are “modest”. To many in the autism community, that is an inflated exaggeration. “Exploring the establishment of a research chair”, holding a “symposium” and creating a website will not help a single autistic child get access to treatment anytime soon. The autism community is tired of feigned consultation, showcase conferences, website window-dressing and motions with no teeth. Our kids need treatment.
When I first saw Mr. Murphy’s Private Member’s Bill I suggested to him that perhaps he might consider changing his course and introduce something that would build on what was done by Mr. Scott rather than play politics. Mr. Murphy’s actions obviously demonstrate that he is not focused on helping families dealing with autism. My sincere hope is that every other Member of Parliament will put the interest of these families ahead of their own political ambition.
Rhetoric and personal attacks aside, why won’t Mike Lake change his own course and actually do something for autism? What has Mike Lake done to promote the interests of the autism community besides standing with his autistic son next to Minister Clement during the November 2006 press conference or providing MPs in his party with this empty letter to justify the continuation of what most Canadians consider intolerable.
In a December 2004 Ipsos-Reid public opinion poll 84% of Canadians indicated that they supported the inclusion of autism treatment in Medicare. Has Mike Lake organized any information/education sessions for other MPs about autism and the needs of the autism community? Has he contacted autism groups with a view to consulting on a strategic approach to advancing the community’s interests? Has he tabled any motion or Private Members’ Bill of his own? Has he lobbied to get the treatment of autism on the agenda of the Standing House Committee on Health? Etc… If so, he has not made it public.
What we do know is that in 2004 an autism treatment petition was drafted and posted at http://www.CanadaAutism.com and that the community supplied thousands of signatures on the petition to MPs for tabling in the House. The petition calls on the government to create a graduate level teaching chair in IBI/ABA at a university in each province and to include autism treatment in Medicare. The petition was tabled 88 times by dozens of MPs. Shortly after his arrival in Ottawa Mike Lake met in his new offices with two members of the community. He was presented with several signed pages of the petition. Although tabling a petition is not synonymous with supporting a petition, Mike Lake is the only MP we are aware of who took a look at the autism petition and immediately gave it back stating that he refused to table it.
Personally, I am determined to fulfill my commitment to families dealing with autism as stated in my maiden speech in the House of Commons, “that I will do everything that I can do to promote action to the full extent that the federal government can play a role within its area of authority.”
And what has Mike Lake done to date? What specifically will Mike Lake do in the future? What action is he referring to (besides voting against Bill C-304 and criticizing the MP who tabled it)?
As I mentioned in the opening paragraphs of this statement, the easy decision for me would be to vote in favour of this legislation. However, I was not elected to make the easy decisions. I was elected to make the right decisions, and in this case the right decision is to vote against Bill C-304.
Wrong. The easiest thing is to vote against change and to preserve the status quo. The hardest thing is to promote change and improvement in institutions where the culture is one of a herd mentality. Doing what the Party leaders tell you to do is easy. Voting against their wishes is what takes courage and is considerably harder. The right decision would have been to vote in favour of sending the Bill to the Committee Stage for a review and examination there of the problem and whether the Bill is the best means to solve it. By voting against the Bill, we will have no National Autism Strategy and certainly no treatment in Medicare anytime soon. However, since the Conservatives came to power, the federal government has on a regular basis been announcing the creation of a National Cancer Strategy, a National Heart Health Strategy, a National Spinal Cord Rehabilitation Research Strategy, etc. Why is it that certain medical conditions are more attractive to the federal Conservatives and more deserving of special status than autism? The autism community is seeking equality and equal access. Nothing more, nothing less. If disabled children cannot count on Mike Lake and the Conservative Party for equality, can you?
For more information about the discriminatory exclusion of children with autism from Medicare,
please call Families for Early Autism Treatment of British Columbia (FEAT BC) at 604-534-6956
http://featbc.org
March 8, 2007 Posted by autismrealitynb | autism disorder, Canada Health Act, Conservative Party, FEAT BC, medicare, Mike Lake | Leave a comment
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in Articles and Commentaries, General News, US Department of State
Attorney Sharma defends client who was wrongly accused of being a ‘terrorist’ and barred from entering the United States
Attorney Sharma and our client were interviewed by Channel 4 News yesterday. Our client’s Afghan husband has been wrongly deemed permanently inadmissible to the U.S. under the Terrorism Related Inadmissibility Grounds section in the INA, the same overbroad regulation that many innocent individuals have been unjustly subject to.
For example: an asylee from Burundi was considered a terrorist under this regulation, and jailed for 20 months by the U.S. because he was found to have financially supported the Rebel group that robbed him of $4.00 and a bagged lunch. For fighting against Apartheid, Mr. Nelson Mandela was subjected to this regulation and had to be granted a waiver to enter the U.S. by the then Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Attorney Sharma will be filing an exemption for our client’s husband with the offices of the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and/or U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. Our exemption will petition the highest levels of our government to review this case again, and approve an admission to the U.S. if no adverse grounds are discovered.
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BELLTOWN POWER COMPLETES THE ACQUISITION OF FIVE FURTHER SOLAR PROJECTS
in Solar
Today, Belltown Power announces that it has completed the acquisition of five further solar projects totalling 53MW and a £58m capital commitment.
With these acquisitions, Belltown has completed on a total of 16 transactions in its first 18 months, comprising 8 solar projects, 5 wind projects, and 3 hydro projects. The company has now deployed over £110m to buy and build 83MW of generating capacity without the use of external debt finance to date.
Belltown Power’s team has grown to 13 people, combining transaction expertise from its London office with engineering experience in its Bristol office.
Michael Kaplan, CEO at Belltown Power, said “We are very pleased with the company’s progress so far, well ahead of our original plan to deploy £50m into UK renewable energy projects during our first two years. We aim to deploy £250m into 150MW of UK renewable energy assets by April 2017, building from our current foundations towards our goal of becoming a significant generator of renewable electricity in the UK.”
Tom Hill-Norton, CFO at Belltown Power, said “We have focused on ground-mounted solar projects over the last 6 months, given their strong risk-return characteristics. In 2015 we see good opportunities across the sector in the UK, in particular in medium scale onshore wind projects, roof mounted solar projects and run of river hydro projects.”
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By their very nature, wind farms are mostly located in rural areas which otherwise often struggle to secure financial support or sources of funding. By working with us you can help your local communities receive guaranteed income for the operational life of the wind farm. Our Community Benefit Fund schemes have already helped build primary schools, repair ageing community centres, provide playgrounds and setup sports and social groups for both young and old.
Through our projects you can help provide funding for local school educational site visits and workshops. This allows future generations to learn about climate change and the important role of onshore wind. Help us inspire young minds.
The vital role onshore wind has in tackling climate change is clear, but by collaborating with us you will also be contributing to more local environmental causes. Species protection funds, habitat creation, increasing knowledge and understanding through ecology surveys and flora and fauna management schemes are just some of the ways you can help enhance your local natural surroundings.
Matt Yard
Matthew has been advising the renewable energy sector for over 10 years, where he held an Associate Director role in EY’s Energy Corporate Finance team. He has advised on the investment of over 1GW of onshore wind, solar PV, hydro, biomass and energy from waste projects. This involved the raising of equity and senior debt project finance, including a large proportion of the assets that Belltown now manage on behalf of investors. Prior to EY he qualified as a Chartered Accountant. At Belltown, Matthew is responsible for leading the asset management team and providing a comprehensive and proactive service to our clients.
Clint Johnson
Prior to Belltown, Clint spent over 15 years at the renewables consultancy DNV GL, where he was most recently the head of Renewables Advisory for North America. During his time at DNV GL, he supported the development, project finance, and operation of solar and wind energy projects in the US and Canada. Clint has a Bachelors in Physics from the Colorado College and a Masters in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
At Belltown, Clint leads renewable energy development activities in the US.
Philip Duggan
Philip has been involved in the renewable energy sector for the past 14 years. He has investment experience across technologies from wind farms and solar parks at Consensus Business Group to fuel cells at Conduit Ventures. Philip has a track record both as a Principal Investor and as a Structured Finance Advisor, having most recently led Excalibur Group’s Offset Investment Business, which including aircraft, automotive, and communications asset finance. Philip has a BSc from the London School of Economics. At Belltown, Philip is responsible for deal sourcing, execution and managing fundraising.
Andy has over 19 years of experience in the renewable energy market working for DNV-GL, the world’s leading independent renewable energy consultancy. At DNV-GL he provided a wide range of technical, project and management services leading to the successful development of over 5GW of installed capacity in most major markets throughout the world. Andy has a Masters in Mechanical Engineering and Management.
At Belltown, Andy is responsible for the technical and operational aspects of our activities, including technical DD, construction management and site operations.
Charles is a corporate lawyer with over 10 years’ experience advising on renewable energy projects in the UK and abroad. He has worked in private practice in Australia and the UK, including as part of the corporate legal team at Withers LLP in London for four years. In 2012 Charles became General Counsel of Green Hedge which developed and financed over 20 utility-scale solar farms. Charles joined Belltown as General Counsel in 2016 and manages Belltown’s legal affairs. He is also involved in project development, acquisitions, financings, and disposals, as well as assisting with asset management and investor relations. Charles is dual qualified and admitted as a solicitor in England and Australia. Charles has a B.Laws from the University of Technology in Sydney.
Paul Hewett
Paul has been at Belltown since it’s foundation in 2013, initially as an Investment Director leading investments across wind, solar and hydro, and then as Managing Director since July 2018. Prior to Belltown, Paul worked at the Boston Consulting Group, primarily in the Private Equity and Energy practice areas. Paul holds an MBA from Berkeley-Haas School of Business, graduating with honors, and an MA in Mathematics from The University of Edinburgh, graduating top of class.
At Belltown, Paul is responsible for the strategic and commercial aspects of our activities, including new opportunity sourcing and investor relations
Tom Hill-Norton
Tom has been investing in renewable energy projects since the end of 2006. Most recently he has raised and invested a series of renewable energy funds for Guinness Asset Management and worked with the energy investment team at Actis on renewable energy investments in emerging markets. Prior to 2006, Tom worked in corporate finance (with JP Morgan, Flemings and Fredericks Michael) and strategy consultancy with The Boston Consulting Group. Tom has an MA (Hons) from The University of Edinburgh and an MBA from INSEAD.
Prior to Belltown, Michael was a partner at Albion Ventures LLP. Between 2009 and 2013 Michael helped to establish Albion as one of the pioneering investors in the UK’s community scale renewable energy sector. Prior to Albion, Michael worked at The Boston Consulting Group and before that, the Chief Financial Officer of Widevine Technologies, a security software company (sold to Google in 2010). Michael has a BA from the University of Washington and an MBA from INSEAD.
Dan Allen
Dan has been working in infrastructure and energy investment for the last 13 years. At Belltown, Dan is responsible for deal sourcing, execution and financing. Since joining Belltown, he has led on 4 acquisitions (including a 50MW wind farm in England and a 39MW CFD wind farm in Scotland), and led 4 project financings, raising construction and operational facilities from Macquarie, KFW, Barclays and BTMU.
Prior to Belltown, Dan was a senior member of John Laing’s project finance team, originating and executing equity investments and raising finance on transactions across Europe and North America.
Joel Hutchinson
Joel has 10 years of experience in the renewable industry. He was previously at RWE Innogy, working on the development and construction of GW-scale offshore wind farms. Before this, he worked in India, providing biogas energy systems to rural communities. For the past three years, Joel has been the technical lead for Belltown’s acquisition of pre-construction and operational onshore solar and wind assets. Joel has a degree in Mechanical Engineering and a PhD in Wind Turbine Blade Design and Manufacture, both from the University of Nottingham. Joel is now Belltown’s Construction Project Manager, as well as our Health and Safety Manager both internally and on-site. He is responsible for ensuring projects are delivered on-time, under-budget and meet the required quality standards.
Peter is a Chartered Engineer with over 9 years of experience in the renewable energy market working for Garrad Hassan, the world’s leading independent renewable energy consultancy. As a senior member of GL Garrad Hassan he provided technical and project management services for wind and solar energy projects in the UK and other major global markets. Peter has a MEng in Aerospace Engineering from Liverpool University.
Hernán Farace
Prior to Belltown, Hernan was Senior Vice President of Asset Management at Greenwood Energy, managing all aspects of Greenwood’s portfolio of projects in the Americas. Before that, Hernan spent nine years at Deutsche Bank where he built a portfolio of new and renewable energy assets (including wind, solar, hydro and biomass) in Europe, ultimately leading the sale of these assets in 2009/10. Hernan holds an MBA with honors from Wharton and an Economics degree from Universidad de San Andres in Buenos Aires where he graduated Magna Cum Laude.
At Belltown, Hernan is responsible for deal sourcing and execution in the north east of the US.
Ed Perrin
Ed has worked in infrastructure development since 2008 on a wide range of projects across Europe. Since 2011, Ed has specialised in renewable energy and worked with two major developers, RES and Solarcentury. Ed has worked on projects ranging from multi-MW solar PV plants to multi-GW offshore wind farms. He has an MSc in Environmental Science from Trinity College Dublin and a BSc in Biological Sciences from The University of Edinburgh.
At Belltown, Ed is responsible for managing the development of utility scale solar PV projects in the north east of the US.
Lloyd Pope
Lloyd was previously Vice President Supply Chain at Roofing Supply Group (RSG), a $1bn national distributor of building products owned by private equity firm CD&R. Prior to RSG, he was a Director in the Enterprise Improvement Group at AlixPartners, a global consulting firm specialising in improving corporate financial and operational performance. Lloyd has also worked as an Operations Consultant with ICG Commerce (now Accenture) and Centex Homes (now Pulte Homes). Lloyd earned his BBA in Marketing and MBA from the University of Texas at Austin.
Jeff Clay
Prior to Belltown, Jeff led strategy and corporate development for Roofing Supply Group (RSG), a $1bn national distributor of building products owned by private equity firm CD&R. Over three-years, Jeff opened 26 new locations delivering over $170M in revenue and $12M in EBITDA. Prior to RSG, Jeff served as the COO of Buck Consultants, a $400M HR consulting and outsourcing business unit at Xerox. Jeff started his career as a consultant with Bain & Company in the US, Europe and Central America and has extensive commercial construction and development experience. Jeff has a BBA in Accounting and MS in Finance from Texas A&M University, an MBA from INSEAD and holds an active CPA license.
Danielle Scholl
Prior to Belltown, Dani spent 8 years at John Laing and HCP, the leading provider of infrastructure management services in the UK. At John Laing, Dani was Finance Manager for Renewable Infrastructure. She was responsible for the delivery of all financial services for a portfolio of renewable projects in the UK and Europe, as well as providing support on the acquisition and financing of all John Laing’s Renewable Energy investments. Dani has a degree in Accounting and Finance from the University of Cape Town and gained the CIMA qualification at BPP London.
At Belltown, Dani is responsible for financial reporting for Belltown and its clients and providing finance support on new deals.
Prior to Belltown, David was Chief Financial Officer of multiple VC backed companies which he led to IPO or trade sale. In 2005 he co-founded BlueGlue, a revolutionary recruitment concept for the technology market, which was sold in 2014 to a US PE backed recruitment company. David began his career at Unilever and is a Chartered Management Accountant.
At Belltown, David is responsible for management of the finance function including accounts, treasury, forecasting, and financial reporting.
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Nick Foles Not 'Going to Worry About' Future with Eagles After Loss vs. Saints
Rob Goldberg@TheRobGoldbergTwitter LogoFeatured ColumnistJanuary 14, 2019
Butch Dill/Associated Press
Quarterback Nick Foles might have played his last game as a member of the Philadelphia Eagles, but that thought is apparently not on his mind after Sunday's 20-14 loss to the New Orleans Saints.
"I'm not really going to worry about it right now," Foles said of his future, per Kevin Patra of NFL.com. "I'll do what I can to enjoy this ride back with my teammates and we'll see what happens."
The quarterback could make $20 million next season as part of his revised contract signed last offseason, but the Eagles could also release him with only $1.8 million against the cap, per Spotrac, making him a free agent.
The choice is not a clear-cut one for the Eagles, as Foles has done everything asked of him over the past two years.
Coming in for relief of the injured Carson Wentz in each year, leading the team to a 10-4 record as a starter, including 4-2 in the playoffs. He was named Super Bowl MVP after an incredible performance in an upset win over the New England Patriots last February, bringing the Eagles their first title in franchise history.
On the other hand, Wentz has been impressive when healthy and was an MVP candidate before getting hurt in 2017. He has thrown 54 touchdowns and just 14 interceptions over the past two seasons in 24 starts.
Considering he has just an $8.5 million cap hit next season, per Spotrac, it makes financial sense to choose the 26-year-old as well.
Still, Foles is looking forward to being a starter somewhere in 2019, even if it isn't with the Eagles.
"I love leading a team," he said after Sunday's game. "I love being in a huddle, being a part of a locker room, doing that. That's why I play the game."
If the 29-year-old does hit free agency, he will likely be one of the most targeted players on the market.
Donovan McNabb reflects on Eagles career, motivation from 'opinionated fans,' more in interview
NBC Sports Philadelphia
via NBC Sports Philadelphia
Doug Pederson on Why He's Never Sought More Power
glenn erby
via Eagles Wire
Most Dominant Player at Every Position
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A CLOSER LOOK AT THE PEOPLE, THE CARS AND THE COMPANY
Truck Thursday: 2020 Jeep® Gladiator’s new axles provide greater capability
Edward Cardenas
FCA expands its Detroit footprint as the only automaker assembling vehicles in the city
Minivan Monday: Stow ‘n Go Makes On-Road Convenience a Family Priority
Betty Newman
FIAT celebrates 120 years of Italian style, innovation and motoring
Carlisle Chrysler Nationals: A grand tour of performance and design history
Dale Jewett
Yop Polls
Fiat,Heritage | February 13 2019
FIAT’s annual FreakOut heading to the Carolinas
By Edward Cardenas
FIAT owners will have “Carolina in their mind” as registration opens for this year’s Fiat FreakOut annual event in Greensboro, North Carolina.
This year they will gather from July 10 -14 in Greensboro, located in the rolling hills of Carolina’s Piedmont, midway between the Blue Ridge and the Great Smoky Mountains. The base of operations for the five-day event will be the Grandover Resort and includes activities at motor sports venues, picturesque locales and historic sites in the region.
The first full day of the FreakOut is Wednesday, July 10, and includes two optional trips. One of the planned trips is to the Richard Petty Museum and race shop for a tour followed by a stop at Fiat/Alfa Specialty before heading to Richard Childress Racing, the home of Dale Earnhardt. An alternate road trip will take attendees to the historic Pisgah Covered Bridge followed by lunch at the Westmoore Family Restaurant and a stop at the Southern Supreme fruitcake factory. (Organizers calculated that over a dozen fresh fruitcakes will fit in the trunk of a Fiat 124 Spider.)
On the event’s second day, attendees will be able to show off their driving skills on the autocross course at the Dixie Classic Fairgrounds. For those who are seeking something at a slower pace, there will be a tour of downtown Winston-Salem. Both events are scheduled to conclude in ample time before the Fiat FreakOut 2019 welcome dinner, which features a menu of southern favorites.
FIAT enthusiasts gather at the 2011 Fiat FreakOut convention in Nashville, Tenn.
Three different events are planned for the FreakOut’s third day. Organizers have planned:
A road rally through the North Carolina countryside
A go-kart challenge at the GO-PRO Motorplex where carts reach speeds up to 55 MPH
A late-afternoon excursion for a tour of the Red Oak Brewery
All three groups will return to the hotel in time for a drive-in showing of the 1969 movie “The Italian Job.” It will be interspersed with classic and contemporary Fiat commercials.
Saturday is the big day for the Fiat Freakout when attendees can show off their vehicles in the concours show. The gathering of Italian vehicles of all makes and models will be held just across the street from the hotel parking lot. There will also be tech sessions during the afternoon before the FreakOut’s award banquet.
The banquet will be held in the late afternoon to allow for a unique Saturday night of “racin.” Organizers have planned a trip to the historic ¼-mile Bowman Gray oval track in downtown Winston-Salem, known by the locals as “The Madhouse.” Attendees will be bussed to the track where they will have an exclusive reserved viewing area for the evening’s racing.
The FreakOut will wrap up Sunday with a raffle prize event during a continental-style breakfast.
The Fiat FreakOut is the largest annual gathering of Fiat and Lancia owners and their automobiles in North America, attracting hundreds of participants from across the country and around the world.
Fiat Freakout attendee.
The very first FreakOut was held annually in 1983, when a small group of Fiat owners met on the infield of the Pocono International Raceway for a one-day gathering. It has grown since the initial event, and has been held in various locations across the country including Poughkeepsie, New York (site of Fiat’s first American operations); Auburn Hills, Michigan; Niagara Falls, New York; Nashville, Tennessee; and Orlando, Florida.
For more detailed information about the Fiat FreakOut, and how to register for the event, visit www.fiatclubamerica.com.
Bowman GrayconcoursEdward CardenasFiatFiat FreakOutGreensboroNorth CarolinaPisgah Covered BridgeRichard ChildressRichard Petty
Hello from the Motor City! I’m Edward Cardenas and I’m multimedia editor for FCA US. As a lifelong Detroiter, I have been surrounded by the automotive industry. I’ve had members of my immediate and extended family work in the industry. I’ve covered it as a journalist and advocated for it
Hello from the Motor City! I’m Edward Cardenas and I’m multimedia editor for FCA US. As a lifelong Detroiter, I have been surrounded by the automotive industry. I’ve had members of my immediate and extended family work in the industry. I’ve covered it as a journalist and advocated for it as a communications professional. I have also experienced the thrills of the industry while riding in a race car at nearly 200 miles per hour. Having this breadth of experience, I look forward to drawing upon my experiences to bring a wide range of stories, photos and videos about Chrysler, FIAT and Alfa Romeo to FCA Digital Media. When I’m not covering my brands, I’m spending time with my wife and two boys.
FCA unveils new vehicle features, celebrates its heritage at the Chicago Auto Show
Diverse talent in the spotlight during Black History Month
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Home / Facts / Top 10 Fascinating Facts Gleaned From Old Teeth
Top 10 Fascinating Facts Gleaned From Old Teeth
By NewsBeats on July 5, 2019
When looking for the ick factor, old teeth are the best. Nothing beats scores of cavity-ridden teeth inside the subway or fangs stitched into a Stone Age purse.
As curious as gruesome finds are, ancient teeth are not just about the gore. In recent times, they rewrote Egyptian jobs, proved that dinosaurs migrated, and finally gave scientists a bead on what our mysterious relatives, the extinct Denisovans, looked like.
10 The Subway Teeth
In 2018, an excavation found teeth in Australia. It was not a dozen molars unearthed in a cave somewhere. All sorts littered a Melbourne subway, numbering over 1,000.
Thankfully, it was not a crime scene. The teeth had been discarded by several 20th-century dentists, including J.J. Forster who had an office at 11 Swanston Street. He pulled teeth from 1898 to the 1930s, a time when cocaine was used to make patients happy before an extraction. There were also dentures and a tooth patched with a gold filling.
Many showed the true reason for visiting the practice—enormous cavities. The holes must have been agonizing, but that was just the start. Despite Forster’s 1924 newspaper ad that promised to “[remove] teeth truthfully without pain,” dentists of the time approached a doomed tooth with forceps.[1]
How did the teeth end up in the subway?
Their location was a good clue. Found inside an iron pipe and the surrounding soil, the dentists probably flushed the teeth down a drain to get rid of them.
9 The Megalodon Evolution Mystery
A 2019 study examined an ancient predator that never fails to capture the imagination. Megalodon was the largest shark in existence, and its teeth were serrated nightmares.
The researchers were curious about how megalodon’s psychotic teeth became so perfect for the job. They turned to 359 fossil teeth. The collection hailed from Chesapeake Bay in Maryland where the land was once a prehistoric ocean. The study found that megalodon’s teeth were a slow acquisition. Remarkably, evolution designed it over millions of years.
The process went something like this. Otodus obliquus, the oldest ancestor of megalodon, terrorized the sea between 60 and 40 million years ago. Their jaws had “cusplets,” tiny teeth on both sides of larger teeth. It was basically a three-pronged affair that gripped and mutilated prey.[2]
Some of the Maryland teeth belonged to Carcharocles chubutensis, an immediate ancestor. Comparing their teeth to megalodon’s showed that the cusplets took millions of years to disappear while serrations evolved on the main tooth. Scientists still cannot explain why the process took so long or why the cusplet feature vanished.
8 Oldest Right-handedness
Around 1.8 million years ago, a hominid damaged its front teeth. The individual belonged to the species Homo habilis, a member of the human family tree. Its fossilized remains turned up in Tanzania in 1995. A later study from 2016 found that the dental damage championed an unusual trend—right-handedness.
The scientists who examined the grooves felt that they were caused by feeding habits. More precisely, the primate used its teeth to anchor food while gripping it in one hand and sawing away at it with a stone tool in the other. A few times, the tool overreached and scratched the enamel. The orientation of the marks suggested that the hand using the tool—thus the creature’s dominant hand—was the right one.
This is the oldest such evidence in the archaeological record and the first of many fossils that might prove that right-handedness has always been more prevalent. The researchers are tentatively hoping for more. Since genetics and certain brain regions determine “lefties” and “righties,” understanding more about the history of human hands and brains can perhaps solve why there are fewer left-handed people in the world.[3]
7 A Mosasaur Scuffle
Miners found an ancient predator in 2012. Discovered in Alberta, Canada, the creature was a mosasaur. These reptiles resembled dolphins and lived in the ocean. The specimen reached an intimidating 6.5 meters (21 ft) in length.
Scientists found a tooth stuck in the animal’s lower jaw that had come from another mosasaur. Around 75 million years ago, the two predators had a nasty encounter. The attacker came at an angle from below and bit its opponent’s face three times on the left side. One bite was so hard that a tooth got pulled and stayed behind in the wounded mosasaur’s jawbone.[4]
Previous fossils showed that mosasaurs ate each other, but this lucky duck survived. It also represents the first nonfatal fight between mosasaurs in the fossil record. The wounds healed. However, another unidentified species bit the same mosasaur on the right side of the skull. The incomplete healing showed that it died shortly afterward.
6 Evidence For Dinosaur Migration
Theories suggested that some dinosaur species felt a seasonal urge to travel, but there was no evidence. In 2011, that changed. Scientists examined the teeth of sauropods, enormous herbivores that lost their snappers in Utah and Wyoming.
Both states are low-altitude regions. But when the researchers analyzed the teeth for oxygen-18 isotopes, they found something interesting. The signature of the isotopes came from a high-altitude environment.
During the sauropods’ lifetimes, western North America had wet and dry seasons. For an animal that was basically a giant, the dry period would not have provided enough food or water.
It would appear that the creatures migrated over 560 kilometers (350 mi) to find sustenance in the highlands. While staying there, the isotopes settled in their enamel.
The dinosaurs shed their teeth every five or six months, and in this case, the scientists were lucky to find the highlands’ isotopes in teeth lost at a low altitude. It gave the first direct evidence that certain dinosaurs migrated.[5]
5 Humanity’s Ratlike Ancestors
In 2017, an undergraduate combed Dorset for inspiration for his dissertation. Mainly searching for fossils, he found and took two teeth to the University of Portsmouth for identification. Researchers at the university recognized them straight away and were more than a little shocked.
The teeth had come from mammals that lived 145 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period. The creatures belonged to two new species, Durlstotherium newmani and Durlstodon ensomi. Their group, Eutheria, became the most successful mammal family that led to all placental mammals.
The newness of the two ratlike species was not the surprise. Instead, it was the age of the fossils. They resembled those of animals that lived 60 million years later. Despite being much older, the “rats” were not an underdeveloped prototype. The teeth showed that the mammals used their teeth like tools to cut and crush food. This was a highly advanced feature for the time.[6]
The teeth also came from older adults, indicating how adept the species was at surviving. Interestingly, as the oldest undisputed Eutherians, they were also the earliest mammalian ancestors of humans ever found.
4 An Egyptian Craftswoman
The records of ancient Egypt are more detailed than most extinct cultures. As scholars studied texts, paintings, and other sources, they concluded that women had only seven professions. They included priestesses, dancers, singers, musicians, mourners, weavers, and midwives.
A 2019 study reviewed the body of a woman who died 4,000 years ago and was buried at Mendes, a city that was once ancient Egypt’s capital. Her high-status grave was originally found in the 1970s. The woman was around 50 years old when she died, and her teeth held a surprise for researchers.
On 16 of her teeth, there was damage unrelated to eating. Instead, it showed another profession open to Egyptian women. The lines were consistent with craftspeople, who used their teeth while working with plant material.
The analysis convinced the researchers that she was a highly respected craftswoman who probably shaped papyrus into vessels, curtains, mats, and sandals. Only the outer rind of the stalk was used to produce the items. If she used her teeth to remove the bark, it explained the marks.[7]
3 The Eppelsheim Teeth
In 2016, two teeth turned up close to Eppelsheim. The German town was known for producing regional fossils, but this find was exceptional if only for the division it caused among experts.
The molar and canine tooth were well-preserved, a remarkable feat when considering the claim of those who said they were 10 million years old. If confirmed, the age and location will change our view of human history.
The canine tooth, in particular, resembles those of primitive human ancestors. Therein lies the controversy. Similar teeth had been found only in Africa, and those were millions of years younger.
The accepted timeline of human history states that people evolved in Africa and migrated to Asia and Europe around 100,000 years ago. The ancient pair suggested that an unknown branch of humanity evolved in Europe independently of Africa.
The archaeologists who found the teeth supported this theory and claimed that they were from the same individual. Experts in the other corner believe that the teeth came from two species belonging to a broader collection of primates instead of a mysterious human line.[8]
2 A Tooth-Studded Purse
Modern accessories glitter with everything from gems to sequins. During Germany’s Stone Age, however, high fashion was more enamel and less emerald. Dog teeth graced necklaces and hair ornaments for men and women. But one artifact topped them all.
In 2012, an archaeological dig near Leipzig opened a grave and found what could be the world’s oldest purse. Although the original material or leather had decomposed, its gruesome decorations remained. Made between 2500 and 2200 BC, the designer added over 100 dog teeth from dozens of animals.
The pieces were tightly packed in rows and all pointing the same way. The arrangement’s shape suggested that the dental bling once decorated the bag’s flap. Even for a time when canine accessories were common, the handbag was a rare find.[9]
However, it was not the first object studded in this manner. Other Stone Age graves have produced patterns of wolf and dog teeth that once studded blankets, which have since fallen apart and disappeared.
1 New Denisovan Information
The Denisovans represent another branch on the human tree. Their existence only came to light when bone fragments and teeth were found a few years ago inside a Siberian cave. Although DNA showed they were once widespread in Asia and Europe, the species remained mysterious.
Discovering additional Denisovan remains became the grail for archaeologists, but few knew that a spectacular piece had already been found during the 1980s. A monk had entered a cave on the Tibetan plateau and saw a human jawbone. He passed it on to a living Buddha, who eventually gave it to the researchers. Their study was groundbreaking.
Released in 2019, it gave valuable information about the Denisovans after the team extracted proteins from one of the 160,000-year-old molars. The results showed that Denisovans had a more primitive appearance than Neanderthals. This was backed up by the powerful jaw and unusually robust teeth.
The most remarkable was the gene that allowed them to live at freezingly high altitudes without succumbing to hypoxia. This explains why certain Tibetan populations today inherited Denisovan genes and rarely suffer from low-oxygen conditions.[10]
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Home » Department of Defense (DOD) » Department of the Army » Center of Military History (CMH)
East Indies: The U.S. Army Campaigns of World War II (Pamphlet)
CMH 72-22. Provides one in a series of 40 illustrated brochures that describe the campaigns in which U.S. Army troops participated during the war. Each brochure describes the strategic setting, traces the operations of the major American units involved, and analyzes the impact of the campaign on future operations.
Tunisia: The Army Campaigns of World War II -Print Paperback format is available here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/008-029-00261-2
Sicily: The U.S. Army Campaigns of World War II -Print Paperback format is available here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/008-029-00272-8
Bismarck Archipelago: The U.S. Army Campaigns of World War II-Print Paperback format -is available here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/008-029-00280-9
Northern Solomons: The U.S. Army Campaigns of World War II Print Paperback Pamphlet- format is available here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/008-029-00257-4
Ardennes-Alsace: The U.S. Army Campaigns of World War II -Print Paperback Pamphlet format -is available here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/008-029-00511-5
Fueling the Fires of Resistance: Army Air Forces Special Operations in the Balkans During World War 2 is available here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/008-070-00699-5
Anzio Beachhead, January 22 - May 25, 1944 Print Paperback format is available here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/008-029-00199-3
United States Army in World War 2, The Technical Services, The Ordnance Department, On Beachhead and Battlefront -Hardcover/Cloth format is available here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/008-029-00030-0
Omaha Beachhead (6 June-13 June 1944) --Print Paperback Format is available here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/008-029-00128-4
World War II resources collection can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/catalog/us-military-history/battles-wars/world...
Other products produced by the U.S. Army, Center of Military History (CMH) can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/agency/1061
Teachers and students learning about WWII, members of the military and Veterans, and WWII enthusiasts will enjoy this publication.
Defense Dept., Army, Center of Military History
Anderson, Charles R.
0160420873 9780160420870
Center of Military History Publication 72 22
United States Army Campaigns of World War 2
China Defensive: The U.S. Army Campaigns of World War II (Pamphlet)
Salerno: American Operations From the Beaches to the Volturno, 9 September - 6 October 1943
New Guinea: The U.S. Army Campaigns of World War II (Pamphlet)
Burma, 1942: The U.S. Army Campaigns of World War II (Pamphlet)
Rome-Arno: The U.S. Army Campaigns of World War II (Pamphlet)
Philippine Islands: The U.S. Army Campaigns of World War II (Pamphlet)
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Tag: book covers
Hilariously Honest Book Titles: Stephen King Edition
Widely acclaimed maestro of horror Stephen King has as many jokes up his sleeve as the next guy, but we at Bookstr still think he takes the titles of his books too seriously. Why should The Stand be called The Stand if you have to sit down while you’re reading it? Who reads 500+ page novels standing up?
Find the answers to this question, and more, in this week’s edition of hilariously honest book covers, where we edit the classic cover art of famous books to better describe what readers will find inside them. Got ideas for hilariously honest book covers of your own? Send them our way, and we’ll give you a shoutout.
For our take on some of the ‘Game of Thrones’ titles, click here.
Adjusted Covers Via Masako Fukuchi.
by Amy Schatz
Honest Book Titles
Feast Your Eyes on These 9 Crazy and Cool Book Designs
The way we go about reading a book has always been straight forward; we pick our meticulously bonded pieces of paper and simply read. Sometimes this isn’t enough, sometimes we crave more than the traditional experience. Some of the world’s most creative, well, creatives, have taken literary classics and some not so classic and presented them to the public in unique ways.
The following list contains some of the coolest, subtle and completely jarring book designs that challenge the generic physical presentation often associated with a “book” for those who are looking for something new…
1. A Heat Sensitive Edition Of Fahrenheit 451 By Ray Bradbury
Well that’s ironic. The Jan Van Eyck Academie in the Netherlands created a version of Ray Bradbury’s classic dystopian novel where the text only becomes visible when one heats the book up. These inspired individuals have not only created a unique, yet dangerous reading experience, but may have also inadvertently found a cure for pyromania. They’ve been working on marketing and distribution since 2017 and it looks like it’s about to be available to the public this year; don’t take my word for it, this could be fake. But hey, purchase here.
Image Via Superterrain.fr
2. Rolling Words by Snoop Dogg
The national treasure that is Snoop D-O-G-G has officially blown the minds of the literary community right out of his favorite mothership bong. This gem of a book contains the lyrics to many of the master’s songs, all written in non-toxic ink. Why do you ask? Because the pages are perforated and made of rolling paper. Yeah. One can be eloquently reminded of one the nation’s most memorable musical artists while prepping for a “session.” In addition to rolling paper pages, this book is made entirely of hemp with a spine that you can strike a match on. Unfortunately, this was a promotional item and doesn’t seem to be available anywhere other than your smelly neighbor’s eBay account.
Image Via Fancy.com
3. Coffee Stains by Martha Hayden
Most readers and writers love coffee and it’s ever-surprising legality. I mean, an individual can get pretty cranked up on caffeine to the point where they probably shouldn’t be operating heavy machinery … Anyway, Martha Hayden most likely took this love for caffeine into account when creating this next beauty. Coffee Stains is a book containing twenty-two pages made from coffee residue. The cover is made from paper that comes from villages in Nepal. These villages contain vegetation called “Lotka”, a bush that regenerates after being dismantled. The book itself is beautifully “painted” and talks about the health benefits of coffee. Overall, a very hipster and environmentally-friendly read.
Image Via Marthahayden.com
4. We’re Getting On by James Kaelan
This novel verges on ironic in the same way as numero uno, *spoiler alert* so will the one that follows this one. The first editions of James Kaelan’s novel, about a group of friends who move to the Nevada desert in an admirable attempt to live without technology, are filled with recycled paper and have covers made of birch seed. The characters in his novel face troubles associated with the contemporary American experience and it’s all meant to be quite an eye-opener for the reader. So basically, you can plant this book upon completion and save the world. Why does the air suddenly feel so dense?
Image Via Flavorwire.com
5. A Censored Version Of Nineteen Eighty-Four Or 1984 (It’s Published Both Ways)
This one may not be that elaborate, however, this book is awesome and the simplicity of the design here is charming enough to warrant mention. In 2013, Penguin books, with the help of David Pearson, released a version of George Orwell’s classic novel whose cover blacked out the name of said author and its forever recognizable title. Nineteen Eighty-Four is, of course, about a bleak dystopian society where Big Brother pretty much censors everything. Thought police exist to prevent independent thinking etc. Thoughtcrime, doublethink—everyone knows about this novel. Solid work Mr. Orwell, we tip the brim of our hats in rememberance once again.
Image Via TheVerge.com
6. The Gorgeous Nothings: Emily Dickinson’s Envelope Poems by Emily Dickinson
Emily Dickinson wrote a boatload of poetry in her lifetime, however only twelve or so were published in the traditional sense. Beyond this, she wrote a lot of her poems in homemade books that were found after her death. Some of her drafts were written on scrap pieces of paper and envelopes. In an endearing collection of these 52 #envelopepoems Dickinson can be found at her most awesome and radical stage. It also offers the reader insight into a very relatable process: writing. She’s easily one of the greatest poets to ever live.
Image Via Gwarlingo.com
7. Self-Destructing The Imp Of The Perverse By Edgar Allan Poe
This short story by Edgar Allan is all about doing things we know we shouldn’t do. Total self-destruction. A special interactive edition of this short story allows the reader to destroy the book. It is presented in a grid-system sort of way; it instructs the reader to fold and tear in a specific way that reveals the hidden text. Although this is a bit of a one-off, who doesn’t like a little wreckage?
Image Via Helenfriel.com
8. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad and Illustrated by Matt Kish
Heart of Darkness is a notoriously difficult read. It’s hard for someone to picture all that goes on; this version of Conrad’s novella (which inspired the film Apocalypse Now) is illustrated in a way that illuminates the character Marlow’s journey. There is also an index at the back of that book that will aid anyone wondering what inspired Kish’s drawings (the lines and phrases from the book).
Image Via Tinhouse.com
9. S./ Ship Of Theseus By Doug Dorst & J.J Abrams
One day, critically acclaimed director, J.J. Abrams, came up with a book idea. This book’s story then takes place in the margins of another book. So, he hired a writer and made it happen. The novel inside of S. is entitled Ship of Theseusand in its margins are what appear to be handwritten exchanges between two students who are reading it. They attempt to solve the mystery of the book’s authorship while also flirting here and there. It’s a truly fun read that also gifts the reader with various items stuffed between its pages– happy meals for swiftly aging book nerds. All hail the man whose name is Jeffrey Jacob Abrams.
Image Via Ceros.com
Featured Image Via Voguesugar.com
by Josh Plainse
Viola Davis Discusses How Writing Corduroy Helped Her “Come Back to Life”
Award-winning actress Viola Davis recently wrote Corduroy Takes a Bow
in celebration of Don Freeman’s iconic children’s series’ 50th anniversary.
The beloved bear introduced in the series’ premiere book, Corduroy
, has won the hearts of generations of readers, including Davis. Davis agreed to write the children’s book in large part for her daughter. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Davis revealed that the series had been a favorite of her daughter’s and she couldn’t pass up the opportunity to pen a book in the series.
“That was the story that stuck. It’s just close to my heart. Certain characters stay with you, and that’s Corduroy.”
While Corduroy was a factor in Davis’ love of reading, it was her adventures to the library that really drew her into the literary world.
“I do remember that book. But when I started reading the book, it was one of several books that I was in love with; it was just the library itself that totally captured me. The smell of the pages. Certainly, Corduroy was a part of that adventure, a bigger part of my escape.”
Image Via Clipground
Corduroy certainly has his own string of adventures, and Corduroy Takes a Bow sees his newfound adventure with his first trip to the theater, a place Davis knows all too well.
A graduate of Juilliard, Davis found success on stage through her powerful performances, earning her first Tony Award in 2001 for her role in King Hedley II. Davis applied her familiarity and success in theater throughout her process of writing Corduroy.
“I explored every bit of the theater that has left an imprint on me. That’s what I did while I was writing this book. Sometimes you forget that stuff. Sometimes, you need the imagination of a child to come back to life again. To remember why you fell in love with anything.”
Featured Image Via Graeme Mitchell and Amazon
by Mercedez Pulse
Infographic: Fun Facts Behind 18 Famous Book Covers
We’ve all been told never to judge a book by its cover but have we all listened? Probably not. At one point or another you’ve probably most definitely judged a book by its cover and who can blame you – it’s hard not to! Whether you’re perusing Barnes and Nobles (or an indie bookstore) or glancing at Amazon Books, chances are you’ve noticed a book based on its bright colors, large font, steamy couple on the cover, textured surface, and so on. That is what the artists and publishers behind a book want – they want you to notice it. I stumbled upon an infographic recently published by Invaluable which uncovers key points about the process of creating book covers and offers some awesome fun facts behind 18 famous book covers!
Here are some interesting tidbits and publishing secrets using 18 of the most famous book covers out there!
Source: Invaluable
14 of the Best Outfits Inspired By Book Covers
Last week we told you about #DressLikeABook, the contest started by Electric Literature on Instagram. Maybe you’d like to join in on the fun, but don’t know what to wear. If that’s the case, then scroll on down for some truly inspired outfits that’ll make you want to get dressed and take a selfie with your favorite book. We’ve scoured the internet and found amazing book cover-inspired ensembles from places like College Fashion, Tumblr and Pinterest!
1. Paper Towns by John Green
2. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
3. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
Image Via Fiction to Fashion
4. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
5. Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff
Image Via College Fashion
6. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
7. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
8. To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han
9. These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
10. The Assassin’s Blade by Sarah J. Maas
11. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett
12. The BFG by Roald Dahl
13. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
14. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Feature Image Via Instagram
by Jessica Awad
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Character Flaws In Shakespeare’s Plays Essay
The main purpose of this paper is to examine Shakespeare’s characters and their flaws, comparing them with the modern characters written by Tom Stoppard and Harold Pinter. For that purpose, comparative analysis will be used in this paper. The results will show that nothing has truly changed since the Shakespearean era. People live in a corrupted society, influenced by poisonous doctrines. However, the paper shows that there are still hope for mankind, but only if people restore the moral compass. In addition, the paper is based on pedagogical and psychoanalytical approach, since the topic of the paper is about the character flaws. Harold Bloom (1998) suggests that Shakespeare is the most influential literary figure, whose works has had a major impact on many contemporary authors.
All Shakespeare’s dramas deal with love, death and life, hence, these universal themes get beautiful touch by him. His dramas reflect that he had insightful knowledge of human psychology. Therefore, his characters have become memorable in the field of literature and inexhaustible sources of inspiration for many modern authors. Bloom et al (1998) suggests that Shakespeare not only created the characters, he gave them life. Even though, all characters have flaws, they also have virtues. Bearing in mind that Shakespeare created these characters four centuries ago, the problem this paper addresses is how much the characters have prospered through due course of time. Shakespeare’s play “Hamlet” is one of the most famous, and according to critics, one of the most complex Shakespeare’s plays, that aims to show the truth about the world and people inhabiting it, their guilt or innocence, their feelings and motivations, through the deeds and destinies of multiple characters: Gertrude, Ophelia, Claudius, Polonius, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and finally, Hamlet himself. Hamlet is trapped in the world of lies, false ideologies, and poisonous pedagogies, but remains sane and rational, although he is pretending to be mad. He is able to see through these ideologies and realize that madness is his only salvation. Hamlet cannot accept mother’s marriage to his uncle, shortly after his father’s death, especially not while knowing that it was exactly his uncle who killed him. Nevertheless, even though he is well aware of the trickery of his uncle Claudius, he does not choose to confront him, or to find a way to prove his villainy but starts to plot his revenge. This is probably the worst mistake that many of the Shakespeare’s characters commit. They do not try to do better things in the world, to right someone’s wrongs; instead, they are lead by the ideology: “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth!” Hamlet’s preoccupation thus, is to avenge his father’s death by killing his murderer, Claudius, who in turn tries to the same to Hamlet. Along the way, before the two of them die, everybody else dies: Polonius, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Gertrude,...
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What´S A Tropical Rainforest Essay
Tropical Rainforest:
A tropical rainforest is a humid, moist biome located near the Earth’s equator, with the world’s largest rainforest being in South America, Southeast Asia and Africa. Rainforests collect from 60 to 160 inches of rainfall throughout the year, with the constant humidity and moisture within the rainforest creates the perfect biome for tropical condition thriving plants and animals. One of the world’s best environments for biodiversity are the tropical rainforests, they contain 15 million species of plants and animals. The humid conditions of the tropical rainforests are ideal for bacteria and other microorganisms, these organisms remain active for the whole year being at ...view middle of the document...
Because there are so many animals competing for food, many animals have adapted by learning to eat foods not eaten by other animals. Toucans and sloths for example have both adapted within the rainforest. The toucan developed a long, large bill allowing the toucan to reach fruit on branches too small to support the birds’ weight, also the toucan uses it bill to cut the fruit from trees.
The sloth uses behavioural and camouflage adaptions. It moves very slowly and spends most of its time hanging upside down from trees. Algae grow on the fur of the sloth giving it a greenish color and making it harder for predators to spot.
Rainforests receive around 12 hours of sunlight per day only 2% of the sunlight makes it through the dense vegetation and into the soil. The tropical rainforest is made up of three different layers, the canopy, the understory and the ground layer. Very little vegetation is able to survive on the ground layer because the canopy created by tall trees of 100 to 120 feet tall and the understory don’t allow much light to get through. The most amount of living vegetation is found closest to or surrounding riverbanks this is because the trees are parted around the river bank allowing more light from the sun to shine through and give the energy needed for the plan to survive.
Plant survival within the tropical rainforest depends on the plants ability to tolerate constant shade or adapt strategy’s to reach sunlight. Fungus is the perfect example of a plant that survives inside the ground layer exceling growth in warm, dark places. The competition for sunlight is sometimes deadly for example the strangler fig will die without sunlight to reproduce and grow. When its seeds fall to the ground they almost instantly die hitting the acidic soil without sunlight, so it has adapted by depositing its seeds on high branches transported by birds and other animals that have eaten the fruit off the strangler fig. the seeds then sprout and send a long root to the ground layer, rapidly increasing the diameter and successfully competes for water and nutrients in the soil. As the strangler fig grows, branches and leaves will grow upwards eventually creating a canopy that will block the sunlight from the tree in which the seed grew from, other roots from the strangler fig tree will reach around the ‘host’ tree, strangle it and eventually kill the tree in order for the strangler fig to survive.
Deciduous Forest:
Deciduous forests are located between the Polar Regions and the tropic regions. They are located here because of the air masses from both the cold polar region and warm tropical region allow the climate to have a refreshing variety inside this biome. Deciduous forests have both warm and cold seasons, rainfall can range from 30 to 60 inches that is usually evenly distributed over the year, the word...
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Critics Page November 2nd, 2017
Ceramics and Preservation in the Bay
by Woody De Othello
The Bay Area has had somewhat of a magnetic pull on me. Primarily because of my interest in ceramics and figurative works, the historic draw weighs heavy. Artists such as Rob Arneson, Viola Frey, and Peter Voulkos helped to formulate my early understanding of the potential of what clay could become, and opened my eyes to the various approaches and applications of the medium. I felt the influence of the Mission School artists as an undergrad, encountering Barry McGee’s work at the Margulies Collection in Miami. I remember being completely enamored with the cartoony illustrative appearance of his work. This sparked an interest to delve deeper into other Bay Area artists and allowed me to discover folks such as Chris Johanson, Margaret Kilgallen and Ruby Neri.
This pull that the Bay Area had on me was solidified at the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) conferences held in Houston and Milwaukee in 2013 and 2014. It was there that I became aware of the ceramics program at the California College of the Arts (CCA), taking note of the outstanding work being produced by graduate and undergraduate students Victoria Jang and Yeon Joo Lee. Another pull to the Bay was the obsession I had with Berkeley-based rapper Lil B, whose demeanor and anomaly to hip hop encapsulates the aura of the free speech movement, an open-mindedness and freedom that I have learned is synonymous with the Bay Area. I knew that I wanted to be a part of this energy, and pursuing a graduate degree at CCA was the way I inserted myself into the scene here. In choosing CCA for graduate studies I received an extension of the history tied to the California Clay Movement, studying under Nathan Lynch, who was a student of Ken Price and Ron Nagle, and working with Arthur Gonzalez, who studied under Robert Arneson and Manuel Neri while at UC Davis. The reputation and legacy is still vibrant on the historic Oakland campus where the arts and crafts formerly attached to the CCA name remain poignant. Especially in the Noni Eccles Treadwell Ceramic Arts Center, the design of which was guided by Viola Frey, one can literally see remnants of previous years as the “kiln gods” still hover over numerous gas kilns and a huge graveyard of sculptures left behind make up the motif that consumes the entire south-facing window on both the top and bottom floors of the building.
Flash forward two years since my move to the Bay, and I cannot say for sure if the Bay Area art scene has anything distinctive about it as, I’ve only lived in Miami prior. But what I can say about the Bay Area is that there are many places and people for support and there’s a persistent mentality despite the monetary challenges we all face living here. The spaces range from underground spaces managed by artists that include UFO Gallery, City Limits, Nook Gallery, Quality, Aggregate Space Gallery, CTRL+SHFT, and R/SF projects, to more commercial spaces that have national and international draw such as Ratio 3, Jessica Silverman Gallery, Et Al, Capital Gallery, Altman Siegel Gallery, Alter Space, Guerrero Gallery, Johansson Projects, and so much more. The breadth of discourse here and openness to engagement from different perspectives is what I can attest to. There is a strong social engagement in the works and exhibitions being produced, which is tied to the radical legacy of the Bay Area. It’s political, it’s progressive, and it’s queer.
I am not sure what the future holds for the Bay Area. It is increasingly a challenge to make ends meet, as well as a struggle for artists to be able to afford both rent and a studio, with enough time between jobs to create. Despite this, I do feel it is an exciting time to be in the Bay. It’s active, vibrant, and constantly reassuring to be surrounded by people who are finding a way to survive here.
Woody De Othello
WOODY DE OTHELLO is an artist currently residing and working in the Bay Area.
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Celebrating the King James Bible
Bible: The Story of the King James Version
By Gordon Campbell
In 2011 the King James Version of the Bible will be 400 years old, and plans for a protracted birthday party are in hand. In the UK the celebrations are being coordinated by the 2011 Trust, whose burgeoning list of events includes lectures, conferences, exhibitions and services on both sides of the Atlantic. Oxford University Press has published the King James Bible since the seventeenth century, and will soon be publishing three books to mark the quatercentenary: David Crystal, the Anglophone world’s greatest living linguist, has written a sparkling book entitled Begat: The King James Bible and the English Language; I have written a biography of the Bible’s first 400 years, and edited a version of the 1611 Bible which lovingly preserves both the preliminary pages and the printer’s errors. Lesser presses will also be publishing celebratory accounts. In the UK the BBC will be broadcasting two television programs on the subject, one presented by Adam Nicolson on the making of the King James Bible (I make a cameo appearance on this one) and the other presented by Melvyn Bragg on the heritage of the King James Version. I hope that there will be similar programs in other countries.
Why all the fuss about an old translation of an ancient book? There are two reasons: first, it is the founding text of the British Empire (including breakaway colonies such as the United States), and was carried to every corner of the English-speaking world by migrants and missionaries; second, it matters now, both as a religious text and as the finest embodiment of English prose. Its history in the intervening centuries has been complex. The text has evolved over the centuries, and there are thousands of small changes in spelling, punctuation and grammar. The commissioning of a revised translation was suggested by a puritan to King James, but the KJV was subsequently repudiated by some puritans, because of its inclusion of the Apocrypha and its use of ecclesiastical terms (e.g. ‘baptize’ instead of ‘wash’, ‘church’ instead of ‘congregation’, ‘bishop’ instead of ‘elder’). In the twenty-first century its most loyal advocates are those at opposite ends of the Protestant continuum: Anglo-Catholic ritualists who revere it alongside the 1662 Book of Common Prayer and evangelicals who think that God answered the prayers of the translators by helping them to produce the most authoritative of all translations.
Is it a good translation? The answer is yes and no. On the affirmative side, it is certainly the most scrupulous of all translations, in part because the scholarly fire-power of the original translators could not be matched in our less educated age. Where could one now find fifty translators with competence in Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, Samaritan, Ethiopic and Arabic (the languages of the English polyglot Bible of the period) and a command of patristic, rabbinical and Reformation commentaries? Another reason for its scholarly probity is the scrupulous process through which the KJV was produced. The time lavished on the translation by the learned translators was secured by relieving them of other duties; no modern publisher would buy out fifty scholars for several years in order that they might devote their full attention to a translation of the Bible.
In this sense the KJV is the best of all translations. Against this, the authority of the Greek and Hebrew texts which formed the basis of the translation has been subverted by the publication of earlier Greek texts (notably the fourth-century Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus) in the nineteenth century, and earlier Hebrew texts (the Dead Sea Scrolls, which antedate previously-known manuscripts by a millennium) in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The challenge to the texts used in 1611 means that the scholarly authority of the KJV may have been subverted. The debate may be reaching a new phase, in that after 59 years OUP has just completed publication of the 40 mighty volumes of Discoveries in the Judaean Desert, which contains the transcriptions, translations and notes needed to carry the argument forward.
Challenges to the authority of the King James Version are a proper part of the critical scrutiny to which all texts should be submitted in an open society. What is remarkable that such scrutiny does not subvert the affection that English speakers have for the KJV. The principal reason for this affection, even for readers who use other translations, is the aural quality of its prose. Modern translations are normally intended for private study, and so are usually read silently. The KJV was, as its title-page pronounces, ‘appointed to be read in churches’: it was a translation intended to be read aloud and understood, and so it was in countless churches, chapels and households. Its prose has a pulse that makes it easy to read aloud and easy to memorize. When Adam ungallantly blames Eve for the fall, he says (in the KJV) ‘she gave me of the fruit and I did eat’ (Genesis 3: 12); he uses ten simple monosyllabic words arranged in a line of iambic pentameter, which was the verse form used by Shakespeare. This is prose with the qualities of poetry, and it would be hard to think of any modern translation of which that can be said. Other translations may reflect more recent scholarship or satisfy particular doctrinal requirements, but the KJV is the best loved of all translations, and rightly so.
Gordon Campbell is Professor of Renaissance Studies at University of Leicester. His recent books for OUP include The Oxford Dictionary of the Renaissance (2003), Renaissance Art and Architecture (2004), The Grove Encyclopedia of Decorative Arts (2 vols, 2006), Milton and the manuscript of ‘De Doctrina Christiana’ (2007), The Grove Encyclopedia of Classical Art and Architecture (2 vols, 2007), John Milton: Life, Work and Thought (2008) and The Grove Encyclopedia of Northern Renaissance Art (3 vols, 2009). In October 2010 OUP will publish his Bible: The Story of the King James Version, 1611-2011 and his 400th anniversary edition of the Bible.
400 years of KJV « Very Like A Whale 17th September 2010
[…] 17, 2010 at 10:49 pm (cool poet) Here. Challenges to the authority of the King James Version are a proper part of the critical scrutiny to […]
The American Patriot’s Bible Reviews | Shout Joyfully 18th September 2010
[…] Celebrating the King James Bible (oup.com) […]
Bible: Is It A Riddle? | Shout Joyfully 18th September 2010
Blessed Silence @ Silverwalk 16th October 2010
The King James Version: “Translation it is that openeth the window, to let in the light” « A World of Words 23rd November 2010
[…] the OUP blog Campbell addresses the question of whether the KJV is a good translation. He writes: The answer is yes and […]
OUPblog » Blog Archive » The Greatest Monument of English Prose 20th December 2010
[…] James Version, 1611-2011 and his 400th anniversary edition of the Bible. He has previously written this post for […]
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Stonehenge: Up Close 12th December 2011
Gain a rare and fascinating insight into the famous World Heritage Site with an exclusive tour around the site led by one of English Heritage’s experts. Start the tour with exclusive early morning access to the stone circle at Stonehenge accompanied by our expert. Visit key archaeology sites including Durrington Walls, Woodhenge and The Cursus and learn more about the archaeological landscape and investigative work that has gone on in recent years. Includes tea and coffee.
MEMBERS EXCLUSIVE EVENT
Purchase your tickets today by calling our dedicated Ticket Sales Team on 0870 333 1183 (Mon – Fri 8.30am – 5.30 Sat 9am – 5pm). Please note: Booking tickets for this event is essential as places are limited
Ticket price includes entry to event site only
Member (Adult) £30.00
Link: http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/events/stonehenge-up-close-s-12-dec/
Durrington Walls – is the site of a large Neolithic settlement and later henge enclosure. It is 2 miles north-east of Stonehenge. Recent excavation at Durrington Walls, support an estimate of a community of several thousand, thought to be the largest one of its age in north-west Europe. At 500m in diameter, the henge is the largest in Britain and recent evidence suggests that it was a complementary monument to Stonehenge
Woodhenge – Neolithic monument, dating from about 2300 BC, six concentric rings, once possibly supported a ring-shaped building.
Stonehenge Cursus – (sometimes known as the Greater Cursus) is a large Neolithic cursus monument next to Stonehenge. It is roughly 3km long and between 100 and 150m wide. Excavations by the Stonehenge Riverside Project in 2007 dated the construction of the earthwork to between 3630 and 3375 BC. This makes the monument several hundred years older than the earliest phase of Stonehenge in 3000 BC.
Bronze Age round barrows – The Stonehenge UNESCO world heritage site is said to contain the most concentrated collection of prehistoric sites and monuments in the world. One monument type missed by the casual observer is that of the Bronze Age round barrow (burial mounds). As we walk through this landscape, you will come into contact with these intriguing ancient burial sites and through the expertise of our tour leaders, you will come face to face with the customs and people of Bronze Age society buried in close proximity to the unique stone circle of Stonehenge. Stonehenge Avenue – Walk along the Stonehenge Avenue and approach this unique stone circle as was the intended route experienced by the Stonehenge’s contempories.
http://www.stonehengetours.com/html/stonehenge_archaeology_avebury_landscape_tour.htm
Merlin says: The Stonehenge landscape is more important than the Stone Circle – do this tour with the English Heritage………..
Categories : Bronze Age round barrows, durrington walls, private access, salisbury guided tours, special access tours, stonehenge cursus, stonehenge guide, stonehenge landscape, Stonehenge news, Stonehenge tours, The Cursus, wessex tours, wiltshire, world heritage site
Stonehenge lit up ‘will make it theme park’ claims Druid
Lighting up Stonehenge at night would turn it into a “theme park”, says a senior Druid.
Lady Mimi Pakenham from Warminster sparked the idea of illuminating the stones to “really display them” in a letter to a national newspaper.
Stonehenge was lit up at night for a period in the 1970s and early 1980s
Senior Druid, King Arthur Pendragon, said it would “detract from the very purpose of Stonehenge”.
English Heritage, which manages the site, said it could be a distraction for nearby traffic.
Lady Pakenham, who raised the idea on the letters pages of the Times, said lights would give the monument dignity.
“I can’t understand why they haven’t at least done a trial run of very subtle lighting,” she said.
“I think very soft illumination, sort of like moonlight, for a few hours in the evening would really display it far more than it is now – where it’s looking rather abandoned.
“It’s all fenced in like a concentration camp, so soft lights for a few hours in the dark of the night – it would actually be the real jewel in England’s wonderful, wonderful monuments and buildings.”
‘Dark and broody’
King Arthur Pendragon, battle chieftain of the Council of British Druid Orders, said: “The place is supposed to be dark and broody – that’s part of the mysticism of Stonehenge – and illuminating it would only detract from its very purpose as a sun temple.
“It’s not designed to be illuminated at night and in my opinion it smacks of theme park Stonehenge which is everything I stand against.”
According to English Heritage, Stonehenge was lit up at night for a period in the 1970s and early 1980s.
“But that practice was stopped due to an increase in road accidents caused by vehicles slowing down to observe the monument,” said a spokesperson.
“As there is even more traffic today on the A303, that risk cannot be ignored.”
Full story: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-15998526
Merlin say: No! moonlight only please………….
Tags: Arthur Pendragon
Categories : Druids, Stonehenge, Stonehenge news, Stonehenge tours
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Tyson Quick on moving Instapage upmarket & growing enterprise revenue to 20% of ARR
#ScaleOrDie
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@BENFJOHNSON
Instapage started in 2012 as a SaaS solution for easily creating landing pages at scale. Today, they are a company of 170 employees with 4 global offices, 15k customers, and a whole host of offerings to help advertisers increase conversions through post-click experiences.
Tyson Quick, CEO and founder of Instapage, has been critical to the success of the business. In this conversation, he talks with Dave about the origin of Instapage and how he grew the company into a leading name in SaaS. Our conversation turned more interesting and actionable as he specifically discussed the strategy he used to shift towards enterprise customers. These high-value customers have been insanely powerful for revenue growth and the long-term outlook of the business. We hope you’ll enjoy this conversation as much as we did.
Listen to Scale or Die on iTunes
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In This Episode You’ll Learn:
2:02 — The origin of Instapage & where the company is at today
3:03 —Transition from landing pages to a post-click optimization solution
4:16 — How did you get your first customers?
5:40 — Cutting through the noise and turning Instapage into a market leader
7:05 — Moving away from being a landing-page builder
8:15 — The shift to enterprise; selling value instead of a tool
8:30 — Moving from no-touch to a sales-driven culture; pricing is key
10:20 — Just get it out the door
11:57 — Our magic number is “how much do you spend on digital advertising per month”
12:40 — A year in, 20% of our total revenue is from enterprise; and 60-70% of new revenue is from total revenue
13:40 — People want to keep this secret
14:40 — Investors care about gross margin; if you can prove it with services — do it
16:25 — If you can deliver value, do it
18:05 — The salty six
18:54 — SaaStr
19:40 — Pocket app for text to speech
21:06 — High Growth Handbook by Elad Gil
23:52 — @TysonQuick
DR: About five years ago in my entrepreneurial journey, I was just getting started, and was running a little Facebook ad agency, helping small businesses do Facebook ads, and I needed a landing page solution to help my Facebook ad campaigns work better. I looked around and ended up signing up for a software program called Instapage, and fast-forward five years from that moment, I still use Instapage over multiple different businesses, and today I’m excited because we have the CEO here himself, Tyson Quick, with Instapage. He’s gonna share his stories. So, Tyson. Welcome to the show, man.
TQ: Thanks for having me, excited to be here and share a little bit of my story.
DR: I think you were actually one of the first softwares that I ever signed up for, back when I was starting out as an entrepreneur. I didn’t know anything, but I remember I was blown away with the editor back then, and that was a really sweet experience.
TQ: Cool, and how long ago was that? A couple of years ago?
DR: Yeah, I think it was, like, four or five years ago. Just when I was kind of getting started. When did you guys actually start?
TQ: Well the business was formed in 2012, and then we went to market about 2014.
DR: Okay. So that’s probably right around when you guys had launched.
TQ: Yeah, we’ve come a long way since then.
DR: Very cool. So, I know Instapge for landing pages, but I guess, in your words, tell us:
What do you do at Instapage, and where’s the company at today?
TQ: Absolutely. So, I’m the founder & CEO of the company, so I do a little bit of everything. Mostly overseeing the strategy, business growth, and making sure that our go-to-market and sales strategy is in sync. Make sure we’re prioritizing the road map to the best of our abilities. The company’s come a long way in the last couple of years. We started out as just this software solution for building and testing landing pages faster. And now we’re calling it a post-click optimization solution — it’s really the intersection between scalable creation optimization and personalization. To really empower marketers to be able to increase their conversion rates on their digital ad campaigns, and to do so at scale.
DR: Very cool.
And how many employees do you have, and about how many users do you guys have right now?
TQ: Yeah, so we are at 170 employees, I think just under that, And we are just at about 15,000 customers, and we’re really focused on the enterprise side of things now. So, that’s ramping really quickly. We have a couple hundred enterprise customers, everyone from Verizon, to cool companies like SoundCloud.
DR: That’s very cool. I want to talk more about this post-click optimization and then the shift to enterprise. Because again, when I used it, it was landing pages for anybody, or for little guys like me. And I’ve kind of seen, over the years, the messaging shifting, and I’m just curious what that’s looked like as you guys have grown. But before we get there, you started, writing code om 2012, launched, and went to market in 2014.
How did you guys get your first customers?
TQ: Right, so, we started off just letting a handful of people know that this product is going to be coming. These are friends, family, other entrepreneurs, and they were the first people to use it.
But we gave them free accounts because we wanted to get user feedback and then we got our first round of customers by doing a bunch of content marketing and just social media marketing — letting people know that it’s available.
That, obviously, doesn’t scale really fast right at the beginning, and the company itself didn’t scale really fast right at the beginning, it was really a slow-going slog. We had pivoted from our previous company and had run out of funding. We were operating with a very minimal amount of capital. And so, just me and two other guys, and we just kinda slogged it out for two more years. I’m just doing, like, content marketing, continuing with the social media stuff. And it got to the point where we could start doing some digital advertising ourselves, and sending that traffic to landing pages, and having a really high success rate with that.
DR: When you guys were launching, creating it, what was the landing page builder market looking like? Was it already crowded? Were you kinda the first there?
How did you start to cut through the noise and, like, pull away, and, like, make a niche for yourselves?
TQ: So there is only one other company that started. So Unbounce and us started at relatively the same time — they started about a year and a half, two years before us,
DR: Okay.
TQ: We identified a problem ourselves before we went out and asked, is anyone else doing this? And then we found, oh, there’s one other company doing this, and we felt that it was, it was still very clunky, and you know, at the beginning, we wanted to make something much easier, something that was much faster to get paid ads. Focusing on the smaller side of the market.
Which is completely different today, whereas we’ve moved way up-market and are focused on bigger companies. So we kind of, us and Unbounce, started a kind of, the educational phase of informing the market like, what’s the real important need here for doing this? And how do you go about doing it?
Then throughout the last couple of years, there’s been a whole slew of competition coming out. The main difference is we’ve moved away from being a landing page builder. You’ll never see us talking about landing page builder — you’ll never see that in our marketing pages — unless it’s listing a feature because the landing page building is only a piece of the solution that we’ve built. We like to more refer to what we’ve built now as an advertising conversion cloud.
Even with the building side, we’ve gone much deeper, it’s not about just building things, it’s we have aspects of creation that are scalable. Things like Instablocks, which is our templatized page blocks, that will let you seek content across an infinite number of pages. And so it’s much more than a builder when you are talking about the creation aspects. Furthermore, now we’re building in logic that lets you identify audiences and says “well if from this ad, or if from this geographic region, show this content on the page, or swap that section out.” This is also in line with our move to the enterprise where we’re selling the value more, and not the tool. We’re not saying, oh, it’s a landing page builder. We’re saying, you have a conversion problem, and our solutions here fix that.
DR: From a growth strategy, a marketing strategy standpoint — you guys were a no-touch software, initially, right? You weren’t doing anything, it was just coming to the site and signing up right there.
TQ: Right.
DR: How did you move from that to what, presumably, is, like, a very sales-driven, different kind of organization now?
TQ: Yeah, for sure. So, the first thing that we had to talk about is pricing, um, so, ’cause you can’t have a sales process until we re-thought pricing a little bit.
DR: Mmhm.
TQ: Um. And one of, one more benefit for the enterprise on the pricing side of things is entrepreneurs, like, lose sleep over thinking about like, am I pricing my software right? The nice thing about sales is you can, you don’t tell them how much it’s gonna cost. You just adjust in real time. You’re like, oh, it’s 30k. And you might have doubled the price from someone else you gave it to.
DR: Totally.
TQ: They’re not gonna know, right? And if no one’s buying at that price, it’s like, “okay, well, we’ll give you a discount and whatever,”
DR: Right, totally.
TQ: And you play around with that in real time.
We had to talk about what are the cutoffs? What value are we gonna offer? So we said, okay, we’re going to make any new features that we add have real value — it’s gonna be enterprise only. We’re going to get a little more restrictive on the limitations — like how many pages you have, how much traffic you have, and create even stricter cutoffs there.
Instapage’s enterprise landing page
Once we have that, we’re gonna throw on customer success. So we moved one of our best customer support agents over, to customer success. And we said, this is what we want you to do for success. People that sign up for this — you’re gonna do a demo with them and you’re gonna make sure that you do a one-on-one set up with them. Then they’re gonna be able to hit you up directly, to answer their questions. And we just got it out the door.
When we started, we sold about a million dollar, or, I would say just under a million dollars, with not an enterprise product. It was like we added two or three features— an audit log, and a few other enterprise-y type things.
DR: Like security or, like, team management?
TQ: Yeah, like, a little bit.
DR: Stuff like that?
TQ: Better security, an audit log, and, well like, one other thing.
And the customer success team just started doing it, saying “oh here’s enterprise, and we put it up on the website.” It said “Request demo,” and I put someone on sales.
I hired him, and I was like, look — our whole sales funnel for generating demand, that’s gonna take us another six months. Our marketing team had to re-orient, and build sales collateral — sales decks and funnels to generate leads. Then, you know, downloadable assets. So we can present assets to enterprise. And it kind of doled this whole stuff out.
But I was like, “I hired you now, and it’s gonna be rough around the edges, but just make, make stuff happen.”
We started getting some, some leads. You’ll find that there is a percentage of customers, even that exist now, that want to purchase that way. They want to talk to someone. Now it’s your job to qualify it a little bit, so when they fill out the form you ask who’s this company?
What’s the size of their company?
For us, we found that our magic number is “how much do you spend on digital advertising per month?”
And it’s important because a lot of people think it’s just the size of the team. Well, for us, a lot of agencies actually are only like ten people, but they manage millions of dollars a month in ad spend for their clients. So it’s not always just team size.
That’s really what we did. We slapped something together, and we started doing it slowly, it was slow-going, but we were learning a lot in real-time. And while we were improving the marketing — the sales enablement type of material.
Then it's just kind of, it's been, it's been an increasingly growing system, where a year and a half in, 20% of our total revenue is from enterprise. And like, something like 60 to 70% of our new revenue is coming from enterprise now. Click To Tweet
Eventually, we plan to be enterprise only, and people are gonna be like, wait, what happened here? Like, Leadpages, Unbounce — these guys, stagnated, flat-lined, or went out of business, and you guys are this hundred million dollar company. Because we went deeper on the problem, we increased prices, we built human relationships, and we owned the enterprise side of the market.
DR: Love it, man. Yeah, I remember, it was probably a year ago, I had this, like, big epiphany about Bounce Exchange. I studied them for like a week straight, and I’m laying in bed, staring at the ceiling, and it’s like, what is going on with them? They’re exit-intent, they’re pop-ups…
And then you have people selling it seven bucks for life, and it’s like, what is the difference here? And that kind of started my new journey of being like there are in a different place than this place we’re all hanging out in.
TQ: Yeah!
DR: We gotta figure out how to get there.
TQ: And, as a matter of fact, people want to keep this secret. If you think about, Bounce Exchange, they’re incredibly secret as a company. You can not get info — I’ve tried to get demos with them, and all the information I have on them I had to collect through a third party. Because they know that we’re a software company, and they don’t want people to find out. They don’t want people to find out the business model. It’s really just a streamlined agency, pitching themselves as a technology company.
It is a technology company, but they’re doing, they’re consumers of their technology. The thing about Bounce Exchange that’s exciting is even if you think about services is people think, like, oh, my valuation’s gonna be lower. No one is gonna want to buy me.
That tends to be what I hear from people, and what I thought myself. But, then, I’m like, what’s going on with Bounce Exchange? They’ve raised, like 80 million dollars or whatever, and come to find out, investors don’t care so much about if you have services or not. They care about gross margin.
So if you can create a strong gross margin with services, great! It’s just as good as software. The reason that software as a service has a high valuation multiple is not just because it’s software — it’s because it has a high gross margin. If you can prove that you can do a high gross margin and it has services, that’s fine too. And the thing is they’re able to do that because they’re like, “we know how to use our software really well, and we just created a blueprint of how to do it.
Oh, you’re a media company?
Here’s our media blueprint. And they want to keep that secret, they’re trying really hard. I’ve investigated them a lot myself, too, because we’re moving, increasingly in that direction. Because I think a lot of marketing technologies would better be suited to that type of business model.
Optimizely, by the way, is starting in this the hard way, it’s funny, I looked at Optimizely, I looked at Bounce Exchange. Optimizely is making a little bit more money, but they’ve had years on them, and they’ve had more money raised. It’s funny because Optimizely started as a self-service product, only it got a little more expensive. It got down to just two plans like us, eliminated self-service plans, enterprise only, and now you’re required on enterprise, to have them help you with your first two experiments.
And Bounce Exchange was, is like “Nah, we’ll just skip that entire learning phase stuff and just do it for them because these people don’t know what they’re doing.” They don’t even give you access to the software now. That model is not gonna work for everyone,
DR: Yeah.
TQ: But it suits the rest. It’s just funny, not everyone has to do this, but I think that people are realizing more and more that there’s a ton of money left on the table.
Marketing teams are just overloaded. They’re like, look, if you can deliver that value to me, like, sure, here you go. Like, do it. You know what I mean? Here’s ten times more money, too, but if you say no — you’ve got to do it on your own. Well, they’re like, well, I gotta train someone, I gotta get educated on it, it might be two people, three people, and time is money.
So it’s really, not that they’re not buying your software, they’re buying your software, plus all the overhead and time spent.
And Optimizely is over here trying to educate, like, they have a marketing conference and they’re like, come in, we’re gonna train you on, like, how to have a whole team, a conversion-focused company. Good luck with that. Like, you’re gonna spend so much money educating the market on how to build a conversion team whereas you could probably just be doing it all like they could just be doing fulfillment services and be doing half a billion dollars a year, because everyone wants to increase their conversions, right?
Fortunately for us, our customers see us as not direct competitors against like Optimizely, because it’s specifically advertisers who need the creation component. They’re focusing more on web apps, so it’s a similar market, right? And whether you’re conversion optimization, or you’re some marketing product, most of the time, it’s just, that’s the case.
The Salty Six
DR: Love it, man. Love it so much. I got a lot to do tonight. We’ll wrap it up here, we’ve got what I call “the salty six”, which is just six rapid-fire questions for us to get to know you a little bit better.
TQ: All right.
DR: And hear some of your insights on stuff. So, you ready?
TQ: Yep.
DR: We’ll do that and then we’ll head out of here. Okay, first of the salty six:
What do you do for fun?
TQ: I do a lot of stuff for fun, travel mostly. Mostly traveling.
DR: Where do you travel? Where do you like?
TQ: This year I went to four music festivals, plus Burning Man.
DR: Cool
TQ: It’s kind of my outlet — freeing myself from daily routine and technology.
DR: Yeah, yeah.
TQ: And those are from everywhere, from, like, Michigan, to Nevada, to California, and then we have offices in three countries, so I travel to those a couple times a year, as well.
What’s the best conference you’ve gone to, personally?
TQ: Best conference, SaaStr, I really love SaaStr, I think that Jason Lemkin did a great job, I like being around that many people, they’re also building, uh, similar business models, it’s so business model oriented, that almost all the talks are really relevant, right? You can jump in, learn some stuff about marketing, learn some stuff about pricing, learn some stuff about success, enterprise, like, the list goes on. And then, just, crazy amount of networking that you can do there.
DR: Yup.
TQ: A lot of SaaS companies are consumers of SaaS, I like to joke that we’re a SaaS company running on SaaS.
DR: That’s so true. What podcast do you listen to?
TQ: I actually don’t listen to, I don’t listen to podcasts, actively. What I do do is, I send a ton of articles to Pocket, it’s, like, a mobile app called Pocket, and they have this awesome, like, text to speech system. It’s really impressive how far this technology has come.
Pocket’s content digestion app
TQ: And I’ll hit the gym up, and it will just read me out these articles that I’ve saved, so I’ve kind of tailored my own, uh, kind of readable magazine. Or my own, kind of, audiobook, and um, I read a lot of those. I know, last year, it said that I had read enough articles that it was equivalent of, like, 62 books, or something.
DR: Wow.
TQ: And based on that, and it will archive ones after it’s done reading, and just jump to the next one, um, because I’m listening to.
DR: Were they all audio?
TQ: Yeah. Or, like, 90% audio, sometimes I read it. When I’m walking into work, when I’m walking back, like, if I walk my dog, um, all the time, like, I’m just a consumer of information. Not all of it’s useful information, like for personal development. A lot of it, recently, has been, like, politics and stuff that’s interesting to me. But I’m, you know, most of it’s, like, business and stuff, and science stuff, but my interests spread a couple categories.
DR: Cool.
What book are you reading right now? Like, what’s on your nightstand, just as a personal reader?
TQ: Yeah, so I just started, I’m a couple chapters into — I believe it’s called High Growth Handbook, uh, I think it’s High Growth Handbook. Let me think, it’s over here. That is what it is! It’s put out by Stripe. Anyways, Elad Gil was at, like, a whole bunch of companies during their growth phases.
I think, like, Twitter, and a couple other companies, during their, like, big expansion period, and I wish would have had this book, like, five years ago, because a lot of the stuff in there is stuff that we’ve learned the hard way, but it’s so spot on. That’s a really great book. It’s one that you can jump through, too, it’s not, like, exactly linear, you can jump in and, like, oh, what’s some lessons about hiring, or, or structure. You know, the important stuff.
DR: Okay, Michael Jordan or Lebron?
TQ: I’m gonna go with Michael Jordan. Legacy. Sometimes, sometimes legacy, like, is just, it’s like, sometimes, the original movie is just always gonna be the best. Even,
TQ: Even if it’s, the new one is, like, fantastic, people are just gonna hate on it, right?
DR: It’s like, the guy’s all right, but when we grew up, like, put the posters on the wall, and the jerseys, and, yeah, it’s an emotional thing for me, at this point.
TQ: Yeah, it just seems like, to me, it just seems so, uh, like such a legendary, magical figure, right? Now it’s like so much information, stuff like, there’s a million different personas and people, sports, and whatever.
TQ: It’s hard to pick out, like, an icon, right?
DR: Yep, totally.
All right, last question of the salty six! What’s one person that you’d like to have dinner with, dead or alive, to have an interesting night?
TQ: You know, I would probably pick, probably, like, someone, like I said, I’m interested in politics, I think I would pick, like JFK.
DR: Yep.
TQ: Or Martin Luther King. Because I think those guys are just, honestly, incredibly inspirational, focused on, not focused on business, but just, what can I do to make the world a better place? Right? And kind of, it’s kind of similar to business, but a complex system that is even more complex than a business, right? Like, people and, the thing about politics is, and politicians, is they have to deal with, like, human emotion more than, like, a business does. I know there’s emotion involved in business, but, uh, it’s a whole different ball game, it’s so much more unpredictable. So, I think those guys are, it would be really interesting to
DR: That would be cool.
TQ: Sit down with them. Have a few beers with.
DR: Yeah, that would be cool. Well, very cool, man. Well, seriously, this has been, like, hugely impactful for me, and I’m excited to go implement a lot of this stuff, so, seriously, man, thank you so much for the time.
TQ: Yep!
DR: If people wanna follow you, hear what you’re up to, where can they go find you?
TQ: Yeah, hit me up on Twitter, I’ve been active on Twitter for a long time, one of the original OGs to it, actually. I think I was, like, in the first 50,000 or so people that
DR: Are you just @Tyson? Because you’re, like, the first Tyson on there?
TQ: Well, it’s @TysonQuick, ’cause I changed my name later. I had a different one, it was, like, QuickTyson or something. ‘Cause I never, this was literally before any celebrity was even on Twitter, it was like when Kevin Rose, from Digg, was the number one guy. And I got to the point where, I think I was, like, the top, like, 10,000. And, of course, it’s a long story since then, but, um, but, so I changed it later, but Tyson had been taken, so now it’s just @TysonQuick.
Follow @tysonquick
DR: Gotcha, very cool. Well, awesome, man. But, yeah, thank you again, and thanks to everyone for watching or listening Scale or Die, hope you enjoyed this episode, we’ll see you on the next one.
TQ: All righty! Cheers!
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
Originally published Apr 16, 2019, updated Jun 3, 2019
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Tag Archives: Commemoration
‘War Stories Open Day’ at Brighton Museum: Engagement, Empathy and the First World War.
In this blogpost Dr Lucy Noakes discusses a recent First World War centenary event in Brighton and reflects on the personal dimensions of our continuing fascination with the First World War.
On Saturday 13 September, 2013, the grounds of the Royal Pavilion estate in Brighton echoed once again to the sounds of Sikh riflemen parading and marching. Between 1914 and 1916 the Royal Pavilion and the Dome in the centre of the city had been the Kitchener Hospital, one of three buildings in Brighton (the others being the workhouse and a school) that were a temporary home to soldiers from the Indian sub-continent who had been injured while fighting on the Western Front. The 15th Ludhiana Infantry Regiment, a re-enactment group under the auspices of the National Army Museum’s ‘War and Sikhs’ project were participating in the War Stories Open Day being run by the Royal Pavilion and Museum to mark the major War Stories exhibition running at the Museum until March 2015.
15th Ludhiana Infantry Regiment (National Army Museum War and Sikhs project) with Brian Fitch, Mayor of Brighton. Brighton Dome.
This affecting and affective exhibition traces the history of the war through fifteen individuals who came from, or had links with, Brighton during the war years. These included Bob Whiting, the goalkeeper with Brighton and Hove Albion football team, who joined the army with some of his team-mates in 1915 and was killed in the Arras offensive of 1917, a family of Belgian refugees who settled in Sussex, and Manta Singh, officer in a Sikh Regiment (and great grandfather of one of the re-enactors present at the Open Day) who had died in the Kitchener hospital in 1915 of wounds received when rescuing his commanding officer from the battlefield. In this focus on individuals, the exhibition could perhaps be understood as being shaped by the ‘new museology’; an approach to museum displays that has moved beyond the traditional ‘glass case’, replacing artefacts with affect and focusing instead on the lives and stories of historical actors as a means to engage the interest, and empathy, of the visiting public.[1] As this short piece will go on to argue, this is an approach that perhaps has an especial resonance for our understandings of the First World War.
As well as the Sikh Regiment, many other groups participated in the Open Day, and visitors to the Museum were able to handle wartime artefacts, hear popular songs from the war years, find out more about the history of Brighton and Hove during the war, and research the histories of their own families and communities in wartime. ‘Gateways’ ran an information stall, where we helped visitors who wanted to discover more about their ancestors’ wartime experiences. Helping people to research these experiences was a fascinating experience for the historians and history students who volunteered on the stall – a real ‘hands on’ history that reinforced our sense that the First World War continues to have a real resonance in many people’s lives today. It’s not often that the historian encounters the visceral emotional response that some visitors to the Gateways stall had when encountering the names of relatives on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website.
Why is this? In part, of course, it is due to the nature of the war itself – its unprecedented and unexpected scale continues to have a resonance down the years, leading to a widespread understanding of the conflict as marking a kind of break between a lost, past world (‘never such innocence again’ as Larkin remarked fifty years on) and the modern world of today.[2] Political, as well as social and cultural histories have played their part in this: the rise of the totalitarian regimes that so dominated and decimated Europe in the mid 20th century are widely seen as having their origins on the battlefields of First World War, and the unsatisfactory peace treaty at its close. Cultural historians like Modris Eksteins and Paul Fussell have found in the war a turn away from the literary, musical and artistic forms of the 19th century and an embracing of the tropes of modernism, in high culture if not in its more popular forms.[3] And social historians have long debated the extent to which the war was a modernising force, bringing in its wake an extended democracy, and an increased willingness of the state to intervene in areas previously understood as the domain of the individual and the family.[4]
There is clearly more to it than this however. Many feel a real, personal link to those whose lives were shaped by the war. This is, I think, more than a simple desire to be ‘a part of history’, to claim a personal, familial role in the conflict that is being commemorated at the moment, though as Dan Todman has perceptively noted, this can be a factor in the ongoing fascination with key events of the war years for Britain, such as the first day of the Battle of the Somme, or Passchendaele, the third Battle of Ypres.[5] There is a personal dimension to the continuing fascination with the war years that can be harder to trace in many of the other key events of the recent past. The First World War coincided not only with the growth of photography and film, giving us numerous images of the battlefield and the home front, but with the growth of literacy, enabling more ‘ordinary’ soldiers to write home about their experiences, or to reflect on these after the war in forms that have been passed down through families and in archives. Conditions for soldiers and civilians in the Boer War just a decade or so earlier may have been equally foul, but, for the most part, they weren’t written down or photographed, and the smaller numbers involved mean what memories there are exist in fewer households today.
The sheer numbers of those involved then plays a key role in this, as family stories of ancestors caught up in the war both reinforce and are shaped by, popular, public representations. The rush to volunteer in 1914, the formation of the Pals Battalions in 1915 and the introduction of conscription in 1916 ensured that more men than ever before were to experience military life. The formation of the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps in 1917, and the work of nurses on the war fronts, together with aerial and naval bombardment, ensured that many British women saw the impact of industrial warfare first hand. Many households in Britain today can claim some link to the First World War, either through the participation of a male ancestor in the military or through the war’s impact on those at home in Britain, or in the Empire and Dominions. War memorials, Remembrance Sunday, war poets on the school syllabus, and the ease with which many of us today can visit the war cemeteries in France and Belgium all demonstrate both the continuing fascination with the war years, and its ongoing presence in our material and cultural lives.
Many historians continue to express frustration with (to reluctantly cite Michael Gove) ‘the Blackadder version of the war’, in which everyone dies, and indeed we should remember that the majority of combatant survived the war, and that the social and economic changes it engendered led to long term improvements in the lives of many. However, I would suggest that today’s wide public acceptance that the war was, largely, a futile waste of men’s lives that ended in an unsatisfactory peace which laid the grounds for the even more destructive Second World War, in fact indicates not only an admirable empathy with those who suffered in the war, but a perhaps even more worthwhile scepticism about politicians who are all too willing to rush into conflicts today. The focus on individual stories, and the emotional resonance that the war still has for many, means that the centenary of the war provides us with fertile ground for engaging with the wider public in historical research.
[1]Merriman, N. (1991) Beyond the Glass Case: The Past, the Heritage and the Public in Britain (Leicester: Leicester University Press).
[2]Larkin, P. (1964) MCMXIV.
[3]Eksteins, M. (1989), Rites of Spring: The Great War and the Birth of the Modern Age (New York: Houghton Mifflin); Fussell, P. (1975), The Great War and Modern Memory (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
[4]Marwick, A. (1965; 2006), The Deluge: British Society and the First World War (Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan); Braybon, G. (1981), Women Workers and the First World War (London: Routledge); Gregory, A. (2008), The Last Great War(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
[5]Todman, D. (2009), ‘The 90th Anniversary of the Battle of the Somme’ in M. Keren & H. Herwig (eds.), War Memory and Popular Culture (North Carolina: McFarland).
This entry was posted in Articles, Dr Lucy Noakes, Events and tagged 15th Ludhiana Infantry Regiment, Brighton Museums, Brighton Pavilion, Commemoration, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Dr Lucy Noakes, War Stories on September 22, 2014 by zd30.
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R.E.A.L. Review
A publication for current and former R.E.A.L. Bears
President’s Post
April 20, 2016 by Taylor Juenger
My name is Caitlin Harris and I am the current President of R.E.A.L. Bears. I am a Junior here at Missouri State, majoring in Biology with a Chemistry minor, and following the Pre-Medicine Program. My goal is to become a physician and practice pediatric medicine. I joined R.E.A.L. Bears the fall of my freshman year with the goal of becoming involved on campus. I really loved the idea of building my leadership skills and I knew I needed some help to better myself as a communicator. I can honestly say that R.E.A.L. Bears has done all of those things for me and so much more.
To begin the semester, we began by appointing the first ever committee chairs for the four committees that were started during the fall semester. The Executive Council hosted a committee chair training to prepare these leaders to take on the responsibility. Overall, the committees have been a great addition to R.E.A.L. Bears. The majority of our members are actively involved in a committee, which encourages retention. The addition of committees has also helped to plan and run our events much more smoothly. For the marketing committee in particular, the committee I head along with my committee chair, we were able to design and distribute a R.E.A.L. Bears exclusive t-shirt, something we had not done in quite some time. We will be using these shirts as a way to market our organization, by having days when all members will wear their shirts, and by using them for giveaways.
Another new aspect to R.E.A.L. Bears this semester was our student philanthropy event. Our organization was asked to take on the task of teaching students the importance of giving back to their University, both with their time and money. Our Vice President of Philanthropy along with her committee, put on an educational event at the end of February that had a great turn out. Students had the opportunity to sign a banner to say thank you to donors of the University, and they had the chance to guess how many privately funded scholarships were awarded last school year, one of which is specific to R.E.A.L. Bears.
This semester the Executive Council also nominated R.E.A.L. Bears for three different STAR Awards: the Distinguished Merit award, which we won last year, the Leadership/Membership development award, and the Public Affairs award. The STAR Awards will take place on April 25th, and are a way to recognize the most influential and successful student organizations on campus.
Another exciting aspect of R.E.A.L. Bears is Missouri State’s Birthday. The Vice President of External Programs and his committee threw a party for the University on March 17th. This is the third year that our organization has put on this event, and it was successful once again. This year we had two separate events. The first was held in the PSU and was open to all students and staff where they had the opportunity to sign an oversized birthday card, take a picture in the photo booth, answer a Missouri State trivia question and spin the prize wheel, indulge in traditional Missouri State foods, or purchase a Be A Bear shirt. Our evening event was a more formal event that student leaders, deans, and faculty were invited to. Our student body president and vice president emceed the program which also featured President Clif Smart and the Alumni Board of Directors Chair Elect, Dan Cogswell.
Looking forward, the semester is quickly coming to an end, yet there is so much left for R.E.A.L. Bears . First we have the Appreciation Reception that will take place at the end of April, an event that allows our members to honor someone who has had an impact on their college career. At this event we will also be presenting the Julie Ebersold Award and announce the R.E.A.L. Bear of the Year. Elections are also fast approaching. They will also take place at the end of April where members will officially be elected as the President and six Vice Presidents of R.E.A.L. Bears. Once elections are complete, applications for committee chairs will be available, and soon after, six new committee chairs will be chosen. For the 2016-2017 school year, there will be six committees, the four we already have in place: Marketing, Membership, Philanthropy and Birthday Party, and we have decided to add two more: Publications and Social Activities. Lastly, we will also have the annual End of Year Picnic to reflect on the great year we have had, and to wish our seniors goodbye and good luck.
Caitlin Harris, R.E.A.L. Bears President
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University of Nottingham > Blogs > Making Science Public > responsible innovation > CRISPR and genome editing: Real and imagined
October 28, 2016, by Brigitte Nerlich
CRISPR and genome editing: Real and imagined
For several years now there has been a buzz around a new advance in genomics called genome (or gene) editing. “Genome editing is the deliberate alteration of a selected DNA sequence in a living cell.” Scientists have been able to do gene editing for a while, but to find and replace any sequence in any organism relatively precisely makes CRISPR so interesting. To do this scientists exploit the natural function of a bacterial gene that encodes enzymes which can ‘cut’ DNA … but it’s, of course, more complicated than that. If you want to know more about genome editing or CRISPR I recommend two videos. Start with the one produced by the Royal Society and then make a cup of tea and watch A Capella Science sing CRISPR! Enjoy!
In 2015 CRISPR was voted science breakthrough of the year. Now, towards the end of 2016, the Nuffield Council on Bioethics has published an ethical review of ‘genome editing’ from which I took the definition quoted above. In between, both CRISPR and genome editing have flourished. They have also attracted increasing attention from bioethicists and social scientists. CRISPR has not yet really entered popular culture though, as far as I can make out. But of course, the usual spectres of Brave New World, designer babies and eugenics are ever present. I’ll first say a bit more about the rise of CRISPR in science before I come to the not yet rise of CRISPR in popular culture.
CRISPR: Mundane tool and molecular marvel
When announcing CRISPR as science breakthrough of the year 2015, Science Magazine explained that CRISPR ”was conceived after a yogurt company in 2007 identified an unexpected defense mechanism that its bacteria use to fight off viruses. A birth announcement came in 2012, followed by crucial first steps in 2013 and a massive growth spurt last year. Now, it has matured into a molecular marvel, and much of the world—not just biologists—is taking notice of the genome-editing method CRISPR”.
When reading some of the announcements made in 2015 and 2016, one can observe that CRISPR is conceptualised both as a rather mundane tool (“’It’s going to be like PCR, a tool in the toolbox,’ says Jennifer Doudna of the University of California, Berkeley”) and as a ‘molecular marvel’ (“It’s [nothing] short of miraculous. It’s hard to believe how efficient [CRISPR] is” – says Thomas Doetschman, quoted here).
Ease, precision and efficiency make CRISPR a tool of choice for scientists. It allows them to carry out basic science faster than before and also democratises its use – more people can use this tool and they can carry out more experiments. This has, of course, also aroused some fears about illicit, widespread use of CRISPR for nefarious purposes.
Let us now look at some of the ways scientists, commentators and even some film makers tell stories about CRISPR, stories that explore threats posed by CRISPR rather than celebrate the opportunities it provides to do better science.
CRISPR: Ancient myths and modern menace
As far as I can see, CRISPR and genome editing haven’t yet created their own popular image but reporting on these advances feeds on older, well-established, even stereotypical images and tropes, well rehearsed during debates about cloning, stem cells, the human genome project, even nanotechnology. I’ll first talk about the use of these entrenched narratives and then come to some more novel stories around CRISPR that are emerging just now.
In terms of old and well-established stories, there is the ubiquitous Prometheus, the famous Greek god that stole fire/knowledge, gave it to mankind and was severely punished. Prometheus was made even more famous in its reincarnation as Frankenstein, the Modern Prometheus. This incarnation is used in a forthcoming book entitled Modern Prometheus: Editing the Human Genome with Crispr-Cas9 by James Kozubek. In an article written this summer, Kozubek points out that “When I set out to write my book Modern Prometheus: Editing the Human Genome with Crispr-Cas9, almost four years ago, I knew that I had found clear parallels with Shelley, whose novel offered a plot device for so many modern tales, including Flowers for Algernon and Jurassic Park. After all, Crispr-Cas9 is a powerful new genome editing tool that may allow us to engineer new species, awaken some form of extinct ones, and to engender new ‘trans-humans,’ which are engineered as the perfect machines of parentless children.” There is a bit of hype here I think.
Another mythical Greek figure also makes its expected appearance, namely Pandora. Pandora had opened a forbidden box out of curiosity and, before she could close it, all sorts evils escaped, but, once closed, hope was left at the bottom of the box. One article on gene editing using this myth says: “Like Pandora’s box, with the release of the potential for harm, there is hope for curing a myriad of diseases such as cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, Huntington’s disease, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s disease. With this hope comes economic opportunity.” This focus on hope is quite unusual!
And of course no biotech advance can be talked about without reference to Brave New World, the 1931 novel by Aldous Huxley. References to Brave New World are generally made almost without thinking when warning against using CRISPR to ‘modify’ people and their descendants. However, one seasoned scientist, David Baltimore, makes a very important point (RRI style) in a report on a gene editing summit: “’Brave New World is not a novel about science,’ says Baltimore. ‘It’s a novel about politics and the choices we make.’ He thinks we still have a bit more time to contemplate gene editing, as technologies mature. ‘I don’t think it’s a problem we’ll have to worry about for 50 years. I leave it to people in the next generation to think this through. When they do, I hope they’ll be glad we started this conversation now. The future has a way of arriving quickly.’” This is important, as often time-frames are not discussed in science communication about genome editing.
Strangely, the future that Baltimore evokes also has a past, namely in the 1997 film Gattaca. “The film presents a biopunk vision of a future society driven by eugenics where potential children are conceived through genetic manipulation to ensure they possess the best hereditary traits of their parents”. Several commentators re-watched Gattaca at the dawn of the age of CRISPR and gene editing. Some were rather alarmed, some less so.
I agree with one commentator, Eva Glasrud, who said: “THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO REASON TO PANIC! We are not anywhere close to Gattaca (you know—that 1997 movie about a future in which every embryo is edited to be perfect?)”. For more information about why we should not panic about gene editing in the context of human reproduction and designer babies, you can also read this article by A. Cecile J.W. Janssens.
What about more modern takes on CRISPR? What is out there? So far I have found a reference to the X files. A member of the SBRC team, Gareth Little, sent me an email about a film set in the future in which CRISPR plays a role, produced by Jennifer Lopez. The headline in Science (19 October) reads “Jennifer Lopez set to produce NBC bio-terror drama C.R.I.S.P.R.” The article goes on to say: “Each episode of the new J Lo–produced show, slated to air on NBC, will investigate a criminal bio-attack based on the CRISPR gene-editing technique, from a genetic assassination attempt on the president to the framing of an unborn child for murder.” The comments underneath the article are interesting as they express fears that this probably over-hyped rendition of CRISPR will provoke (unwarranted) public fear and antagonism. Here you can read Jennifer Doudna’s (under)statement on the matter.
I’d love to hear from readers who have come across other instances like this!
CRISPR ethics
CRISPR is becoming a central (mundane and marvellous) tool in many fields of genomics. It is also being used to understand embryonic growth in humans. Speculations about using CRISPR to create ‘designer babies’ abound and there are fears that we might intentionally or accidentally alter the germline or use CRISPR to make bioweapons. Much real ethics, speculative ethics, as well as fictional ethics, has focused on these topics. We should, however, beware of ethics hype as much as of science hype, especially geno-hype.
When regulating CRISPR, philosophers, bioethicists, scientists, publics and policy people should ask themselves when and how speculative, futuristic risks and threats might influence thinking about real benefits (and vice versa). There is, of course a difficult balance to strike. Do we run with the mundane and miraculous or do we put mythologically inspired breaks on?
Posted in responsible innovationsynthetic biology
Searching for Zika: Where are the women?
Gene surgery – Genchirurgie
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Sites of British Modernism
Mapping Key Locations of British Modernism
52 Tavistock Square
Hannah Halstead London November 24, 2017 November 24, 2017 1 Comment
52 Tavistock Square, which lies in the Bloomsbury district in the borough of Camden in London, was a very important location in the life of Virginia Woolf, who bought the property with her husband Leonard Woolf in early 1924. 52 Tavistock Square was her longest location of residence and where she did most of her writing.
Inside, the house featured large murals personalized and painted by Woolf’s sister Vanessa Bell and brother-in-law Duncan Grant.
Woolf, who had been living outside of her native London for years, excitedly writes about buying the property in her diary:
“At this very moment, or fifteen minutes ago to be precise, I bought the ten years lease of 52 Tavistock Sqre London W.C. 1—I like writing Tavistock. Subject of course to the lease, & to Providence, & to the unforeseen vagaries on the part of old Mrs Simons, the house is ours: & the basement, & the billard room, with the rock garden on top, & the view of the square in front & the desolated buildings behind, & Southampton Row, & the whole of London – London thou art a jewel of jewels, & jasper of jocunditie – music, talk, friendship, city views, books, publishing, something central & inexplicable, all this is now within my reach.”
Because of her return to London and her newfound life in the lively and vibrant neighborhood of Tavistock Square, Woolf was inspired to write a story of a woman walking throughout London. Thus, “Mrs. Dalloway” was conceived, written, and published here at 52 Tavistock Square, as Virginia and Leonard housed their printing press within their home.
Hogarth Press, the printing press owned by Virginia and Leonard, her husband, was housed in the basement of the house. They utilized this press to publish many of Woolf’s works, such as _______ and published books for several other Bloomsbury’s, such as E.M. Forster, Sigmund Freud, and, most notably, this location is where the couple published T.S. Eliot’s “The Wasteland”.
The Fall of 52 Tavistock Square
Virginia and Leonard moved from Tavistock Square in 1939 after purchasing nearby 37 Mecklenburg Square. Shortly after moving, the London Blitz claimed the both properties over the course of two months, when nearly 200 German bombs fell over London and destroyed the Woolf’s Mecklenburg property in September 1940 and 52 Tavistock Square in October.
After the damage to the home, the Hogarth Press was briefly relocated to Hertfordshire.
Woolf recorded the tragic event in her diary, stating:
“Our private luck has turned. John says Tavistock sqre is no more….But its almost forgettable still; the nightly operation on the tortured London. Mabel wants to leave it. L. sawing wood. The funny little cross on the Church shows against the downs. We go up tomorrow….the Siren, just as I had drawn the curtains. Now the unpleasant part begins. Who’ll be killed tonight? Not us, I suppose. One doesn’t think of that – save as a quickener. Indeed I often think our Indian summer was deserved; after all those London years. I mean, this quickens it. Every day seen against a very faint shade of bodily risk.”
Months later, on March 28th, 1941, Woolf committed suicide. The destruction of the property, due to its emotional meaning for Woolf, is thought to have contributed to her decision to take her own life. Many suggest that she feared for the impending war after losing something so close to her to warfare.
The Location Today
Obviously no longer standing, the site of the former 52 Tavistock Square is now home to the Tavistock Hotel, which was established in 1951, only ten years after Woolf’s residence was destroyed.
Today, in Tavistock Square, you will find a sculpture of Virginia Woolf, honoring the influence and significance she brought to the area.
Londonist. “Virginia Woolf’s London.” Londonist, 16 Aug. 2014, londonist.com/2014/08/virginia-woolfs-london.
“Virginia Woolf’s Homes Destroyed in the London Blitz.” The Virginia Woolf Blog, 3 May 2017, virginiawoolfblog.com/virginia-woolfs-london-homes-destroyed-by-german-bombs/.
“Where Virginia Woolf Lived in London.” The Virginia Woolf Society of Great Britain, www.virginiawoolfsociety.co.uk/vw_res.london.htm.
“Virginia Woolf Buys a House in Bloomsbury.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, www.history.com/this-day-in-history/virginia-woolf-buys-a-house-in-bloomsbury.
“Buying Tavistock Square.” Blogging Woolf, 9 Jan. 2016, bloggingwoolf.wordpress.com/2016/01/09/buying-tavistock-square/.
“The History of Hogarth Press.” Penguin Books, www.penguin.co.uk/articles/features/2017/jun/hogarth-100-history/.
Aubrey Filippone London November 20, 2017 November 22, 2017 0 Comment
Nestled near Tottenham Court Rd., London, are the Omega Workshops, which were established on May 14th, 1913 at 33 Fitzroy Square. The Omega Workshops were an artistic and cultural hub, founded by artist and philosopher, Roger Fry, who coined Post-Impressionism. His workshops were the first to fully embrace Post-Impressionism, which brought experimental design to Edwardian Britain, and was founded and made up of other significant members of Bloomsbury, like E.M. Forster, Virginia Woolf, Clive Bell, Duncan Grant, Vanessa Bell, and Ethel Sands. Fry’s goal to unify artists like himself, would finally come together and soon embrace the urgency to carry out products of brash, bold, and brutal colors, and fuel the inspiration to develop original art.
“Artists must protest against the remissness and indifference of the governing classes who instead of enfrocing the adultrered foods act., stamp it all over with the givernment stamp, indicating that it is gaurenteed to be the best dairy-made butter.” -Roger Fry
33 Fitzroy Square, London. (from 1929 to 2003 the London Foot Hospital)
Fry, Roger. Poster, 1918. Lithograph.
One of the unique characteristics that distinguished the products from this workshop, was that it allowed artists to anonymously contribute their work. By prohibiting artists to sign their work, and only allowing them to label it with the Greek letter Ω Omega, it created a personal trait that was only exclusive to those involved. The Omega is also symbolic of the end of an art era, as the omega is the last letter of the Greek alphabet.
Letter from Roger Fry to Vanessa Bell including a sketch for an Omega rug design
© Annabel Cole
“Post Impressionism as a present known will have any real effect upon true art I think nobody believes” -Richard Herford
Fry’s vision for the workshops set out to “provide an income and an outlet for artists who ascribed to the Post Impressionism aesthetic but not to socialist ideals”, which he successfully embarked on, in challenging the commercial market in domestic interiors. Especially, given this time period, art was created for pleasure, not for money. The Omega workshops were not solely a place of conventional art, like paintings, in fact, it covered multiple aspects of art including furniture, linens, decor for the home, rugs, and clothing.
“State should allow complete free trade in art, and refuse all subventions and all honours to artiste.” -Roger Fry
Bell, Vanessa and Grant, Duncan. Printed Linen 1913 (Printed)
Fry, Roger. Omega dining chairs , 1913.
Fry, Roger. Amenophis, 1913. Stencil-printed linen, 71 x 79.5 cm.
According to Fry, a work of art must have the power of making the “outsider” – the audience – “whose eyes are the least active of his senses, aware of something real and exciting, … in perfect simplicity.” By creating authenticity in the omega products, taking a more abstract and liberated approach, it provided a place for those post WWI counterparts to enjoy the ebullient art pieces which the Omega Workshops presented. Ultimately, putting collective minds in unison to break the conventional isolated artist in the studio, technique.
Grant, Duncan. Design, 1913-15, The Courtauld Gallery © Estate of Duncan Grant. All rights reserved, DACS 2009.
Fry, Roger. Painted Plate with Letter Omega, 1913 © The Samuel Courtauld Trust, The Courtauld Gallery, London
Although the Omega Workshops were short-lived and shut down in 1919 because of financial conflicts, they held a significant pivotal influence on art and interior design, ultimately being a revolutionary development during its existence. Read more
Coal-Mining Midlands of England
Monk’s House
Garsington Manor
Craiglockhart War Hospital
Charleston Farmhouse
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Ballin’ During the Global War on Terror: South Asian American Sporting Cultures and the Politics of Masculinity
March 28, 2018 eyankel1 Leave a comment
Location: Kohlberg 228
Stanley Thangaraj, City University of New York
Instead of universalizing masculinity (Kimmel 2005; Connell 1995), this talk theorizes the politics of masculinity through the taken for granted realm of sport (basketball) and the strange racial figure of the South Asian in the U.S. South. In particular, Thangaraj theorizes how South Asian American men, Muslim Pakistani American men in particular, stake claims through their American-ness through their sporting practices of the quintessential American sport of basketball. Through their basketball practices of “cool,” “swag,” and “manning up,” the young South Asian American men challenge their shifting racializations as “terrorists” and “model minorities” during this time of the global war on terror. Thus, South Asian American men manage the politics of basketball masculinity in relation to the black- white logic, in relation to the Hindu-Muslim binary, and in relation to the foreigner-American binary. Sport offers a space for these young men to offer their own renditions of American masculinity while also using the same logic of their exclusion as the compass for national belonging. As a result, these young men exclude various “Others” at the moment they insert themselves into American masculinity.
Stan Thangaraj is a Socio-cultural Anthropologist with interests in race, gender, sexuality, class, and ethnicity in Asian America in particular and in immigrant America in general. He is a former high school and collegiate athlete and coach who considers sport a key site to understand immigrant enculturation, racialization, and cultural citizenship. He is contracted with New York University Press for his monograph Brown Out, Man Up! Basketball, Leisure, and Making Desi Masculinity. His key communities of study are South Asian Americans. He also has a contract with New York University Press for the co-edited collection Asian American Sporting Cultures. In May 2014, his other co-edited collection Sport and South Asian Diasporas will be out from Routledge. He looks at the relationship between citizenship, gender, race, and sexuality as critical to understanding diasporic nationalism. Prof. Thangaraj has two new projects. His first project examines how Kurdish American communities embody, negotiate, challenge, and manage U.S. Empire. Instead of juxtaposing Muslim Kurdish women as victim of Islamic patriarchy, he is interested in how women assert agency and form identities on the ground while challenging mainstream U.S. racializations of them. The second project explores the spatialization of race, class, and sexuality in the construction of the Civil Rights narrative at the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee. In this project, he looks at the relationship between celebrating Civil Rights history, the propping up of heterosexual black nationalism and social movements, and the gentrification that follows this discourse. Stan Thangaraj takes his intellectual inspiration from Women of Color Feminism and Queer Theory. Professor Thangaraj was awarded the “Comparative Ethnic Studies Award” from the American Studies Association.
Sponsored by Sociology & Anthropology, Peace & Conflict Studies, Asian Studies, Gender & Sexuality Studies, Islamic Studies, and the Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility
immigrationmasculinitysociocultural anthropologysouth asiasporting culture
Maria Castaneda ’18, Dreaming at Swarthmore
September 14, 2017 Lee Smithey Leave a comment
The Peace and Conflict Studies Program stands with our student, Maria Castaneda ’18, who was featured in a story this week in the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Maria is pursuing a special major in Spanish and Peace and Conflict Studies, and we appreciate all she contributes to our intellectual and campus community.
“She was 3 years old when she left central Mexico in her mother’s arms, unknowingly embarked on a dangerous journey north. They were part of a group that crossed the border on foot in Arizona, then headed east by car to North Carolina, where her father had settled after a similar trek.
Today, at 22, Castaneda has achieved a true American dream: She’s a senior at Swarthmore College, succeeding at one of the nation’s elite schools and on track to a fulfilling career in education or law.
Now, she’s wondering if it will all be stripped” Read more…
There is a great deal of insecurity at the moment over the future of the DACA program, and we wish to express our support for all of our undocumented students.
dacaimmigrationstudent
Swarthmore Peace and Conflict Studies Students in the News
September 12, 2017 eyankel1 Leave a comment
Peace and Conflict Studies special major Maria Castaneda ’18 and Peace and Conflict Studies minor Michael Nafziger ’18 were recently featured in the news.
Read Maria’s story related to President Trump’s order ending the DACA program here.
“From Mexico to Swarthmore, a dream now in danger”
Follow Michael’s involvement in our community in the wake of the alt-right controversy in Charlottesville, VA here.
“Swarthmore Community Reflects on Charlottesville at Collection”
Charlottesvilledacaimmigrationpeace studiesQuakerSwarthmore
Challenges to immigrant communities under Trump
February 21, 2017 Lee Smithey Leave a comment
President Donald Trump campaigned on aggressively curtailing immigration to the US and ‘securing’ US boarders by stopping the flow of immigrants. In the weeks since taking office, the new administration rapidly moved through a series of executive orders, which left the nation’s airports in chaos, spurred national protests, and brought broad, although not universal, rebuke from the judiciary. This talk will explore the legal underpinnings of the executive orders, how they violate the Constitution or federal statutes, and, most importantly, how future orders may survive legal challenge.
Jonah Eaton (’02), an attorney and specialist in refugee and asylum law at Philadelphia’s Nationalities Services Center, will draw on how anti-discrimination laws and Constitutional protections clash with longstanding judicial deference to the executive on matters of national security and immigration. Finally, Jonah will discuss how these orders effected immigrants and refugees attempting to come to the United States.
discriminationimmigrationlawrefugeessecurity
Amnesty or Expulsion: What Our Religious Traditions Teach Us about Dealing with Undocumented Immigrants
October 31, 2016 Lee Smithey Leave a comment
The Interfaith Center invites you to its inaugural discussion in its Religion and Society series entitled:
Wednesday, November 2 from 4:30pm to 6:00pm in Bond Hall
The discussion will be led by:
Aurora Camacho de Schmidt, Professor Emeritus and Immigrant Rights Advocate
Umar Abdul Rahman, Muslim Student Advisor and former Immigration Attorney
Co-Sponsors: Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility, Office of International Student Services, Peace and Conflict Studies Program, Intercultural Center (IC)
faithimmigrationreligion
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Solo Lawyer Starts Sideline: Landlord To Others
Filed Under:Baltimore City Bar Association, Baltimore Commercial Bank, Dan Miller, Landlord, Law Offices Of Daniel J. Miller LLC, Lawyer, Maryland State Bar Association's
LAUREN KIRKWOOD
BALTIMORE (AP) — Renting or purchasing office space, buying furniture, paying for phone lines and Internet access — those are just the beginning of the costs of opening a law firm.
Dan Miller, a Baltimore medical malpractice and personal injury attorney, has a solution for cash-strapped solos and small firms: rent space in his office building, and pay one monthly fee for an all-inclusive package with a downtown address.
“When you’re a solo, you’re thinking, `How can I afford all those things?”‘ said Miller, of The Law Offices of Daniel J. Miller LLC. “When you’re in a shared environment, you can.”
Miller had been renting space in the former Baltimore Commercial Bank building at 26 South St. since he started his own practice two years ago. He purchased the building in May.
For him, the choice to buy was a simple one, but now he hopes to attract tenants who will fill the seven remaining empty offices.
“I said to myself, a lot of people who go out on their own fail. One of the main reasons they fail is they take too much overhead and are not able to manage it,” Miller said. “To me, it just makes sense — you’re putting money away for the future.”
Although he’s heard of large firms renting out their extra space, Miller said he doesn’t know of any other attorneys or law firms that have purchased a building with the intention of renting out offices and creating a work environment geared toward lawyers.
Pat Yevics, the Maryland State Bar Association’s director of law office management assistance, and Katherine T. Sanzone, executive director of the Baltimore City Bar Association, each said they didn’t know of any lawyers who have bought real estate in downtown Baltimore with the plan of renting out the extra space.
But Yevics said it’s not an unprecedented concept. The key is finding real estate worth investing in, she said.
“You just need the perfect space in a great location, and the comfort level that you will be able to rent that space out,” Yevics said. “Some attorneys have to be near a courthouse; some practice settings need to be near a bus stop.”
Part of the reason Miller’s approach isn’t more popular among lawyers may be the risks involved, as well as the administrative duties required of a landlord, she added.
Prime real estate downtown is scarce and pricey, compared to surrounding areas like Towson and Bel Air, a factor that may also deter lawyers from investing in their own office building.
From the tenant’s perspective, Yevics said, it’s fairly common for lawyers looking for office space to rent “business suites” to save money.
“I think that’s kind of the same theory, and I know there are a lot of newer and younger lawyers who have gone that route, simply because there’s not a whole lot of startup costs,” Yevics said.
However, Miller said his plan is nothing like the typical rent-a-suite setup. Rather, he plans to charge a flat rate of $1,500 to $2,500 a month, depending on the specific office a tenant prefers, and include in the price everything from the phone systems to use of the building’s gym and sauna to the resources of its law library, which is located in the former bank’s vault.
Not only does renting an office suite usually not include all of these benefits, Miller said, it’s impersonal — and clients can tell the difference.
“Everything’s α la carte,” he said of the suites. “When people come in, they know it’s not your office.”
Plus, Miller said, tenants at his building would have the added benefit of being surrounded by those who understand the demands of the profession. He shares the space now with The Law Offices of Marc Seldin Rosen, a small firm, as well as with Lee H. Caplan, a solo practitioner. Both were already renting there when he purchased the building.
“Part of the lure is being around peers and being part of a bigger group,” Miller said. “It’s a very cohesive environment, and I want to keep that.”
Although Miller doesn’t have a specific goal for when he hopes the last seven offices will be filled — “Yesterday,” he joked — he is confident the amenities he’s offering will draw renters in. If he’s successful, he said he may consider repeating this model with other buildings in the area.
“It’s a turnkey operation, and it’s less expensive than going out on your own,” he said. “We’re offering something that really is not being offered right now.”
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New findings for acute heart failure treatment with Trevena’s biased ligands
Trevena has announced the publication of new findings related to the mechanism of action of its Angiotensin II Type 1 Receptor (AT1R) biased ligands. The publication describes work led by R John Solaro, head of the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at the University of Illinois, Chicago, USA, performed in collaboration with Trevena scientists.
The studies evaluated the molecular mechanisms of action for TRV120023, a molecule closely related to Trevena’s clinical stage asset, TRV027, which is in phase 2 testing for the treatment of acute heart failure.
The article, entitled “The beta-arrestin-biased ligand TRV120023 inhibits angiotensin II-induced cardiac hypertrophy while preserving enhanced myofilament response to calcium”, was published online, ahead of print, in the American Journal of Physiology – Heart and Circulatory Physiology.
Solaro’s work showed that TRV120023 blocked cardiac hypertrophy in rats, while stimulating biochemical pathways linked to increased cardiac contractility. TRV120023 increased the sensitivity of cardiac myofilaments to calcium, suggesting that TRV120023 and molecules like it, such as TRV027, can increase cardiac contractile force (inotropy) through a mechanism distinct from classic inotropes, which are associated with cardiac arrhythmia and increased mortality. Solaro said: “These experiments suggest that Trevena’s biased ligands regulate the heart’s contractile machinery through a novel mechanism which may simultaneously block cardiac dysfunction while promoting cardiac contractility.”
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Food Service Worker III - Continuing
Job Code: 7287
Job Grade: A62
About Residential & Dining Enterprises: Founded in 1891, Stanford University is among the top academic institutions in the country, excelling in a wide range of fields from the humanities to information technology to the health sciences and medicine. The university is located near Palo Alto, 35 miles south of San Francisco, on an 8,800-acre campus. Residential & Dining Enterprises, the largest auxiliary organization at Stanford University, supports the academic mission of the University by providing the highest quality services to students and other members of the university community. The Department has an annual operating budget of over $206 million, oversees a 5 million sq. ft. physical plant across the campus, and provides housing for over 12,000 students, serves over 18,000 daily meals at 30 dining and retail locations and over 500,000 meals at Athletic Concessions events, and hosts 20,000 conference guests annually. Additionally, R&DE comprises 660 FTE staff in the following divisions: the Office of the Senior Associate Vice Provost, Student Housing, Stanford Dining, Stanford Hospitality & Auxiliaries, Stanford Conferences, and a team of R&DE strategic business partners: Finance & Administration, Human Resources, and Information Technology. Students (Customers) First is the mantra of R&DE and our strategic goals reflect our commitment to delivering quality and excellence to our constituents every day. In R&DE, Excellence is defined by aligning our strategic goals and performance with our vision. About Stanford Dining: R&DE Stanford Dining, a division of Residential & Dining Enterprises, serves over 12,000 meals per day. Its operations include11 undergraduate dining halls, two late-night dining operations, Schwab Executive Dining, an athletic training table program, the Teaching Kitchen @ Stanford, Community BeWell Gardens, and summer conference dining. As the dining department of the world's premier research and teaching institution, R&DE Stanford Dining promotes food as a multidisciplinary educational experience and engages students in food issues such as those related to health, the environment, social equity and the global economy. R&DE Stanford Dining has been recognized for its culinary excellence by awards such as the prestigious industry Ivy Award by Restaurants and Institutions for its environmental leadership role, by numerous awards such as the Acterra Award for Sustainability, and most recently was named Most Vegan-Friendly College by peta2 for its vegan and vegetarian offerings, and certified as a Responsible Epicurean and Agricultural Leadership (REAL) restaurant by the United States Healthful Food Council for its use of nutrition and sustainability best practices. For more information, please visit www.dining.stanford.edu.
I. Summary of Position Cooks prepare all foods, and in doing so, make decisions regarding the quality of produce, portioning of ingredients, seasoning and attractiveness of the final product. In addition to the preparation of specific menu items, Cooks (working from standardized recipes and daily production sheets provided by management) order supplies from the storerooms, pre-pare menu items for following meals and store leftover food. They may substitute menu selections within guidelines established by management. II. Essential Job Functions
Welcome and connect with every customer to provide excellent customer service.
Prepares an extensive variety of hot or cold meats, seafood, poultry, vegetables and other food items for cooking on a grill, oven, or in a variety of kitchen equipment. Cold food items include salads, salad dressings, cold plates, sandwiches, hors d'oeuvres.
Test food items for proper texture, temperature, doneness, and flavor.
Prepare hot and cold food for meals according to recipes and directions.
Responsible for preparing, cooking, plating and serving of hot and cold starters and appetizers.
Assist in determining amounts to be prepared, including starting amounts and batch sizes.
Washes, peels, chops, slices, dices and mixes vegetables and fruits and other ingredients for salads, cold plates and garnishes.
Carves and slices cold meats, cheese and prepares seafood. Prepares composite salads.
Read recipes and follow instructions to make sure food is prepared with excellent quality, correctly and on-time.
Check food supplies needed to ensure availability. Order supplies from storeroom when needed.
Prep for the following day. Ensure food is prepared, labeled and ready for use.
Complete production records at meal time. Report production counts in production sheet.
Assists in food prep during off-peak periods.
Record last minute menu changes.
Order supplies from storeroom and prepare menu items
Maintains a clean and sanitary work station area.
Washes and cleans all utensils, preparation equipment, counters required for production in the pantry area.
Ensures that sanitation and food handling safety standards are followed and maintained.
Adhere to Uniform guidelines and personal hygiene standards.
Communicate clearly with management and other personnel. Bring issues to their attention if needed for resolution. Ensure accurate information is provided to a management.
Ability to multi-task.
Complete other duties as assigned within classification. Follow established guidelines for personal hygiene and personal attire. Comply with required food safety, sanitation and health standards.
III. Qualifications
A minimum of 2 years' experience in kitchen preparation and cooking, with an understanding of proper food handling and safety, knowledge of safety and sanitation standards, and culinary fundamentals (i.e. knife skills, HACCP, methods of cooking, etc.
Ability to work independently and as a cooperative team member.
Must have prior catering experience.
Must be service-oriented, courteous and professional.
Ability to interact effectively with customers and co-workers.
Must adhere to the department policies and procedures.
IV. English Proficiency Requirements Must have the ability to understand and communicate in English with adequate proficiency to follow directions from supervisor, read and understand safety guidelines and directions to prevent accidents or injuries from occurring, and communicate effectively with customers (staff, visitors, students) by listening and speaking clearly to them. V. Physical Requirements: Ability to stand for prolonged periods, reach, lift, bend, kneel, stoop, climb, push and pull items. Physical agility critical to perform essential job functions. Lift up to 25 lbs pounds must have manual dexterity. Ability to work around hot equipment (stoves, grills, ovens). Working Conditions and Frequency of Occurrence:
Extreme Temperature Changes (10%-30%)
Walking (30%-60%)
Standing (50%-80%)
Sitting (10%-20%)
Bending (10%-50%)
Squatting (10%-20%)
Hand and Finger Dexterity (10%-40%)
Reaching (10%-50%)
Climbing (10%-20%)
Noise (90%-100%)
Lifting, Carrying, Pushing, Pulling
Up to 10 Pounds (30%-60%)
Over 50 Pounds (5%-10%)
Location: Residential & Dining Enterprises, California, United States
Classification Level:
To be considered for this position please visit our web site and apply on line at the following link: stanfordcareers.stanford.edu
Stanford is an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.
Copyright 2017 Jobelephant.com Inc. All rights reserved.
Posted by the FREE value-added recruitment advertising agency
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About Stanford University
Located between San Francisco and San Jose in the heart of Silicon Valley, Stanford University is recognized as one of the world's leading research and teaching institutions. Leland and Jane Stanford founded the University to "promote the public welfare by exercising an influence on behalf of humanity and civilization." Stanford opened its doors in 1891, and more than a century later, it remains dedicated to finding solutions to the great challenges of the day and to preparing students for leadership in a complex world. The University's thriving diverse community is comprised of nearly 7000 undergraduate students, 9000 graduate students, 2000 faculty members, 1900 postdoctoral scholars, and over 11,000 academic and administrative staff in seven schools including several interdisciplinary research centers and institutes. The campus spreads over 8000 contiguous acres and nearly all undergraduates live on campus. Stanford offers bachelor's and master's degrees in addition to doctoral degrees (PhD, MD, DMA and JD) plus a number of professional and continuing education programs and certifications. More at http://facts.stanford.edu and http://www.stanford.edu. Stanford University is an ...equal opportunity employer and is committed to increasing the diversity of its faculty. It welcomes nominations of and applications from women, members of minority groups, protected veterans and individuals with disabilities, as well as from others who would bring additional dimensions to the university’s research, teaching and clinical missions.
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About Nobel Celebs
Noble Awards
Inspired Action with a purpose
Academy Award-winning Actor Morgan Freeman To Be Honored with Lifetime Achievement Award at the 1st Annual Noble Awards This Sunday Oct. 18th
Posted by gmcquade under actors, Celebrity Charity Awards Corporation, charity, community outreach, directors, Hollywood, Humanitairan, inspiratoin, Janeen mansour, Just do it, leadership, movie marketing, Music, music pop stars, Music PR, music publicity, Noble Awards, producers, singers, volunteers | Tags: Academy Awards, • Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, • The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, • Women’s Sports Foundation, Best Buddies, Beverly Hills, Beverly Hilton, Brett Ratner, Brian McKnight, CCAC, Celebrity Charity Awards Corporation, charity, CNN Heroes, Danette Herman, DoSomething.org, Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson, Emmys, Eva Longoria, Fashion Rocks, Grammys, Humanity, Inc, Janeen mansour, Joel Madden, Julio Inglasias Jr., Keep A Child Aliver, Kennedy Center Honors, Kenny Baby Face Edmonds and Anna Lynn McCord, Producer/Executive, Seligman Entertainment, Stand Up To Cancer, Talent, Terry Hatcher, The Art of Elysium, Tisha Fein, Tonys, World Music Awards, Ziad Batal |
Eva Longoria, Teri Hatcher, Norman Lear, Lionel Richie, Laila Ali, Nancy O’Dell, Joel Madden, Brett Ratner, Kenny Babyface Edmonds and Anna Lynne McCord are among long list of stars attending the Beverly Hills Awards show
Morgan Freeman to received First Annual Noble Awards Lifetime Achievement award
Beverly Hills, CA – Academy Award-winning Actor Morgan Freeman can now boast about another award to add to his hall of fame in Hollywood. Morgan has been selected to received the First LifeTime Achievement Award at the 1st Annual Noble Awards, Sunday, Oct. 18, 2009, Beverly Hilton, Beverly Hills, CA
TV Anchor Janeen Mansour and Executive Producer Ziad Batal are the founders of this Sunday’s event, which will honor humanitarian celebs in a the two hour event produced on behalf of the Celebrity Charity Awards Corporation (CCAC); The CCAC is a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization.
Other confirmed celebs attending include: Eva Longoria, Teri Hatcher, Norman Lear, Lionel Richie, Laila Ali, Nancy O’Dell, Joel Madden, Brett Ratner, Kenny Babyface Edmonds, Billy Bush and Annalynne McCord
The star-studded awards event will also feature live entertainment with Brian McKnight, Julio Iglesias Jr., Emily Bear and Timmy Mitchum.
Brian McKnight has earned himself a spot in contemporary music history. He has released a dozen albums, more than half of them have gone platinum, with several going 2 and 3x platinum, and has sold more than 20 Million albums worldwide. Brian has received numerous awards including Soul Train Awards and Image Awards, and numerous nominations including Grammy’s, MTV Video Music Awards, BET Awards and American Music Awards.
Currently in Spain but Julio Iglesias Jr. will perform at Sunday’s event and he willsoon be in Hollywood recording a new album and watch for his work in film. Although Julio has spent his whole life surrounded by music (, Julio Iglesias and Isabel Preysler, parents), his own personal journey into the music industry didn’t start until the late 90’s when he released his first album in English titled “Under My Eyes” with Epic Records. Igelsias chose to sing in Spanish and the result is the mind-blowing Tercera Dimension.
The Celebrity Charity Awards Corporation will launch a year-round campaign to better unify the efforts of charities with celebrities, influencers, media and everyday citizens in order to create an powerful forum for change and service with this first annual awards program on October 18th. The awards, which are more like sculptures were designed by Actor Antonio Banderas, who mustered the help of handicapped and child burn victims. The charity honorees for the first annual Noble Awards include:
The Art of Elysium encourages actors, artists and musicians to volunteer their time and talent to children battling serious medical conditions.
Best Buddies, founded by Anthony Kennedy Shriver, creates opportunities for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, which treats the most seriously ill and injured children in LA is one of the nation’s best pediatric facilities
DoSomething.org seeks to help young people to take action around any cause, aiming to activate two million people per year by 2011.
The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation offers ground-breaking research programs, prevention and treatment programs that bring dramatic changes to the lives of children worldwide
Keep a Child Alive offers life-saving anti-retroviral treatment, care and support services to children and families whose lives have been affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa and India
Stand Up To Cancer is Entertainment Industry Foundation program that unites major TV networks, Hollywood and prominent leaders in cancer research
Women’s Sports Foundation, opens the doors for girls and women in sports and fitness through education, advocacy, recognition and grants
“Celebrities have been donating their time to charity they feel passionate about for a long time, “said Janeen Mansour, founder of the event. Earlier this year she launched the first successful Celebrity Shoe Toss, where music, TV and Movie celebs donated hundreds of shoes to needy families of the Salvation Army. For more on this story and event click here (MORE)
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Home Comment Science is not just for boys
Science is not just for boys
What are the origins of the gender gap in Stem subjects at Oxford?
Amie Campbell
Seven-year-old Maya's response to the prompt, "Draw a scientist"
Under 30% of Maths freshers at Oxford are female. When I was the only girl in my Further Maths class at school, naïvely, it never crossed my mind that it would be the same here. It’s not just maths – women are disproportionately represented in many Stem (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) degrees. But where does this problem start? How serious is it? And what – if anything – should Oxford be doing about it?
“Good tactical move picking a subject with lots of boys – plenty of choice for a boyfriend,” a family friend joked when I told them I’d chosen to study Maths at university. I laughed, and brushed off the comment.
She was right about Maths being dominated by “lots of boys”, but, clearly, this isn’t appealing enough to get more young women into Stem degrees. Statistics from A-Level students in Summer 2017 show that women are actually 36% more likely to carry on to higher education than their male counterparts. Women are well-represented in higher education as a whole, and this representation is even evident in Oxford: there were 27 male and 30 female applicants per 10,000 population in 2017.
Oxford is closer to gender equity in some Stem subjects than universities nationally. At Oxford, as an average from 2014-16, Biology and Medicine made a slightly higher proportions of undergraduate offers to female than to male applicants (58% and 53% respectively).
National figures illustrate 60% of graduates in Biology and 81% in Medicine were female in the UK in 2016-17, showing them to be, on average, much more female-dominated subjects. Oxford’s equality doesn’t, however, seem to stretch to the traditionally male-dominated subjects. In Maths, 27% of offers were made to women by Oxford University (2014-16), 20% for Physics and 14% for Computer Science. Compared to the number of female graduates in these subjects nationally, it seems that Oxford is considerably worse than other universities at recruiting women in Stem subjects.
Proportion of offers made to women by Oxford University
In the UK in 2016-17, Maths, Physics, and Computer Science had 39%, 41%, and 15% female graduates respectively. In light of the massive underrepresentation of females in these Stem subjects, any efforts by Oxford toward achieving the previously mentioned equality for Biology and Medicine seem slightly misguided. It’s hard not to question why one of the world’s leading institutions makes an effort to close the gender gap in subjects where men are generally worse represented but seems to ignore the shocking disparity in most other Stem subjects.
Seven-year-old Maya’s response to the prompt, “Draw a scientist”
So, why aren’t there more women studying Maths and other Stem subjects at Oxford? In fact, the gender gap in admissions is more pronounced in Oxford across all stem subjects. In Biochemistry, for example, the admissions rates are 16% for female applicants compared to 27% for male applicants.
For many subjects, the difference is only by a couple of percentage points, but this is seen consistently across all Stem subjects, even for those where fewer women apply. Admissions tutors aren’t discriminating against female applicants as such, but the lack of any positive discrimination in preference of women is indicative of little awareness of how marked the gender imbalance is. This may not be an intentional bias, but as MP and former Higher Education Minister David Lammy suggested in his most recent critique of Oxbridge admissions, interviewers are thought to subconsciously recruit their own image, and science tutors are overwhelmingly male. For Mathematical, Physical, and Life Sciences (MPLS), just 6.5% of professors and 12.5% of associate professors are women. The result is that most Stem interviews are conducted by men – I was the only woman in the room for all ve of my interviews, even though there were two interviewers in each. Looking at these proportions of male staff, this must have been the case for many other applicants.
Nationally, Stem degrees tend to be less appealing to women than men, made clear by the previous statistics on graduates. But does this gap between Oxford and national averages mean that Oxford Stem courses are especially unappealing?
It may be that many young women don’t think they are good enough to be studying at Oxford, especially not a Stem subject. Computer Science, Maths, Biomedical Sciences and Medicine are all in the top ten most competitive Oxford courses in terms of offer rates, which could be deterring women from applying.
A study conducted in 2003 by David Dunning and Joyce Ehrlinger is just one of many that examines relationship between female confidence and competence, showing that women tend to be less con dent than men, and that the lack of this self-assurance can obstruct their personal progress. Similarly, a review of personnel records at Hewlett-Packard found that women working there only applied for a promotion when they felt they met 100% of listed job requirements, in comparison to men who were happy to apply when they thought they met 60% of these.
Applying to Oxford could be seen as somewhat comparable – women are less confident in their own abilities and so are less likely to apply. This seems to resonate with our student population. Jess, a Maths student at Somerville, said that she receives feedback from her tutors to “be more con dent in [her] work” and believes that this lack of confidence results from being in a minority of women on her course. This is especially noteworthy in light of the fact these are the women that have applied successfully for a Stem degree.
They have not been dissuaded by perceived male dominance, but are still aware of a contrast in self-belief. One can only imagine how endemic the problem must be if even the women who are successfully studying Maths at Oxford still find themselves lacking confidence in comparison to their male peers. Beth, a Maths student at Balliol, agrees: “the girls I know are very modest about their maths ability and most are surprised to have [been offered] places”.
The lack of female professors within the MPLS departments here at Oxford may be discouraging female applicants, who face a stark lack of inspiring female academics to model themselves on. With far more women now in a position where they have the opportunity to conduct scientific research compared to several hundred years ago, female scientists are only just coming to the forefront of scientific discovery. Yet there is a need to better recognise the achievements of both historic and contemporary female scientists in the syllabus at degree level. Ella, a Biology student at St Catherine’s, says that of the scientists that learn about behind key discoveries, “there’s very few females, maybe one in ten.”
A ‘Feminist Philosophy’ module has recently been added to the first-year Philosophy course as part of an attempt to tackle the gender imbalance (PPE is a subject with below 30% female undergraduates). The hope is that this will increase the popularity of the course with girls, and a similar approach should be taken within the sciences. Gender equality cannot be achieved without recognising female achievement in such a male-dominated eld in a concrete manner.
The gap is, however, clearly already evident before university entry, and so whilst they have an important role to play, the problem is too complex to be the sole responsibility of higher education institutions. So where do these differences first become evident?
Looking at girls’ achievement in science GCSEs (which are generally compulsory), they appear to perform very similarly to, if not better than their male counterparts in terms of proportion receiving A-A* grades. These higher achievements do not translate into girls choosing the subjects for A-level, however.In Physics, the proportion achieving A-A* was 42% for both male and female students, but a mere 21% of those sitting Physics A-level in summer 2017 were female.
Interestingly, Computer Science is the only Stem subject that already has a noticeable gap as early as GCSEs. The subject is also the only optional one at GCSE level, making it clear that the issue isn’t that female students are less intelligent than their male counterparts, but that something is putting them off these subjects to such an extent that the gender gap emerges as soon as an element of choice is involved.
Around 13,200 female and 53,500 male students took Computer Science GCSE. This makes it less surprising that the gap in terms of numbers of students taking the subject remains at A-level; in 2017 only 9% of those sitting Computer Science A-level were female.
Despite female students’ achievement at GCSE, they are not then choosing Stem related subjects at A-level. Whilst taking a subject at A-level doesn’t necessarily mean you go on to study it in higher education, a lot of Stem degrees do require Science A-levels, so by not choosing the subjects at this stage, the option for these studies in higher education is removed. Hence, once this difference in academic choices is established, it’s almost inevitable that this translates to degree level. Girls in single-sex schools are known to do better in GCSEs but according to Alice Sullivan, director of the Centre for Longitudinal Studies, at the UCL Institute of Education, they are also “more likely to take male-dominated subjects such as Maths and Science at school.” This strongly suggests that having boys within your learning environment has a negative impact on whether girls choose Stem subjects. Perhaps, girls are discouraged from studying subjects when they know they’ll be surrounded by boys in their classes or that at mixed schools the efforts of getting pupils into these subjects is focused on boys.
Proportion of girls taking Stem subjects at A-Level
It is important to highlight that many boys only select Physics and Maths-related subjects. Gender inequality is not simply an issue of an absence of girls in Stem, but also the lack of boys in the more traditionally ‘female’ A- levels too. For example, just 27% of students sitting English A-level in 2017 were male. The problem of a lack of girls in Stem-related subjects cannot be expected to be solved without promoting a more diverse range of subjects to anyone regardless of gender.
According to a paper published by Psychology professors Gijsbert Stoet and David Geary, girls did as well as or outperformed boys in science tests they conducted in a number of countries.
In relative terms, boys were strongest in maths and girls were strongest in reading, which could underpin subject choices for some girls in higher education. Proportion- ately, Science was their best subject for 24% of girls, for 25% it was Maths, and for 51% read- ing, whilst 38% of boys achieved their highest scores in Science, 42% in Maths, and just 20% for reading.
This study perhaps helps explain why girls aren’t going on to pick science-related A- levels – they are outperforming boys in other subjects too, and are choosing to go into these areas instead. This also indicates why there is a large concentration of boys in the sciences – they are simply performing slightly better in these subjects on an individual level.
Whilst this perhaps help us better understand the gender differences in subject choice at A-level, I’m not convinced this means it has to be the case. What this mostly implies is that girls are as capable as their male counterparts of study- ing Science or Maths A-levels but are not do- ing so, and are consequently unable to take these options later.
Where girls are clearly academically capable of Science A-levels, it would be great to see schools encouraging them more. When I told the career guidance counsellor I wanted to study Structural Engineering, she told me she’d never met a girl interested in it, and questioned whether I wanted to study such a male-dominated subject. I changed my mind about my degree further down the line, but at the time, as a 15-year-old who lacked self-confidence, her uncertainty massively affected me and I doubted whether I was actually interested in or going to enjoy a degree “for boys”.
There is already evidence of Oxford University making a clear effort to encourage women into Stem. Many colleges, including Trinity, Jesus and St Catz, held ‘Women in Science’ open days in February for those studying science at A-level. The days included talks from top academics, and aimed to encourage girls into choosing a Stem degree. Although the feedback for the days was overwhelmingly positive, it did primarily attract those who already knew they wanted to do a science- related degree.
To ensure efforts like these aren’t being made too late, it would be positive to see these open days supplemented by one earlier on during compulsory education, considering that the data suggests the gender gap can be as early as GCSE, where Stem subjects are optional. Open days like these can change people’s minds – Beth found meeting like- minded girls at the ‘It All Adds Up’ Oxford Maths open day aimed at girls “helped change [her] view that Maths at uni was a male-only subject”.
Students in the Mirzakhani Society, which promotes the welfare of women studying Maths at Oxford, will be handing out flyers at the upcoming Maths open days, with the aim to encourage women to apply. The flyers will include comments from current female Maths undergrads. I found the Maths open day at Oxford incredibly intimidating – confident boys were eager to ask and answer questions during the talks, and it left me doubting that I was good enough to apply. Something like these leaflets, showcasing the valuable experiences of women currently studying at Oxford, might have made a difference to how I felt.
A better gender balance in Science departments will take time, and until all the obstacles that currently prevent women from applying and gaining places on Stem courses here are eradicated, Oxford will not be selecting the best students possible. The steps they are taking currently are promising for the future of girls in Stem, but action needs to be taken earlier in girls’ school careers, and therefore more school involvement is pivotal.
The future is perhaps looking more positive – in analysis by David Miller of results of ‘Draw-a-scientist’ studies which prompt children to draw a scientist, the proportion drawing a woman has increased from 1% in the 1960s and 1970s, to 28% today.
Author note: Oxford University’s data currently only categorises students as ‘male’ or ‘female’.
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Join Cherwell’s editorial team for Michaelmas 2018 | Cherwell 2nd June 2018 at 3:21 pm
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‘Editing Robert Burns for the 21st Century’ Research Contributes to Online Course – Robert Burns: Poems, Songs & Legacy – Launching 25 January 2016
by paulinemackay · January 22, 2016
Who was Robert Burns? What made him a poetic genius? And how did he become a global icon?
These are just three of the questions that learners will explore as part of the first ever online course about Robert Burns.
‘Robert Burns: Poems Songs and Legacy’ is free, and will launch on the 25th of January to mark the bard’s birthday. According to Professor Gerard Carruthers (Lead Educator, Director of the Centre for Robert Burns Studies, and PI for the ‘Editing Robert Burns for the 21st Century’ project): “In the 21st century there is as great a thirst for exploring the works of Robert Burns as there has ever been. At the Centre for Robert Burns Studies, along with numerous outside parties, we are in the thick of all kinds of new research and this course is part of our conversation with the wider world about how we should read Burns in 2016.”
The course has been developed by experts from the University of Glasgow’s Centre for Robert Burns Studies who lead the world in the academic study of the poet, his life and works, the history and culture of the period in which he lived, and his ongoing legacy.
Parts of the course are informed by research undertaken for the Editing Robert Burns for the 21st Century project, and by editorial experience underpinning the new Oxford Edition of the Works of Robert Burns. Furthermore, learners will be able to enjoy several excellent recordings of Burns’s songs, freely available for download from the project website.
Learners will enhance their knowledge of Burns’s reputation as an infamous lover, his activities as a prolific writer and collector of songs, and his skilful use of the Scots and English languages. The course will teach learners how to interpret some of Burns’s most famous works in the context of Scottish History and Culture: among these, the universally recognised ‘Auld Lang Syne’ and the rousing and patriotic, ‘Scots Wha Hae’. Dr Catriona Macdonald (Historian and Course Educator) said: “It is essential that Burns is considered within his own social and cultural milieu, and appreciated as a product of his times and an exemplar – among other things – of the complex and contradictory nature of Scotland’s history.”
‘Robert Burns: Poems Songs and Legacy’ is taught in three units over three consecutive weeks. Each unit takes approximately four hours to complete. Dr Ronnie Young, the Course Co-ordinator, explains: “Each week introduces a new aspect of Burns with different online activities based around major works, broken into individual steps: watching videos, reading poems and articles, undertaking practical exercises, and even transcribing verses from a digitised manuscript. Learners can also listen to Burns’s songs with our Spotify playlist and help track his global reach with our interactive map. It’s an innovative way to teach Burns, reaching out to learners across the globe and enabling them to find out more about Burns as poet, songwriter, and international celebrity in a manner that fits around their other commitments.”
The course has already attracted the attention of a widespread international audience, with almost 6000 people enrolled from countries across the globe. Dr Pauline Mackay (Lecturer in Robert Burns Studies at the University of Glasgow) says of its wide appeal that: “Burns has attracted a worldwide following since the late eighteenth century. This course represents an opportunity for people from countries all over the world to learn about the bard together, to share their knowledge and perceptions of Robert Burns, and to create a better understanding of his life and works by making use of twenty-first century approaches to learning through technology.”
Registration for the course is open now: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/robert-burns/
Discussing the course on social media? #FLRobertBurns
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New blog about our FREE online course. Not too late to join! Launches on #BurnsNight https://t.co/WiVbwYwYZu #FLRobertBurns @GlasgowBurns
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New blog about our FREE online course – Robert Burns: Poems, Songs & Legacy. Launches #BurnsNight https://t.co/ze6z6YYGXr
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Scientists take big steps towards curing blindness
Staff Writer15 April 2019
Scientists from the University of Surrey and the Indiana University School of Medicine believe they could have the answer to treating several causes of blindness, according to a ground-breaking new study.
The researchers have found and tested compounds from a group of plants that could possibly be used to treat the causes of degenerative eye diseases, such as proliferative diabetic retinopathy.
This abnormal growth of new blood vessel cells in the eye is linked to a number of types of blindness – including in premature babies (retinopathy of prematurity), diabetics (proliferative diabetic retinopathy) and older adults (wet age-related macular degeneration).
According to Great Ormond Street Hospital, retinopathy of prematurity affects around 20% of premature babies and mainly occurs in those who are born before week 32 of pregnancy or weigh less than 1500g.
Diabetic retinopathy is caused by high blood sugar levels damaging the back of the eye – causing blindness if left untreated. It is estimated to affect 28 million people worldwide.
“It goes without saying that losing your eyesight is a devastating experience,” said Professor Dulcie Mulholland, head of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Surrey.
“We believe that our results hint at possible future treatments for many degenerative eye conditions and it appears that nature still has many secrets to reveal.”
“Existing therapies for these diseases must be injected into the eye, and do not work in all patients, said Professor Tim Corson, director of Basic and Translational Research at the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Eye Institute
“Our findings are a first step towards therapies that might avoid these shortcomings.”
Stem-cell research
A UK-based research firm, ReNeuron, has also stated that it, too, is making progress with a pioneering treatment that injects stem cells into the back of patients’ eyeballs.
Using this treatment the researchers are aiming to eliminate Retinitis pigmentosa – an inherited condition that slowly constricts vision.
“The company is pleased to confirm that the positive efficacy seen and previously announced has, to date, been sustained in the first patient cohort in the Phase 2 part of the study,” it said in a statement earlier this month.
“In February (2019), the company reported that all three of the first cohort of subjects in the study had reported a rapid and significant improvement in vision, on average equivalent to reading an additional three lines of five letters on the EDTRS eye chart, the standardised eye chart used in clinical trials to measure visual acuity.”
Read: A male birth control pill has just passed human safety tests
Headline Indiana University School of Medicine ReNeuron University of Surrey
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Paradise Cove Is Too Far: Notes on Paul Wendkos
Paradise Cove Is Too Far: It could’ve been the name of one of the sixties TV dramas Paul Wendkos directed, during the years when shows like Naked City and Ben Casey competed to come up with the longest and most cryptic segment titles. “Ten Days For a Shirt-Tail” and “The Wild, Wild, Wild Waltzing World” were actual television episodes from Wendkos’s resume.
But Paradise Cove Is Too Far is not one of his credits; it’s a note I found scrawled on my folder for Wendkos, at the end of a set of directions to his Malibu home. I never made the trip to just-before-Paradise Cove. For the last few years, I’d been talking to his wife, Lin Bolen Wendkos (the inspiration for Faye Dunaway’s character in Network, according to rumor, but hopefully not for the more terrifying aspects of that character) about meeting Paul for an interview. But he’d suffered a stroke shortly before I got in touch and remained too frail for the kind of in-depth questioning that I would have needed to toss his way. I kept calling every time I was in Los Angeles, hoping that I’d catch him on a good day, but I never did. Wendkos died last month, on November 12.
Since I started making notes for this piece, good obituaries have appeared in the New York Times and the Independent, so I don’t feel obligated to outline the whole of Wendkos’s long career. He began with a regional independent film, The Burglar, which is a common way for directors to enter television now, but was extremely unusual then. The Burglar is an impeccable film noir. It derives from a novel by David Goodis, the reclusive Philadelphia native whose home town figures essentially in most of his prose. Wendkos also hailed from Philly and deployed his camera along its streets with a knowing eye; he was a perfect match for the material, as was surly sad-sack star Dan Duryea.
The Burglar led immediately to a feature contract and a number of mostly commercial films for Columbia, including Gidget and its two sequels, which led off most of his obits. Wendkos disowned most of his studio films, considering them too compromised, although film buffs make claims for The Case Against Brooklyn and the western Face of a Fugitive. The oddity from among Wendkos’s early films, another indie called Angel Baby, has a small cult following that may grow following its recent sort-of DVD release (in Warners’ new burn-on-demand library). More on Angel Baby further down.
Once he escaped his Columbia pact, Wendkos spent most of a decade in episodic television. He directed for most of the top shows – Naked City (his favorite), Ben Casey, Mr. Novak, Dr. Kildare, The Untouchables, I Spy, The Invaders, The FBI, the pilot for Hawaii Five-O – and, in the same 1968 interview that found Wendkos dyspeptic on the subject of his feature career, he expressed some guarded satisfaction about his work in the newer medium:
Television is a talk medium. The cinema is basically a behavioral medium, an action medium, people do things to generate a story. [I]n television they talk about doing things. You’re dealing with incredible professionalism in this field. All the scripts are tailored for five to seven day schedules and it’s so much easier to shoot characters talking about something than having them go through the actions. Television has an affinity for the minutiae of emotions as opposed to the broad sweep, the spectacle, the action of a motion picture. The difference is in the complexity of the mounting.
Though he directed a few more theatrical films (including the creepy The Mephisto Waltz, TV producer Quinn Martin’s only foray into features), Wendkos spent most of the seventies on directing made-for-television movies and mini-series, many of which were quite highly regarded. The first of them, a chiller called Fear No Evil, continues to attract obsessive attention; the second, The Brotherhood of the Bell, was a look at a Skull and Bones-type organization that earned Wendkos a DGA award nomination. The Legend of Lizzie Borden, with Elizabeth Montgomery wielding the axe, was a big deal in its day, and The Taking of Flight 847: The Uli Derickson Story netted Wendkos an Emmy nomination. And so on.
I should, at this point, be able to offer some specific insights on what made Wendkos one of the best among his generation of TV directors. But that’s tougher than it sounds, even for a specialist like myself. It’s at least a measurable task to isolate the elements in scripts that make a TV writer unique – the repeated themes, the “voice” of the dialogue, the broader control that can come via elevation to producer or story editorship. But to do the equivalent for an episodic director requires a close viewing of many segments, in close proximity, and even then the common elements may remain elusive, or mislead. How does one grapple with the fact that, as a production necessity, episodic television directors (even the best ones) routinely had less involvement in pre- and post-production than the hackiest of movie directors? How many presumably directorial choices were in fact the director’s, and how many were dictated by the producer or the star or the house style of a particular show? Do his Invaders segments more closely resemble Wendkos’s segments of other series, or those Invaders segments helmed by others? TV movies are easier – one can presume a bit more creative control on the part of the director – but most of them are maddeningly hard to come by these days. Little wonder that the expert cinephiles at Dave Kehr’s blog struggled last month to define the Wendkos touch, even as they agreed upon their admiration for it.
Tise Vahimagi and the late Christopher Wicking, in their book The American Vein, contemplate this authorial question with mixed success, but I think their take on Wendkos is sound:
In his best work, there is a clinical detachment from his characters, which prevents any easy transference from the viewer. His analytic view intensifies the feeling that we are watching insects under a microscope. Some of the insects run bewildered from the various physical and psychological hounds on their trail, whilst others do the pursuing — implacable and imperious. Wendkos’s framing of a cold world is usually meticulously correct, frustratingly proper. It conveys a Langian sense of fate, against which individuals are powerless.
To which I’ll add only that the best dramatic TV directors of the sixties, of whom Wendkos was one, had to be equally proficient in their guidance of actors and in their use of the camera. This is an obvious point. But the fact that there are few television auteurs who managed to specialize in one area to the exclusion of the other (in the way that, say, Kazan was an “actor’s director” or Hitchcock a meticulous planner of compositions) makes it all the more difficult to differentiate amidst their work.
If I can’t offer a full analysis of Wendkos’s mise-en-scene, I can at least shed some light on one mystery which emerged from that discussion on Mr. Kehr’s site. The authorship of Angel Baby has always been disputed in the reference books. Though Wendkos bears the sole screen credit, the project originated with another director, Hubert Cornfield, who had a similarly uneven and interesting early screen career. (Although when Wendkos segued into television, Cornfield simply disappeared). The press reported during the film’s production in 1960 that appendicitis forced Cornfield off the film, without indicating how much of it he completed before Wendkos took over. In that 1968 interview, Wendkos distanced himself a bit from Angel Baby – he claimed he was promised script changes which never materialized – but also neglected to say how much of the finished work actually bore his stamp.
This week I put in a call to Angel Baby’s lovely and talented star, Salome Jens, whose portrayal of the title character, a phony (or is she?) faith healer, is one of the film’s chief assets. According to Jens, Cornfield was fired after one or two days (“he had a lot of ideas, but none of them worked”) and all of his footage was reshot by Wendkos. Of the two credited cinematographers, Jens remembered Haskell Wexler as Wendkos’s primary collaborator; Jack Marta (soon to become the DP on TV’s Route 66) was there mainly to protect the picture’s union status. (Wexler was not yet a member of the A.S.C.)
Angel Baby began shooting on location in Florida and Georgia, but was forced back to Los Angeles by uncooperative weather. That may account for the film’s uneven mixture of steamy tropical authenticity and cramped, flimsy-looking sets. Apart from Jens, the visual energy Wendkos brings to the film – lots of tracking shots and low angles, perhaps to suggest the faithful gazing skyward – is the best thing about it.
“I had a lovely experience with Paul,” said Jens, who also did an Untouchables for Wendkos two years later. “I felt that he enhanced what it was I brought him. I already had ideas about what it was I was going to do, and he was very supportive. I loved Angel Baby. I thought it was a sweet little film.”
There’s one discrepancy I haven’t resolved, and that’s the question of Wendkos’s age. Most reference books report his date of birth as September 20, 1922, but the obits all state that he 84 rather than 87. If I sort out the facts, I’ll report back.
UPDATE, 12/3/09: Lin Bolen Wendkos says that Paul’s birth certificate bears the 1925 date. No one in the family seems to know how that 1922 business got started. Intriguing! Also, Paul was his middle name; his given name was Abraham.
Filed in Interviews & Tributes, Research and Methodology
Tags: Angel Baby, auteurism, Classic Television, David Goodis, Fear No Evil, Haskell Wexler, Hubert Cornfield, Lin Bolen, Lin Bolen Wendkos, made-for-television movies, Naked City, Obituaries, Paul Wendkos, Salome Jens, Television Directors, Television History, The Brotherhood of the Bell, The Burglar
2 Responses to “Paradise Cove Is Too Far: Notes on Paul Wendkos”
Been working on some stuff on Face Of A Fugitive (1959), and digging through Wendkos’ filmography, I realize that when he was good, he was VERY good.
Shame you never got around to speaking with him.
Jordan Wendkos Says:
Thx for your efforts in doing this. Appreciate you preserving my dad’s legacy. Let me know if you need any more info. Have many memories and meorabilia.
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Turkeys Away: An Oral History
TV Guide named it as the fortieth best television episode of all time. On lists of favorite sitcoms, or favorite holiday episodes, it invariably ranks even higher. WKRP in Cincinnati’s seventh episode, “Turkeys Away” begins as a wholesome, almost bland, Thanksgiving show. Around the midpoint, though, the standard-issue sitcom setup – Mr. Carlson (Gordon Jump), orchestrates a secret radio station promotion – takes a spectacularly morbid and off-color left turn, one that sets up punchline after hilarious punchline. The last line of the show (which can be viewed on Hulu, albeit with substantial cuts and music replacement) has become one of the most oft-quoted gags in the history of television.
This month, in a series of entirely new interviews, members of the show’s cast and crew (along with the “real” Herb Tarlek) reminisced about the making of this historic half-hour.
HUGH WILSON (creator and producer of WKRP in Cincinnati): The starting point was that I was a young, kind of new writer at Mary Tyler Moore Productions – MTM.
MICHAEL ZINBERG (director of “Turkeys Away”): It was in the heyday of MTM. We often referred to it as Camelot, which it was. Those shows were hand-crafted. It was a remarkable group of writers and directors and producers, headed by Grant Tinker. Hugh Wilson came out from Atlanta, and in three years was creating his own show. That’s what the possibilities were.
CLARKE BROWN (radio executive): Hugh first started in the business as an account executive for Burton-Campbell Advertising. He was about to get fired, and they said, “Wait a minute, don’t fire this guy. This guy could be a great writer.” They moved him into a copywriting position, and he became arguably the best copywriter that’s ever been in Atlanta, Georgia. Later he became the creative director, and ultimately he became the president of the agency. Then he abruptly left. He got a divorce, and without a job or anything, he moved to California and ended up almost immediately getting a job with Mary Tyler Moore.
HUGH WILSON: Grant Tinker, who was Mary’s husband, let it be known one day in the most casual of ways that if anybody had any show ideas, they should tell him. I know pilot season [now] is more important than Versailles, but in the day he just said that. Anyhow, I was working on a short-lived show, two seasons, called The Tony Randall Show. Tony had had great success with The Odd Couple, and we did this. It never quite worked, but that was what I was doing. Anyhow, I got this idea for a radio station [series], and I told Grant, and we went over to CBS, and they all said, “Yeah, hey, great.” What was lucky for me was that most of those guys . . . had at one time or another been in the radio business. I hadn’t counted on having that kind of built-in affection for the idea.
So I went back to Atlanta, where I had some real good friends, at what was the number one rocker there, and I sat down with the station manager and told him what was going on. He was very excited, because it was [about] radio and also because it was good publicity.
CLARKE BROWN: WKRP was based on the radio station WQXI in Atlanta, and there were several characters who were very much based on people at QXI, and the others were sometimes amalgamations and sometimes just completely fictionalized. I was Herb Tarlek.
HUGH WILSON: Clarke Brown was a salesman at WQXI, and I based Herb Tarlek on him, although Clarke’s a pretty cool guy. But Clarke was dressing in these pretty bizarre polyester outfits back in the day.
CLARKE BROWN: Not to that extreme, but I was kind of known for dressing wildly, mod clothing and so forth. But he was making fun of me, essentially. It just made me laugh.
HUGH WILSON: The character of Johnny Fever, he was based on a guy I knew in Atlanta called Skinny Bobby Harper. That was funny, because he was the morning guy, so Skinny had to get up at four in the morning to get in there. But he also loved being in the bars at night. He was like Fever – in the pilot, I said [to Howard Hesseman], “You’ve got to play it like you’re sleepwalking, because you should be asleep by eight, but eight is just when you’re going out.”
CLARKE BROWN: Jerry Blum was “the Big Guy,” Arthur Carlson, and there was another guy that some of his personality was in the character also. His name was Doug Burton, and he was the Burton of Burton-Campbell.
HUGH WILSON: Jerry Blum was a little bit of Mr. Carlson, and Carlson is actually more of a wonderful man that I worked for in Atlanta advertising. He was my boss. He was a great, great guy.
CLARKE BROWN: The location was [changed to Cincinnati] because of its central location, with no accents. And obviously, “WKRP,” “W-crap” was the pun intended.
Hugh kind of worked with me in the mornings. One day he’d go and sit in the control room, and then one day he’d sit in the sales office, and he absorbed the actual workings of a radio station firsthand in that manner. Then, of course, he and I were drinking buddies, so he heard every story that was worth repeating over the years. When Hugh was writing the show, a lot of the incidents were real.
HUGH WILSON: I was allowed to see everything, and then Jerry Blum, the station manager, told me about a promotion – I believe in Texas, and I want to say Dallas, but I’m not sure – in which he threw turkeys out of a helicopter, and they didn’t fly. They crashed to the ground, it was just a horrible disaster, and he wound up losing his job over it. So I said to him at the time, “Jerry, I think you just won me an Emmy.”
CLARKE BROWN: The turkey drop was actually a real incident. It was at a shopping center in Atlanta; I think it was Broadview Plaza, which no longer exists. It was a Thankgiving promotion. We thought that we could throw these live turkeys out into the crowd for their Thanksgiving dinners. All of us, naïve and uneducated, thought that turkeys could fly. Of course, they went just fuckin’ splat.
People were laughing at us, not with us. But it became a legend. There were other stories of this nature that were embellished [on WRKP]; that one was really not embellished that much. Although the turkeys were thrown off the back of a truck, as opposed to how it was depicted on the [show].
HUGH WILSON: I didn’t dream up the helicopter. My memory is Jerry said a helicopter.
CLARKE BROWN: It just ended with, the joke’s on us. And of course, our guys played it up. It turned out to be a great little unintended publicity gimmick, the fact that it failed the way that it did. Probably got more mileage out of it being screwed up than had it not been.
HUGH WILSON: Since that time, a couple of people have claimed that story, but Jerry said it was him. He’s the one that said to me, “You know, Hugh, turkeys can’t fly.”
CLARKE BROWN: It is very possible that another radio station at some point in time had done something similar. But I know for a fact that we had no conscious awareness that it had been done elsewhere, successfully or not. We weren’t deliberately trying to clone somebody’s promotion. Not that we wouldn’t do that, because clearly we would, and have. But not that particular day.
HUGH WILSON: It didn’t matter to me whether it was true or who did it. I knew I could use it on the show. We decided that we would make it our Thanksgiving show of the first season, which I think was the sixth one we did.
The teleplay for “Turkeys Away” is credited to the late Bill Dial.
HUGH WILSON: He was a friend of mine from Atlanta, from the agency I worked with, that I had brought out too, because I thought he was good, and also I felt that somehow or other I had been let past the guards at one of these great studios, and now my job was to sneak in as many friends as I could.
CLARKE BROWN: A lot of people from Atlanta were involved with that show – his writers and music people. A guy named Tommy Wells, who just recently died, did the music for the show and wrote the theme song.
HUGH WILSON: I just thought [Bill Dial] kind of missed it completely. Dial, bless his heart, would tell you the same. He got the credit and I think he kind of dined out on it, but you know, I pretty much wrote every word.
The premise of “Turkeys Away” is a kind of continuation of the pilot, in which station manager Arthur Carlson (Gordon Jump) begins to feel left out and unappreciated following WKRP’s format change under the new program director, Andy Travis (Gary Sandy).
HUGH WILSON: That made sense to me. The pilot was about a whole change there, and it would make sense that this guy, a dear man but an inept man, would want to reinsert himself into it. It would be fun [to have] him to engineer it, rather than the angry Herb Tarlek. It was good that Herb be his lieutenant. Herb and Les, they kind of sided with the old guard, so it was great to have all of them on the wrong side of this.
Seeking to ingratiate himself with the staff, Carlson makes fumbling overtures to all of them. To African American deejay Venus Flytrap, he proffers a watermelon.
TIM REID (“Venus Flytrap”): That actually came from a true story! This was way back in 1968, about four years removed from the [start of] the Civil Rights movement. I’d just come out of college. I was claimed as the first black hire to be a marketing representative for this company. I’m not going to call the company’s name, but it was a major corporation and I was the first black hired in management. Anybody with a college degree in a white company was looked upon as just landed from PlanetUniversity. Nobody really knew quite how to deal with us. We were all in training together, and there was a lot of joking, a lot of racial joking, and everybody got their turn in the barrel.
The person who [gave me the watermelon] was from the Deep South and I was from the South, and we had really been giving each other a pretty good row at the time. I had given as much as I got. It was a touché kind of thing, because I had really done something to him earlier. Let’s just say I showed up in a sheet. [Laughs.] But that one topped it. Then the shit hit the fan. Everybody realized, Oh my god, this really isn’t funny. This has gone too far. So then the pressure all came to me as to how am I going to respond to it. Which I never thought was quite fair.
That person and I never became great friends, but we – I saved his job, actually. They were going to fire him because of that when word got around. He came to me, very sadly, and asked, and I called [the bosses] and said, “Look, this was a give and take. I don’t want to waste my opportunities on this one. Let me save them for when I really need a chit.” I knew he had learned his lesson, and I certainly had learned mine.
A lot of things in our lives became seeds of a story, or elements of a story. Oftentimes when Hugh was writing, he’d talk to you, and you’d say something and he’d laugh and walk away. Then you’d look up and it would be in the script. Hugh would say, “Can I tell that?” And I go, “I dunno.” So, suddenly, innocently, Carlson doesn’t know what to do and he handed me a watermelon!
“Turkeys Away” has an extraordinarily slow build to its famous ending. Arthur Carlson’s much-hyped secret promotion doesn’t emerge until the second act, and just what it is not revealed until the last few minutes.
HUGH WILSON: If you’ve got a real hot piece of comedy that you like, you sure don’t want to put it up front. I tried hard to make it the climax, where the climax is supposed to be.
MAX TASH: We started with the table read on Mondays, and we would shoot on Fridays. There would be a big rewrite Tuesday nights, and then usually a smaller rewrite on Wednesday night.
TIM REID: It was a great table read. We’d get the script a day or so before table read, so you know going in whether or not you’ve got something that’s going to be a lot of fun to do. And we all just couldn’t wait to get there. I think it’s one of the first times in four years that we were all ever on time for a table read.
The classic payoff commences when Les Nessman’s live broadcast from the shopping center’s parking lot quickly becomes a bloodbath – one that echoes another famous disaster.
HUGH WILSON: I put in the thing that Les would be present, and I wrote that whole thing that made it sound like the Hindenburg and all of that.
TIM REID: The opportunity to see Les Nessman recount the falling of the turkeys in the style of the Hindenburg was just, tears to your eyes. I mean, who takes on the Hindenburg, and does a comedy? Takes one of the great tragedies in this country, and puts it in a comedy show? We went there.
People don’t give us credit for a few firsts, but WKRP was the first television show to do an episode about Vietnam [“Who Is Gordon Sims?,” in which Venus Flytrap is revealed to have been a draft dodger]. Lou Grant did one after us, but we were the first, and it was so touchy and so difficult, that they sent the military to sit in the stands every day in the rehearsal. It was literally going to be up to a commander from Camp Pendleton, that somebody had brought up as our advisor. He was going to watch us rehearse for at least two to three days, and it was going to be his decision. And if he said “no,” we were not going to do the episode.
MAX TASH (production associate): “Turkeys Away” was probably the most famous episode we did of that whole series, but there was an episode we did called “Les on a Ledge,” which had Les Nessman on the ledge of the Flimm Building, contemplating suicide because one of the Cincinnati Reds baseball players made a comment about Les after he had done an after-game interview, saying, “What a queer little fellow he is.” So he took that to mean they think he’s gay. And it was the third or fourth episode that we produced of this brand new sitcom, that was dealing with this issue, in a very funny way. But that episode, to me, stood out even more than “Turkeys Away” because it showed the direction that the series was eventually going to go in.
Les quotes the famous line from Herbert Morrison’s radio coverage of the Hindenburg crash: “Oh, the humanity!”
HUGH WILSON: You know what, we’d put in a line, and invariably somebody from the network would say, “I don’t believe people, particularly younger people, know what that line about the Hindenburg means.” And my answer was always, “So what?” They were always deathly afraid that we would be going over people’s heads. We did a commercial once that was for a beer where it said, “Look for the smiling face of Archduke Ferdinand on every bottle!” Somebody said, “Hugh, it was his assassination that started World War I.” And I said, “So what?”
The oft-told story is that Richard Sanders (“Les Nessman”) closely modeled his performance on Morrison’s broadcast.
MICHAEL FAIRMAN (guest star as the “Shoe Store Owner,” and Richard Sanders’s friend and writing partner on several WKRP scripts): We both listened to it together at one point. It was Richard’s idea. He said, “Why don’t I announce it as if it were [the Hindenburg broadcast]?”
TIM REID: We all did! We all sat in the room and we watched the actual crashing of the Hindenburg as it was recorded [in newsreel footage], over and over, and we sat there as he [Sanders] did it. And he did it so well. If you look at him and look at the guy who gave the report on the Hindenburg, you’ll see the similarities.
MICHAEL FAIRMAN: Richard is an interesting guy. Very – oh, what’s the word? Very ordered. Kind of strait-laced, kind of tight. Sometimes we’d have little battles about that. He had a very dramatic, teutonic kind of personality. It had to be this way or that way. He was very much like Les Nessman. Compulsive, a little bit. But a good guy, at base.
GARY SANDY (“Andy Travis”): Richard Sanders was my favorite character on the show. I thought Richard was incredible in that part of Les Nessman. He knew what he was doing every single second, every moment that he was on camera. But, everybody was funny on that show. Frank Bonner was funny in that episode. I was young and cute. [Laughs.] Everything kind of worked.
As Les Nessman narrates the unexpected demise of hundreds of ill-fated turkeys, most of the other characters – Andy, Venus, Johnny Fever, and Bailey Quarters – listen in disbelief from the booth.
HUGH WILSON: That was all shot just as you see it. They were in their set, and [Sanders] was in the swing set – that’s a set that you don’t see every week. He was right there next to them on the stage; we didn’t shoot it separately and cut it in. We did everything we could to make it work for the live audience.
MAX TASH: There were a few more extras [needed] than we had budgeted for, so our runner, Tim Womack, was one of the passersby when Les Nessman was doing the play-by-play. In the background of that shot, also, was Hugh’s secretary, Lissa Levin, who eventually became a story editor and a renowned writer on her own. And there were other production people and office staff who were in that episode as background people. We were always throwing friends and family into the shots.
MICHAEL ZINBERG: You never know what you have until you get it in front of the audience. Then when the laughter started, and turned into howls when those turkeys started coming down, it was hard to keep doing the show, because we were laughing so much watching the show.
HUGH WILSON: They were cracking it up. There’s probably some good outs from that – I don’t know where – where they just started laughing and we had to cut.
TIM REID: We just could not keep from laughing throughout the whole taping of it.
HUGH WILSON: Richard Sanders never did that. He was really amazing. He could have the whole soundstage fall and he never broke character. But the rest of them, being human . . . . Particularly Gordon Jump, if he said something that amused him, he was sure as shit going to laugh himself. Actually, those kind of things I enjoyed, because the audience loved to see somebody make a mistake. They felt like they were on the inside.
FRANK BONNER (“Herb Tarlek”): My most fond memories of “Turkeys Away” are Richard Sanders’s (a very good actor) use of the reporter’s description of the 1937 Hindenburg disaster – [and then] “…the turkeys are hitting the ground like bags of wet cement.”
HUGH WILSON: That line was mine.
Before the turkey drop, Les reads aloud the text of the banner trailing behind the helicopter – even, slowly, the station’s call letters, as if he’d never seen them before.
HUGH WILSON: Where he had to read it? That was his gag. I’m pretty sure that that came up in rehearsal, and Richard did that. Isn’t that good? They were a funny bunch of people, all of them.
Jennifer (Loni Anderson), the station’s receptionist, fields a call from the Humane Society: “But, Mr. Colley, a lot of turkeys don’t make it through Thanksgiving.”
HUGH WILSON: That I don’t think I wrote. I think that’s from Dial.
Finally, Arthur Carlson and Herb Tarlek return to the station, dazed and disheveled.
HUGH WILSON: I was a real grizzly about keeping to the lines. There was a great deal of respect for writers at MTM. Tinker and Mary were always right behind the writers. I guess that started with Jim Brooks being so key to her show being a success. So [the cast] stayed to the lines, but invariably they found funny things. A lot of times they would find something and I would say, “Augh! Nope, don’t do that!” Then they’d try things and I’d go, “Yeah, that’s great. Thank you very much.” I must say I didn’t write it in the script that Gordon would show up with – Frank and him had makeup put those little feathers on them. When I saw it, I fell down in laughter, so they realized I supported that.
No turkeys actually appear on-screen in “Turkeys Away.”
HUGH WILSON: No, thank God. And I sure didn’t want one on the set, after Jerry said the turkeys attacked the people. He was the one that said they landed and decided they’d let them out there so the people could grab them, but the turkeys were vicious to the people. So I put that right in the script, too.
MAX TASH: I thought the funniest lines were happening because the audience was imagining what was happening. You never saw turkeys thrown out – you only saw how it was being described. You saw the aftermath when Carlson comes in with feathers in his hair. So the funniest laughs were in the audience’s imagination.
Finally, Arthur Carlson re-emerges from his office, and utters the ten lines that would immortalize “Turkeys Away.”
GARY SANDY: The famous line from that show, “As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly,” is famous because, at the moment – and it’s like it was yesterday, I can see it – the genius of Hugh Wilson and Gordon Jump came together. Gordon Jump was one of the nicest men that ever lived, really, he truly was, and I think his humanity, who the man was – he got by with a lot of stuff because he was just a great human being. Gordon Jump was a very religious guy, so somehow or another “as God is my witness” is coupled with all that.
HUGH WILSON: Yeah, I wrote that. That was from my mother. She was always using God as her witness. “As God is my witness, I have never in my life seen a boy,” etc., etc. [I was] an only child who got caught for everything. I mean everything. I have five children, so I never really know who did what, but when you’re an only child, you’re screwed.
Jump does not utter the “As God is my witness…” line until after the end credits have begun to appear.
MAX TASH: The thing we learned from Hugh was: you tell the joke and you get out of there. Don’t be hanging around.
HUGH WILSON: At the time, the show hadn’t been on the air [yet], and these were people [in the live audience] who were out vacationing, who were given these tickets at Universal’s [studio tour] and all, and they really wanted to see a show they had seen for years on TV. They weren’t too happy to come in and see a show they hadn’t seen yet. But that was the biggest success in terms of audience enjoyment up to that time. So we were real excited about it. So was the network. People were just pitching fits.
MAX TASH: There were so many big laughs that you do end up cutting out laughs, because you’ve already established how funny the joke is, and you’ve already heard the audience, and if they went on maybe twice as long with a particular laugh it just takes away from the program time.
HUGH WILSON: That’s the kind of problem you prayed for.
MAX TASH: So, yeah, we did [trim the laugh track], but it wasn’t unusual on WKRP to do that.
Although it was meant to air the week before Thanksgiving, “Turkeys Away” was actually first broadcast on October 30, 1978. The ratings-challenged series spent the holidays fighting for its life.
HUGH WILSON: I think after the sixth or eighth show we were taken off the air and put on hiatus for, quote, “repairs.” That’s what Variety, I believe, reported that CBS said, that they were having a second look at the show and they were “tweaking it.”
Well, in point of fact, I just sat there and waited. I didn’t tweak anything. I went to some meeting where we all agreed that it should be funnier. And then I turned in some scripts that they hadn’t seen, and they thought that they saw in there a reaction from me from that meeting. But they’d been written way before that. I just changed the dates on the drafts, so it would look like they were written after we were taken off the air.
I think, in a way, “Turkeys” saved us from getting cancelled, because it got a lot of talk. Anecdotal, around town kind of talk. Those people, of course, were ruled by necessity by Nielsens, but they also wanted to be involved with something that was thought around town to be good.
TIM REID: Today, not only could you not get away with that, nobody would get it.
HUGH WILSON: I meet people for the first time, and if we get to talking and it somehow comes up that I created WKRP, they immediately start saying, “As God is my witness, I didn’t know turkeys could fly.” It’s rather amazing that the line itself is [legendary]. I’m just thrilled and tickled to death by it. People either say “Oh, I love that show,” or they go right to “As God is my witness…” It seems like half and half.
GARY SANDY: It’s not surprising to me that this has become what it’s become, because that moment was etched in my memory as being something really special.
HUGH WILSON: By the way, when I got a farm, I’d come up on wild turkeys. They fly about two feet off the ground, and they can only go for about ten yards, but wild turkeys can fly.
Thanks to all of the participants in the above, and especially to Hugh Wilson, whose generosity in opening his rolodex made this piece possible, and to Justin Humphreys, who introduced me to Hugh. For more “Turkeys Away” stories, check out the DVD audio commentary featuring Hugh Wilson, Loni Anderson, and Frank Bonner.
Tags: Clarke Brown, Frank Bonner, Gary Sandy, Gordon Jump, Hugh Wilson, Jerry Blum, Les Nessman, Richard Sanders, Sitcoms, Thanksgiving episode, Tim Reid, turkey drop, Turkeys Away, WKRP in Cincinnati, WQXI
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Posts Tagged ‘Toledo Cubs’
Toledo’s Swayne Field And Its Century-Old Outfield Wall
Swayne Field was located at the intersection of Monroe Street and Detroit Avenue in Toledo, Ohio. The ballpark opened on July 3, 1909, as the home of the American Association Toledo Mud Hens. The ballpark was named after Noah Swayne, Jr., who purchased the land for the ballpark and leased it to the team.
Postcard “Toledo Ball Park, Toledo, Ohio” (Published by Harry N. Hamm, Toledo, Ohio)
Toledo’s American Association franchise played at Swayne Field through the 1955 season, with the exception of 1914 and 1915 when the team relocated to Cleveland and played at League Park to keep the Federal League from establishing a team in that city. As a replacement for the city baseball fans, the Southern Michigan League Mud Hens played at Swayne Field in 1914.
Toledo’s team was known primarily as the Mud Hens, although the team changed names twice, beginning with the Toledo Iron Men from 1916 to 1918 and the Toledo Sox from 1952 to 1955. Many great ballplayers passed through future Hall of Famer Casey Stengel who managed the team from 1926 to 1931.
Swayne Field, Toledo, Ohio, Showing 12,000 Interested Baseball Fans (No Postcard Publisher Stated)
Negro League baseball was played at Swayne Field, including the Negro National League Toledo Tigers in 1923, the Negro American League Toledo Crawfords in 1939 (featuring future Hall of Famer Oscar Charleston), and the United States League Toledo Cubs in 1945 (featuring future Hall of Famer Norman “Turkey” Stearnes). Swayne Field also was the site of many Negro League exhibition games over the years.
Professional Football also was played at Swayne Field. The Ohio League Toledo Maroons played at Swayne Field from 1909 to 1921 and the National Football League Toledo Maroons played there in 1923.
“Wayne Field Base Ball Park Toledo Ohio” Postcard With Error in Name (Published by Boutelle, Toledo, Ohio)
The ballpark was demolished in 1956 to make way for Swayne Field Shopping Center and what was then the largest Kroger store store in the country.
Save-A-Lot Grocery Store, Former Koger Store and Former Site of Swayne Field, Toledo, Ohio
A McDonald’s Restaurant sits in the former site of right field, just as a different McDonald’s sits in the former site of left field at Baltimore’s old American League Park. St. Ann’s Catholic Church is visible behind Swayne Field’s former right field corner, just as a different St. Ann’s Catholic Church is visible a few blocks from Baltimore’s old American League Park.
Former Site of Right Field, Swayne Field, Toledo, Ohio
The building that comprises the Swayne Field Shopping Center is located in what was once left and center field.
Location of Left and Center, Former Site of Swayne Field, Toledo, Ohio
Home plate and the grandstand behind home plate was located mid block on Monroe Street between Detroit Street and former Toledo Terminal Railroad tracks. A Sherwin-Williams store now marks the spot.
Location of Infield Looking Toward Home Plate, Former Site of Swayne Field, Toledo, Ohio
First base ran parallel to Monroe Street. Some of the buildings dating to the time of Swayne Field remain near the site on Monroe Street.
Center Field Looking Toward First Base Foul Line, Former Site of Swayne Field, Toledo, Ohio
Most remarkable, however, is that a portion of Swayne Field’s original concrete wall remains at the site.
Original Outfield Wall, Looking Toward Left Field Corner From Detroit Street, Former Site of Swayne Field, Toledo, Ohio
The concrete wall once enclosed the the ballpark along Detroit Street (the first base foul line) around to Council Street (left and center field).
Swayne Field Opening Day 1909 (Bryan Postcard Company, Bryan, Ohio)
The portion of the wall that remains today was once part of the left center field wall, and is located behind the shopping center, parallel to Council Street.
Original Concrete Outfield Wall at Intersection of Detroit Street and Council Street, Former Site of Swayne Field, Toledo, Ohio
The structure is over one hundred years old and in desperate need of repair.
Hole In Original Left Field Wall (Looking Toward Council Street) Former Site of Swayne Field, Toledo, Ohio
How historically significant is the Swayne Field wall? As an actual ballpark relic, the Swayne Field wall is one year older than both Rickwood Field, the oldest former professional ballpark still standing, which opened in August 1910, and the 1910 renovation of League Park in Cleveland (League Park’s ticket house may date to 1909). The wall is three years older than Fenway Park, the oldest Major League ballpark still standing, which opened in 1912. The wall is five years older than the somewhat famous Washington Park Wall, a relic of Brooklyn’s Federal League Tip Tops ballpark, which was constructed in 1914, and Wrigley Field, which opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park, home for the Federal League Chicago Whales. The wall is six years older both Bosse Field, the third oldest professional ballpark still in continuous use, built in 1915, and the remnants of Braves Field, which opened in 1915. Athough Forbes Field was constructed in 1909, the same year as Swayne Field, the outfield wall that remains at the Forbes Field site was built in 1946.
Brooklyn’s Washington Park Wall, A Relic of the Federal League Brooklyn Tip Tops, Built in 1914 (photo circa 2006, note: a portion of the wall has since been demolished)
All that is left of the Swayne Field wall closest to the left field corner are some of the concrete pillars.
Concrete Pillars From Original Outfield Wall, Looking Toward Center Field, Former Site of Swayne Field, Toledo, Ohio
Original Concrete Pillars of Outfield Wall, Looking Toward Left Field Corner, Former Site of Swayne Field, Toledo, Ohio
Out beyond what was once the left field corner is a brick building that dates back to the time of Swayne Field and is now Burkett Restaurant Supply.
Industrial Building (Currently Burkett Restaurant Supply), Beyond Left Field Corner, Former Site of Swayne Field, Toledo, Ohio
After Swayne Field was demolished, Toledo was without a minor league affiliate from 1956 to 1964. In 1965, the Mud Hens returned to the area, playing in what was then called Lucas County Stadium, a converted race track at the Lucas County Fairgrounds, ten miles southwest of Swayne Field in Maumee, Ohio. Lucas County Stadium was subsequently renamed Ned Skeldon Stadium after the person who helped bring minor league baseball back to the Toledo area.
Ned Skeldon Stadium, Toledo, Ohio
In 2003 the Toledo Mud Hens left Ned Skeldon Stadium and returned to downtown Toledo, playing in brand new Fifth Third Field located just two miles southeast of the Swayne Field site.
Fifth Third Field,Toledo, Ohio, Home Of The Toledo Mud Hens
On the Fifth Third Field club level is a display dedicated to the memory of Swayne Field.
Swayne Field Display, Fifth Third Field,Toledo, Ohio
Included in the display is a piece of the original Swayne Field Wall.
Swayne Field Display With Piece of Original , Outfield Wall, Fifth Third Field,Toledo, Ohio
If you are a fan of the game and the history of baseball, a stop at Swayne Field Shopping Center is a must, if for no other reason than to see a ballpark relic that is over one hundred years old. There are not many professional baseball stadium structures in the United States older than the Swayne Field wall. The portion that remains is located at the corner of Detroit Street and Council Street.
Tags: American Association, Casey Stengel, FIfth Third Field, Kroger, lost ballparks, Lucas County Stadium, minor league baseball, National Football League, Ned Skeldon Stadium, Negro American League, Negro National League, Norman Turkey Stearnes, Ohio League, Original Left Field Wall, Oscar Charleston, Southern Michigan League, Swayne Field, Swayne Field Shopping Center, Swayne Field Wall, Toledo Crawfords, Toledo Cubs, Toledo Iron Men, Toledo Maroons, Toledo Mud Hens, Toledo Sox, Toledo Terminal railroad, Toledo Tigers
Posted in Ohio ballparks, Swayne Field | Comments (1)
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LAW REVIEW: “The American Death Penalty and the (In)Visibility of Race”
In a new article for the University of Chicago Law Review, Professors Carol S. Steiker (left) of the University of Texas School of Law and Jordan M. Steiker (right) of Harvard Law School examine the racial history of the American death penalty and what they describe as the U.S. Supreme Court’s “deafening silence” on the subject of race and capital punishment. They assert that the story of the death penalty “cannot be told without detailed attention to race.” The Steikers’ article recounts the role of race in the death penalty since the early days of the United States, including the vastly disproportionate use of capital punishment against free and enslaved blacks in the antebellum South and describes the racial and civil rights context in which the constitutional challenges to the death penalty in the 1960s and 1970s were pursued. The authors contrast the “salience of race” in American capital punishment law and practice through the civil rights era with the “relative invisibility [of race] in the judicial opinions issued in the foundational cases of the modern era.”
After a thorough explanation of “why a ‘race-neutral’ constitutional approach to the issue of capital punishment may have been appealing to the Supreme Court even — perhaps especially — in the racially charged era of the 1960s and 1970s,” the authors conclude, “[t]he story of how the American death penalty came under assault in the 1960s, was almost judicially abolished in the early 1970s, and has been subject to continuing constitutional regulation thereafter cannot be told without detailed attention to race. And yet the Supreme Court opinions addressing the American death penalty during this foundational era are soaked in euphemism, addressing problems of ‘arbitrariness,’ ‘caprice,’ and ‘disproportionality.’ …We are confident that, whatever the future holds for the American death penalty, its destiny is in some important sense linked to the distinctive and destructive role of racial discrimination in American society.”
(C. Steiker and J. Steiker, “THE AMERICAN DEATH PENALTY AND THE (IN)VISIBILITY OF RACE,” 82 University of Chicago Law Review 243, Winter 2015.) See Race, Law Reviews, and U.S. Supreme Court.
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Is This Our Apocalyptic Future? Dead Planet Shows Earth’s Fate
Meagan Kozlovs — April 8, 2019 add comment
There’s a new study that may have shown a window into Earth’s fate, by taking a look at a new-discovered dying planet, that’s placed almost 400 light years away.
The planet could be able to destroy an asteroid
The study was published in the journal Science, and it shows that the dead planet, that’s also known as “planetesimal” is made out of a metal core and is orbiting the white star, that’s known as SDSS. It orbits it every 2 hours. The gravity of the dwarf planet is so strong (about 100,000 times of Earth’s). Due to this fact, a typical asteroid will be literally torn apart by the gravitational forces if it goes too close to the dwarf star.
One of the leaders of the study said that the star, originally, would have been about two solar masses, but the dwarf star is about 70% of the mass of the Sun. It’s a very small one, the thing that makes it an extremely dense star.
This shows what could happen to Earth
The planetesimal is placed 410 light-years away from Earth, and it gives some hints about the planets that reside in many other solar systems. It also shows what could happen to Earth.
This planet was found by using the Gran Telescopio Canarias in La Palma. It has not died completely, due to the fact that is has a metal core. If it had pure iron, its chances would have been bigger where it is placed now, however, that’s not the case. It could have been a body full of iron, but that has the internal strength to just keep it all together, which might have worked given the massive fragment of a planet core.
Earth's fate SDSS planet
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Victoria partners with Oxford Uni on new cyber-security centre
Daniel Palmer
news The Victorian Government has inked a deal that will see Oxford University’s Global Cyber Security Capacity Centre (GCSCC) establish its first ever international office in Melbourne.
Small Business, Innovation and Trade Minister Philip Dalidakis signed the agreement in the UK on 15 December and said the move would cement Victoria’s reputation as a regional hub for cyber security – an industry worth $71 billion a year globally.
“Oxford University is a world leader in cyber security policy, research and education. Their decision to locate their first Global Cyber Security Capacity Centre international office in Melbourne is a huge vote of confidence for Victoria’s tech sector,” said Dalidakis.
He added: “Victoria is leading the nation on cyber security and the move by Oxford, coupled with the creation of a new Oceania Cyber Security Centre and the CSIRO’s plans to move their Data61 national cyber security operations to Melbourne, cements our reputation as the leader in this industry.”
Oxford’s GCSCC carries out audits of national cyber security risks and capabilities, assisting countries plan investments and strategies to improve digital security.
The GCSCC office is to be co-located with a new Oceania Cyber Security Centre (OCSC), which was also announced on 15 December. The centre is being set up with support from the government and will bring together eight Victorian universities, the Defence Science Institute and private sector partners.
The state government said the new OCSC centre will aim to advance Victoria’s position as a regional leader in cyber security education, research, policy and entrepreneurship. The two centres, planned to be completed in the first half of next year, will create “new high-skill jobs for Victorians and will play a critical role safeguarding Australia’s growing digital economy”.
Dalidakis also announced an additional memorandum of understanding between the government and Data61 – the digital research arm of the CSIRO – to move its lead national cyber security centre to Melbourne. This centre will be a central part of a national network of Data61 capabilities, tying into Australia’s cyber security strategy.
These investments also follow moves to Victoria by a growing list of tech companies including the National Broadband Network (NBN), which recently announced it would be establishing its national Cyber Security Operations Centre in Victoria with 700 new jobs over the next five years.
“Cyber security is crucial to safeguarding our fast growing digital economy, it is now worth $71 billion a year globally, and the Andrews Labor Government is working hard to keep Victoria at the forefront,” Dalidakis said
Director of the Global Cyber Security Capacity Centre Professor Sadie Creese commented: “We are delighted to be part of this exciting new partnership. Our aim is for our work to be used internationally as a common framework for effective cybersecurity, and working with key partners worldwide such as the Government of Victoria is the only effective way to tackle this truly global issue.”
Planned NBN cyber security centre will bring new jobs to Melbourne
Gillard spends big on cyber-security; including new centre
Victoria partners with Zendesk to boost Melbourne employment
The Cyber Security Strategy is only a small step in the right direction
Defence cyber-security hiring just the start
global cyber security capacity centre
phillip dalidakis
victorian government
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Baseball Stars Professional*
Digital Release: See Table Below
Delisting (approx): Late Summer 2012
Developer: SNK
Publisher: SNK
Available On: See Table Below
Links: Original Announcement [Archive]
NEOGEO Station homepage [Archive]
This is a placeholder entry to be expanded at a later date.
All of the titles released under the NEOGEO Station banner on PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable were delisted during late Summer 2012. The earliest mention of their delisting was found in August on a GameSpot forum but SNK’s final “End of Summer Sale” on the titles in North America ran through September 25th. The reason for the NEOGEO Station delistings is unsubstantiated but our theory follows.
NEOGEO Station was launched as an exclusive platform to differentiate itself from other titles on the fledgling PlayStation Store. But by 2012 it’s possible SNK didn’t see the need to segregate its releases or wanted to separate them from the branding to release on other platforms.
This would’ve required re-releasing them on PlayStation Network as new, individual titles. This would mean those who purchased the NEOGEO Station versions would have to re-buy the games or SNK would have to field the consumer outcry and potential PR headaches. Peculiarly, several other SNK titles released for the PlayStation Portable remain available on the PlayStation Store as of April 2017. However, none of the delisted NEOGEO Station games returned until Hamster’s Arcade Archives series began in late 2016 on PlayStation 4.
See the table below for NEOGEO Station titles, release dates and current digital availability. All titles remain available on original Neo Geo carts and hardware, and many are available on physical media for other platforms.
NEOGEO Station as it appeared on PlayStation Network around the time of launch.
Command lists and music players were nice bonuses. Toggles to emulate known bugs were also offered in some titles.
The main menu offered the same options for most titles.
Original Release Dates
Title N. America Europe Japan Available On
Art of Fighting 12/21/2010 12/22/2010 12/22/2010 Arcade Archives (PS4, XONE), Wii
ASO II: Last Guardian (Alpha Mission II) 12/21/2010 12/22/2010 12/22/2010 Arcade Archives (PS4, Switch), Wii (JP)
Baseball Stars 2 7/19/2011 8/24/2011 7/14/2011 Steam, Wii
Baseball Stars Professional 12/21/2010 12/22/2010 12/22/2010
Fatal Fury: King of Fighters 12/21/2010 12/22/2010 12/22/2010 Arcade Archives (PS4, Switch, XONE), Wii
League Bowling 12/21/2010 12/22/2010 12/22/2010 Wii (JP)
Magician Lord 12/21/2010 12/22/2010 12/22/2010 Wii (JP)
Metal Slug 12/21/2010 12/22/2010 12/22/2010 Arcade Archives (PS4, Switch, XONE), Metal Slug Anthology (PS2, PSP/Vita, PS4, Wii), Steam, Wii
Metal Slug 2 10/11/2011 3/28/2012 9/29/2011 Metal Slug Anthology (PS2, PSP/Vita, PS4, Wii), Steam, Wii
Samurai Shodown 12/21/2010 12/22/2010 12/22/2010 Arcade Archives (PS4), Samurai Shodown Anthology (PSP/Vita), Wii
Shock Troopers 8/30/2011 3/28/2012 8/25/2011 Steam, Wii
Super Sidekicks 12/21/2010 12/22/2010 12/22/2010
The King of Fighters ’94 12/21/2010 12/22/2010 12/22/2010 Arcade Archives (PS4, Switch, XONE), KOF Collection (PSP/Vita), Wii
The King of Fighters ’95 7/19/2011 8/3/2011 7/14/2011 Arcade Archives (XONE), KOF Collection (PSP/Vita), Wii
The King of Fighters ’96 10/11/2011 3/28/2012 9/29/2011 KOF Collection (PSP/Vita), Wii
World Heroes 8/30/2011 12/21/2011 8/25/2011 Arcade Archives (PS4, XONE), Wii
*Listing and release dates from Wikipedia.
Last Updated: April 21, 2017 by ShawnS
Delisted On: PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable
Companies: SNK
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Cosmology of Whiteness
Critical reflections on the way whiteness functions as the dominant cosmology in U.S. society.
Welcome to the Cosmology of Whiteness Blog
Welcome to my blog on the cosmology of whiteness and white supremacy. I am a queer man of Anglo-European descent, and I understand that the institutions of American society were established by people who look like me for the exclusive benefit of people who look like me. The land of this continent was stolen from its original inhabitants and given freely to people who look like me. People who look like me exploited that land using slave labor until it was no longer economically viable to do so. White supremacy has gone through several phases during the history of the United States, from an era of legal slavery and government sanctioned genocide, to an era of Jim Crow and overt imperialism, to the current era of colorblind systemic racism, neo-liberal neocolonialism and lately anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant hysteria. The one thing that never seems to change is the dominance and unmarked status of whiteness.
I use the term whiteness almost interchangeably with white supremacy. But they are not exactly the same. White supremacy names the system of racial dominance operating in U.S. society (and globally), while whiteness (deriving from W.E.B. Dubois’ notion of “personal whiteness” and currently gaining academic currency via the field of “whiteness studies”) names the system’s epistemic and normative dimensions. It refers to those standards and values that are derived from Anglo-European culture and treated as universal norms (aesthetic, linguistic, behavioral, moral, cognitive, etc.). It also reminds us that this cosmology (see the post on cosmology) is racialized; that is, the supposed beauty, rationality, and industriousness associated with being white depends on the projection of opposing qualities onto racialized groups. This normative structure is then used both to secure and to explain the relative advantages afforded to white people. In other words, white supremacy identifies the racialized stratification of our social system, while whiteness describes the racialized cosmology that supports it.
One of the purposes of this blog is to unpack and explore the ways in which my personal history and the collective history of people who look like me has resulted in a situation in which those who identify as white have opted to cut themselves off from the larger human family in exchange for access to material benefits and a tenuous feeling of racial superiority. I wish both to take responsibility for the benefits I derive from systemic white supremacy and to do what I can to support the healing of the enormous wounds inflicted on the human family by white supremacy. I am committed to expunging the layers of white conditioning within myself and to helping others like me to do the same. Only in this way will it be possible for me and people who look like me to develop mutually trusting relationships with our black and brown brothers and sisters and engage effectively in the struggle to end white supremacy.
I want to say at the outset (even though I know it probably won’t help) that my aim is NOT to shame white people or to suggest that only white folks are capable of racial prejudice. This blog is about the system of white supremacy - its history and its cosmology. It is not about blaming individuals or groups based on their skin color or racial identity. I do not hate white people or America (though I do strenuously reject that the former constitutes the latter). If anything this blog is rooted in love, and in the earnest desire that those of us who have (however unconsciously) traded our membership in the human family for power and privileges based on skin color can find a way to regain our humanity.
At the same time, not blaming does not mean not assigning responsibility to those of us to whom the system confers power and privilege. I have been playing a game that has long been rigged in my favor. I therefore have a responsibility to change the game so that the rules are fair and to ensure that past injustices are atoned for. This responsibility is completely independent of when and by whom the game was set up.
Finally, I want to make it perfectly clear that every worthwhile insight on this blog owes its existence, to one degree or another, to the five hundred year liberation struggle of the people oppressed by white supremacy. Sadly, we white folks, even those of us who earnestly desire justice, have shown ourselves to be largely incapable of recognizing the operations of white supremacy without the help of people of color. I am no different. Practically everything I know about whiteness and white supremacy I learned from African American and Native American thinkers and activists. I am particularly indebted to W.E.B. Dubois and James Baldwin without whose penetrating insights on whiteness this blog would be empty.
Posted by Gregory at 1:56 PM
kima January 9, 2011 at 9:51 PM
Wow, this is mind-opening, heart-pulsating, shockingly sad, sadly exclusive in its contents and soooo necessary for us white people to learn about. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us fellow learners, thank you for your beating heart and the surgical clarity of your words. I have only one thing to say: MORE!
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Gregory Mengel Ph.D is an activist, educator, and writer exploring the intersections of social justice, ecological sustainability, and human fulfillment. He holds an MA in Philosophy and Religion and a Ph.D. in Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness from the California Institute of Integral Studies. His research in philosophy, European intellectual history, cognitive science, epistemology, and critical race theory is focused on unpacking the stories and beliefs that give meaning to our social realities, and using those insights in the service of a more just and vibrant world. Gregory leads workshops and develops curriculum on racial justice and white privilege. He is currently a teacher/facilitator with the UNtraining, the East Bay Meditation Center, the Pachamama Alliance, and Beyond Separation.
Whiteness and the Logic of Corporate Personhood
The Onion takes on whiteness and the criminal just...
"True Grit" and the Whiteness of Vengeance
What I Mean by Cosmology
Reflections on Whiteness and the Ecospiritual Movement
I consider myself somewhat of a veteran of the Northern California counterculture, or at least the Ecospiritual aspect of it. I gradu...
Whiteness and the White Privilege Paradigm
Barry Deutsch / CC BY 3.0 In the previous post I offered some critical reflections on colorblindness, the paradigm that dominates t...
Whiteness and Self-Evident Truth: Historical Reflections on Reason and Race in Classical Liberalism
It is hard to argue with the basic logic of Dr. Martin Luther King's statement, quoted above, that all Americans should expect to ...
Trump, Implicit Bias, and the Dream of Racial Progress
“We have made progress in everything, yet nothing has changed” – Derrick Bell Only eight short years ago, the United States elected...
I am not writing this post to criticize on the Cohen brothers’ film True Grit for its garden-variety racism. That outlaws and their pursuer...
Whiteness and Corporate Social Responsibility in China
There's been a good deal of discussion in the corporate media lately about the harsh and often unsafe working conditions in Chinese fac...
Whiteness and the Enduring Mythology of the American Frontier
Popular historical nonfiction can be a great thing. It can enrich our understanding of the past and bring its events and characters alive i...
Whiteness and Sustainability: Reflecting on Race, Class, and Green Living
Is the movement for environmental sustainability a white, middleclass phenomenon? I imagine that many of us have heard this allegation,...
To most of us flesh and blood, breathing, feeling, human animals, the notion of corporate personhood (which was taken to its logical extre...
What's In it for White Men?
I have been thinking a lot about how the emotional shackles of white masculinity relate to the low numbers of white men showing up for in...
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Council of Deans Student Leadership
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Council of Deans Student Leadership > Uncategorised > Storytelling as a vehicle for leadership – a reflection
Storytelling as a vehicle for leadership – a reflection
One of the most striking characteristics of the #150Leaders group is its diversity. Whilst many of us may be engaged in studying similar academic courses, share career goals and hold common views on our approaches to healthcare, each of us carries our own highly individualised and unique story.
It is these stories and unique pathways that have shaped us, define us and ultimately determine our values, shaping our own leadership journeys. Moreover, our ability to authentically share and convey these stories can be seen as an invaluable tool with which we can connect, engage, influence, persuade or act as an advocate for individuals, groups or causes that resonate with our own story. As such, effective storytelling should be seen as a valuable leadership skill.
On Tuesday 7th August, Dr Katerina Kolyva, Executive Director of the Council of Deans of Health hosted an online discussion covering the topic of ‘Storytelling as a vehicle for leadership’. Prior to the discussion, Katerina had prepared the participants by requesting that we read her own leadership story, (if you’ve not already had the chance, I’d suggest you take a look here). Spanning from Katerina’s childhood to present day, the story gave context and background to Katerina’s journey, her influences, passion for effective leadership, Pan-European outlook and on-going thirst for knowledge.
The ball was set rolling with the opening question covering our own experiences of storytelling, both professional and personal, and the impact that this has had upon us. It was broadly agreed that the opportunity to share our own stories with fellow delegates and also hear the stories of the visiting speakers at the various #150Leaders events had proved invaluable as not only an icebreaker, but as a method of reflection, a means to identify and connect with like-minded colleagues within the broader group and to advocate for our own chosen field of study. The importance of authenticity was also raised, as it was agreed that dishonesty or falsehood in storytelling could lead to manipulation.
The topic then moved on to providing examples of how we have used storytelling to influence a debate, when presenting, leading or participating in a discussion. The group was able to share a wide range of examples of their own experiences, from group reflection exercises and the scope that this raises for support and encouragement; to storytelling as a means to disseminate new ideas or promote issues such as, for example, increased male participation in nursing. Through this an interesting sub-topic around our own experiences of therapeutic storytelling in clinical practice developed, leading to a further discussion around the various forms that storytelling can take, whether verbal, narrative, using music, art, photography, or visual sketch-boarding, and the positive benefits of these that the group had witnessed on both patients and their loved ones.
Rounding off, the group examined the extent to which storytelling has featured in our own studies and, if not, the potential to include it in the future. The general feedback was that the role of storytelling does not currently feature heavily in any of our chosen courses, but that, based on our own SLP experiences, we would all like to see it do so, particularly role-modelling and story-boarding as a means of practice education. It was, however, widely agreed that we have all felt a greater ability to relate to and be inspired by the members of academic staff who, whether anecdotally or purposefully, have chosen to share their own stories as part of the student/teacher relationship.
In conclusion, it was agreed that authentic storytelling can prove to be an invaluable tool with which to build trust, create a narrative, inspire, engage a team and build support for a desired outcome; also in a clinical context, to build a therapeutic relationship, encourage engagement and to ease the stigma around often difficult subject matter. The extent to which this requires an element of vulnerability and therefore emotional intelligence will differ based on the individual story teller and the relevant circumstance…
Surely there’s a topic for a future #150Leaders conference in there somewhere!
Thanks again to Katerina and to all who made it such an engaging and informative discussion.
Samuel Richards @SamuelOftenSam
Reflections on two years of the Student Leadership Programme
Student Leadership Programme Awards
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Life & Death of Toyo Harada #5
X Blackwatch
Credence Part 1
Publisher: Blackwatch
Written by: Michael Easton
Art By: John Bolton, Steven Perkins
Digital Release Date:
Rated Mature (ages 16+)
Detective Daniel Credence has a gold shield and some dubious morals. This first book in the series is driven as much by Danny's struggles to find his place in a society gone insane as by the cases he cracks under deep cover.
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Credence finds out he's just been scratching the surface of human depravity. His latest assignment is about to drag him under, bringing him face to face with a new kind of evil. One he cannot defeat. The devil inside us all.
North End of the World
Written by: Dave Hunsaker
Art By: Christopher Shy
Enter the world of Edward S. Curtis, the man who will win immortality photographing the native peoples of North America...and meet the demons he will face as he travels north to make his master work with the Kwakiutl Indians: the groundbreaking motion picture, In the Land of the Headhunters. The journey will take him to the darkest corners of the human soul. With his best friend, George Hunt, and his teenage daughter, Beth, he will seek the Cannibal at the North End of the World and learn in the process that perhaps the greatest thing to fear will be himself.
Ronin Studio: The Art of Christopher Shy
A collection of Christopher Shy's artwork with Studio Ronin. Celebrating the first ten years of Studio Ronin and Christopher Shy's artwork from his graphic novels, gallery work, and film design.
Soul Stealer: Collector's Edition
Art By: Christopher Easton
"Graphic Novel of the Year" -- Ain't it Cool News. Soul Stealer is a graphic tale of horror and fantasy that follows the pieced-together, Frankenstein-like hero, Kalan, on his infinite centuries spanning search for his eternal love, the beautiful if fatally elusive Oxania. Soul Stealer: The Collector's Edition reflects the nine year collaboration of best selling writer Michael Easton (The Green Woman) and acclaimed illustrator, Christopher Shy (Dead Space). This large format publication is 536 pages of lush imagery, including 100 pages of all new art, and all three volumes of the award winning saga: The Beaten and The Damned, Blood and Rain, and Last to Die. Michael Easton collaborated with New York Times #1 Best Seling author Peter Straub on The Green Woman for DC Comics. Christopher Shy's most recent work is the popular Deadspace series for IDW. Other graphic novel include Pathfinder which was turned into a hit feature film. 536 pgs, FC
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Home > Academic and Scholarly Communication > Departments > Architecture and Planning > NMA > Vol. 13 (1971) > No. 4
New Mexico Architecture
New Mexico Architecture. "Back Matter." New Mexico Architecture 13, 4 (1971). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/nma/vol13/iss4/5
Architecture Commons
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Legacy HomepageNewsContractsContract View
Release No: CR-080-19
Share Contracts
Contracts for April 29, 2019
The Boeing Co., Seattle, Washington, has been awarded a $5,700,000,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for KC-46 Pegasus Combat Capability (PC2). This contract provides for a broad range of post-production related non-recurring and recurring requirements centered on user-directed and Federal Aviation Administration-mandated KC-46 air vehicle needs. Work will be performed in Seattle, Washington, and is expected to be complete by April 28, 2029. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. Fiscal 2018 research, development, test, and evaluation funds in the amount of $9,121,895 are being obligated on the first delivery order at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8609-19-D-0007).
AAI Corp., doing business as Textron Systems, Hunt Valley, Maryland, has been awarded a $19,592,850 firm-fixed-price non-commercial requirements contract for the Joint Service Electronic Combat Systems Tester (JSECST). This contract provides for the production of the base JSECST, the laboratory JSECST and retrofit kits used on many aircraft, such as F-15, F-16, A-10, CV-22, C-130, UH-47, UH-60, F/A-18 and AV-8B. Work will be performed in Hunt Valley, Maryland, and is expected to be complete by April 28, 2021. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. No funds are being obligated at time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Automated Test Sets Contracting Division, Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, is the contracting activity (FA8533-19-D-0005).
Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, is awarded a $1,148,847,334 cost-plus-incentive-fee, cost-plus-fixed-fee, firm-fixed-price, cost share contract for sustainment services in support of the F-35 Lightning II aircraft for the Air Force, Navy, non-U. S. Department of Defense (non-U.S. DoD) participants and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers. Services to be provided include ground maintenance activities, action request resolution, depot activation activities, Automatic Logistics Information System operation and maintenance; reliability, maintainability and health management implementation and support; supply chain management; and activities to provide and support pilot and maintainer initial training. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas (60 percent); Orlando, Florida (24 percent); Greenville, South Carolina (7 percent); Samlesbury, Preston, United Kingdom (5 percent); and El Segundo, California (4 percent). Work is expected to be completed in December 2022. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance (Air Force, Navy/Marine Corps); non-U.S. DoD participant; and FMS funds in the amount of $1,135,420,262 will be obligated at time of award, $811,246,309 of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. This contract combines purchases for the Air Force ($477,920,120; 41.60 percent); Navy ($346,753,261; 30.18 percent); non-U.S. DoD participants ($231,207,693; 20.13 percent); and FMS customers ($92,966,260; 8.09 percent). The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N00019-19-C-1022).
Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Aerospace Systems, Melbourne, Florida, is awarded $38,775,625 for cost-plus-fixed-fee modification P00007 to a previously awarded contract (N00019-18-C-1037) to procure the product support and software support activity efforts for the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye full-rate production Lot 7. Work will be performed in Melbourne, Florida (72 percent); Liverpool, New York (14 percent); St. Augustine, Florida (5 percent); Norfolk, Virginia (5 percent); Greenlawn, New York (2 percent); Woodland Hills; California (1 percent); and Indianapolis, Indiana (1 percent), and is expected to be completed in April 2020. Fiscal 2019 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $38,775,625 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.
Mancon LLC, Virginia Beach, Virginia, is awarded $30,000,000 for an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, fixed-price contract that includes provisions for economic price adjustment to acquire supplies and provide related store operation services required by Naval Supply Systems Command Fleet Logistics Center Norfolk for two commercial retail stores on the Naval Support Activity, Crane, Indiana, for materials needed by the Naval Facilities Command Public Works Department. The contract includes a five-year base ordering period with an option to extend services for a six-month ordering period pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation 52.217-8 which if exercised, the total value of this contract will be $33,263,944. All work will be performed in Crane, Indiana. The ordering period is expected to be completed by April 2024; if the option is exercised, work will be completed by October 2024. Fiscal 2018 working capital funds (Defense) in the amount of $100,000 will be obligated to fund the contract’s minimum amount, and funds will expire at the end of fiscal 2019. This contract was competitively procured with the solicitation posted to the Federal Business Opportunities website, with five offers received. Naval Supply Systems Command Fleet Logistics Center Norfolk, Contracting Department, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N00189-19-D-0008).
Bell Boeing Joint Project Office, Amarillo, Texas, is awarded $29,772,039 for cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to order N61340-18-F-0001 against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N00019-17-G-0002). This order provides software and hardware upgrades for 13 flight training devices to modernize critical system components in the MV-22 simulator to increase training fidelity for aircrew and maximize training capability. Work will be performed in Jacksonville, North Carolina (42 percent); Miramar, California (24 percent); Quantico, Virginia (13 percent); Okinawa, Japan (13 percent); Chantilly, Virginia (5 percent); Fort Worth, Texas (2 percent); and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1 percent), and is expected to be completed in December 2024. Fiscal 2019 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $29,772,039 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division, Orlando, Florida, is the contracting activity.
Raytheon Missile Systems, Tucson, Arizona, is awarded $19,530,007 for modification P00006 to a previously awarded cost-plus-incentive-fee contract (N00019-18-C-0088) for the engineering and manufacturing development and payload integration of the Miniature Air Launched Decoy-Navy. Work will be performed in Tucson, Arizona (50 percent); and Goleta, California (50 percent), and is expected to be completed in October 2019. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $9,765,002 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.
Raytheon Co., Dulles, Virginia, was awarded a $663,060,634 firm-fixed-price contract for Troposcatter Transmission System, spares, repairs, warranty, system engineering, field support, training and sustainment. Bids were solicited via the internet with two received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of April 25, 2029. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity (W15P7T-19-D-0218). (Awarded April 26, 2019)
The Boeing Co., Mesa, Arizona, was awarded a $171,887,544 hybrid (cost, cost-plus-fixed-fee, and firm-fixed-price) contract for performance based logistics service in support of the AH-64E Apache attack helicopter fleet. One bid was solicited with one bid received. Work will be performed in Mesa, Arizona, with an estimated completion date of April 30, 2020. Fiscal 2018 working capital funds in the amount of $63,779,957 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W58RGZ-19-C-0024). (Awarded April 26, 2019)
Golden Valley Electric Association, Fairbanks, Alaska, was awarded a $40,964,160 firm-fixed-price contract for electric utility service. Work will be performed in Fort Wainwright, Alaska, with an estimated completion date of April 30, 2029. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $653,355 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army 413th Contracting Support Battalion, Fort Wainwright, Alaska, is the contracting activity (W912D0-19-F-8U95). (Awarded April 26, 2019)
The Boeing Co., Mesa, Arizona, was awarded a $39,478,219 modification (PZ0017) to Foreign Military Sales (Saudi Arabia) contract W58RGZ-17-C-0031 for post-production system support, which includes integrated product support, of the AH-64 aircraft in support of the Saudi Arabia National Guard. Work will be performed in Mesa, Arizona; Hazelwood, Missouri; and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with an estimated completion date of April 29, 2020. Fiscal 2019 foreign military sales funds in the amount of $39,478,219 were obligated at the time of the award. Army is the contracting activity.
Lockheed Martin Corp., Orlando, Florida, was awarded a $30,794,224 modification (P00080) to Foreign Military Sales (Saudi Arabia) contract W31P4Q-15-C-0043 for Hellfire guided missile launcher and electronic assembly. Work will be performed in Orlando, Florida, with an estimated completion date of April 30, 2023. Fiscal 2010, 2011, 2017, 2018 and 2019 aircraft procurement, Army; operations and maintenance, Army; research, development, test and evaluation; foreign military sales; and other funds in the combined amount of $30,794,224 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity.
Maverick Constructors LLC,* Lutz, Florida (W911YN-19-D-0001); ABBA Construction Inc.,* Jacksonville, Florida (W911YN-19-D-0002); Warden Construction Corp.,* Jacksonville, Florida (W911YN-19-D-0003); D & M Construction Group Inc.,* Gainesville, Florida (W911YN-19-D-0004); J.A.M. Construction Services Inc.,* Merritt Island, Florida (W911YN-19-D-0005); Core Engineering & Construction Inc.,* Winter Park, Florida (W911YN-19-D-0006); Johnson-Laux Construction LLC,* Orlando, Florida (W911YN-19-D-0007); and E.L.C.I. Construction Group Inc., North Miami, Florida (W911YN-19-D-0008), will compete for each order of the $30,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for construction projects in support of the Florida National Guard. Bids were solicited via the internet with 28 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of April 25, 2024. U.S. Property and Fiscal Office of Florida is the contracting activity. (Awarded April 26, 2019)
Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics, Merrimack, New Hampshire, was awarded a $19,491,157 firm-fixed-price contract for protective fabric shelter kits. One bid was solicited with one bid received. Work will be performed in Merrimack, New Hampshire, with an estimated completion date of April 28, 2024. Fiscal 2018 other procurement, Army funds in the amount of $1,681,301 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, is the contracting activity (W52P1J-19-D-3013).
JCB Inc., Pooler, Georgia, was awarded a $17,071,687 modification (P00001) to contract W56HZV-19-F-0046 for High Mobility Engineer Excavator vehicles. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Jan 31, 2021. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Warren, Michigan, is the contracting activity. (Awarded April 26, 2019)
System Studies & Simulation Inc., Huntsville, Alabama, was awarded a $12,364,338 modification (0004 19) to contract W31P4Q-09-A-0019 for technical support services. Work will be performed in Huntsville, Alabama, with an estimated completion date of March 31, 2020. Fiscal 2020 and 2021 other procurement; and research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $12,364,338 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity.
Travis Association for the Blind, Austin, Texas, was awarded an $11,287,227 modification (P00003) to contract W56HZV-18-C-0067 for the repair, cleaning, warehousing, and distribution of organizational clothing and individual equipment. Work will be performed in Austin, Texas, with an estimated completion date of April 30, 2020. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $11,287,227 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Warren, Michigan, is the contracting activity.
PAE Government Systems Inc., Arlington, Virginia, was awarded an $8,153,796 modification (P00011) to Foreign Military Sales (Afghanistan) contract for the National Maintenance Strategy Ground Vehicle Support effort. Work will be performed in Kabul, Afghanistan, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 30, 2022. Fiscal 2019 other procurement, Army funds in the amount of $8,153,796 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Warren, Michigan, is the contracting activity. (Awarded April 26, 2019)
Raytheon Missile Systems Co., Tucson, Arizona, is being awarded $26,991,627 for a modification (P00155) to the previously awarded sole-source, cost-plus-incentive-fee Standard Missile-3 Block IIA contract (HQ0276-10-C-0005). This modification provides for additional Ballistic Missile Defense upgrades and flight test support. The work will be performed in Tucson, Arizona, with an expected completion date of June 2020. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $15,858,243 will be obligated at time of award. The modification increases the total cumulative face value of the contract by $26,991,627 (from $2,105,137,599 to $2,132,129,227). The Missile Defense Agency, Dahlgren, Virginia, is the contracting activity.
DEFENSE INFORMATION SYSTEMS AGENCY
Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), Atlanta, Georgia, was awarded a sole source, non-commercial, cost-plus-fixed fee contract on April 28, 2019, in support of the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) National Leadership Capability Command office. This contract will provide for development and deployment of the Secure Integration Cloud, the Joint Access Database Environment and the encompassing system architecture known as Secure Web Services. The face value of this action is $8,508,928 funded by fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance funds. The total cumulative face value is $48,248,311. Performance will be at the contractor’s facility. Proposal was issued via request for proposal, and one proposal was received from GTRI. This was a sole-source requirement sent to Georgia Tech Applied Research Corp. The period of performance is for a base period of 12 months beginning April 28, 2019, and two 6-month option periods through April 27, 2021. The DISA/Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, is the contracting activity (HC1028-19-C-0008).
*Small business
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Pregel, Boris
Boris Pregel, President of Canadian Radium and Uranium Corporation, relates some of his experiences in Europe up to World War II to explain why charity, altruism and selflessness areso vital to his personal beliefs and adds that it is also important to live by ones beliefs to maintain dignity.
Canadian Radium and Uranium Corporation
0k225n04j
view transcript only
And now, This I Believe. Here is Edward R. Murrow.
This I Believe. Boris Pregel is a pioneer in the field of peacetime uses of atomic energy. An engineer, physical scientist, inventor, he has worked on agricultural, industrial and medical uses of radioactive substances. He has also served as expert consultant to the U.S. Chiefs of Staff. He is president of the Canadian Radium and Uranium Corporation and the Cold Spring Tungsten Corporation. Here now, the personal beliefs of Boris Pregel.
When I was little boy, a great disaster overcame a community a considerable distance away from the one in which our family lived. At that time, my father’s business—he owned a vegetable oil factory—was very poor, and I saw him working from early morning until late in the night, always looking tired and preoccupied.
One day, three men, representing a committee which had been formed of several prominent citizens, came to visit my father to request a contribution to the Rescue Fund, which was set up for the distressed people. That afternoon, my father, my mother, and I were sitting in our living room, and I overheard their conversation.
My father was telling my mother about the visit he had that day and quoted the rather large amount he had pledged to the committee. My mother, a very charitable and generous woman, nevertheless, showed astonishment on her face, as my father’s business was at its lowest level. She did not say a word. But my father, understanding her astonishment, added to his explanation the following words: “Of course, we will have to cut down on a lot of necessary things. But the need is great, and help has to come from somewhere. Life is not worth living if we cannot help the needy, whoever and wherever they might be, even if it means a great sacrifice on our part.”
Years went by, bringing with them their joys and their deceptions. I tried to follow the example of my father on many different occasions, but I never understood the full meaning of his thought until a personal experience made it definitely clear.
It was in June of 1940, while fleeing Hitler’s invasion of France, I became a part of a throng of authoritative people, composed of Americans, English, French, Poles, Russians, and representatives of many other nationalities, which stood at the Spanish–Portuguese border awaiting permission to enter Portugal. After several days of traveling through impoverished Spain and having difficulty finding food—even for money, which most of those people didn’t possess—we were in a very tragic situation.
While waiting at the border, itself, there was no food at all, and even no water. The children were suffering especially. Nobody knew when the formalities would be accomplished, as the authorities were totally unprepared for such an influx of people. Then we saw several cars advancing from the Portuguese side. It was a committee formed by British residents of a small community near the border, who had collected among themselves the necessary means and had brought food and milk to all of us. This human gesture was the last stroke necessary to embed, forever, my belief in lending a helping hand to all the needy, whoever and wherever they are.
There is also another important principle in which I believe. Our generation lives in a very dangerous world, full of contradictions, fights, and major disasters. In order to survive and live in dignity, the maintenance of one’s self-respect is of the greatest importance. We all, everywhere, live under definite pressures, and many people succumb to the facility of adaptation even at the cost of renouncing their basic beliefs. There is no greater tragedy for the human soul than that.
It is my conception that the human being has to stand up, even at the cost of the supreme sacrifice, for what he believes in his heart to be just, equitable, and true. The slightest deviation from this principle destroys self-respect, which I believe is the basic principle of a dignified human life.
Those were the beliefs of Boris Pregel, specialist in atomic energy development.
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Taxation In New Texas
by Russell Longcore
In this article, let’s chew over the methods a new nation might use to collect revenue. Taxation is supposed to just collect revenue to fund government operation. Customarily governments use taxation to encourage or discourage certain types of behavior within the jurisdiction of that government. Inherent in that type of misuse of taxation is the desire of certain persons to avoid taxation at the expense of the remaining population. But who could blame them? Hence bad tax policy creates lobbyists.
The Gross Domestic Product for Texas in 2008 was $1.245 trillion dollars. The 2008-2009 Texas tax revenue totaled $167.8 Billion from all sources. The State of Texas spends an enormous amount of money annually on social welfare programs and myriad services that are mirror images of its daddy in Washington. I figure about half of the budget could be entirely eliminated in a New Texas.
Most taxation allows a government to set a budget and then use all their methods of taxation to collect what they need. A sales tax forces a government to formulate a budget based on revenue received. Over time the government can more accurately predict expected revenue, but cannot just tax more heavily to make up shortfalls. A properly crafted constitution would prevent the State from coining money and regulating its value, which would also prohibit printing money to make up a tax shortfall.
This seems to me to be the most equitable form of taxation. But that even-handedness works best when it is tied to a monetary system of 100% gold and silver as money. Even if the new nation still chooses to inflate the currency through monetary policy and fractional reserve banking, and assesses taxes through inflation, the sales tax could still provide a useful governor on the engine of the State.
In an economy where sound money existed, every person within the boundaries of the nation would pay sales taxes on goods and services for personal consumption. The citizen, non-citizen resident and the visitor would all pay sales tax. I am not in favor of exemptions for anyone.
There are some folks in America that are promoting a national sales tax as the “Fair Tax.” But is it fair? Fairness is always open to interpretation. And I’ve always heard that “Fair” is a place you take your pig to win a blue ribbon. The fair tax would be levied once at the point of purchase on all new goods and services for personal consumption. Their proposal also calls for a monthly payment, made by the US Treasury, to all family households of lawful U.S. residents as an advance rebate of tax on purchases up to the poverty level. Seems unduly confusing and complicated and still exempts certain persons from paying tax. The present aberration promoted by radio talk host Neal Boortz , Rep. John Linder and Senator Saxby Chambliss is anything but fair.
My complaints about their “fair tax” are:
• That it seems to do nothing to curb Federal spending.
• They set their sales tax at 23%. I believe the rate should not exceed 10% and should be set in stone in the Constitution.
• The concept of the rebate and exemption for people who fall under a certain amount of income. Those people use government services, and should pay for them like everyone else.
Counties and cities could assess a maximum total sales tax burden of 5%. Even if it were 10%, it would be workable. Once again, the sales tax should be etched in stone in the Constitution, not changeable without a constitutional convention.
Don’t freak out about my percentages. I’m not an accountant or a state budget wonk. Even if the total national and local sales tax burden ended up at 20%, it would mean massive tax relief for Texas citizens, visitors, non-citizens and property owners. It would also mean strict spending limits for the New Texas.
There is also another sales tax that can be utilized. A SPLOST is a Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax. This is a way that a tax can be levied by any county, for the purpose of funding the building and maintenance of parks, schools, roads, and other public facilities. A SPLOST has a time limit and the tax is customarily decided by a public referendum.
Happily, Texas has no personal income tax. Income taxes are universally hated by individuals, but loved by governments. The governments use income taxes to reward some and penalize others. They use it to create class conflict and class envy. And they use it to punish highly compensated individuals. In the US, normal due process is inverted and individuals are presumed guilty of alleged tax crimes. Countries with an income tax own the citizens and own their incomes. Individual liberty and income tax are not compatible in any way.
A tariff is a duty imposed on goods when they are moved across a political boundary. Tariffs, or lack of tariffs, encourage or discourage imports inside a nation. Tariffs encourage protectionism.
There are various types of tariffs:
Ad Valorem, or value added, is a set percentage of the value of the good being imported. It can be manipulated by the importer by declaring low values. Tariffs rise or fall based upon prices.
Specific tariffs that doesn’t vary with prices.
Revenue tariffs can be used against importers by countries that do not produce the good imported. For example, Iceland could slap a tariff on Columbian coffee, since it doesn’t grow coffee.
Prohibitive tariffs are set so high that almost no one imports that particular good.
Protective tariffs artificially inflate prices on imports and protect domestic industries. These are sources of enormous corruption and bribery.
Environmental tariffs are recent additions, assessed to punish the importers of other countries for perceived sub-standard environmental standards.
All of the tariffs are penalties against others. When there are penalties, it affects competition and the free market. Seems to me that a nation without tariffs would enjoy the lowest prices for goods, both imported and domestically produced. All producers would have to compete on a worldwide basis.
Property taxes on real and personal property are confiscatory. If you own a piece of property, and you have to pay property taxes each year, you are in essence leasing the property from the State. Don’t believe it? Think that you own the property free and clear? Just stop paying your property tax. Eventually, the State will confiscate your property under threat of death. Don’t believe it? When the Sheriff comes to confiscate your property, resist with armed force. When you sell your real property, you are essentially transferring a lease obligation to the new property owner.
Property taxes have to be assessed based upon property value. The state or county assessor’s office sets the property values and is not that concerned with accuracy. It is in their interest to overvalue your property and force you to challenge it. It’s also in their interests to bestow tax exemptions as favors.
Property tax revenues also benefit from currency inflation. That’s one reason why governments like inflation. Property taxes are customarily assessed by local governments, such as counties and cities, to fund their operations. But they could also fund operations through sales taxes.
Excise tax is a tax on the production or sale of a good produced within the country. Typical examples of excise duties are taxes on gasoline, tobacco and alcohol. The producer pays the tax directly to the government, but the consumer pays the cost of it, as it is included in the sale price of the product. The excise tax can account for as much as half the retail price of the goods, and sometimes more.
Excise taxes are often assessed to discourage the consumption of goods and services that the State determines to be harmful to our health and morals. So, they tax things like gambling or smoking. This is the Nanny State at its worst.
Estate tax is a tax on the total value of the money and property of a person who has died. There is a difference between “estate” and “inheritance” tax. Inheritance taxes seek to tax the beneficiary of the estate. This is another confiscatory tax imposed by the Feds and the state. An estate is the accumulated assets of a person, and most assets have already been taxed repeatedly during the accumulation period of a lifetime. This tax simply shows the rapacious appetite of the State.
Historically, there have been three estate taxes enacted, in 1797, 1862 and 1898 and each was repealed after a short time. The most recent estate tax was enacted in 1916 and has escalated ever since.
There is no good reason why estate or inheritance taxes should be assessed. They only redistribute wealth and are a disincentive to wealth accumulation and entrepreneurship.
User fees could be assessed in three categories:
* fees that fund necessary services, such as for utilities;
* fees that fund services that add to the quality of life, such as for parks and recreation; and
* fees that fund regulatory and administrative processes, such as for licenses and permits. (Don’t get me started on licensure…another state ripoff)
But no government should be permitted to charge these fees unless voters agree. That way, citizens decide what services they want and are willing to pay for.
There are probably methods of taxation that I’ve missed, since there are so many methods that government uses to steal money from its citizens at the point of a gun. But I believe that the best method of collecting tax revenue is the sales tax. It seems to be the method that is most equitable to all individuals. It also seems to be the tax that most binds the government against acts of tyranny. But the sales tax should also provide the government with abundant revenue. Not all they want, but all they need.
During the Reagan administration, nominal income tax rates were lowered. Tax revenues went up significantly as this spurred a surge in entrepreneurship and investment. People had more of their money, and used some of it to make more money. Unfortunately, Reagan did not clamp down on spending, so his tax rate slash and runaway spending still made for bigger government.
I believe that a New Texas with a single sales tax as its source of revenue would be such a magnet for capital that nothing like it would exist on the planet, and nothing like it would have ever existed in the history of the human civilization. People from all over the earth would be emigrating to, and investing in, the New Texas.
Think about the freedom you’d feel if the sales tax was the only source of tax revenue assessed against you, the citizen. No income tax, no excise tax on gasoline or smokes, no tax on your investment income or savings, no property tax on your real and personal property, low prices on imported goods since there are no tariffs, and when you die, 100% of your assets go to whomever you choose.
Want to live in a nation like that? I know I do.
Remember that this sales tax solution must be inexorably linked to a sound money system for it to work as well as it should. But if the State enacts monetary law and banking law that facilitates inflation and the fractional reserve banking system, the sales tax as the single tax source for government revenue could still provide a useful governor on the engine of the State.
Also remember that I could be wrong about all of this. Check it out for yourself.
5 Comments | Federal Government, liberty, Monetary Policy, Taxation, Written By Russ | Permalink
Money Issue May Be The Establishment’s Achilles’ Heel In Its War On “Islamic Fundamentalism”
(Editor’s note: I do not agree with Dr. Viera’s interpretation of the US Constitution, since I believe it is a constitution without authority. But his remaining scholarship should be read by all.)
No careful student of history can fail to be impressed by the interconnectedness of ideas and events in every civilization’s rise and fall–especially that bad ideas inevitably engender worse consequences. That may soon become painfully apparent once again.
Foremost among the bad ideas that should come to the mind of every patriot are the unconstitutional and dishonest monetary and banking systems that today beset the United States, as well as the entire Western world, in the form of the Federal Reserve System and other central banks that emit legal-tender fiat currency and “monetize” public and private debt. The worse consequences that few people foresee are the destruction of these systems–and the ensuing economic, political, and social chaos that will engulf America and all other Western countries–if any one of a number of quite predictable events occurs.
This Commentary addresses the possibility that Muslims throughout the world will turn from fiat currency and electronic bank credit to gold dinar and silver dirham coins as their media of exchange, thereby employing the full force of economics in a decisive counterattack in the global war that the West’s Establishment has so imprudently launched against “Islamic fundamentalism”. And leading to fulfillment of the prophecy in the Musnad of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal that “[a] time is certainly coming over mankind when nothing will be of use except a dinar and a dirham.”[1]
A. Consider first the bad ideas and their consequences in the United States.
1. By refusing to use silver and gold coin as this country’s official media of exchange, although the Constitution requires it, and by creating a corrupt connection between the General Government and private fractional-reserve banks, although the Constitution prohibits it, the Establishment has rendered America hostage to:
economic mismanagement and political manipulation of her monetary and banking systems–in particular, the Federal Reserve System–and of the supposedly free markets for securities and commodities that the System’s operations so strongly, and often perversely, influence;
banking, monetary, financial, and other economic crises–and the social and political disruption, destabilization, and destruction they bring in train;
the imposition of an intrusive, abusive, and oppressive financial police state, subversive of Americans’ fundamental constitutional liberties; and now even
world war, waged through both military and nonmilitary means in every corner of the globe in which prices of goods and services are measured in money.
2. This last concern is no exaggeration. But realizing why requires returning to basic principles.
Constitutional money and banking require:
the silver dollar of 371.25 grains (Troy) as the monetary standard, no less invariant than any other standard of weights and measures;[2]
gold coinage regulated in value in units of (silver) dollars, according to the rate of exchange the free market sets between silver and gold;
free coinage of silver and gold by the Treasury for all holders of specie;
unimpeded circulation of silver and gold coins as Americans’ normal media of exchange in truly free markets;
the General Government’s and the States’ use of only silver and gold coins (or private electronic gold or silver currencies absolutely convertible into such coins) as their official media of exchange;[3]
no emissions of paper currency (or its account-book or electronic surrogates), whether designated “legal tender” or not, by the General Government, the States, or private banks acting as alter egos, agents, or accessories thereof; and
statutory controls on all fractional-reserve practices of private banks and other financial institutions, including: (i) prohibition of all fraudulent fractional-reserve practices, (ii) mandatory complete disclosure (i.e., beyond what would be necessary simply to obviate charges of common-law fraud and misrepresentation) to the banks’ customers of the existence, operations, and risks involved in all permissible fractional-reserve practices, (iii) proscription of any form of what used to be called “suspension of specie payments” (whereby banks refuse to perform their contracts to depositors and noteholders, but otherwise remain in business collecting from their debtors), so that any bank that fails to redeem its notes or pay its depositors will be put immediately into receivership; and (iv) the imposition of personal liability for compensatory and punitive damages on all partners, directors, officers, trustees, and shareholders of any fractional-reserve bank that violates the law to its depositors’ or other creditors’ loss.
These changes cannot be expected to come through the courts. First, the judicial process is too slow to effect meaningful reforms before serious economic crises break out. Second, the judicial process is not given to broad, prospective legal restructuring, only to sequential, retrospective tinkering, one case at a time–in fact, the courts of the General Government (the so-called “federal courts”) lack jurisdiction to give “advisory opinions” about sets of circumstances not actually before them. Whereas, legislatures can draft comprehensive statutes, taking into consideration a myriad of possible future situations and scenarios that cover the entire field. Third, the courts have no body of precedents on which to rely for the necessary reforms, because fractional-reserve banking has long been treated as an exception to the traditional common law of contracts and torts applicable to every other business. So, even if the most that were desired would be to compel fractional-reserve banks simply to abide by the traditional principles of common law in those areas, statutes would still be necessary to instruct the courts to enforce that requirement, and in how to do it. Fourth, fractional-reserve banking is already regulated all too favorably by numerous complex statutes that would have to be repealed or carefully amended, each in relation to the others, for a comprehensive reform to work. The courts, of course, have no authority to make such changes in statutory law.
3. America needs constitutional money and banking for two primary reasons:
First, because a specific rule of law requires it: the monetary powers and disabilities of Congress and the States as delineated in the Constitution.[4]
Second, because the goals set out in the Preamble to the Constitution require it. In any era, “the general Welfare” requires it: Americans would be better off, politically and economically, with constitutional money and banking. Constitutional money and banking are honest money and banking, and therefore contribute significantly to “establish[ing] Justice”. And particularly in this era of “the war on terrorism”, “the war on drugs”, and other occasions and excuses for creation of a pervasive police state in America, “provid[ing] for the common defense”, “insur[ing] domestic Tranquility”, and especially “securing the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity” require constitutional money and banking to protect Americans from the untoward economic and political consequences of unconstitutional money and banking.[5]
4. All this being so, the question nevertheless remains: Why does America not have constitutional money and banking here and now?
a. It is not because the Establishment cannot put the Constitution into practice.
The Establishment can mint proper specie coinage. Indeed, the Treasury of the United States is even now striking silver Liberty and gold American Eagle coins in amounts supposedly sufficient to meet public demand. These coins, however, do not contain the weights of precious metals, or carry the denominations of “Value,” that the Constitution requires. Yet those defects the Establishment could easily cure, either by Congressional statute or administrative action by the Secretary of the Treasury.
The Establishment can remove all legalistic impediments–particularly “sales” and “capital-gains” taxes–to the exchange of Federal Reserve Notes and base-metallic (“clad”) coinage for silver and gold coin, and to the general circulation of silver and gold coinage as Americans’ ordinary currency.
The Establishment can repeal existing statutory legal-tender privileges for fiat paper currency and base-metallic coinage, and make the legal-tender power of silver and gold coins contingent upon their compliance with constitutional standards. (E.g., a coin stamped “One Dollar” need not be accepted as such unless it actually contains 371.25 grains of fine silver; and a coin containing less by dint of honest wear and tear may be exchanged for a coin of full weight at the Treasury on demand.)
The Establishment can separate bank and state by disestablishing (that is, completely privatizing) the Federal Reserve System, and allowing it to sink or swim in the free market on its own. As part of this disentanglement, Federal Reserve banks would be prohibited from labelling their paper currency “dollars”, or even calling that currency “notes” payable in dollars, unless the currency were redeemable on demand out of 100% reserve funds maintained for that purpose (that is, in effect were warehouse receipts for coin). And,
The Establishment can prohibit all forms of fraudulent fractional-reserve banking, and require bankers who employ legitimate fractional-reserve operations to provide the public with full disclosure of their policies and practices, the pitfalls these contain, the protections against those dangers the banks provide, and the penalties imposed by law in favor of the public when bankers fail to make such protections available.
So, if the Establishment wanted constitutional money and banking, America could, and would, have them tomorrow.
1, Ibn Hanbal founded the Hanbali school of law, and is one of four individuals whose interpretations of the Qu’ran and the hadith (the sayings of Muhammad and reports about his actions) the majority of Sunni Muslims follows.
2, To put this into the most obvious practical terms, even modern politicians do not propose steadily to “depreciate” the ounce, or the foot, or the minute as a matter of legislative policy for the purpose of redistributing wealth or “stimulating the economy”. Why, then, should anyone tolerate a policy of systematically “depreciating” the dollar?
3, See my three-part Commentary, The State Electronic Gold Currency Plan. In effect, electronic gold currency units constitute physical, and thus fully secured, “checks” or “orders” payable in gold or silver coin. As long as electronic gold currency units must be convertible into their free-market value in gold and silver coin, as a condition of their use by the government in any transaction, the overall transaction can be deemed to occur in such coin, and thus to conform to the command of Article I, Section 10, Clause 1 that “[n]o State shall * * * make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts”. This would never be true for redeemable paper currency, however. For such currency always amounts to “Bills of Credit”, which no State may emit under Article I, Section 10, Clause 1, and Congress has no power to emit under Article I, Section 8, Clause 2.
4, See generally, Edwin Vieira, Jr., Pieces of Eight: The Monetary Powers and Disabilities of the United States Constitution (2d rev. ed. 2002).
5, See my earlier Commentaries: (i) “Homeland Security”–for what and for whom?, (ii) Are monetary and banking crises inevitable in the foreseeable future?, (iii) Will a monetary and banking crisis be the cloud with a silver lining that will provide America with a golden opportunity for real reform?, (iv) Americans cannot depend on Washington, D.C., to protect them from monetary and banking crises, and (v) Is self-help the best way for Americans to solve this country’s monetary and banking problems?
© 2006 Edwin Vieira, Jr. – All Rights Reserved
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EEAS homepage > UN New York > EU Statement – United Nations United Nations Preparatory Committee for the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT): Cluster III
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EU Statement – United Nations United Nations Preparatory Committee for the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT): Cluster III
New York, 06/05/2019 - 22:17, UNIQUE ID: 190506_19
Statements on behalf of the EU
6 May 2019, New York - European Union Statement on Cluster III issues delivered by Mr. Adebayo Babajide, Minister Counsellor, Delegation of the European Union to the United Nations, at the Preparatory Committee for the 2020 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) 3rd Session (29 April - 10 May 2019)
Mr. Chairman,
I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union and its Member States. The Candidate Countries Turkey, North Macedonia*, Montenegro*, Serbia* and Albania*, the country of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidate Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and Georgia, align themselves with this statement.
As we approach the 2020 Review Conference, we encourage all States Parties to focus on seeking common ground. The EU will play a constructive and active role in ensuring the implementation of the obligations and commitments assumed under the NPT and undertaken during the previous Review Conferences. In our General Statement, we have outlined the EU’s balanced approach in support of the NPT and its three pillars which are equally important and mutually reinforcing and contribute to international peace, security and stability. We recall that all States Parties have committed to pursuing policies that are fully compatible with the Treaty and the objective of achieving a world without nuclear weapons. All States Parties have also committed to applying the principles of irreversibility, verifiability and transparency in relation to the implementation of their Treaty obligations.
The European Union recognizes the inalienable right of States Parties to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, in accordance with Article IV of the Treaty, and remains committed to ensuring the responsible development of peaceful uses of nuclear energy under the best safety, security and non-proliferation conditions.
The European Union recalls that the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) has established a solid, rigorous and effective framework for the use of nuclear energy in support of social-economic development worldwide. Its thorough implementation is essential to facilitate the use of nuclear applications in a growing number of fields. The effective application of IAEA safety standards and security guidance is necessary to ensure the safe and secure use of nuclear energy. This contributes to building the public trust and confidence needed to widen the use of nuclear technology applications worldwide. Against this background, the EU and its Member States have mobilised significant funds over the past 20 years to ensure the safe and secure use of nuclear energy, science and technology for sustainable development.
Through dedicated financial instruments, the European Union works directly with countries in the European neighbourhood and beyond and supports the work of the IAEA in the field of peaceful uses. Our funding amounts to € 325 million over the period 2014-2020 in the field of nuclear safety, radiation protection and the application of efficient and effective safeguards in third countries.
The EU and its Member States commend the work of the Co-Chairs, the Republic of Costa Rica and Japan, on the successful organisation of the 2018 Ministerial Conference on nuclear science and technology. This event underscored the growing need and demand for the peaceful uses of nuclear science and technology worldwide. The EU strongly supports the activities of the IAEA to develop radiation and nuclear related technologies and their application to the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The Conference clearly demonstrated the contribution the IAEA makes to the fulfilment of pillar three of the NPT.
The EU and its Member States continue to be strong supporters of the IAEA's Technical Cooperation Programme, including through the TC Fund and extrabudgetary contributions such as the Peaceful Uses Initiative. We fully appreciate the Agency's role in promoting the responsible development of peaceful applications of nuclear technology in areas such as human health, food and agriculture, water resources, environment, preservation of cultural heritage, nuclear and radiation safety, and nuclear energy and see this as one of the cornerstones of the IAEA mandate. We strongly support the activities of the Agency to develop radiation and nuclear related science and technologies and to promote their application in the service of the SDGs.
We positively note the Agency's contribution to the achievement of the SDGs in energy, food and agriculture, industry, water and healthcare, as well as in other areas. We acknowledge the IAEA efforts to strengthen the fight against cancer through the application of nuclear techniques, by providing Member States with assistance in applying a comprehensive approach which covers areas such as diagnosis, radiation oncology and radiotherapy; and quality assurance. The Joint IAEA/FAO Programme through its laboratories adds value to global agricultural research and cooperation in the areas of animal production and health, climate smart agriculture, soil and water management amongst others.
We appreciate the role played by the IAEA in recent years in the international response to emerging threats, like the further development of the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) for the control or eradication of malaria, dengue, Zika and disease-transmitting mosquitos, which remains an extremely severe threat to the health of millions of people worldwide. It is important that the Agency continues to develop its capacity in such areas. In this respect, the EU and its Member States fully support the IAEA's activities at the Seibersdorf Nuclear Sciences and Applications Laboratories and we consider their modernisation under the ReNuAL and ReNuAL+ project as a key priority. Up to now, we have contributed €6.6 million to the laboratory renovations, in addition to providing in-kind support. Furthermore, the EU is cooperating closely with the Central Asian countries in improving the life quality in regions impacted by uranium legacy contamination. The EU has thus spent more than €36 million since the 2012 in a regional Environmental Remediation Program for Central Asia in response to two UN General Assembly Resolutions from November 2013 and December 2018 that are calling for the international community to work in a coordinated approach to address the radiation threat.
The EU strongly believes that continuous improvement in the implementation of nuclear safety, security and safeguards when developing technical co-operation projects should be constantly sought. Achieving and maintaining a solid national nuclear security regime based on IAEA recommendations and guidance, and including through TC projects that utilise nuclear or radioactive material, is in the interest of all countries.
The EU strongly supports nuclear energy, science and technology research and developments that can be beneficial for our societies. We are now defining the framework of the Euratom Research and Training Programme for 2021-25, which will set also new mechanisms facilitating participation of non-European countries and will give wider access to the Euratom facilities for researches from outside the European Union.
The European Union attaches utmost importance to the worldwide implementation and continuous improvement of nuclear safety. The Convention on Nuclear Safety (CNS) is a key international instrument in strengthening and expanding international nuclear safety cooperation and provides a legally binding framework for global overview and mutual assessment of safety work. We urge all countries, in particular those operating, considering or embarking on nuclear power programmes, to join the Convention on Nuclear Safety. The implementation of the CNS objectives, including the principles of the Vienna Declaration on Nuclear Safety (VDNS), remains a priority for the EU. The EU stands ready to actively participate in the 8th Review meeting of the Contracting Parties for the CNS and encourages all Contracting Parties to do the same. It is in the interest of the international community to continuously improve nuclear safety. International collaboration provides clear benefits to nuclear safety by creating the opportunity to share experiences and best practices. We have made great progress over the last sixty years, but there is no room for complacency as we face the future.
All States Party to the NPT are entitled, under Article IV of the NPT, access to the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. Given the growing use of radioactive materials and sources in these applications, and consequently the increasing challenges to their protection, it is essential that Member States adequately address the security implications of radioactive sources in their own nuclear security regimes.
The IAEA plays a central role in the global nuclear security architecture, and provides assistance to IAEA Member States in their efforts to ensure the security of nuclear and other radioactive materials and facilities. In this regard, the EU calls on NPT state parties to ensure that the IAEA has reliable and sufficient technical, financial and human resources to undertake its nuclear security – related activities, including through the allocation of additional resources to the IAEA’s nuclear security activities through the regular budget and the Nuclear Security Fund. Together with the bilateral contributions from its Member States, the European Union is among the largest donors to the IAEA Nuclear Security Fund. While recognising that nuclear security remains the responsibility of each State, the EU and its Member States believe that strengthening nuclear security through international cooperation is essential to prevent unauthorised access to nuclear and radioactive material and consequently support the work of the Agency’s in implementing its Nuclear Security Programme. In this regard, IAEA assistance in effective nuclear security is also a crucial supporting element of Technical Cooperation projects in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, as it can help ensure the benefits of those projects to recipient States are protected and sustained.
The EU strongly believes that peer reviews contribute to further strengthening nuclear safety and security and builds confidence. We encourage all IAEA Member States, especially those that have not done so recently, to request peer review missions which are relevant to their programmes and in particular in the areas not previously reviewed, to implement robust follow up arrangements in a timely manner and to publicize reports, as appropriate and while taking into account the confidentiality of information, from advisory missions to further best share practice.
The EU continues to promote multilateral approaches to the nuclear fuel cycle which facilitates access to nuclear fuel for many countries. For this purpose, the European Union has contributed with around €25 million to the establishment and the secure management of a Low Enriched Uranium (LEU) Bank under the control of the IAEA. We note that the IAEA signed contracts with two international companies in 2018 and aims to have the LEU delivered in the storage facility before the end of 2019.
The EU believes that one important element of nuclear security is preventing nuclear material falling into the wrong hands. The EU encourages all States to minimise Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) use in civilian applications, where technically and economically feasible and welcomes recent international collaboration to supplant HEU with LEU in Nigeria.
In the past 20 years, the CTBTO has also played a growing role in capacity building, supporting many National Data Centres in their ability to operate, understand and contribute to the International Monitoring System, including with the use of nuclear technologies. Moreover, the CTBTO's International Monitoring System is at the disposal of the international community in case of a nuclear incident and emergency to monitor possible radioactive clouds such as it was the case during the Fukushima accident. In this context, we welcome the recently-signed Practical Arrangement between the CTBTO IDC and the IAEA Nuclear Safety and Security Department. Furthermore we would like to emphasize the role of the CTBT On-Site Inspection and the importance of the development and finalisation of its capabilities in order to ensure further strengthening of both the CTBTO's and global verification regime.
The EU believes that strengthening the international nuclear non-proliferation regime constitutes an important element in the further development of nuclear applications for peaceful purposes. The EU thus calls on all NPT States Parties to be united in ensuring the responsible development of peaceful uses of nuclear energy under the best safety, security and non-proliferation conditions, by countries that wish to start or develop capacities in this field.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
* North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Albania continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.
UNGA73
NPT Prep Comm
Editorial Sections:
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Disarmament, Non-Proliferation, and Arms Export Control
Vienna - international organisations
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Press and information team of the Delegation to the UN in New York
Speech by Commissioner Vella at the UN HLPF for Sustainable Development, side event hosted by the European Union and the Government of Finland : “Delivering the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in Europe and the World"
EU Provides €3 million to Help Strengthen Accountability in Partner Countries
EU Statement -- UN High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development
EU Statement -- ICPD25 – High Level Meeting
Declaration by the High Representative on behalf of the EU on the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty Languages: Русский press Category: Statements by the HR/VP Regions: Europe and Central Asia Russia Eastern Europe Russia Editorial Sections: Russia Unique ID: 190715_3 Press Location: Bruxelles
Briefing by the EU to the UN Security Council on Non-Proliferation – JCPOA26 June 2019, New York- Briefing by H.E. Mr. João Vale de Almeida, Head of the Delegation of the European Union to the United Nations, on behalf of the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy in her capacity as the Coordinator of the Joint Commission established by
Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention- Preparatory Meeting for the Fourth Review Conference EU Statement Preparatory Meeting for the Fourth Review Conference Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention Geneva, 24 May 2019
Declaration by the High Representative on behalf of the EU on the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty The European Union calls on all States to uphold the integrity of the rules-based international system with effective multilateralism as a key principle. This is indispensable for maintaining international peace and security. We are concerned that the international disarmament and non-proliferation
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home page > The Department of En... > About > Who We Are
The Porter School of Environmental Studies (PSES) at Tel Aviv University is the first graduate school dedicated to the research, teaching and sharing of environmental knowledge in Israel, and among a handful in the world to be wholly multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary in its approach.
PSES was established in the year 2000 to respond to the increasing need for knowledge and research of this essential field, and it offers a range of study and research programs for graduate students. The school teaches an extensive array of topics, addressing contemporary, pertinent issues such as: renewable energies, climate change, air pollution, stream and river rehabilitation, environmental justice, sustainable urban planning, environmental economics and more.
Interdisciplinary Approach Generates Innovation
The PSES's unique interdisciplinary approach facilitates productive interfaces between exact and natural sciences (such as engineering, geophysics and zoology), and issues associated with social sciences and humanities (such as law, philosophy, management and sociology). The integration of environmental aspects into the various disciplines creates new fields of research and knowledge, which nourish the current evolution of thinking in Israel and globally.
Community Involvement and Environmental Impact
As part of its comprehensive vision, PSES seeks to bring forth the wealth of academic environmental knowledge to the places where it is most needed, in all realms of Israeli society: national and local government, the judicial system, the education system, industry, private sector companies and public institutions. The school therefore maintains extensive contacts and partnerships with leading environmental organizations, government ministries, industry and other research institutions in Israel and around the world. PSES alumni – among them researchers, educators, lawyers, decision makers, planners and architects – form the new generation of leaders of environmental discourse and activism.
Research Master's Program >
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Maya Memsaab
Maya Memsaab (also known as Maya and Maya: The Enchanting Illusion in English) is a 1993 Indian mystery drama film directed by Ketan Mehta. The film is based on the famous Gustave Flaubert's novel Madame Bovary. Maya Memsaab won the National Film Award – Special Mention (Feature Film) in the year 1993.[2] The rights of this film are now owned by Shah Rukh Khan's Red Chillies Entertainment.[3]
Ketan Mehta
Sitanshu Yashaschandra (screenplay)
Ketan Mehta (screenplay)
Hriday Lani (dialogue)
Gulan Kriplani (Maya's monologues)
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
Deepa Sahi
Farooq Shaikh
Raj Babbar
Hridaynath Mangeshkar
Gulzar (lyrics)
Anoop Jotwani
Renu Saluja
est. ₹ 1.85 crore
(est. ₹ 11.84 crore as of 2019) [1]
Young, beautiful and intelligent Maya (Deepa Sahi) lives with her father in a palatial mansion in rural India. When her father suffers a stroke, she calls for local Dr. Charu Das, who arrives on his bicycle and prescribes treatment for her father. He comes often, more on the pretext of seeing her than her father. Eventually, they get married. Years pass by and Charu is engrossed in treating patients, leaving Maya alone to reflect on her own fate and life. And it is not long before a young man named Rudra enters her life and an affair follows. This does not last long, as a much younger man Lalit (Shah Rukh Khan) now enters her life and they begin a passionate affair. But again, Maya is not satisfied as she longs for more than carnal needs. All the time, this bored housewife gets attracted to costly objects and spends recklessly on clothes and furniture, even if she has to borrow money. She mortgages her house to Lalaji. Finally, reality catches up with her. Lalaji brings a court order to take possession of her house. Rudra and Lalit desert her and this leads her to drink a mystical drink that was earlier being advertised on the streets to give you one wish on the condition you had a pure heart. The drink causes her to flash brightly and disappear. This leaves two investigators to probe who or what really killed Maya.
Deepa Sahi as Maya
Farooq Shaikh as Dr. Charu Das
Raj Babbar as Rudra
Shahrukh Khan as Lalit
Paresh Rawal as Lalaji
All lyrics written by Gulzar; all music composed by Hridaynath Mangeshkar.
1. "Chhaya Jagi" Hridaynath Mangeshkar
2. "Ek Haseen Nigah Ka" Kumar Sanu
3. "Khud Se Baatein" Lata Mangeshkar
4. "Mere Sarahane Jalao Sapne" Lata Mangeshkar
5. "Ek Haseen Nigah Ka female" Lata Mangeshkar
6. "O Dil Banjare" Lata Mangeshkar
7. "Yeh Shehar Bada" Lata Mangeshkar
^ "Shahrukh Khan Box Office Analysis: Hits, Flops, Blockbusters". Indicine.
^ https://web.archive.org/web/20171019211416/http://dff.nic.in/2011/40th_nff_1993.pdf
^ "Red Chillies Entertainments". www.redchillies.com. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
Maya Memsaab on IMDb
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Maya_Memsaab&oldid=901895372"
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The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel
(Redirected from Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel)
Hotel in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
A 2015 photo of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel
Location within the Los Angeles metropolitan area
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The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel (California)
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The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel (the United States)
7000 Hollywood Blvd.
Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
34°6′4″N 118°20′30″W / 34.10111°N 118.34167°W / 34.10111; -118.34167Coordinates: 34°6′4″N 118°20′30″W / 34.10111°N 118.34167°W / 34.10111; -118.34167
Goodwin Gaw
Fisher, Lake & Traver
thehollywoodroosevelt.com
Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument
The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel is a historic hotel located at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles, California. It opened on May 15, 1927, and is the oldest continually operating hotel in Los Angeles.[2]
2 Design and style
3 Restaurants and bars
4 In popular culture
5 Notable residents and guests
6 Alleged hauntings
The hotel was built in 1926, in what is known as the Golden Era of Los Angeles architecture, and was named after the 26th president of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt.[3] It was financed by a group that included Louis B. Mayer, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and Sid Grauman.[4][5] It cost $2.5 million ($36.1 million today) to complete[5] and opened on May 15, 1927.[5]
The hotel went into a decline in the 1950s. An owner around that time demolished its archways, covered up its elaborately painted ceilings and painted the entire hotel seafoam green.[6] Radisson Hotels purchased the hotel in 1985 and, using original blueprints and historic photos of the hotel's Spanish Colonial architecture, undertook a $35 million renovation, restoring the lobby's coffered ceiling and adding a three-tiered fountain, among other improvements.[3][6] The million-dollar mural at the bottom of the hotel's Tropicana Pool was painted by David Hockney in 1987.[7][8]
On August 13, 1991, the City of Los Angeles declared the hotel building Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 545.[5][9] In 1995, the hotel was purchased from Clarion Hotels by Goodwin Gaw, with David Chang later becoming co-owner.[7][8][10] In 2005, the hotel's management was taken over by the Thompson Hotel Group. A$30 million renovation of the hotel was embarked upon in 2005, led by the Dodd Mitchell Design Group, and David Siguaw.[10][11][12] Since 2015, the hotel has been run independently by its own management company.[10] In 2015, the hotel completed a $25 million renovation with rooms designed by Yabu Pushelberg, and plans for a new poolside food and beverage outlet.[7]
Design and style[edit]
The 12-story hotel has 300 guest rooms and 63 suites.[7] It sits along the Hollywood Walk of Fame and across the street from the TCL Chinese Theatre.[7][13] The building has a Spanish Colonial Revival Style interior, with leather sofas, wrought-iron chandeliers and colorful tiled fountains.[2][13]
The Gable-Lombard penthouse, a 3,200 square-foot duplex with an outdoor deck with views of the Hollywood Hills and the Hollywood sign, is named for Clark Gable and Carole Lombard, who used to stay in the room for five dollars a night.[2][5][14] The Marilyn Monroe suite is named for the actress, who lived at the hotel for two years early in her career.[2][5][7] Other accommodations include King Superior rooms and vintage 1950s poolside cabanas.[5]
Restaurants and bars[edit]
The hotel has a total of eight restaurant, bars and lounges.[5] 25 Degrees is a 24-hour hamburger restaurant located just off the hotel lobby.[5] It was opened in 2005.[8] Public Kitchen & Bar features American food in an Old Hollywood-style dining room.[5] Tim Goodell is the head chef of both restaurants.[5] The Spare Room is a gaming parlor and cocktail lounge; the Library Bar is a cocktail bar with cocktails made using locally sourced ingredients; and Tropicana Bar overlooks the pool.[5][15] Beacher's Madhouse is a vaudeville-inspired theater owned and operated by Jeff Beacher.[5] Teddy's, a nightclub located right off the lobby, was considered a celebrity haunt. It opened in 2005, was remodeled in 2012 and closed in 2015.[5][15]
In popular culture[edit]
The first Academy Awards ceremony was held at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel on May 16, 1929, inside the Blossom Ballroom.[9][14] A private ceremony open only to Academy members, it was hosted by Academy president Douglas Fairbanks and held three months after the winners were announced, with 270 people in attendance.[16][17] At the time, the "Oscar" nickname for the award had not yet been invented (the nickname would be introduced four years later).[17]
Facing heavy debt in 1986, five-time Academy Award winner Lyle Wheeler sold off boxes of his possessions, including his five Oscars. His award for art direction for The Diary of Anne Frank was auctioned off for $21,250 to William Kaiser. Kaiser returned the award to Wheeler at a ceremony held at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in 1989.[18]
The hotel has hosted the Golden Raspberry Awards, the ceremony recognizing the year's worst in film, on numerous occasions.[19]
The pool at the Roosevelt Hotel was featured in a 1955 episode of I Love Lucy when the Ricardos and Mertzes came to Hollywood.[20]
Several scenes from the 1988 film Sunset, starring Bruce Willis and James Garner, were filmed at the hotel, including a recreation of the 1929 Academy Awards ceremony.[6]
The scene of the 1989 film The Fabulous Baker Boys where Susie (Michelle Pfeiffer) sings "Makin' Whoopie" while Jack (Jeff Bridges) plays piano was shot at the Cinegrill nightclub in the hotel.[19]
The hotel's hallway can be seen in episode 7 of the 2016 FX true crime anthology television series The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, as a substitute for an Oakland hotel where Christopher Darden and Marcia Clark spend the night.[21]
Other films shot on location at the hotel include Internal Affairs (starring Richard Gere), Beverly Hills Cop II (starring Eddie Murphy) and Catch Me If You Can (starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks and directed by Steven Spielberg).[6][22] Other television shows shot at the hotel include Knots Landing, Moonlighting and Curb Your Enthusiasm.[6][23]
Prince performed five shows at the hotel in 2007, which included dinner with his personal chef, a two-hour performance and a post-set jazz jam.[24]
The TV series Lucifer_ frequently includes exterior views of the hotel in establishing shots. A scene between Lucifer and Amenadiel in the first season episode "Take Me Back to Hell" takes place on the roof, with the back of the Roosevelt's sign visible.[25]
Notable residents and guests[edit]
Marilyn Monroe lived at the hotel for two years early in her career, and posed for her first commercial photography shoot by the pool.[5][7] She and Arthur Miller were said to have met at the hotel's Cinegrill nightclub.[14]
Montgomery Clift stayed at the hotel for three months in 1952 during the filming of From Here to Eternity.[2]
Frances Farmer was honored at a party there in 1958, the night she appeared on Ralph Edwards' This Is Your Life.
Errol Flynn is rumored to have created his recipe for bootleg gin in a tub in the hotel's barbershop.[23]
Shirley Temple learned to do her famous stairstep dance routine on the hotel stairs.[26]
Astrologer and writer Linda Goodman wrote several of her books in a suite at the hotel.[19]
Actress Elizabeth Patterson, widely recognized for her role as Mrs. Trumbull on the classic comedy series I Love Lucy, lived in the hotel during her 35-year film and television career.[27]
Other notable hotel guests include Charlie Chaplin, Clark Gable, Max Baer Sr., Carole Lombard, Mary Martin, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Mike Posner, Prince, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.[7][14]
Talk show host Jimmy Kimmel often uses the hotel as a prize for a game called "Hostel La Vista" that pits two tourists that are visiting Los Angeles staying in a nearby youth hostel against each other. In this game, the contestants are asked various questions about the city of Los Angeles and the state of California as a whole. The player who gets the most questions right wins, leaves the hostel and gets to stay at the hotel for the remainder of their stay for free.[28]
Alleged hauntings[edit]
Throughout the years, there have been rumors of hauntings and ghosts at the hotel. Some involve celebrities who previously stayed at the hotel, such as Marilyn Monroe, Montgomery Clift and Errol Flynn.[9][29][30] Others involve a little girl in a blue dress named Caroline.[31] There have also been reports of cold spots, photographic "orbs", and mysterious phone calls to the hotel operator.[32]
Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments in Hollywood
^ Los Angeles Department of City Planning (February 28, 2009). Historic – Cultural Monuments (HCM) Listing: City Declared Monuments. City of Los Angeles.
^ a b c d e Jason Sheeler, "Go inside – and bowl with Brad and Angelina – at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel", Dallas Morning News, May 3, 2011.
^ a b Jack Smith, "The glory that was Hollywood before it became Hollyweird returns to the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel", Los Angeles Times, February 4, 1986.
^ "Classic Locations: Oscar slept here", Los Angeles Times, February 21, 2011.
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel: The Story of an L.A. Icon", Discover Los Angeles, May 14, 2014.
^ a b c d e "The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel", seeing-stars.com. Accessed June 24, 2016.
^ a b c d e f g h Nancy Trejos, "The Hollywood Roosevelt hotel gets a makeover", USA Today, March 16, 2016.
^ a b c Gina Piccalo, "Old star, blazing scene", Los Angeles Times, July 31, 2005.
^ a b c Thomas Dangcil; Tommy Dangcil (September 2002). Hollywood, 1900–1950, in Vintage Postcards. Arcadia Publishing. p. 85. ISBN 978-0-7385-2073-5.
^ a b c Lisa Chamberlain, "Yes, It Has a Mood, but It’s Not a 'Boutique'", The New York Times, October 28, 2007.
^ Norma Meyer, "This old hotel", San Diego Union-Tribune, October 26, 2004.
^ "Projects". Dodd Mitchell Design. Retrieved November 3, 2016.
^ a b Sara Benson, "The Hollywood Roosevelt", The Daily Telegraph. Accessed June 24, 2016.
^ a b c d Stephen Dolainski (1 September 2001). Los Angeles: Romantic Diversions in and Around the City. Globe Pequot Press. p. 125. ISBN 978-0-7627-1024-9.
^ a b Jessica Gelt, "Teddy's enters second stage of life", Los Angeles Times, April 19, 2013.
^ Melena Ryzik, "A Navel-Gazing Oscar Countdown", The New York Times, December 7, 2010.
^ a b Stephen Farber, "Janet Gaynor Recalls the First Awards", The New York Times, March 28, 1982.
^ Olivia Rutigliano, "6 Amazing Oscar Heists and 5 Happy Endings", Vanity Fair, February 19, 2016.
^ a b c David Blend, "11 Things You Didn’t Know About the Supernatural Party Palace", Thrillist, September 13, 2012.
^ Marc Wanamaker; Robert W. Nudelman (2007). Early Hollywood. Arcadia Publishing. p. 60. ISBN 978-0-7385-4792-3.
^ Lindsay Blake, "Where to Find the Most Notable Filming Locations from The People vs. O.J. Simpson", Los Angeles, April 5, 2016.
^ "Lost Angeles Hotels in the Movies: Making the Big Screen", Discover Los Angeles, November 18, 2014.
^ a b Stacy Conradt, "The Quick 10: The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel", Mental Floss, April 17, 2009.
^ "Prince's Dinner Theater", Los Angeles Times, June 21, 2007.
^ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4952868/reference
^ "5 Cool Facts About the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel", Leisure Link, May 21, 2015.
^ "The Divine Miss Patty". We Love Lucy. Retrieved 2016-07-16.
^ Jimmy Kimmel Live (March 16, 2017), Hostel La Vista with Cousin Sal, retrieved September 29, 2017
^ Lovgren, Stefan (December 4, 2003). "Do Real Haunted Mansions Hold Sway in Hollywood?". National Geographic News. Retrieved 29 March 2013.
^ Gomes, Mayra Dias (October 11, 2013). "THR's Guide to L.A.'s Most Haunted Locations". The Hollywood Reporter. Los Angeles, California: Eldridge Industries. Retrieved October 22, 2018.
^ Kern, Will (October 31, 2004). "Hotel has glut of ghosts". The Denver Post. Cited at wilkern.com. Retrieved 29 March 2013.
^ "This old hotel is a Hollywood haunt, in every sense of the word". The Philadelphia Inquirer. November 26, 2000. Retrieved March 29, 2013.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hotel Roosevelt, Hollywood.
The Spare Room website
Venues of the Academy Awards ceremonies
Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel (1929)
Ambassador Hotel (1930)
Biltmore Hotel (1931)
Ambassador Hotel (1932–1934)
Biltmore Hotel (1935–1939)
Chinese Theatre (1944–1946)
Shrine Auditorium (1947–1948)
The Academy Theater (1949)
RKO Pantages Theatre (1950–1952)
RKO Pantages Theatre / NBC International Theatre (1953)
RKO Pantages Theatre / NBC Century Theater (1954–1957)
Santa Monica Civic Auditorium (1961–1968)
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion (1969–1987)
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion (1990)
Shrine Auditorium (1991)
Dolby Theatre (2002–present)
Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments
East and Northeast Sides
Harbor Area
Silver Lake, Angelino Heights and Echo Park
Wilshire and Westlake Areas
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Hollywood_Roosevelt_Hotel&oldid=906546104"
Buildings and structures in Hollywood
Hollywood history and culture
Landmarks in Los Angeles
Reportedly haunted locations in Los Angeles
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Insight by Pegasystems
Beware of the COBOL cliff during your technology modernization journey
Army Lt. Gen. Bruce Crawford, the chief information officer/G6, said late last year he plans to modernize the service’s technology.
Crawford’s strategy is focused on network modernization, application rationalization and data center consolidation that involves a more aggressive move to the cloud.
At the same time, the CIO’s office is supporting the Army’s artificial intelligence task force across six areas. These include the cloud infrastructure to ensure data is accessible and protected at all times.
Crawford said the Army will update its data strategy and continue to implement its enterprise data analytics strategy as a way to further support the AI efforts.
That is one path.
A second IT modernization path the Army is heading down is the Enterprise-IT-as-a-Service effort the service is just beginning. This initiative, the Army hopes, will speed up the modernization process.
The Army estimates that 70% of the servers, routers and end-user devices on its 288 worldwide facilities are at or near the end of life. The figure is even higher for the equipment that handles voice communications — about 90%.
Crawford said under the service’s current modernization methodologies, replacing all of that gear would take until at least 2030. And in the meantime, it would be stuck with the bills involved with maintaining an enormous amount of legacy infrastructure.
The Army’s challenges are no different from many agencies, except for size and breadth.
The Army–and really any agency for that matter—is changing the proverbial tire of the car while it’s still driving.
Current IT Modernization Strategy
We got very anticipatory a number of years ago about the Y2K bug, which turned out not to be much. But I think there is the COBOL programmer cliff of basically all of these people who are experts in mainframe programming that still drive a lot of the agencies and commercial industry. There is a race against the clock to modernize that stuff because of the talent to maintain it really no longer exists and is not necessarily coming out of the educational system today.
Don Schuerman
CTO & Vice President of Product Marketing, Pega
Data and IT Modernization
We are really focused on data accuracy through business process. One of the methods that we are really employing is agile methods, working with our functionals to understand what those business processes are and how we need to work back through to bring accuracy and results in that data for dashboard type technologies.
Rob Schadey
Director of Business Mission, Program Executive Office for Enterprise Information Systems, U.S. Army
One of the things we are really focused on is making sure that we are not customizing and we want to embrace out-of-the box technology as much as possible so we can enable things like mobile through HTML 5 and we have a baseline for the way we are managing, using and governing what we have. So out of the box is really important especially when it comes to the processes that align with the technology itself
Listen to the full show:
Rob Schadey serves as the Business Mission Area director for U. S. Army Program Executive Office Enterprise Information Systems (PEO EIS). In this role, he is responsible for integrating and modernizing the U.S. Army’s enterprise resource planning systems, with a focus on enterprise initiatives such as cloud computing and data analytics.
Schadey began his career as an enlisted computer and network specialist in the U. S. Marine Corps, where he served for six years before transitioning to the private sector. In his next role, Schadey joined MITRE Corporation, where he supported the U.S. Army computer emergency response team. He was then selected as a group leader for cybersecurity engineering at U.S. Army Information Systems Engineering Command. Following that position, Schadey served as Chief Technology Officer for Acquisition Logistics Technology Enterprise Systems and Services. He then returned to the private sector as vice president and chief information security officer at a startup. Schadey resumed his work in civil service at PEO EIS in December of 2017 as the chief of cybersecurity architecture, cybersecurity and privacy, prior to his current role.
Schadey holds a Master of Science in computer science and cybersecurity from Capitol Technology University in Laurel, Md. He is a distinguished graduate of the National Defense University Chief Information Security Officer Program, and he holds Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) and Information Systems Security Architecture Professional certifications.
Schadey is a recipient of the Superior Civilian Service Award, Secretary of Defense Medal for the Global War on Terrorism, and was twice awarded the Commander’s Award for Civilian Service. He is a member of the Army Acquisition Corps with Level III certifications in both Systems Program Research Development and Engineering (SPRDE) and Information Technology (IT).
Don Schuerman is CTO and Vice President of Product Marketing at Pegasystems, responsible for Pega’s industry-leading platform and CRM applications. He has 20 years of experience delivering enterprise software solutions for Fortune 500 organizations, with a focus on digital transformation, mobility, analytics, business process management, cloud and CRM. Don has led enterprise software implementations and provided technology and architecture consulting to senior business and technology executives from Fortune 500 organizations, including American Express, Citibank, JP Morgan Chase, and BP. Don holds a BS in Physics and Philosophy from Boston College.
Executive Editor, Federal News Network
Jason Miller is an executive editor and reporter with Federal News Network. As executive editor, Jason helps direct the news coverage of the station and works with reporters to ensure a broad range of coverage of federal technology, procurement, finance and human resource news.As a reporter, Jason focuses mainly on technology and procurement issues, including cybersecurity, e-government and acquisition policies and programs.
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The Latest: Pompeo stresses diplomacy in Gulf crisis
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The Latest on developments in the Persian Gulf (all times local):
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is stressing diplomacy in responding to suspected attacks on oil tankers near a Middle East shipping route and says American officials are reaching out to their foreign counterparts.
Pompeo tells “Fox News Sunday” that intelligence officials have “lots of data, lots of evidence” tying Iran to alleged attacks on two oil tankers traveling near the Strait of Hormuz, a transit route for Arab oil shipments to Asia. He gave no details.
Asked whether the United States might send troops in response, Pompeo notes that it’s China and China’s neighbors — not the U.S. — that could see a significant threat to their energy supplies from any attacks there.
Pompeo says the U.S. will use means “diplomatic and otherwise” to guarantee unhindered shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
Egypt is strongly condemning two drone attacks by Yemeni rebels, known as Houthis, that targeted airports in southwestern Saudi Arabia.
An Egyptian Foreign Ministry statement on Sunday called the attacks “wanton aggressions.”
The Houthis claimed late Saturday night that they’d attacked airports in the cities of Abha and Jizan. Saudi Arabia said early Sunday that it had shot down one Houthi drone.
Saudi Arabia accuses Iran of arming the Houthi rebels, which Tehran denies. Egypt backs the Saudi-led military coalition of mostly Arab states that has been at war against the Houthis in Yemen since 2015.
The attacks come just days after the rebels said they launched a cruise missile that struck the Abha airport. Saudi Arabia said that attack on Wednesday wounded 26 people.
The Norwegian-owned oil tanker Front Altair, which caught fire after being apparently attacked last week in the Gulf of Oman, has arrived off the coast of the United Arab Emirates.
The ship’s position was some 20 miles off the coast of the Emirati port city of Khorfakkan on Sunday.
The Front Altair caught fire after the attack Thursday, sending a thick cloud of black smoke visible even by satellite from space.
On Saturday, Associated Press journalists saw the crew members of Front Altair after their Iran Air flight from Bandar Abbas, Iran, landed at Dubai International Airport.
The U.S. has blamed Iran for what it described as an attack with limpet mines on the two tankers. Tehran rejects the allegation, instead accusing the U.S. under President Donald Trump of pursuing an “Iranophobic” campaign against it.
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman says the kingdom isn’t seeking war in the region, but won’t hesitate to deal with any threats to its people and vital interests.
In his first public remarks since attacks last month on oil tankers off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, the powerful Saudi prince accused Iran of using militias to destabilize the region.
He said the attacks days earlier on vessels in the Gulf of Oman, as well as on an oil pipeline in Saudi Arabia and a civilian airport in the kingdom’s southern city of Abha, “confirm the importance of our demands of the international community to take a decisive stance” against Iran’s behavior.
He made the remarks in an interview published Sunday by the pan-Arabic newspaper Asharq al-Awsat.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels say they’ve launched a new drone attack against Saudi Arabia. The kingdom says it shot down one Houthi drone.
The Houthi’s Al-Masirah satellite news channel announced the attack late Saturday night. Yahia al-Sarie, a Houthi spokesman, said their drones targeted airports in Jizan and Abha in Saudi Arabia.
Early Sunday, the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen said it shot down a drone near the Abha regional airport.
A statement from spokesman Col. Turki al-Maliki did not address the Houthi claim regarding a drone attack on Jizan.
The Houthis say they launched a cruise missile that struck the Abha airport Wednesday. Saudi Arabia says that attack wounded 26 people.
Business News Defense Government News World News
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Posts Tagged ‘X-Men’
The FENX and Life As Story: I never thought I would actually read a book by Donald Miller.
Posted: March 11, 2012 in Comic Boos/Superheroes, FENX 4.0, NBC News, Star Trek, Star Wars
Tags: 24, Apostle Paul, Armstrong Williams, Batman, Battlestar Galactica, Ben Kenobi, Blue Like Jazz, CS Lewis, Donald Miller, Frank Peretti, George Lucas, GP Taylor, Green Lantern, Han Solo, Jon Acuff, JRR Tolkien, Kirk, LOST, Luke Skywalker, NASA, NBC News, Princess Leia, Rock Amato, Roll Call, Scott Pilgrim, Spock, Star Trek, Star Wars, Susan Cooper, TERMINATOR, Transformers, X-Men, Yoda
I really like books; I like owning them, having shelves full of them, and reading them. I’m currently in the midst of four separate books between various small groups and my own personal reading. I started reading Frank Peretti at 11 years old and started collecting the Star Wars expanded Universe at 12; 17 years later my Star Wars novels count is well over 80 and takes up three shelves of one of my bookcases. I was obsessed with Christian apocalyptic fiction for most of Jr. High and High School thanks to the Left Behind books (but I won’t say anything more about that – except that I never finished the whole series). When looking at my bookshelves, I never expected for it to hold a book by Donald Miller, the author of Blue Like Jazz (which is going to be released as a theatrical film soon). JRR Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Susan Cooper, G.P. Taylor, Chuck Colson, and two series on Philosophy and Popular Culture (Star Wars, Star Trek, Transformers, Terminator, Green Lantern, Batman, X-MEN, Battlestar Galactica, 24, LOST) sure, you’d find those, but Donald Miller? Wasn’t he the guy that the “cool kids” read, those on the 21st Century cutting edge of Christianity? Yeah, that was way too “Christian Hipster” for me when I actually thought about it, and I honestly would have rather read The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy books if given the choice (which I own but haven’t finished).
All that changed one night a few weeks ago. It was a cold Tuesday night and I’d just finished leading a C.S. Lewis reading group called “The Inklings” (what else would you call it?) when I ran into my friend Andy. We hadn’t seen one another since the Leadership retreat for National Community Church a few weeks prior, so we got to talking. Before we knew it we got talking about dreams, destiny, and how it takes intense conflict and perseverance to make a good story (all in “epic superhero/comic book movie” context as well as some of my own life story). All of the sudden a light goes on inside Andy’s mind and he asks me “Have you ever read Donald Miller?” I said “no”, and I wasn’t so eager to begin. Andy began to explain that he understood my hesitation, as he didn’t like Donald Miller either, at first. It wasn’t until he read A Million Miles in a Thousand Years that his perspective began to change (and he has now lead multiple smallgroups though this book). In fact, my friend believed so much that I should read this book that he bought me a copy and had it sent to my house. When that happens, you’ve got to give the book a shot because someone you respect sees it as a powerful vessel for wisdom, transformation, and change. So I began reading.
This being my first experience with this author I didn’t know what to expect. I had recently seen a trailer for the theatrical release of Blue Like Jazz and it looked very “indie and weird” (redundancy?). I don’t really like “indie and weird”, except when it crosses over into “epic, super-ish, and full of awesome” like Scott Pilgrim vs. The World does (and SO WELL), because I live in the land of epic and I don’t’ like to stray outside those borders. As I read I began to realize that one of the threads going through this book was the story of how Blue Like Jazz was going to become a movie: a ground floor account of the author’s life though that process and how it all went down (from characters, to conflict, inciting incidents, plot turns and the like). I began to wonder “Has George Lucas done this?” and I found myself wishing the answer was yes.
Miller uses this book to look at his life as a story, and to ask the overall question of “what makes a good story and am I living one, a story worth living and inviting others to be a part of?” As I read I realized that these were questions that I was (and am) consistently wrestling with in light of some of my experiences. It brought to mind the ending of the two part episode of Facing Life Head On that I was featured in last year, when the host of the show, Brad Mates, says that I and my fellow interviewees had made our lives “stories worth telling”. Does that mean that at the end of every day you have to be able to say that the day that just ended was worth it? No, it does not, but worthwhile things have sure happened. Often in our own stories it’s others that see the worth that we can’t as we’re in the midst of it, as I wrote about Kirk and Spock yesterday.
The book talks about how in Star Wars, the viewer can pause the movie at any point and ask the question “what does a certain character want and what do they have to overcome to get it?” and you know the answer. Luke wants to become a Jedi and join the Rebellion; Leia wants to defeat the Empire; Han Solo want money so he can pay off Jabba the Hutt. Ben Kenobi wants to teach Luke the ways of the Force. Reader finds themselves asking, “what do I want and what do I have to overcome to get it?” (Along that line of thinking I started to read Quitter by Jon Acuff and will blog about it when I finish the book). I started asking myself, “is mine a story that is one others should be invited to participate in?” once the book raised this question.
In addressing this question, thoughts drift to The FENX (how can it not?) I think of how that part of the my story touches and relates to so many other parts and is the fulfilment of some aspects (like wishing I were a superhero). It’s also something that so many have been invited to be part of. From Carl Sears and his wife Sheila at NBC to Brad Mates at Facing Life Head On; from radio show hosts Aleksander Danilov, Rick Amato, Anthony DiMiggaio, and Armstrong Williams to writers like Kate Tumerello and Roll Call newspaper. Even two wonderful ladies who work at NASA and have become good friends of mine (one I actually went to high school with). Not to mention friends in DC that find themselves part of the crazy incidents that happen on a regular basis and become wondrous tales. It isn’t just my story anymore; they’ve all been invited to be part of it, and in accepting it’s become part of their story too. One of the pastors at National Community Church once said that “everyone had that friend on college that was the crazy one that stuff happened to all the time; you either wanted to be around them or run from them because of that.” I am fortunate to have friends that haven’t run away yet.
There’s still much ground to cover any always improvements to be made, and some of them monumental ones, but yes, I think my life to be a story worth living on the whole of it. Remember that a good story requires intense conflict and perseverance – the road of The Greater Miracle is unpaved and sparsely trod – the Apostle Paul speaks to this in Romans 5:3-5 for a reason, venturing into the realm of suffering where Yoda dared not go.
What sort of story is your life, is it one that people want to be a part of? Are you inviting people to be part of it?
The FENX and the First Class
Posted: June 5, 2011 in Comic Boos/Superheroes, FENX 4.0
Tags: Azazel, Bryan Singer, Cerebro, Charles Xavier, CIA, Cuban Missile Crisis, Cyclops, Emma Frost, FENX, Ian McKellen, James McAvory, Janurary Jones, Jean Grey, Jenniifer Lawrence, Matthew Vaughn, Michael Fassbender, Patrick Stewart, Scott Summers, Sebastian Shaw, Soviets, The Last Stand, Wolverine, X-Men, X-Men: First Class, X2, X3
Warning: Spoilers and Continuity issues ahead!
Recently I went to see X-Men: First Class the 20th Century Fox/Marvel prequel/reboot of the X-Men movie franchise. Even though I am an unabashed comic book/superhero fan I rarely offer my thoughts in a written review on such movies, but a recent discussion with a wise friend of mine has convinced me otherwise (as well as my own adventures as a Xavier-esque character with the FENX).
This particular X-Men outing is produced by Bryan Singer (the director of the first two X-Men films, and the ones I enjoy the most) and directed by Matthew Vaughn (who previously directed Kick Ass and was originally going to direct X-Men 3: The Last Stand after Singer left – but he too left the project) so creating a comic book movie isn’t something new for either of them.
As a prequel, X-Men: First Class begins where Bryan Singer’s first X-Men film began, in a Nazi concentration camp. A young Erik Lensherr, with the ability to manipulate metal, is being separated from his parents. It’s here where the prequel expands: a Nazi doctor conducting experiments wants to harness Erik’s ability and will go to any length to do so (even killing his mother right in front of him). This gets his ability going, and revenge on the brain. During the same time period we are introduced to a childhood Charles Xavier and his oldest friend, Raven Darkholm, a mutant shape-shifter (played by Robecca Romijn in the first three films and something the filmmakers have not forgotten in this film). Fast forward to 1962, Erik is now attempting to hunt down the Nazi doctor who unlocked his mutant abilities and Charles is about to receive his doctorate in genetics and a professorship at Oxford University in England. During a chance encounter at a pub he meets Moira McTaggert, an agent for the CIA who needs his expertise on genetic mutation. Upon visiting the CIA he is asked to assemble a special team of people with “abilities” to combat the threat of Sebastian Shaw , a Hugh Hefner type working with the Soviets to start nuclear war between the USSR and the United States (who happens to have a special team of his own – The Helllfire Club – in Emma Frost – a telepath with diamond skin – and Azazel, a demonic looking crimson teleporter). A botched attempt to take out Shaw is the catalyst for the friendship between Erik and Charles and they travel the globe tracking candidates (and even happen across a familiar face who has no interest in joining the team) after using an alpha version of Cerebro to identify them.
As the film progresses along the backdrop of the Cuban Missile Crisis there are some twists and turns, but if you’re a fan of the X-Men mythos you know what’s coming and the movie deals with the material well, setting things up for a sequel that is bound to happen. In many ways the film is faithful to the mythos already established in the comics and movies, but there are some glaring departures (such as Emma Frost being an adult at this time when she’s just a kid in the Wolverine film, Moira McTaggert being an agent with the CIA, and the “Angel” in this film not being Warren Worthington; but that is at least resolved). The focus on Erik and Charles carries much of the film and makes their eventual separation (and Charles’s paralyzation; canonical with the comics or not) all the more powerful because it is partly Erik’s fault. This film does an excellent job of showing why Erik becomes who he does and to a degree you understandably root for him – despite what you know is coming – much akin to Anakin Skywalker in the Star Wars prequels. However, First Class does it far better in showing Erik’s inability to forgive and his being blinded by revenge juxtaposed with Xavier’s ability to forgive and be “the better man”: not hating humanity because they do not understand.
While I was initially wary of the casting of some of these iconic characters already played by great actors Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen, McAvory and Fassbender both did well as Charles and Erik, as did Jennifer Lawrence and Jason Fleyming as Raven and Azazel – key characters going forward to connect to the movies already produced and set in the future. January Jones did well as Emma Frost, and honestly I’d like to see her go toe-to toe with Scott Summers if an X4 is ever made and they find a way resurrect his character post the death of Jean Grey; considering the Frost/Summers relationship in the comics, Frost should make an appearance in the future.
In the end, this First Class of Xavier’s Institute for Gifted Youngsters has begun a worthwhile venture whose legacy I look forward to seeing again on the big screen.
Aaron/The Professor
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Sales & Marketing Management - Calling All Catalogs
12 Dec 1990 Vic
Sales & Marketing Management - Calling All Catalogs - December 1990
The Paperless Catalog - By Bristol Voss, Associate Editor
As an offshoot of the hi-tech revolution, many catalog producers have lately begun experimenting with things like on-line computer ordering, catalogs on diskette, and videotaped "brochures" that either replace or support existing printed materials.
On-line ordering, for example, is a function of the current trend toward "stockless inventories" and "just-in-time" delivery, with medical centers and hospitals being some of the earliest converts. By keeping just a 24-hour reserve on hand, for instance, the Vanderbilt Univ. Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn., which has a variety of vendors on-line, has slashed its inventories by about $2.8 million and cut operating costs by $270,000 annually (including the elimination of 27 supply related jobs). One immediate advantage: The facility transformed an 18,000-sq ft. warehouse, formerly used to house supplies, into a neurological center.
Computer diskettes are also gaining favor as an alternative to printed catalogs. In his former position as a salesman for Shaw Industries, Vic Cherubini, currently president of E.P.I.C. Software in The Woodlands, Texas, noticed more and more computers popping up on the desks of the corrosion engineers who were then his customers. Sensing a potential niche, he decided to create a floppy disk catalog of his 19 coating products. Rather than simply describing the products, however, Cherubini created a disk "catalog" that asked engineers a series of questions and formulated answers in the form of "pictures" of the product of the product along with technical data sheets. The result: E.P.I.C. now produces diskette catalogs for other industrial companies, growing from a gleam in the eye of a former salesman to an enterprise that chalked up $125,000 in sales during its first six months.
Aside from E.P.I.C., there are currently a number of companies that will transfer your catalog to a diskette, firms like TMI in Des Plaines, ILL.; CompuDoc in Edison N.J., Conerstones-Wright in Portland, Maine, and Show & Tell in Newton, Mass. Basically, here's what's involved: At a cost of roughly $5 per disk, the company will put together a "catalog," create master files, make copies and changes, and send them to remote locations (like Argentina, for example) via modem. For an additional charge, the computer can also be used to turn the static printed catalog into an interactive demonstration using animation and sound.
And while data on the success of on-line, or diskette catalogs isn't yet available, there are some statistics on the use of video catalogs. According to a study by the Wharton School of Business in Philadelphia, video brochures increase retention by approximately 50% over print advertising and help prospective buyers reach a decision 72% of the time.
With numbers like these, video catalogs are naturally getting some high marks from manufacturers. For example, Polymer Plastics Corp., a Mountain View, Cal.-based company that sells circuit-board products, has been sending out videos accompanying paper catalogs for the past two years. Why did Polymer pick video? Says CEO Larry Stock: "I figured customers were going to have to look at [the video]. I felt the curiosity alone was going to kill them."
According to Polymer Research, video catalogs generate 20 times the response of paper catalogs alone. What's more, sales have tripled since the new format was introduced.
Aside from the obvious visual advantages, videos also offer some unique uses compared with print catalogs: They tend to show off high-end items better and are also m ore well-suited to demonstrating very technical products. In addition, they can serve as a training tool for the sales force and a visual promotion for the distributor.
As far as costs are concerned, a five-to-seven minute video can be produced for anywhere from $5,000 - $35,000, with longer versions coming in at $100,000 and up. Once the original investment has been made, however, additional copies can be generated for as little as $5 apiece.
With this kind of technology innovation writing new chapters in the long and illustrious history of catalogs, their integral role in the selling process seems likely to continue, despite the potential pitfalls created by postal rate increases, corporate mailing policies and overzealous mail room clerks. Or, as Ed Burnett puts it: "Catalogs are proliferating. I don't see the numbers doing anything but going up."
If Burnett is right - and all indications are that he is - catalogs will be around for at least another 100 years, even though formats, functions, and delivery systems will evolve and expand just as they have ever since Mr. Sears and Mr. Roebuck began purveying their products via pen and paper back in 1886.
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Facing Growing Water Demand Without Aquifers
With the demand for water in this country and around the world growing significantly every year, we won't have the luxury of waiting thousands of years for these aquifers to carry water again.
By Klaus Reichardt
In July 2014, a family that had just purchased a new home in an area of Arizona called Sulphur Springs had an unusual experience. One of the family members began filling a glass of water, and instead of clean, clear water coming out of the tap, it was cloudy and brown. "The water looked like the desert surrounding the house," said the family member. "The same color."
At first, the family did not suspect anything was wrong. In fact, after a few minutes of running the water, it turned clear again. However, then things turned south once more. Not only was the water cloudy and brown, in more and more cases, there wasn't any. One of the family members drew a bath. When she returned to the bathroom, the water was murky with silt, and the tub was barely half full.The washing machine stopped working, as did the dishwasher. Reason: no water.
However, then something else happened. The family found out that other people living in this part of Arizona were also having the very same experiences. Eventually, they found out what was happening.
This portion of Arizona is perfect for growing crops year round, and it has recently been "discovered" by corporate farmers. They are bringing millions of dollars with them and purchasing as much as 100,000 acres of land to be used for farming. Land use regulations in this part of the state are a bit lax.
However, it is also one of the driest parts of Arizona. So to irrigate their crops, they have been drawing on the aquifers. Aquifers are naturally formatted, underground water storage areas that can and do supply water for everyone—farmers, ranchers, businesses, schools, and families—in that part of the state. The problem is, the aquifers are drying up.
How They Were Formed
Except for in a few states such as Arizona, New Mexico, parts of Texas, and California, we rarely hear much about aquifers. That is because, for decades, most parts of the United States received enough rainfall that turning to aquifers for water was just not necessary.
However, that has all changed in the last 20 years or more. We are drawing water from aquifers more and more for the same reasons we have heard before: climate change impacting rainfall amounts; population growth; poor water infrastructure; and, as our Arizona story reveals, a redirection of water from families, ranchers, and small farmers to expanding corporate farms. Most likely, we will hear more stories like this in the future. This is because aquifers are going to be playing a more significant role in providing water for more parts of the country. So this is probably a good time to learn a little bit about aquifers and how they were formed.
Most of the aquifers in the United States lie under the western half of the country and are believed to date back a good 6 million years. Scientists believe that as the Rocky Mountains thrust upwards, this caused rivers to create deep channels, with water flowing into basins later covered by rock. This trapped the water beneath it.
One of the largest aquifers in the United States runs through eight Plains states and covers more than 174,000 square miles. It is not a vast underground lake, by any means. Aquifers are underground layers of rock that are saturated with water, which can be brought to the surface through natural springs or by pumping.
Not only are these aquifers drying up, just like the ones in Arizona; once they do, it can take as much as 6,000 years for them to get replenished. With the demand for water in this country and around the world growing significantly every year, we won't have the luxury of waiting thousands of years for these aquifers to carry water again.
When it comes to water, we really only have one option: use it more efficiently. We do not have to conserve. In fact, water conservation does not work all that well. It typically results in unhappy people, tired of conserving water and waiting to go back to their old water-using habits.
However, water efficiency is different. Typically, it comes about by swapping out old water using fixtures and mechanicals that waste large amounts of water. These are replaced with new fixtures and technologies that are not as wasteful and use far less water, or no water at all. Plus, this is accomplished without end-user dissatisfaction.
It's going to be difficult to help the people in Sulphur Springs, Ariz. The state is taking emergency measures to deliver water to this area. However, for most of the rest of the country, we do have time to address our water challenges by using this precious resource more efficiently.
Arizona Story Source: "The Water Wars of Arizona," by Noah Gallagher Shannon, The New York Times, July 19, 2018
FY2019 NRC Fees Increased for Operating Reactors
Waste Toxicity
Waste Transport
First Female Director Appointed to Head Iowa DNR
Ecosystems/Ecology
Chemicals and Toxins
Maryland's Governor Signs Energy Efficiency Measure
Tennessee Settles Lawsuit Over TVA Coal Ash Ponds
Industrial Issues
Treatment Processes
DOE Proposes to Redefine High-Level Radioactive Waste
Copyright 2010, 1105 Media Inc.
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In Memoriam: Edgar Mitchell, ScD, PhD: ” We Are ONE”
by wsmystic in Consciousness, Oneness, Spirituality
In Memoriam: Edgar Mitchell, ScD, PhD
Cassandra Vieten
When he returned from space forty-five years ago, Apollo 14 Astronaut Dr. Edgar Mitchell committed his life to supporting a sustainable future. He worked tirelessly to understand and promote what he viewed as an absolutely necessary collective shift in consciousness. To those of us who knew him well, Edgar was an enthusiastic, loving, dedicated, courageous, generous, and brilliant man who inspired us to be bold in our exploration of the further reaches of human potential, to fearlessly challenge inadequate paradigms, and to carry his spirit of adventure into investigating our inner lives.
Most people know Edgar Mitchell best as an Apollo 14 astronaut and sixth person to walk on the moon. A US Navy Captain, MIT-trained aeronautics engineer, recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the NASA distinguished service award, and 2005 nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize among many other honors, Edgar Mitchell was a hero in the truest sense of the word.
What fewer people know is that Edgar’s spirit of exploration extended well beyond space travel to his lifelong dedication to increasing our scientific understanding of the nature of consciousness.
Space exploration symbolized for Mitchell what it did for his nation—a technological triumph of historic proportions, an unprecedented demonstration of scientific achievement, and extraordinary potential for new discoveries. What Mitchell did not anticipate was a return trip that triggered something even more powerful. As he gazed at Earth floating in the vastness of space and contemplated the history and hopes of humankind on that lonely blue sphere, he was engulfed by a profound sense of universal connectedness.
“I realized that the story of ourselves as told by science—our cosmology, our religion— was incomplete and likely flawed. I recognized that the Newtonian idea of separate, independent, discreet things in the universe wasn’t a fully accurate description. What was needed was a new story of who we are and what we are capable of becoming.”
That moment was an epiphany for Mitchell. As an accomplished scientist and engineer, he had grown accustomed to directing his attention to the objective world “out there.” But the experience that came to him while hurtling through space was profound.
“My understanding of the distinct separateness and relative independence of movement of those cosmic bodies was shattered. I was overwhelmed with the sensation of physically and mentally extending out into the cosmos. The restraints and boundaries of flesh and bone fell away. I wondered if Stu and Alan [companion astronauts] were experiencing it as well … Somehow I never felt the urge to ask.”
The experience led him to a startling hypothesis: Perhaps reality is more complex, subtle, and inexorably mysterious than conventional science had led him to believe. Perhaps a deeper understanding of consciousness could lead to a new and expanded view of reality in which objective and subjective, outer and inner, are understood as complementary aspects of the miracle and mystery of being.
That realization sowed the seeds of Mitchell’s next mission. A few years later, in 1973, he founded the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS). Edgar was troubled by the prevalence of a dualistic worldview in Western thought and science that separates mind and matter and that typically posits matter as the fundamental basis of reality. Fortunately, the advent of quantum physics provided scientific evidence that challenged this dualistic worldview. Experiments at the subatomic level revealed that (under certain conditions) one particle of matter will instantly “respond” when something happens to another particle, even though the two are separated from each other in space. Edgar interpreted that phenomenon as meaning that “awareness” might be present at an elemental subatomic level.
Building on this notion and affirming a learning, self organizing principle in the universe, he proposed that awareness can evolve through many levels of complexity and that at an advanced stage of complexity, say, at the human level, an aptitude for self-reflective awareness begins to emerge. This includes the capacity to make conscious choices and to be held accountable for how actions affect others and their physical environment. Given the deepening problems of today’s postindustrial society, in which most threats to our society and planet are rooted in how we view the world and the actions we take as a result, learning how to increase people’s consciousness becomes crucial. Edgar, along with many others, maintained that human activity is on an exponential growth curve that cannot be sustained globally under current conditions. He believed that a paradigm shift is underway, but cautioned that the outcome is as yet unpredictable, and survival of humanity on our planet is in question. He believed that the same amount of effort and ingenuity that has been dedicated to the exploration of outer space should be directed toward the investigation of the inner world – our consciousness.
Inspired by Edgar’s vision, over the past four decades, the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) has had a catalytic influence on the frontiers of scientific inquiry. Our investigation into the role of consciousness in healing has significantly contributed to the scientific understanding of how the mind influences health. Our work helped to transform mind-body medicine from a fringe idea into a vital component of virtually all major medical centers in the United States and, increasingly, worldwide. Our original research on the benefits of meditation and compassion sparked the development of new scientific methods and insights into how we can cultivate our highest potentials. Our pioneering scientific work on interconnectedness through time and space has challenged traditional notions of the nature of reality and is now making its way into mainstream physics. Our frontier research into perennial mysteries, including precognition, life after death, the role of intention in healing, and transformative experiences, continues to broaden the range of acceptable topics for scientific inquiry. IONS continues to expand the boundaries of our understanding of ourselves and of reality.
Today, IONS maintains a team of seven scientists dedicated to the study of frontier topics in consciousness, an education team and innovation lab that translates our findings into real-world applications, a global community of 80,000 with nearly 200 regional community groups who meet regularly worldwide, and a transformative learning and retreat center an hour north of San Francisco at which 5000 people per year engage in transformative workshops and trainings.
We honor the life and work of Edgar Mitchell, astronaut, scientist, scholar, and visionary leader, and are proud to carry on his legacy.
Cassandra Vieten, PhD, is President and CEO of the Institute of Noetic Sciences and a scientist at the Mind-Body Medicine Research Group at California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute. Dr. Vieten, a licensed clinical psychologist, has been with IONS since 2001, previously serving as its Executive Director of Research.
Portions of this post first appeared in the article “Edgar Mitchell: Cosmic Activist” by Barbara McNeill in the Institute of Noetic Sciences Shift Magazine, Volume 12, 2006.
Previous Liberation IS: The End of The Spiritual Path by Salvadore Poe (Author) Next Awakening Joy: 10 Steps to Happiness by James Baraz (Author), Shoshana Alexander (Author), Ram Dass (Preface), Jack Kornfield (Foreword)
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Independent opinions on video games and films
Special Posts
The Blunders of Filip Miucin and Dean Takahashi: Why Critics Should Be Open to Criticism
July 4, 2019 July 15, 2019 / Red Metal
In the summer of 2017, I learned of an independently produced video game known as Cuphead. Its art style immediately grabbed my attention. I thought it was fascinating how the creators drew inspiration from the pioneering American animated short films of the 1920s and 1930s, giving it a colorful, fresh coat of paint. As it wasn’t released until September of that year, one would expect I learned of it through the publicity professional journalists were giving it on the eve of its release. Such an assertion would indeed be the case.
Unfortunately, the exact method by which I learned about Cuphead wasn’t exactly a triumphant moment for video game journalism. Professional journalist Dean Takahashi, writing for a publication called VentureBeat, uploaded footage of himself wherein he demonstrated a complete lack of proficiency playing the game. He missed extremely basic cues and didn’t even clear the first stage. Although he intended for the video to be humorous, it was, in reality, nothing of the sort, being the very definition of the word tedious. I cannot fathom who would want to earnestly watch a commentary-free video wherein someone fails to make any progress in game. As video game journalists had been the subject of ridicule in the years leading up to 2017, the internet erupted. People from all across the world flocked to his video, leaving angry comments and downvoting it en masse until they eclipsed the comparatively few upvotes it received.
This opened up a question that had been thrown around several times over the years. Does a journalist need to be good at games? Personally, I feel the answer to that question is yes. While I don’t expect a journalist to be a master-class gamer who can pull off feats such as clearing Super Mario 64 in fifteen minutes or gliding through Half-Life 2 using physics exploits, they should display some skill with the game. Video games demand a little more out of their audience than films or literature, so professional journalists need to be good enough so that they can give their audience an accurate impression of the work in question. Therefore, if they’re dying a lot due to poorly balanced gameplay or if certain features aren’t working as intended, the person watching the video gets the message instantly. At the very least, Mr. Takahashi should have provided commentary over his abysmal footage. As it stands, the internet received a context-free, boring video that came from a source claiming to be professional.
In doing so, Mr. Takahashi inadvertently showed a lack of respect for the medium. It’s especially important for journalists to accurately convey the experience independently produced efforts provide, for they often struggle to get a second look. Mr. Takahashi’s footage was too terrible to accept as genuine, but what would’ve happened had his footage been slightly less bad? If he messed up just enough to make it seem as though the developers were more at fault for his failures than he himself was, the game would have likely lost sales. Losing sales a major setback for AAA companies, but it’s absolutely crippling for an indie effort. This seemed especially true in the second half of the 2010s after the scene lost the ego commonly associated with people such as Jonathan Blow or Phil Fish and focused entirely on finding an audience through innovation.
Either way, one doesn’t typically receive this amount of negativity without acknowledging it in some way, so Mr. Takahashi ended up writing a response. Although he did technically apologize in this article, it came across as rather disingenuous – probably because he couldn’t resist the urge to disrespect his dissenters.
“Heh heh, it is funny because my critics can’t read!” [Source]
In the article proper, he claimed the people who criticized his videos were the same ones behind a certain notorious, online incident from 2014. Although I’m not questioning the validity of his claim, I do have to comment that bad people can make good points on occasion. Rather than admit his footage wasn’t professional, Mr. Takahashi ended up doubling down, spending more time calling out his detractors than admitting fault.
Before I continue, I want to make one thing perfectly clear. I absolutely do not think he deserved to be swarmed with death threats or other miscellaneous mean-spirited comments. Anyone who did just that should truly be ashamed of themselves. However, I also have to comment that, despite Mr. Takahashi’s claims of living through a personal Black Mirror episode, absolutely none of those degenerates would have paid him any heed had he not uploaded the footage. It’s not as though said degenerates pirated the game, recorded themselves deliberately playing poorly for twenty-six minutes, hacked the VentureBeat servers, and posted the footage under Mr. Takahashi’s name. It’s not even a case in which this was only obvious in hindsight. He, one of his superiors, or even just a close friend should have taken one look at the footage and concluded that nobody would actually want to watch it. Although the video appears to be entitled “Dean’s Shameful 26 Minutes Of Gameplay”, it was originally uploaded under the name “It’s Not Easy”, which suggests Mr. Takahashi had less self-awareness than he let on. Then again, it’s also possible he changed it to make the joke more obvious.
“Everyone is bad at video games! Including professional g- wait…” [Source]
“None of Mr. Takahashi’s detractors understand that journalists write. QED.” [Source]
Many journalists rushed to Mr. Takahashi’s defense, and a common thread among them was that dissenters didn’t know how gaming journalism works. When taken at face value, these statements would be like if people contracted a severe illness at a restaurant only for the owner and many of their peers to claim that because nobody afflicted understands how food criticism works, they have no right to sue the establishment afterwards. Mistakes can be called out for what they are – it doesn’t matter who does it. Moreover, I would argue such an assertion is secretly a damning commentary on the state of gaming journalism. There is something inherently wrong with a system that allows such unprofessionalism to exist. It’s even worse when you realize a blunder of this kind wasn’t without precedent. A similar scandal had occurred with Polygon a year prior concerning the 2016 edition of Doom.
The second of these articles was quick to point out Mr. Takahashi’s career, highlighting his decades-spanning career writing about technology. Again, this just raises the question of why he didn’t know any better. I, and I suspect many of his detractors, would have been far more understanding if it turned out he had recently gotten the job. However, somebody who had been covering technology for twenty-five years and video games for eighteen of them shouldn’t be making mistakes like this. This would be akin to a veteran director forgetting to take the lens cap off of the camera before shooting their film’s climax.
To be fair, these articles did provide many good points, but they didn’t quite address the fundamental issue at hand. At the end of the day, Mr. Takahashi’s footage was unwatchable, and attempting to pass it off as piece of legitimate journalism failed to do any justice to the hard work the Moldenhauer brothers put into their game. The only positive result from this debacle is that it likely drummed up a lot of enthusiasm for Cuphead, for a lot of people, myself included, didn’t even know it existed beforehand.
I can empathize with Mr. Takahashi’s plight, for being bombarded by many angry people at once would be mentally exhausting. However, as cold as it may sound, I do have to comment that his reaction along with those of his peers speaks to one of the biggest problems plaguing contemporary critical circles: they themselves cannot take criticism. In his response, Mr. Takahashi made a fatal error in that he profiled his detractors, implicitly declaring them all to be far-right trolls with backwards-looking political views. He didn’t even consider for a second that maybe, just maybe, it was possible to dislike his video without being a terrible person. Instead, he came up with various, tenuous reasons as to why they shouldn’t be taken seriously.
However, when all is said and done, I can believe that Mr. Takahashi’s mistake was an honest one. It was a severe miscalculation on his part, but it thankfully didn’t cause any lasting harm – except perhaps to his own credibility. The same, however, could not be said of another journalistic scandal that would occur almost exactly one year later.
In July of 2018, a critic who went by the e-handle Boomstick Gaming uploaded a review of an indie game known as Dead Cells, which was to be released the following August. The review was well-received and successfully sold many people on the game. On the eve of the game’s release date, a journalist by the name of Filip Miucin, working for the prominent news outlet IGN, uploaded his own take on Dead Cells. The video was seen by tens of thousands of people – one of whom happened to be Boomstick Gaming. However, as he watched the video, he found it to be oddly familiar.
That’s right, Mr. Miucin copied Boomstick Gaming’s review practically word-for-word. Although critics are liable to make similar observations, it was clear that Mr. Miucin had watched the lesser-known video and plagiarized it. Like a smug middle-school student who thinks that by changing a few words around in their research paper, they can fool their teachers, he was called out on it immediately. As a result of his unacceptable behavior, IGN announced that they and Mr. Miucin had parted ways the very next day. Three days after this decision was made, Mr. Miucin created a video in response to his circumstances. This was the prime opportunity to apologize to all of the wronged parties. He never did. For whatever little it’s worth, he did offer words of encouragement to Boomstick Gaming, but he never admitted any fault, claiming the plagiarism was “not at all intentional”. One wonders how he – or anyone else, for that matter – could unintentionally copy somebody else’s work. To make matters worse, Mr. Miucin then proceeded to challenge Jason Schreier of Kotaku, who was investigating his body of work at the time, to find any more instances of plagiarism.
Mr. Schreier proved to be more than up for the task when he uncovered an entire slew of copied reviews. The list includes, but is not limited to, a Bayonetta 2 review lifted from Polygon, a commentary about the Nintendo Switch’s HD rumble taken from NeoGAF, and numerous videos in which he just straight-up read Wikipedia excerpts. He wasn’t even above ripping off the work of his peers at IGN, for he had copied Seth Macy’s review of Octopath Traveler as well.
“Oh, darn”, indeed.
What’s particularly distressing about this scandal is that, unlike the case with Mr. Takahashi, Mr. Miucin was completely and utterly in the wrong. Even so, his choice of words made it sound as though he had some claim to the moral high ground over his detractors. He was under the impression Kotaku took advantage of the situation by attempting to generate clicks off of his name – all while flagging videos discussing his slight to get them taken down. The ludicrous supposition that perhaps this was a serious issue worth discussing apparently eluded him. For bonus points, he, continuing to display no self-awareness, proceeded to monetize his non-apology video, which killed off any remote semblance of earnestness he may have had.
“I’m the star of the show! That ad revenue belongs to me, dammit!”
Similar to Mr. Takahashi’s situation, I will point out that Mr. Miucin claimed people were going after his family in their anger. That is the only point I will give him, for a mistake, even one as grave as this, does not warrant getting entirely innocent parties involved. However, the other points against him are entirely valid. As a journalist, he had no right to take the words of a lesser-known critic and post it as his own, and because his slight was not isolated incident, he destroyed his credibility in one fell swoop – and he has absolutely nobody to blame but himself.
Even after the innumerable scandals plaguing gaming journalism, many enthusiasts were left wondering how such a thing could happen. However, I posit that with critics’ inability to handle any kind of criticism, a scandal of this magnitude was inevitable. The situation with Dean Takahashi demonstrated that the critical circle would sooner swallow multiple sharp objects than their pride. As long as even the tiniest shred of plausible deniability exists, they will double down. I say this because when Mr. Miucin’s mistakes were exposed to light, his handling of the backlash was very similar to Mr. Takahashi’s approach. Rather than admit to any kind of fault, he too tried to hide behind his peers. However, while Mr. Takahashi had little trouble gaining supporters, Mr. Miucin realized, too late, that there was nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. He did issue a true apology in April of 2019, but he attempted to carry on as though nothing happened in the intervening time, which failed to deter his detractors. Because he took so long to acknowledge his mistake, I can’t help but conclude that he only bothered apologizing when he realized he was well and truly out of options. It didn’t help his case that he continued to flag videos discussing the incident despite having not a leg to stand on.
Ultimately, any kind of circle needs to be open to an outsider’s perspective. As it stands, journalists take a very authoritarian, hierarchal approach to their craft. They’re the experts, you’re the readers, and anything you have to say is irrelevant. If you, as the reader, do not worship the ground they walk on, you’re doing it wrong. Don’t like it? Too bad – them’s the breaks. People who subscribe to this line of thinking forget that the common person can instantly hone on problems painstakingly obvious to them, but go unnoticed by the experienced. To allude to a classic tale, it is up to the fool and the child to point out the emperor isn’t wearing any clothes. Plagiarists such as Filip Miucin are exactly the kind of people who can thrive in an environment that actively dissuades constructive criticism – at least in the short term. These systems need to be open to scrutiny, and if journalists continue to lash out at those who disagree with them, we can expect many more Filip Miucins to follow.
Fortunately, the manner in which IGN handled the scandal was absolutely perfect. They correctly recognized him as a liability to the company and fired him immediately. When one considers their spotty track record, this was highly commendable. If nothing else, it does demonstrate to me that, as flawed as the gaming critical circle is, they do realize the importance of retaining an audience to a greater extent than their film-loving counterparts. We can only hope that journalists of any kind learn from these blunders and strive to improve their damaged relationship with readers.
Cuphead, Dead Cells, Dean Takahashi, Entertainment, Filip Miucin, Gaming, IGN, Uncategorized, VentureBeat, Video Games
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30 thoughts on “The Blunders of Filip Miucin and Dean Takahashi: Why Critics Should Be Open to Criticism”
Your comment on how gaming journalists should be good at, well, playing games, that reminds me of the debates that frequently happen when a critic points out the mechanics of a game are too hard to grasp or that the controls do not work either at all or in certain situations. I am always a bit reluctant to believe in comments such as those, because even though I do know that faulty controls and mechanics are a reality, there is always the chance the person in question just did not have the time, patience, or skill to learn the game.
Of course, that only happens when I am reading an article or a comment by someone with whom I am not familiar. When it comes to reviewers or players who I know and trust, I usually lean towards believing them.
That’s precisely why I play through bad games in addition to good ones. If all you’re playing are the quality releases, you’re not going to have much of a tolerance towards the game throwing any kind of challenge at you – you’d assume it’s bad gameplay. If you play through enough actual bad games, however, you can learn the difference firsthand between a real challenge and a fake challenge. I don’t think enough journalists do this, or assume that doing so makes you some non-ironic Angry Video Game Nerd.
Journalism in this medium is much tougher than I think most people give it credit for, which is why I feel the journalists in question need to be open for suggestions for improvement rather than treat the relationship with their fans as a rigid pecking order.
Pete Davison
Online discourse, particularly in gaming, has been a shitshow for nearly ten years now. I really started noticing it around the time Mass Effect 3 released and people were pissed off at the ending; the torrent of “gamers are entitled” articles that began around then was really the beginning of the end for any sort of respectful relationship between gaming enthusiasts and professional games journalists.
Trouble is, a lot of valid criticisms tend to get lost in these bouts of rage, and we never make any progress as a result. This happens from *all* angles. Yes, there’s value to a feminist perspective on games, but not if you’re going to harangue men for enjoying things that have been specifically designed to appeal to them. Yes, there’s value to criticising Sony’s content policies, but not if you’re going to cry “censorship” over every little modification to a game that really doesn’t matter. Yes, there’s value to expressing your dissatisfaction with how a popular series’ latest installment is going to be structured, but not if you’re going to start throwing unfounded rape accusations at a prominent figure behind it. I could go on.
There’s no nuance to discussion these days; everything immediately escalates to confrontation, which is why no-one can take criticism any more: they jump straight to seeing it as an attack, so lash out right back. And things just get worse from there.
That said, I say all this like it’s a general rule; it’s kind of surprising how much it all stops mattering if you close Twitter and just engage with smaller communities rather than shouting into the void. I’ve never had anything but civil discussion here on WordPress, so I know where I’d much rather hang out!
I cannot say I fully agree with that assessment. In fact, I honestly have to say that anyone who thinks gaming journalism is the most flawed hasn’t seen the stupid stuff film journalists pull off on a regular basis. While people still get called out for gatekeeping in the gaming community, film journalists have mainstreamed the practice. If the audience doesn’t treasure their sacred cows, you can expect film critics to write lengthy diatribes as to why audiences are getting dumber and that the end times are nigh. And because the film community is a much looser faction than the gaming community, many of these opinions go unchallenged. So, I wouldn’t say that gaming discourse is worse – it’s just that the respective community is more willing to call critics/journalists out on their nonsense. Although one could argue this makes the gaming critical circle weaker, I honestly have to say that’s for the best because it means game creators can do whatever they want. The indie, auteur filmmakers of today seem to view critics as the true believers and make stuff that blatantly panders to them, often sharing their dim views of the audience (just look at Paul “you audiences are letting us filmmakers down” Schrader).
Furthermore, I think a problem with a lot of discourse these days is that it has the potential to ruin angles in the public eye when bad people become associated with them. What’s often forgotten is that it’s entirely possible for a bad person to latch onto a good cause (and vice versa if said good person isn’t careful). One of the worst effects of that 2014 incident is that it suddenly became uncool to criticize critics and journalists anymore despite many of the same people who believe this being the ones who managed to clamp down on some real scandals. An environment so adamantly opposed to being scrutinized is precisely what causes people like Filip Miucin to thrive. He used the same exact tactic as Dean Takahashi, but overestimated the extent to which the community had his back, so he just looked foolish.
Either way, one needs thick skin to be a critic, and I can tell it’s a trait many of them lack. I think a lot of them signed on assuming that they would be at the top of the pecking order with them as the almighty expert their audiences would gaze upon with awe. This is why when someone challenges that notion, they have no idea what to do. Everyone has a right to their opinions, but opinions can be challenged, and a critic who doesn’t want to be challenged is like a boxer who doesn’t want to get punched in the head.
I myself find WordPress a great community. When I debuted, I thought for sure I was going to get bombarded with nasty comments because I ended up awarding The Last of Us a 3/10. That never happened, and it’s far too late for such a backlash now; in internet terms, waiting five years to mount a counterattack would be like complaining about hair metal in the 2010s.
Oh, I didn’t mean that gaming journalism was necessarily the “worst” at all; it’s just the field in which I have most experience, and the one where this tends to be most frequently highlighted, as you say. I don’t really pay much attention to film these days, so I had no idea it had gotten so bad in film criticism, too. I can well believe it, though, and I’ve seen plenty of people saying similar things about sites like Anime News Network and their ilk, too. Everything sucks, it seems.
I agree that it’s important for critics to be held accountable for the things they say (I’ve made a point of doing it myself a few times, particularly when supposed professionals feel the need to insult fans of games that they clearly haven’t spent any time engaging with) and for creators to be able to make the work they want to make rather than the work they feel will be critical darlings. And in that regard, gaming’s in a pretty good place right now. I could just do without all the constant shouting.
I suppose one could see it that way, but I operate under the belief that the problem is only as bad as one wants to make it. When I realized even back in 2014 just how problematic gaming journalism was becoming, I decided to be the change I wanted to see happen, not caring if I really got noticed or not. I really didn’t like that the Western AAA industry was taking cues from Hollywood with games like The Last of Us (considering modern-day Hollywood can’t do the Hollywood formula justice 90% of the time these days), and their latching onto the walking simulator movement would be like if music critics earnestly once believed hair metal and arena rock were the way of the future back in the 1980s. Even when both problems eventually resolved themselves (not terribly long after I joined, ironically enough), I decided to stick around because I realize it’s important to have somebody around who doesn’t let hype affect judgements.
Either way, yes, critics need to appreciate the responsibility that their job affords them. And I do think that indie game creators now are far less controlled by critics than indie filmmakers are by film critics, which means they can basically do whatever they want – and it’s a much healthier medium as a direct result. When the indies are conservative, that’s when you know you’re dealing with a creatively bankrupt medium.
The idea of “being the change you want to see” is exactly what I do today; I write my site for no-one other than myself, and have attracted people who feel the same way in the process. Because it’s pretty rare you’ll be the only one in the world who feels a particular way about something.
I became disillusioned with the commercial side of things long ago — even while I was part of the mainstream press myself — and decided to do things my own way. A lot of people really appreciated what I did while I was on USgamer — I had a number of people reach out to me privately and thank me for giving games that typically got treated like shit a fair shot.
Unfortunately my boss didn’t see things the same way and laid me off so he could hire two of his more easily controlled cronies. But that led me to develop my own site under my own rules, so I guess ultimately it was a good thing. Just goes to show how resistant things are to “change from within”, though.
meghanplaysgames
Great article! Its an interesting dilemma, of what is more important, journalists’ gaming or writing skills? I guess its not realistic to expect every outlet to have a single person/small group dedicated to certain genres but I’ve always thought that that would be a much better approach when it comes to covering games. If you had ‘experts’ in each genre of gaming, you wouldn’t have to worry about people playing games that they aren’t comfortable with. That way, none of the journalists are forced to play and write about a game that they are terrible at – which no doubt leads to poor content coverage.
As for plagiarizing, I have no respect for Filip Miucin, and he should never work in games journalism ever again. In my own personal experience, having dealt with a girl in high school who plagiarized everything she touched, those people do not change, nor do they tend to recognize that what they are doing is wrong. Anyone who still supports him or watches his content needs a reality check.
Frostilyte
While I like the idea of having experts sometimes having the perspective of someone who isn’t an expert is also valuable.
I am absolutely terrible at fighting games, but I still enjoy playing them. Because of my lack of skill in this genre I don’t find reviews, or impressions from seasoned fighting game veterans very useful. Instead when someone that is equally bumbling plays and enjoys them I have a stronger sense that I too will enjoy the game.
I can see the value in having a group of experts cover a subset of genres. You’ll get more insightful, accurate coverage that way. However, an alternative perspective is sometimes required for a subset of the audience and should be readily available.
From my end I’ve always thought it was most important for individual critics or reviewers to wear their biases on their sleeve. By doing this they can build a relationship with the audience where there is an understanding of what kinds of games the critic/reviewer does and doesn’t respond to. This also allows you as a member of the audience to make your own decision about how much stock you invest in any given review.
And now I’ve entered rambling territory, so I’ll cut myself off there.
Yeah I totally agree with what you’re saying – I guess by “experts” I meant moreso people who feel competent playing the game/genre LOL. Like in the Dean example above, I believe in an article I had read, he said that he is awful at platforming games. So why have him cover one? I believe this instance was an exception; but for another example, I know Sekiro was a controversial one when it dropped – why have journalists who aren’t confident at this type of game play it and try to write about it? They’ll probably be frustrated (especially if they are in a time crunch) and I don’t believe that kind of negativity wouldn’t reflect in their review at all. Obviously you don’t want the same person to be reviewing every game in certain genre (as that would get stale very quickly) but I think having a fall-back kind of group if a particularly challenging game in a certain genre drops would be beneficial.
I definitely believe that journalists covering games that aren’t their typical cup of tea has merits, I just feel like having the expectation that ALL journalists should be good at ALL games is a little ridiculous. I wasn’t intending to exclude a certain person’s perspective, or imply that you have to be well-versed in a genre for your opinion to be more valuable… Just think that sometimes journalists are hung out to dry a bit, having to play/review games that they’re obviously not comfortable or interested in.
Oh I totally got what you were saying, but wanted to provide a devil’s advocate argument haha. An argument can be made either way, and honestly I think have a group of “experts” around for the scenario you described could be incredibly beneficial.
Plus speaking from experience, reviewing a game that didn’t jive with you at all when it had no chance of jiving with you is the worst. Especially when you got a key for the game because you have to review it at that point. 😐
Sorry I just didn’t want to come across as like elitist or anything? I just feel for Dean a little bit – I’m god awful at platformers, and I would 100% be trash at Cuphead so I feel bad that he was forced to play it on stream for the first time, where people were ripping him apart. Because I would have been equally bad, haha.
Yeah, the idea of somebody being good at every single game out there is a tall order. However, as you say, having Mr. Takahashi cover Cuphead when it has been stated he isn’t good at platforming or run-and-gun games is a bit baffling. This would be like forcing somebody who can’t hear to write a piece of music criticism. But that’s why I tend to review a large variety of games – to avoid repeating myself too often.
Yeah, I have to admit I didn’t really grow up with many fighting games either. However, I think a skilled critic can recognize good gameplay when they see it – even if it’s not in a genre they enjoy. Either way, yes, I think the non-expert’s opinions can come in handy as well. There have been a few times in which I went against the critical opinion and saw something fans enjoyed and had a really good time with it.
I do kind of agree in that I wish critics were a little more honest with their personal biases. As it stands, a lot of independent critics try to have their cake and eat it by presenting their biases as 100% objective, incontestable truths. A good piece of criticism should read like a persuasive essay rather than a law book excerpt.
Yeah, being a critic in this field is really tough because it requires the writer in question to exercise two skills at once. It’s why, despite my criticism of Dean Takahashi, I don’t have nearly as much contempt for him as I do, say, Owen Gleiberman (Variety’s chief film critic) – I realize that there is just so much more to consider when parsing a game than when parsing a film. Ultimately, the main problem I had with the video wasn’t that Mr. Takahashi didn’t get good, but rather that his video was terrible and he wasn’t willing to admit it.
Filip Miucin, on the other hand, is worthy of the vitriol thrown his way. I am not going to actively doubt his current apology, but I will say that if he pulls something like this off again, there’s no going back – assuming he gets that opportunity to begin with. I don’t blame you for doubting it though because I myself believe the only reason he apologized was because he well and truly realized he was completely out of options – even doing nothing wasn’t an option for him by that point.
Also, it sounds like that girl was a rather toxic individual.
Yeah, I definitely think it’s more of a challenge than a lot of people might think it is. I do find it very odd when (as you pointed out) critics turn on the audience – who they are writing for presumably? – and imply that they are stupid or wrong for their comments/criticisms. In Dean’s case, I’m sure it was more of a defensive move than anything else, as people were calling into question the legitimacy of his (lengthy!) career. I feel like it would have been far less painful if he had just said “Yeah it’s definitely bad, have a good laugh, turrah.” The fact that they tried to spin it as a ‘joke’ after the fact was a little yikes.
Obviously, as you stated Filip didn’t deserve the death threats etc., but any other consequence of his choices he 100% brought on himself. After his super disingenuous original ‘apology’ and then the months of silence that led up to the second one, it just came across to me as “oh man, really missing that YouTube/writing income! Better go for that last resort and actually own up to my mistakes/apologize!” It just seems desperate, and like he was hoping the heat had died down enough for him to quietly slide back into the scene without facing any more backlash. Would have been a completely different story if he has immediately apologized and admitted that he screwed up. So that’s why I would personally never give him the time of day again, regardless of any behavioral changes he makes.
It was bad because she was so arrogant about it, and constantly making fun of other people for getting lower marks/saying their work was inferior to hers. When my friends and I found out she plagiarized literally everything (from English papers to art projects) we lost our minds.
“That comment section is for validating my opinions and nothing else!” – A typical modern-day critic.
As I said, as bad as it was when Mr. Takahashi pulled off the “you guys are idiots for not agreeing with me” shtick, he has nothing on film critics in that field; they are way more prone to toxic gatekeeping than their gaming counterparts – to the point where parodies invariably resemble straight examples. And you’re right; I think he only retroactively declared it a joke. Alternatively, he always intended for it to be a joke and didn’t make it obvious the first time around.
And I get you, I never heard of Mr. Miucin before the scandal, and I do not intend to begin supporting him now that he has proven to be all kinds of untrustworthy. I just hope for that if only for the sake of his family members, who have been negatively impacted by association, he gets his act together.
Okay, super-toxic individual. Jeez.
Renard Moreau
🙂 I love your trend of thought.
It wouldn’t hurt one bit if journalists were good at games (That would be an asset).
However, in regards to music journalism, being good at games might not be a necessary thing.
Interesting. What, exactly, did you like about my trend of thought?
And I’d expect a journalist to be an expert in their field. That said, I find the most valuable critics are the ones who can indeed transcend mediums because they have a lot more context with which to base their opinions.
🙂 I loved the part about gaming journalist being proficient in the area of gaming (You highlighted the fact, that Mr. Takahashi did a horrible job at it).
And, yes, a journalist should be an expert in the field that they cover.
Actually, I also think it’s best for a critic to be versed in all kinds of media. That vastly increases the amount of context with which they have to write their assessments.
Mr. Wapojif
You might enjoy this from Mark Kermode, the Roger Ebert of England: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuBJIn_xiLw. He’s very opinionated, but is receptive to constructive criticism.
But I do wish GameSpot had thought it through for its 6/10 review for the exceptional DKC: Tropical Freeze. And Slant Magzine…. they operate on a different level. Criticism of any of their contrarian reviews meets with backlash. But it is good fun.
It’s nice to see a film critic who isn’t a total stick-in-the-mud like Owen “ritualized celebrations of our inhumanity” Gleiberman.
As I said, a lot of critics want to have their cake and eat it; they want their readers to accept their opinions without question, so they go off the deep end when they don’t cooperate – it’s a mess.
I don’t know Owen “ritualized celebrations of our inhumanity” Gleiberman, I will look him… it? Up. But yes, I recommend Kermode’s reviews they are very insightful. He’s England’s leading film critic. Follow his channel. NOW!
But excellent piece, I enjoyed it a lot. Cultural criticiism – it needs to be a new uni course in its entirety.
Good luck staying awake! If someone asked me to describe a stereotypical hipster, I would just point them in Owen Gleiberman’s direction.
And thank you. I feel as a critic that being able to take criticism is important. I don’t think I would’ve improved to the extent that I have if I wasn’t regularly interacting with you guys.
I agree that reviewers need to be good at the games they review, or at least decent enough at them to finish them, getting the full experience of the game so they can relate that experience to the reader. Hell, that’s what they’re paid for. Presumably, anyway. I hate the fact that guys like Takahashi can now use the Gamergate movement as a shield against all criticism (which I won’t give any credit to either, insofar as we’re talking about people who mob and threaten other people online and expose their personal info.) And naturally, plagiarism is absolutely wrong.
The gap between professional game criticism today and the audience seems so wide that I don’t really understand how these sites continue to keep any readers, unless it’s through clickbait article titles and hateclicks. Though that gap may still not be as wide as the one between movie critics and that audience.
Yeah, that’s about how I feel about it as well. With my argument, I wanted to demonstrate why, from an objective standpoint the video failed (the reason being that what he made is unwatchable). When people say detractors don’t understand how journalism works, my response is “You realize that’s not a point in your favor, right?” If that’s how gaming journalism works, it’s even worse than we’ve been led to believe. And you’re absolutely right; one of the worst things to result from Gamergate is that now journalists have a shorthand way of brushing off criticism of any kind. It likely never occurred to Mr. Takahashi that an unapologetic liberal who believes in the freedom of the press and vehemently opposed Gamergate would dislike his video and call him out on his nonsense (which is to say, me). Before 2014, they cracked down on legitimately corrupt practices; now, they’re liable to keep them alive. When readers complain, journalists admonish them for being against the press. This is exactly the kind of environment frauds like Filip Miucin thrive in, so if they don’t clean up their act, it’s only a matter of time until the next Filip Miucin appears.
Fortunately, I don’t think it’s all doom and gloom. The very fact that the community doesn’t let journalists get away with this kind of stupidity, to me, indicates they will never be as bad as film critics. Whether they like it or not, their audience will reel them in whenever they try to go off the deep end. I think that’s partially because as much contempt as they have for their audience, they realize that developers will go under without their help. Generally speaking, video game flops are far more damaging to their respective developers than box office bombs are to their studios, and I think journalists realize this as well. The film circle, on the other hand, has a luxury their game-loving counterparts don’t have: A24. By specializing in a large number of low-budget indie films, it’s not a crippling loss if one of their works bombs as long as at least one of their works proves profitable. However, what they produce does resonate with critics almost every time, and without the need to get the audience involved, they are more likely to lash out of them for not understanding A24’s masterpieces. This is why I feel there’s a bigger gap between film critics and filmgoers than with video game critics and gamers.
It’s interesting because before we met, I always wanted video game critics to be like film critics. Now, I absolutely do not want such a reality to come to pass. In fact, recalling what you’ve said in the past, I actually think the medium has benefitted from having a comparatively weak circle. With the rules of what do and don’t work in the medium so ill-defined, it’s a practical free-for-all. It’s not like with contemporary indie films, which are highly risk-adverse in nature. I think gaming critics tried to follow the lead of film critics in the early 2010s when they latched onto the dire walking simulator movement, but it didn’t last, and again, that’s for the better.
I haven’t thought about that difference between film and game studios. It makes sense that the developers and publishers would try to cultivate good relationships with the main game review sites, though they’d better hope that the community keeps some control over those writers – if they don’t, sites like Kotaku, Polygon, RPS, and the rest could completely lose their credibility instead of just mostly losing it. And as a fellow liberal who doesn’t want to see game journalism go completely to shit, I share your frustration. Don’t want to sound too much like a broken record about it, but I really hate that my views on video games supposedly put me in a political camp, and one that I’m not even actually in or anywhere near. I guess I can’t both be a liberal and want my games to be not censored on their way over from Japan, like that makes a damn bit of sense at all.
And oh man those walking simulators. There were a couple that did some interesting things, some kind of meta storytelling stuff like The Beginner’s Guide, but I’m happy that the trend has died out.
Oh sorry, I just realized the way I phrased my last comment was a little unclear. While I definitely agree that developers and publishers are a tad uncomfortably close to mainstream critics, I meant to say that gaming journalists and critics, even if they would never, ever admit it out loud, realize the importance of convincing their audience that they should go out and buy the good games. If a game they like flops, that’s it, the end, so they need the audience to support the developers or else they can’t produce any new content. Film critics, on the other hand, are in a position in which they don’t have a pressing need to convince audiences they actually need to see the films they praise – partially due to A24 and partially due to the fact that a box office bomb isn’t quite as damaging, or at least not when it comes to the films they enjoy these days. As a result, they’re kind of decent at writing about why they personally enjoy a film, but not so much when it comes to why the audience should see it. A good critic needs to do both because when left unchecked, it results in a circle that solely wants their opinions reflected back at them and generally lacks conviction in said opinions because they can’t ever be challenged.
And when it comes to dismissing dissenters by their political views, I think the problem with journalists is that they examine conclusions rather than how their dissenters reached them. Back when Gone Home was released, they couldn’t accept that anyone who disliked it wasn’t anything other than a raging, misogynistic homophobe – it couldn’t possibly be because it’s a pretentious slog that lacks substance. If one were to do that with my reviews of things like First Reformed, Vice, BlacKkKlansman, or Gone Home, it would be easy to come down to the conclusion that I’m a hardcore conservative when that is patently untrue. The premise that maybe I just didn’t think any of those works were particularly good would never cross their minds. It’s not a sign of a healthy medium if creators are essentially forcing critics to give them good reviews lest they be thought of as backwards-looking hicks. I was afraid gaming was heading down that route, but thankfully, they steered clear of that, and it has emerged a medium more mature than films as a result.
All in all, I too am glad the walking simulator movement has run its course because, by its very nature, it was adverse to innovation. A lack of innovation is pretty bad in other mediums, but a lack of innovation in video games is may as well be a lack of breathable air.
I see what you mean. It seems like while game reviewers rely upon these games doing well, movie reviewers don’t as much because of the different natures of these markets.
I’ve heard people now say that “if you don’t like x game, you’re obviously an alt-right/homophobe/transphone/misogynist/fill in the blank”. It’s crazy. Instead of paying attention to the context of someone’s opinion, they see that conclusion of “I didn’t like it” and fill in the blanks with whatever makes them happy. This kind of behavior makes more sense to me when it’s the creator of a game getting defensive about bad reviews, but it’s still intellectually dishonest, and no one with half a brain is fooled by it.
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Tag Archives: lifting automatic stay
How Homeowners Can Effectively Use Automatic Stay Provisions of the Bankruptcy Code
Posted by BNG in Bankruptcy, Case Laws, Case Study, Foreclosure Crisis, Foreclosure Defense, Judicial States, Non-Judicial States, Pro Se Litigation, Your Legal Rights
automatic stay, bankruptcy code, chapter 11 bankruptcy, chapter 13 bankruptcy, chapter 7 bankruptcy, foreclosure defense, lifting automatic stay, pro per, pro se, Pro se legal representation in the United States, wrongful foreclosure
I. Introduction.
A. Scope.
1. Section 362(a) of the Bankruptcy Code (the “Code”) contains a broad
statutory stay of litigation and lien enforcement, effective automatically on the commencement of a bankruptcy case. 11 U.S.C. § 362(a) (“. . . a petition [commencing a case] . . . operates as a stay, applicable to all entities . . .”.).
2. Purpose – Time to Reorganize. This automatic stay gives a trustee or
chapter 11 debtor-in-possession1 a breathing spell from creditors by stopping all collection efforts, harassment, and all foreclosure actions, allowing a debtor to attempt a reorganization plan. See, e.g., In re Siciliano, 13 F.3d 748, 750 (3d Cir. 1994) (“[t]he purpose of the automatic stay provision is to afford the debtor a ‘breathing spell’ by halting the collection process. It enables the debtor to attempt a repayment or reorganization plan with an aim toward satisfying existing debt.”);
Maritime Electric Co., Inc. v. United Jersey Bank, 959 F.2d 1194, 1204 (3d Cir. 1991) (“automatic stay allows debtor breathing spell from creditors and stops collection efforts”); In re Peregrine Systems, Inc., 314 B.R. 31, 44 (Bankr. D. Del. 2004) aff’d in part, rev’d in part on other grounds, 2005 WL 2401955 (D. Del. Sept. 29, 2005) (automatic stay is a “fundamental protection provided to a debtor for the purpose of stopping all creditor collection efforts and harassment of the debtor and to provide … a fresh start.”); Shaw v. Ehrlich, 294 B.R. 260, 267 (W.D. Va. 2003), aff’d, 99 Fed. Appx. 466 (4th Cir. 2004) (“stay protects debtors, as well as creditors, by providing debtors a breathing spell from collection efforts”).
3. Policy Rationale – Debtor Asset Protection. Behind the stay is a clear
policy rationale: “to grant complete, immediate, albeit temporary relief to the debtor from creditors, and also to prevent dissipation of the debtor’s assets before orderly distribution to creditors can be effected.” S.E.C. v. Brennan, 230 F.3d 65, 70 (2d Cir. 2000) (quoting Penn Terra Ltd. v. Department of Envtl. Resources, 733 F.2d 267, 271 (3d Cir. 1984)). See also Reliant Energy Services, Inc. v. Enron Canada Corp., 349 F.3d 816, 825 (5th Cir. 2003) (“purposes of the bankruptcy stay under 11 U.S.C. § 362 ‘are to protect the debtor’s assets, provide temporary relief from creditors, and further equity of distribution among the creditors by forestalling a race to the courthouse.'”) (quoting GATX Aircraft Corp. v. M/V Courtney Leigh, 768 F.2d 711, 716 (5th Cir. 1985)); Mann v. Chase Manhattan Mortgage Corp., 316 F.3d 1, 3 (1st Cir. 2003) (“automatic stay provision is designed to forfend against the disorderly, piecemeal dismemberment of the debtor’s estate outside the bankruptcy proceedings”).
1 Code § 1107(a) gives a chapter 11 debtor-in-possession the “rights,” “duties” and “powers” of a trustee.
See NLRB v. Bildisco & Bildisco, 465 U.S. 513, 517 n. 2 (1984). See also Fed. R. Bankr. P. 9001(10) (“‘Trustee’ includes a debtor in possession in a Chapter 11 case.”).
4. Procedural Safeguards for Secured Creditors. The Code still imposes
procedural safeguards for the benefit of the secured creditor (e.g., “adequate protection” against erosion of collateral value; time limits on stay modification requests; limits on counterclaims against secured lender seeking stay modification). As shown below, it attempts to reconcile the rights of the secured creditor with the needs of the debtor and its unsecured creditors. See United Savings Assn. of Texas v. Timbers of Inwood Forest Associates, Ltd. (In re Timbers of Inwood Forest Associates, Ltd.), 484 U.S. 365, 376 (1988) (“ . . . lack of any realistic prospect of effective reorganization will require” modification of stay of lien enforcement”).
II. The Automatic Stay.
A. When Effective.
1. The stay is automatic upon filing of the petition commencing a case under Code chapters 7 (liquidation), 9 (municipal debt adjustment), 11 (reorganization),13 (individual debt adjustment), or chapter 15 (cross-border cases) with respect to foreign main proceedings. See e.g. Eskanos & Adler, P.C. v. Leetien, 309 F.3d 1210, 1214 (9th Cir. 2002) (“the automatic stay requires an immediate freeze of the status quo by precluding and nullifying post-petition actions”); Rexnord Holdings, Inc. v. Bidermann, 21 F.3d 522, 527 (2d Cir. 1994) (“[a]utomatic stay is effective immediately upon filing of bankruptcy petition”) (citing Shimer v. Fugazy (In re Fugazy Express, Inc., 982 F.2d 769, 776 (2d Cir. 1992));
2. The stay acts as a specific and definite court order to restrain creditors
from continuing the judicial process or collection efforts against debtor. See e.g. In re San Angelo Pro Hockey Club, Inc., 292 B.R. 118 (Bankr. N.D. Tex. 2003) (automatic stay is self-executing injunction, constituting an order issuing from bankruptcy court); In re Bottone, 226 B.R. 290, 297 (Bankr. D. Mass. 1998) (“as long as the Chapter 13 case is pending . . . the automatic stay … restrains postpetition creditors from taking action against property of the estate”) (quoting In re Woodall, 81 B.R. 17, 18 (Bankr. E.D. Ark. 1987)).
3. Unless modified by the court, the stay is effective for the duration of a
bankruptcy case, and generally cannot be waived by the debtor. Maritime Elec. Co., Inc. v. United Jersey Bank, 959 F.2d 1194 (3d Cir. 1991) (held, because automatic stay serves interests of both debtors and creditors, it may not be waived and its scope may not be limited by debtor); In re Atrium High Point Ltd. Partnership, 189 B.R. 599 (Bankr. M.D.N.C. 1995) (before enforcing a debtor’s prepetition waiver of automatic stay bankruptcy court must look at circumstancesunder which prepetition waiver arose); but see In re Excelsior Henderson Motorcycle Mfg. Co., Inc., 273 B.R. 920 (Bankr. S.D. Fla. 2002) (court enforced prepetition agreement under which chapter 11 debtor waived automatic stay).
B. Jurisdictional Basis of Injunctive Power.
1. The district court has “exclusive jurisdiction of all of the property,
wherever located, of the debtor as of the commencement of [the] case.” 28 U.S.C. § 1334(d). A bankruptcy court is a “unit of the district court.” 28 U.S.C. § 151. Section 362 implements this jurisdiction and is supplemented by § 105(a), which authorizes a court to “issue any order, process, or judgment that is necessary or appropriate to carry out the provisions of the Code.
2. The broad jurisdictional base of Section 362 confirms the court’s inherent power to protect property within its jurisdiction and to prevent any divestiture of that jurisdiction. Isaacs v. Hobbs Tie & Timber Co., 51 S. Ct. 270, 282 (1931) (held, jurisdiction of bankruptcy court respecting property of debtor’s estate having attached, actions brought in other courts could not affect it). See In re Mohawk Greenfield Motel Corp., 239 B.R. 15 (Bankr. D. Mass. 1999) (“the automatic stay protects the bankruptcy court’s exclusive jurisdiction over the debtor and its property”) (citing In re Soares, 107 F.3d 969, 975 (1st Cir. Mass. 1997)).
3. Section 362(a) stays, among other things:
a. a secured creditor from collecting accounts receivable of debtor.
Matter of Pernie Bailey Drilling Co., Inc., 993 F.2d 67 (5th Cir. 1993)
(account receivables were property of the estate; court must lift stay for
creditors to gain access to receivables);
b. a creditor’s dissolution of a debtor corporation. 11 U.S.C.
§ 362(a)(3); Hillis Motors, Inc. v. Hawaii Automobile Dealers’ Assoc.,
997 F.2d 581 (9th Cir. 1993) (held, dissolution proceeding constituted
exercise of control over debtor’s property);
c. foreclosure proceedings in other courts instituted against debtor’s
property prior to commencement of bankruptcy case. 11 U.S.C.
§ 362(a)(1); see In re Vierkant, 240 B.R. 317, 322 (B.A.P. 8th Cir. 1999)
(citing Kalb v. Feuerstein, 308 U.S. 433 (1940); In re Soares, 107 F.3d
969 (1st Cir. 1997)) (post-petition state court default order signed by judge
two weeks after bankruptcy filing violated automatic stay);
d. a landlord’s proceeding to recover possession of leased premises.
11 U.S.C. § 363(a)(5); 48th St. Steakhouse, Inc. v. Rockefeller Group, Inc.
(In re 48th St. Steakhouse, Inc.), 835 F.2d 427 (2d Cir. 1987) (serving
notice of termination on assignee of restaurant lease rather than on debtor, which still had interest in the property, violated automatic stay); and
e. an IRS sale of property seized prior to commencement of case.
11 U.S.C. § 362(a)(8); United States v. Whiting Pools, Inc., 462 U.S. 198
(1983) (IRS may also be compelled to turn over levied property under
Code § 542).
f. arbitration proceedings that not only concern claims asserted
against the debtor, but also concern the debtor’s claims against a third
party. ACandS, Inc. v. Travelers Casualty and Surety Co., 425 F.3d 252
(3d Cir. 2006), cert. denied, 126 S. Ct. 2291 (2006). (although arbitration
was commenced by debtor, continuation of arbitration proceedings
violated automatic stay because, unlike trial, it is impossible in arbitration
to definitely classify arguments presented (i.e., claims and counterclaims);
arbitration award, which effectively terminated debtor’s insurance
coverage, is invalid because it diminishes estate property); In re Edwin
Epstein Jr. Operating Co., Inc., 314 B.R. 591 (Bankr. S.D. Tex. 2004)
(held, automatic stay applied, not only to prevent non-debtor party to
arbitration proceedings from asserting claims against debtor for tortious
interference and slander of title, but also to prevent arbitrators from
hearing debtor’s claims to replace this non-debtor party as operator of oil
and gas wells based on debtor’s asserted ownership interests therein).
III. Scope and Duration of Stay.
A. Scope of Section 362.
1. Property of Estate. The bankruptcy court’s injunctive power is ordinarily
limited to protecting property belonging to a debtor. Property of the estate is defined in Code § 541(a)(1) (“. . . all legal or equitable interests of the debtor in property as of the commencement of the case.”). See In re Lankford, 305 B.R. 297, 301 (Bankr. N.D. Iowa 2004) (“All recognizable interests of the debtors or the estate are afforded the protection of § 362(a)…This includes a mere possessory interest in real property without any accompanying legal interest.”). See also In re Moffett, 356 F.3d 518 (4th Cir. 2004) (held, chapter 13 debtor’s statutory right of redemption was sufficient interest in automobile that was repossessed prepetition to be included in estate property). But see In re Jasper, 325 B.R. 50, 55 (Bankr. D. Me. 2005) (credit union’s policy of revoking membership benefits of members who caused credit union a loss does not violate automatic stay); In re Santangelo, 325 B.R. 874 (Bankr. M.D. Fla. March 22, 2005) (district court did not violate automatic stay by approving class action
settlement for claims against mortgage lender; rather, court gave prospective class members, including debtor choice of remaining class members or opting out of class); In re Medex Regional Laboratories, LLC, 314 B.R. 716 (Bankr. E.D. Tenn. 2004) (proceeds of debtor’s directors’ and officers’ liability insurance policies were not property of estate and were not protected by automatic stay, even though policies also provided coverage to debtor for indemnification claims, because the debtor had not provided any indemnification to non-debtor insiders and such indemnification claims were merely hypothetical). Compare In re Arter &
Hadden, L.L.P., 335 B.R. 666 (Bankr. N.D. Ohio 2005) (proceeds of debtor’s
directors’ and officers’ liability insurance policies are property of estate because policies also provided coverage to debtor and there was no reason why direct suit against debtor is either practically or procedurally untenable).
a. Property Outside the Scope. The stay is not applicable to actions
against property that is neither the debtor’s nor the estate’s. Rodger v.
County of Munroe (In re Rodgers), 333 F.3d 64 (2d Cir. 2003) (debtor’s
mere possession of title to real property is not sufficient to find property to
be property of estate or to bar delivery of deed to purchaser by operation
of stay); Chugach Timber Corp. v. Northern Stevedoring & Handling
Corp. (In re Chugach Forest Prods., Inc.), 23 F.3d 241 (9th Cir. 1994)
(court refused to extend stay to boat that was not property of debtor’s
estate but on which assets of debtor had been transferred) (11 U.S.C.
§ 541(b)); In re Howell, 311 B.R. 173, 179 (Bankr. D. N.J. 2004)
(automatic stay does not preclude estranged spouse from seeking equitable distribution of non-estate property such as exempt property, postpetition earnings, property excluded from the estate, property abandoned by the trustee or debtor surplus); NLRB v. McDermott, 300 B.R. 40 (D. Col. 2003) (automatic stay did not protect property of debtor’s wife’s). Examples of property outside the stay’s scope are:
(i) Foreclosure. If a lender completes foreclosure before the bankruptcy filing, neither the debtor nor the estate has any interest in the property and the automatic stay does not apply. In re Theoclis, 213 B.R. 880 (Bankr. D. Mass. 1997) (held, foreclosure sale had terminated debtor’s interest in property.); In re Williams, 247 B.R. 449 (Bankr. E.D. Tenn. 2000) (when foreclosure sale of debtor’s residence became final prior to commencement of chapter 13 case, residence did not become property of estate and was not protected by automatic stay);
(ii) Abandonment. Abandonment terminates the stay as to abandoned property. In re Holly’s, Inc., 140 B.R. 643 (Bankr. W.D. Mich. 1992) (once abandonment of debtor’s property is effectuated, or foreclosure of real and personal property is completed, taxing entity is entitled to enforce its
statutory in rem rights against property.). But see In re Thompson-Mendez, 321 B.R. 814, 819 (Bankr. D. Md. 2005) (trustee’s deemed rejection of debtor’s residential lease by failure to timely assume it did constitute
abandonment such that lease was no longer protected by automatic stay).
2. Entities Affected by the Stay. Section 362(a) applies “to all entities,”
including any “person, estate, trust, governmental unit.” 11 U.S.C. § 101(15). This broad definition of “entity” eliminates the need to define who is a “creditor,” “secured creditor” or other person affected by the stay.
B. Duration of the Stay. Unless the court orders otherwise (i.e., unless creditor gets automatic stay modified), the stay “continues until such property is no longer property of the estate.” 11 U.S.C. § 362(c)(1). The stay of all other acts continues until case is closed or dismissed, or, if debtor is an individual, until debtor is granted or denied a discharge. 11 U.S.C. §§ 362(c)(2)(A), (B) and (C). See also In re Allen, 300 F.3d 1055, 1059 (9th Cir. 2002) (automatic stay “prohibits action against the bankruptcy estate only until the bankruptcy court confirms a plan reorganizing the debtor’s property”); Middle Tennessee News Co., Inc. v. Charnel of Cincinnati, Inc., 250 F.3d 1077 (7th Cir. 2001) (automatic stay remains in effect until bankruptcy court disposes of case or grants relief from stay); In re Spirtos, 221 F.3d 1079, 1081 (9th Cir. 2000) (“So long as there are assets in the estate, then, the stay remains in effect”); Eastern Refractories Co. Inc. v. Forty Eight Insulations Inc., 157 F.3d 169 (2d Cir. 1998) (order “terminating” automatic stay operates from date of order’s entry); Lomagno v. Salomon Brothers Realty Corp., 320 B.R. 473, 481 (B.A.P. 1st Cir. 2005), aff’d, 429 F.3d 16 (1st Cir. 2005) (automatic stay not retroactively imposed when dismissal order set aside on due process grounds); In re Peregrine Systems, Inc., 314 B.R. 31, 44 (Bankr. D. Del. 2004), aff’d in part, rev’d in part on other grounds, 2005 WL 2401955 (D. Del. Sept. 29, 2005) (automatic stay “continues until the bankruptcy case is closed, dismissed, or discharge is granted or denied, or until the bankruptcy court grants some relief from the stay.”) (citing Maritime Elec. Co., Inc. v. United Jersey Bank, 959 F.3d 1194, 1206 (3d Cir. 1991)); U.S. v. White, 466 F.3d 1241 (11th Cir. 2006) (debtor discharged and automatic stay terminates on date of confirmation of debtor’s reorganization plan even when plan contains a later effective date). If a case is filed by or against a debtor who is an individual and a case of the debtor was pending within the preceding one year period but was dismissed, the automatic stay “with respect to any action taken with respect to a debt or property securing such debt or with respect to any lease shall terminate with respect to the debtor on the 30th day after the filing of the later case.” 11 U.S.C. § 362(c)(3)(A). See Jumpp v. Chase Home Finance, LLC (In re Jumpp), 356 B.R. 789 (B.A.P. 1st Cir. 2006) (interpreting § 362(c)(3)(A) automatic stay terminates only in regard to debtor; stay continues, though, in regard to property of estate).
As of October 17, 2005, automatic stay terminates 60 days after a request for relief from stay unless final decision on request is rendered by court within the 60-day period or period is extended by agreement or by court for specific period of time found necessary for good cause.2
2 The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 was enacted on April 20, 2005, and many of its provisions became effective on October 17, 2005.
IV. Acts Stayed. Section 362(a) is broad in scope, but specifically lists eight categories that are subject to its injunctive power.
1. “Commencement or continuation . . . of a judicial, administrative, or other proceeding against the debtor . . . to recover on a prepetition claim against a debtor.”3 Code § 362(a)(l) (emphasis added):
a. Appeals: stay covers all proceedings originally brought against the
debtor, regardless of whether the debtor is appellant or appellee.4 Halmar
Robicon Group, Inc. v. Toshiba Int’l Corp., 127 Fed. Appx. 501, 503 (Fed.
Cir. 2005) (automatic stay only operates as against actions in which debtor
is in defensive posture); Nielson v. Price, 17 F.3d 1276, 1277 (10th Cir.
1994) (“[t]he 362(a)(1) stay applies to actions that are ‘against the debtor’
at their inception, regardless of the subsequent appellate posture of the
case”); Ellis v. Consolidated Diesel Elec. Corp., 894 F.2d 371, 373 (10th
Cir. 1990) (operation of stay should not depend upon whether district
court finds for or against the debtor). But see In re Mid-City Parking,
Inc., 322 B.R. 798 (Bankr. N.D. Ill. 2005) (debtor may unilaterally waive
protections of automatic stay by pursuing appeal without first obtaining
bankruptcy court order lifting stay; debtor could not be held liable for
damages to creditor-appellee arising from debtor’s alleged “willful stay
violation).
b. Administrative proceedings: See In re Krystal Cadillac Oldsmobile
GMC Truck, Inc., 142 F.3d 631 (3d Cir. 1998) (postpetition
determinations by Pennsylvania’s Board of Vehicle Manufacturers,
Dealers and Salespersons, ordering termination of franchise agreement
violated automatic stay); In re Best Payphones, Inc., 279 B.R. 92 (Bankr.
S.D.N.Y. 2002) (administrative law judge’s post-petition decision in
proceeding commenced pre-petition ‘but concluded after debtor’s chapter
11 filing’ was void and without effect because it violated automatic stay).
But see Board of Governors of Federal Reserve System v. MCorp
Financial, Inc., 502 U.S. 32 (1991) (Section 362(a) does not apply to
ongoing, nonfinal administrative/regulatory proceedings, and action of
Board of Governors was excepted from the stay under Section 362(b)(4)
of the Code (the “governmental unit” exception)).
c. Partnerships. Actions against partners and their property are not
protected in first instance by the filing of a partnership petition. Bankers
Trust (Delaware) v. 236 Beltway Inv., 865 F. Supp. 1186 (E.D. Va. 1994)
(automatic stay does not protect partnership debtor’s individual general
partners); O’Neill v. Boden-Wert Real Estate USA Funds I, Ltd., 599
So.2d 1045 (Fla. App. 2d Dist. 1992) (held, automatic stay did not stop action against general partner in partnership debtor or against general
partner’s general partner).
3 “‘[C]laim against the debtor’ includes claim against property of the debtor.” 11 U.S.C. § 102(2).
4 Actions against non-debtors and against co-defendants are not stayed. See sub-section (e) infra.
d. Shareholders of corporate debtor. Bankruptcy court has no jurisdiction
over stock of corporate debtor that belongs to third party shareholders.
See e.g. In re Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc., 209 B.R. 832, 838 (D.
Del. 1997) (“automatic stay provisions of the Bankruptcy Code are not
implicated by the exercise of shareholders’ corporate governance rights.”).
e. Actions against surety, co-debtor, or guarantor are not stayed.5 See
e.g. Reliant Energy Services, Inc. v. Enron Canada Corp., 349 F.3d 816,
825 (5th Cir. 2003) (“[by its terms the automatic stay applies only to the
debtor, not to co-debtors under Chapter 7 or Chapter 11”); In re Third
Eighty-Ninth Associates, 138 B.R. 144 (S.D.N.Y. 1992) (suit against
guarantors of chapter 11 debtor was not a “back-door” attempt to acquire
assets of debtor); In re Rohnert Park Auto Parts, Inc., 113 B.R. 610
(B.A.P. 9th Cir. 1991) (automatic stay does not prevent creditors from
suing co-debtors).
f. Actions are not stayed against non-debtor co-defendants.6 See e.g.
Queenie, Ltd. v. Nygard Intl., 321 F.3d 282, 287 (2d Cir. 2003) (debtor’s
filing of bankruptcy petition stayed his appeal and that of his wholly owned corporation7, but not that of co-defendants); 555 M Mfg., Inc. v.
Calvin Klein, Inc., 13 F. Supp. 2d 719 (N.D. Ill. 1998) (automatic stay
protection not available to debtor’s solvent co-defendant in breach of
contract case). But see Woodell v. Ormet Primary Aluminum Corp., 808
N.E.2d 402, 407 (Ohio Ct. App. 2004) (automatic stay applies to claims
against debtor’s employee co-defendants only to the extent that the causes of action against them arise from their status as employees of the debtor).
5 In limited circumstances, courts have asserted their equitable powers under 11 U.S.C. § 105(a) to enjoin the continuation of litigation against non-debtors when the debtor’s trustee demonstrates that continuation of litigation against non-debtors imminently and irreparably threatens the debtor’s reorganization prospects. E.g. In re United Health Care Org., 210 B.R. 228, 233 (S.D.N.Y. 1997) (staying action against non-debtor principals and officers of debtor when enforcement of judgment imminently and irreparably threatened non-debtors’ ability to fund debtor’s plan); North Star Contracting Corp. v. McSpeedon (In re North Star Contracting Corp.), 125 B.R. 368, 370-71 (S.D.N.Y.1991) (staying action against non-debtor president of debtor when, among other things, continuation of action would distract vital non-debtor and there was no distinct cause of action against him, but merely an action commenced solely to circumvent the stay).
6 Courts may stay actions against a non-debtor third-party defendant under “unusual circumstances” when “there is such identity between the debtor and third-party defendant that the debtor may be said to be the real party defendant and that a judgment against the third-party defendant will in effect be a judgment … against the debtor.” A.H. Robins Co. v. Piccinin, 788 F.2d 994, 999 (4th Cir. 1986). See also In re Nat’l Century Fin. Enter., 423 F.3d 567 (6th Cir. 2005) (commencement of civil action to recover accounts receivable held in collection account in debtor’s name violated automatic stay even though debtor was not named as defendant because action sought to recover estate property); Global Industrial Technologies, Inc. v. Ace Prop. & Cas. Ins. Co. (In re Global Industrial
Technologies), 303 B.R. 753 (W.D. Pa. 2004), vacated in part, modified in part on other grounds, 2004 WL 555418 (Bankr. W.D.Pa. Mar. 19, 2004) (held, state court action brought by insurers for declaratory judgment regarding non-debtor’s rights in insurance policies it shared with debtor violated automatic stay even though debtor was not named as defendant in state court action because outcome of state action could affect debtor’s rights in shared insurance); Teachers Ins. & Annuity Assoc. of America v. Butler, 803 F.2d 61, 65 (2d Cir. 1986) (referred to A.H. Robins decision as case with “unusual circumstances”). Compare In re Transervice Logistics, Inc., 304 B.R. 805 (Bankr. S.D. Ohio 2004) (declining to extend automatic stay to non-debtor co-defendants because, unlike situation
in A.H. Robins, defendant-debtor only faced one suit, not thousands, and thus would not be barraged by discovery and litigation).
g. Proceedings or claims arising post-petition are not subject to automatic
stay, although successful plaintiff must obtain relief from stay if it seeks to enforce judgment against estate.8 Bellini Imports, Ltd. v. Mason & Dixon Lines, Inc., 944 F.2d 199 (4th Cir. 1991) (automatic stay did not bar
institution of action arising out of alleged postpetition breach of contract);
Erickson v. Polk, 921 F.2d 200 (8th Cir. 1990) (lessor of farmland did not
violate automatic stay when it retook possession of property following
postpetition expiration of lease); In re Dominguez, 312 B.R. 499 (Bankr.
S.D.N.Y. 2004) (prepetition lapse of debtor-taxpayer’s redemption period
may constitute “cause” for lifting stay to allow tax authority to exercise its
rights in debtor’s real property; it did not relieve taxing authority’s
obligation to move first for modification of stay).
h. Automatic stay does not apply to post-petition defensive actions in a
prepetition lawsuit brought by a debtor. Stanwyck v. Beilinson, 104 Fed.
Appx. 616 (9th Cir. 2004).
2. Enforcement of prepetition judgment against debtor or its property (11
U.S.C. § 362(a)(2)). See generally Delpit v. Commissioner, 18 F.3d 768 (9th Cir. 1994) (held, appeal to enforce pre-petition judgment was subject to the automatic stay).
3. “[A]ny act” to obtain possession of debtor’s property, or to exercise
control over such property. 11 U.S.C. § 362(a)(3).
7 The court ignored its own precedent in coming to this bizarre result, but justified it by reasoning that adjudication of a claim against the wholly-owned corporation would have an “immediate adverse economic impact” on the debtor. But see Feldman v. Trustees of Beck Ind., Inc. (In re Beck Ind., Inc.), 725 F.2d 880 (2d Cir. 1973) (court cannot enjoin suit against solvent independent subsidiary of debtor merely because stock is held by debtor in reorganization); In re Unishops, Inc., 374 F.Supp. 424 (S.D.N.Y. 1974) (bankruptcy court lacks jurisdiction to grant
a stay of court proceedings against subsidiaries).
8 Judiciary Code, 28 U.S.C. § 959(a), provides relief to holders of postpetition claims against a debtor from having to obtain leave from bankruptcy court to pursue claims arising from “acts or transactions in carrying on business connected with [estate] property.” 28 U.S.C. § 959. Section 959’s exception to the automatic stay is limited to postpetition claims arising from operation of the debtor’s business, and does not include acts associated with liquidation or administration of the bankruptcy estate. See In re Crown Vantage, Inc., 421 F.3d 963, 971-72 (9th Cir. 2005) (postpetition claim against trustee arising from liquidation of estate not subject to § 959 because not related to business operation); Carter v. Rogers, 220 F.3d 1249, 1254 (11th Cir. 2000); In re DeLorean Motor Co., 991 F.2d 1236 (6th Cir. 1993) (malicious prosecution claims against trustee arising from avoidance actions are not based on acts arising from business operation and thus not subject to § 959).
a. A credit union that accepts and retains postpetition deductions from
chapter 13 debtor’s salary violates automatic stay. See, e.g., Town of
Hempstead Employees Federal Credit Union v. Wicks, 215 B.R. 316
(E.D.N.Y. 1997) (credit union’s four-month-long administrative hold on
chapter 13 debtors’ savings accounts violated automatic stay).
b. Letters of Credit. See, e.g., In re Kmart Corp., 297 B.R. 525 (N.D. Ill.
2003) (letters of credit are not property of debtor’s estate subject to
automatic stay; beneficiary not prevented from drawing on letter of credit
when account party is in bankruptcy); In re A.J. Lane & Co., Inc., 115
B.R. 738 (Bankr. D. Mass. 1990) (held, payment by third party on letter of
credit not stayed because it did not involve a transfer of debtor’s assets).
c. Creditors’ actions against debtor to obtain property fraudulently
transferred by debtor prior to bankruptcy are barred by the automatic stay.
See, e.g. Constitution Bank v. Tubbs, 68 F.3d 685 (3d Cir. 1995) (bank’s
action against guarantors for fraudulent conduct triggered automatic stay
when each guarantor filed a bankruptcy petition during fraud action).
d. Mortgagees’ postpetition foreclosure against real property subject to
deed naming debtor’s spouse a sole owner violated automatic stay because, although debtor only had arguable interest in the property, the
determination should be made by bankruptcy court before mortgagees
foreclosed. In re Chesnut, 422 F.3d 298 (5th Cir. 2005).
e. Debtor’s Tax Benefits. Circuits apparently are split regarding whether
a debtor’s tax benefits (e.g., net operating losses) are property of the estate, thus subject to the automatic stay. See In re UAL Corp., 412 F.3d 775
(7th Cir. 2005) (finding bankruptcy court’s injunction restricting trading in
debtor’s securities to protect tax benefits to be “problematic on the merits,” and questioning court’s reliance on Bankruptcy Code §§ 105(a) and 362 as basis for trading procedures order). Compare In Prudential Lines, Inc., 928 F.2d 565 (2d Cir. 1991) (finding debtor’s tax benefits to be estate property, and that automatic stay thus enjoined debtor’s parent from taking worthless stock deduction on parent’s tax return).
4. Any act to create, perfect, or enforce any lien against debtor’s property
(but not the perfection of mechanic’s lien9 — §§ 362(b)(3) and 546(b) — or when perfection occurs within the 10-day period after the time of effective transfer of the property, under §§ 362(b)(3), and 547(e)(2)(A)). 11 U.S.C. § 362(a)(4). See In re Fuller, 134 B.R. 945 (B.A.P. 9th Cir. 1992) (held, automatic stay prevents creation or perfection of lien, even by operation of law).
9 The mechanic’s lienor will ordinarily be able to perfect its lien after bankruptcy for work performed prior to bankruptcy. See generally, In re Yobe Electric, Inc., 728 F.2d 207, 208 (3d Cir. 1984) (per curiam) (service of notice of intent to file mechanic’s lien did not violate stay since under state statute “perfection of mechanic’s lien ‘relates back’ to the installation of the first material”); In re Lionel Corp., 29 F.3d 88 (2d Cir. 1994) (held, no automatic stay violation resulted from mechanics’ lienors’ post-petition serving notice of lien upon lessors and
chapter 11 debtor lessee, when New York law permitted perfection of filed mechanics’ lien after another entity had acquired rights to the property).
a. Sections 362(b)(3) and 546(b)(1)(A), read together, set the
boundaries of this exception.
(i) Section 362(b)(3) subjects a creditor’s right to “perfect, or
to maintain or continue the perfection of, an interest in property” to
Section 546(b) of Code. 11 U.S.C. §362(b)(3).
(ii) In turn, Section 546(b) limits the trustee’s powers to avoid statutory liens by providing that they “are subject to any generally applicable law that permits perfection of an interest in property to be effective against an entity that acquires rights in such property before the date of perfection.” 11 U.S.C. §546(b)(1)(A) (emphasis added); see, e.g., In re AR Accessories Group, Inc., 345 F.3d 454, 458 (7th Cir. 2003) (held, priming statute need not contain language expressly providing for retroactive perfection in order to trigger exception provided in 11 U.S.C. §546(b)(1)(A)); In re
Hayden, 308 B.R. 428 (B.A.P. 9th Cir. 2004) (held, towing operator did not violate automatic stay in refusing to surrender possession of debtor’s vehicle, which was towed prepetition, unless debtor first paid towing charges because towing operator was merely acting to maintain or continue possession of its lien, not to enforce it).
5. Any act to create, perfect, or enforce a lien against debtor’s property for
prepetition claims. 11 U.S.C. § 362(a)(5). See, e.g., In re Birney, 200 F.3d 225
227 (4th Cir. 1999) (Section 362(a)(5) prohibits “any act to create, perfect, or enforce against property of the debtor any lien to the extent that such lien secures a claim that arose before the commencement of the case under this title”).
6. “Any act to collect, assess, or recover a prepetition claim against the
debtor.” 11 U.S.C. § 362(a)(6). Pertuso v. Ford Motor Credit Co., 233 F.3d 417,
423 (6th Cir. 2000) (a course of conduct violates § 362(a)(6) if it “(1) could
reasonably be expected to have a significant impact on the debtor’s determination as to whether to repay, and (2) is contrary to what a reasonable person would consider to be fair under the circumstances”) (quoting In re Briggs, 143 B.R. 438 453 (Bankr. E.D. Mich. 1992)); see also In re Diamond, 346 F.3d 224, 227-28 (1st Cir. 2003) (settlement negotiations challenging Chapter 7 debtor’s discharge do not violate the automatic stay per se, but creditor’s threat to seek revocation of debtor’s real estate license during negotiations was coercive, thus dismissal of debtor’s complaint proper); In re Optel, Inc., 60 Fed.Appx. 390 (3d Cir. March 25,
2003) (sale agreement between creditor and debtor provided that debtor either pay $6 million lump sum payment or, if creditor requested, $10 million over time; held, automatic stay prohibited creditor from requesting the $10 million deferred payment, therefore creditor was only entitled to distribution on $6 million claim); In re Jamo, 283 F.3d 392, 399 (1st Cir. 2002) (“a creditor may engage in post petition negotiations pertaining to a bankruptcy-related reaffirmation agreement so long as the creditor does not engage in coercive or harassing tactics”).
7. Setoffs of any prepetition debt owing to the debtor. 11 U.S.C. § 362(a)(7).
See Newbery Corp. v. Fireman’s Fund Ins. Co., 95 F.3d 1392 (9th Cir. 1996)
(right of setoff is subject to automatic stay provisions of chapter 11); Citizens Bank of Maryland v. Strumpf, 516 U.S. 16 (1995) (temporary administrative freeze by bank not a stay violation or setoff; intent to settle accounts permanently is required for setoff within meaning of automatic stay provisions). Compare Jimenez v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., 335 B.R. 450 (Bankr. D. N.M. Dec. 21, 2005) (temporary administrative freeze by bank, without right of setoff, violated automatic stay); In re Calvin, 329 B.R. 589 (Bankr. S.D. Tex. 2005) (bank’s administrative freeze of debtor’s account violated automatic stay when bank was not creditor of debtor and thus had no right of setoff); In re Cullen, 329 BR. 52 (Bankr. N.D. Iowa 2005) (bank’s administrative freeze of account jointly held by debtor and debtor’s father violated automatic stay because freeze was intended to continue indefinitely until bankruptcy case was closed; bank did not have valid
right of setoff because funds in account were property of debtor’s father and mutuality requirement for setoff thus was lacking).
a. N.B.: The automatic stay, however, does not prevent a creditor
from exercising its right of recoupment.10 See, e.g., In re Slater Health
Center, Inc., 398 F.3d 98 (1st Cir. 2005) (right of recoupment entitled
government to recoup prepetition overpayments to debtor-health care
provider by reducing postpetition payments to debtor); In re Holyoke
Nursing Home, 372 F.3d 1 (1st Cir. 2004) (same); In re Anes, 195 F.3d
177 (3d Cir. 1999) (held, doctrine of recoupment did not apply so as to
permit pension plans to deduct loan payments from debtors’ postpetition
paychecks because the payments were not part of the same transaction); In
re Delicruz, 300 B.R. 669 (Bankr. E.D. Mich. 2003) (“recoupment reduces
or extinguish[es] a debt arising from the same transaction, and is not
stayed by the bankruptcy”). But see York Linings Int’l, Inc. v. Harbison-
Walker Refractories Co., 839 N.E.2d 766 (Ind. App. 2005) (although
automatic stay does not bar creditor from exercising right of recoupment,
stay does prevent creditor from asserting counterclaim for recoupment in
litigation because such a counterclaim seeks affirmative relief).
10 “Recoupment” has been defined as follows: “. . . so long as the creditor’s claim arises out of the identical transaction as the debtor’s, that claim may be offset against the debt owed to the debtor, without concern” for the Code’s setoff limitations. In re University Medical Center, 973 F.2d 1065, 1080 (3d Cir. 1992). Recoupment in bankruptcy has been narrowly construed by courts because it violates the basic bankruptcy principle of equal distribution. In re B & L Oil Co., 782 F.2d 155, 158 (10th Cir. 1986) (“[a] fundamental tenet of bankruptcy law is that . . . [once] a petition is filed, debts that arose before the petition may not be satisfied through post-petition transactions. This is seen in bankruptcy restrictions on setoffs [and recoupment].”); In re McMahon, 129 F.3d 93,
97 (2d Cir. 1997) (“in light of the Bankruptcy Code’s strong policy favoring equal treatment of creditors, recoupment . . . should be narrowly construed”).
8. Commencement or continuation of a proceeding before the United States Tax Court concerning the debtor. 11 U.S.C. § 362(a)(8). See, e.g., Halpern v. C.I., 96 T.C. 895 (U.S. Tax Ct. 1991) (held, automatic stay bars commencement or continuation of any proceeding in Tax Court, regardless of whether claim relates to prepetition or postpetition tax year deficiencies).
As of October 17, 2005, § 362(a)(8) is limited to proceedings
concerning corporate debtor’s tax liability for taxable period the
bankruptcy court may determine or, if debtor is individual, to tax
for taxable period ending before date of order for relief.
9. Only affirmative acts are stayed. Section 362 applies only to affirmative
acts against the debtor or its estate.
a. The automatic stay does not affect, and the court may not exercise
its equitable powers to stay or toll, the automatic transfer of rights such as
that occurring by the expiration of a statutory period of redemption.
Canney v. Merchants Bank (In re Frazer), 284 F.3d 362 (2d Cir. 2002)
(did not stay mortgagee’s act of recording a certificate of non-redemption;
held, expiration of statutory period is not an “affirmative act” and
automatic stay did not apply).
b. Omissions and waivers are not stayed by the Code because they
are not affirmative acts. See e.g. Mann v. Chase Manhattan Mortg. Corp.,
316 F.3d 1, 6 (1st Cir. 2003) (mortgagee’s failure to submit
preconfirmation request, pursuant to bankruptcy statute governing rights
of oversecured creditors, to have its postpetition attorney fees included in
its allowed secured claim was not sort of overt, affirmative act that
violates stay).
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A History Of Violence
Marvel finally scored a big-screen hit with Blade
Tom Breihan
Blade (1998)
A History Of ViolenceWith A History Of Violence, Tom Breihan picks the most important action movie of every year, starting with the genre’s birth and moving right up to whatever Vin Diesel’s doing this very minute.
In 2004, Ryan Reynolds talked to Entertainment Weekly about filming Blade: Trinity—by far the shittiest of the three Blade movies and Reynolds’ very first attempt to get himself a superhero franchise. Reynolds and Wesley Snipes, the man who played Blade, apparently didn’t get along. Addressing rumors of on-set tensions, Reynolds would say only this: “I’ve never met Wesley Snipes. I’ve only met Blade.” To this, anyone with any sense would only feel vast, painful envy. Who wouldn’t want to meet Blade? I would give everything I own to meet Blade.
Snipes’ Blade is, to my mind, one of the greatest cinematic creations of the late ’90s, even if he’d already existed as a comic book character for years beforehand. Blade is a superhero, sort of, but he’s driven by a singleminded need for vengeance, not by any desire to help people. Vampires killed his mother while he was being born, so he’s on a never-ending mission to destroy as much of the hidden vampire underground as he can while he’s still breathing. Snipes, both a legit martial artist and a great actor, imbued Blade with an imposing physical presence, a looming intensity that didn’t require words. Unlike most of the ’90s action heroes that came before him or the superheroes who would succeed him, Blade wasn’t a motormouth or a comedian. He was a force, a destroyer. He didn’t have internal conflicts, and he didn’t need anyone to like him. If he was sad about his path in life, Snipes could communicate that with a few facial expressions; he didn’t need a tearful soliloquy about it. The most outwardly emotional he ever gets is when he talks about his father figure, Whistler: “We have a good arrangement. He makes the weapons. I use them.”
For a little while, early in his career, Snipes had been considered an honest-to-god great dramatic actor. He’d been in a bunch of Spike Lee movies. He’d played the shit-talking playground basketball hustler Sidney Deane in White Men Can’t Jump and the charismatic drug lord Nino Brown in New Jack City. But instead of staying in that lane, he became an action hero. By the time he made Blade, Snipes had been on a run of action movies: Passenger 57, Boiling Point, Money Train.
Blade took better advantage of Snipes’ gifts—his genuine martial-arts ass-kicking capability, his authoritative way with a one-liner, his enormous presence—than any of those action movies. And he took the role as seriously as any of his straight-up dramatic roles. Blade required him to give some seriously goofy exposition about a hidden global vampire society: “The world you live in is just a sugar-coated topping. There’s another world beneath it: the real world.” Precious few actors would be able to deliver lines like that with a straight face. Snipes inhabited them. He was Blade, and that’s one reason the movie worked so well.
There’d been no real precedent for a movie like Blade, though 1994’s The Crow, with its gothic trappings and its kung fu and its comic book origins, probably comes the closest. Marvel had been trying to make an actual hit movie out of one of its properties for years, and Blade was its first real attempt since the 1986 disaster Howard The Duck. The success of Blade didn’t just launch a franchise; it led directly to the comic book movie boom that would begin in earnest with X-Men two years later. At the same time, Blade didn’t offer the big-budget antic spectacle of the Michael Bay and Jerry Bruckheimer movies that had dominated action cinema in the mid-’90s. Its fun sense of seriousness, its lowered budget, its intensity, and its gore would set the stage for a different style of action movie that would come along in the years ahead. Just a year later, The Matrix would arrive, borrowing Blade’s long black trench coats, spectacular kung fu scenes, and story about a hidden reality of monsters preying on humanity.
It’s hard to overstate just how exciting it was to see Blade in the theater. If you saw it, you probably went in with no expectations. Blade himself, after all, was a peripheral Marvel character, one who barely got any attention from fans. (I spent way too much of my preteen allowance on comics, and I’d mostly just remembered him as an occasional Ghost Rider sidekick.) And this was an era of goofy, mid-budget, CGI-heavy spectacles like Mortal Kombat, movies that were fun but nothing more. So if you saw it, you probably walked in thinking you’d kill an afternoon laughing at some silly dumb shit, and you walked out feeling like you were made of pure electricity.
The opening fight scene of Blade is one of the all-time greats. Traci Lords pulls a perfectly ’90s douche—a guy with frosted tips and a backward newsboy cap and a habit of calling his dick “my heatseeker”—through a meatpacking plant and into a hidden club, where there’s a rave going on. The douche thinks it’s great. But then blood pours down from the ceiling sprinklers, and he learns quickly enough that he’s surrounded by vampires. He crawls through the blood and finds a lone figure standing at the door. The vampires stop. They whisper to each other. It dawns on all of them what’s about to happen. And then a long and incredible fight sequence ensues, with Snipes slicing his way through the crowd, turning vampires into burning CGI skeletons.
The movie has no origin story, a great precedent that every other superhero movie would proceed to fuck up. We simply join Blade in action, and we catch up when the movie slowly fills in the blanks. Blade does, however, have a great supporting cast. Kris Kristofferson, perfectly cast as Blade’s grizzled mentor, Whistler, growls some of the movie’s best lines. Stephen Dorff plays the movie’s sly and brooding villain, Deacon Frost, a sort of vampire-world version of a tech-industry disruptor. A whole cast of cool-looking vampire elders meet their gruesome doom when Frost sacrifices them to rouse an ancient blood god, which would’ve been cooler if 1998 CGI hadn’t been so shitty. (The movie’s effects don’t look great, but it mostly uses them briefly and with visceral impact. The final showdown is the one real place they become a problem.) And Donal Logue plays an amazing cackling henchman, having the time of his life: “I’m gonna be naughty! I’m gonna be a naughty vampire god!” Logue’s character’s death is one of the most gloriously badass moments in a movie full of them.
Blade would go on to spawn a sequel that, against any conceivable odds, might’ve been even better than its predecessor. Guillermo Del Toro’s Blade II (2002) keeps the world-building and ass-kicking but adds in Del Toro’s weirdly beautiful visual sensibility and his gift for creature design. It went off the rails with Blade: Trinity (2004), and that was that for the franchise. Snipes would eventually fade into the straight-to-DVD action world before going to prison for a little while on tax-evasion charges that seemed trumped up. Director Stephen Norrington still has yet to make another movie after flaming out hard with the 2003 flop League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Writer David S. Goyer would go on to write the Christopher Nolan Batman movies and to help design the Zack Snyder-era DC cinematic universe. He’s made some truly shit movies, but he still wrote Blade, so we have to give him that.
In recent years, there have been rumors about a new Blade movie. Snipes loves teasing the idea on his shockingly fun Twitter feed, and the first two movies are beloved enough that I have to imagine the demand is there. If that doesn’t happen, could we at least let Blade join the Avengers or something? He’s earned it.
Other notable 1998 action movies: Jackie Chan had already become a star in America thanks to the dubbed theatrical rereleases of many of his Hong Kong movies, but he really, truly became a star in America with the release of Rush Hour, the Chris Tucker buddy comedy that made a stunning fuckpile of money. The movie spawned two sequels and briefly turned Brett Ratner, its mega-hack director, into an in-demand name. Still, Ratner had a better idea of how to shoot a Jackie Chan fight scene than almost any of the American directors who worked with him.
Other Hong Kong figures were also coming into American movies. Lethal Weapon 4 was probably the least memorable entry in the series, but it did give us Jet Li, making his English-language debut, as the blindingly fast, effortlessly badass villain. Chow Yun-Fat also made his way over, teaming with first-time director Antoine Fuqua for The Replacement Killers, a movie that was basically a tribute to his John Woo films. Woo himself made what might’ve been his weirdest American production with the TV movie (and failed pilot) Blackjack, which had Dolph Lundgren as an assassin who’s afraid of the color white. (It ends with a fight at a milk-processing plant.) And Tsui Hark followed his deeply bizarre Jean-Claude Van Damme vehicle Double Team with the almost-as-weird Knock Off, in which fashion exporter Van Damme teams up with CIA agent Rob Schneider to combat a global exploding-jeans plot.
Jackie Chan kept his grip on Hong Kong as well, playing an amnesiac warrior who defends a South African tribe from corrupt CIA agents in Who Am I? But the real story from Hong Kong that year was Johnnie To, who directed the fiery John Woo tribute A Hero Never Dies and produced (and allegedly ghost-directed) Expect The Unexpected and The Longest Nite. To hadn’t really found his artistic voice yet—that would come about a year later—but he’d already emerged as Hong Kong’s greatest action director in Woo’s absence.
Most of the American action movies from that year were fairly underwhelming. U.S. Marshals, a sequel to The Fugitive that swapped out Harrison Ford for Wesley Snipes, had some cool moments. The Siege, about a terrorist attack on New York, could’ve been a fun action movie, but decided to be more of a political thriller instead. Firestorm attempted to make an action star out of NFL commentator Howie Long. Soldier, a sci-fi flick about an uprising of genetically modified soldiers in space, might’ve marked the end of Kurt Russell’s career as a viable action star. Vampires was John Carpenter’s attempt to put James Woods at the center of a horror-movie Western, but in the year of motherfucking Blade, James Woods wasn’t going to cut it.
But 1998 did give us exactly one truly great non-Blade action movie: Ronin, in which old master John Frankenheimer threw Robert De Niro and a charismatic international cast through a series of attempted heists, double crosses, and amazing car chases. Ronin was a proudly old-school movie, and it didn’t exactly influence the action movies of the era, though I suppose a bit of its gray European sensibility bled through into the Bourne movies. But when you watch Ronin now, it feels like a movie out of time. It hasn’t aged at all, and if you haven’t seen it in a while, I can’t recommend it enough.
Next time: The Matrix rewrites all the rules.
Recent from Tom Breihan
In the end, there was The Bible, which closed the book on an era of religious blockbusters
All these years later, The Sound Of Music remains one of the world's favorite things
Once upon a time, two musicals could duke it out for the title of the year's biggest hit
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In partnership with Lumix G by Panasonic
Kit Room
WonderVisions
1.08 Spotlight
Joya Berrow
Capturing the Ritual of the Rose Fields in Rural Bulgaria.
Brought to you by from Panasonic
By VICE Film School
Production process:
Part of Spotlight series
Joya Berrow is a documentary director and producer. Through her work, which has been featured on National Geographic, Nowness and VICE among other platforms, she seeks topics that will promote human welfare and contribute towards a greater consciousness to protect our environment. Led by the richness of the land, the sea and the sky, her subjects often lead her to remote places, as she unearths stories that serve to educate and cause us to reflect on the way we are choosing to live our lives.
Here, she talks us through the process of going on a last-minute shoot in Bulgaria to capture the rhythm and mythology of an early summer's rose harvest.
My latest film, Every True Person of Kalofer Without Freedom Can’t Live, is a stream-of-consciousness that transports you through the Rose Valley of Bulgaria, following the process and ritual of the rose harvest. Along the way, we encountered multiple characters and explored their symbiotic connections to the land – how they continue to find freedom and a way to survive from it.
I wasn’t able to visit beforehand on a recce, so we just winged it and found characters along the way.
The harvest only happens once a year, for four to six weeks in May and June – the precise time depends on the climactic conditions in the valley. Three hours outside of the Bulgarian capital Sofia, there are two towns – Kalofer and Kazanlak – and anywhere between those two towns is the Rose Valley. There’s a mountain range on either side of the valley, and the mountains keep it humid, protected from the wind and shaded, too, from the rising sun during the early morning. There are lots of different forces all working together to help create the harvest – however, each year is a total gamble, they’re completely reliant on Mother Nature. This lends every part of the process a spiritual and otherworldly connection.
The rose is the symbol of the valley, it really defines the area. It does so much for the economy, whether that’s in the production of the roses themselves, the oil that is distilled from them or through tourism. There aren’t many places in the world like the Rose Valley and it’s strange that it’s not better known within Europe, as it’s an incredible phenomenon. I first found out about it through my dad three years ago. I couldn’t get out there immediately, but did some research and loved how much of a ritual the harvest is – it’s not just one individual or company doing something on their own, it’s about so many different people and elements coming together. This May, after speaking to one of the local distilleries for the second year in a row, they told me the harvest had started. I couldn’t bear to miss it, so I decided with the production company BRAVÒ that I would be going. They were excited to support it and I went out there with Lucy Jane, the Director of Photography, and Lily Colfox, Creative Consultant. The film was executive produced by Ivan Olita from BRAVÒ. Everyone pulled together; it was super last-minute.
There isn’t much online about the harvest – no film, just photos – and I wasn’t able to visit beforehand on a recce, so we just winged it and found characters along the way. Back in London, I’d looked on Google Maps, found Kalofer and thought it looked like a great place to start. When we arrived, I got a few pointers from the Airbnb guy and then we just drove around, speaking to everyone in a bid to understand the process and weigh up who’d be good to include in the film. A lot of the time, we’d aim to visit anywhere that had a distillery. The way you’d figure that out was to visit a village and literally just sniff the air. The smell of roses is so strong from those places; they distil tons of them. That was pretty magical, to be able to find your locations by smelling the air.
If a film is too claustrophobic, you can lose all the sense of curiosity and the space you need to reflect on the themes of the narrative.
While filming, we spent a lot of time with the rose pickers, who work every day in the valley from around 4AM until about 10AM – as soon as the sun gets too hot, the essential oils in the roses start to evaporate, and the whole aim is to get the most oil you can from every single bud. What interests me most is that there aren’t many traditional practices that haven’t been totally industrialised, with machines doing the jobs of humans. Rose picking is something that only skilled people can do, with determination and a desire to be out in the field so early in the morning. Many of the pickers are women and the whole process and atmosphere is quite feminine; in the moonlight, in the morning, you can smell the roses and everyone’s weaving along the line, chattering to each other.
There was a language barrier to a certain extent. However, one morning we found a woman up in the rose fields and as we were chatting to her we realised we all spoke Spanish. We went back to her time and again, she had this amazing little scene of women she’d introduce us to. Eventually, we went to the National Park Centre, as we really needed a translator and fixer in the second week. They set us up with a wonderful local woman named Victoria, and she helped us a lot.
We used small cameras, and would never immediately begin filming, we spent days getting to know some of our characters.
I didn’t want the film to be too linear, more of an overview of the whole process. It became an exploration, a journey – going with the flow just kind of connected it all into something that felt immersive, mystical and spiritual. If a film is too claustrophobic, you can lose all the sense of curiosity and the space you need to reflect on the themes of the narrative. It was important too that there were only three of us – any more and we would’ve lost a lot of intimacy. We used small cameras, and would never immediately begin filming. We spent days getting to know some of our characters, hanging out with them in the rose fields, going out for food together, so that there was a relationship there before we started filming. You don’t always have the possibility to do that, and with other characters we had to act more immediately, but I prefer to get to know someone very well off-camera first – I would advise anyone to take this approach wherever you can.
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Jordy Walker
The Finishing Line for the WonderVisions Workshop Winner.
Production Post-Production
Tom Jeffery
Home Truths and Mental Health.
Filming in the Chaos of Carnival.
Buster and Josh Grey-jung
Filming for Installations.
Samuel Douek
Queer Eye for the Queer Eye.
Raindance Emerging Filmmakers’ Day
The Raindance Film Festival hosts a day of screenings and Q&A sessions with emerging filmmakers from around the world.
VICE Film School was created in partnership with WonderVisions: The Alec Bracegirdle Memorial Film Fund and is dedicated to teaching the next generation of aspiring filmmakers the essential skills they need to master the art of storytelling in modern mediums.
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New Faces: Theatre Arts welcomes Dr. Andy Waldron
Rachael StubbertArts and Humanities, Faculty and Staff, New Faces, Theatre ArtsAndy Waldron, Faculty and Staff, New Faces, TheatreLeave a comment
The College of Arts and Humanities at Fresno State is the largest college on campus, encompassing nine departments, and the Armenian Studies Program.
Each year, new faculty are brought on to elevate the academic offerings here at Fresno State. These new faculty members bring innovative research, diverse fields of study and technical expertise to our college, inspiring new ways of thinking throughout our many disciplines.
Over the next few weeks, we will introduce you to these new faces, by department.
Department of Theatre Arts
Dr. Andy Waldron joins the Department of Theatre Arts as an assistant professor with a focus in theatre education.
Originally from Wisconsin, Waldron earned his Bachelors of Arts in Theatre and Bachelors of Science in Communication Arts and Literature Education from Winona State University. He moved to the Twin Cities, Minnesota metro area to teach high school English, speech, and theatre, where he also earned his Masters of Arts in Education from Hamline University. Waldron later attended Arizona State University and received his Ph.D. in Theatre.
Waldron has a wide variety of experience working as an educator, researcher, director, performer, teaching artist, and lighting designer. His research explores theatre education training and pedagogy, Theatre for Young Audiences, queer youth theatre, and socially engaged arts practices.
“As the state of California institutes a Theatre Credential, Dr. Waldron (Andy) is the exact person we needed to help establish Fresno State as a leader in providing training to future theatre arts teachers. Andy brings with him years of classroom teaching experiences and a wealth of knowledge in the area of arts integration” said J. Daniel Herring, Theatre Arts Department Chair.
Question: What are you most looking forward to here at Fresno State?
Answer: I’m looking forward to learning more about the Fresno area, partaking in the rich arts community, getting to know the students, faculty, and staff, and exploring the region. This is my first time living in California and I know many new adventures are within reach. On top of all that, I’m looking forward to teaching some great theatre courses, inspiring our future arts leaders, and working with educators across the valley.
Q: Can you tell us how you became involved in your specialty area?
A: Well, when I went to college I knew I wanted to teach English. However, the theatre bug had bit me early in life and I had a sneaky suspicion it would be a big part of my future. I couldn’t decide which degree to pursue so, after a few years of debate, I became a double major/dual degree student in Communication Arts & Literature Education and Theatre. I taught high school English, speech, and theatre for 8 years in Forest Lake, Minnesota. During that time I taught classes, coached competitive speech, directed and designed theatre pieces…and got my Masters in Education. I feel like my education has been all about balance. I had one degree in English education and one in theatre. I earned my Masters in Education and soon decided to get my Ph.D. in Theatre. All that said, my Theatre Education specialization arises from my feet being firmly planted in both education and the arts. Every time I try to shift to one, the other pulls me back in.
Q: What will your distinctive background do to elevate the Theatre Department offerings here at Fresno State?
A: I believe my background as an educator, artist, and researcher all combine to provide great opportunities for Fresno State students. I’ve taught young people from pre-schoolers to college students and bring that experience to bear in my work. My training in education and pedagogy helps me to create positive learning experiences in my classes while also giving me some wisdom to share with future teachers. Also, I believe that great teaching is similar to great acting. The arts can learn a lot from education and education can learn a lot from the arts. Hopefully, I can be a bridge between the two.
Q: What do you enjoy most about theatre?
A: I like being surprised. Whether by a great new play or stellar performance or technical trick, it’s so great to be blown away by live performance. I also enjoy the new developments in the field like theatre for the very young, immersive theatre, and all the cool projection work onstage. Artists are innovating and pushing the boundaries of performance. Finally, I love that theatre is challenging the community to examine the world around us, highlighting inequity and injustice, and asking us to reflect about our relationships with each other.
Q: What production are you most looking forward to this year?
A: In a fun twist, I have not read or seen any of the pieces in our season. I’m actually looking forward to seeing all the productions because they are all new to me. That’s not a very fun answer, though. I’m probably looking forward to Just Like Us because it focuses on immigration through the lived-experiences and voices of young people.
Q: What production do you think everyone should see in their lifetime?
A: That’s like asking a book-lover to choose the best book or a movie-critic to select the one film everyone must experience — too hard! My favorite play is Richard III by William Shakespeare, so I’d put that on the list. Overall, I think everyone should experience a piece of theatre that makes them squirm or makes them uncomfortable and forces them to consider new ideas, perspectives, and ways of life. Take a risk and see something that makes you go “Hmmmm”.
Q: When are your office hours?
A: My office hours this term are Tuesdays / Thursdays from 12-1:45, and Wednesdays from 10-12:00. And of course, you can always send me an email to set something that works better with your schedule.
Art and Design alum Fidel Mendoza dazzles as Bronco Wine Co’s new Lead Graphic Designer
Department of Art and Design, Center for Creativity and the Arts host photographer Tomiko Jones
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AI Will Lead the Charge Developing Quantum Computers
The quantum world is complex, but machine learning can help simplify it.
Dom GaleonFebruary 28th 2018
/ Artificial Intelligence
/ Machine Learning
/ Neural Network
/Artificial Intelligence
/Machine Learning
/Neural Network
So Small, So Elusive
If you’re not a physicist, the concept of “quantum” will likely confuse you, or simply put you off. But even for experts, the quantum world can be complex. Luckily, in a world where for nearly every challenge there’s a bespoke robot ready to help, an AI now makes it easier to navigate quantum systems too.
In science, the word “quantum” refers the smallest matter or physical entity that can be manipulated and observed. Quantum physics, therefore, refers to the physics of particles so small that they cannot be studied like we would do with regular matter. That’s because quantum particles can behave either as particles or as waves.
Scientists believe that quantum systems are capable of various configurations, but when studied they tend to fall into just one. It is either in action or not, alive or dead, so to speak. Schrödinger’s cat, anyone? To analyze other possible configurations, measurements have to be done over and over again.
A tedious task that can now be made easier thanks to artificial intelligence. According to a study published in the journal Nature Physics, machine learning can effectively reconstruct quantum systems even with limited data.
“We have shown that machine intelligence can capture the essence of a quantum system in a compact way,” co-author Giuseppe Carleo, an associate research scientist at the Center for Computational Quantum Physics at New York’s Flatiron Institute, said in a press release. “We can now effectively extend the capabilities of experiments.”
Quantifying Quantum Systems
Like in every machine learning model, the researchers trained their software with data from experimental quantum system measurements. With enough information, the neural networks were able to reconstruct their own systems with great accuracy.
The tests showed that the AI could generate a quantum system — namely working out its various configurations — much faster than conventional methods. For example, the AI reconstructed a quantum system with eight electrons spinning up or down with only around 100 measurements. The same level of accuracy would need nearly 1 million measurements using conventional, brute-force methods.
Apart from significantly decreasing the amount of time needed to model quantum systems, this AI would also push the development of applications in quantum mechanics. “We could use the methods we developed here in other contexts,” Carleo explained. “Someday we might have a self-driving car inspired by quantum mechanics, who knows.”
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Moderation Station
China Is Trying to Scrub Bikinis and Smoking From the Internet
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Destiny 2 PC version still in doubts
We know that Destiny 2 will arrive later this year on Xbox One and PlayStation 4, from various time there have been rumors also talking about a PC version of the game currently in development, however there were no confirmation about it and now it is unclear who is working on the edition for Windows.
According to an announcement published by High Moon Studios – the team which is working with Bungie for the next installment of Destiny – it may not be taken for granted for the arrival of the game even on PC.
High Moon Studios is supporting Bungie in the new development of Destiny 2, the company has recently published a job advertisement looking for animators, programmers and graphic designers, but in the ad in question, however, the PC version of Destiny 2 is not mentioned, as opposed to those for the consoles.
It is not excluded that the work can be entrusted to a different team from Bungie and High Moon, but for the moment it is better not to take for certain the release of Destiny 2 on Windows.
It therefore remains to be seen whether it is because of the job posting we get confirmation that they have left the PC platform or if we have to expect that Destiny 2, like the original episode, will arrive on consoles only.
What do you think of this news? Tell us your opinion in the comment section below.
BungieDestiny 2High Moon Studiospc gamevideo game
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Final Fantasy 15 PS4 Pro Patch Arrives in December
Supports 1080p/60 FPS and 4K/30 FPS.
Posted By Ravi Sinha | On 10th, Nov. 2016 Under News
In its latest Active Time Report, Square Enix reported that Final Fantasy 15’s PS4 Pro patch will be released in December. The patch is meant to offer two different modes for play on the upgraded console, one targeting 1080p and 60 FPs and another mode for 4K resolution and 30 FPS.
There will also be a playable demo, albeit exclusive to Japan, for the game releasing on PS4 and Xbox One. Encompassing the first half of chapter one, the demo can be accessed if you create a new account on the Japanese PlayStation Store.
Final Fantasy 15 has been in development for a number of years, originally starting out as Final Fantasy Versus 13 and tied to Final Fantasy 13’s Fabula Nova Crystallis saga. It’s had its fair share of delays and change in directors (Final Fantasy Type-0’s Hajime Tabata took Tetsuya Nomura’s place) but launch day is nearly here.
Final Fantasy 15 releases on November 29th for Xbox One and PS4.
Tagged With: final fantasy 15, ps4, ps4 pro, Square Enix, Xbox One
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Professor Peter Erdei
Professor Peter Erdei is Director-General of the Zoltan Kodaly Pedagogical Institute of Music, Kecskemet, Hungary. He earned his diploma from the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest in 1968 and was Associate Professor of Choral Conducting there from 1973–2003. He was the first guest conductor of the Hungarian Radio Choir and became Chief Conductor from 1990–92. Professor Erdei co-founded the Kodaly Musical Training Institute in Boston, MA. He has conducted the Teachers’ Choir of Kecskemet since 1976, and served as musical director of the Kodaly Choir of Debrecen from 1983–85, 1998–2000, and 2003–present. He has won awards for his premiere performances and recordings of contemporary Hungarian choral works. Professor Erdei has conducted master classes and lectured in Great Britain, Norway, Canada, the United States, Australia, Korea, Italy, and Greece, and often adjudicates at international festivals and competitions. He holds a Liszt Prize for Performing Arts in Hungary, and a Doctorate Honoris Causa from Capital University, Columbus, OH.
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said taghmaoui
Movie review: Wonder Woman
Let me begin by saying that I don’t think I can name another recent movie that had so many external things riding on it. Wonder Woman has at least 3: 1. It has to save DCEU and finally unite the fans and the critics; 2. It has to prove that female-lead (behind and in front of the camera) superhero films and action pictures, in general, can be both of high quality and profitable; 3. It just has to be a good movie on its own.
IMDb summary: Before she was Wonder Woman she was Diana, Princess of the Amazons, trained warrior. When a pilot crashes and tells of conflict in the outside world, she leaves home to fight a war to end all wars, discovering her full powers and true destiny.
The first big screen adaptation of the Wonder Woman comics was written by a TV and comic book writer Allan Heinberg, who previously tried bringing Wonder Woman to the small screen in 2011-2012. Batman v Superman’s Zack Snyder and a quite unknown writer Jason Fuchs also contributed to the story.
I really enjoyed the narrative that they crafted for this film and the character development that they managed to interweave into it. I loved how the story started in the modern day with Diana looking at the picture from WW1. The said image was actually one of the first pieces of the promotional material released for this film. The flashback to her childhood and younger years on Themyscira were also fascinating. I appreciated that the film did include both of her origin stories from the comics – the clay one and the one where Zeus is her father.
The whole explanation of the backstory for the Amazons and Aries from the Greek mythology was a bit overwhelming but informative and interesting too. The set-up of the world outside of Themyscyra also worked – the scene where Steve told the Amazons about The Great War not only set up the main conflict but also showcased one of the main tools of WW in action – The Lasso of Truth. In general, a lot of my favorite moments in the movie involved the lasso.
On top having a lot of great story elements from the comics and history, Wonder Woman’s script also had a plethora of comic relief moments which did actually work. While the culture shock, which kickstarted all the funny banter, was a bit cringy at times, it was also equally cute, and, most importantly, quite realistic.
All the comedy, as well as the more dramatic moments, worked because of the characters involved. We not only got to learn Diana’s whole backstory, but we also got to witness an amazing character arc of Steve Trevor. I was really afraid that he would be relegated to the background in this movie, but he was, thankfully, front and center – an equal of Diana’s. It was really nice to see him being efficient at his jobs as a spy and his journey from dismissing to believing Diana was also awesome. Plus, I really liked the fact that both he and Diana had separate things to accomplish in the third act. Their interactions – from comedic to romantic ones – worked too and didn’t seem like they were pushed. I was quite sad to see Trevor go, especially since he is such a crucial part of Wonder Woman’s mythos. Having said that, I still think that they did an amazing job with the character in this film. Other characters in the movie were also really interesting, especially Trevor’s friends. That was one weird group of characters you don’t see together on film often.
Thematically, Wonder Woman provided the commentary on humanity and her whole emotional arc was learning to take humans for what they are, flaws and all. And yet, her signature idea of fighting prejudice on all fronts was still present in the movie. Diana’s final realization – that love is the one thing that can save this world – wasn’t campy at all and actually quite emotional. I felt that the movie earned this type of a conclusion. The big reveal of the film – who was Aries – was actually surprising (for those who did not spoil it to themselves while researching the movie). I really liked how Ares attempt at an armistice was only a ploy for more war as well.
Lastly, Wonder Woman’s story ended the way it began – in a modern day with her writing a thank-you reply to Bruce Wayne for sending her the photo. I loved how this small scene gave a feeling of a bigger universe – DCEU – existing beyond this film. I thought that the scene of her sending the email was much more organic than the video attachments from the BvS.
Patty Jenkins, whose debut film was also her last one for over a decade, directed Wonder Woman and did a spectacular job. She didn’t lose an ounce of skill that she showcased with the fascinating 2003’s picture Monster, which I only watched yesterday for the first time and was absolutely blown away. Jenkins definitely should have received more praise for it in addition to Charlize Theron, instead of the latter just getting the majority of it. Anyways, after a series of failed movie projects and some highly-regarded and successful TV ones, Jenkins agreed to direct Wonder Woman and we all should be extremely happy and thankful that she did.
First of all, she succeeded in striking a balance of tone for the movie. While BvS was too dark and Suicide Squad was trying too hard to be funny, Wonder Woman had the right amount of seriousness, comedy, and romance. More importantly, this mixture was elevated by sophistication and a level of class. The movie was also edited in a way that was cohesive – the story flowed organically rather than the film just being a collection of sequences of no relation to one another.
Visually, the film was also stunning. The way that Themyscira was realized with a distinctly Greek feeling (architecture, costumes) was just absolutely amazing. The shots of the island and the ocean were wonderful as well. In contrast to the glamourous yet strong Themyscira, the WW1 Europe was realized as broken and dirty – very realistic. The film had a number of amazing looking shots, like the one of Diana standing on the crashed plane from Steve’s POV from underneath the water or those few shots of Diana looking up at the sky in different locations.
The action was also astounding. The style of fighting of the Amazons – a lot of flips in mid-air while holding a bow and arrow (my weapon of choice alway and forever) – was super cool. Jenkins also used a lot of slow motion but actually did it tastefully and in a way that it enhanced the action. Another epic sequence was Wonder Woman fighting in the no-man’s-land and later on in the village. She looked absolutely brilliant while doing it and I also loved how Trevor and the other characters collaborated with her by making a ramp for her to jump on. The final action sequence was also amazing. My only gripe was that I wish Ares CGI costume would have had a different design, something more inventive. Nevertheless, I loved how in that fight (and in many others), Diana used the Lasso as a weapon and it wasn’t just a tool for truth-telling. Having said that, the way Trevor took the lasso and wrapped in around his hand to make her believe that he was taking her to the front was such a clever idea!
And the last note on the visuals of the film – now I get why all the posters for the film had an orange background – it was meant to symbolize the orange mustard gas. I actually haven’t realized that prior to seeing the movie. Nevertheless, it was nice to see a continuity between the ads and the final product. The soundtrack of the picture wasn’t bad either. I love the Wonder Woman theme and it was used several times. Sia’s song ‘To be human’ played during the credits and made me ask the question: is Sia’s music going to play over the credits of all the summer movies like it did last year? Probably.
Gal Gadot as Diana Prince / Wonder Woman. Gadot was absolutely amazing in the role. Firstly, she looked like the character – the right mixture of model and fitness athlete. More importantly, she did not look oversexualized. Gadot was also not only marvelous in the action scenes but handled both the dramatic and the comedic moments very well. I can’t wait to see whether this role will give her career a boost. She first rose to prominence with the Fast and the Furious films, while last year she had minor roles in thrillers Triple 9 and Criminal in addition to appearing in BvS. She also showcased her comedic chops in the 2016’s action comedy Keeping Up With The Joneses. The youngest version of Diana was played by a child actress Lilly Aspel. She was also amazing in the few scenes she was in – both cute and fierce.
Chris Pine as Steve Trevor is an amazing casting if I ever saw one. Pine was charming yet efficient in the role. His chemistry with Gadot was also believable. While I’m sad that Pine won’t be able to continue playing this character, I hope that we can at least watch him on Star Trek for years to come.
Robin Wright delivered a short but powerful performance as General Antiope. I really should watch House of Cards. Connie Nielsen also worked as Queen Hippolyta.
Danny Huston as General Erich Ludendorff and Elena Anaya as Doctor Isabel Maru / Doctor Poison were also well cast. Huston was threatening as the General (he is probably used to this type of a role), while it was nice to see Anaya playing a character from the comics that somehow really fit into the WW1 scenario.
David Thewlis as Ares. The only casting choice that I wish was different. Don’t get me wrong, I though that Thewlis did a good job in the role but I wish they would have done something more interesting with the role than having it played by an older white male.
Some ethnic diversity was brought to the movie by a band of Trevor’s friends, played by Saïd Taghmaoui, Trainspotting’s Ewen Bremner (Scottish sniper/singer – amazing), and Eugene Brave Rock. Lucy Davis was also good as the comedic relief secretary of Trevor’s.
In short, Wonder Woman is one the best comic book origin movies, the best female lead superhero film, the best DCEU movie, and one of my favorite pictures of this year already! I highly suggest you see it before continuing to follow Diana’s story in the Justice League. Moreover, if you are interested in the behind-the-scenes backstory of the character, the biographical drama about her creator is currently in the works, titled Professor Marston & the Wonder Women.
Trailer: Wonder Woman trailer
June 5, 2017 June 7, 2017 Lou Tagged action, action film, action movie, ares, batman, batman v superman, bruce wayne, bvs, charlize theron, chris pine, cinema, cinema review, comic book, comic book movie, comic books, comic con, comics, connie nielsen, criminal, culture shock, danny houston, david thewlis, dc, dc extended universe, dceu, diana prince, doctor maru, doctor poison, elena anaya, eugene brave rock, ewen bremner, fast and furious, film, film review, film reviews, filming, films, five, gal gadot, general antiope, gods, greece, greek gods, house of cards, indie, justice league, justice leahue, keeping up with the joneses, monster, motion picture, motion picture review, motion pictures, movie, movie film, movie preview, movie review, movie reviews, movies, mustard gas, patty jenkins, professor marston and the wonder woemn, queen hippolyta, robin wright, robinwright, said taghmaoui, star trek, star trek beyond, star trek into darkness, steve trevor, superhero, superhero film, superheroes, t2, the killing, themyscyra, trainspotting, triple 9, wonder, wonder woman, wonder women, world war 1, zack snyder, zeus 16 Comments
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gistfile1.txt
Austin: "Is Andrew's brother-in-law not getting hired then? Oh wait, no, it was his wife's brother, wasn't it? Oh wait... That's the same thing..."
Jameson: "Are we going to finish by the end of the day?" (In regards to a ~30 minute task, with 2 hours left in the day)
Jordan: "At the rate I'm going... No."
Matt: "Its time to decompose Kurt. Kurt, just lay down in the dirt for like, a long time."
Austin: "It looks great guys!"
Jordan: "...it looks awful..."
Austin: "Well, yeah, but"
Austin: "I'm such dumb!"
Jordan: "I'm playing dinosaur, give me a second"
Austin: "yeah, I'm pretty used to naked dudes though..."
Justin: "I have two cars here, and zero keys..."
Austin: "Icons are great and everything, but when they're too big, it looks like they're for grand-people."
Braden: "Justin! Your Porsche is the sexiest thing ever!"
Braden (as Austin heard it): "Justin! You're portrait is the sexiest thing ever!"
Justin: "It's so dirty!"
Kurt: "Quit looking at the poke-map and finish your mithril!" (edited)
Austin: "Plus, it had numbers in it"
Kurt: "is anyone actually being productive right now?"
Jordan: "sort of"
Jameson: "Nope."
Austin: "I forgot what I was doing...."
Austin: "It's like Picasso, ya know? You don't really know what you're looking at, but you know it's good!"
Austin: "I think I have Alzheimer's or something... I just forgot what I was doing."
Matt: "I'm no expert, but I'm kind of an expert..."
Matt: "I disagree with this quote of myself..."
Austin: "Those whatevers add up, man."
Jameson: "I don't know how my eyes are open..."
Austin: "Your eyes! They're such closing!"
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REVIEW: Blair Dunlop – The Hug and Pint, Glasgow
Posted on October 12, 2018 by glasgowtheatreblog
From folksy beginnings, Blair Dunlop has been moving in recent years (and over the course of three albums) to a more commercial sound.
The son of singer Judy Dunlop and Fairport Convention’s Ashley Hutchings, Dunlop has a varied performance CV, as well as his musical outings, he also appeared as the young Willy Wonka in Tim Burton’s 2005 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Prizes have also not eluded him, winning the 2013 Horizon Award at the BBC Folk Awards and the Special Jury Prize Premio Ciampi in Italy in 2014.
His Ed Harcourt produced latest album, Notes From an Island features large in this live set. The folk elements are still evident, and are the very heart and soul of his sound, but it’s clear Dunlop has matured greatly. While there’s now a broader appeal to the sound, and a big Americana influence, there’s still real depth to the material and a clear political and social commentary running throughout.
Dunlop and his sound are well suited to intimate venues. That said, it could be argued that Dunlop’s material is so intimate that even this small room sometimes engulfs it. Thoughtful and low-key, the sound could easily be lost in a large venue and that doesn’t necessarily bode well for career expansion. This is music to reflect and relax too, to muse about, not necessarily for a live setting, the audience, while clearly enjoying the gig, are relatively passive for this city. That said, Dunlop is hugely talented and his music is a joy to the ears, he’s a gifted technical vocalist and musician, hopefully his sound will continue to mature and expand to larger venues and audiences. This is music of the highest quality that deserves to be heard by the widest audience possible.
tagged with Blair Dunlop, Concert, gig, Glasgow, Music, Review, The Hug and Pint
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Five facts about Bourbon.
All bourbon is whiskey, but not all whiskey is bourbon. A strict set of standards from the government regulates what’s what. Learn more about what defines “America’s native spirit” below.
Fact 1: Just ’cause it’s whiskey doesn’t mean it’s bourbon.
Bourbon is kind of like whiskey’s “sweet spot.” Because corn is a sweet grain, the more corn, the sweeter the whiskey—and bourbon needs to be at least 51% corn. Tennessee whiskey? Not bourbon. Canadian whisky? Nope. Scotch? Definitely not bourbon. You get the idea.
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In 1964, under President Lyndon B. Johnson’s administration, Congress declared bourbon "America’s native spirit." Today, bourbon is recognised around the world as America’s native spirit, led by Jim Beam®, the world’s No.1 bourbon.
Fact 3: From barrel to bottle.
The only thing that can be added to bourbon is water (and only to bring it down to proof). Other whiskey makers can add colors (often caramel) and flavours to their products. But then, they can't call their whiskey bourbon.
Fact 4: Bourbon must be aged in new barrels.
By law bourbon must be aged in NEW, charred oak barrels. Scotch whisky, on the other hand, often recycles barrels first used for bourbon. Perhaps they’re hoping to steal some of the bourbon’s deep flavour and complex character.
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Home News & Politics Georgetown Observer Rollin’ on the River
Georgetown Observer
Rollin’ on the River
Richard Selden
The Wharf in Southwest can be accessed from Georgetown by water taxi at Washington Harbour. Courtesy the Wharf.
In the words of John Fogerty: “If you come down to the river, bet you gonna find some people who live.” Writing Creedence Clearwater Revival’s 1968 hit “Proud Mary,” Fogerty was inspired by a 1935 Will Rogers movie, “Steamboat Round the Bend.” Three years later, the song became a hit again in Ike & Tina Turner’s version, which starts out “nice and easy,” then explodes into a “nice and rough” second half, just like Tina said it would.
The 405-mile Potomac isn’t the 2,320-mile Mississippi, and Georgetown isn’t New Orleans or Memphis, but if you come down to our partly tidal river — which meets the Chesapeake Bay at Point Lookout, Maryland — you’ll find plenty of people who live, work and play there, especially in the summertime.
And to switch up the order on Tina, though the Georgetown waterfront was “nice and rough” for most of its history, these days it’s mostly “nice and easy.” Where once horses and mules labored, dogs play.
A port for tobacco, slaves, salt, molasses and, later, coal and flour — thanks to the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal and the B&O Railroad line known as the Georgetown Spur — for most of its history, Georgetown was all business where it met the water: dirty, seamy and industrial.
In 1949, after Francis Scott Key’s house, among others, was demolished to clear its path, the elevated Whitehurst Freeway opened, putting K/Water Street in shadow and adding air pollution and noise to an enclave already in decline.
Key Bridge Boathouse.
NEW RAPPORT WITH THE RIVER
The scene changed in a big way in 1986, with the replacement of a cement plant by the Washington Harbour complex of condominiums, shops and restaurants (and a fountain of dancing water) at 3000 and 3050 K St. NW, designed by Arthur Cotton Moore. When phase two was canceled, Sweden built its new, award-winning embassy on the site next to Rock Creek in 2006.
Georgetown Waterfront Park, completed in 2011 and now a national park, links Washington Harbour to Francis Scott Key Memorial Bridge with green space, plantings, walkways, river stairs, a labyrinth and a water feature. Senator Charles H. Percy Plaza, where Wisconsin Avenue terminates in the park, pays tribute to the Illinois senator who supported the group that became the nonprofit Friends of Georgetown Waterfront Park.
The last film in this summer’s Sunset Cinema series, “Footloose,” will be screened in Georgetown Waterfront Park on Tuesday, Aug. 14.
On summer weekends, when the weather is clear, the waterfront is packed with visitors and residents, including those who live in the repurposed mills and new condominium buildings that face the river. Since the incinerator at 31st and South Streets was transformed into condos and a 14-screen movie theater in 2002, the sole unavoidable reminder of the area’s industrial past is the former West Heating Plant on 29th Street. The toaster-shaped structure is to become the Levy Group’s Four Seasons Residences, designed by David Adjaye, with its onetime coal yard reborn as a Laurie Olin-planned public park linked to the C&O Canal and Rock Creek.
TRAVELING ON THE RIVER
At Washington Harbour, opposite Fabio and Maria Trabocchi’s Fiola Mare and the outdoor seating for Nick’s Riverside Grill and Tony and Joe’s Seafood Place, hourly sightseeing cruises are offered by Capitol River Cruises on the Nightingale, by National River Tours on the George Washington and by Boomerang Boat Tours on the Boomerang Pirate Ship. The Potomac Riverboat Company runs water taxis between Washington Harbour and the Wharf, Nationals Stadium, Old Town Alexandria, Virginia, and MGM National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland.
Also out on the water, between Key Bridge and Arlington Memorial Bridge and beyond, are kayakers, canoeists and paddleboarders. As a National Park Service concessioner, Boating in DC operates Key Bridge Boathouse, Thompson Boat Center (east of Washington Harbour) and six others. Rental rates are $16 an hour for kayaks, $22 an hour for double kayaks and paddleboards and $25 an hour for canoes. Season passes are $229 for adults, $329 for families and $99 for seniors and students.
DOWN AT THE RIVER
The Potomac Boat Club.
As you head west along Georgetown Waterfront Park toward Key Bridge Boathouse, K Street turns to Water Street, the buildings get older and the natural setting becomes more … natural. Gypsy Sally’s, a link to Georgetown’s earlier honky-tonk and club scenes, and French café Malmaison occupy a white warehouse due to be demolished for a residential development.
On the river side, flying a red flag, is the green and white boathouse of the oldest rowing club in the D.C. area, the Potomac Boat Club, founded in 1869. Senior membership is limited to 300. Those looking to join are advised that “typical waiting periods can run up to two years.” The club runs the Charlie Butt Scullers’ Head of the Potomac Regatta. This year’s regatta, the 38th, will take place Sunday, Sept. 23.
Senator Charles H. Percy Plaza.
Farther west, behind a chain-link fence on National Park Service land, is the Washington Canoe Club’s compound. Lifelong club member and four-time Olympian Frank Havens died July 22 at age 93. The 200-member club is in the midst of an effort to restore its wooden boathouse, parts of which date to 1905.
At Key Bridge is the trail head for the Capital Crescent Trail, which runs along the Georgetown Spur freight rail line, discontinued in 1985. Hikers and bikers can also pick up the C&O Canal towpath here. The Park Service has several visitor centers along the 184.5-mile canal, which connects Georgetown (the mile-zero marker is just past Thompson Boat Center) with Cumberland, Maryland. Sections, including Locks 3 and 4, are currently being restored.
The Great Falls of the Potomac River.
CARING FOR THE RIVER — AND CANAL
The nonprofit Georgetown Heritage, a spinoff of the Georgetown Business Improvement District, is in the process of reimagining the portion of the canal within Georgetown and contracting for a new canal barge, pulled by two mules. In the 19th century, the complete trip took several days, with a shift change for the mules.
For those looking to support the canal’s restoration for recreational and educational purposes, the C&O Canal Trust will hold its eighth annual Park After Dark gala fundraiser on Saturday, Sept. 15, at Historic Great Falls Tavern in Potomac, Maryland.
The good news about the Potomac is that it’s getting cleaner. Beginning with efforts in the Johnson administration and the Clear Water Act, passed in the Nixon years, point-source pollution — discharges from factories, treatment plants and the like — has largely been eliminated. Though the river’s health got a D in 2011, its 2016 grade in Potomac Conservancy’s State of the Nation’s River report was B minus. In the most recent report, the river got a B.
Founded as a land trust, using conservation easements to protect healthy rural land upstream, Potomac Conservancy is focusing on urban runoff — “the real battle going forward,” according to Melissa Diemand, senior director of communications. The conservancy is also looking to make residents, particularly young professionals, “aware of their hometown river.” To that end, Potomac Conservancy is running a Paddle the Potomac “alternative happy hour” series at Key Bridge Boathouse. An Aug. 15 paddle is scheduled and another may be added in September due to demand. Cleanups are on the calendar at Jones Point Park on Sept. 15 and at Theodore Roosevelt Island on Sept. 22.
Finally, a save-the-date: on Thursday, Nov. 1, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., president of Waterkeeper Alliance, will be the keynote speaker at Potomac Riverkeeper Network’s fourth annual Law & Water Gala at the Hamilton, 600 14th St. NW. According to PRKN, Law & Water “honors those who protect and defend our Nation’s River and the watershed that provides clean drinking water to 6 million people.”
Boating in DC
Boomerang Boat Tours
C&O Canal
Capital Crescent Trail
Capitol River Cruises
Fiola Mare
Georgetown Heritage
House of Sweden
Laurie Olin
MGM National Harbor
National River Tours
Nick's Riverside Grill
Potomac Boat Club
Potomac Conservancy
Potomac Riverboat Company
Potomac Riverkeeper Network
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Tony and Joe's Seafood Place
Washington Canoe Club
Washington Harbour
West Heating Plant
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Weekend Round Up July 18, 2019
The Delaware Beaches Beckon
Endless Possbilities
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‘It Is God First, My Husband Next’
By BRIDGET CHIEDU ONOCHIE
17 July 2015 | 11:53 pm
Curbing the menace of rape
13 Jul Saturday Magazine
‘Nigerians must collectively refuse to shield rapists’
NAPTIP seeks review of rape law to protect victims
That Professor Emilly Alemika of the Department of Public Law, Faculty of Law, University of Jos (UNIJOS), emerged the first female law professor to have come out of the entire Kogi State, was an act of fate. A victim of child labour who registered for primary education at 13, she was undaunted in her drive to the top. Little wonder she is an apostle of encouragement, not only to women, but all she comes across. In this interview with BRIDGET CHIEDU ONOCHIE, the wife of Professor Etanibi Alemika, also of UNIJOS, gives all credit to her husband.
Being the first female professor of law in the whole of Kogi State
I did not know I was the first in my state until I started receiving congratulatory messages. In fact, it was my senior colleague that drew my attention to it and I told him I have not thought of that because I did not set a pace for myself to be there before any other person. But in all, I thank God for the grace because that also includes the old Kwara State from which Kogi was carved out.
This position was further confirmed at the recent conference in Afe Babalola University. So, we are not just making the statement, it is a fact. At least, we are sure of the whole Kogi State and I come from a community called Kabba Bunu where also I was known for my struggle and determination to become somebody.
How background impacted her career
My background was very interesting. You can imagine starting primary school between the ages of 13 and 14 years. Before primary school, I had stayed with more than 12 people but none of them sent me to school. All I was known for was the fact that I was hardworking and very good at helping people. So, I was always asked to help either an aged person or a young woman giving birth or someone that has business to do and felt I would be of help.
Coming from a broken home, it was difficult to have a feel of what happened. So, those times I was being taken from one home to another, I never had the privilege of knowing my mother or father. I was dashing from the hands of relatives to the friends of relatives but wherever I was taken, I did my best diligently. There was never a time I knew myself to be a child. I was doing things like adults; walking distances, quickly taking a tin of oil to the market before rushing to the farm. If I have to tell you how my background impacted me, I will tell you that it made me rugged.
Late enrollment in school
Talking about my primary education, I can tell you that all hope was lost until 1968 in Lokoja when I was in the 12th home and coincidentally, the last place I was taken to. I was there as a local restaurant attendant and I was receiving six pence per month. One day, the lady said my father wanted me back so I could enroll in school but I refused because whenever they did that, it meant they wanted to give me to another hand. So, I pleaded with the woman not to allow me leave her because that was the only place I was treated like a human being and also had the privilege to earn income.
I told her I would rather die with her. Once she agreed, I was happy and went about to hawk pounded yam but after few days, she said, ‘Look, you have to go back to the village because your father has threatened to arrest me with police if I do not send you back.’ I went back December of that year. That was the time I started being able to pick years and I knew that it was in 1968. Eventually, January 1969 came and I was enrolled in Primary One. Within these years, I had moved round the 33 Bunu villages, serving people. But one thing on my mind was that I wanted to go back to school. So, in the farm, I would be marching to the tune of school drum’s beat.
Journey to the top
As I have been saying, there was a spirit in me – the spirit of determination, the spirit of ‘I can do it’ and the spirit of ‘what you are assigned to do, do it to the best of your knowledge.’ Even though I was the fourth in my family, I was the only one that was able to scale the hurdle. It was tough though, but I was not looking back. I kept moving along, trying to fit in with those younger schoolmates. I never knew where my mother was and I never lived with my father. It was not as if there was anybody around to encourage me. It was a hopeless situation. Even the day I saw my mother, they just called me and said ‘that is your mother’ and before I knew, they asked me what I was still doing there with her and that was all, she disappeared again. So, I continued with my life the way I found it. Any stage I got to was where God wanted me to be. In my trying to know how to read and write, I excelled.
It was my performances rather than my career choices that were taking me to the next level. For instance, at the end of my primary education, I was among the best three. Aside the Common Entrance examination held in my locality, I was taken to Lokoja for another interview and that was how I got admission into a secondary school.
When I finished secondary school, I chose to go to Teachers’ Training College because it was free. I was moving towards teaching but because I love people, I wanted instead to go into nursing. It was at that point that my husband came into my life. I was the talk of the entire village because of my academic performances and he changed my idea of becoming a nurse.
It was not as if I sat down to choose Law. I read Law by default and also in my husband’s house. That is the reason I tell people that it is God first and my husband second. If he tells me to put my hand in fire, I am not going to think whether it will burn me. I will rather obey him first. He has been my guardian angel. Our marriage was very new when I gained admission to study diploma in Law at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. When I was through with the programme, I went to join him in the United States. When I got there, he bought form for me to do Masters in Criminal Justice. I could not understand how he expected me to do Masters with Diploma in Law but he encouraged me by reminding me that I was brilliant enough to do it. Behold, by the time I was through with the first stage, I passed very well and I continued till I finished it.
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About the President of Gullotta House
The founder and President of the Gullotta House charity, Matthew Gullotta, grew up in Tarrytown-Sleepy Hollow, N.Y. and has resided in Ossining, N.Y. for the past 20 years.
Over the years, he developed strong ties throughout the Westchester County community and, as a survivor of many hardships from his childhood to recent years, Mr. Gullotta is devoted to bringing relief to families in difficult times.
In 1974 a fire in Tarrytown wiped out all his family’s belongings but not their will. They slept in Marymount College halls for two weeks. Many landlords declined to rent to a family with five kids, until a friend of the family offered an apartment
Mr. Gullotta’s mother made her way to a family services office in a snowstorm, with five children in tow and a missing boot which had gotten lost in the snow. She was turned away. The representative said to her “your family made too much money last year; sorry you don’t qualify.”
Matthew, his wife Cinthia and his son were each confronted with a number of difficult medical conditions. Each bout of illness required several surgeries, and each led to financial hardship.
With the economic downturn and job opportunities scarce, Mr. Gullotta started Gullotta House as a means to an end. Today he fully appreciates his success and wants to pay it forward to others.
Matthew Gullotta’s fundraising experience.
Mr. Gullotta possesses a wealth of fundraising experience as a result of years of involvement with non-profit organizations. He appreciates the level of commitment required by its members to be successful. Mr. Gullotta exemplifies honesty, fairness, and loyalty and is highly regarded as a man of resolve and sincerity within the Westchester Community.
Says Mr. Gullotta:
After hitting the worst financial hardship due to extreme, unexpected medical situations, we were able to get some some relief, but after our income passed the eligible amount we were denied. Thank goodness for Ossining CAP (part of WestCOP) and Family Ties of Westchester for providing respect, compassion, food and scholarships to ease my family’s pain. If Gullotta House can offer the precious gift of respect and the ability to spend more time with one’s family, and gives residents the ability to give back to their community while building on new and existing relationships, it is a WIN-WIN.”
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I AM - Prophetic Musical Journey, Part 1
"I AM" is the first of a three-part series of spontaneous prophetic music by Del Hungerford. The journey takes the listener through all Creator has to offer. "I AM" is about love, self-discovery, and worthiness..
There are a total of three tracks (about 25 minutes each) on this album.
Love Abounds as it flows gently through your body, bringing peace and tranquility. Let liquid love completely envelope you to the core of your being.
"I AM" brings a sense of presence of a higher power, unity, self-discovery and worthiness. The presence seems to call to you saying, “You are as I AM.”
As the heart beats, the blood flows. It is the life source that renews and restores. The covering of this life source will make or deem you whole. Let it flow... let it flow... let it flow.
This album is just under 80 minutes long.
Love Abounds (26:14)
I AM (25:29)
Life Source (27:35)
For more music by Del Hungerford and to hear samples of this song/album, please visit: www.healingfrequenciesmusic.com
Purchasing I AM - Prophetic Musical Journey, Part 1...
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Green | An Antidote for Climate Contrarianism
An Antidote for Climate Contrarianism
By Justin Gillis
January 4, 2013 10:39 am January 4, 2013 10:39 am
I would guess a few Green readers had the experience, over the holidays, of arguing yet again about global warming with a parent or brother-in-law who thinks it’s all a big hoax. Maybe there’s some undiscovered substance in roast turkey that makes people want to pick fights around the dinner table.
Credit M.I.T. Press
Fortunately, the M.I.T. climate scientist Kerry Emanuel has provided us with a solution to this problem: an updated edition of “What We Know About Climate Change,” his 2007 book explaining the science of global warming.
I’m happy to report that the new edition of this slender volume is an improvement — perhaps even the single best thing written about climate change for a general audience. It is a little longer than the first edition, 93 pages instead of 85, but it’s still an easy read — most people will get through it in a single sitting.
The new version updates the science to the latest numbers, of course, but it also adds a couple of chapters about the potential solutions to climate change and the bizarre politics that have cropped up around it in recent years.
The book is dead accurate, not only presenting scientifically what we know, but also leveling with readers about what we don’t. It conveys the risks posed by that ignorance. Yet Dr. Emanuel manages to keep the language so taut and simple that nobody is likely to be intimidated by the book or to feel put out at being asked to read it.
The point, he said in an interview, is to give people some ammunition when they encounter the kind of contrarianism about climate change that has become pervasive in the United States.
“Young adults who are disputing this problem with their own parents or an uncle or something — they can hand the book to them and say, ‘Will you at least read this?’ ” Dr. Emanuel said. “One at a time, you might change minds.”
The book is officially scheduled for publication on Tuesday, by M.I.T. Press, but it has long since moved into retail channels and is widely available in hardcover for $11. At Dr. Emanuel’s behest, the publisher set an especially low price, $7.50, for the digital edition.
He does not talk much about this in the book, but for anybody who plans to give it to a political conservative, it might be worth pointing out to them that Dr. Emanuel spent most of his adult life as a registered Republican. He changed his registration to independent recently, but he told me that his convictions have not shifted much — he was driven out of the Republican Party by its embrace of global warming skepticism, among other recent positions.
“I came of age in the 1960s and ’70s,” Dr. Emanuel said. “A lot of what was actually going wrong in the country was because of rigid ideology, and a lot of what I considered rigid ideology was on the left. Now I think it’s the right that’s guilty of that, that’s really gone off on this ideological tangent.”
Conservatives will find a few points in the book that especially resonate. For instance, while Dr. Emanuel assails the irrationality of dismissing an entire branch of science as some kind of elaborate hoax — many Republicans have done lately — as he also takes green groups to task on certain points, including their skepticism about nuclear power.
He sees nuclear energy as one of the few ways to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, which contribute to global warming, on a large scale. And he is doubtful that renewable energy sources like wind and solar power can be ramped up fast enough to meet the challenge.
If Dr. Emanuel has been talking about his politics more lately, so have some of his colleagues, like Richard Alley of Penn State, one of the country’s most notable explainers of climate science, who describes himself as a churchgoing Republican.
These scientists are hoping that their conservative credentials will help open some otherwise closed minds, but their ultimate point is that the science itself has nothing to do with politics — and everything to do with physics.
Mending the Bird Preserves Hit by Sandy
Grid Problems Curb India’s Electric-Vehicle Appetite
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Former Southern guard Avery Johnson extended at Alabama
Jag alum has a deal through 2023.
SWAC.org
The tide has rolled in for Avery Johnson at the University of Alabama. The former Southern University guard received a two-year contract extension through 2023 on Friday. Johnson has been the head men’s basketball coach for the past two seasons and receives the extension despite not making the NCAA tournament in either season.
Courtesy: Gojagsports.com
In 1998 while playing for the legendary Ben Jobe, Johnson led the nation with 13.3 assists per game during his senior year at Southern. He went on to become one of the most heralded undrafted players in the history of the NBA, playing 16 seasons and having his number retired by the San Antonio Spurs.
Johnson spent eight years coaching in the NBA before being hired at Alabama after a three-year layoff from the sidelines.
Johnson’s career has taken him to great heights obviously but his heart has remained close to the Southern University community. In the summer of 2016, he sent a full truck of supplies to flood victims in Louisiana. The University housed nearly 200 evacuees on their campus during the ordeal.
According to the Associated Press, Johnson will receive $2.9 million annually with this six-year deal.
Related Items:Avery Johnson, Southern, SWAC
SWAC Preseason Football Honors
Texas Southern picks up Texas A&M transfer
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Tag: RUMOR
RUMOR: “Captain Marvel” coming to 4K UHD Blu-ray and Blu-ray this Summer
March 9, 2019 ~ Justin Sluss
The 2019 film “Captain Marvel” starring Brie Larson, that just hit theaters yesterday, is already rumored to be coming to both 4K UHD Blu-ray and Blu-ray Disc sometime this Summer, perhaps in June. This rumor comes according to some early retailer alerts going around. The title has not at all been officially announced yet by the studio (Disney). The film, directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, features a supporting cast of Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Jude Law, Annette Bening, Lashana Lynch, Djimon Hounsou, Lee Pace, and Clark Gregg.
Tech specs and bonus materials, of course, have not yet been detailed. It is known that the 4K release will come in the form of “combo pack” which means that the 4K will get a Blu-ray included and a Digital Copy of the film will be included with each version. There are currently pre-order listings for the 4K UHD Blu-ray and Blu-ray Disc versions of the film over at retailer Best Buy. Best Buy will also be getting an exclusive Steelbook for the 4K release (pictured below) that is now available for pre-order.
Retailer Target will also be getting an exclusive 4K UHD Blu-ray release of the film in a limited edition 40-page book style packaging (pictured below). That exclusive 4K UHD Blu-ray book is available for pre-order as well over at Target. Lastly, stay tuned for any updates with further detailers regarding these releases.
RUMOR: “Field of Dreams” with Kevin Costner comes to 4K UHD Blu-ray in May
February 27, 2019 March 14, 2019 ~ Justin Sluss
It’s been rumored and it nears being confirmed that the 1989 film “Field of Dreams” starring Kevin Costner is getting a 4K UHD Blu-ray release on May 14th via Universal, according to an early alert to retailers. The film, directed by Phil Alden Robinson, co-starred James Earl Jones, Ray Liotta, Timothy Busfield, Amy Madigan, Gaby Hoffman, Frank Whaley, and Burt Lancaster. Tech specs and bonus materials have not at all yet been detailed for the 4K release. It is known that there will be an exclusive Steelbook for the 4K release available at retailer Best Buy (pictured above). That 4K steelbook and the standard 4K release both have placeholders over at Best Buy. The only other detail that seems to be obvious is that the release comes in the form of a “combo pack” with the Blu-ray of the film also included (as shown in the Steelbook art).
UPDATE: This 4K UHD Blu-ray release has now (as of 3/14) been officially announced and is now available for pre-order over at Amazon. You can read further details about the upcoming 4K releases of the film here.
RUMOR: “Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse” 4K UHD Blu-ray and Blu-ray March
January 29, 2019 ~ Justin Sluss
RUMOR: 2018 critically acclaimed film “Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse” is coming to both 4K UHD Blu-ray and Blu-ray Disc on March 19th via Sony, according to numerous retailer alerts. A lot of other sites are also reporting this, but the studio has not officially announced this title yet for home video release, so I’m considering it still a rumor (for now). That said, no info has been released yet regarding the tech specs or bonus materials set to be included on the 4K or Blu-ray releases. It is known, now from artwork, that both releases will come in the form of “combo pack” with the 4K getting a Blu-ray, the Blu-ray getting a DVD, and a Digital Copy of the film included with each.
There are pre-order listings now available for the 4K UHD Blu-ray and Blu-ray Disc over at Amazon, featuring artwork. Stay tuned for any updates on the release once the studio officially announces it. It is also known that retailer Best Buy will be getting an Exclusive Steelbook for only the Blu-ray version of the film, which you can find available for pre-order here.
RUMOR: “Aquaman” with Jason Momoa on 4K UHD Blu-ray and Blu-ray in March
January 6, 2019 January 6, 2019 ~ Justin Sluss
RUMOR: the DC Extended Universe film “Aquaman” starring Jason Momoa appears to be coming to both 4K UHD Blu-ray and Blu-ray Disc on (or around) March 26th via Warner. This comes from the placement amongst other upcoming titles on a certain retailer. The film, directed by James Wan, co-stars Amber Heard, Willem Dafoe, Patrick Wilson, Nicole Kidman, Dolph Lundgren, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Temuera Morrison, and Ludi Lin.
The tech specs and bonus materials for the releases have not at all been detailed, but stay tuned for a later update. It is known that both releases will come in the form of a “combo pack” with the 4K UHD Blu-ray getting a Blu-ray Disc included, the Blu-ray getting a DVD included, and both will include a Digital Copy of the film. Both the 4K UHD Blu-ray and Blu-ray of the film are now available for pre-order over at Amazon and Best Buy. Lastly, it is known that Best Buy will be getting an exclusive Steelbook for both versions of the film (on 4K and Blu-ray) which you can find pictured below.
Thanks to our own SpoilerFreeMike for finding this image on Reddit.
RUMOR: Disney’s “The Lion King” coming to 4K in December with a Steelbook
November 4, 2018 November 4, 2018 ~ Justin Sluss
RUMOR: The 1994 animated film “The Lion King” is coming to 4K UHD Blu-ray on December 4th via Disney, according to early alerts to retailers. This had been rumored before and now we are seeing signs it may be true, although the studio has yet to officially announce the release.
There is no info yet regarding technical specs or bonus materials set to be included on the 4K release, but it is known that it will come in the form of a “combo pack” with a Blu-ray Disc included and a Digital Copy of the film. The film on 4K UHD Blu-ray is available for PRE-ORDER now over at both Amazon and Best Buy – where the release date is listed. There’s also going to be a 4K Steelbook release Exclusive to Best Buy, which is also up for pre-order and pictured below.
RUMOR: “First Man” with Ryan Gosling is coming to 4K and Blu-ray in January
October 30, 2018 ~ Justin Sluss
RUMOR: The 2018 film “First Man” starring Ryan Gosling is apparently coming to 4K UHD Blu-ray and Blu-ray Disc on January 22nd, 2019 via Universal – according to an early alert to retailers. The film, directed by Damien Chazelle, co-stars Claire Foy, Jason Clarke, Kyle Chandler, Corey Stoll, Patrick Fugit, and Christopher Abbott. The tech specs and bonus materials for the releases have not yet been detailed, as this is just a rumor at this point, but stay tuned for updates. It is known (from the artwork) that the releases will come in the form of a “combo pack” with the 4K including a Blu-ray, the Blu-ray including a DVD, and both getting a Digital Copy of the film. PRE-ORDER listings are available for 4K UHD Blu-ray and Blu-ray over at Amazon and Best Buy. As with all rumors, take this with a “grain of salt” so-to-speak until the title is officially announced by the studio (Universal).
RUMOR: 2018 “Halloween” film coming to 4K UHD Blu-ray and Blu-ray in January
October 23, 2018 October 23, 2018 ~ Justin Sluss
RUMOR: Retailer Best Buy is showing that the 2018 “Halloween” film is coming to both 4K UHD Blu-ray and Blu-ray Disc on January 15th, 2019 via Universal. No further details yet, nor confirmation. Both releases will come in the form of a “combo pack” with the 4K getting a Blu-ray included, the Blu-ray getting a DVD included, and each receiving a Digital Copy of the film. Stay tuned for any further updates on this release. As with all rumors, take this only with a “grain of salt” so-to-speak until the title is officially announced by the studio. Lastly, it’s worth noting that PRE-ORDER listings are also available over at Amazon for both the 4K UHD Blu-ray and Blu-ray Disc.
RUMOR: 2018 horror film “The Nun” is coming to Blu-ray Disc in early December
The 2018 Corin Hardy directed horror film “The Nun“ is coming to Blu-ray Disc on December 4th via Warner, according to an early alert to retailers. The tech specs and bonus materials for the release have not yet been detailed, but stay tuned for an update. It is known that the release will come in the form of a “combo pack” with a DVD and Digital Copy of the film included. The PRE-ORDER listings are available over at Amazon and Best Buy – where the release date is listed.
UPDATE: This title has now officially been announced and more info can be found here.
“The Happytime Murders” with Melissa McCarthy comes to Blu-ray in November
September 5, 2018 September 5, 2018 ~ Justin Sluss
It seems that the 2018 Brian Henson directed film “The Happytime Murders“ is already slated for a Blu-ray Disc release on November 20th via Universal, according to an early alert to retailers. Tech specs and bonus materials for the release have not yet been detailed but stay tuned for updates, especially once the studio officially announces it and such. The release seems will be a “combo pack” with a DVD and Digital Copy of the film included. The Blu-ray is available for PRE-ORDER over at Amazon and Best Buy.
EDITORIAL NOTE: File this as a RUMOR, and specifically one under: “Wow that was quick!” It seems that perhaps the bad reviews from critics may be why this film, just released in late, late August (a week ago), is already slated for a home video release. If you don’t believe me, take a look at its current score over at Rotten Tomatoes and read a review snippet or two. It doesn’t seem to have been too well received by the critics, nor even totally audiences as its rating on Rotten Tomatoes (for audiences) and over at IMDb prove. This quick of a theatrical to home video turnaround is pretty rare. While this may be a rumor, I think the retailer indicating the release date is a dependable source and is very likely correct. Again, stay tuned for updates regarding this release.
Stephen King film “Maximum Overdrive” is definitely coming to Blu-ray in October
August 20, 2018 August 22, 2018 ~ Justin Sluss
The 1986 Stephen King written & directed film “Maximum Overdrive“ is officially coming to Blu-ray Disc on October 23rd via Vestron Video (distributed by Lionsgate). We now have yet another retailer listing it with cover art and details about the bonus materials set to be included.
UPDATE: The title has now officially been announced and we were spot-on accurate with the date. Tech specs for the release include full 1080p HD video in the 2.35:1 aspect ratio and DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio Stereo sound.
The title is now available for PRE-ORDER over at the following retailers: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Best Buy, and DiabolikDVD – where we find the cover art (pictured above) and the list of bonus materials set to be included on the “Collectors Series” release. Those bonus materials are listed below.
NEW: Audio Commentary with Writer Tony Magistrale, Author of Hollywood’s Steven King
NEW: Audio Commentary by Actor and Comedian Jonah Ray and Blumhouse Film Executive Ryan Turek
NEW: “Truck Stop Tales” Featurette – An Interview with Producer Martha De Laurentiis
NEW: “Rage Against the Machines” Featurette – An Interview with Actress Laura Harrington
NEW: “Honeymoon Horrors” Featurette – Interviews with Actor John Short and Actress Yeardley Smith
NEW: “Maximum Carnage” Featurette – An Interview with Make-Up Effects Creator Dean Gates
“A Kid in King’s Court” Featurette – An Interview with Actor Holter Graham
NEW: “The Wilmington Factor” Featurette – A Look Back at the Filming of Maximum Overdrive with Members of the Production Crew in North Carolina
NEW: “Who Made Who?” Featurette – An Interview with Murray Engleheart, Co-Author of AC/DC: Maximum Rock & Roll
NEW: “Goblin Resurrectus” Featurette – The Restoration of the Happy Toyz Golbin
Behind-the-Scenes Footage
As we had previously reported earlier this month in the form of a rumor that seemed to get more and more likely to be confirmed, it’s safe to say we can pretty much confirm this without even Lionsgate or Vestron Video themselves even announcing it, with as much as we have to go on now. Credit goes to our friend Dawn of the Discs for bringing this to my attention, from the point of the initial rumor, all the way up to now. The trailer for this release (on YouTube) can be found further below, after the break, along with the official announcement.
Continue reading “Stephen King film “Maximum Overdrive” is definitely coming to Blu-ray in October” →
RUMOR: 1979 Ridley Scott film “Alien” coming to 4K UHD Blu-ray early next year
August 14, 2018 ~ Justin Sluss
1979 Ridley Scott directed Sci-Fi classic “Alien” may come to 4K UHD Blu-ray early next year, according to fansite AvP Galaxy, which reports that a Czech retailer (FilmArena) has a listing already up for the film in a 4K UHD Blu-ray release, which I’ve confirmed, and you can see HERE for yourself. The release date that is listed over there is January 5th. However, that fansite is reporting that you can see this come out sometime around, or specifically April 26th 2019 – Alien Day. Regardless of which month next year it will be coming out, the film coming to 4K next year would definitely make sense, as in 2019 the film will be celebrating its 40th anniversary. So far, no retailers in the United States are listing the title on 4K for pre-order, yet. As with all RUMOR posts, take this with a “grain of salt” so-to-speak, and wait for an official announcement from the studio (Fox). Lastly, I’d like to give credit to our friends over at Bloody-Disgusting for first reporting this. Stay tuned for any further developments on this possible upcoming 4K release.
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The Moody Blues Headline 2018 Rock Hall Induction Ceremony
CLEVELAND, OH - APRIL 14: The Moody Blues perform during the 33rd Annual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at Public Auditorium on April 14, 2018 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images For The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame)
Rock Hall Of Fame Class Of 2018
Erica Banas // Rock Music Reporter April 15th, 2018
Out of all of the omissions from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, few were quite as glaring as The Moody Blues.
Eligible since 1990, fans have been clamoring for the prog icons induction for years, and last night (April 14), they finally got their due and closed out the induction ceremony.
Ann Wilson did the honors in presenting The Moody Blues, and it was a task that she campaigned for to the Rock Hall brass:
“I wrote a letter asking if I could induct them, because they were…When I was 16 and they released ‘Days of Future Passed’ in 1967, that was the album that really hit home in my soul, and I kept on listening. Their music had great melodies, fantastic poetry, great playing, philosophy, metaphysics. All of those things meant a lot to me then. Justin Hayward’s songwriting was the thing that inspired me to start writing songs. I just think they’re a fantastic band that has it all.”
The entire band was well aware of just how much their fans have wanted this honor for them with Justin Hayward saying the Rock Hall’s fan vote was a big reason why their induction became a reality:
“I think it’s validated the music that they love. They’ve given us a wonderful 50 years in music. They mean everything to us. We knew once they opened the door to our fans, it was going to be a steamroller and that they were going to take that opportunity.”
The Moodys capped their induction with a three-song set of their biggest hits: “I’m Just A Singer,” “Your Wildest Dreams” and, of course, “Nights In White Satin.”
There may not have been an all-star jam at the end of the ceremony like in years past, but in an induction year where the Rock Hall honored bands whose induction was long overdue, it’s fitting The Moody Blues closed out the night.
The 2018 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony airs May 5 at 8 PM EST/PST on HBO.
33rd Annual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony – Show
CLEVELAND, OH - APRIL 14: Inductees John Lodge and Justin Hayward of The Moody Blues perform 33rd Annual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at Public Auditorium on April 14, 2018 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images For The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame)
33rd Annual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony – Arrivals
CLEVELAND, OH - APRIL 14: Inductee Graeme Edge of The Moody Blues attends the 33rd Annual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at Public Auditorium on April 14, 2018 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images For The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame)
CLEVELAND, OH - APRIL 14: Inductee Justin Hayward of The Moody Blues attends the 33rd Annual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at Public Auditorium on April 14, 2018 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images For The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame)
CLEVELAND, OH - APRIL 14: John Lodge and Mike Pinder of The Moody Blues attend the 33rd Annual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at Public Auditorium on April 14, 2018 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images For The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame)
Erica Banas is a rock/classic rock blogger that loves the smell of old vinyl in the morning.
Rock Hall of Fame
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,The Moody Blues
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Laura Wellington
This author has written 2 articles
When Laura Wellington was 35 years old, she lost her husband to cancer after a three year battle. Left with four very young children to raise, two ailing businesses to turn around, and a life to put back together, Laura found her "New Day" in helping others get through their own difficult days.
Laura went on to launch The Wumblers, an education based television series and brand currently broadcasting in the United States and internationally. Laura launched The Wumblers in response to the tremendous sorrow and need she so personally related to from families who lost their own loved ones during the Tragedy of 911, just months earlier.
Since that time, The Wumblers have gone on to help a globe full of children learn the importance of "making the world a better place for ALL." Numerous broadcast partners coupled with the support of highly respected organizations, including the National Center For Youth Issues, Skywriter Media, and the National Watermelon Association of the United States have made Laura a recognized "Role Mom" and influential voice amongst parents and the media.
With each new day, Laura and her family continue to thrive. In 2010, they welcomed a new little brother, Austen.
For more information, please visit wumblers.com
LIFE” is found in helping others!
Today’s Brilliance from Laura Wellington
It is incredible to me how many fortunate people move through life confused, unhappy, and depressed. The "Woe is me!" attitude seems to run ramped in today's society. So many people would rather give up the privilege of truly living for the comfort of complacency and dissatisfaction. It takes effort to truly live, little more than the effort it takes to remain depressed. Yet so many choose the latter. I find this to be quite sad. When you watch a loved one fight for his life and then lose, that impression, and the wisdom that prevails, follows you for the…
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National Dems Rally Base Over Kavanaugh At Iowa Steak Fry
The Brett Kavanaugh hearing was the talk of the afternoon among the Democratic activists who braved the rain for this weekend’s Polk County Democrats Steak Fry. Party volunteers discussed their reactions to Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and Kavanaugh’s testimony as they intermingled with the Iowa and national politicians who gathered to speak.
The Iowa candidates barely mentioned the hearing when they addressed the crowd, preferring to stick to their usual stump speeches that focused on state issues. But the four national speakers who came in – Senator Jeff Merkley, Congressman John Delaney, Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal and former Obama adviser Alyssa Mastromonaco – blasted Kavanaugh’s nomination and rallied the attendees to work even harder in the final weeks as a way to oppose Donald Trump’s pick for the Supreme Court.
“No one who has ever abused women in that fashion should ever qualify for any office or any judgeship in the United States of America,” Merkley said in his speech. “There’s a lot of other reasons Brett Kavanaugh shouldn’t be serving. He has an imperial view of the presidency. He believes the president can never be investigated. In fact, can’t be indicted. In fact, can ignore the Constitution.”
Merkley found himself in a prominent role in opposing Trump’s last nominee, Neil Gorsuch. The Oregon senator held the Senate floor for 15 hours in the days leading up to a vote on Gorsuch, carrying out a quasi-filibuster to draw more attention to the nominee’s right-wing views and to denounce Republicans’ “theft” of a Supreme Court seat with the Merrick Garland saga.
This past week, Merkley filed a lawsuit to compel the Trump Administration to release 100,000 pages of documents relating to Kavanaugh, which would in theory delay the nomination. But if all these other efforts failed, Merkley pointed to November for the next option to push back.
“The Republicans have plotted for three decades to make the court into a vision that strikes down ‘We The People’ democracy and replaces it with ‘We The Powerful’ government,” Merkley said. “To counter that, we have to have a powerful blue wave of people-power like we have never seen before. And I think this year, right now, in this state, in this moment, in this next five weeks and three days, we have the opportunity to show how it’s done.”
Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal of Seattle also spent a portion of her speech addressing the nomination and what’s it meant to the social and political fabric of the country.
“If you’re like me, these past weeks have taken us to a new low,” Jayapal said. “The horror of a Supreme Court nomination that was being jammed through in the wake of sexual assault allegations from a remarkably courageous and compelling Dr. Christine Blasey Ford. The belligerent, petulant, entitled stonewalling of a nominee who showed his true colors, and even separate from the charges against him, does not have the temperament to be on the highest court of the land.”
But she also encouraged Democrats to not get discouraged, no matter how Kavanaugh’s nomination plays out. Jayapal pointed to how two women telling Senator Jeff Flake of their sexual assaults seemed to move the senator to insist on an FBI investigation, delaying the proceedings.
“Because of all that we have a temporary reprieve for a week,” Jayapal said. “It is a victory, and brother and sisters, we have to do everything to let that fill up our tired souls.”
One concern raised frequently among attendees and those at the podium was that Kavanaugh had essentially declared himself an enemy of Democrats at the hearing and would strike back when on the court.
“[Dr. Ford’s] bravery was met with the hysterical testimony by an unhinged man devoid of temperament required for a lifetime appointment to the most important and powerful court in the land,” Mastromonaco explained. “He shouted at senators and refused to answer simple questions, questions that could have had answered had a routine FBI investigation had been done.”
Delaney briefly touched on the Supreme Court at the start of his speech, arguing the past week’s events would be just one more motivating factor to get people out to the polls.
“In the last several weeks, the basic value of human decency when we’ve seen these courageous women step forward and tell their story,” Delaney said “In the context of a world where every 90 seconds someone is sexually assaulted. Every eight minutes, a child is sexually assaulted. 90% of them are women. To see these women have their stories doubted and the disbelief that’s gone around Washington has really been disturbing.”
The Iowa candidates largely steered away from the national conversation in their speeches, but Fred Hubbell and Rita Hart were asked by reporters about their reactions to the Kavanaugh developments.
“I think it just underscores how important sexual harassment is to the nation as a whole,” Hart, Democrats’ candidate for Lt. Governor said. “This is a truly important issue. We all need to be working as best we can here at a state level to make sure we are eliminating sexual harassment.”
Hubbell was asked about how State Senator Nate Boulton fit into all of that. Boulton withdrew from the governor’s race in May after allegations of sexual misconduct were reported on, but does not plan on leaving the Senate.
“If you’re a public official, you need to hold yourself to a higher standard,” Hubbell replied. “I think it would have been appropriate for Nate Boulton to resign from his senate seat. It’s not a Republican or Democratic issue. This is an issue for all Iowans. We need to have the same standard apply across the board for everyone. That kind of behavior is not acceptable and not tolerated, and public officials need to set that example.”
Posted in Democrats
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Billy Conn
William David Conn
The Pittsburgh Kid
Rated at
6 ft 1 1⁄2 in (187 cm)
72 1⁄2 in (184 cm)
(1917-10-08)October 8, 1917
May 29, 1993(1993-05-29) (aged 75)
Boxing record
Total fights
No contests
William David "Billy" Conn (October 8, 1917 – May 29, 1993) was an Irish American professional boxer and Light Heavyweight Champion famed for his fights with Joe Louis.[1] He had a professional boxing record of 63 wins, 11 losses and 1 draw, with 14 wins by knockout. His nickname, throughout most of his career, was "The Pittsburgh Kid."[2]
Conn debuted as a professional boxer winning on the 20th of July, 1934, against Johnny Lewis, via a knockout in round three.
Conn built a record of 47 wins, 9 losses and 1 draw (tie), with 7 knockout wins, before challenging for the World Light Heavyweight title. Along the way, he beat former or future world champions Fritzie Zivic, Solly Krieger and Fred Apostoli, as well as Teddy Yarosz and Young Corbett III.
On July 13, 1939, he met World Light Heavyweight Champion Melio Bettina in New York, outpointing him in 15 rounds and winning the World Light Heavyweight Championship. Conn defended his title against Bettina and twice against another World Light Heavyweight Champion, Gus Lesnevich, each of those three bouts resulting in 15 round decision wins for Conn. Conn also beat former World Middleweight Champion Al McCoy and heavyweights Bob Pastor, Lee Savold, Gunnar Barlund and Buddy Knox in non-title bouts during his run as World Light Heavyweight Champion.
Billy married Mary Louise Smith, also from Pittsburgh.[3] They have pictures of themselves at the vacation spot Ocean City, New Jersey. Billy did not get along with Mary's father, former MLB champion Jimmy "Greenfield Jimmie" Smith. A fight broke out between them in Smith's Squirrel Hill home on Beechwood Boulevard. Conn punched his father-in-law in the head and broke his hand. As a result of the injury, the fight with Joe Louis was postponed. Frank Deford wrote colorfully about the kitchen brawl in his Sports Illustrated story "The Boxer and the Blond".[4]
Joe Louis era
In May 1941, Conn gave up his World Light Heavyweight title to challenge World Heavyweight Champion Joe Louis. Conn attempted to become the first World Light Heavyweight Champion in boxing history to win the World Heavyweight Championship when he and Louis met on June 18 of that year, and incredibly, to do so without going up in weight. The fight became part of boxing's lore because Conn held a secure lead on the scorecards leading to round 13. According to many experts and fans who watched the fight, Conn was outmaneuvering Louis up to that point. In a move that Conn would regret for the rest of his life, he tried to go for the knockout in round 13, and instead wound up losing the fight by knockout in that same round himself. Ten minutes after the fight, Conn told reporters, "I lost my head and a million bucks."[5] When asked by a reporter why he went for the knockout, Conn replied famously, "What's the use of being Irish if you can't be thick [i.e. stupid]?" Later he would joke with Louis, "Why couldn't you let me hold the title for a year or so?", to which the Brown Bomber responded, "You had the title for twelve rounds and you couldn't hold on to it."
In 1942, Conn beat Tony Zale and had an exhibition with Louis. World War II was at one of its most important moments, however, and both Conn and Louis were called to serve in the Army. Conn went to war and was away from the ring until 1946.
By then, the public was clamoring for a rematch between him and the still World Heavyweight Champion Louis. This happened, and on June 19, 1946, Conn returned into the ring, straight into a World Heavyweight Championship bout. Before that fight, it was suggested to Louis that Conn might outpoint him because of his hand and foot speed. In a line that would be long-remembered, Louis replied: "He can run, but he can't hide." The fight, at Yankee Stadium, was the first televised World Heavyweight Championship bout ever, and 146,000 people watched it on TV, also setting a record for the most seen world heavyweight bout in history. Most people who saw it agreed that both Conn and Louis' abilities had eroded with their time spent serving in the armed forces, but Louis was able to retain the crown by a knockout in round eight. Conn's career was basically over after this fight, but he still fought two more fights, winning both by knockout in round nine. On December 10, 1948, he and Louis met inside a ring for the last time, this time for a public exhibition in Chicago. Conn would never climb into a ring as a fighter again. He also hung out with Jimmy Ray Devin, brother in law of famous 1954 army boxing champ James Travis Sr. (Boxing record 54-1-1) in Junction City Ks in the 1970 to 1980 era.
Retiring from the ring as a boxer did not mean retiring as a public figure for Conn. Conn, who appeared in a 1941 movie called The Pittsburgh Kid, maintained his boxing skills into his later years. He stepped into the middle of a robbery at a Pittsburgh convenience store in 1990 after the robber punched the store manager. Conn took a swing at the robber and ended up on the floor of the store, scuffling with him. "You always go with your best punch—straight left," Conn told television station WTAE afterward. "I think I interrupted his plans." The robber managed to get away, but not before Conn pulled off his coat, which contained his name and address, making the arrest an easy one. His wife said jumping into the fray was typical of her husband. "My instinct was to get help," she said at the time. "Billy's instinct was to fight."
Conn was a great friend of Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney.
As he became an older citizen, he participated in a number of documentaries for HBO and was frequently seen at boxing-related activities until his death in 1993, at the age of 75.
In 1995, Conn's picture appeared on the cover of British pop singer Morrissey's single "Boxers". The photo was taken from an issue of Ring magazine.
Conn is now a member, along with Louis and Zivic, of the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, New York.
Billy Conn Boulevard in Pittsburgh, PA
Billy Conn was mentioned in the 2006 Hollywood movie, The Black Dahlia.
A portion of North Craig Street in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh is named Billy Conn Boulevard.
Billy Conn is also mentioned in the classic movie On the Waterfront. In the famous scene in the back of the cab—"I could have been a contender." Rod Steiger (playing Marlon Brando's brother) reflects on Brando's character Terry's early promise as a boxer with the words "You could have been another Billy Conn."
London-based band The BibleCode Sundays released an EP of four songs in 2011 titled 'The Pittsburgh kid.' The title track is a tribute to Billy Conn.
Billy Conn is also mentioned in the 1966 Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau classic comedy movie The Fortune Cookie. In the apartment scene where Lemmon asks Boom Boom (Ron Rich) "Where'd you learn that? Don't tell me, your father was a Pullman porter", for which Boom Boom replies "He was a fighter, light heavyweight. Once went rounds with Billy Conn."
Billy Conn's first fight with Joe Louis is prominently discussed in chapter 42 of Eric Flint's novel 1636: The Eastern Front.
List of lineal boxing world champions
List of light heavyweight boxing champions
↑ "Ex-Fighter Billy Conn Dies at 75 : Boxing: He nearly defeated Joe Louis for the heavyweight championship in 1941, but decided to slug it out.". Articles.latimes.com. 1993-05-30. Retrieved 2016-03-31.
↑ "Billy Conn, 75, an Ex-Champion Famed for His Fights With Louis". NYTimes.com. 1993-05-30. Retrieved 2016-03-31.
↑ Keith, Ted (2015-03-06). "The Boxer And The Blonde: Billy Conn won the girl but lost the fight". SI.com. Retrieved 2016-03-31.
↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on July 30, 2010. Retrieved August 2, 2011.
↑ Current Biography 1941 pp165-166
Professional boxing record for Billy Conn from BoxRec
Billy Conn at Find a Grave
Billy Conn, 75, an Ex-Champion Famed for His Fights With Louis: May 30, 1993
Title last held by
John Henry Lewis NBA Light Heavyweight Champion
July 13, 1939 – June 5, 1940
Vacated Succeeded by
Anton Christoforidis
World Light Heavyweight Champion
Gus Lesnevich
Melio Bettina NYSAC Light Heavyweight Champion
July 13, 1939 - June 5, 1940
The Ring magazine Fighter of the Year
1928: Tunney
1929: Loughran
1930: Schmeling
1932: Sharkey
1933: No award
1934: Canzoneri & Ross
1935: Ross
1936: Louis
1937: Armstrong
1940: Conn
1942: Robinson
1943: Apostoli
1944: Jack
1945: Pep
1946: Zale
1947: Lesnevich
1948: Williams
1949: Charles
1952: Marciano
1953: Olson
1956: Patterson
1957: Basilio
1958: Johansson
1961: Brown
1962: Tiger
1963: Clay
1964: Griffith
1967: Frazier
1968: Benvenuti
1969: Nápoles
1972: Ali & Monzón
1973: Foreman
1974: Ali
1977: Zárate
1979: Leonard
1980: Hearns
1981: Leonard & Sánchez
1982: Holmes
1983: Hagler
1985: Hagler & Curry
1986: Tyson
1987: Holyfield
1989: Whitaker
1990: Chávez
1991: Toney
1992: Bowe
1993: Carbajal
1994: Jones, Jr.
1995: De La Hoya
1998: Mayweather, Jr.
1999: Ayala
2000: Trinidad
2001: Hopkins
2002: Forrest
2004: Johnson
2005: Hatton
2006: Pacquiao
2010: Martínez
2011: Ward
2012: Márquez
2013: Stevenson
2014: Kovalev
2015: Fury
Sugar Ray Robinson Award
1938: Dempsey
1943: Boxers of the Armed Forces
1944: B. Leonard
1945: Walker
1951: Walcott
1953: Gavilán
1958: Moore
1961: Fullmer
1964: Pastrano
1967: Ortíz
1968: Foster
1972: Monzón
1975: Ali & Frazier
1976: Davis, Jr., S. R. Leonard, Randolph, L. Spinks & M. Spinks
1977: Norton
1979: S. R. Leonard
1982: Pryor
1998: Mosley
2012: Donaire
2014: Crawford
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/19/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.
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Chief Executive, Liberal Democrats (Lib Dems Headquarters, London)
Originally published by UK Liberal Democrats
Closing Date: 12.00 noon, Friday 06 October 2017
The Chief Executive (who reports to the Party President while working very closely with the Leader) will have to build on the strengths of the enlarged party and House of Commons group, whilst dealing with the challenges that face any political party in the UK in the aftermath of the EU Referendum of 2016, a snap 2017 General Election and the threat of a possible further snap election in the near future.
We are looking for a highly organised, dynamic and confident individual, able to manage multiple priorities and work with a range of people at all levels both within and outside the Party.
They will bring energy and outstanding leadership to this crucial job, whilst recognising that the relationship with the Leader (for political leadership) and the President (line manager of the Chief Executive and the representative of all the members of the party) have a key role in the future of the party.
Salary: A competitive package will be negotiated with the chosen candidate.
Benefit: 8% Employer's Pension Contribution
Tenure: Permanent
Hours: Full time including evenings and weekends where required
Location: Liberal Democrat Headquarters, Westminster, London SW1
You are advised to read a complete job description before applying for this role.
Your application should include:
a current detailed CV; inc;uding details for two referees, one of whom should be your current or most recent employer
a letter of application with (a) a statement of suitability (drawing from the competencies listed in the job description) and (b) a vision for the role (drawing from the key objectives set out in the job description)
Please click here if you wish to apply for this position.
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MicroRNA-31 Identified as Possible Predictor for Crohn’s Disease Severity
by Vijaya Iyer
The levels of a molecule named microRNA-31 may serve as indicators of disease severity and progression in adults and children with Crohn’s disease (CD). “For such a clinically heterogenous [with diverse presentations] disease, this kind of molecular phenotyping [marking] is a major step towards personalization of medical therapy,” Shehzad Z. Sheikh, MD, PhD, co-author of the paper and associate professor of medicine and genetics at UNC School of Medicine said in a press release. The study, “Colonic epithelial miR-31 associates with the development of Crohn’s phenotypes,” was published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation Insights. The progression of CD, a chronic inflammatory condition of the gastrointestinal tract, varies from patient to patient, making it challenging to manage the disease. In this study, researchers used advanced molecular techniques to identify and validate biomarkers that could be used for the prognosis of CD. Short, non-encoding RNA sequences, called micro RNA (miR), are play a key role in epithelial cell (cells that line organs' surfaces) biology. Here, the researchers evaluated the association of one miR — the miR-31 — with CD intestinal inflammation. Colon tissues, epithelial cells and immune cells obtained from 18 adults with CD, and 12 controls with no history of inflammatory bowel disease, were analyzed. They also obtained samples from 76 pediatric CD patients who did not receive any treatment, and compared that data with 51 controls. To preserve the integrity of the
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Tagged Biomarker, Chron's disease, Crohn's disaese, microRNA-31, prognostic, University of North Carolina School of Medicine.
Previous: Crohn’s Links to Autoimmune Diseases
Next:Don’t Forget Your Flu Shot This Fall
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