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10 Common Misconceptions About Classical Education
Whether by families, teachers, or politicians, a lot of thought is put into education these days. Common questions we ask ourselves include, “How do children learn best?”, “What’s worth learning?,” “Where does technology fit into a child’s education?”
As everyone from the government to school administrators attempt to answer such questions, the topic of Classical Education has come up again and again. Once the go-to education for students everywhere, Classical Education experienced a rapid decline in the age of computers and in the face of things like the student-led classroom. But with 1,500 schools nationwide now describing themselves as “classical,” and even more homeschool families embracing it, it’s clear Classical Education is making a comeback.
And yet, Classical Education is more misunderstood than ever. Keep scrolling for 10 common misconceptions about Classical Education.
Common Misconception #1. Classical Education is all about religious doctrine.
It’s a very common misconception that Classical Education is all about religion. Such a misunderstanding likely stems from the fact that in our modern age, Christian schools have been the first to adopt all things classical. But true Classical Education is not dependent upon religious doctrine. Classical Education does, however, embrace and teach the Western Heritage, which by nature includes the story of the Bible. After all, how much of our history, artwork, literature, and music has been influenced by the Bible in some way? To ignore the stories of the Bible would be doing a disservice to any student learning about European history, classic literature such as King Arthur or The Chronicles of Narnia, or even myriad scientific discoveries. Religiously affiliated schools such as Catholic schools aside, most classical schools do not tell students what they should be believing when it comes to faith, religion, or the Bible.
Common Misconception #2. Classical Education is too dependent upon memorization, an outdated learning method.
Sometime around the late 1980s and early 1990s, memorization in the classroom became a bad thing. Instead, students were expected to figure out just why and how three times five equals fifteen. It’s no coincidence that around this same time, students’ success in higher levels of math began to decline. Because students were no longer required to memorize the most basic math facts, they were still focusing on what three times five produces when they were meant to be focusing on solving longer equations, dividing fractions, or figuring out the area of a triangle.
Classical students do not memorize simply to memorize — though the memorization of a poem certainly helps exercise the brain. Rather, they memorize the necessary facts, or building blocks, that will help them excel later in their academic career: simple addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts; major geographical capitals; Latin vocabulary, conjugations, and declensions, etc.
Common Misconception #3. Speaking of Latin, it’s a dead language. There is no point in learning it.
If you want to rile up an advocate of classical education, spout the common misconception that Latin is not worth learning because it’s a “dead language” (But is it? A law student might disagree). Of course, everyone learning and teaching Latin knows very well that one will never travel anywhere and speak Latin to the local people. But as they’ll be quick to tell you: that simply isn’t the point.
Learning Latin teaches the brain to think and organize unlike any other subject is able to do. Students, who are often as young as third grade when they begin, must memorize Latin nouns and verbs, and remember the six different endings of each. Not to mention, they must decide which of those endings to use based on whether the word is acting as a direct or indirect object, the subject, the verb, or something else altogether. Studies have shown that students who learn Latin outperform their non-Latin peers in everything from English grammar to science class. Mark Zuckerberg learned Latin as a child, something he credits for his later success as a web developer.
Common Misconception #4. Classical Education places too much of an emphasis on history.
As previously mentioned, the Western Heritage is an important part of a classical education. To understand ourselves, both as humans and as a society, it is vital we understand where we come from, and the mistakes made by those empires which came before. Thus, classically educated students learn about the lives and characters of significant historical figures. They read classic literature, some of which is centuries old. They learn the most influential Biblical stories, among other things here and there. Altogether, this emphasis on history serves two purposes:
1) To ensure students are historically literate. After all, “Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it.”
2) To serve as quality examples. Learning about Charlemagne, and the many ways in which he shaped the modern Europe, sets an example of good character for students.
Reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe or The Canterbury Tales illustrate different writing styles, both of which are celebrated. In every subject but history, these glimpses into the past are merely supplemental.
Common Misconception #5. There is not enough science taught.
In fact, true Classical Education places a very strong emphasis on the sciences. At one classical school in Louisville, Kentucky, fourth graders study insects, 5th graders birds and the history of medicine, and 6th graders trees and flowers. When these same students enter upper school, they take the more expected classes such as biology, chemistry, and physics. What sets these students apart from their non-classical peers, however, is that they’ve already been taught a respect for the natural sciences, which is consistent with Classical Education’s pursuit of “the good, the true, and the beautiful.”
Common Misconception #6. We live in a technological world, so students should be immersed in technology.
Whether they go to a classical school or a state-of-the-art public school, students are already immersed in technology. There are very few children in the United States who do not have access to computers, the internet, television, and a variety of other technological toys at home. But if students are immersed in technology both at school and at home, when do they learn to hold a pencil — a skill just as much about fine motor skills as it is about modern-day communication. Putting aside the fact that studies have proven children don’t learn as well from a computer screen, it is more important than ever that parents and educators realize that technology is constantly changing. What is brand new when a student begins Kindergarten is old and outdated by the time they progress to middle school. On the other hand, handwriting, arithmetic, a geographical awareness, and public speaking skills are timeless. Classical Education simply emphasizes those timeless elements of education, and leaves the rapidly changing technology up to life at home.
Common Misconception #7. Classical Education stifles a child’s creativity.
Younger students obtaining a classical education are oftentimes provided models by which they may compose their own creations. For example, a common assignment is to rewrite an excerpt from literature. These younger students are thereby learning how to be purposeful and creative, while also being encouraged to produce work of a high quality. When these students reach older grades, they have a solid foundation of the “rules” before they’re encouraged to break them.
Common Misconception #8. Classical Education curriculums seem to focus more on Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome than they do our own modern country.
Similar to Common Misconception #4, this typical misunderstanding stems from considering just one element of Classical Education. And since Classical Education is comprehensive, focusing on just one element or subject is bound to produce an inaccurate view.
As mentioned above, the study of great thinkers and empires which came before our current society is important. As philosopher George Santanya said, “Those who cannot remember the the past are condemned to repeat it.” Students who have already studied the rise and fall of Rome are sure to look at American history quite differently than the students who have no prior knowledge of empires or those classical thinkers who inspired our own Founding Fathers.
Common Misconception #9. There is no diversity in literature or other subjects taught.
Heidi isn’t too similar to King Arthur, we’d argue. Nor is Beowulf in the same boat as Shakespeare’s As You Like It. And yet, all four of these titles are very commonly taught in classical schools. Classical Education places an important emphasis on those books which have stood the test of time. They are meant to provide for students wonderful examples of story, character, and style. They are not meant to push a political point or fulfill a quota.
Common Misconception #10. Classical Education is outdated.
On the contrary, Classical Education is timeless! Great literature, beautiful music, the discoveries and accomplishments of the ancient Greeks and Romans, and critical thinking will never be outdated.
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Resources efficiency
18 Emerging Technologies and 180 Commercialized Technologies and Measures for Energy and Water Efficiency, and GHG Emissions Reduction in the Textile Industry
The textile industry uses large amounts of electricity, fuel, and water, with corresponding greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) and contaminated effluent. With regard to energy use, the textile industry’s share of fuel and electricity use within the total final energy use of any one country depends on the structure of the textile industry in that country. For instance, electricity is the dominant energy source for yarn spinning whereas fuels are the major energy source for textile wet processing.
In addition to using substantial energy, textile manufacturing uses a large amount of water, particularly for wet processing of materials, and produces a significant volume of contaminated effluent. Conserving water and mitigating water pollution will also be part of the industry’s strategy to make its production processes more environmentally friendly, particularly in parts of the world where water is scarce.
In 2016, the world’s population was 7.4 billion; this number is expected to grow to 9.5 billion by 2050. The bulk of this growth will take place in underdeveloped and developing countries. As the economy in these countries improves, residents will have more purchasing power; as a result, per-capita consumption of goods, including textiles, will increase. In short, future population and economic growth will stimulate rapid increases in textile production and consumption, which, in turn, will drive significant increases in the textile industry’s absolute energy use, water use, and carbon dioxide (CO2) and other environmentally harmful emissions.
Having the higher education background in both textile technology engineering and energy efficiency technologies, I wrote a report on commercially available energy-efficiency technologies and measures for the textile industry several years ago. This report included a review of over 180 commercialized energy efficiency technologies and measures for the textile industry based on case-studies around the world. In addition to conserving energy, some of the technologies and measures presented also conserve water. The report can be downloaded from this Link (Hasanbeigi 2010).
Several other reports also document the application of commercialized technologies. However, today, given the projected continuing increase in absolute textile production, future reductions (e.g., by 2030 or 2050) in absolute energy use and CO2 emissions will require further innovation in this industry. Innovations will likely include development of different processes and materials for textile production or technologies that can economically capture and store the industry’s CO2 emissions. The development of these emerging technologies and their deployment in the market will be a key factor in the textile industry’s mid- and long-term climate change mitigation strategies.
However, information is scarce and scattered regarding emerging or advanced energy-efficiency and low-carbon technologies for the textile industry that have not yet been commercialized. That was why a few years ago, I wrote another report that consolidated available information on 18 emerging technologies for the textile industry with the goal of giving engineers, researchers, investors, textile companies, policy makers, and other interested parties easy access to a well-structured database of information on this topic. Table below shows the list of the technologies covered.
Table. Emerging energy-efficiency, water efficiency, and GHG emissions reduction technologies for the textile industry (Hasanbeigi 2013)
A few years ago when I conducted several day-long training on energy efficiency in the textile industry for hundreds of engineers and manager of textile companies in China, one major feedback we received, which did not surprise me, was that they did not know about most of the commercialized and emerging technologies we introduced. Engineers and manager are busy with day-to-day routine which rarely involves energy efficiency improvement.
This report is published on LBNL’s website and can be downloaded from this Link (Hasanbeigi 2013). Please feel free to contact me if you have any question.
Also, you can check out the Energy Efficiency Assessment and Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Tool for the Textile Industry (EAGER Textile), which we developed a few years ago. EAGER Textile tool allows users to conduct a simple techno-economic analysis to evaluate the impact of selected energy efficiency measures in a textile plant by choosing the measures that they would likely introduce in a facility, or would like to evaluate for potential use.
1. Hasanbeigi, Ali; Price, Lynn; (2015). A Technical Review of Emerging Technologies for Energy and Water Efficiency and Pollution Reduction in the Textile Industry. Journal of Cleaner Production. DOI 10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.02.079.
2. Hasanbeigi, Ali; Hasanabadi, Abdollah; Abdolrazaghi, Mohamad, (2012). Energy Intensity Analysis for Five Major Sub-Sectors of the Textile Industry. Journal of Cleaner Production 23 (2012) 186-194
3. Hasanbeigi, Ali; Price, Lynn (2012). A Review of Energy Use and Energy Efficiency Technologies for the Textile Industry. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 16 (2012) 3648– 3665.
· Hasanbeigi, Ali (2013). Emerging Technologies for an Energy-Efficient, Water-Efficient, and Low-Pollution Textile Industry. Berkeley, CA: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. LBNL-6510E
· Hasanbeigi, Ali, (2010). Energy Efficiency Improvement Opportunities for the Textile Industry. Berkeley, CA: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. LBNL-3970E
Tagged: Energy efficiency, Energy conservation, Emerging technology, Energy saving, Demand side management, Resources efficiency, Demand Response, Textile industry, Spinning industry, Weaving plants, Dyeing and finishing, Yarn, Fabric, Man-made fibers, Nonwoven, Cloth, Green manufacturing, Green fashion, Sustainable textile, Sustainable cloth, Water efficiency, Sustainability, climate change, CO2 emissions reduction, Smart manufacturing, GHG emissions reduction, Utility, alternative materials, steam system, system optimization, China, India, Turkey, Pakistan, Europe, Taiwan, Bangladesh, Asia, Green Industry, Water conservation, Fiber, Efficient drying
Iron and steel manufacturing is one of the most energy-intensive industries worldwide. In addition, use of coal as the primary fuel for iron and steel production means that iron and steel production has among the highest carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions of any industry. According to the International Energy Agency, the iron and steel industry accounts for the largest share – approximately 27 percent – of CO2 emissions from the global manufacturing sector.
Figure 1: World steel production in 2015 by countries and regions (worldsteel 2016)
China accounts for around half of the world’s steel production. Annual world steel demand is expected to grow from approximately 1,410 million tonnes (Mt) of crude steel in 2010 to approximately 2,200 Mt in 2050. The bulk of this growth will take place in China, India, and other developing countries in Asia (Bellevrat and Menanteau 2008). This significant increase in steel consumption and production will drive a significant increase in the industry’s absolute energy use and CO2 emissions.
Studies have documented the potential to save energy by implementing commercially-available energy-efficiency technologies and measures in the iron and steel industry worldwide. However, today, given the projected continuing increase in absolute steel production, future reductions (e.g., by 2030 or 2050) in absolute energy use and CO2 emissions will require further innovation in this industry. Innovations will likely include development of different processes and materials for steel production or technologies that can economically capture and store the industry’s CO2 emissions. The development of these emerging technologies and their deployment in the market will be a key factor in the iron and steel industry’s mid- and long-term climate change mitigation strategies.
Many studies from around the world have identified sector-specific and cross- energy-efficiency technologies for the iron and steel industry that have already been commercialized (See figure below). However, information is scarce and scattered regarding emerging or advanced energy-efficiency and low-carbon technologies for the steel industry that have not yet been commercialized.
Figure 2: Commercialized energy efficiency technologies and measures for iron and steel industry (Source: IIP, 2012)
My colleagues at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and I wrote a report that consolidated available information on emerging technologies for the iron and steel industry with the goal of giving engineers, researchers, investors, steel companies, policy makers, and other interested parties easy access to a well-structured database of information on this topic.
The information about the 56 emerging technologies for the steel industry was covered in the report and was presented using a standard structure for each technology. Table below shows the list of the technologies covered.
Table 1. Emerging energy-efficiency and CO2 emissions-reduction technologies for the iron and steel industry (Hasanbeigi et al. 2013)
Hasanbeigi, Ali; Arens, Marlene; Rojas-Cardenas, Jose; Price, Lynn; Triolo, Ryan. (2016). Comparison of Carbon Dioxide Emissions Intensity of Steel Industry in China, Germany, Mexico, and the United States. Resources, Conservation and Recycling. Volume 113, October 2016, Pages 127–139
Zhang, Qi; Hasanbeigi, Ali; Price, Lynn; Lu, Hongyou; Arens, Marlen (2016). A Bottom-up Energy Efficiency Improvement Roadmap for China’s Iron and Steel Industry up to 2050. Berkeley, CA: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. LBNL- 1006356
Morrow, William; Hasanbeigi, Ali; Sathaye, Jayant; Xu, Tengfang. 2014. Assessment of Energy Efficiency Improvement and CO2 Emission Reduction Potentials in India’s Cement and Iron & Steel Industries. Journal of Cleaner Production. Volume 65, 15 February 2014, Pages 131–141
Hasanbeigi, Ali; Price, Lynn, Aden, Nathaniel; Zhang Chunxia; Li Xiuping; Shangguan Fangqin. 2014. Comparison of Iron and Steel Production Energy Use and Energy Intensity in China and the U.S. Journal of Cleaner Production, Volume 65, 15 February 2014, Pages 108–119
Hasanbeigi, Ali; Morrow, William; Sathaye, Jayant; Masanet, Eric; Xu, Tengfang. (2013). A Bottom-Up Model to Estimate the Energy Efficiency Improvement and CO2 Emission Reduction Potentials in the Chinese Iron and Steel Industry. Energy, Volume 50, 1 February 2013, Pages 315-325
Hasanbeigi, A., Price, L., Aden, N., Zhang C., Li X., Shangguan F. 2011. A Comparison of Iron and Steel Production Energy Use and Energy Intensity in China and the U.S. Berkeley CA: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Report LBNL-4836E.
Bellevrat, E., P. Menanteau. 2008. “Introducing carbon constraint in the steel sector: ULCOS scenarios and economic modeling.” Proceedings of the 4th Ulcos seminar, 1-2 October.
Hasanbeigi, Ali; Arens, Marlene; Price, Lynn; (2013). Emerging Energy Efficiency and CO2 Emissions Reduction Technologies for the Iron and Steel Industry. Berkeley, CA: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory BNL-6106E.
Institute for Industrial Productivity. 2012. Iron and Steel technologies http://ietd.iipnetwork.org/content/iron-and-steel
worldsteel Association. 2016. World steel in figures.
Tagged: Iron and steel industry, iron making, Basic Oxygen Furnace, Blast Furnace, carbon capture and storage, manufacturing, Smart manufacturing, alternative materials, Demand side management, Sustainability, CO2 emissions reduction, Energy efficiency, Green manufacturing, Resources efficiency, Electric Arc Furnace, GHG emissions reduction, Emerging technology, Energy saving, Energy conservation, Utility, system optimization
Structural Change in Chinese Steel Industry and Its Impact on Energy Use and GHG Emissions up to 2030
Production of iron and steel is an energy-intensive and air polluting manufacturing process. In 2014, the iron and steel industry accounted for around 28 percent of primary energy consumption of Chinese manufacturing (NBS 2015a). Steel production in 2015 was 804 Mt (worldsteel, 2016), representing 49.5% of the world production that year (Figure 1).
Figure 1. China’s Crude Steel Production and Share of Global Production (1990-2015) (EBCISIY, various years; NBS, 2015b, worldsteel 2016)
China is a developing country and the iron and steel industry, as a pillar industry for Chinese economic development, has grown rapidly along with the national economy. The average annual growth rate of crude steel production was around 18% between 2000 and 2010. China’s steel production in 2014 consumed around 580 TWh of electricity and 18,013 PJ of fuel (NBS 2015a).
The promotion and application of energy-saving technologies has become an important step for increasing energy efficiency and reducing energy consumption of steel enterprises, especially during the 11th Five Year Plan (FYP) (2006-2010) and 12th FYP (2011-2015). During this time, energy-efficiency technologies adopted in China’s steel industry included: Coke Dry Quenching (CDQ), Top-pressure Recovery Turbine (TRT), recycling converter gas, continuous casting, slab hot charging and hot delivery, Coal Moisture Control (CMC), and recycling waste heat from sintering. The penetration level of energy-efficiency technologies in the steel industry has improved greatly in China, improving its energy efficiency and emissions reductions (Hasanbeigi et al. 2011).
Couple of years ago, my colleagues and I conducted a study that aimed to analyze influential factors that affected the energy use of steel industry in the past in order to quantify the likely effect of those factors in the future. For the first time, we developed a decomposition analysis method that can be used for the steel industry to analyze the effect of different factors including structural change on energy use of the steel industry.
The factors we analyzed were:
Activity: Represents the total crude steel production.
Structure: Represents the activity share of each process route (Blast Furnace/Basic Oxygen Furnace (BF-BOF) or Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) route).
Pig iron ratio: The ratio of pig iron used as feedstock in each process route. This is especially important for the EAF process because the higher the pig iron ratio in the feedstock of the EAF, the higher the energy intensity of EAF steel production.
Energy intensity: Represents energy use per ton of crude steel
In that study, a bottom-up analysis of the energy use of key medium- and large-sized Chinese steel enterprises (which account for around 85% of steel production in China) was performed using data at the process level. Both retrospective and prospective analyses were conducted in order to assess the impact of factors that influence the energy use of the steel industry in the past and estimate the likely impact in the future up to 2030.
Three scenarios were developed as follows:
o Scenario 1: Low scrap usage: the share of EAF steel production grows slower and the pig iron feed ratio in EAF drops slower than other scenarios
o Scenario 2: Medium scrap usage: the rate of growth in the share of EAF steel production and the drop in the pig iron feed ratio in EAF production is medium (between scenario 1 and 3)
o Scenario 3: High scrap usage: the share of EAF steel production grows faster and the pig iron feed ratio in EAF production drops faster than other scenarios.
Figure 2 shows the energy intensities calculated for different steel production route up 2030
Figure 2. Final energy intensities calculated for key medium- and large-sized Chinese steel enterprises (2000-2030)
The results of our analysis showed that although total annual crude steel production of key Chinese steel enterprises (and most likely entire Chinese steel industry) is assumed to peak in 2030 under all scenarios, total final energy use of the key Chinese steel enterprises (and most likely the entire Chinese steel industry) peaks earlier, i.e. in year 2020 under low and medium steel scrap usage scenarios and in 2015 under high scrap usage scenario (Figure 3).
Figure 3. Total final energy use in key medium- and large-sized Chinese steel enterprises under each scenario (2000-2030)
Energy intensity reduction of the production processes and structural shift from Blast Furnace/Basic Oxygen Furnace (BF-BOF) to Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) steel production plays the most significant role in the final energy use reduction. The decomposition analysis results showed what contributed to the reduction in the final energy use and its peak under each scenario. Figure 4 shows an example of results for Medium scrap usage scenario.
The three scenarios produced for the forward looking decomposition analysis up to 2030 showed the structural effect is negative (i.e. reducing the final energy use) during 2010-2030 because of the increase in the EAF share of steel production in this period. Similarly, the pig iron ratio effect reduces the final energy use of key steel enterprises because of reduction in the share of pig iron used as feedstock in EAF steel production during this period. High scrap usage scenario had the largest structural effect and pig iron ratio effect because of higher EAF steel production and lower pig iron use in EAFs in this scenario.
Figure 4. Medium scrap usage scenario: Results of prospective decomposition of final energy use of key medium- and large-sized Chinese steel enterprises up to 2030
The intensity effect also played a significant role in reducing final energy use of steel manufacturing during 2010-2030. This is primarily because of the energy intensity assumptions for production processes in 2020 and 2030. While the realization of such energy intensity reduction is uncertain and remains to be seen in the future, the aggressive policies by the Chinese government to reduce the energy use per unit of product of the energy intensive sectors, especially the steel sector, are a promising sign that the Chinese steel industry is moving towards those energy intensity targets. The “Top-10,000 Enterprises Energy Saving Program” and the “10 Key Energy Saving Projects Program” along with other policies and incentives in the coming years will significantly help to reduce the energy intensity of the steel industry in China.
More details of our analysis and results are presented in our report that is published on LBNL’s website and can be downloaded from this Link.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any question. Don't forget to follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to get the latest about our new blog posts, projects, and publications.
Editorial Board of China Iron and Steel Industry Yearbook (EBCISIY). Various years. China Iron and Steel Industry Yearbook. Beijing, China (in Chinese).
NBS. 2015a. China Energy Statistics Yearbook 2015. Beijing: China Statistics Press.
NBS. 2015b. China Statistical Yearbook 2015. Beijing: China Statistics Press.
World Steel Association (worldsteel). 2016. Steel Statistical Yearbook 2016.
Tagged: Energy efficiency, Emerging technology, energy conservation, Energy saving, Resources efficiency, manufacturing, Iron and steel industry, steel making, iron making, Blast Furnace, Basic Oxygen Furnace, Electric Arc Furnace, China, Sustainability, CO2 emissions reduction, climate change, Green manufacturing, Smart manufacturing, GHG emissions reduction, Utility
The cement industry accounts for approximately 5 percent of current anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions worldwide (WBCSD/IEA 2009a). World cement demand and production are increasing; annual world cement production is expected to grow from approximately 4,100 million tonnes (Mt) in 2015 to around 4,800 Mt in 2030 and grow even further after that. The largest share of this growth will take place in developing countries, especially in the Asian continent. This significant increase in cement production is associated with a significant increase in the cement industry’s absolute energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions..
Figure 1. Global cement production from 1990 to 2030
Studies have documented the potential to save energy by implementing commercially-available energy-efficiency technologies and measures in the cement industry worldwide. However, today, given the projected continuing increase in absolute cement production, future reductions (e.g., by 2030 or 2050) in absolute energy use and CO2 emissions will require further innovation in this industry. Innovations will likely include development of different processes and materials for cement production or technologies that can economically capture and store the industry’s CO2 emissions. The development of these emerging technologies and their deployment in the market will be a key factor in the cement industry’s mid- and long-term climate change mitigation strategies.
Many studies from around the world have identified commercialized sector-specific and cross- energy-efficiency technologies for the cement industry that have already been (See figure below).
Figure 2. Commercialized energy efficiency technologies and measures for cement production process (Source: IIP, 2017)
However, information is scarce and scattered regarding emerging energy-efficiency and low-carbon technologies for the cement industry that have not yet been commercialized.
A few years ago, while I was working at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, my colleagues and I wrote a report that consolidated available information on emerging technologies for the cement industry with the goal of giving engineers, researchers, investors, cement companies, policy makers, and other interested parties easy access to a well-structured database of information on this topic.
The information about the 19 emerging technologies covered in the report and was presented using a standard structure for each technology. Table below shows the list of the technologies covered.
Table 1. Emerging energy-efficiency and CO2 emissions-reduction technologies for cement and concrete production (Hasanbeigi et al. 2012)
Our report is published on LBNL’s website and can be downloaded from this Link. Please feel free to contact me if you have any question. Don't forget to follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to get the latest about our new blog posts, projects, and publications.
Hasanbeigi, Ali; Agnes Lobscheid; Hongyou, Lu; Price, Lynn; Yue Dai (2013). Quantifying the Co-benefits of Energy-Efficiency Programs: A Case-study for the Cement Industry in Shandong Province, China. Science of the Total Environment. Volumes 458–460, 1 August 2013, Pages 624-636.
Hasanbeigi, Ali; Morrow, William; Masanet, Eric; Sathaye, Jayant; Xu, Tengfang. 2013. Energy Efficiency Improvement Opportunities in the Cement Industry in China. Energy Policy Volume 57, June 2013, Pages 287–297
Hasanbeigi, Ali; Menke, Christoph; Therdyothin, Apichit (2010). Technical and Cost Assessment of Energy Efficiency Improvement and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Potentials in Thai Cement Industry. Energy Efficiency. DOI 10.1007/s12053-010-9079-1
Hasanbeigi, Ali; Menke, Christoph; Therdyothin, Apichit (2010). The Use of Conservation Supply Curves in Energy Policy and Economic Analysis: the Case Study of Thai Cement Industry. Energy Policy 38 (2010) 392–405
Hasanbeigi, Ali; Price, Lynn; Hongyou, Lu; Lan, Wang (2010). Analysis of Energy-Efficiency Opportunities for the Cement Industry in Shandong Province, China: A Case-Study of Sixteen Cement Plants. Energy-the International Journal 35 (2010) 3461-3473.
Hasanbeigi, Ali; Price, Lynn; Lin, Elina. (2012). Emerging Energy Efficiency and CO2 Emissions Reduction Technologies for Cement and Concrete Production. Berkeley, CA: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory LBNL-5434E.
Institute for Industrial Productivity, 2012. Cement energy efficiency technologies.
World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)/International Energy Agency (IEA). 2009a. Cement Technology Roadmap 2009 - Carbon emissions reductions up to 2050.
World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)/International Energy Agency (IEA). 2009b. Cement roadmap targets.
Tagged: Energy efficiency, energy conservation, Energy saving, Green manufacturing, Demand side management, Cement industry, GHG emissions reduction, CO2 emissions reduction, Emerging technology, Manufacturing, Concrete production, Resources efficiency, alternative materials, carbon capture, carbon capture and storage
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Top Five Reasons Your Company Needs VMware Horizon View 5.2
Rebecca Fitzhugh
With the growth of bring your own device (BYOD) and mobility, users are increasingly asking for computing anywhere from any device at any time. Users now expect productivity on the go with a desktop that can be freely accessed and secure. We're no longer a society that sits at a desk to be productive. The VMware Horizon Suite allows the datacenter administrators to satisfy the accelerated mobility needs of the workforce while still maintaining an IT solution that is easily managed and secure.
VMware Horizon View is a universal client solution that enables users to access their desktops, data, and applications as they've come to expect - anywhere, anytime, and from any device. With the advent of the personal computer, the IT group lost control of desktop computing, and now it's time to seize control of the end user computer again and move it back into the datacenter. VMware Horizon View provides this opportunity. With VMware Horizon View, users get an individualized view of their applications and data on any device of their choosing; virtual desktops do not need the complexity, power, or operational expenses like physical desktops. Data and applications are secure in the datacenter with logical and physical security, plus administrators can quickly respond to application demands, provisioning more resources as needed. Horizon View can provision additional desktops without administrator intervention, reducing manual tasks associated with provisioning for additional capacity and new users. Virtual machines (VMs) are easy to copy, simplifying business continuity planning and disaster recovery. Thin clients consume approximately ten percent of the actual power consumption of a physical desktop. There are five top reasons why your company needs VMware Horizon View 5.2:
- New, advanced hardware support focused on VDI
- Simplified bring your own device (BYOD) solutions
- Tight integration with the VMware Horizon Suite
- New and improved VMware Horizon View 5.2 features
- Market projections
This white paper will cover these top five reasons why a company needs VMware Horizon View 5.2 and some considerations for each point. This paper assumes that the reader has some technical experience with virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) and VMware Horizon View.
5. New Advanced Hardware Support Focused on VDI
Flash-based storage
The adoption of VDI is prompting a change in the way we build and manage our storage systems. Many organizations, though supporting the idea of VDI integration, have failed to implement this technology, primarily because of performance and cost concerns. The root cause of many VDI deployment failures is storage. Storage systems can be put under extreme stress when trying to fulfill the data requests of hundreds or potentially thousands of virtual desktops. A driving factor for VDI performance is the number of input/output operations per second (IOPS) that the storage system can execute. Slow I/O will cause poor response times and, more importantly, user complaints. Legacy, disk-based storage was not designed to keep up with the economic and performance challenges of a modern VDI deployment; matching the IOPS of a physical desktop with a virtual datacenter has been one of the major roadblocks to VDI adoption.
The larger storage vendors are addressing the IOPS issue by adapting their current systems with the addition of solid-state drives (SSDs), used for caching, to take care of the I/O operations while still using traditional spindle disks for capacity on the back-end. As flash storage becomes more commonplace, VDI has become a more attractive solution for many organizations. Flash storage provides better performance with consistently low latency and also delivers other features like compression and inline de-duplication, both of which can help lower the cost. Not only are the larger vendors addressing VDI issues, but also there has been a surge of new storage systems: many start-ups that target VDI and other high-IOPS environments. Most of these consist of appliances storage and servers using flash, packaged usually as all-SSD or hybrid SSD, and traditional spindle-based hard drive boxes. These packages are paired with software and operating systems (OSs) that make data processing as efficient as possible to get the most performance out of the spindles.
GPU advancements
In recent history, there have been major advancements with graphics processing units (GPUs) and this is being integrated by VMware to add full hardware graphics acceleration to their VDI products. There are two main ways that this is being implemented. First, the individual desktop VMs are now able to access shared GPUs in the VDI servers, allowing users to run applications that require GPUs (such as CAD, 3-D modeling, etc.). This allows multiple users to share common hardware and ensures that VMs running on a single server can now economically support a higher consolidation of users and desktops while providing native graphics and GPU computing performance. Secondly, the NVIDIA VGX GPU hypervisor is a software layer that can integrate into a commercially available hypervisor, which effectively enables access to virtualized GPU resources. This leverages GPUs in VDI servers to do hardware-based encoding of the graphics streams for the remote protocols. The upshot is that there is now the ability to have high-quality graphics over a lower bandwidth connection without creating an enormous CPU load on the server, since the GPUs can handle graphical computations.
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Home :: Military :: Library :: News :: 2018 :: August ::
The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today's noon briefing by Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General.
Earlier today, we issued the following statement on the attack on an education centre in Kabul:
The Secretary-General condemns in the strongest terms the suicide attack yesterday on an education centre in Kabul. According to reports, many of the victims at the co-educational facility were students under the age of 18. Those responsible for this heinous attack must be held accountable. The targeting of civilians, in particular children, is unacceptable. The Secretary-General conveys his deepest sympathies to the Government of Afghanistan and condolences to the families of the victims and wishes a swift recovery to the injured.
Last night, we issued a statement in which the Secretary-General conveyed his condolences to the families who have suffered from the recent Taliban attacks in Ghazni:
The Secretary-General stresses the urgent need for an immediate ceasefire and the opening of talks between the parties to the conflict to negotiate a sustainable peace. The targeting of civilians and of civilian facilities are clear violations of international humanitarian law. The warring parties must do everything feasible to ensure that no civilians are further killed or injured by the fighting and must allow and facilitate rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian assistance so that it can reach Ghazni. The Secretary-General once again stresses that there can be no military solution to the conflict in Afghanistan and urgently calls for a peaceful settlement of the conflict in the interest of building a more stable and prosperous future for all Afghans.
**Gaza
In a statement we issued yesterday afternoon, the Secretary-General welcomed the Israeli decision to reopen the Kerem Shalom crossing to its full operating capacity and to expand the fishing zone off the coast of Gaza. He is encouraged to see that those concerned have responded to calls to avoid the devastating impact of yet another conflict on the civilian population in and around Gaza. The Secretary-General calls on all parties to support the efforts of UN Special Coordinator Nickolay Mladenov and Egypt to avoid an escalation and address all humanitarian issues in Gaza and the return of the Palestinian Authority to Gaza.
**United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees
The Commissioner-General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Pierre Krähenbühl, today announced in Amman that the school-year for 526,000 Palestine refugee girls and boys will open on time in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. Mr. Krähenbühl also underlined the ongoing severe risks facing the Agency, saying that UNRWA is by no stretch of the imagination out of the woods. Since January 2018, he said, UNRWA has mobilized $238 million of additional funding, which is very encouraging. However, the Agency currently only has funding to run its services until the end of September, and it needs a further $217 million to ensure that the schools can be run until the end of the year.
Mr. Krähenbühl confirmed that UNRWA will take ongoing robust measures to safeguard the financial situation of the Agency, focusing on reform initiatives and the identification of efficiencies. He reaffirmed the Agency's deep commitment to preserving the dignity of Palestine refugees, its services and its important mandate.
**Syria
The United Nations is concerned about the safety and protection of civilians in Syria's rural Deir Ezzour Governorate, where fighting in Hajin and Dashisha has reportedly displaced more than 20,000 people since July. Internally displaced people have reportedly settled in makeshift camps in the Governorate and are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.
While humanitarian organizations are able to access some displacement camps, other camps have yet to receive humanitarian assistance. About 10 international non-governmental organizations and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent are providing assistance, including food, hygiene, health, cash, early recovery and protection services, in the different areas hosting displaced people. The UN continues to call on all parties to ensure safe access for humanitarian aid workers to reach people in need and to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure in line with international humanitarian and human rights law.
**Mali
In Mali, the UN Mission there, MINUSMA, reports that the provisional results of the run-off of the 2018 presidential election were published by the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralization this morning. The incumbent, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, came first with 67.17% while his main challenger, Soumaïla Cissé, obtained 32.83%. Voter turnout stands at 34.54%. Pursuant to the law, the final results will be published by 20 August by the Constitutional Court.
The international community stands with Malians across the political spectrum who are working together to advance democracy, build prosperity, and strengthen governance and security in their country. The UN Mission in Mali will continue to work with the elected Government of Mali for lasting peace and security throughout the country. I also want to flag that yesterday the Secretary-General spoke by phone with both Ibrahim Boubacar Keita and Soumaïla Cissé.
**Democratic Republic of the Congo - Ebola
And I just wanted to flag the work of the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, MONUSCO, regarding the Ebola outbreak in the North Kivu province. Our peacekeeping colleagues tell us that the UN Mission is providing logistical support to the Ministry of Health and its partners in order to facilitate operations on the ground.
In Beni, an emergency operations centre is being established in MONUSCO facilities to host the personnel from the Ministry of Health and other partners leading the response. The Mission has also provided containers to the World Health Organization (WHO) for use as storage. Over the past week, the Mission has flown 30 experts dispatched by WHO to Goma and Beni, as well as seven tons of cargo, including medical personal protective equipment from the capital, Kinshasa, to Beni. MONUSCO has also moved three ambulances from Kinshasa to Goma by air, and onward by road to Beni. In addition, the MONUSCO Force is ensuring security for humanitarian workers deployed in the affected areas.
**Bosnia and Herzegovina
The Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Adama Dieng, said he was concerned by the recent decision by the Republika Srpska National Assembly to revoke its endorsement of the 2004 Srebrenica Commission report.
Mr. Dieng said that the rejection of the Commission's findings is a step backwards for Bosnia and Herzegovina. It undermines the rule of law and national and international efforts to achieve justice for victims of crimes committed against people of all ethnicities during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war. In addition, he said that, given the timing of this decision, it is likely to exacerbate tensions ahead of the 7 October elections and damage prospects for long-term stability and reconciliation. Mr. Dieng's full statement is online and in our office.
**Central America
According to a UNICEF [United Nations Children's Fund] report released today, children in Central America who have been deported from Mexico and the United States are at great risk of violence, stigma and deprivation, worsening the root causes of irregular migration in the region. The report shows that dangerous journeys and deportations intensify poverty, extreme violence and lack of opportunity as it's common that children who are sent back to their countries of origin have no home to return to, end up deep in debt or are targeted by gangs. Being returned to impossible situations makes it more likely that they will migrate again, the agency said.
Sixty-eight thousand, four hundred and nine children were detained in Mexico between 2016 and April 2018 – 91 per cent of whom were deported to Central America. UNICEF urged Governments to work together in implementing solutions shown to help alleviate the root causes of irregular and forced migration and safeguard the well-being of refugee and migrant children along the journey.
The report also outlines a series of recommendations to keep refugee and migrant children safe and reduce the factors that push families and children to leave their homes in search of safety or a more hopeful future via irregular and dangerous migration routes. The full report is on UNICEF's website.
**World Humanitarian Day
As part of our commemoration of World Humanitarian Day, which falls this year on Sunday, the Secretary-General will lay a wreath tomorrow morning in observance of the fifteenth anniversary of the bombing of the United Nations Headquarters in Baghdad. We will also have a moment of silence for our fallen staff. There will also be a ceremony tomorrow in Geneva, which will include family members of staff who died in the attacks in Baghdad and Algiers. That's it for me. Are there any questions? Yes, Nizar.
Question: Thank you, Farhan. Do you have an update about any breakthrough in the Yemeni negotiations?
Deputy Spokesman: There's no – there's no particular breakthrough to cite at this point. We continue with our efforts. As you know, the Special Envoy, Martin Griffiths, has been in dialogue with the parties. And we do expect that in the coming days, he and his team will be prepared to send out the invitations for the parties to attend the talks in Geneva next month.
Question: Staying on the same subject, the authorities in Sana'a declared that the truce in the western coast is over, and hostilities will resume there after one month of kind of cessation of hostilities. Is there any comment about that?
Deputy Spokesman: Well, we again call upon all sides to avoid any further confrontation, any further provocations. What we are trying to do is have a permanent halt to the fighting and a return of the parties to the table, which as I just mentioned we are trying do next month in Geneva. So we would call upon all parties and all those in contact with the parties to the conflict to avoid any further escalation.
Question: Do you have any statement regarding the fire brigade, which is outside the United Nations and entered in the premises? Do you have any clarifications about what's happening?
Deputy Spokesman: Yes, what I can tell you is that the Fire Department of New York is presently on the premises of the UN. This is because of a malfunctioning apparatus that was being used by window washers on the East River side of the UN Headquarters building. There's no injuries, and we expect the matter to be resolved shortly.
Question: What is it that is malfunctioning?
Deputy Spokesman: It's the apparatus – as you know, when window washers go outside to wash the windows, they have a certain apparatus that helps them lower them and raise them across floors. And one of those is malfunctioning right now. Yes?
Question: Farhan, thank you. For CGTN, Nairobi Bureau. Médecins Sans Frontières is getting increasingly worried about a number of reports that they are getting about torture and rapes and mistreatment of migrants in Libya. And we know that the United Nations has made great effort to remove migrants from Libya and get them back to their home countries to stop from having to cross the Mediterranean. Does the Secretary-General have any comment on this anxiety from Médecins Sans Frontières about the increase in torture, rape and proddings with metal…?
Deputy Spokesman: Well, our basic concern, as you're aware, is that we believe that the conditions in Libya are not such that migrants can be safely placed there. And so we have called upon all of the countries in the region, the countries dealing with the Mediterranean Sea, to do their utmost so that migrants and refugees can be held safely in places outside of Libya. And so we've been working with them, particularly through our colleagues in the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, and the International Organization for Migration, IOM. And we are trying to make sure that the countries who deal with the Mediterranean Sea can cooperate so that the safety and the dignity of these migrants will be respected and that they can be kept in safe conditions.
Question: Just briefly, does the UN think that the effort has failed then?
Deputy Spokesman: No. We believe that the effort is ongoing. Obviously, more needs to be done and we're working with the Governments to make sure that more is done. There has been progress with countries trying to cooperate to place some refugees and migrants out of harm's way and we certainly appreciate the efforts that have already been undertaken, but we're trying to get more done. Yes.
Question: What's the report on migrant children? And could you step a little closer to the mic? One misses every other word.
Deputy Spokesman: I can, I can lower this if that makes it better but…
Correspondent: That's very good.
Deputy Spokesman: But the report is a report that the UN Children's Fund, UNICEF, released today. This is focusing particularly on migrant children in Central America who have been deported either from Mexico or the US.
Question: And, secondly, on the Srebrenica statement, why should anyone care? What's the significance? Is Belgrade involved?
Deputy Spokesman: Well, I mean, we told you in the press release from Adama Dieng what the significance is. We want to make sure that the rule of law is upheld and we do not want tensions to be exacerbated ahead of the 7th of October elections. At the same time, one of the points is that we also want the basic truth and the basic facts of the matter to be upheld. Two international courts, as you're aware – the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia – have determined that the massacre of Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica constitute a genocide. And we want all authorities, all Governments, to respect that. Yes, please.
Question: Thank you, Farhan. I am wondering about yesterday question about the letter of two US Senators, [Marco] Rubio and [Chris] Coons, to the Secretary-General about the killing of Russian journalists in Central African Republic, if you maybe remember. They send a letter to the Secretary-General. So, did he receive the letter? And what is going to be further with it?
Deputy Spokesman: Yeah, regarding that, yes, we will try to respond to the letter in due course. As you're aware, the UN Mission in the Central African Republic, MINUSCA, has been working to help with this investigation. And we hope that we will be able, working alongside the local authorities, to get to the bottom of what's happened to these journalists. And of course you've seen what we've said in the past about this. And, with that have a good weekend, and welcome back.
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Home :: Military :: World :: Africa :: Cameroon :: Introduction :: History ::
Cameroon - History
Pre-Colonial History
Arrival of the Europeans
German Kamerun
The Mandate Period
British Cameroons
Beginnings of Modern Nationalism
Economic Change
Coming of Independence
Development and Unification
Cameroon - Pre-Colonial History
Although archaeological evidence indicates the early presence of humans in the Cameroonian area, little is known concerning the origins of the peoples who compose the population. Attempts to learn of their beginnings have been complicated by a general lack of written history and countless migrations as a result of wars, famines, and general population pressures.
Most authorities, however, agree that these early migrations began from a point along the present border with Chad. Over the centuries the direction and intensity of these migrations — which lasted into the nineteenth century — varied. Along with other dislocations in the twentieth century — some of which were caused by population pressure — they resulted in the splitting of some groups and the absorption of others. Conquered peoples sometimes lived side by side with the victors but held socially and politically restricted roles. Although some people generally developed harmonious relationships, centuries of conflict created traditions of hostility between others.
Written history was first recorded in the north in the eighth century and increased after the arrival of arabized peoples in the late 1200s. Written records of developments in the south, however, did not begin until the end of the fifteenth century and the arrival of the first Europeans.
The area of Cameroon has been the scene of countless human migrations. Very little is known about these movements, but the general concensus — based on linguistic studies — is that they started in the region of the border between Chad and Cameroon and from there spread in various directions in the course of the last several hundred years. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries further migratory movements resulted from Islamic holy wars waged by the Fulani. People were driven out of their homelands, causing others who were in their path to move, willingly or unwillingly. The resultant intermingling, assimilation, and absorption of groups make classification of the country's approximately 200 ethnic groups extremely difficult. Moreover, some peoples are known by several different names, and even for numerically large groups information is often unavailable.
Early Political Institutions
The organized states that developed in the Sudanic belt — a region running across Africa south of the Sahara and north of Lake Chad — had a direct influence only on the northern half of the country. The most important of these were the empires of the Kanem (later Kanem- Bornu) and Fulani peoples. Kanem was organized around a confed- eracy of clans, which was dominated by the Magumi and this group's senior lineage, the Sefuwa. The Sefuwa mai (king) moved from clan to clan on a rotating basis rather than dwell in one fixed capital city. By the early 1200s the Bornu, living west of Lake Chad, had fallen under the hegemony of the Kanem empire east of the lake. In 1386 attacks from the east forced the mai to relocate west of Lake Chad, and by bringing some of his more loyal followers with him he was able to transfer the dynasty and the basic socio-political order associated with it to the new geographic base.
The Sefuwa dynasty maintained its dominant position by means of a feudalistic hierarchy, which by the end of the eighteenth century had been transformed into a centralized bureaucracy. A century later, however, the political system had begun to disintegrate under the attacks of the Fulani. Kanem-Bornu was saved from total destruction by Muhammad al-Amin, a religious scholar and warrior who set himself up as a de facto ruler.
The Fulani were a cattle-herding people who entered the Chad Basin — a portion of which lies in Cameroon — as early as the thirteenth century; they played no major political role until the nineteenth century. Then, undertaking a holy war led by a devout Muslim, Othman dan Fodio, they sought to convert others forcibly to their strict form of Islam. They conquered the Hausa kingdoms of northern Nigeria and came to dominate the northern grasslands of what later became Cameroon. Their superior organization, religious zeal, and skill as mounted warriors enabled them to establish a state, which after the early 1800s and until defeat by the Europeans at the end of the nineteenth century, controlled the region running from the east of Nigeria to the Chad Basin.
The Fulani campaign of the early nineteenth century in the north of present-day Cameroon was led by a native-born Fulani leader, Mobido Adama. For his allegiance to the Fulani cause and for aiding the spread of the empire as far south as the seventh parallel, he was granted the title of Emir of Adamaoua, an emirate at the southern periphery of the empire. The emirate was subdivided into smaller units, each of which was ruled by a governor who had varying degrees of local autonomy.
Fulani attempts to expand their authority in the nineteenth century into the small sultanates and kingdoms of the western highlands were resisted by both the Bamoun and the Bamileke. The Bamoun were able to withstand the initial Fulani attacks but were ultimately conquered. The Bamileke, on the other hand, were able to withstand Fulani attacks. Each Bamileke kingdom possessed a highly complex social organization, marked by a ruling fon (chief) who shared authority with an advisory council, and various intergroup associations and secret societies.
Political evolution in the coastal zone led to the establishment of a multiplicity of small chiefdoms. During the last half of the eighteenth century, however, the Douala were united in a small coastal kingdom. At the turn of the century, competition for European trade led various members of the ruling dynasty to break away from the king and to form their own chiefdoms. Chiefdoms formed in this manner included those of the Akwa, Dido, Joss, and Bonaberi. Although later in the nineteenth century a semblance of unity was achieved with the establishment of the ngondo, a council in which various chiefs conferred, political unity among the Douala was never again wholly achieved.
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Home :: Military :: World :: Caribbean ::
Montserrat - History
Montserrat - People
Montserrat - Economy
Soufrière Hills
Montserrat Government
Montserrat Tourism Guide
Montserrat National Trust
Montserrat Today
Severe volcanic activity, which began in July 1995, has put a damper on this small, open economy. A catastrophic eruption in June 1997 closed the airport and seaports, causing further economic and social dislocation. Two-thirds of the 12,000 inhabitants fled the island. Some began to return in 1998 but lack of housing limited the number. The agriculture sector continued to be affected by the lack of suitable land for farming and the destruction of crops.
The island of Montserrat is tucked into the northern corner of the Leeward Islands, in the eastern Caribbean. It is located 43 km (27 miles) southwest of Antigua and 70 km (40 miles) northwest of Guadeloupe. Montserrat covers an area of 102 km2 (39 mi2).
Montserrat is an internally governed overseas territory of the United Kingdom, which retains responsibility for the territory’s external relations, defense, internal security, public services, and offshore finance. The Montserrat Constitution Order of 1989 conferred a new Constitution on Montserrat. In particular it provides for a Governor appointed by Her Majesty, an Executive Council and a Legislative Council. Provision was also made regarding the fundamental rights and freedoms of the individual.
General elections are held every five years, as constitutionally mandated. The last general elections were held on 11 September 2014. The People’s Democratic Movement won 7 out of 9 seats in the Legislative Council and formed a Government. Montserrat is a member of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).
The island is evidenly of volcanic origin, and a soufriere exists in the high lands to the south. The soil varies from a light sandy loam to a stiff clay, and is generally of considerable depth. The mean annual temperature is 78°. The annual rainfall is about 56 inches in the lowlands and 78 to 80 inches in the hilly parts of the interior. The heat is seldom oppressive, as it is tempered by the sea-breeze. The climate is one of the healthiest in the West Indies. English and Irish colonists from St. Kitts first settled on Montserrat in 1632; the first African slaves arrived three decades later. The British and French fought for possession of the island for most of the 18th century, but it finally was confirmed as a British possession in 1783. The island's sugar plantation economy was converted to small farm landholdings in the mid-19th century.
Montserrat is a small volcanic island with two main areas of highland reaching altitudes greater than 740 m. Much of the land surface is very rugged, with deep gorges, and the coastline is characterised by truncated spurs and hanging valleys. Rainfall is seasonal, and varies with altitude. On lands with rainfall of more than 1,750 mm per year, lower montane and montane rain forest, palm break and elfin woodland represent the climax vegetation. At lower altitudes the vegetation consists of a mosaic of cactus and dry scrub woodland, littoral vegetation, semi-evergreen forest and small areas of mangrove. Nearly all Montserrat’s original forest cover has been cleared for agriculture or timber exploitation.
Much of this island was devastated and two-thirds of the population fled abroad because of the eruption of the Soufriere Hills Volcano that began on 18 July 1995. An estimated 8,000 refugees left the island following the resumption of volcanic activity in July 1995; some have returned, with a population of 5,267 (July 2016 est.)
Montserrat is vulnerable to a number of natural hazards. While the major threat is volcanic activity, the territory is also subject to the winds and storm surges associated with hurricanes and to earthquakes. There also are environmental health issues related to falling ash; these also are monitored.
Montserrat has endured volcanic activity since 1995. The highest point was Soufriere Hills volcano pre-eruption height was 915 m; current lava dome is subject to periodic build up and collapse; estimated dome height was 1050 m in 2015.
The island is composed almost exclusively of volcanic rock and is mostly mountainous with a small coastal plain. Montserrat’s Soufrie`re Hills Volcano began erupting in 1995, resulting in the destruction of the capital, Plymouth, and the evacuation of the southern and central parts of the island. Thousands moved to nearby Antigua, other parts of the Caribbean, or further afield. There was a major eruption in February 2010. A report on volcanic activity between 28 February and 31 October 2010 indicated that activity had been low and that ‘‘there was no evidence of lava extrusion during this time’’.
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FC Barcelona reserves thrash Hercules 7-0 in Copa del Rey encounter
FC Barcelona’s reserves got the job done at the second attempt, leading the Catalan club to the round of 16 of the Copa del Rey with a 7-0 rout of third-division side Hercules on Wednesday.
football Updated: Dec 22, 2016 09:31 IST
FC Barcelona's Arda Turan (R) celebrates after scoring during the Spanish Copa del Rey (King's Cup) round of 32 second leg football match against Hercules CF.(AFP)
After being held to a stunning 1-1 draw in the first leg, a hat trick from Turkish international Arda Turan helped the second-stringers to a comfortable victory at Camp Nou.
The defending champions got off to a slow start, but the game opened up after defender Lucas Digne got on the board with a shot from inside the area in the 37th minute.
Midfielder Ivan Rakitic added to the lead by converting a penalty just before halftime, and Rafinha, Turan and Paco Alcacer scored in the second half. Alcacer’s goal was his first in a competitive match since joining Barcelona this season. He had netted in a friendly last week.
“We had to be patient,” Rakitic said. “After the first goal, everything was easier.”
Despite the first-leg setback, Barcelona coach Luis Enrique stuck to the reserves and gave some extra time off to Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Neymar and Gerard Pique after they played in the team’s last league game of 2016 at the weekend.
Turan, Rakitic, Rafinha and Javier Mascherano were the only seasoned players starting against Hercules on Wednesday, which marked the team’s final game of the year.
The Copa del Rey will resume in the first week of January.
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Hollywood stars injured on sets
Aug 06, 2014 17:52 IST
Actor Vin Diesel suffered a concussion while filming Fast & Furious 7. The Riddick star wrote on Facebook, "Knocked skulls with (Jason) Statham, literally... then got beaten with lead pipes. Slammed against a car and suffered a minor concussion."
Harrison Ford was injured on the sets of Star Wars Episode VII. His injury also held up shooting of the film.
Jason Statham had a few close calls on the Expendables 3 sets. He had to jump off a truck to save his life after the vehicle's brakes failed.
Tom Cruise was injured on the sets of Oblivion.
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Mr. Rogers Had a Way with Taboo Topics
Nuclear war and race relations weren't the usual kiddie-show fodder, but they made their way into the safe space of 'Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.'
Seamus Kirst
From the time “Mister Roger’s Neighborhood” first appeared in 1968, to its final episode more than 30 years later, it seemed like the quintessential feel-good children’s TV show. The genial, soft-spoken host Fred Rogers invited his young viewers into his make-believe neighborhood, introduced them to his kindly friends like Mr. McFeely and Neighbor Aber and entertained the kids with old-fashioned puppets. It could hardly be more innocuous.
So what was Mr. Rogers doing addressing hot-button topics like nuclear war and race relations?
The show proved groundbreaking because Rogers showed a fearlessness in tackling topics that many people would have considered taboo, especially for children. And as history would show, Rogers was often ahead of his time.
Rogers—who had planned to be a Presbyterian minister—frequently covered simple, somewhat silly topics that were relatable for children—such as why they shouldn’t fear getting a haircut, or how they were too large to go down the bathroom drain. But Rogers believed children could handle discussing much more complex topics, especially if they were addressed gently and honestly in a way that made youngsters feel safe.
In 1968, just four years after the passing of the 1964 Civil Rights Act that ended legal discrimination, and in the same year as the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rogers cast François Clemmons, who was African American, as Officer Clemmons on his show. This part made Clemmons the first black actor to have a recurring role on a children’s show.
François Clemons with Fred Rogers, 1972. (Credit: Everett Collection)
One year later, the program included a memorable scene in which Rogers was resting his feet in a kiddie pool, and he invited Clemmons to put his feet in as well. This act was viewed by many as an explicit gesture against racism during this difficult period of integration.
In an interview, Clemmons said he was skeptical of playing a black policeman. In the neighborhood where he grew up, law-enforcement officers were less-than-friendly figures. But he said the pool scene touched him in ways he was not prepared for: “The icon Fred Rogers was not only showing my brown skin in the tub with his white skin as two friends. But as I was getting out of that tub, he was helping dry my feet.”
And as he was toweling off his friend, Mr. Rogers told his young viewers, “Sometimes a minute like this will really make a difference.” While on the surface, he was talking about cooling off on a hot day, Clemmons knew it went far deeper than that: “He was making a very strong statement.”
In 1981, Rogers talked about another challenging subject on his show: Divorce. As broken marriages became more common in the country, Rogers attempted to communicate to children that their parents’ marital woes were in no way caused by them. To deliver this message, the show had the postman, Mr. McFeely, essentially run off camera when the topic of divorce was brought up, to show how even adults can be uncomfortable with the topic. Rogers then broached the topic with children who were watching from home.
‘Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood.’ (Credit: Everett Collection)
That same year, “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” had a visitor who would become among its most famous: 10-year-old Jeffrey Erlanger. Erlanger, a quadriplegic, showed Rogers his electric wheelchair and how it worked, while also explaining how having a spinal tumor at a young age had rendered him paralyzed in his arms and legs. Nearly a decade before the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990, the segment aimed to humanize individuals with disabilities, and show how they adapted.
In 1983, as the United States and the Soviet Union were at peak Cold War tension, Rogers talked about a particularly tough topic for children: nuclear war. In five episodes called “the conflict series,” Rogers used his puppets to tell the story of how one of them, King Friday, who ruled “The Neighborhood of Make-Believe,” was anxious that another kingdom was building bombs. Defensively, King Friday orders the people of his land to build bombs as well.
Ultimately, the series reveals that the rival kingdom is actually communicating an anti-arms race message. Turns out, the were building a bridge, not bombs.
https://www.history.com/news/mr-rogers-episodes-taboo-topics
Why Are There So Many Urban Legends About Mr. Rogers?
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Scotland Fights Its Way to Freedom, 700 Years Ago
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Tom Lee, AIA, NCARB
Design Principal
tom.lee [at] hdrinc.com
Tom is responsible for the overall design direction of projects in HDR’s Chicago architectural studio. He also assists in recruiting and developing design talent and supports the management and strategy of the studio.
With over 13 years of design experience, Tom has worked on a broad range of building types, including educational, healthcare, science and technology, residential, retail, hospitality, institutional and cultural projects. Tom has served as a designer on numerous international and domestic commissions that have garnered local and national design awards and recognition.
Passionate about mentoring and training the next generation of architects, Tom has taught at the University of Cincinnati and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he is an alumni. He has also served as a critic at both schools in addition to the Illinois Institute of Technology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee.
Tom is committed to giving back to both the local and design community and currently serves as a member of the Professional Board of PAWS Chicago, the Auxiliary Board of the Chicago Architecture Foundation and the MIT Club of Chicago.
Reimagining a Community Hub in Chicago’s 20th Ward
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Infections / Flu
How Flu Shot Manufacturing Forces Influenza to Mutate
Egg-Based Production Causes Virus to Target Bird Cells, Making Vaccine Less Effective
LA JOLLA, Calif. – According to a new study from scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), the common practice of growing influenza vaccine components in chicken eggs disrupts the major antibody target site on the virus surface, rendering the flu vaccine less effective in humans.
“Now we can explain—at an atomic level—why egg-based vaccine production is causing problems,” said TSRI Research Associate Nicholas Wu, Ph.D., first author of the study, published recently in the journal PLOS Pathogens.
For more than 70 years, manufacturers have made the flu vaccine by injecting influenza into chicken eggs, allowing the virus to replicate inside the eggs and then purifying the fluid from the eggs to get enough of the virus to use in vaccines.
The subtype of influenza in this study, called H3N2, is one of several subtypes shown to mutate when grown in chicken eggs, and the researchers say the new findings further support the case for alternative approaches to growing the virus.
“Any influenza viruses produced in eggs have to adapt to growing in that environment and hence generate mutations to grow better,” explained study senior author Ian Wilson, D.Phil., Hansen Professor of Structural Biology at TSRI.
The new study shows exactly why egg-based manufacturing is a problem for the H3N2 subtype. As H3N2 influenza has become more prevalent, scientists formulating the seasonal flu vaccine have sought to include this virus and teach the human immune system to fight it. Despite this effort, recent flu vaccines have proven only 33 percent effective against H3N2 viruses.
Wu used a high-resolution imaging technique called X-ray crystallography to show that—when grown in eggs—the H3N2 subtype mutates a key protein to better attach to receptors in bird cells. Specifically, there was a mutation called L194P on the virus’s hemagglutinin glycoprotein (HA). This mutation disrupts the region on the protein that is commonly recognized by our immune system.
This means a vaccine containing the mutated version of the protein will not be able to trigger an effective immune response. This leaves the body without protection against circulating strains of H3N2.
In fact, Wu’s analysis shows that the current strain of H3N2 used in vaccines already contains this specific mutation L194P on HA. “Vaccine producers need to look at this mutation,” cautioned Wu.
The researchers say further studies are needed to investigate replacing the egg-based system. “Other methods are now being used and explored for production of vaccines in mammalian cells using cell-based methods and recombinant HA protein vaccines,” said Wilson.
“There’s a huge need for flu vaccine research,” added Wu.
In addition to Wu and Wilson, authors of the study, “A structural explanation for the low effectiveness of the seasonal influenza H3N2 vaccine,” were Andrew J. Thompson, David Oyen, Corwin M. Nycholat, Ryan McBride and Scott E. Hensley of TSRI; and Seth J. Zost and Scott E. Hensley of the University of Pennsylvania.
This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health (grants R56 AI117675, R56 AI127371, R01 AI114730, R01 AI113047 and R01 AI108686) and a Croucher Foundation Fellowship.
About The Scripps Research Institute
The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) is one of the world’s largest independent, not-for-profit organizations focusing on research in the biomedical sciences. TSRI is internationally recognized for its contributions to science and health, including its role in laying the foundation for new treatments for cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, hemophilia, and other diseases. An institution that evolved from the Scripps Metabolic Clinic founded by philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps in 1924, the institute now employs more than 2,500 people on its campuses in La Jolla, Calif., and Jupiter, Fla., where its renowned scientists—including two Nobel laureates and 20 members of the National Academies of Science, Engineering or Medicine—work toward their next discoveries. The institute’s graduate program, which awards PhD degrees in biology and chemistry, ranks among the top ten of its kind in the nation. In October 2016, TSRI announced a strategic affiliation with the California Institute for Biomedical Research (Calibr), representing a renewed commitment to the discovery and development of new medicines to address unmet medical needs. For more information, see www.scripps.edu.
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Tags: celebrity smiles chipped tooth mouthguards
Some people are lucky — they never seem to have a mishap, dental or otherwise. But for the rest of us, accidents just happen sometimes. Take actor Jamie Foxx, for example. A few years ago, he actually had a dentist intentionally chip one of his teeth so he could portray a homeless man more realistically. But recently, he got a chipped tooth in the more conventional way… well, conventional in Hollywood, anyway. It happened while he was shooting the movie Sleepless with co-star Michelle Monaghan.
“Yeah, we were doing a scene and somehow the action cue got thrown off or I wasn't looking,” he told an interviewer. “But boom! She comes down the pike. And I could tell because all this right here [my teeth] are fake. So as soon as that hit, I could taste the little chalkiness, but we kept rolling.” Ouch! So what's the best way to repair a chipped tooth? The answer it: it all depends…
For natural teeth that have only a small chip or minor crack, cosmetic bonding is a quick and relatively easy solution. In this procedure, a tooth-colored composite resin, made of a plastic matrix with inorganic glass fillers, is applied directly to the tooth's surface and then hardened or “cured” by a special light. Bonding offers a good color match, but isn't recommended if a large portion of the tooth structure is missing. It's also less permanent than other types of restoration, but may last up to 10 years.
When more of the tooth is missing, a crown or dental veneer may be a better answer. Veneers are super strong, wafer-thin coverings that are placed over the entire front surface of the tooth. They are made in a lab from a model of your teeth, and applied in a separate procedure that may involve removal of some natural tooth material. They can cover moderate chips or cracks, and even correct problems with tooth color or spacing.
A crown is the next step up: It's a replacement for the entire visible portion of the tooth, and may be needed when there's extensive damage. Like veneers, crowns (or caps) are made from models of your bite, and require more than one office visit to place; sometimes a root canal may also be needed to save the natural tooth. However, crowns are strong, natural looking, and can last many years.
But what about teeth like Jamie's, which have already been restored? That's a little more complicated than repairing a natural tooth. If the chip is small, it may be possible to smooth it off with standard dental tools. Sometimes, bonding material can be applied, but it may not bond as well with a restoration as it will with a natural tooth; plus, the repaired restoration may not last as long as it should. That's why, in many cases, we will advise that the entire restoration be replaced — it's often the most predictable and long-lasting solution.
Oh, and one more piece of advice: Get a custom-made mouthguard — and use it! This relatively inexpensive device, made in our office from a model of your own teeth, can save you from a serious mishap… whether you're doing Hollywood action scenes, playing sports or just riding a bike. It's the best way to protect your smile from whatever's coming at it!
If you have questions about repairing chipped teeth, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation. You can also learn more by reading the Dear Doctor magazine articles “Artistic Repair of Chipped Teeth With Composite Resin” and “Porcelain Veneers.”
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STACK BUNDLES
A Posthumous Stack Bundles Album Is On The Way
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Today marks the 10th anniversary of his death.
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NYPD are investigating how Chinx's murder may be related to that of fellow rapper Stack Bundles, who was killed eight years ago.
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Nordeman loves to tell 'The Story'
Lifestyle // Religion & Spirituality
By Kent Matthews Oct. 17, 2013
Nichole Nordeman will be part of The Story Tour, a holiday show that tells the story of the Bible through music.
Photo: Sparrow Records
The Story Tour returns to Houston in December. This event takes you on a musical journey through the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation.
Written by award-winning authors Max Lucado and Randy Frazee of Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, "The Story" is more than a retelling of familiar Bible passages. Guest appearances will feature an all-star lineup including Casting Crowns, Steven Curtis Chapman, Natalie Grant, Matthew West, Nichole Nordeman and others. I spoke with Nordeman about her involvement in the tour and what she has learned studying these characters in the Bible.
Q: You sing the song "I'm With You," the story of Ruth and Naomi. What did you learn from these characters?
A: We take bits and pieces of most Bible stories we have grown up with and make our assessment of the characters from that. Digging a little bit deeper, I was moved by how complicated their story was. We can look at their lives and see an example of what true friendship is. I don't think I fully understood the sacrifices both women made until I took a closer look.
Q: How has this relationship had an impact on you personally?
A: I think that it's easy in a culture that is so selfish and focused on your own personal growth to cut people off who are difficult. With Ruth and Naomi, I see these two women sticking it out in the face of lots of hardships. There is tremendous tragedy and grief. Instead of looking out for themselves, they choose to look out for each other. It's a beautiful picture of loyalty.
Q: What was the biggest thing you learned writing the lyrics for "The Story"?
What: The Story Tour, with Casting Crowns, Steven Curtis Chapman, Natalie Grant, Matthew West, Nichole Nordeman, Selah and Rawsrvnt
When: 7-10 p.m. Dec. 7
Where: Berry Center, 8877 Barker Cypress
Tickets: $25-$50; ticketservant.com or 281-319-6900
A: Writing from the first-person perspective helped me to walk in the shoes of these people in the Bible a little bit. Biblical icons like Abraham, Moses, David and Esther have always been studied and revered, but it turns out that they are just like us. They had failures in their daily lives just like we do. That was the best part of writing these songs. I saw that they were real people and much more relatable than I thought.
Q: What was it like to tour with "The Story" last year?
A: It was a thrill for me to see these unbelievable artists on stage and to see the hard work we put into writing this project finally come alive. To watch these artists inhabit these characters is so moving. People who have seen this performance have trouble describing it to other people because it's not just a concert, not all Christmas, not just reading a story. It's a real multimedia event that is gripping and beautiful.
Q: Tell me about your new song, "Be My Rescue," on the "My Hope" project honoring Billy Graham. How did you get to be a part of this?
A: My record label called and told me about the idea of the project honoring Billy Graham, and it was an immediate yes from me. We were given the task of writing songs that reflected his ministry and the simplicity of his message of grace found in Jesus. About that same time, I took a writer's retreat on the Oregon coast. I spent hours watching waves crash on the shore and thinking about how water can cleanse and baptize - but also drown us. Out of all of that came this idea of crying out to God and acknowledging our need to be rescued.
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Published by Maritz Africa Intelligence on 28 May 2017
Can off-grid electricity power Africa?
Making the case for off-grid energy. From left to right: Emmanuelle Matz, Head of Energy and Infrastructure, Proparco; Thierry Tanoh, Minister of Energy, Côte d’Ivoire; Amadou Hott, Vice President for Power, Energy, Climate and Green Growth, African Development Bank; Jasandra Nyker, Chief Executive Officer, BioTherm Energy; Tobias Becker, Senior Vice President and Head of Africa Programme, ABB and Andrew Alli, President/Chief Executive Officer, Africa Finance Corporation
This article is a summary report of a panel discussion at the Africa CEO Forum, held in Geneva, Switzerland on 20 and 21 March 2017. It was produced by Maritz Africa Intelligence specifically for the NTU-SBF Centre for African Studies, a trilateral platform for government, business and academia to promote knowledge and expertise on Africa, established by Nanyang Technological University and the Singapore Business Federation. The PDF can be downloaded here.
More than 640 million Africans, or about 60% of the continent’s population, don’t have access to reliable and affordable grid-connected electricity, and are therefore dependent on energy sources such as kerosene, charcoal and diesel. Likewise, many businesses also suffer from poor power supply. For example, it is estimated that some 95% of the mobile tower sites in the continent’s off-grid regions run on inefficient diesel generators, which significantly drive up costs.
One of the organisations seeking to improve power supply on the continent, is the African Development Bank (AfDB), which has set an ambitious target of adding 160 gigawatts (GW) new generating capacity to achieve universal electricity access by 2025. The AfDB estimates that reaching this goal would require an additional 130 million households to be linked to national power grids as well as 75 million new off-grid connections.
Off-grid power is loosely defined as electricity not associated with a state utility and not part of a national power distribution network. These stand-alone systems typically generate electricity from renewable sources such as wind, solar and micro-hydro. According to the AfDB, off-grid solutions are essential to speed up the electrification of the continent as “people cannot wait until the grid power reaches every corner of their villages or cities”.
Andrew Alli, President/Chief Executive Officer of the Africa Finance Corporation
The off-grid industry is already gaining traction, particularly the pay-as-you-go solar kits offered by companies such as M-Kopa Solar, Mobisol, Lumos Global and Off Grid Electric. Over the past few years these operators have provided electricity to hundreds of thousands of households in East and West Africa. Although there are slight differences in their respective offerings, the packages generally comprise a solar panel and battery, with accompanying appliances such as light bulbs, a torch, a mobile phone charger and a radio – some even include a digital television. These companies typically also allow their customers to pay for their solar systems in instalments, often through mobile money.
But off-grid solutions are not only relevant for small-scale or residential users. In African countries that regularly experience power blackouts or load shedding, commercial users are increasingly seeking energy security through the installation of their own electricity generation systems.
The falling costs of solar energy is a major growth driver of the off-grid industry. “Solar has become very competitive, and is in a position to scale up in a significant way,” says Emmanuelle Matz, Head of Energy and Infrastructure at French development finance institution Proparco.
“The cost [of solar] has come down to 25% of what it was in 2011, and it is continuing to decline,” added Jasandra Nyker, Chief Executive Officer of South African-based renewable electricity developer BioTherm Energy.
Jasandra Nyker, Chief Executive Officer of South African-based BioTherm Energy
DIGITAL REVOLUTION DRIVING OFF-GRID SOLAR
Nairobi-based M-Kopa is arguably the most established of sub-Saharan Africa’s home solar system providers. In less than five years since its commercial launch in 2012, M-Kopa has signed up over 500,000 households in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Its solar systems are intended to be an alternative to kerosene lamps, which are used by millions of people throughout East Africa, despite being expensive, unhealthy and unsafe.
A major reason for M-Kopa’s success is its innovative equipment financing and payments technology, without which low-income earners would not be able to acquire the company’s products. It works as follows: Customers purchase the M-Kopa system (which includes the solar panel, phone charger, television, radio and torch) for a deposit of about US$30. Daily instalments of $0.50 are then paid for a period of 12 months, after which customers own the system outright. Payments are made via mobile money platforms, such as M-Pesa in Kenya. Sensors on the equipment allow M-Kopa to regulate usage based upon payments received – if a customer stops paying and runs out of credit, the system is shut down remotely and ceases to function.
In Nigeria, pay-as-you-go solar provider Lumos, which has a partnership with telecommunications operator MTN, also utilises mobile technology. Customers pay their instalments with mobile airtime credit – in the same way they purchase data packages and other mobile services.
According to Proparco’s Emmanuelle Matz, the rise of the off-grid industry is closely tied to the digital revolution. “As you may know, most of these offers are linked with financing packages – two to three years equipment financing. This is thanks to the agreements that the developers have with telecom operators… and [doing] that financing through mobile money. We see a lot of inventive digital companies that are providing new services thanks to the mobile connectivity.”
Amadou Hott, Vice President for Power, Energy, Climate and Green Growth at the African Development Bank
AN ENERGY REVOLUTION?
It has been suggested that the off-grid industry could be as transformative for Africa as mobile phones. Andrew Alli, President and Chief Executive Officer at the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), described the industry as “revolutionary”, explaining, “I don’t think we’ve really understood the full consequences of where this technology could be taking us and the knock-on effects that it is likely to have on other things.”
Drawing a parallel between mobile telecommunications and off-grid power, Alli said: “Twenty years ago I don’t think anybody really recognised how revolutionary cell phone technology really was, and how much it could change the face of not only the telecom market in Africa, but many other markets as well – what sort of new business opportunities it would open up.”
He added that although the cost of renewable energy has already dropped significantly, the lack of cheap and effective power storage is holding the industry back. “When there is a breakthrough in storage technology – which will happen at some point, although obviously one cannot say when exactly or how – I think this will really change the face of what can happen.”
Tobias Becker, Senior Vice President and Head of the Africa Programme at Switzerland-based industrial technology company ABB, said off-grid power initiatives should not focus purely on household demand, but must also stimulate the development of new businesses that will in turn create employment opportunities, especially in rural areas. “We believe people need enough power to start a business – an industrial welding machine, an industrial sewing machine, a small oil-seed processing mill.”
Emmanuelle Matz, Head of Energy and Infrastructure at Proparco
He explained urbanisation could be slowed down by giving rural people income-generating opportunities where they live. “If we want to stop this very rapid urbanisation that will leave 80% to 90% of the continent uninhabited, we need to give people the opportunity to charge their mobile phone where they live and a torch that lights up their house at night – but also enough power to start a business.”
An off-grid boom could also give rise to ancillary industries. For example, Thierry Tanoh, Minister of Energy in Côte d’Ivoire, highlighted a potential spin-off opportunity from the household solar industry: the recycling of the systems’ batteries. He said it could lead to an environmental disaster if the sector grows as large as many expect, without the proper disposal of old batteries. Alli concurred by saying, “It is going to probably become a huge business, as this whole technology moves ahead.”
Government policymaking generally hasn’t kept pace with the growth in off-grid power. A number of the panelists urged African states for transparent regulations and policies governing the industry, especially considering off-grid solutions are competing with the existing state-backed power utilities. It was mentioned that greater regulatory certainty will encourage investment.
Amadou Hott – Vice President for Power, Energy, Climate and Green Growth at the AfDB – suggested that the off-grid sector be regulated in the same way as mobile telecommunications. He said investors and financiers need visibility about the future of the industry and clarity on the size of the total addressable market
ATTRACTING FINANCING AND INVESTMENT
The residential solar energy industry has grown from being a collection of charities handing out solar panels to a real business opportunity. Companies operating in the sector have attracted a wide array of investors and financiers –from private equity funds to development finance institutions. For example, Mobisol’s investors include the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Investec Asset Management, while Lumos last year raised $90 million from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation and the Pembani Remgro Infrastructure Fund, among others, to roll out solar systems in Nigerian homes, small businesses and community service centres such as hospitals, churches and mosques.
Thierry Tanoh, Minister of Energy, Côte d’Ivoire
However, it is still early days for investors. “The models are not yet proven, so everybody is taking a risk investing at this stage,” commented Emmanuelle Matz of Proparco.
BioTherm Energy CEO Jasandra Nyker stressed the need for innovative financing solutions for corporate entities wanting to implement renewable energy solutions. “What I’m talking about here is the family-owned packaging company in Ghana… that is affected by load shedding and actually wants to install half a megawatt on its roof. Half a megawatt is probably $500,000 – give or take – and essentially their balance sheet can’t actually handle that. So how does that company actually go about trying to get this kind of project financed in order to improve its economic activity and production?”
One of the power sector’s past mistakes, according to Tobias Becker of ABB, is that electricity prices in Africa were made too cheap because it was wrongly assumed that Africans didn’t have sufficient income for such services. However, he pointed out that the cost of kerosene or running diesel generators are already high, so consumers are used to paying relatively steep amounts for energy. He said people would be more than willing to redirect this spending to off-grid energy if it gives them a better solution at a lower price.
Andrew Alli of the AFC said it is important for the sustainability of the industry that end users pay for their own electricity, and that it is not subsidised. “If you [go] down the route of somebody else paying for somebody else’s consumption, you are building a model which is not sustainable… If you approach this thing from the mindset that [people in Africa] can’t afford to pay, and they need some sort of subsidy, really you risk falling into the trap that has made many of the African large-scale power utilities unbankable, which actually causes problems with rolling out off-grid solutions.”
He added that giving consumers access to affordable and reliable power creates a virtuous cycle: electricity makes people more productive, which leads to higher incomes, which in turn boosts their ability to pay for power.
Tobias Becker, Senior Vice President and Head of Africa Programme, ABB
Off-grid electricity not only solves one of Africa’s most pressing problems, but this nascent industry offers numerous business opportunities for Southeast Asian companies. The industry has a long value chain that includes everything from financing to equipment manufacturing to distribution, as well as potential spin-off industries such as battery recycling. The fact that a string of influential companies and organisations – including MTN, Investec, the AfDB and the IFC – have committed millions of dollars, suggest there is more to off-grid energy than just hype. As the AFC’s Andrew Alli noted, the future impact of the industry shouldn’t be underestimated.
Tags: ABB, afdb, Africa Finance Corporation, african development bank, Amadou Hott, Andrew Alli, BioTherm Energy, charcoal, diesel, electricity, Emmanuelle Matz, Energy, International Finance Corporation, Investec Asset Management, Jasandra Nyker, kerosene, Lumos Global, M-Kopa Solar, m-pesa, micro-hydro, Mobisol, Off Grid Electric, off-grid, Overseas Private Investment Corporation, Pembani Remgro Infrastructure Fund, power, PROPARCO, solar, Thierry Tanoh, Tobias Becker, wind
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Kazakhstan took few meaningful steps to tackle a worsening human rights record in 2015, maintaining a focus on economic development over political reform. Snap presidential elections in April extended President Nursultan Nazarbaev’s heavy-handed 24-year rule for another five years. Opposition leader Vladimir Kozlov remains imprisoned after an unfair trial.
Authorities continued to close newspapers, jail and fine people for holding peaceful protests, ban peaceful religious practice, and misuse the vague and overbroad charge of “inciting social, national, clan, racial, class, or religious discord.” Workers’ rights are restricted and the adoption of a new trade union law in 2014 resulted in some trade unions unable to reregister in 2015.
President Nazarbaev won snap presidential elections on April 26 with 97.7 percent of the vote. The election monitoring mission of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) noted that “reforms for holding genuine democratic elections still have to materialize,” and that “serious procedural deficiencies and irregularities” took place. OSCE/ODIHR also found a lack of genuine opposition and a restricted media environment.
On September 17, France’s prime minister signed a decree approving the extradition of government critic and former banker Mukhtar Ablyazov to Russia. Ablyazov remains under threat of extradition pending review of his appeal at France’s supreme administrative court.
On April 13, a court imposed restrictions on Saken Baikenov of the Antigeptil group, known for protesting Baikonur rocket launches, for two years after his Facebook posts were found to “incite ethnic discord.” On November 9, authorities arrested Bolatbek Blyalov, also of the Antigeptil group, on suspicion of “inciting social discord.”
On October 12, police arrested activists Ermek Narymbaev and Serikzhan Mambetalin on suspicion of “inciting national discord” after Facebook posts about writings attributed to Murat Telibekov, another civil society activist who is under criminal investigaton on the same charges.
Prison officials put opposition leader Vladimir Kozlov into isolation in mid-July and again in mid-August for prison regime violations. In July, additional restrictions were placed on his visitation, telephone, and parcel rights for six months. In 2015, PEN International and Maina Kiai, the United Nations special rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, expressed serious concern about Kozlov’s imprisonment and called for his release. Kiai visited Kozlov in prison in January.
Civil society activist Vadim Kuramshin continues to serve a 12-year prison sentence, despite procedural violations during his trial and concerns that his sentencing in December 2012 was retribution for public criticism of the government.
Participants at the fourth annual meeting of the Civil Society Platform, a gathering of Central Asian activists outside Astana, were subject to intimidation when plainclothes officers attempted to attend their meeting and police demanded to see a list of attendees.
In October, UN bodies and international and local human rights groups expressed serious concern after parliament adopted a draft law on nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), which would impose government control over nongovernmental organizations’ sources of funding.
Media Restrictions and Freedom of Expression
Kazakhstan highly restricts media freedoms. Independent journalists and media outlets face harassment and interference in their work, and outlets have been shut down in recent years. Authorities brought criminal libel charges against Amangeldy Batyrbekov, a civil society activist, who was jailed in October for 18 months. In November, after four years, authorities unblocked access to LiveJournal, a blogging platform. A new access to information law was adopted in November.
In July, a Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist was detained while covering a peaceful protest in Astana. In October, journalist Yaroslav Golyshkin was imprisoned for eight years on charges of “blackmail.” In September, Reporters Without Borders criticized his arrest and called for his release.
In December 2014, an Almaty court closed down ADAM bol, an independent journal, prompting OSCE Media Freedom representative Dunja Mijatovic to voice concern over the “drastic and disproportionate measures … which endanger pluralism in Kazakhstan.” In October, ADAM bol’s successor publication, ADAM, was shuttered for a language violation.
Freedom of Assembly and Association
Authorities continued to exercise strict control over peaceful assembly, and broke up and detained people for even small-scale peaceful protests. Narymbaev, the activist, was on two occasions, in June and August, sentenced to 15 days’ administrative arrest for violating a restrictive peaceful assembly law.
UN Special Rapporteur Kiai concluded after his visit to Kazakhstan in January that “the government’s approach to regulating assemblies renders that right meaningless.” He called on Kazakhstan to adopt a new law on peaceful assembly that complies with international standards.
Kiai also expressed serious concern about restrictions on public associations, political parties, religious groups, and trade unions. In August, an Almaty court closed down the opposition Communist Party of Kazakhstan for failing to meet membership requirements, a decision that the party head described as politically motivated.
Despite some efforts by the government to tackle torture, including by prosecuting some officers, torture remains a pressing issue and impunity is the norm. There have been no further steps to credibly investigate allegations of torture made by persons detained in connection with the 2011 violence in the town of Zhanaozen. The NGO Coalition against Torture in Kazakhstan reported 80 complaints of torture in the first half of the year.
In 2014, the UN Committee against Torture (CAT) found Kazakhstan responsible for torturing Rasim Bairamov. Bairamov was apprehended for alleged robbery and severely beaten by police and prison personnel in 2008. In partial implementation of the CAT decision, Kazakhstan granted Bairamov compensation and opened a criminal investigation into his treatment in custody. However, in September, authorities closed the case for lack of “evidence of a crime.” As of May, five other complaints against Kazakhstan are pending before CAT.
Some religious groups continued to be subjected to fines and short-term detention for violating a restrictive religion law, and some individual members faced criminal charges. A mosque in the city of Petropavlovsk has been repeatedly denied registration, according to Forum 18, an international religious freedom watchdog.
In July, Saken Tulbaev was imprisoned for almost five years for “inciting religious discord” and “membership in a banned religious organization.” He was banned from “activity directed at meeting the religious needs of believers” for three years after his release. In January, alleged members of Tabligi Jamaat were imprisoned for belonging to a banned religious organization. Four were sentenced to 20 months in prison, and another to 18 months.
In November, an Astana court sentenced Ykylas Kabduakasov, a Seventh-day Adventist, to seven years’ restricted freedom for “inciting religious discord.” Officials raided a children’s Bible camp in August, claiming the organizers had violated the religion law.
A 2014 trade union law restricts the right of workers to join trade unions of their choice and to freely determine their structure. In 2015, some unions, including the Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Kazakhstan (KSPK), were unable to re-register in accordance with the new law. Worker members expressed serious concern about the law at the June session of the International Labour Organization (ILO). The government failed to attend the session, prompting heavy criticism from the ILO.
Other legislation governing the financing and collective bargaining rights of trade unions remains restrictive. A new labor code was adopted in November. Oil unions expressed concern that the draft labor code would restrict workers’ rights.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Kazakhstan live in a climate of fear fuelled by harassment, discrimination, and violence. On the rare occasions when LGBT people report abuse, they often face indifference and hostility.
In March, parliament passed bills that sought to introduce a broad ban on “propaganda of non-traditional sexual orientation,” but final drafts were not made public and the end-stage of the legislative process was non-transparent. In May, the “propaganda” legislation was found unconstitutional for being too vague, but the Constitutional Council did not address the bills’ discriminatory elements.
Key International Actors
Despite the absence of meaningful political reform in Kazakhstan, and European Union pledges to link upgraded relations to human rights improvements, the EU and Kazakhstan initialed an Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement on January 20. In April, following presidential elections, the EU issued a rare public message urging Kazakh authorities to “enhance their efforts to honour their international commitments regarding democratic principles and human rights.”
The United States continues to be largely silent on publicly registering human rights concerns in Kazakhstan, and the bilateral relationship focuses prominently on security, nuclear nonproliferation, the economy, and trade.
During his June trip to Kazakhstan, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on the government to continue to make human rights progress and remember that “all religious and minority groups should be guaranteed [freedom of religion] on an equal footing.”
In April, Baskut Tuncak, the UN special rapporteur on human rights and hazardous substances and waste, concluded after a mission to Kazakhstan that the government was not properly implementing or enforcing environmental legislation and needed to protect people from hazardous waste, including in Berezovka, a village whose residents, particularly children, continue to live in a toxic environment and suffer chronic health problems.
In April, Kazakhstan ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and in August, signed on to the Safe Schools Declaration, a political commitment to better protect students, teachers, schools, and universities in armed conflict.
In its October concluding observations on Kazakhstan, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child issued comprehensive recommendations, including on the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment, corporal punishment, and sexual violence against children, and addressing the needs of children with disabilities.
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Latest News on Kazakhstan
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Michigan > South Lyon Profile
South Lyon, MI Profile
South Lyon, MI, population 10,994, is located in Michigan's Oakland county, about 13.7 miles from Ann Arbor and 16.5 miles from Livonia.
Through the 90's South Lyon's population has grown by about 71%. It is estimated that in the first 5 years of the past decade the population of South Lyon has grown by about 10%. Since 2005 South Lyon's population has stayed about the same.
South Lyon's property crime levels tend to be lower than Michigan's average level. The same data shows violent crime levels in South Lyon tend to be much lower than Michigan's average level.
2000 10,023 N/A
2001 10,489 4.65%
2007 10,954 -0.19%
2001 8 114 1
Ft Wayne
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Why Baldur's Gate 3 Won't Be a Google Stadia Exclusive
Larian Studios say it believes in Google's platform but is "not going to participate in the exclusivity game."
By Tom Marks
Updated: 6 Jun 2019 10:42 pm
Posted: 6 Jun 2019 7:50 pm
Baldur’s Gate 3 was officially revealed during the Google Stadia Connect conference today, but it will not be a Stadia exclusive. Developer Larian Studios tells IGN that while its very excited about Stadia and wants to support the streaming platform, it also doesn’t want to take away player choice as a result.
“There is no exclusive attachment to Stadia,” Larian Studios CEO Swen Vincke told us, saying that it would still be coming to other storefronts as well, and not require Stadia to play – in fact, Steam and GOG store pages for both of those sites went up alongside the announcement today.
“It was important to us to tell our players ‘we’re not going to participate in the exclusivity game,’” Vincke explained. That’s obviously a hot topic right now as the Epic Games Store continues to pull exclusive games away from Steam, and Vincke has made it crystal clear here that they are not interested in doing the same for any platform.
Baldur's Gate 3 will have "over 100 hours of content," and Larian believes Stadia will make playing through that in multiplayer a lot easier.
The assumption from many was that the Baldur’s Gate 3’s announcement during the Stadia Connect might mean it was only available to subscribers of Google’s new service, but it was actually driven by Vincke’s genuine enthusiasm for Stadia as a technology. “I am a very big believer in Stadia,” Vincke said. “It makes [games] actually platform agnostic, and that’s something that I’ve always wanted to have.”
“I believe that the game should adapt to the device, but that the device shouldn’t matter when you play it,” Vincke explained, likening it to their efforts to make Divinity: Original Sin 1 and 2 play smoothly on both PC and consoles. “That’s literally what Stadia is doing also, so that’s where that worked out well.”
He also said Stadia’s promise of better interconnectivity, including being able to simply send links to other players that allow them to join you in-game, was very appealing: “We’re making a game that has over 100 hours of content, so if you want to play that multiplayer it takes a lot of investment and syncing up with each other. If they can just do it on one link on any device that’s a lot easier to start doing it rather than having to sit behind your PC.”
“So that’s the thing that attracted me to Stadia when they started talking about it, and that’s why I said ‘we really have to be doing this,’” Vincke continued, “because if I can just have people send links to each other, say ‘try it out, we’re playing Baldur’s Gate 3,” that’s going to help a lot with the game.”
Vincke also said he’s excited that Stadia will allow Larian to “put the production values up without having to worry too much about the min-specs.” Since all of the graphics processing will be handled by Stadia’s servers, you won’t have to pay for a pricey PC to play it on the highest graphics settings. “It’s really cool tech so I really hope it succeeds, because it’s a democratization of the platform.”
For More about Baldur’s Gate 3 and Google Stadia, check out our interview with Larian about their big announcement, or all the biggest news from Stadia's first Connect stream. BG3 has been confirmed to be among the games coming to E3 2019, so be sure to check out our E3 event hub for all the updates from the big show.
Tom Marks is IGN's Deputy Reviews Editor and resident pie maker. You can follow him on Twitter.
Baldur's Gate III
Rated "RP-T+"
DeveloperLarian Studios
PublisherLarian Studios
Release DateTBA
PlatformsPC, Stadia
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Published on: October 8, 2014
Spousal Support in Divorce: The New Law in Illinois
A new law in Illinois as of January 1, 2015 changes how spousal support is determined for divorcing couples whose combined gross income is less than $250,000. This new law raises some interesting issues with respect to the global finances of divorce, so let’s examine briefly the new law of spousal support in Illinois.
The law, which was developed by the Illinois State Bar’s Family Law Section Council, creates a protocol for calculating maintenance based on the income of the parties and the length of the marriage. The law that has been in use for years essentially placed a high degree of discretion with the trial judge; parties to divorce sometimes had very little guidance as to what a given judge would award for maintenance, or if any award was to be granted.
Under the new law, a maintenance award should equal 30 percent of the payor’s ( the one who pays maintenance) gross income minus 20 percent of the payee’s (recipient) gross income, not to exceed 40 percent of the parties’ combined gross income when added to the payee’s gross. Where the parties both earn higher incomes, there is a threshold percentage that “caps” the award at no more than 40 percent of the combined incomes. Longer marriages benefit from longer terms of maintenance; shorter term marriages see a lesser time period involved.
Sound complicated? The new law was intended to create a formula that judges could apply in maintenance cases that would allow for predictability and relative “fairness” from county to county. Judges still have some discretion in these matters, though I will expect that many judges will start to follow the formula by rote. Judges that use a lot of creativity in their discretion sometimes get appealed by the offended party, and so the nature of many judges will be to adhere to the new formula.
If you’re considering filing for divorce, and have questions about the financial issues in divorce (maintenance, child support, division of property) contact my law office at (630) 232-2400 to make an initial consultation. I’ll help you navigate the landscape of the new maintenance statute, and any other concerns you may have about your divorce case.
Posted in: Financial Issues in Divorce
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Under the Volcano (Paperback)
By Malcolm Lowry
Harper Perennial, 9780062371515, 496pp.
Digital Audiobook (4/6/2009)
Paperback (5/1/2000)
Compact Disc (5/1/2009)
Pre-Recorded Audio Player (7/1/2009)
MP3 CD (5/1/2009)
"Lowry's masterpiece...has a claim to being regarded as one of the ten most consequential works fo fiction produced in [the twentieth] century." — Los Angeles Times
Geoffrey Firmin, a former British consul, has come to Quauhnahuac, Mexico. His debilitating malaise is drinking, an activity that has overshadowed his life. On the most fateful day of the consul's life—the Day of the Dead—his wife, Yvonne, arrives in Quauhnahuac, inspired by a vision of life together away from Mexico and the circumstances that have driven their relationship to the brink of collapse. She is determined to rescue Firmin and their failing marriage, but her mission is further complicated by the presence of Hugh, the consul's half brother, and Jacques, a childhood friend. The events of this one significant day unfold against an unforgettable backdrop of a Mexico at once magical and diabolical.
Under the Volcano remains one of literature's most powerful and lyrical statements on the human condition, and a brilliant portrayal of one man's constant struggle against the elemental forces that threaten to destroy him.
Malcolm Lowry (1909–1957) was born in England, and he attended Cambridge University. He spent much of his life traveling and lived in Paris, New York, Mexico, Los Angeles, Canada, and Italy, among other places. He is the author of numerous works, including Ultramarine and Hear Us O Lord from Heaven Thy Dwelling Place.
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The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel (Hardcover)
By Amy Hempel, Rick Moody (Introduction by)
Scribner, 9780743289467, 432pp.
Publication Date: May 1, 2006
The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel gathers together the complete work of a writer whose voice is as singular and astonishing as any in American fiction. Hempel, fiercely admired by writers and reviewers, has a sterling reputation that is based on four very short collections of stories, roughly fifteen thousand stunning sentences, written over a period of nearly three decades. These are stories about people who make choices that seem inevitable, whose longings and misgivings evoke eternal human experience. With compassion, wit, and the acutest eye, Hempel observes the marriages, minor disasters, and moments of revelation in an uneasy America.
When "Reasons to Live, " Hempel's first collection, was published in 1985, readers encountered a pitch-perfect voice in fiction and an unsettling assessment of the culture. That collection includes "San Francisco," which Alan Cheuse in "The Chicago Tribune" called "arguably the finest short story composed by any living writer." In "At the Gates of the Animal Kingdom, " her second collection, frequently compared to the work of Raymond Carver, Hempel refined and developed her unique grace and style and her unerring instinct for the moment that defines a character. Also included here, in their entirety, are the collections "Tumble Home" and "The Dog of the Marriage." As Rick Moody says of the title novella in Tumble Home, "the leap in mastery, in seriousness, and sheer literary purpose was inspiring to behold.... And yet," he continues, ""The Dog of the Marriage, " the fourth collection, is even better than the other three...a triumph, in fact." "The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel" is the perfect opportunity for readers of contemporary American fiction to catch up to one of its masters. Moody's passionate and illuminating introduction celebrates both the appeal and the importance of Hempel's work.
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The University of Rijeka joined this program in 2009 and since then has signed over 260 Erasmus bilateral agreements with universities from the majority of EU countries. This cooperation includes students and staff exchange. In four academic years more than 360 University of Rijeka students participated in Erasmus.
In December 2013, the University of Rijeka was awarded the Erasmus University Charter (255 208-LA-1-2014-1-EN-E4AKA1-ECHE) for participation in the Erasmus+ programme in the period from 2014 to 2020.
Erasmus+ is the new EU programme for education, training, youth and sport for the period 2014–2020. The planned budget for the seven year duration of the Erasmus+ programme amounts to 19 billion EUR. The Erasmus+ gathers both former and current European and international projects and initiatives in the field of education, training, youth and sports, and serves as a replacement for seven existing programmes: the lifelong learning programme (Erasmus, Leonardo da Vinci, Comenius, Grundtvig), Youth in Action as well as five current international exchange programmes (Erasmus Mundus, Tempus, Alfa, Edulin and thecollaborative programme with industrialized countries and territories). ERASMUS+ will provide opportunities for over 5 million people to study or train.
MORE INFORMATION ON ERASMUS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF RIJEKA WEBSITE.
Erasmus coordinator of the Department of Informatics: Marija Brkić Bakarić, PhD (mbrkic@inf.uniri.hr)
Courses in English language at the Department of Informatics (2018/2019)
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Hannaford's Motion to Dismiss: Victory for Merchants...
... at least against consumer class action lawsuits. The United States District Court of Maine recently rendered its ruling on Hannaford's Motion to Dismiss the consumer class action lawsuits against it. Overall the decision is very favorable to merchants because it eliminates a large percentage of potential class plaintiffs. Significantly, however, this case does not settle the question of potential liability to issuing banks for reissuance costs (that matter is likely being settled behind the scenes pursuant to dispute resolution provisions in VISA and Mastercard operating regulations). This is the first of a three party series summarizing the Hannaford decision. The first post details the Court's ruling on the viability of various causes of action. The second post explains the courts holding concerning the issue of "cognizable harm". The last post outlines the means by which the issuing banks in this matter are likely to recover: VISA's Account Data Compromise Recovery process.
The Hannaford decision is best summed up by the court in one of the opening paragraphs:
Under Maine law as I understand it, when a merchant is negligent in handling a customer's electronic payment data and that negligence causes an unreimbursed fraudulent charge or debit against a customer's account, the merchant is liable for that loss. In the circumstances of this case, there may also be liability under Maine's Unfair Trade Practices Act ("UTPA") for an unfair or deceptive trade practice. But if the merchant is not negligent, or if the negligence does not produce that completed direct financial loss and instead causes only collateral consequences--for example, the customer's fear that a fraudulent transaction might happen in the future, the consumer's expenditure of time and effort to protect the account, lost opportunities to earn reward points, or incidental expenses that the customer suffers in restoring theintegrity of the previous account relationships--then the merchant is not liable.
In coming to its decision, the Court first analyzed the viability of the claims made by the consumer plaintiffs. Significantly, the Court recognized three viable theories, including breach of implied contract, negligence and violation of Maine's Unfair Trade Practices Act. In the course of doing so, the Court solidified the idea that no legal duty exists to provide "perfect" security -- security obligations will be judged on a reasonableness standard instead.
Implied contract.
The consumer plaintiffs alleged that, at the point where groceries were purchased using a credit card, an actual contract was created, and that contract included implied terms around payment card security. Under Maine law, only those implied terms that are "absolutely necessary to effectuate the contract" and "indispensable to effectuate the intention of the parties" shall be valid.
In this case, the court recognized three implied terms around consumer payment cards: (1) merchant will not use the card data for other peoples' purchases; (2) merchant will not sell or give the card data to others (except for processing card); and (3) merchant will take reasonable measures to protect the information (which might include industry standards). The Court held that the following were not implied contract terms: (1) any implied commitment against every intrusion under any circumstances whatsoever (e.g. no unqualified guaranty of confidentiality); and (2) any duty to notify consumers that the confidentially of cardholder data was compromised.
Breach of Implied Warranty The court rejected the plaintiff's claim that Hannaford breached an implied warranty with respect to protecting cardholder data. First, under the Uniform Commercial Code, implied warranties of fitness for a particular purpose only relate to the "good" sold (e.g. groceries) not the payment mechanism. Even if such a warranty existed with respect to the payment mechanism, the consumers in this case had no "particular purpose" since their use was no different than all other grocery purchasers. Last the court rejected plaintiff's attempt to analogize the provision of cardholder data to a "bailment."
Breach of a Duty of Confidential Relationship.
The plaintiffs alleged that a customer and merchant enter into a confidential relationship whenever a customer uses a payment card, and that this relationship creates a fiduciary duty on Hannaford to guaranty the sanctity of the cardholder data and provide full disclosure of the nature of a security breach as soon as it happens. The court disagreed. First, the relationship in this case was not one of "trust and confidence" as compared to other Maine cases involving family relationships, joint ventures, partnerships or lender/borrower relations where one party has taken advantage of the other. Second, there was no evidence that Hannaford abused the trust of the customers impacted by the breach. Such abuse generally concerns the superior party obtaining the other party's property unfairly. Failing to promptly report the breach to avoiding adverse effects to Hannaford's business and reputation and retaining customers did not amount to an "abuse of trust" under this theory. Last, the Court ruled that the plaintiffs failed to establish a disparity in the bargaining position between the parties (as required for this theory). Hannaford did not have a monopoly on the sale of groceries and did not require the use of debit or credit cards to purchase groceries.
Breach of a Duty to Advise Customers of the Theft of Their Data
The plaintiffs attempted to argue that a duty to provide notice of a breach existed in common law (in the absence of a breach notice statute -- apparently this case did not trigger the existing breach notice law because it did not involve personal information, only credit card data). Plaintiffs argued that the failure to warn consumers of the security breach amounted to a negligent misrepresentation by omission. However, under Maine law a duty to disclose only exists if there is a confidential relationship between the parties or if there was an active concealment of truth - neither of which existed in this case according to the Court. Moreover, in light of the legislature having passed a breach notice law in Maine, the Court was hesitant to create any new state standard from the bench.
Strict Liability
The plaintiffs argued that public policy favored the imposition of strict liability on Hannaford because safeguarding the consumers' confidential data was solely in the control of Hannaford. Under a strict liability regime, defendants are held liable whether or not they exercised reasonable care. This essentially amounts to a guarantee of 100% security. The Court, however, reject this argument. Strict liability has been imposed only in particularized circumstances, typically involving extra-hazardous activities and wild animals. In addition the Maine legislature passed a statute imposing strict liability with respect to the sale of defective goods. The Court held that none of these circumstances existed and that such an expansion of law was an issue for the Maine legal system or legislature (not a federal judge).
First, the Court noted that Hannaford did not argue that it was exempt from the duty of care in this case, and therefore appeared to uphold the negligence claim. Rather Hannaford argued that the negligence claim was barred by the economic loss doctrine. In general this doctrine prevents tort recovery for purely economic loss incurred by parties to a contractual relationship unless there is also personal injury or property damage. However, the Court ruled that under Maine law, the economic loss doctrine is applied narrowly in cases involving defective products. Since this case did not involve defective products, the Court refused to apply the rule against the plaintiffs. Note, in other jurisdictions that allow the economic loss doctrine to be applied for service contracts, this decision may have been different (indeed in the TJX and BJ Wholesaler's cases, negiligence claims were knocked out based on the economic loss doctrine).
Maine's Unfair Trade Practices Act
Maine's Unfair Trade Practices Act ("UTPA") says that "unfair or deceptive acts or practices in the conduct of any trade or commerce are declared unlawful. Under Maine's law, a consumer that purchases goods or services and suffers any loss of money or property as a result of an unfair practice may sue for actual damages, restitution and equitable relief. In this case, the plaintiffs allege that Hannaford's failure to promptly disclose the data theft was unfair and deceptive under the UTPA. The Court in this case agreed with the plaintiffs. It held that if Hannaford had provided earlier notice of the security breach, consumers may have refrained from purchasing products from Hannaford using credit cards until the breach was contained (e.g. Hannaford discovered the breach in February 2008, but did not contain it until March 10, 2008). The Court noted that conduct may be deceptive even if the merchant operated in good faith and without intent to deceive. In addition, similar to the TJX Appellate case, the Court noted that the UTPA instructed courts to be guided by FTC interpretations under the FTC Act. The court ruled that the substantial body of FTC complaints charging companies with security deficiencies supported plaintiffs allegations and therefore allowed the UTPA claim to stand. Significantly, the Court did not consider a negligent misrepresentation claim (such as in TJX) with respect to the protection of cardholder data. This theory was raised in oral arguments and was not present in the Hannaford complaint.
Despite recognizing three viable causes of action, the Court's analysis was not complete. In part two, ISC analyzes the Court's decision concerning cognizable damages. The end result is that while the Court recognized a certain class of plaintiffs that can recover for payment card security breaches, that class is likely to be small. While this is good news on the consumer lawsuit front, please note that the issuing banks will be coming after Hannaford in this matter. So dodging this bullet may put Hannaford in the way of a larger bomb.
UncategorizedInfoLawGroup LLP May 19, 2009 1 Comment
Security Assessor Sued in CardSystems Breach: Merrick Bank v. Savvis
Breach Notice, Payment Card Breach Laws, PCI, Plastic Card Protectio..., PleadingsInfoLawGroup LLP May 27, 2009 1 Comment
The TJX Case: It Lives! With a New Theory of Liability: "Unfairness"
Class Certification, Damages, Motion to Dismiss, PCI, Regulations, TJXInfoLawGroup LLP May 02, 2009 Breach, consumer fraud, credit cards, negligence, Security
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OPS Aggressive Campaign for AIADMK Sulur Candidate Kanthasamy in Assembly Elections 2019
Nagarjun (Author) Published Date : May 04, 2019 15:52 IST
OPS Campaign in Sulur Constituency.
Deputy Chief Minister Mr O. Paneerselvam started his campaign talk in Irugur a part of Sulur constituency with his typical calm voice and confident composure. He started accusing the previous DMK government of robbing people's money by rushing public welfare schemes and thus rendering it unhelpful to the poor and needy to whom it was supposed to be beneficial. "They robbed the people of their livelihood with the constant power outages", he said accusing them of destroying the power loom industry that is the backbone of the Sulur people.
Cauvery issue: He called DMK a negligent government who didn't do much when it came to the Cauvery issue. He then went on to explain the DMK's history in handling the issue. His statement is "When Karnataka wanted to build more dams across Cauvery, the government filed a case to prevent them from doing it. But after some time Mr M. Karunanidhi the then chief minister of Tamilnadu withdrew the case allowing them to build more dams. This is the cause of the water shortage now."
He also added, "The Cauvery water management authority gave its final verdict 12 years ago but It was not released as a government order during the central government rule of DMK – Congress alliance. It was Ms J. Jayalalitha who went to court and got the verdict as a government order in 2013".
No discrimination in TN: Talking about the discrimination in TN, he stated that the government is providing money and other assistance to make the holy Haj journey by Muslims every year. The government also provides money to Christian people to make the holy Jerusalem journey. Thus Tamilnadu is a state with a non-discriminative government.
TTV and Stalin collusion: He said that he was not threatened by the secret alliance of DMK and AMMK. He felt confident that no power can destroy ADMK despite the efforts of Stalin and TTV Dhinakaran which has been going on since the death of 'Amma'.
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View other orthopedic patient stories: Mona Segal - Knee Replacement Gave Her Back Her Independence Kevin Barry - Still Competing After Two Surgeries Aeleen Pacheco - Orthopedic Surgery Dennis Machado - Soccer after ACL Surgery Danielle Busanic - Back on the Court after Two Surgeries
Aeleen Pacheco – Chile Teen Steps Into Recovery
For the past seven years, Aeleen Antonia Perez Pacheco hasn't been able to do anything physical beyond walking with a brace. The 15–year–old has been in constant pain and was in danger of losing her left leg.
She saw a parade of doctors in her native Chile, who knew what the problem was, but could offer no relief. Aeleen has a rare genetic bone condition called fibrous dysplasia, and physicians there didn't have the expertise or the medical equipment to treat her disease.
With this condition, fibrous tissue grows instead of normal bone, making her leg extremely fragile. The bone bows at an abnormal angle, which puts stress on it and triggers pain. Should the bone break, her leg would need to be amputated because it is unable to heal.
But through the non–profit Healing the Children, Aeleen was brought to the U.S., where Dr. Brian Bauer, an orthopedic surgeon from Holy Name Medical Center, performed surgery to protect the bone and keep it from breaking.
"The surgery went well and she's going to be okay – she'll be able to keep her leg," Dr. Bauer said after the surgery. "She's such a friendly kid, with a beautiful face, and she was so grateful."
Dr. Bauer shored up her leg with three titanium rods that will strengthen it and eliminate most, if not all of her pain. Two months after the surgery, her leg looks good and doesn't bow as much, though she uses crutches and has a small incision a few inches long below her knee. The scar marks the spot where Dr. Bauer tunneled the rods through the length of her lower leg. It was not an easy surgery.
"Many doctors, especially in third–world countries, are afraid to do this because you can break the bone during the procedure and then knowing it won't heal, you have to take the leg," Dr. Bauer said. "But for this young girl to have to go through life with one leg would have been such a shame."
Healing the Children provides medical care locally and internationally to children recommended by a wide variety of sources. Dr. Bauer has been involved with the nonprofit for two decades, offering his services free of charge. Holy Name has partnered with Healing the Children since the 1980s, also waiving its fees for these youngsters. The Medical Center hosts a child every couple of years. Prior to Aeleen, a 10–year Kazakhstan boy from an orphanage needed surgery on his misshaped wrists in 2014.
"Helping these children is part of Holy Name's mission – a ministry of healing," said Michael Maron, President and CEO of Holy Name. "And who better to receive assistance in recovery than innocent children facing challenges most adults can't even imagine."
As for Aeleen, she is currently on crutches while waiting for a brace that is being custom–made for her. No one is sure how long she'll need the brace, but it should be less cumbersome than the one she had in Chile and enable her to move more freely.
"I haven't done any type of exercise since I was eight and I want to do that again," said a soft–spoken Aeleen in Spanish. "I'm so grateful to Dr. Bauer and everyone at Holy Name for all they've done for me. They've been so nice to me and made me feel so comfortable. I would never have had all this in Chile."
Aeleen is especially grateful to her host family, John and Mary Silverberg of Suffern, N.Y., who agreed to care for her while she's in the U.S. This is the fourth child the Silverbergs have taken in through Healing the Children.
"It's very fulfilling – they become part of the family," John said. "It's hard when they leave, but Healing the Children sends us emails to keep us updated on how they're doing."
Aeleen comes from a large extended family, most of them seeing her off at the Chile airport when she left in June. Mary Silverberg said that makes sending Aeleen home less sad.
"When you know they have a loving family that cares for them, it's so much easier," she said. "I know she's enjoying her stay but she misses her family."
The highlight of her trip to the U.S. has been a quick jaunt to Atlantic City, where she saw the beach and travelled the boardwalk. But the best is yet to come. The Silverberg's are taking Aeleen to Disney World for a week.
"I watch movies on the Disney Channel back home and my dream has always been to go to Disney World," Aeleen said. "I can't wait."
With her recovery going well, Aeleen should be able to return to Chile in September.
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Flexible offices in Sydney, Crows Nest
246 Pacific Highway, Crows Nest, Sydney, Western Sydney, NSW 2065
The Crows Nest business centre is located on a prominent corner in the heart of Sydney’s bustling Crows Nest district, just 5 kilometres north of the Sydney CBD. The centre is on a ground floor office building offering high quality office space with substantial natural light and is supported by exceptional amenities with retail and entertainment facilities in close proximity including an array of cafes, restaurants, bars and fashion outlets all within walking distance. Located on the junction of five main roads, the centre boasts a prominent street viewpoint with high exposure and traffic flow. It is well-serviced by an extensive bus network with train access via St Leonards Station (1.1 km away) and North Sydney Station (1.5 km away). The Crows Nest centre offers a perfect solution for local and overseas companies looking for flexible and fully-equipped offices with comprehensive services at a reasonable price.
Sydney, Crows Nest
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Paul Delprat's Principality of Wy is his home in the Sydney suburb of Mosman. | AFP-JIJI
Asia Pacific / Offbeat
Ruling from your home: Inside Australia's micronations boom
Online: Jul 13, 2018
Last Modified: Jul 13, 2018
SYDNEY - Lounging on a sofa in his flowing robes, a gold crown resting on his snowy hair, Paul Delprat looks every bit a monarch.
Delprat, 76, is the self-appointed prince of the Principality of Wy, a micronation consisting of his home in the north Sydney suburb of Mosman.
Micronations — entities that have proclaimed independence but are not recognized by governments — have been declared around the world.
One of the latest is Asgardia, started by the Russian scientist and businessman Igor Ashurbeyli, who in late June declared himself leader of the utopian “space nation.”
The pseudo-states are particularly popular in Australia. The continent is home to the highest number in the world — about 35, out of an estimated total of up to 200.
“For me it’s a passion, it’s an art installation,” said Delprat, a principal at a school of fine art, as a large painting of himself decked out in full regalia with his wife and children loomed above his head.
“My favorite artist is Rembrandt, who loved dressing up. In a world where we haven’t sorted out our differences, art is the international language. … The philosophy of Wy is live and let live — and above all, laugh if you can.”
Delprat’s homemade kingdom, filled with monarchical and historical paraphernalia, is, like some micronations, born out of a dispute with authorities.
Blocked by the local council for more than a decade from building a driveway, Delprat seceded from Mosman in 2004.
Instead of drawing the ire of authorities, he became a local celebrity — even attracting adoring fans from Japan.
The rise of micronations hasn’t just stemmed from the relaxed attitude of Australian governments willing to tolerate the tiny fiefdoms as long as they pay taxes.
Australians’ healthy disdain for authority — a source of national pride — has also fueled the phenomenon, says constitutional law professor George Williams of the University of New South Wales.
“In Australia, there’s a strong streak of people wanting to thumb their noses at authority,” Williams said. “There is a bit of a ‘larrikin’ (maverick) streak here, a sense that this can be a bit of fun … and often they are hobbies that have got wildly out of hand.”
Establishing a micronation is not without its hazards.
John Rudge, the grand duke of the Grand Duchy of Avram in Australia’s southern island state of Tasmania, issued his own notes and coins in 1980 after writing a Ph.D. thesis about setting up a central bank.
The government disputed his use of the word “bank” on the notes and took him to court, although the case was eventually dismissed, Rudge said.
The country’s oldest micronation — the Principality of Hutt River, 500 km north of Perth — was set up by Leonard Casley in 1970 after a dispute with the Western Australia state government over wheat quotas.
Prince Leonard, who owns some 75 square kilometers (29 square miles) of farmland — an area larger than that of more than 20 bona fide states, territories or dependencies — was last year ordered by a court to pay 3 million Australian dollars ($2.2 million) in taxes.
Even so, the property reportedly makes a tidy sum for the now-retired prince, who handed over the reins to his youngest son, Graeme, last year as a tourist attraction.
Other micronations use their realms to talk about good governance.
George Cruickshank, aka Emperor George II, established the Empire of Atlantium as a teenager with his two cousins after being horrified by “confrontational” attitudes during the Cold War. The 51-year-old has built a government house, post office and even a pyramid on a 76-hectare patch of farmland 300 kilometers south of Sydney.
He markets the empire on Airbnb as the only country that people can rent for just AU$100 a night, and uses his fame to promote his progressive globalist agenda.
“The moment I put on medals and a sash and I become George II, Emperor of Atlantium, suddenly the media is interested by what I have to say,” said Cruickshank, who runs a Facebook group for micronation leaders.
“I think the world generally is taking a temporary step backwards with this nativism, localism, Trumpism, Brexit.
“Micronations offer a possibility to say, ‘Stop, take a step back, how could things be made better than they are now?’ “
The concept of sovereignty has also been a source of contention for Australia’s Aboriginal population. The “First Nations” of Australia, whose cultures stretch back tens of thousands of years, were driven off their lands when British settlers arrived in 1788.
Two micronations — the Murrawarri Republic, which straddles Queensland and New South Wales, and the Yidindji nation in Queensland — have sought treaties with Australia that acknowledge their land rights.
“They’ve never agreed to be dispossessed from those lands. In fact, many still reject the idea that the Australian nation was created on their lands,” Williams said.
“They do often look at asserting their sovereignty through micronations and the like, because they want a better and more just settlement for them and into the future.”
Australia, nobility
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AUTOMAT PICTURES
“One of our most prolific nonfiction filmmakers.”
— Twin Cities Pioneer Press
Jeffrey Schwarz is an Emmy Award-winning producer and director based in Los Angeles. His latest documentary is The Fabulous Allan Carr, which premiered at the 2017 Seattle International Film Festival. Previous work includes the 2015 SXSW Film Festival premiere Tab Hunter Confidential, the Emmy Award-winning HBO Documentary Films’ Vito, I Am Divine, Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon, and the 2007 AFI Fest Documentary Audience Award winner Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story.
Jeffrey Schwarz's IMDB profile
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JORGE M. GONZÁLEZ (Texas)
JAHP Vice President
Jorge M. González is a Venezuelan born Entomologist. Mentored by Francisco Fernández Yépez, a renowned Venezuelan Lepidopterist, Jorge has been on insect collecting trips throughout Venezuela including the Gran Sabana region of southeastern Venezuela.
After graduating in 1981 as an Agricultural Engineer from the Universidad Central de Venezuela, he went to the University of Georgia in Athens. He obtained his MS in 1985 with Robert W. Matthews in insect behavior. His oldest daughter Daniela was born in Athens the same year. His youngest daughter Andrea was born in Caracas in 1987. His grand kids, Manuel and Rodrigo were born in Austin, Texas in 2018.
Returning to Venezuela he joined Fundación Terramar and was a participant in many scientific expeditions in the 1980s and 1990s to the Pantepui region. While working with other Institutions in the late 1980s and 1990s he had the opportunity to freelance as a guide for some Ecotourism companies, exploring the Llanos and the Northern and Interior Cordilleras.
He obtained his Ph.D. in Entomology at Universidad Central de Venezuela in 1994. He was then contacted by Pedro Trebbau, the leading Venezuelan zoo specialist, to join him in a project to modernize Zoos in the country. After presenting the idea to the team for the need of an Insect Zoo in Venezuela, Jorge was sent to Germany in 1995 to be trained in building and managing insect zoos and butterfly gardens. He worked with Günther Nogge, Peter Klaas, Mathias Forst, and José “Pepe” Alcaraz at the Köln Zoo. He studied the management of South American Fauna in confined conditions with Wolf Bartmann at the Dortmund Zoo. The Venezuelan Zoo Team was eventually disbanded, but Jorge has stayed active in zoo matters. In 1998, he designed the Insectarium-Butterfly Garden of El Pinar Zoo, Caracas where he became the director in 2000.
Invited back to Georgia in 2001 to work with wasps, Jorge, his wife Mayra and their daughters Daniela & Andrea and a niece Malle moved to Athens. In 2005 Jorge joined S. Bradleigh Vinson’s team at Texas A & M University, College Station, Texas. Jorge and family became permanent U.S. citizens in 2013. This year, Jorge and his wife moved to Clovis, California where he worked as a professor of the Plant Science Department at California State University, Fresno, teaching Entomology related courses. He moved to Austin, Texas, in 2018. He is a member of the staff of Austin Achieve Public Schools.
Jorge has traveled through Europe, Israel, Latin America and extensively in the USA. He has published over one-hundred articles in peer review journals and has co-authored seven books and translated few books including Jan-Willem de Vries’ graphic novel Truth or Dare: The Jimmie Angel Story. He frequently reviews scientific manuscripts and books for specialized journals. He first became interested in the history of explorers that visited Venezuela looking for insects. As his “on the side” project, he continues to investigate the history of exploration in Venezuela but now focused on all types of explorers. His interest in exploration is how he “found” Ruth Robertson and the details of her 1949 expedition to measure Angel Falls. He wanted to know more about the Jimmie Angel-Ruth Robertson relationship and contacted Karen Angel in 2007 for information. Jorge is interested in keeping alive the memory of these explorers and their discoveries and activities by publishing his investigations of their explorations. He writes a monthly article for the Wall Street International Magazine where he presents stories about insects but also about explorers. He was elected to the JAHP Board in 2009.
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Gayle King's Favorite Pair of Shoes May Surprise You
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Kit Harington on His Big Final Scene, and What Comes Next
After nearly a decade of playing Jon Snow on Game of Thrones, Harington is finally ditching his armor.
By Tim Blanks
Updated: Apr 10, 2019 @ 4:16 pm
Kit Harington in a Dior Men top. Photographed by Joachim Mueller-Ruchholtz/Bird Production
We meet in East London on a rooftop almost as windswept as a Westeros moor. Kit Harington is wearing a jacket in an indigo linen weave and a shirt in a sturdy oxford cloth. He looks a bit like a farm boy dressed up for a day in town. The cascade of curls that was the signature of his Game of Thrones character, Jon Snow, is tamed. For Harington, the show is over. For us, the homestretch of the most epic series in the history of television has barely begun.
I cast my mind back to July 2011 and a Dolce & Gabbana event in London’s Westfield mall. It was a month after GoT had débuted on HBO. The paparazzi were swarming around the designers, Naomi Campbell, local It girls — and Alfie Allen, the brother of Lily and another soon-to-be Thrones star. No one noticed the slight, pretty, curly-haired young man standing all on his own. I went up to him to say how much I loved his show. He told me he was disappointed that no one had recognized him.
VIDEO: Kit Harington: First Things First
“Those innocent times,” Harington, 32, recalls with a laugh. “Those times when I wanted to be recognized. I was completely naïve. I don’t think I was prepared for anything like this.” He doesn’t remember the night. He was a kid. But that was how he’d gotten the part in the first place. Jon Snow was written young, in keeping with GoT author George R.R. Martin’s characters, most of whom were in their early teens at the beginning of the saga. “I didn’t have a beard back then, and I’ve got a bit of a baby face underneath this scruff, so I think that helped,” Harington recalls. “Then they went for a completely different take. ‘Grow a beard. Look rougher. That’s what we want.’ I pushed out this scruffy thing that they had to draw on and fill in, but, weirdly, I remember it as a rite of passage. I’d never tried before, and I grew this thing, and it changed me. I felt like a man … a young man.”
Extraordinary as it seems now, Game of Thrones — the eighth and final season resumes on April 14 — was scarcely guaranteed success when it kicked off. “I honestly didn’t think about that at all,” Harington says. “Being in an HBO show was success enough for me. Until Season 5 or 6, literally that far in, I was thinking, ‘Next season, am I gonna get paid?’ That’s how I treated it. When we first got nominated for an Emmy, I didn’t know what that was. It was when I went to Comic-Con that I realized there was a cult following springing up. And soon it was more than a cult following. It’s become a bigger thing on television … Yeah, I guess I have to slightly admit that now — it is kind of one of the biggest shows ever.”
Kit Harington in a Hermès shirt, a Boss tank top, and Tom Ford trousers. Photographed by Joachim Mueller-Ruchholtz.
How is Harington feeling now that filming has wrapped? “You don’t feel one thing; you feel a hundred,” he says. “Sadness. Elation. Excitement. Dread, definitely. But more than anything there’s just this flickering light at the end of the tunnel. Once it’s aired and done, I think I’ll just have this great sense that something’s been lifted off my shoulders. I’ve underestimated how much pressure has gone with the show for 10 years.”
And never more so than with the final series: nine months to shoot six episodes when it used to be six months for 10. “You’d come in for a week and be off for two weeks. But I was there the whole time this year. I barely left Belfast. For the last couple of seasons I’ve done more days than anyone else because of the nature of my character. There are just a lot of the battles and the action sequences.”
Kit Harington in a Tom Ford jacket, a Dolce & Gabbana sweater and trousers, and Pierre Hardy boots. Photographed by Joachim Mueller-Ruchholtz.
Then, finally, it was over. “I think I got my final day changed about 18 times, to the point where I didn’t know when it was. I was like, ‘Just don’t tell me.’ Then it came, and I had that final scene, which was very average. I was just walking somewhere with Liam [Cunningham, who plays Davos Seaworth] and Jacob [Anderson, who plays Grey Worm]. It couldn’t have been more of a wet fart of a scene. But I completely broke down after it. I’d seen Peter Dinklage do his last scene earlier in the day, and he broke down. I’d been at other people’s wraps, like Sophie Turner’s. You just saw them collapse. And it happened to me. It was a beautifully weighted ending. Then it was like, ‘OK, I’m actually done with this show. I love it. It’s my pride and joy, and it’s been a pleasure to be a part of it, but I’m done.’ ”
Of course, when we’re talking “last scene,” we’re not talking last scene. “I still don’t trust that the ending that was written down is the actual ending,” Harington says wryly. “I think they kept it from all of us. The secrecy this year was just huge.” At the same time, he teases, “No one I’ve spoken to has guessed the actual ending. No one has got it right yet.”
Kit Harington in a Louis Vuitton Men’s shirt and Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello jeans. Photographed by Joachim Mueller-Ruchholtz.
One of the other tremendous perks of the show is that Jon Snow’s onscreen relationship with Ygritte turned into a real-life love affair: Harington and his co-star Rose Leslie married in June 2018. The couple have bought a fairy-tale home in the English countryside, with a wattle-and-daub exterior, a thatched roof, mullioned windows, and the suggestion of a moat, but there is a catch in this story of ye olde true love. “I think almost the worst thing about falling in love with Rose and marrying her is that it’s going to be very hard to work with her again,” Harington says ruefully. “Working opposite her was one of the highlights of my life and career. I don’t know when, if ever, I’m going to get to do that again, because we’re married now, and it’s hard to work opposite your wife.”
RELATED: Must-See Looks from the Game of Thrones Premiere
You get the impression that Harington likes to torture himself with such notions. It’s definitely something he felt he had in common with Jon Snow. “I’m quite a concerned human being. Deep down I overthink things. That’s where Jon and I part. Where we connect is that we beat ourselves up.” Five years into Game of Thrones Harington was compelled to seek therapy. It was around the time his character died and was resurrected. (Metaphor alert!)
Kit Harington in a Givenchy jacket and a Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello T-shirt. Photographed by Joachim Mueller-Ruchholtz.
Now it seems he confines the self-abuse to his work. Harington’s most recent performance was onstage in London as Austin in Sam Shepard’s classic two-hander True West. “I love characters that self-destruct,” he says enthusiastically. He’s looking forward to playing more of them. “I’m not interested at the moment in playing a hero. After 10 years of playing a troubled guy who is a good person, I want to play someone who’s not good.”
He admits he was frustrated with Jon Snow for a while. “He always seemed quite thick,” he says. “He’s someone who is driven by truth and honor. The further he goes, the stronger his principles become. He’s much better than me.” But as Harington discovered, it isn’t easy playing a hero. “There’s just naturally less character there. They’re harder to play than villains. The thing I struggled with for a long time with Jon was trying to develop that character. Only now I look back on it and I’ve begun to be proud of what I did.”
It’s an actor’s cliché that his defining role should be both a blessing and a curse. Harington is pragmatic. “I’m always going to be ‘that guy.’ For all its wonderful things, it brings difficult things too.” But that is a different, more private sort of regret from the one he is feeling at this moment. “The most important job I’ll ever have is about to finish … ” He catches himself. “Well, not the most. Hopefully, I’ll be a father.”
And that’s something else Kit Harington will owe Game of Thrones.
Photographed by Joachim Mueller-Ruchholtz. Styling: Emil Rebek. Grooming: Samantha Cooper. Set design: Jon Bausor. Production: C.S.Tiagi LTD.
For more stories like this, pick up the May issue of InStyle, available on newsstands, on Amazon, and for digital download April. 19.
Shailene Woodley Revealed a *Major* Big Little Lies Spoiler
Stranger Things’s Dacre Montgomery Says the Show Cut His Sexiest Look
Inside InStyle
Man of Style
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Scotland stars try out Canal Park for pre-season
| Updated: 15:54, 20 June 2019
CANAL Park played host to world class rugby stars when the Scotland squad held its pre-season training camp in Inverness.
Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend put his squad, who will be competing at the Rugby World Cup in Japan in September, through their paces at the home of Highland Rugby Club.
As well as going through pre-season training in preparation for warm-up matches against France and Georgia this summer, international stars also had the opportunity to meet with talented youngsters from across the north of Scotland to pass on their skills and techniques to improve them as players during a special event on Tuesday.
The players took part in the Tartan Touch festival where 176 youngsters from 14 clubs across the Highlands, Moray and Aberdeenshire were involved.
Tartan Touch is an initiative designed by Scottish Rugby for people to take part in non-contact rugby.
After the festival, youngsters had the chance to meet their heroes where they were able to get autographs and also take selfies.
Scotland will kick off their World Cup campaign against Ireland on Sunday, September 22.
Scotland will also face hosts Japan, Samoa and Russia during the group stage of the tournament.
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Foster Announces 65 New Jobs at Finnebrogue
Pictured with Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster during a visit to the company’s premises is Denis Lynn, Finnebrogue’s Managing Director.
Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster has announced that Finnebrogue in Downpatrick is creating 65 new jobs.
The new positions, being created with assistance from Invest Northern Ireland’s Jobs Fund, are part of a £3million expansion.
Finnebrogue is a specialist in premium quality artisan pork products for major retailers such as Marks and Spencer, Asda and Waitrose. The company is investing heavily in new facilities and marketing activities designed to almost double sales outside Northern Ireland during 2014.
Arlene Foster said: “Finnebrogue is an entrepreneurial business with a very impressive track record in their field.
“They specialise in innovation and the development of premium products in response to new market trends and opportunities identified through its close relationships with leading UK retailers. The new jobs will mean an additional £1million a year for the local economy and provide opportunities for local people.
“Support from the Jobs Fund will enable Finnebrogue to respond quickly to new business opportunities and to grow sales faster in Great Britain and export markets.”
Recruitment for the new posts, which include several at managerial level, is already underway and is scheduled for completion by the end of March.
The Minister announced the expansion at the company’s new plant in Down Business Park, where she was briefed by Denis Lynn, Finnebrogue’s Managing Director.
Denis Lynn said: “We are making what is an important strategic investment for the business in response to demand from our existing and potential customers in Britain. Over the last number of years we have seen significant increases in demand for our premium pork products. The company currently employs 115 people and this investment will see that number rise to 180.
“Our success is based on the strength of relationships which we have with retailers in a fast growing industry. Our business is growing strongly because of this commitment to anticipate and respond quickly to market trends and opportunities. Over the past three years, we’ve achieved annual growth of around 30 per cent.
“The expansion will provide the additional capacity we need to build upon our success in terms of new product development and sales outside Northern Ireland. While our main focus remains on Great Britain, we have pinpointed significant opportunities in other markets and are keen to exploit these in order to achieve even faster growth.”
The Jobs Fund is providing assistance of £227,000 towards the expansion.
Dennis Lynn / Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster / Finnebrogue / Jobs Fund
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IRE News » IRE members win 2017 Pulitzer Prizes
IRE members win 2017 Pulitzer Prizes
By IRE Admin | 04.12.2017
Several members of Investigative Reporters and Editors were among the journalists recognized in the 2017 Pulitzer Prizes:
Sarah Ryley, along with the New York Daily News and ProPublica, won the Pulitzer for Public Service for exposing the NYPD’s abuse of eviction rules and eviction of hundreds of people.
The East Bay Times won the Breaking News Reporting prize for its coverage of the Oakland “Ghost Ship” fire and the government missteps in preventing the tragedy.
Eric Eyre of the Charleston Gazette-Mail won the award for Investigative Reporting for reporting on the massive flow of opioids into West Virginia counties at the center of the opioid epidemic.
Reporters from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, McClatchy and The Miami Herald won the prize for Explanatory Reporting for their work on the “Panama Papers” series. They were also named a finalist in the International Reporting category.
The Salt Lake Tribune won the Local Reporting Pulitzer for its reporting on the unfair and harsh treatment of sexual assault victims at Brigham Young University.
The New York Times won the award for International Reporting for its work on exposing Vladimir Putin’s attempts to exert Russian influence abroad.
Several members were also recognized as finalists:
The Chicago Tribune was a finalist for the Public Service award for its innovative reporting on unsafe pharmacy practices that lead to the sale of drugs in dangerous combinations.
The Houston Chronicle was a finalist for the Public Service award for its investigation into the denial of special education services for tens of thousands of children in Texas.
The Dallas Morning News was a finalist for the Pulitzer for in Breaking News Reporting for its coverage of the deadly Dallas shooting spree that claimed the lives of five police officers and injured nine others.
The Orlando Sentinel was also a finalist for the Pulitzer for in Breaking News Reporting for covering the Pulse nightclub massacre.
Michael J. Berens and Patricia Callahan of the Chicago Tribune were finalists for the Investigative Reporting prize for revealing abuse, neglect and death at Illinois group homes for developmentally disabled adults.
Steve Reilly of USA TODAY Network was also an Investigative Reporting prize finalist for his data-heavy project revealing thousands of teachers across the country left unpunished for disciplinary violations.
Jeff Larson and Terry Parris Jr., along with colleagues from ProPublica, were finalists for the Pulitzer in Explanatory Reporting for their work explaining the impact that algorithms have in shaping criminal justice, social media and online shopping.
Jenna Russell and Todd Wallack, along with colleagues from the Boston Globe, were finalists for the Local Reporting award for their examination into psychiatric hospital closures leading to dangers for mentally ill people and their loved ones and lethal police encounters.
Robert Gebeloff, along with colleagues from The New York Times, was also a Local Reporting award finalist for exposing the disparity between minority and white inmate punishment rates in New York state prisons.
Steve Stecklow and Irene Jay Liu, along with colleagues from Reuters, were finalists for the National Reporting Pulitzer for uncovering American officials welcoming full-tuition foreign students despite standardized test cheating in Asia.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution was also a National Reporting Pulitzer finalist for its series exposing widespread, unpunished sexual misconduct by doctors in Georgia and across the U.S.
Chris Hamby of BuzzFeed News was a finalist for the prize in International Reporting for his expose of how multinational corporations use a secretive dispute-settlement process to defy domestic and environmental regulations.
The Wall Street Journal was an International Reporting prize finalist for its coverage of Turkey’s governmental turmoil.
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Home | Success Stories | Time for a Change
Total Weight Loss: 70
Weight Before: 235
Weight After: 165
For Christie, a 48 year old mother of three, weight had been an issue her entire life. She gained weight with each of her pregnancies, and had lost and regained weight through the years with various diets. By April of 2008, she was carrying nearly 240 pounds on her 5'7" frame.
Christie learned about Kaiser Permanente Medical Weight Management program through a letter she received around Thanksgiving of 2007. The timing wasn't quite right for her, but soon she found herself at Kaiser's Health Education Department for more information on the program.
Losing Weight Quickly and Safely
Christie started the program in April at Kaiser Permanente Fremont Medical Center. She admits that the liquid diet was a "big concern," but she was extremely motivated. "I was impatient to lose the weight. I wanted to lose it quickly, but safely." She knew that the OPTIFAST® products were nutritionally complete, and with the medical supervision provided by the program, her health would not be compromised. "You are eating every 2 to 3 hours, so you never get a chance to get really hungry," she says.
During the first phase of the program, Christie lost an average of 3 pounds per week. This rapid weight loss was a big motivation for her. Another source of inspiration was the 16-person support group that met each week. A self-described "shy person," she was unaccustomed to sharing her feelings, but the group really helped her to "open up," about food issues and emotional issues. The group shared tricks and tips as well, such as ways to add variety to the liquid portion of the diet. "You learn to be very creative," says Christie, who combined diet soda and ice with her shakes to enhance the flavor.
Planning for Continued Success
After 16 weeks, Christie and her group entered the transition phase of the program, during which meals are gradually substituted for shakes. "It was really scary for all of us," she recalls. "The only food choice we'd made for 16 weeks was whether to have chocolate or vanilla." Again, Christie credits the support of her peer group to her success. They helped each other to make good choices, recognizing that meal planning was the key. "We talked a lot about planning meals. You need to know exactly what you are going to eat so that you make good choices," says Christie.
Christie's weight loss has continued through the maintenance phase at a rate of about a pound per week. She incorporated exercise into her lifestyle early in the program by taking walks and gradually building the intensity level so that she now does 3 to 4 miles, 3 or 4 times per week. "I love being healthier and happier, and my self-esteem has increased dramatically," she says. "Now, clothes shopping is a treat, not a chore." She knows that with the knowledge and skills the program has taught her, she will be able to maintain her weight loss, stating emphatically, "I will never be heavy again."
Christie is admittedly passionate about the program, saying, "It really has been one of the easiest diets I've ever done." She considers it to be among the best weight loss programs in the Bay Area due to the extensive network of support professionals that contribute to the program.
And she is aware of setbacks and challenges. When the topic of Halloween candy came up at her group meeting, a peer asked her how she could resist all the goodies her children would be bringing home. Christie's response shows both her determination and her pride in her success: "I've worked way too hard the last 6 months to even think about a Snickers bar!"
Note: Individual results may vary, and this patient's results are not typical. Average weight loss in the Medical Weight Management Program is 46.6 pounds. Attend a free information session to learn more about the program.
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Press centre and parliamentary activities
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(-) Public opinion
British public’s satisfaction with the NHS at lowest level in over a decade
Public satisfaction with the NHS has fallen to its lowest level since 2007, according to analysis of the 2018 British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey published today by The King’s Fund and the Nuffield Trust.
Government should do more to improve the public’s health
The government should look beyond the NHS and focus on a range of policies to improve the public’s health, including making effective use of tax and regulation, according to a new briefing from four leading research organisations.
The King's Fund responds to the CQC 2017 NHS adult inpatient survey
'These latest findings, from one of the largest national patient surveys, show patient experience in hospitals is holding up remarkably well and has even seen some improvements since last year particularly around communication between staff and patients.'
Sharp drop in public satisfaction with the NHS, new analysis shows
Public satisfaction with the NHS has dropped 6 percentage points in a year, taking it to 57 per cent - its lowest level since 2011. That’s according to analysis of the latest British Social Attitudes survey.
The King’s Fund responds to NHS England’s November board meeting
The NHS England Board meeting is welcome recognition that we need to begin a discussion with the public about what the NHS can be expected to provide with the funds it has been given, says Chris Ham.
The King's Fund responds to Sir Bruce Keogh's announced departure from NHS England
Chris Ham said: 'Sir Bruce is a respected leader who has ensured a clinical voice has been at the heart of policy-making...'
Welcoming NHS England’s Next steps on the Five Year Forward View
Responding to NHS England’s Next steps on the five year forward view, Chris Ham, Chief Executive of The King’s Fund, said: ‘We welcome the fact that this plan sets a clear course for the NHS over the next couple of years. We should, though, be under no illusions about how tough the going will be.
Survey shows public satisfaction with NHS remaining steady
The British public’s satisfaction with the NHS remained steady in 2016, according to data published today by The King’s Fund.
Feedback from service users is crucial for improvement in maternity care
Feedback from users of NHS maternity services has a key role to play in tracking quality of care and shaping service improvements, according to a new report published by The King's Fund.
The King’s Fund calls for NHS commitment to a new partnership with patients
The King's Fund is calling for all NHS organisations to commit to working more closely with patients to meet the requirements of a new relationship with patients and communities outlined in the NHS five year forward view.
Inpatient survey shows only modest improvements in patient experience
The inpatient survey in England shows that over the past nine years trusts have seen only a modest improvement in quality of care as judged by patients, says a new report from The King’s Fund and Picker Institute Europe.
Our statement on the government's full response to the Francis Inquiry report
Today's announcement is an important step forward in addressing the serious failings of care highlighted in the Francis report. Patient safety is more important than party politics and what is needed now is for everyone, from parliament to the front line, to unite around delivering the culture change needed.
Our response to the Royal College of Physicians' report, Future Hospital: Caring for medical patients
Candace Imison responds to the Royal College of Physicians' report on future hospitals, welcoming the new model of care that puts patients at the centre.
Our response to the final report of the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Public Inquiry
We welcome Robert Francis’s comprehensive report which rightly looks across the whole system.
Continuity of care failing frail older people in hospitals
Two reports published by the Fund highlight how frail older people are being moved around from pillar to post in hospital because of a lack of care continuity.
Too far, too fast: The King's Fund verdict on coalition health reforms
The King's Fund has called on ministers to reconsider the speed and scale of new health reforms if they are to deliver benefits to patients and improve NHS performance.
The King's Fund response to the Health Secretary's plans for the NHS
Dr Anna Dixon, director of policy at The King's Fund, responds to today's speech by the Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley, on his ambition for patient-centred care.
Dementia services and prison health care environments to be the focus of new improvement projects
Health care environments for people with dementia are set to be improved as part of the next phase of The King's Fund's Enhancing the Healing Environment (EHE) programme.
Doctors are no better than patients at facing up to personal end-of-life care decisions
Family doctors would welcome more support in helping them talk to patients about death and dying. A survey by The King's Fund found that three out of four GPs agree that as professionals they have an integral role in end-of-life care and that they should be actively encouraging patients to plan for how they want to be cared for when they die. But at the same time, almost half (48 per cent) said they would value some support to help them deal with patients who are at the end of their lives.
The King's Fund statement in response to the Patients Association report 'Patients not numbers, people not statistics'
Jocelyn Cornwell, Director of The Point of Care programme at The King's Fund, comments on the report published today by The Patients Association documenting examples of poor hospital care.
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Movie review: Rogen and Theron are a winning ticket in ‘Long Shot’
It might be a stretch dubbing fuzzy-faced Seth Rogen and the ultra-glamorous Charlize Theron as the new Tracy and Hepburn, but sans the F-bombs and masturbation gags, that’s the vibe emanating from the highly enjoyable, overly long, “Long Shot.” Like the bulk of Kate and Spence’s oeuvre, “Long Shot” is a workplace comedy in which sparks fly as opposites attract. As a gonzo, Hunter S. Thompson-ish reporter, he’s opinionated, clumsy and unkempt; as a glitzy Secretary of State, she’s elegant, refined and diplomatic. He’s stubborn, unyielding; she’s flexible, accommodating. It’s like a furnace waiting to ignite. And the movie strikes the match. BOOOOOM!
They had me at, hello; which is at a swank New York gala, where Rogen’s unfortunately named Fred Flarsky has been brought by his tech-millionaire bud, Lance (O’Shea Jackson Jr., outstanding), in an attempt to appease the hurt of having just lost his job at the muckraking Brooklyn Advocate. They come for Boyz II Men, but stay for Theron’s Charlotte Field, a potential 2020 presidential hopeful hoping to implement her own version of the Green New Deal. Their eyes meet from across the room. Surely, she can’t be ogling Fred, the guy in the saggy cargo pants and loud windbreaker, sticking out like a “homeless” man in a room packed with tuxedoed prigs. But she is, but not why you think.
Turns out, she grew up next door to the Flarskys and used to occasionally babysit Fred back in the days before she lost her idealism and backbone. Suddenly, they (and a slew of 1990s pop culture touchstones) come rushing back. For Fred, she was the source of his first erection, at age 13, crudely re-enacted in an amusing flashback. Director Jonathan Levine (“Warm Bodies”) perfectly captures a romantic moment every bit as unconventional as what ensues over the next fun-filled 125 minutes. You’ll laugh, you’ll swoon, and - yes - you’ll be grossed out, but you’ll also be called upon to think and empathize in a political climate precipitating hate between the left and right.
It’s admittedly a flabby script by Liz Hannah (“The Post”) and former “The Daily Show” staffer Dan Sterling (“The Interview”), and it probably could have stood tightening and more prudent editing, but it scores solid punches; many of them outrageously funny. Yes, “funny.” When was the last time a movie made you laugh - really laugh - out loud? “Long Shot” delivers, and does it often. Its satirical send-ups of Fox News, rechristened Wembley for legal purposes, are of particular note, especially its appropriately misogynistic version of “Fox and Friends.” Ditto for its evisceration of the network’s pompous owner, Rupert Murdoch, cut down to a very short size by an unrecognizable Andy Serkis as Parker Wembley.
It also just so happens Wembley is the reason Fred finds himself out on the street, having resigned upon hearing the news the noxious little creep has just bought his independent-minded Advocate. Not to worry. Charlotte, much to the chagrin of her disapproving chief of staff, Maggie (June Diane Raphael), immediately snaps him up to polish her speeches - punching them up, making them more humorous and human, per her strategists - as she embarks on a worldwide tour promoting an ambitious environmental plan in preparation for launching her presidential bid.
From there, you can pretty much guess the rest. But despite the predictability - and implausibilities - you find yourself hopelessly sucked in by the undeniable chemistry between Rogen and Theron. Who would have thought? It lends itself to one of the film’s more lacerating digs, which is skewering an electorate obsessed with the superficial - especially when it comes to female candidates and appearances.
It also doesn’t shy away from satirizing the current occupant of the White House via Bob Odenkirk’s President Chambers, a two-bit TV star who ascended to the Oval Office and now seeks to leave it in pursuit of a movie career, “like George Clooney.” His aspirations, which open the door for Charlotte’s run, seed a great running joke that eventually comes at Jennifer Aniston’s expense, but it’s all in - sorta - good fun.
Rogen, you suspect, is responsible for ad-libbing most of those zingers. They just have that Rogen punch to them; also because the rest of the movie isn’t terribly original, given Rogen has done this beauty-and-beast routine before in “Knocked Up.”
Thankfully, Theron is no Katherine Heigl. She’s hundreds of times better. And what’s great about her is how she renders Charlotte so warm, honest and real. You totally buy her as a beauty capable of being both the belle of the ball (in a knockout red gown) and a relatable nerd, albeit with a tinge of an S&M fetish. She’s equally adept at physical comedy, delivering mightily when her usually prim, Charlotte, must negotiate an international crisis while under the influence of Molly. It just might be the best role - and the best work - of the Oscar-winner’s career. Which is one reason why you wish “Long Shot” was a tad more deserving of such a winning performance.
The gags are largely hit or miss, the tone wildly uneven and the road trip’s adventures a tad over the top; and not at all what you’d expect the lifestyle of a Secretary to State to be. But darned if it matters. All you want is as much Rogen and Theron as you can get. And they give just enough to make “Long Shot” a gamble that pays off.
Cast includes Seth Rogen, Charlize Theron, Andy Serkis, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Bob Odenkirk, Alexander Skarsgard and June Diane Raphael.
(R for sexual content and language.)
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HOME | Academics | Our Faculty | Foreign Languages | Josefa Alvarez
Josefa Álvarez
Josefa Álvarez received her bachelor’s degree in classical languages and literatures from the Complutense University of Madrid and her Ph.D. in Spanish from the University of Alcalá (Madrid). Her research interests center on contemporary Spanish poetry and the classical tradition in Spanish literature. Included in her list of publications are the book Tradición clásica en la poesía de Aurora Luque: Figuras, formas e ideas and the anthology of the metapoetical poetry of Aurora Luque Fabricación de las islas. Professor Álvarez is also interested in the methodology of Spanish as a second language and she has published several articles and book chapters in this area such as “Teaching the Poems of A rachas: Themes and Forms”, “Lorca y el flamenco: una propuestad didáctica.” or “¿Cómo educaría a una hija?” Mujer y educación en España.” Prior to her appointment at Le Moyne, Josefa Álvarez was tenured professor at the Instituto Cervantes in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where she was training teachers and instructors of Spanish.
Return to Foreign Language.
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Luton Council rings the changes over missing’ phones
Mobile phone: stock image.
Branded “a sorry tale”, Luton Borough Council is thumbing through the directory to account for its unused telephone lines and keep tabs on its mobile phones.
But efforts to resolve the issue have been left on hold for longer than the local authority’s audit and governance committee would like.
The council’s internal audit update, produced for the committee, had a familiar ring to it.
“A sorry tale is where we come on this,” said Labour Northwell councillor Roy Davis, who chairs the committee.
“What worries me most is the lack of real progress since last time we asked for a further update.
“It’s the litany of things which were identified to be done which have not been done.
“And the fact that we’ve still got people out there with phones who just seem to be able to use them at will and not pay is worrying.
“We just need to get a point where someone has got this under control,” he added.
“I understand putting someone in post should make a difference, it’s the right thing to do, but it seems to have taken some time to get there.”
The council carried out an audit of mobile phones in November 2015, according to a report to the committee.
It highlighted “weaknesses in policies and procedures over the monitoring of employees’ permitted use of mobile phones”.
There were also issues over “the maintenance of accurate records of the allocation of devices to users and their return to the IT provider,” said the report.
A second follow-up review last December identified that staff, issued with mobile phones, have not been asked to sign user agreements routinely.
“There are a significant number of sim cards and mobile devices on the IT asset register which are assigned to the wrong person, are no longer in use, or cannot be located,” added the report.
“The system provided by the mobile phone provider to manage billing is no longer in use, and no alternative system has been put in place to enable managers to view and query usage.
“And a monthly report of the users with the highest spend is not being produced and circulated to the relevant managers.”
The local authority has “identified that no replacement software is in place to manage the council’s mobile phones and monitor usage”.
But a piece of work has been completed to identify unused and unneeded telephone lines, which has resulted in a large number being turned off.
“The next stage involves developing a new telephone policy and strategy, and to review existing contracts,” said the report to councillors.
“The department is also in the process of recruiting an IT contracts manager to improve the internal control environment within this area.”
The council’s director of transformation Aidan Wilkie said: “Since I joined the council, five months ago, we’ve not made enough progress as quickly as we ought to, both on IT assets and on mobile phones.
“We’ve completed the inventory works of who’s got what, who’s not using things, and shutting down lines where there’s nobody actively using them.
“That work is completed. A significant number of lines have been closed and that gives us a greater understanding of what’s out there and who’s using what.
“We’ve now got our ICT contract manager in place. We’ve got a team supporting him.
“We are taking a far closer look at the payments we are making, the bills that are coming in,” he told the committee on Thursday, December 13.
“If anything looks irregular we can then go back to the relevant part of the business and say: ‘Double-check that this makes sense, that’s it’s ongoing’.
“Now we’ve got a team in place that can do this we can crack on with the recommendation around procuring a piece of software which will allow us to make this far less of a manual task.
“So hopefully the next time we can come back to this group in the New Year and that level of assurance will go north,” he added.
“I am more comfortable we are delivering against these recommendations, and that more importantly we’ve got a closer handle on the telephony and with the IT assets than a couple of months ago.
“Belatedly, absolutely belatedly, we’re starting to make quite good and quite quick progess in both of these items.”
Councillor Davis asked: “Given the history of it, what we would like to know is when do you think we can close this item?
“We’re more confident that you’re able to tell you’ve got a grip on this, which is good.
“I think the underlying problem we perceived was that nobody’s head was on the block for this. And that seemed to be the thing you addressed most, maybe not yours,” he said. “But somewhere in the system someone should know everything that’s going on, and there was nobody there to know it.”
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BY LAURA BILLINGS COLEMAN
The lead plaintiff in the most critical abortion rights decision in a generation, Amy Hagstrom Miller ’89 brought her case all the way to the Supreme Court—and won.
Few people have studied the optics of abortion as closely as Amy Hagstrom Miller ’89, which is why she put on a bright purple suit the day her case went to the Supreme Court.
“When I’ve shown up to testify at the Texas legislature wearing pearls, people will do double-takes because I’m not what they’re expecting,” says Hagstrom Miller, the founder and CEO of Whole Woman’s Health, a national network of independent clinics in Texas, Minnesota, and three other states. With her friendly laugh, fringed bob, and what Mother Jones recently described as her “energized Patricia Arquette” demeanor, she says, “I want to shift the image associated with being an abortion provider.”
The lead plaintiff in Whole Woman’s Health vs. Hellerstedt, Hagstrom Miller and the pro bono legal team from the D.C.–based Center for Reproductive Rights arrived at the nation’s highest court on a Wednesday morning last March to challenge HB2, a 2013 Texas law mandating that physicians providing abortion services have admitting privileges at local hospitals, while requiring abortion clinics to meet the hospital-level standards of an ambulatory surgical center.
HB2 is what critics call a “TRAP” law—targeted regulation of abortion providers—one of 288 such laws passed by state legislatures since 2010. During the three years it took for Whole Woman’s Health vs. Hellerstedt to reach the highest court, more than half of that state’s abortion providers had closed their doors—including two clinics owned by Whole Woman’s Health.
“I knew what was happening in Texas wasn’t going to stay in Texas,” Hagstrom Miller says. Though her team had won a temporary injunction against the most onerous provisions of HB2, she says, taking her place in the public gallery that morning, “I really had to detach myself from the outcome of winning.”
But that began to change very soon in the oral arguments, when Justice Elena Kagan wondered why a law intended to raise the standard of care for women had effectively prevented them from accessing their legal right to abortion services: “It’s almost like the perfect controlled experiment as to the effect of the law isn’t it? It’s like you put the law into effect, 12 clinics closed. You take the law out of effect, they reopen.”
Soon after, Justice Stephen Breyer asked the Texas solicitor if he could point to a single woman who’d benefited from new restrictions— requirements that aren’t the rule for other routine health procedures. The Texas solicitor said no.
“That was when I realized we might win,” Hagstrom Miller remembers. “I knew our case chapter and verse, but to hear these brilliant legal minds hold people’s feet to the fire was just incredible.” As she left the chamber that day with Nancy Northrup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, nearly 3,000 supporters— many also dressed in purple—cheered from below. “We were stepping into this moment that was profound and so much bigger than me,” she says. “And my other thought was, ‘Oh my god, I have to walk down all of these steps without falling.’”
Seeing his wife take center stage in a history-making women’s rights case has been thrilling, challenging, and “also just super tiring,” admits Karl Hagstrom Miller ’90, an associate professor at the University of Virginia’s McIntire Department of Music. “We’ve learned so much about how political organizing works, how our legal system works, that we can’t see the world in the same way as we did before,” he says. “Being in the middle of such a momentous series of events— it’s like we’ve received a graduate degree in the inner workings of politics and the law.”
Over the past three years, Hagstrom Miller handed over more than 10,000 emails and seven years of clinic documents, laying bare the business model of independent community clinics like hers, which provide nearly 80 percent of abortion procedures in this country. The Whole Woman’s Health staff chose to be equally transparent with the media, allowing documentary filmmaker Dawn Porter to follow patients and providers on the front lines of the Texas fight in Trapped, a film that debuted at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Special Jury Award for Social Impact Filmmaking. Hagstrom Miller herself agreed to hundreds of interview requests from outlets as varied as Rolling Stone and Refinery 29, even changing out of her Halloween costume just before trick-or-treating with Karl and their two boys, then 8 and 10, to talk live with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow.
Yet as her profile rose, and supporters began mobilizing national support behind her Supreme Court case, Hagstrom Miller had to make hard decisions about which battles she couldn’t win. Forced to close clinics in Austin and Beaumont, laying off loyal staff and physicians, Hagstrom Miller took on so much debt during her legal fight that one of her sons offered her the $5 he’d saved just to keep her clinics open.
“Our boys have had an education in the past three years about sacrifice, about political engagement, and about doing the right thing that I think is going to be foundational for them,” says Karl Hagstrom Miller. “But there was never a time when she said this is too much, I’m going to let someone else do this. That’s just not in her vocabulary.”
Amy and Karl Hagstrom Miller met at Macalester, on a J-term trip to Nicaragua, and married in 1992. Karl (whose parents, Barbara Lindquist Miller ’60 and Kent Miller ’61, also met at Macalester) came to Macalester as a mid-year transfer from Boston’s Berklee College of Music to study history and music. Amy grew up in nearby Stillwater, the youngest of five siblings raised in “one of those Scandinavian peaceand- justice Christian families.” A religious studies major, she widened her focus to include international studies and women’s studies after a formative study abroad experience in India.
“Living in a culture where women don’t have any status was transformational for me,” says Amy, a competitive swimmer and Nordic skier who credits Title IX for “saving me from the self-esteem spiral I might have experienced as a young person.” Returning to campus her senior year, she and other Women’s Collective members organized Macalester students to join the 1989 National Organization of Women-led abortion rights march on Washington with money raised from “feminist bake sales” and performances by Karl’s band, Toe Jam.
At the time, abortion providers were embattled by a surge of clinic protests and escalating violence, a trend that Amy found deeply troubling. “The Jesus that I was taught about would be holding the hands of women inside the clinic,” she says. “He wouldn’t be screaming at them.” So after graduating with the S.W. Hunter Prize for commitment to peace and justice, she walked into the Planned Parenthood in St. Paul’s Highland Park and asked for a job.
She learned the work from the ground up, answering phones, counseling patients, and eventually following a physician provider into private practice, work she continued when the couple moved to New York, where Karl attended graduate school at New York University. “I found unplanned pregnancy as a way to engage around a huge number of issues that really center on the status of women and human rights in our culture,” she says. “Women end up grappling with some really big issues that are sort of a barometer for our society— identity, stigma, self-esteem, sexuality, family, spirituality, religion.”
Amy Hagstrom-Miller â89 (in purple blouse) and Nancy Northrup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, wave to supporters as
they descend the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on June 27, 2016, after winning a decisive abortion rights case.
Serving patients in Minnesota, she found that an open-ended question like “How did you come to find yourself here today?” could elicit tears and self-recrimination from patients who were taught that “good women” don’t seek abortions. But in New York City, Amy found that the multi-cultural climate and long history of abortion access in the state made for a different counseling experience. “I remember asking a patient in the Bronx, ‘How did you come to find yourself here?’ and she’s like, ‘I took the A train.’” That experience taught her an important lesson, she says: “Stigma is manufactured.”
By 2003 Hagstrom Miller saw her chance to challenge some of that stigma head-on, by acquiring the independent practice of a retiring provider in Austin, and Karl joined the faculty at the University of Texas. Though abortion has been legal since 1973, nearly 90 percent of U.S. counties have no provider, a trend that troubles many Roeera doctors concerned they can’t retire without ending access to care in their communities. “I’ve become that next generation person you can call when you’re ready to retire,” Hagstrom Miller says about the Whole Woman’s Health business model, which has acquired a dozen such clinics from retiring providers over the last decade.
When she takes over a clinic, Hagstrom Miller typically updates facilities with new equipment, patient rooms named for inspiring women (Rosa Parks, Rachel Carson, Rosie the Riveter), and inspirational quotations on the wall. (“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”—Eleanor Roosevelt) She also tries to remake the patient experience, with on-site counseling, cozy fleece blankets and tea, and a culture of open conversation that acknowledges the basic facts about abortion in America: One in three women will have an abortion during their child-bearing years. Nearly 60 percent of women seeking abortion are already mothers. Nearly half live below the federal poverty line. As her website bio explains, “No one gets pregnant hoping to have an abortion.” Even so, she’s committed to providing “fabulous abortion care.” A recent Mashable report from a Whole Woman’s Health site called it “The Abortion Clinic Where No One Whispers.”
That matter-of-fact messaging has sometimes unsettled others in the pro-choice movement. “There’s a tradition of people using a lot of euphemisms about family planning or reproductive health care to downplay the importance of abortion, but that’s not something I’ve ever wanted to do,” Hagstrom Miller says. “I don’t scream and yell, but I’m not going to further stigmatize abortion in the way I talk about it.”
As Texas lawmakers began passing the state’s first round of TRAP laws in the early 2000s, Hagstrom Miller became a frequent presence at the Texas State Capitol, enduring hostility and harassment from anti- abortion groups and hand-wringing from pro-choice lobbyists who wanted to review her talking points. “They worried I wasn’t strategic or I’d be too abortion-forward, so coming to the Capitol was not a friendly or comfortable place,” she says. “I was getting it from both sides.”
But that began to change in the legislative session of 2013, as Texas lawmakers geared up to pass HB2. “We knew it was going to be the worst session yet,” she says, but in a state with historically low voter turnout, “I wanted to find a way to make activism super easy for people.” Whole Woman’s Health and its allies printed up a few hundred bright orange T-shirts emblazoned with “My Family Values Women” and “I Stand with Texas Women.” The T-shirts turned into a powerful visual later in the session when more than 700 Texans lined up to testify about the proposed legislation, a “people’s filibuster” that preceded Sen. Wendy Davis’s historic stand against the bill.
“No one was telling anyone how to do it, or what to say, but person after person stood up and told their own abortion story or told the story about why abortion mattered to someone they loved,” Hagstrom Miller says. “So at the same time the worst law in the country was going to be passed—and you knew it was—you watched the stigma of abortion just melting off people. It was a huge victory in this long arc of culture change.”
The People’s Filibuster was a pivotal moment in the fight against TRAP laws, but the most important victory came on June 27, 2016, when the Supreme Court ruled 5-3 in favor of Whole Woman’s Health, overturning the state’s burdensome abortion restrictions. That day, Hagstrom Miller chose a white pantsuit and a purple blouse to make her public remarks about standing on “the right side of history.”
“After such a tough year, with the clinic shooting in Colorado, that decision was really a source of joy,” says Curtiss Hannum ’97, one of several Mac alumni in the reproductive justice movement who have paid close attention to the case. The vice president of programming and center affairs at The Women’s Centers, a group of independent East Coast abortion care providers, Hannum says the Supreme Court ruling “really affirmed all that we know to be true, which is that these regulations are about politics and not about patient care.”
“There’s been a campaign of terror against people having or providing abortions,” says Dr. Jill Meadows ’91, Medical Director of Iowa’s Planned Parenthood of the Heartland and a board member of the national nonprofit Physicians for Reproductive Health. The 45 amicus briefs filed in support of Whole Woman’s Health, including hundreds of first-person stories from women who have sought abortions, have had a powerful effect, says Meadows. “All these affidavits from women talking about their experiences made clear that abortion is normal, and I think it can help shift the cultural needle.”
The Whole Woman’s Health ruling has already forced 10 states to drop similar TRAP legislation, including Wisconsin, where Doug Laube ’66, retired chair of the University of Wisconsin’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, had been expecting to testify. “It’s been quite a turning point,” says Laube. “And it’s already affected us favorably.” Attorney Katherine Barrett Wiik ’00, board chair of Minneapolis- based ProChoice Resources, says, “I think it is and will be a tremendously impactful legal decision, but building back the access that was lost is going to take a lot of time and hard work.”
That’s the landscape that Hagstrom Miller is confronting today, as Whole Woman’s Health and its allies attempt to rebuild the health care access that Texas women lost during HB2. According to the Texas Policy Evaluation Project, an estimated 100,000 to 240,000 Texas women between the ages of 18 and 49 have tried to end a pregnancy by themselves. Another report, released in the September 2016 issue of Obstetrics and Gynecology, found that the rate of women who died from complications related to pregnancy in Texas doubled from 2010 to 2014, the worst maternal mortality rate of any state, unmatched in the rest of the developed world.
Hagstrom Miller has seen these trends firsthand, recalling the day she had to close her clinic in McAllen, Texas, because of HB2 restrictions. “There was a woman there who told my vice president, ‘I can’t travel to San Antonio. I’m a working mom, I have three children, two jobs, so I’m going to tell you what’s in my medicine cabinet and what’s under my sink, and can you tell me how to do my own abortion?’ We have many stories like that.
“People say your case is going to be talked about it in history books—but that’s too abstract,” she says. “This win came at a real cost.”
Now mentioned in the same breath with other kick-ass Texas women such as Molly Ivins and Ann Richards, Hagstrom Miller has been encouraged to run for political office or bring her voice to another national platform. But for now, she’s concentrating on projects closer to home: supporting staff to take vacation time, building a new fence at the Fort Worth clinic, and shoring up Shift, an Austin nonprofit she launched to start a national conversation about abortion stigma.
“Figuring out what’s next is actually a pretty important decision,” Hagstrom Miller says, but she doesn’t see herself moving too far away from providing direct care to women. “To have my foot in the door of this meaningful interaction…this is what I’m called to do.”
More Alumni News
Kofi Annan’s Legacy
Learn how the legacy of Kofi Annan '61 has touched the lives of Macalester alumni.
Fun in the Sun at Reunion 2019
Reunion 2019 featured a great turnout--and great weather!
From Ebola Discoveries to Positive Coaching
At this year's Reunion, nine alumni were recognized for their outstanding work and commitment to Macalester's values. Pictured here is Lowell Gess ’42, who founded a clinic in Sierra Leone that became an Ebola research and treatment hub.
Mac Book News: Spring 2019
Books written by alumni
After 11 Mac friends dispersed around the world during junior year, they wanted to honor their friendships with a special reunion—and January was their chance.
Shelf Conscious: Nadya Nedelsky
Ever wonder about all those books lining professors’ offices? We’re with you.
Macalester Today
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India (current)
There Was No Intelligence Failure in the Pulwama Attack, Says G Kishan Reddy in Parliament
Politics ANI Jun 26, 2019 03:41 PM IST
Pulwama Attack Site | (Photo Credits: PTI)
New Delhi, June 26: G. Kishan Reddy, Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs said there was no intelligence failure in the Pulwama attack, on Wednesday in Parliament. On being asked whether the reasons of Pulwama terror attack was a failure of intelligence, Reddy in Lok Sabha replied, "Jammu and Kashmir are affected by terrorism sponsored and supported from across the border for the last three decades. However, owing to the policy of zero tolerance towards terrorism and sustained action against the terrorists by the security forces, a large number of terrorists have been neutralized during the past few years."
He further added, "All agencies are working in a coordinated manner and the intelligence inputs are shared among various agencies on a real-time basis. The investigation by NIA into the Pulwama attack so far has resulted in identifying the conspirators, suicide attacker and the vehicle provider." Virtual SIMs Used in Pulwama Terror Attack; India to Approach US for Help.
On 14 February this year, 40 Central Reserve Police Forces (CRPF) personnel were killed in a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) orchestrated terror attack in South Kashmir's Pulwama district. The incident took place when a CRPF convoy, consisting of around 2,500 personnel, was attacked by a suicide bomber who rammed a car laden with explosives into one of the buses on the Jammu-Srinagar highway.
Tags: Central Reserve Police Forces CRPF G. Kishan Reddy Intelligence Jaish-e-Mohammed Jammu and Kashmir Lok Sabha Ministry Of Home Affairs NIA Pulwama Pulwama Attack Suicide Bomber
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Karnataka Trust Vote Deferred: Governor Vajubhai Vala Asks CM HD Kumaraswamy to Prove Majority by 1:30 PM Today
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With five Senate contests on ‘knife’s edge,’ GOP donors give more
Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) attends the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., on Aug. 29, 2012.
(Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
By Maeve Reston
With less than two months left before election day, Ohio Sen. Rob Portman was out in California last week hustling for dollars and briefing Republican donors about what he said was the party’s critical need for resources to compete in the tossup states that could determine control of the U.S. Senate.
“There are probably five states on the knife’s edge,” Portman, the vice chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee and a potential 2016 presidential contender, said in an interview during his California visit.
Highlighting the contentious battlegrounds of Arkansas, North Carolina, Louisiana, Iowa and Colorado, Portman predicted that the GOP would have “a very good possibility” of retaking the Senate majority “if we have the resources to be able to compete.”
Also, Portman argued that Michigan and New Hampshire are “very much in play” -- though polls indicate that Democrats have been holding their edge in those states -- along with Alaska, where recent polling has shown the race within the margin of error. Georgia and Kentucky are also considered hotly contested tossups.
Three other states that were once in question -- West Virginia, South Dakota and Montana -- are now “in great shape” for Republicans, Portman said.
Kansas recently moved into the tossup category after Democratic contender Chad Taylor withdrew from the Senate race there to elevate the prospects of self-funded independent Greg Orman. Taylor has filed a petition to have his name removed from the November ballot, but it is unclear whether that effort will be successful. The NRSC has dispatched operatives to help Sen. Pat Roberts retool his campaign.
“I’m still confident that we are going to win in Kansas,” Portman said. “I feel like [Roberts] is doing the right things now; the campaign is going well and the demographics have become very red. It’s likely that we will see a closing of those poll numbers toward us, because of the Republican nature of the electorate.”
The tightening fall contests have led more Republican donors to contribute to the NRSC effort. Though conservative outside groups have heavily outspent liberal groups, the NRSC has trailed the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in fundraising in quarter-to-quarter tallies this election cycle.
But the NRSC had a record-breaking August, raising $6.1 million and rounding out the month with $19.9 million in cash on hand. Spokesman Brad Dayspring said that will bring the committee’s total to over $81 million raised, “putting this cycle on a record pace for the NRSC.” (Democratic figures are not yet available.)
Last month, the Democratic Senate committee celebrated its best July in history, outraising its GOP counterpart by $2.2 million with a total haul of $7.7 million. At that time, the DSCC had raised $103.5 million for the 2014 cycle. Democratic officials noted in a news release that that figure was “a whopping $27 million more than the NRSC.”
Pointing to the overwhelming amount of outside spending by groups such as the Koch-brothers backed Americans for Prosperity, DSCC executive director Guy Cecil said the Democrats were “running smarter, better campaigns with better candidates,” and argued that they were in position to hold the Senate majority.
Twitter: @MaeveReston
Maeve Reston
Maeve Reston is a former political reporter for the Los Angeles Times.
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Jada Pinkett Smith To Daughter Willow: 'By Your Age... I Gave Myself Multiple Orgasms'
The actress sat down with her daughter and mother to have an honest conversation about sex and pleasure.
Jada Pinkett Smith had a very public sex talk with her 17-year-old daughter, Willow Smith, on Monday.
“We as women have been trained that women aren’t supposed to enjoy sex, sex is not for women, sex is for men, pleasure is for men — and honestly I think that’s why so many women that I know have never had orgasms,” Pinkett Smith, 47, told her daughter during the actress’ new Facebook show “Red Talk Table.”
The mother-daughter duo were joined by Smith’s best friend, Telana Lynum, and Pinkett Smith’s mother, Adrienne Banfield-Jones. The four had an open and honest conversation about sex, abstinence, pleasure and how it’s all changed over three generations of women.
“I think by your age I gave myself multiples first. Multiple orgasms. Yep, I did,” Pinkett Smith said as Smith and Lynum laughed. “I was really into it at one point just because I was in an exploration state and I was abstaining from men. I actually think I went through kind of an addiction too with it. Then one day I was like, ‘Enough, you’re having five orgasms a day.’”
The “Girls Trip” actress reminisced about how she initially learned about sex and the importance of pleasure.
“My grandmother taught me about self-pleasuring because she wanted me to know that that pleasure was from me,” she said. “She didn’t want me to fall into the hands of a man and if he gave me pleasure, to think that that was him. She taught me at 9! At 9!”
Earlier in the episode, Pinkett Smith explained that she wanted to include her daughter in the conversation because being able to speak openly about sex and pleasure is vital.
“I think that people still have a very difficult time talking about sex, especially women,” she said. “I did not want Willow to have shame of any kind.”
Watch the full episode below.
Alanna Vagianos
Women's Reporter, HuffPost
Sex Jada Pinkett Smith Masturbation Willow Smith Orgasm
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Kim Derko
A graduate of The Emily Carr College of Art & Design in Vancouver, Kim Derko csc studied art history, colour theory and photography before becoming a cinematographer. These studies still drive and inform her artistic approach.
She started out shooting music videos and award winning music features. She garnered a Gemini and Much Music Video awards for her early work.
Kim Derko’s recent film credits include a remake of Croenenberg’s RABID, a feature film directed by the Soska Sisters. Also, streaming right now is the CBC Gem series Save Me S2. Other Directory of Photography credits include features and series, including: In Contempt, a legal drama for BET, six seasons of The Next Step for Family Channel and Star Falls for Nickelodeon.
Second Unit Director of Photography credits include: Anon, Reign S4, Hollywoodland, Schitt’s Creek, Suits S8, The State Within and Murdoch Mysteries.
Kim is a full member of the Canadian Society of Cinematographers, IATSE 667, the International Caucus of Female Cinematographers and the Directors Guild of Canada.
Kim Derko | Website
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Warriors vanquish Orlando
Curry, Thompson shoot way into NBA record books
Updated: March 18, 2014, 10:02 p.m.
OAKLAND (AP) — Stephen Curry had 23 points and five assists, Klay Thompson scored 20 points and the undermanned Golden State Warriors overwhelmed the Orlando Magic 103-89 on Tuesday night.
The backcourt duo sparked an 18-4 run at the start of the second half that put the Warriors ahead by 24 points. They became the first pair of teammates in NBA history to combine for at least 400 3-pointers in consecutive seasons.
David Lee added 20 points and 10 rebounds to help the Warriors offset the absences of Andre Iguodala (right knee tendinitis), Andrew Bogut (left ankle inflammation) and Jermaine O’Neal (undisclosed reasons).
Nikola Vucevic scored 15 points and Tobias Harris added 14 points and six rebounds for the overmatched Magic, who lost their sixth straight game.
The Warriors weren’t taking any chances at the beginning of their five-game homestand. They opted to rest three key players — including two starters — even as they jockey for playoff position in the crowded Western Conference standings.
The Warriors (43-26) remain in sixth place in the West. They’re still 1½ games behind Portland, which beat Milwaukee 120-115 in overtime Tuesday night, and improved to 1½ games ahead of idle Dallas.
Bogut and O’Neal could return Thursday night against Milwaukee. Iguodala will sit out against the Bucks and Saturday’s game versus San Antonio.
While the Magic (19-49) are among the NBA’s worst teams, the Warriors have struggled at times this season against lesser competition at Oracle Arena.
Golden State had won five straight at home until losing to Cleveland on Friday. That loss brought back memories of a 4-6 stretch in January and February that included home losses to teams such as Denver, Minnesota, Washington and Charlotte.
The game against Orlando looked like it could follow those earlier upsets at the start.
The Magic led by three in the first quarter and stuck with Golden State for most of the second quarter. The Warriors, using a smaller lineup to spread the floor, ended the first half on a brief run to take a 57-47 into the break.
The talent gap between the two teams, which has changed dramatically since Dwight Howard left Orlando two seasons ago, turned out to be too much for Orlando to overcome.
The Warriors opened the second half on an 18-4 run, with the biggest highlights coming from long range. Thompson and Curry connected on two 3-pointers apiece during the spurt, the last one in the corner from Curry that stretched the Warriors’ lead to 75-51 with 7:51 remaining in the third quarter.
Curry finished 9-of-13 shooting, including 3 of 6 from 3-point range. Thompson shot 7 for 14 from the floor and was 4 for 5 from beyond the arc.
The Warriors led 87-66 entering the fourth. The Magic moved within 92-81 halfway through the quarter before the Warriors pulled away again.
NOTES: The Warriors swept the season series against the Magic for the first time since 1991-92. ... Orlando plays at Phoenix on Wednesday night. ... The Warriors return to action Thursday night at home against Milwaukee.
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Bluesy Folk & Roll with Jazz A
Mick Overman is a west coast legend. He's a poet and master musician. His music is best described as ''Bluesy Folk & Roll with Jazz Attitude'' and his guitar playing and singing as ''Berklee College of Caveman''. He has long been regarded as one of the west coast's hardest working (as many as 379 performances in one year) and prolific artists. He's an ''Iron Man Of The Road''.
Mick was born the son of a rocket scientist in Ohio and followed the aerospace boom to California at age two. His earliest musical influences were listening to Tchaikovsky's ''1812 Overture'' and Chet Atkins as well as the Kingston Trio and Cannonball Adderly. His first published work was an early 60's Haiku entitled ''Fireflies'' in the Fullerton Daily News Tribune.
Overman abandoned guitar lessons in fourth grade for little league baseball after learning ''These Boots Are Made For Walkin''' and began studying drums at age 13. Overman resumed study of the guitar around age 14 and became interested in songwriting. He became the youngest city commissioner in his hometown at age 17 when he was appointed by the Fullerton City Council to serve as youth delegate to the Human Relations Commission.
After completing high school in 3 years to get a head start on dropping out of college Mick studied music privately with his friend Marty Headman who had graduated from Boston's Berklee College of Music on the Dean's list with a degree in composing and arranging. Overman and Headman together with John Seth Sherman formed the bands ''Crosscurrent'' in Ashland Oregon and ''Caledonia'' in Missoula Montana and returned to California in 1981 to form the first version of ''Mick Overman & the Maniacs''.
Overman moved to Santa Cruz County in the Spring of 1986 with Jeanie Golino who was pregnant with their daughter Corina who was born in September of 1986. They settled in La Selva Beach (south Santa Cruz County) CA in early 1987.
Mick lived in a yellow house with a white fence ''between the ghetto and the farm'' near Freedom CA (this was the location of ''The Cave'') from 1990 until 2004. He formed Max Records and released ''Empty City'' in 1994 and ''Lucky.'' in 1996 and the all acoustic ''Mileage'' in 1998.
After performing and touring nonstop for 12 years Overman chose to detach from the business end of the music business at the dawn of the 21st Century for his artistic and spiritual and physical health. One of the many positive results of this sabbatical was the writing and recording of his 4th cd ''Authentic'' which was released in early 2002 and received considerable national radio airplay. He also studied and trained at the Berkeley Psychic Institute in Berkeley CA during this period.
Mick moved to Portland OR in early 2004. Overman wrote the songs he contributed to his 5th cd ''Mick Overman & The Maniacs - Good Thing Happen'' in 2004 and 2005. Much of this work was done in ''The New Cave'' which is located in the basement of his Portland OR home.
''Good Thing Happen'' was produced and recorded and mixed with the help of his band ''Mick Overman & The Maniacs'' and Cookie Marenco at her OTR Studios in Belmont CA in late 2005 and early 2006 and was released nationally in February of 2007.
Mick's new all acoustic and 6th release "Mister Double Happiness" (also produced by Cookie Marenco at OTR) is here. Radio and press copies are available upon request.
http://www.mickoverman.com/
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MEDICA Newsletter
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Biochip
Eierstöcke
Elektronische Patientenakte
Erbmaterial
Infektionskrankheit
Krankenhausinformationssystem
Medizinische Apps
Medizinmarkt
Mikrosystemtechnik
Minimal-Invasiv
Röntgengeräte
Stammzellen
Vergiftung
Weltgesundheit
Biomarker: test improves prostate cancer detection
A team of researchers from UCLA and the University of Toronto have identified a new biomarker found in urine that can help detect aggressive prostate cancer, potentially saving hundreds of thousands of men each year from undergoing unnecessary surgeries and radiotherapy treatments.
Wearables: new e-tattoo enables heart monitoring for days
A new wearable technology made from stretchy, lightweight material could make heart health monitoring easier and more accurate than existing electrocardiograph machines - a technology that has changed little in almost a century.
AI: contactless system detects cardiac arrest
Cardiac arrests often occur outside of the hospital and in the privacy of someone's home. Recent research suggests that one of the most common locations for an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is in a patient's bedroom, where no one is likely around or awake to respond and provide care.
Imaging: non-invasive view into the heart
The non-invasive measurement of blood flow to the heart using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is on par with cardiac catheterization. This was the result of an international study published in the current issue of the New England Journal of Medicine and headed by researchers from Goethe University.
Big Data: algorithm predicts intensive care patients' chances of survival
Researchers from the University of Copenhagen and Rigshospitalet have used data on more than 230,000 intensive care patients to develop a new algorithm. Among other things, it uses disease history from the past 23 years to predict patients' chances of survival in intensive care units.
AI: Novel method predicts future risk of breast cancer
Researchers from two major institutions have developed a new tool with advanced artificial intelligence (AI) methods to predict a woman's future risk of breast cancer.
AI can detect depression in a child's speech
A machine learning algorithm can detect signs of anxiety and depression in the speech patterns of young children, potentially providing a fast and easy way of diagnosing conditions that are difficult to spot and often overlooked in young people, according to new research published in the Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics.
mHealth: Atrial fibrillation detection – App supports heart health
Atrial fibrillation is the most common type of persistent cardiac arrhythmia (irregular heart rhythm). Researchers estimate that 1.8 million Germans are presently affected by this disease. The condition is difficult to diagnose, frequently goes undetected and may result in a stroke. A new smartwatch medical app is designed to help patients detect atrial fibrillation before it’s too late.
mobile Health: Game detects Alzheimer's risk
A specially designed mobile phone game can detect people at risk of Alzheimer's - according to new research from the University of East Anglia. Researchers studied gaming data from an app called Sea Hero Quest, which has been downloaded and played by more than 4.3 million people worldwide.
All-round care for COPD: diagnosis, treatment, self-management
COPD affects more than 200 million people in the world. Those affected by this chronic pulmonary disease are often slow to notice the symptoms and get a medical diagnosis. This results in secondary complications and high medical costs. That's why an early diagnosis, comprehensive treatment, and frequent monitoring are very important. Various devices and tools support this all-round care.
Comprehensive Treatment: It’s All About Breathing
Coughing, airway obstruction, difficulty breathing: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is an umbrella term used to describe progressive and currently incurable lung diseases. The innovative solutions of Philips Respironics help patients to manage each stage of the disease and their medication intake, train the respiratory system and provide respiratory support.
Hybrid Imaging – Two Views of the Lungs
CT scan, MRI or X-ray: All these methods allow doctors to see inside the body - including inside the lungs - and make a diagnosis. The clinic for Nuclear Medicine at the RWTH Aachen University Hospital uses a state-of-the-art gamma camera that combines SPECT and CT.
AI ensures dynamic sitting
Whether in the office, at school or behind the wheel: we spend a lot of time sitting and often stay in the same position for too long. The possible side effects are stiffness, back problems and pain. The SensA-Chair smart seating solution combats decreased mobility and ensures dynamic sitting.
A digital look inside the human eye – when algorithms diagnose Diabetes
Diabetes mellitus or simply diabetes has become very common and is often described as a lifestyle disease. More and more people are suffering from this chronic metabolic disorder. Next to established diagnostic procedures, digital retinal screening has shown to be successful - a promising technique that will also play an important role in the diagnosis of other diseases in the future.
Collect, process, communicate – retina measurements with Mimo
Continuous monitoring is an essential process with every disease. In the case of eye disorders, frequent retina measurements can facilitate early detection of deterioration to quickly initiate intervention. This calls for comprehensive care settings, easy ways to take measurements and prompt results. However, in reality, this is rarely the case.
See, experience, learn: what's new at MEDICA 2018
It's time: the world's largest medical trade fair opens its doors from 12 to 15 November. More than 5,000 international exhibitors will present their new innovative products and applications. Frums, conferences and special shows will feature exciting specialist lectures and discussions that will give you an insight into electromedicine, laboratory medicine, medical technology and diagnostics.
Lung cancer: Screening with low-Dose CT scans
Lung cancer is one of the most common and deadliest cancers. The symptoms tend to be non-specific, often causing its detection to be too late. Currently, there is no comprehensive screening. This could change with the use of low-dose CT scans. It should be noted that this is not just an issue of technical feasibility. A screening test must also make sense from a health policy perspective.
With modern imaging supplies: A look into the lung
Thanks to various imaging supplies, it is possible to make the inside of the body accessible for diagnostics, research and treatment. The lung, one of the most important human organs for survival, is also examined in this way. In our Topic of the Month, we looked at how doctors are getting a closer look at the lung, how the procedures differ, and which ones will be available in the near future.
Neurology: Early detection of Parkinson’s disease with app and data?
Big Data is often likened to finding the proverbial needle in a haystack: Large volumes of data contain patterns that hold the answer to a particular question. The trick is to gather meaningful data and identify patterns. The i-PROGNOSIS research project shows how smart devices and an app team up to automatically collect data without disturbing the user.
Early detection: Tattoo signals cancer – and more
People who are not ill and do not show any symptoms typically do not visit the doctor. And while most people know that preventive medical checkups for cancer, for example, are important, they still avoid them. They tend to be very hesitant because the doctor might detect a serious illness. In the future, a new type of implant could make it easier to go to a screening test.
A startup makes melanin glow: skin cancer diagnostics with Magnosco
When a skin lesion is suspected to exhibit malignant changes, it is usually promptly removed. However, not all cases require an excision of the affected tissue. The startup company Magnosco has developed a procedure that uses a laser to support the diagnosis and early detection of malignant melanoma.
"Preventicus Heartbeats": An app that's a clinically validated medical device
Stroke is the second leading cause of death in the world. Yet many incidences of stroke are preventable since they are frequently associated with an undetected abnormal heart rhythm. In this case, patients can benefit from using the clinically validated "Preventicus Heartbeats" app, which measures and documents the heart rhythm with a smartphone camera.
Acute kidney injury: Early detection thanks to biomarker
Major surgeries in the abdominal region often result in kidney injury in patients. Meanwhile, the clinical manifestations don't present until one or two days after the procedure. This causes physicians to lose valuable time to treat patients. The University Hospital Regensburg has researched a new concept for the treatment of kidney injuries for several years.
Pneumonia in Children: Ultrasound or X-Rays?
Pneumonia is the most frequent respiratory disease in children and can even cause death. That is why it is extremely important to make an accurate diagnosis as quickly as possible. If this requires imaging tests, normally X-rays are taken. But there is an alternative: ultrasound.
Collect Data? Utilize Data! – The Blessings of Big Data
Genome data, MRI images, and blood test results – data collected in the medical sector is not only very heterogeneous but also extremely extensive. However, it is important to not only collect this data but to also utilize it. After all, processed, linked and analyzed data provides many opportunities in research, hospital management and ultimately also for the individual patient.
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The Surprising Thing That Contributes to Half of All Hospital Deaths
This condition kills one in four people who suffer from it
If you had to guess the condition linked to half of all hospital deaths, what would you say? Heart attack? Cancer?
The answer, according to new research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, is sepsis. The condition was present in 35 to 52 percent of inpatients who died in more than 1,000 U.S. hospitals in 2010, the study finds.
Sepsis kills more than one in four people who suffer from it, according to the National Institutes of Health. Anyone can get it, but children and the elderly are most vulnerable.
What is it? Sepsis can happen when your body overreacts to infection, says Colin Cooke, M.D., a critical care physician and health services researcher at the University of Michigan. “The body's defense turns on itself, which can lead to organ failure and potentially death,” he says.
The most common causes are pneumonia, urinary tract infections, abdominal infections like appendicitis, and skin and soft-tissue infections, Dr. Cooke says. Sepsis can begin with something as simple as a bad scrape.
While that sounds terrifying, you don’t have to panic every time you get a gash on your knee. A very small percentage of those cases actually lead to sepsis, Dr. Cooke says.
It’s when your small gash becomes extremely painful, red, and angry-looking—and you’ve got a fever or night sweats, to boot—that you should see your doctor immediately, Dr. Cooke urges.
Since catching sepsis early is key, you should also call your doc if you have either of these symptoms:
A burning sensation when you urinate
Coughing up mucus
Combined with these symptoms:
Fever, lightheadedness, shortness of breath, grogginess, poor urine output, or extreme concentration in urine
The Bizarre Thing That Predicts Death for Men
The Surprising Thing That Helps You Live Longer
Are You at Risk for Sudden Death?
Is Your Hospital Infested with Germs?
The Surprising Thing That Can Get You Hired
The Surprising Thing You Learn While You Sleep
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"The Mountain" Announces That He Has Bell's Palsy
But it didn't stop the 'Game of Thrones' star from winning Europe's Strongest Man competition
Quinn Rooney / Getty Images
Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, better known as The Mountain on Game of Thrones, recently made an important announcement to his fans: He suffers from Bell’s Palsy.
“Last Sunday I got very sick,” he captioned a serious-looking photo of himself on Instagram. “On Tuesday morning I woke up and the right side of my face felt kind of numb. It got worse over the course of the day and then it got completely paralyzed.” Björnsson says his friends were worried that he was having a stroke and insisted that he go to the ER, where doctors performed several tests. “Luckily I was informed there was nothing to worry about,” he wrote. “I have caught some virus called Bell’s Palsy which causes half of my face getting paralyzed. It can last from a week to a few months apparently.”
To all my dear strongman fans, I have a small announcement. Last Sunday I got very sick. On Tuesday morning I woke up and the right side of my face felt kind of numb. It got worse over the course of the day and then it got completely paralysed. My friends insisted sending me to the ER to get things checked out as they were seriously worried I was having a stroke. I spent a good amount of time at the hospital as doctors ran some tests on me. Luckily I was informed there was nothing to worry about. That I have caught some virus called Bells Palsy which causes half of my face getting paralysed. It can last from a week to a few months apparently. So please keep that in mind if you come to Europe's Strongest Man tomorrow and get pictures with me that I'm not in a bad mood I just can't really smile for pictures haha! Other than that I feel good and look forward to battling it out with the guys for the Title of Europe's Strongest Man 2017 and putting on a great show for all you guys! Bring it on!
A post shared by Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson (@thorbjornsson) on Mar 31, 2017 at 12:12pm PDT
Björnsson said that he wanted his fans to be aware of his health condition so that they didn’t think he was in a bad mood if they encountered him at the Europe’s Strongest Man competition. “I'm not in a bad mood, I just can't really smile for pictures, haha!” he said. “Other than that I feel good.” (He ended up winning the competition, by the way.)
According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, Bell’s palsy is a form of temporary facial paralysis that’s caused by damage or trauma to a person’s facial nerves, which run up each side of the face. Each facial nerve dictates the movement of the muscles on that side of the face and control things like blinking and smiling. When a person develops Bell’s palsy, there’s an “interruption” in the messages the brain sends to the facial muscles, and weakness or paralysis results. It typically affects one side of the face, but it can impact both sides of a person’s face.
Bell’s palsy is not related to stroke and is the most common cause of facial paralysis, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke says. Symptoms vary by person, but they can range from a mild weakness to a total paralysis of a person’s face. Other symptoms include twitching, drooping of a person’s eyelid or corner of their mouth, drooling, an issue tasting food, and excessive tearing in one eye. The symptoms typically get worse for 48 hours after they start, and then get better after two weeks. They tend to fully disappear after three to six months, but it’s possible that a person can continue to have issues beyond that.
Doctors aren’t totally sure what causes Bell’s Palsy, but some think that a viral infection like viral meningitis or herpes simplex (the virus that causes the common cold) is to blame.
About 40,000 adults in the U.S. get Bell’s Palsy every year, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke says. George Clooney and Sylvester Stallone are two other celebrities who are reported to have had disease before recovering from it.
If you develop it, don’t panic: Your doctor can treat it with a steroid like prednisone or viral drug like acyclovir. That said, you might just have to wait it out for a few weeks.
Everyone Wants to Know How The Mountain and His Tiny Girlfriend Manage to Kiss
Oh My God. Cleganebowl Finally Happened.
Q&A: HE HAS A GIRLFRIEND, AND A CLASSMATE CRUSH
The Most Challenging Workout He Has Ever Done
Watch ‘The Mountain’ Throw a Washing Machine, Just Because
Seminar Announcements
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Temporary People (Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant W) (Paperback)
By Deepak Unnikrishnan
Winner of the Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing
"Guest workers of the United Arab Emirates embody multiple worlds and identities and long for home in a fantastical debut work of fiction, winner of the inaugural Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing.… The author's crisp, imaginative prose packs a punch, and his whimsical depiction of characters who oscillate between two lands on either side of the Arabian Sea unspools the kind of immigrant narratives that are rarely told. An enchanting, unparalleled anthem of displacement and repatriation." —Kirkus Reviews, starred review
In the United Arab Emirates, foreign nationals constitute over 80 percent of the population. Brought in to construct the towering monuments to wealth that punctuate the skylines of Abu Dhabi and Dubai, this labor force works without the rights of citizenship, endures miserable living conditions, and is ultimately forced to leave the country. Until now, the humanitarian crisis of the so-called “guest workers” of the Gulf has barely been addressed in fiction. With his stunning, mind-altering debut novel Temporary People, Deepak Unnikrishnan delves into their histories, myths, struggles, and triumphs.
Combining the irrepressible linguistic invention of Salman Rushdie and the satirical vision of George Saunders, Unnikrishnan presents twenty-eight linked stories that careen from construction workers who shapeshift into luggage and escape a labor camp, to a woman who stitches back together the bodies of those who’ve fallen from buildings in progress, to a man who grows ideal workers designed to live twelve years and then perish—until they don’t, and found a rebel community in the desert. With this polyphony, Unnikrishnan brilliantly maps a new, unruly global English. Giving substance and identity to the anonymous workers of the Gulf, he highlights the disturbing ways in which “progress” on a global scale is bound up with dehumanization.
Deepak Unnikrishnan is a writer from Abu Dhabi and a resident of the States, who has lived in Teaneck, New Jersey, Brooklyn, New York and Chicago, Illinois. He has studied and taught at the Art Institute of Chicago and presently teaches at New York University Abu Dhabi. Temporary People, his first book, was the inaugural winner of the Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing.
“Deepak Unnikrishnan’s novel-in-stories narrates a series of metamorphoses…. a mosaic of the frenetic, fantastical and fragmented lives of the South Asian diaspora in the United Arab Emirates, one that recalls the cry of its closest forebear, Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children: ‘Please believe that I am falling apart.’ What separates Unnikrishnan from Rushdie, and the vast literature of exile that precedes them, are his subjects. Temporary People explores the lives of arguably the least privileged class of nomads in the twenty-first century: guest workers. Joining the South Indian writer Benyamin’s Goat Days, a novel of modern-day enslavement in Saudi Arabia, and the British-Emirati director Ali Mostafa’s City of Life, a film that weaves together a cross-section of lives in Dubai, Temporary People is a robust… entry into the nascent portrayal of migrant labor in the Gulf.… Mingling English, Malayalam and Arabic in a series of Kafkaesque parables, Unnikrishnan’s book features a lot of action and even some humor.… Temporary People pairs well with an older cousin in nonfiction, John Berger’s A Seventh Man. In that stirring cri de coeur about migrant labor in Europe, Berger reminds us of a point that is embedded within Unnikrishnan’s stories: Countries that send migrant laborers to global metropolitan centers are often forced to do so…. Unnikrishnan’s collection poses its questions obliquely, but demands explicit answers. What causes a society to look like this?”
—Shaj Mathew, The New York Times Book Review
“Temporary People has won the inaugural Restless Books prize for writing by a first-generation immigrant to America. Its patchwork of chapters elicits the vertigo of Joseph Heller and the disoriented human hopelessness of Milan Kundera.… Mr. Unnikrishnan’s world could be written off as dystopian, were it not rooted so firmly in current reality.… Taken together this discordant polyphony of stories is the full-throated roar of an entire people.… His language is now solid, alive and dangerous.… This is not an easy book; in fact it is eviscerating. But in Temporary People the Restless Books prize has rewarded an urgent voice worth attending to, even if it is hard to hear.”
— The Economist
“Combining surreal symbolism and linear narrative, wordplay and lists, family history and mythic retellings, Unnikrishnan uses fiction to ‘[illuminate] how temporary status affects psyches, families, memories, fables, and language(s)…. With this unsettling, dazzling, astute collection, Unnikrishnan won the inaugural Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing, which awards $10,000 and publication to a first-time, first-generation American author. ‘In giving substance and identity to the voiceless and faceless masses of guest workers in the United Arab Emirates, he not only calls attention to this very particular injustice, but also highlights the disturbing ways in which “progress” on a global scale is bound up with dehumanization,’ reads the Judges’ Citation. ‘Temporary People is a brave, stylistically inventive book that presents a frightening, surreal world that’s all too true to life.’ Its publication couldn’t be more timely given the current outcries for and against immigrants, bans, raids, and mass deportations. As an antidote to border politics, Unnikrishnan’s stories serve as both testimony and oracle to be read with grave urgency.”
—Terry Hong, The Christian Science Monitor
"Inventive, vigorously empathetic, and brimming with a sparkling, mordant humor, Deepak Unnikrishnan has written a book of Ovidian metamorphoses for our precarious time. These absurdist fables, fluent in the language of exile, immigration, and bureaucracy, will remind you of the raw pleasure of storytelling and the unsettling nearness of the future."
—Alexandra Kleeman, author of You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine
“Deepak Unnikrishnan’s new novel is made even more moving by the author’s statement about writing it: ‘Temporary People is a work of fiction set in the UAE, where I was raised and where foreign nationals constitute over 80 percent of the population. It is a nation built by people who are eventually required to leave.’ It is hard to grapple with the idea of a country where so few people hold citizenship while so many others toil to make it work, which is partially what Unnikrishnan’s book deals with. The elements of this novel, which won the Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing, range in form from short-short stories to poems to one particularly memorable piece that is simply a list of dozens of occupations that become slowly more political, until the painful end… Pieces such as this are all about the language play, while others focus more on voice, like the incredibly disturbing ‘Mushtibushi,’ in which an apartment-dweller is responsible for collecting the reports of child molestation and kidnapping in his building…. There is nothing comfortable about Unnikrishnan’s Temporary People, but it is challenging, thought-provoking and timely.”
—Ilana Masa, The Washington Post
“Western chatter about the U.A.E. was somehow reproducing, however unconsciously, the same dehumanization that it appeared to criticize. There was money-drunk decadence at the top, raw immiseration at the bottom, and little else….. No real life…. Temporary People [is] a kaleidoscopic collection of loosely linked short stories set mostly in Abu Dhabi and focussed on residents of the city who are, like Unnikrishnan, citizens of India. It’s exactly the book I was looking for. For its characters, the U.A.E. is not a backdrop or a metaphor; it’s where they live… Unnikrishnan refuses to occupy a single style or register, as if to inoculate the reader against settling on any one idea of what the U.A.E. is, or of what it means. A few stories are in a familiar mode of straightforward realism. Others are surreal fables brimming with bizarre imagery…. [It] works wonders, jolting the readerly brain away from abstraction and directing it toward the fine grain of life. Unnikrishnan isn’t papering over the frequent harshness of noncitizen life, or denying how degrading it can be. But he is insisting that there is more to the story—that the people in the place have rich interior lives shot through with memories, desires, and confusions.”
—Peter C. Baker, The New Yorker
"Guest workers of the United Arab Emirates embody multiple worlds and identities and long for home in a fantastical debut work of fiction, winner of the inaugural Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing . . . The author's crisp, imaginative prose packs a punch, and his whimsical depiction of characters who oscillate between two lands on either side of the Arabian Sea unspools the kind of immigrant narratives that are rarely told. An enchanting, unparalleled anthem of displacement and repatriation."
—Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review
"Inaugural winner of the Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing, this debut novel employs its own brand of magical realism to propel readers into an understanding and appreciation of foreign workers in the Arab Gulf States (and beyond). Through a series of almost 30 loosely linked sections, grouped into three parts, we are thrust into a narrative alternatinting between visceral realism and fantastic satire . . . The alternation between satirical fantasy, depicting such things as intelligent cockroaches and evil elevators, and poignant realism, with regards to necessarily illicit sexuality, forms a contrast that gives rise to a broad critique of the plight of those known euphemistically as "guest workers." VERDICT: This first novel challenges readers with a singular inventiveness expressed through a lyrical use of language and a laserlike focus that is at once charming and terrifying. Highly recommended."
—Henry Bankhead, Library Journal, Starred Review
“Unnikrishnan’s debut novel shines a light on a little known world with compassion and keen insight. The Temporary People are invisible people—but Unnikrishnan brings them to us with compassion, intelligence, and heart. This is why novels matter.”
—Susan Hans O’Connor, Penguin Bookshop (Sewickley, PA)
"Deepak Unnikrishnan uses linguistic pyrotechnics to tell the story of forced transience in the Arabian Peninsula, where citizenship can never be earned no matter the commitment of blood, sweat, years of life, or brains. The accoutrements of migration—languages, body parts, passports, losses, wounds, communities of strangers—are packed and carried along with ordinary luggage, blurring the real and the unreal with exquisite skill. Unnikrishnan sets before us a feast of absurdity that captures the cruel realities around the borders we cross either by choice or by force. In doing so he has found what most writers miss: the sweet spot between simmering rage at a set of circumstances, and the circumstances themselves."
—Ru Freeman, author of On Sal Mal Lane
Publisher: Restless Books
Series: Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant W
Fiction / Asian American
Fiction / Magical Realism
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Marketing EDGE in the News
Press Releases - Current Year
What Is DMA?
Marketing EDGE Appoints New Members to Board of Trustees
Board welcomes industry leaders from Winterberry Group and Speedeon Data
NEW YORK, NY – March 04, 2019 – Marketing EDGE today announced it has appointed Bruce Biegel, Senior Managing Director at Winterberry Group, and Gerard Daher, CEO and Co-founder of Speedeon Data, to its Board of Trustees. Leveraging their leadership expertise, Biegel and Daher will join an illustrious group of marketing innovators to help bolster the nonprofit organization’s ongoing mission to connect students, academics and professionals to resources and relationships needed to navigate the evolving field of marketing.
“As we embark on the New EDGE this year, Bruce and Gerard will bring critical insight that will help reposition, strengthen and ultimately expand the impact achieved by this nonprofit organization,” said Marketing EDGE President Terri L. Bartlett. “I am thrilled to work alongside our Board of Trustees as we double down on our vision to deliver diverse, inclusive and dynamic market-ready talent destined to lead the field of marketing for generations to come.”
Bruce Biegel, Senior Managing Director at Winterberry Group and Senior Advisor to its affiliated investment bank, Petsky Prunier LLC, formerly served as a member of the Data & Marketing Association's (DMA) board of directors and led the education advisory committee on DMA's Marketing Technology Council. He was also co-chairman of DMA’s annual Innovation Awards. As a seasoned executive with more than 25 years of hands-on experience in building businesses from the ground up, Biegel’s diverse responsibilities have included strategic and business planning, financing, global multichannel marketing, technology development and support, legal coordination and financial management.
Gerard Daher, CEO and Co-Founder of Speedeon Data, has served on the advisory boards of numerous professional groups and associations including the Global Retail Marketing Association, Taylor Institute of Direct Marketing, Path2Response, Weatherhead School of Management, and EarnUp. Daher has more than 20 years of experience in strategic development, marketing, business operations and data technologies, which he has utilized in developing marketing solutions for leading domestic and international brands.
The Marketing EDGE Board of Trustees is comprised of industry professionals and academics from organizations such as Citi, EY, Omnicom Group, and ForwardPMX, as well as academic institutions such as Fordham University and SMU, to name a few. To view a full list of the Board of Trustees, see here.
For more information, please visit www.marketingEDGE.org..
Marketing EDGE is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit that’s shaping the future of marketing by connecting students, academics and professionals to the resources and relationships they need to see, move and stay ahead. Empowering agile, responsible and skillful marketing leaders for more than 50 years, Marketing EDGE expands access to leading research, resources and events, fosters deep personal connections and diverse ideas, and provides real-time insights for real-world impact. To learn more, visit, marketingEDGE.org.
Media Contact: Ariel Radow
aradow@n6a.com
back to News Releases
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Macy's Beats on Sales, Earnings
May 15, 2019 (Baystreet.ca via COMTEX) -- Macy's M, +0.14% reported first-quarter earnings and same-store sales that topped analysts' expectations, as its initiatives to refresh outdated stores and get more people to shop using its mobile app showed signs of paying off.
Earnings per share were 44 cents, compared to 33 cents expected.
Revenue was $5.504 billion vs. $5.505 billion expected.
Same-store sales were up 0.7% vs. a decline of 0.2% expected, on an owned plus licensed basis
CEO Jeff Gennette said e-commerce revenues grew a double-digit percentage rate during the quarter, while mobile remains Macy's fastest-growing channel for sales growth.
Macy's reported net income for the quarter ended May 4 of $136 million, or 44 cents a share, compared with $139 million, or 45 cents per share, a year ago. That was ahead of analysts' expectations for 33 cents.
Sales dropped to $5.504 billion from $5.541 billion. That was about in-line with analysts' expectations for revenues of $5.505 billion.
For fiscal 2019, Macy's is still calling for net sales to be about flat with the prior year. Same-store sales on an owned plus licensed basis are forecast to be flat to up 1%. And Macy's still expects adjusted earnings per share to fall within a range of $3.05 to $3.25. Analysts had been calling for annual earnings of $3.09 a share.
Shares gained 27 cents, or 1.2%, to $22.07
From MarketWatch
Tips from a guy who managed to live in Manhattan on a $40,000 salary and still max out his 401(k) contributions
CNBC’s Jim Cramer says stock market is in ‘a very serious correction’ — and there’s nowhere to hide
Macy's Inc. U.S.: NYSE: M
Open $21.37
High $21.60
Low $21.09
P/E Ratio 6.09
Market Cap 6.6B
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Home > Research > Library > Search > Subject Guides > New Zealand Government > New Zealand Legislation
New Zealand Legislation
From Bills to Acts (Statutes)
Committees & Debate
Background & Commentary
Bills are drafts of proposed new laws, considered in formal stages. If they pass through all stages they becomes laws, called Acts of Parliament.
Note: If Off campus, please click on the Sign in by IP Access link.
Supplementary Order Papers (SOPs)
These set out proposed amendments to a bill. They may be in the name of a member or Minister. Some SOPs may propose to divide a bill.
Statutes of New Zealand (also called Acts of Parliament)
Statutes (or Acts) are bills that have been passed through Parliament and have received the Royal assent.
New Zealand Acts as Enacted 1841 - 2007
This publicly-available database from the Parliamentary Counsel office contains the New Zealand Acts 1841 - 2007 As Enacted collection. The Acts, which are in PDF format, are as originally enacted and do not include any later amendments or show whether they have been repealed.
Every Act is administered by a Government department or agency, which is responsible for the day-to-day workings of that Act. The Regulations are the “nuts and bolts” administration provided for under the Act. They are made pursuant to that Act.
Publicly-available access to up-to-date unofficial versions of Acts of Parliament, Bills, and Regulations from 2008. Also provides Supplementary Order Papers (SOPs).
Committees and Debate
Select Committee Reports
Select committees work on behalf of the House of Parliament and report their conclusions to the House. There are up to 13 subject-area select committees, plus ad hoc committees set up from time to time for particular purposes. Select committees often ask the public for input when they are considering a Bill.
Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)
New Zealand Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) is the report of the proceedings of the House. Hansard is good for tracking discussion and debate about a particular Bill. Text is subject to correction until it is published as a bound volume. The bound volume is the only official report of the proceedings of the House.
Hansard in print at Massey Libraries
Browse Hansard online from 1987 onward
Browse Hansard online from 1854-1985, 1987-
Background and Commentary
Laws of New Zealand
An encyclopaedic work, updated quarterly. It provides an overview of the whole of the law of New Zealand – statutory, regulatory and judicial. It is a comprehensive source of primary comment.
Page authorised by University Librarian
Last updated on Monday 29 October 2018
New Zealand Government Subject Guide
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Eclypse Sneakers Velcro in White Synthetic Fabric
Stella McCartney reboots the shoe of our childhood. This season, the British designer gives the Eclypse an update. The platform sole and velcro straps are key, so is comfort, and these shoes are sure to give any look a boost.
Heel height: 2 cm
Fitting: true to size - Sizing: Italian
Closure: laced
Toe-shape: round
Product code: CONFIG_MCCS11000400
Designs by Stella McCartney always give off an aura of lightness and comfort. The Spring Summer 2019 collection is no exception, as it blends the British designer’s elegant aesthetic with the practicality of sportswear. This duality comes through in the ready-to-wear collection, but is also evident in the accessories, with roomy monogrammed totes and fanny packs with multiple or detachable compartments. In the show, the models no longer wore the label’s iconic, oversize Eclypse sneakers, this season they sported slimmer, more masculine sneakers as well as flat, urban shoes inspired by the ballet shoes. In a word, comfort is key, but never to the detriment of style.
The Stella McCartney brand was created in 2001. Driven by values such as respect for the environment and for animal life, as well as sexy and functional designs, the label quickly gained a prominent place in the British fashion scene. Stella McCartney rapidly expanded her business, launching her first perfume in 2003, followed by a lingerie collection in 2008. Two years later, she imagined what would soon become her best seller: the Falabella bag. Renowned around the world, the British luxury ready-to-wear brand was chosen in 2012 and again in 2016 to dress athletes of the British Olympic team. A grand premier in sports. In 2016, Stella McCartney also launched her first swimwear and men's ready-to-wear collections.
Born in 1971, Stella McCartney quickly gained interest in fashion. In 1995, she graduated from the École Central Saint Martins, which gave her the opportunity to work with the men’s tailor Edward Sexton. Two years later, in 1997, she was appointed creative director of the Parisian fashion house Chloé, where she replaced Karl Lagerfeld. She stayed there for four years, before returning to England to found her eponymous brand in 2001. As an anti-leather and anti-fur militant, the fashion designer rapidly became renowned in the world of ethical luxury fashion. She won several awards, such as Brand of the Year at the British Fashion Awards in 2015. Stella McCartney is also known for her eclecticism and diverse collaborations (H&M, Adidas), and for her personal commitment to the fight against breast cancer and against violence towards women.
See Stella McCartney
Stella McCartney Stella Logo Bum Bag in Pink Metallic Paper Alter Nappa
Stella McCartney Tiny Falabella Bag With Crystals in Black Eco Leather
Stella McCartney Falabella Thin Chain Mini Tote in Lover Red Eco Leather
Stella McCartney Shaggy Deer Falabella Mini Tote Bag in Navy Polyester
Stella McCartney Loop Logo Sneakers in Black and White Synthetic Fabric
Stella McCartney Sneakelyse Star Platform Sneakers in Black and Gold Synthetic Fabric
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Heather Schumacher, Principal of the Elm Place Middle School, said, “Red Nose Day has given our students a great opportunity to learn about child poverty in an engaging way. It was amazing to see the students being so enthusiastic and creative about how they can fundraise and take direct action to make a difference for kids in need. It’s been such a great experience to host Dana, Darren, and the Red Nose Day team at our school today.”
Rick Scott, VP Grants and Philanthropy, Comic Relief Inc., said, “Red Nose Day is all about coming together to have fun and make a difference. Our mission is to end child poverty – one nose at a time. With the support of schools and students across the country, Red Nose Day will be able to change and save more children’s lives than ever before. It was amazing to see the students at Elm Place Middle School getting in on the fun of Red Nose Day, and being so committed to making a difference.”
The 2017 Red Nose Day campaign runs from now through Red Nose Day (May 25) and everyone can get involved to help end child poverty, one nose at a time. Pick up a Red Nose at Walgreens stores nationwide, take on a fundraising challenge and share personal stories of involvement on social media to encourage others to make a difference for children in need using #RedNoseDay and #NosesOn.
Follow Red Nose Day on social media @RedNoseDayUSA.
About Red Nose Day
Red Nose Day is a fundraising campaign run by the non-profit organization Comic Relief Inc., a registered U.S. 501(c)(3) public charity. Red Nose Day started in the U.K., built on the foundation that the power of entertainment can drive positive change, and has raised more than $1 billion globally since the campaign’s founding in 1988.
Red Nose Day launched in the United States in 2015 with a mission to raise money and awareness to end child poverty, and has raised over $60 million to date for the cause. Red Nose Day 2017 will occur on Thursday, May 25. Money raised goes to the Red Nose Day Fund, which supports programs that keep children in need safe, healthy and educated, both in America and abroad.
Beneficiaries include the Boys & Girls Clubs of America; charity: water; Children's Health Fund; Feeding America; Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance; National Council of La Raza; Save the Children; and The Global Fund. Since launching in the U.S., Red Nose Day has received generous support from millions of Americans, hundreds of celebrities and many outstanding partners, including Walgreens, NBC, Mars, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
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Comic Relief, the non-profit behind Red Nose Day, brought WWE Superstar Darren Young (right) and WWE Ambassador Dana Warrior to Elm Place Middle School in Highland Park, Ill. as part of an event to inspire the students to join the national fundraising campaign. Photo Courtesy Comic Relief
Comic Relief, the non-profit behind Red Nose Day, brought WWE Superstar Darren Young (left) and WWE Ambassador Dana Warrior (right) to Elm Place Middle School in Highland Park, Ill. as part of an event to inspire the students to join the national fundraising campaign. Photo Courtesy Comic Relief
Comic Relief, the non-profit behind Red Nose Day, brought WWE Superstar Darren Young (left) and WWE Ambassador Dana Warrior (middle) to Elm Place Middle School in Highland Park, Ill. as part of an event to inspire the students to join the national fundraising campaign. Photo Courtesy Comic Relief
Comic Relief, the non-profit behind Red Nose Day, brought WWE Superstar Darren Young (right) and WWE Ambassador Dana Warrior (left) to Elm Place Middle School in Highland Park, Ill. as part of an event to inspire the students to join the national fundraising campaign. Photo Courtesy Comic Relief
Mayweather beats Nasukawa in an exhibition match in Japan
Ronda Rousey to face Nia Jax at WWE pay-per-view Money in the Bank
WWE legend Sgt. Slaughter talks golf, WrestleMania, big Raw Reunion show on USA Network
By Jim Varsallone
Raw Reunion is the largest WWE reunion ever, and the Amalie Arena in Tampa will host it, with the live broadcast at 8 p.m. Monday, on USA Network. WWE legend Sgt. Slaughter, who will be there, discusses the historic event and more.
MORE FIGHTING
Beterbiev to fight Gvozdyk in light-heavyweight unification
Interview with WWE Champ Kofi Kingston, who leads SmackDown Live into Miami
Rakhimov resigns from troubled boxing body AIBA
Olympic silver medalist Stevenson demands tougher pro fights
Olympic silver medalist Stevenson wins in Jersey hometown
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HomeLatest NewsPalestine Latest NewsUN says there is ‘urgent need’ to address crisis in Gaza in latest report
UN says there is ‘urgent need’ to address crisis in Gaza in latest report
May 1, 2017 MEO Staff Palestine Latest News
In a report issued ahead of a United Nations meeting to discuss the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory, the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO) released a report on Monday warning of the “urgent need” to address the worsening situation in the besieged Gaza Strip, as well as the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
UNSCO raised the alarm regarding “the urgent need to resolve the deepening political rift between Gaza and the West Bank” pitting the Hamas and Fatah movements, the respective ruling parties in the besieged coastal enclave and the occupied West Bank, against one another, in a reported made public ahead of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC) biannual meeting in Belgium on Thursday.
The UN body warned that the nearly decade-long tensions between the two political parties, which have further soured in recent months, “threaten(ed) the erosion of the achievements of the Palestinian state-building effort.”
Numerous attempts have been made in the past to reconcile Hamas and Fatah since they came into violent conflict in 2007, shortly after Hamas’ 2006 victory in general elections held in the Gaza Strip.
However, Palestinian leadership has repeatedly failed to follow through on promises of reconciliations, as both movements have frequently blamed each other for numerous political failures.
In early April, the PA implemented a slash in the salaries of Gaza-based PA employees, as well as cut aid disbursement to impoverished Gazans via the Ministry of Social Affairs.The move sparked protests in the enclave as employees accused the PA of targeting Gaza-based employees, while cuts were not made to civil servants in the occupied West Bank.
Meanwhile, Gaza electricity officials have blamed power shortages on PA fuel taxes, while the PA notified authorities on Thursday that it would stop paying for electricity provided by Israel to the Gaza Strip, exacerbating the already dire living conditions in the small Palestinian territory.
The UN has previously warned that the Gaza Strip would become uninhabitable for residents by 2020, pointing to the devastation of war and nearly a decade of Israel’s blockade.
“Gaza is facing a downward spiral of de-development, while the people in Gaza are caught in a cycle of humanitarian need and perpetual aid dependency,” the UNSCO report read.
“The social, economic and political consequences of crisis should not be underestimated,” UNSCO said in a statement. “Palestinians in Gaza, who live in a protracted humanitarian crisis, can no longer be held hostage by disagreements, divisions and closures.”
UNSCO also denounced the “continued lack of progress” in peace efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the past year, noting the sharp increase in illegal Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied Palestinian territory, as well as the rise in home demolitions targeting Palestinian and Bedouin communities in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory.
“The report reiterates the international community’s collective commitment to support Israelis and Palestinian in achieving a just and sustainable peace through the two-state solution,” UNSCO noted. “However, developments during the reporting period, including illegal settlement activity and violence, threaten to undermine this prospect.”
The report condemned “continuing violence and acts of terror against Israelis” in past months, as well as rockets fired from the besieged Gaza Strip which have caused no casualties, while neglecting to mention the 19 Palestinians, six of them minors, who have been killed by Israelis since the beginning of 2017. According to Ma’an documentation, seven Israelis have been killed by Palestinians during the same time period, six of whom were members of Israeli security forces.
“The persistent absence of progress to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict continues to significantly impede Palestine’s development,” UNSCO stated. “The parties are overdue to take the necessary steps, on the ground to create an environment conducive to peace, as recommended by the Middle East Quartet.”
While members of the international community have rested the solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the discontinuation of illegal Israeli settlements and the establishment of a two-state solution, a growing number of Palestinian activists have criticized the two-state solution as unsustainable and unlikely to bring durable peace given the existing political context, proposing instead a binational state with equal rights for Israelis and Palestinians.
UNSCO
Tunisian officials sacked after protests
Will Pope Francis’s Visit Prove that Egypt Is a Safe Place for Christians?
Israel reduces electricity to Gaza by 60 percent amid recent power cuts
June 23, 2017 MEO Staff Israel Latest News, Palestine Latest News
Israeli authorities have continued devastating power cuts for the fourth consecutive day in the besieged Gaza Strip on Thursday, after Israel approved a dramatic reduction in Israel’s electricity supply to the territory upon request of [ More … ]
Syrian refugees near Jordan border get first aid for weeks
August 6, 2016 Mahmoud Eskaf Refugee Crisis, Syria Latest News
The UN says it has for the first time in weeks delivered aid to thousands of Syrian refugees stranded on the border with Jordan. A group of relief agencies said they had completed delivery of [ More … ]
45,000 Muslim Worshipers, 250 Palestinians from Gaza to Al-Aqsa Mosque for Friday Prayers
August 13, 2016 MEO Staff Israel Latest News, Palestine Latest News
More than 200 Palestinians from the besieged Gaza Strip traveled to occupied East Jerusalem to attend Friday prayers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, according to Palestinian liaison officials, According to Palestinian local agencies. The officials said [ More … ]
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Millwall "confident and excited" says Martin
Left-back Joe looks ahead to Bradford test
Joe Martin says that he and his Millwall team-mates are "confident and excited" ahead of the Sky Bet League One Play-Off Semi-Final against Bradford City.
The Lions travel to the Coral Windows Stadium on Sunday before playing the return leg at The Den on the following Friday having secured fourth place in the League with victory over Gillingham yesterday.
That result made it four wins on the bounce going into the Play-Offs and Martin is expecting a physical encounter with The Bantams.
"We're in great form at the minute and that can only help going into those two big games," he said.
"They (Bradford) are a little bit like us in a way, though we are slightly different. It's going to be a physical game, we know that, and they're going to make it really difficult for us, but if we show what we have been showing since Christmas then I'm sure we'll give them a good game.
"We're looking good. We have got a good strikeforce and we're a danger, so it looks positive.
"I'm looking forward to it (the Play-Offs). I've never really experienced it as a starter and we're all confident and excited."
Lee Gregory's 98th-minute winner sealed a dramatic victory at Priestfield on Sunday - a result which would have been particularly pleasing for Martin against his former club, though the left-back played that down afterwards.
"It was a hostile atmosphere and a tough game," Martin added.
"I was expecting a bit of stick and I got that, but at the end of the day we just wanted the three points and to finish as high up as we possibly could.
"I left the club (Gillingham) last year and they had done one on us at our place, and we've kind of returned the favour. I didn't really look at it like I'm getting my own back."
Tweets by @MillwallFC
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Home Mental Health Alleged Cases of Demonic Possessions
Mental HealthParanormalWeird
Alleged Cases of Demonic Possessions
Here’s a one off comp, with 7 stories, 5 – real people and 2 – real objects. I hope you enjoy.
In 1906, Clara Germana Cele was an ordinary, sixteen-year-old from Natal, South Africa before she began displaying some very strange and frightening behavior. She was recorded as being able to understand various languages, despite the fact that she had never been exposed to those languages. Even more strangely, Clara could somehow reveal intimate secrets of people whom she had never had contact with and display unusual strength by hurling people about. The use of holy water would briefly return her to her original state although it would not last long. Whilst at the Christian school, she would often float 5 ft the air unassisted with over 100 people witnesses.
When the girl’s confessor, Father Hörner Erasmus, was called in, he revealed that Clara had earlier confessed to him that she had made a pact with Satan, thus giving the demon a chance to take over her body. Later, though, Erasmus and another priest reportedly drove out Satan from her body in a rite that lasted two days, despite the alleged demon’s attempt to fight against them.
Julia, the only person who was confirmed possessed by a professional. New York Medical College associate professor; Dr. Richard E. Gallagher confirmed this.
Julia had a long history with involving herself with satanic groups and performing rituals. The only problem was that she eventually began to experience strange occurrences with her mind and around her. Dr. Richard E. Gallagher was then contacted to visit and provide an analysis to see if she was mentally ill and also a priest.
The exorcism began on a warm day in June when the “Despite the weather, the room where the rite was being conducted grew distinctly cold. Later, however, as the entity in Julia began to spout words in various languages, (mainly Spanish and latin) and make strange beastly noises. Members of the team felt themselves profusely sweating due to a stifling emanation of heat. The participants all said they found the heat unbearable.
Julia was freed from her demons but Dr Gallagher has never forgotten such events.
Roland Doe (A false name to prevent real identity) was the only child and was especially close to an aunt who was a spiritualist. His Aunt soon began to introduce him to an Ouija board and showed him how to use it.
In January of 1949 Roland’s aunt died in St. Louis. The grieving boy attempted to contact his beloved aunt via his Ouija
Board and, wouldn’t you know it, strange happenings began.
• The family heard the sound of marching feet
• Furniture moved on its own
• Ordinary objects levitated or flew across rooms
• Scratches appeared on the boy’s body
• Blessed objects such as vials of holy water smashed to the ground on their own accord
• Religious pictures vibrated on the wall
It wasn’t long before a Roman Catholic priest was contacted to exorcise the demon. During the Exorcism the boy tore into his bed, pulled a spring from his mattress and slashed the priest. The cut required stitches and the exorcism was put on hold.
Another Priest was introduced -Rev. William S. Bowdern to continue the exorcism. Over a period of two months, Bowdern performed the exorcism thirty times with Walter Halloran assisting and acting as witness. Roland spat in the eyes of his rescuers, spoke in a deep, unnatural voice and broke Halloran’s nose. His bed shook violently. The words evil and hell appeared on his body. In the end the demonic forces subsided and he continued a normal life working for the government.
The events later inspired the movie “The Exorcist” in 1973
The 2005 horror flick The Exorcism of Emily Rose is scary enough, but the fact that it was based on a real life possession makes it ever so much disturbing.
In 1968, when she was 17 and still in high school, Anneliese began to suffer from convulsions and seizures. She had her first epileptic attack in 1969. It was then that a neurologist at the Psychiatric Clinic Wurzburg diagnosed her with Grand
Mal epilepsy. Soon, Anneliese started experienced
– Devilish hallucinations while praying, claiming to see the faces of devils.
– She also began to hear voices, which told her that she was damned.
– She began injuring herself, eating insects, and drinking her own urine.
In 1975, convinced that she was possessed, her parents gave up on the doctors from the psychiatric clinic. They chose to rely solely on the exorcisms for healing
Anneliese endured 67 rites of exorcism over a period of 10 months. With no luck. She died later in her home due to dehydration and malnutrition on July 1, 1976. The priests who conducted the attempted exorcism, Fr. Arnold Renz and Fr. Ernst Alt, were tried and found guilty of manslaughter. They were sentenced to six months imprisonment and three years probation.
Pat Reading had no history of mental illness nor any type of interest of the paranormal. For this reason, it was especially unsettling when she began hearing strange banging noises in her home, which shortly progressed to the overturning of furniture and violent attacks on her. John Zaffis a Paranormal investigator made a visit and reported that bite marks would unexplainably appear on her back and some of her hair was torn from her scalp.
A catholic priest was called in to perform an exorcism and 16 were attempted with no success, Reading later died from colon cancer immediately after yet she continued to suffer from the attacks even after.
Thomas Busby’s Chair
Do you have a favorite chair in your home? Consider cursing it after you die so no one else can sit on it without dying. That’s what Thomas Busby did in 1702, right before he was executed for strangling his father-in-law to death for — you got it — sitting in his chair. Supposedly 63 people who have sat on the chair met untimely deaths, sometimes mere hours after plopping their keister on Busby’s beloved chair. In 1972, the Thirsk Museum actually had to suspend it from the ceiling to prevent people from committing suicide by chair.
The Crying Boy Paintings
Here’s the facts: Italian artist Giovanni Bragolin painted a picture of a crying boy that inexplicably became very popular in the 1950s and had many prints made. In 1985, the always reliable British newspaper The Sun reported that a fireman claimed to have found these prints in multiple houses destroyed by fire… although the prints were perfectly fine. Apparently, British firefighters were already so freaked out by this phenomena none of them would allow copies of the painting into their own homes. More such incidents of the prints being unscathed in house fires, both before and after the article, were reported, and suddenly a story popped up that the painting was of an orphan whose home had burned down. What I want to know if why so many people wanted to hang a picture of a sobbing kid on their walls in the first place.
10 COLOSSAL TREASURES OF THE ANCIENT WORLD STILL TO BE FOUND
Scientists shocked by mysterious deaths of ancient trees
Studies Show What Happens To The Human Body When We Walk Barefoot On Earth 100shares
Thousands sign petition to let people DRINK red liquid found inside 2,000-year-old Egyptian sarcophagus believing it is the elixir of life while experts say it is just sewage water 6shares
Negativity is contagious: surround yourself with people who get the best out of you 6shares
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The International Space Elevator Consortium announces the Pearson and Artsutanov Space Elevator Prizes
(Nanowerk News) The International Space Elevator Consortium (ISEC), an independent group designed to promote standards and foster research relating to the construction of an Elevator to Space, has announced its first annual set of prizes, named after the co-inventors of the modern-day concept of the Space Elevator, Jerome Pearson and Yuri Artsutanov.
Formed in 2008 by a coalition of leaders in the Space Elevator movement, ISEC has established these prizes to encourage research into Space Elevator related technologies and concepts to help further ISEC’s mission of promoting “the development, construction and operation of a space elevator as a revolutionary and efficient way to space for all humanity.”
Ted Semon, the president of ISEC states; “We are thrilled to be able to offer these awards, named after the co-inventors of the modern-day concept of the Space Elevator. The Space Elevator, a ‘carbon railway’ to the solar system and beyond, is the right way to open up space to all humanity. With research into carbon nanotubes proceeding at an ever-accelerating rate, we think that it is only a matter of a few years before the material necessary to build a space elevator will be available. The time is now to begin serious planning for this most magnificent concept.”
Each year, ISEC selects a focal theme for its activities. For 2010, this theme is “Space Debris Mitigation.” One of the major hurdles that must be overcome in order to successfully build and operate a Space Elevator is avoiding space debris and satellites in orbit. While much research has been done on this topic, the goal for most existing research has been mitigating the problem of space debris in relation to satellites, the ISS, the Shuttle, etc.
The Pearson prize will be awarded for that paper which best addresses the topic of Space Debris Mitigation in relation to a Space Elevator and is open to all college undergraduate students currently enrolled in a two or four-year undergraduate curriculum.
The Artsutanov prize will be awarded for the best paper on any other Space Elevator-related topic and is open to everyone.
The winning paper of the Pearson prize will be awarded $1,500 while the winning paper of the Artsutanov prize will be awarded $2,500. Both winners will be invited to the 2010 Space Elevator conference (held this coming August in Redmond, Washington) to present their papers. Their papers will also be published in the ISEC Journal. In addition to awarding the prize money, ISEC will pay for airfare and hotel accommodations for the prize-winners (maximum of one per paper if multiple authors).
Contest details can be found on the ISEC website.
For more details, please contact ISEC President Ted Semon ([email protected]), Prize Chair Peter Swan ([email protected]) or ISEC Technical Pillar Lead Ben Shelef ([email protected]).
Headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., a leading technology center, the International Space Elevator Consortium (ISEC) is a non-profit organization devoted to the research and construction of an Elevator to Space. Founding members of ISEC include the Spaceward Foundation, the Space Elevator Reference, the Space Elevator Blog, EuroSpaceward and the Japan Space Elevator Association.
Source: ISEC
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The Harz Dams
There is a remarkable number of dams in the Harz mountains, as water power was harnessed here long ago to operate the pumps and rock-crushing mills used for mining. Nowadays, Harz dams are used for generating electricity, for drink water reservoirs, and for flood protection—especially during the springtime thaw.
The thirty reservoir lakes in the Upper Harz area, which are also part of the Oberharzer Wasserregal (Upper Harz Water Rights System), are a product of the oldest dams still in operation in Germany—and each lake is unique. They are in great demand for sailing, windsurfing, swimming, and rowing. Bikers and in-line skaters also find a real dreamland here.
THE INNERSTE TALSPERRE DAM
From Bad Grund, you drive through Wildemann, then Lauthental, and after about twenty minutes, you have arrived! Those who like water sports will love this dam.
Swimming, sailing, wind-surfing and rowing are all permitted here. What is more, footpaths go through wonderful scenery and make for very enjoyable long walks.
This dam is the longest in the Harz (750 meters) and it was built from 1963 to 1966. Up to 20 million cubic meters of water are contained in a lake 32 meters deep and around 5 km. long. Its main use is for flood protection and raising the water table, but it also powers a private hydraulic electric power plant.
THE GRANETAL DAM
Coming from Bad Grund, you drive towards Clausthal-Zellerfeld via Wildemann/Lauthental. Then cross the Innerste Talsperre Dam and head towards Goslar. Right before Goslar, turn right and go through Juliushütte. After about 30 minutes, you have arrived at the Granetal Dam.
No water sports of any kind are permitted here: this is a drink water reservoir for the City of Bremen, which is 200 km. away.
The dam is about 600 meters long and 61 meters high and was built from 1966 to 1969. Up to 46 million cubic meters of water from the areas of the Oker, Radau and Innerste rivers are contained in the basin. Those interested in water purification technology can learn more about it in the Harzwasserwerk (Harz Water Works) at the lake. Visitors are invited to two permanent exhibitions, several multi-media shows, and guided tours of the works.
THE SOESETAL DAM
This wonderful recreational area can be reached from Bad Grund by car in less than 30 minutes. From Osterode, it is only 5 kilometers away, and while walking along the medieval wall of that city (9 km. long!), there is a marvelous view of the lake and the fortifications. In the charming coniferous and deciduous forests right next to the water, you can experience pristine nature at its best. Windsurfing and sailing are offered here.
The dam was built from 1928 to 1931. The base of the concrete dam wall is up to 7 m. thick and towards the top it becomes thinner—only 2 m. thick. Up to 25 million cubic meters of water are retained by the Soesetal Dam. It provides drinking water for the surrounding communities, and it is also used for flood protection.
THE OKERSTAUSEE RESERVOIR
The shortest way from Bad Grund to the Oker Dam is through Clausthal-Zellerfeld and Altenau. This is about a 40-minute drive. The Oker Dam backs the biggest water reservoir of the western Harz. We especially recommend the boat tour of Oker Lake.
Construction of the dam was begun in 1938 but was interrupted by the war until 1949. It was completed in 1956. Two years before completion, the inhabitants of the small village of Schulenberg were relocated to make room for the new lake bed. Today, this community is situated on the Kleiner Wiesenberg Mountain, with a view on the lake. The dam is used mainly for generating electricity and for flood protection.
The Okerstausee Reservoir is a paradise for those who like water sports: You can row, sail, ride pedal-boats, and windsurf. Diving can be a very special experience, as the remnants of the village of Schulenberg, as well as streets and bridges from the time before the reservoir, are still easily visible under water. If you want to go diving, you first have to get permission from the Harzwasserwerk (water works). Otherwise you can have a look at this splendid underwater scenery from the MS “Aqua Marin” ship.
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1342 S 210 Street Omaha, NE 68022 $85,000 | MLS# 21402218 Listing Courtesty of: NP Dodge RE Sales Inc 204Dodge
MLS Provider: GPR
Listing Agent: Sandie McPadden
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Future site of your beautiful energy efficient CROWN, LTD. home! Please visit our 1 1/2 story model in The Prairies located at 2329 S 219th St. Model open Saturdays and Sundays 1:00 to 5:00! Price subject to change without notice.
NP Dodge Real Estate
Sandie McPadden
Eric Sternberg
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204th & Dodge, South to Pacific St, West to 211th St, South to William St, East to 210th.
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Blue Sage
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Elkhorn South
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This listing 1342 S 210 Street Omaha, NE 68022 is a lots and land listing on a lot of 10,454 sqft (or 0.24 acres). 1342 S 210 Street is located in Omaha and in ZIP Code 68022. It has been listed on our site since Feb 2, 2014.
6+ Listings (0.38 Mile Radius)
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3520 S 210 Avenue
Elkhorn, NE 68022
$121,000 | MLS# 21802436
Listed Courtesy of: NP Dodge RE Sales Inc 204Dodge
640 S 212 Street
$250,000 | MLS# 21912333 3 Beds | 3 Baths | 2,718 SqFt
Listed Courtesy of: BHHS Ambassador Real Estate
21315 Oldgate Circle
1156 S 212th Circle
21285 Rawhide Road
$1,399,000 | MLS# 21910327 5 Beds | 7 Baths | 10,472 SqFt
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At Cobalt Credit Union it’s easy to finance your new home. For 70 years we’ve been serving the local community with outstanding customer service. Whether you are looking to buy or build a home, Cobalt Credit Union has the financing to meet your needs. Purchasing a home is one of the most important financial decisions in your lifetime. Let us help you make an informed decision.
Skyline Ranches
In the early 1960’s, real estate developer Slim Thornton saw the need for a community of acreages near the city of Omaha but truly “in the country”. He found such a site south of West Dodge Road and north of Pacific Street from Skyline Drive eastward to Highway 6. He envisioned the area to be populated primarily by horse owners and established an SID with one to five acre lots on a meandering, trail system which connected them to each other and a central corral and social center. It was named Skyline Ranches, and lots sold quickly. Covenants required larger homes which were allowed latitude in style and landscaping. Barns were encouraged, giving the entire community the rural ambiance that many were looking for. Currently acreage prices vary from the mid $200,000’s to $800,000, depending on lot and home size, and style.
At this time, the area is governed by the Skyline Ranches Property Owners Association whose official purpose is to: Maintain Grounds and Trail System with the Neighborhood; Provide Social (Horse Related) Events for Members and Guests; and Monitor Neighborhood Upkeep.” Property owners are assessed a nominal fee to provide for these services, which now include a rodeo arena complete with chutes and stock pens, a 4-H arena, a dressage course, a small fishing lake, and a picnic shelter and park which can be reserved by home owners for private events.
Chapel Hill is a separate community developed in the southwestern corner of the original site. With smaller lots and common setbacks, it provides a more suburban ambiance. It has its own property owners association, known as Chapel Hill and Rogers Ridge, and does not have access to the trail, corral, and park services provided by Skyline Ranches. Many homes are comparable to those found in Skyline Ranches with prices ranging from $150,000 to $250,000
Shopping, entertainment, restaurants, and public education are nearby for both developments. An Elkhorn Grade School is within walking distance of both communities while Valley View Middle School and Elkhorn South High School are a short drive away. Several parochial schools and churches of many denominations are located in Elkhorn as is a campus for the Metropolitan Community College.
Access to the West Dodge Road corridor and the Interstate system give this area easy access to the entire Omaha area.
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This data was last updated on Jul 18, 2019. The data is subject to change or updating at any time without prior notice. All properties are subject to prior sale or withdrawal. The information was provided by members of The Great Plains Regional Multiple Listing Service LLC Internet Data Exchange or members of the Broker Reciprocity program of the Southwest Iowa Association of Realtors (SWIAR) and is copyrighted. Any printout of the information on this website must retain this copyright notice. The data is deemed to be reliable, but should be independently verified as no warranties of any kind, express or implied, are given. The information has been provided for the non-commercial, personal use of consumers for the sole purpose of identifying prospective properties the consumer may be interested in purchasing, and any other use is prohibited. The listing broker representing the seller is identified on each listing.
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New William S. Burroughs Book Sheds Light On The Literary Legend's Influence On Music Relying on a wealth of research and documents, Casey Rae deftly maps out how one of America's most controversial literary figures transformed the lives of many notable rock musicians.
New William S. Burroughs Book Sheds Light On The Literary Legend's Influence On Music
June 12, 20198:15 AM ET
Gabino Iglesias
William S. Burroughs and the Cult of Rock 'n' Roll
by Casey Rae
Hardcover, 240 pages |
Casey Rae
The role William S. Burroughs played in shaping literature is well known. But his influence on rock and roll hasn't been as well-documented.
Casey Rae's William S. Burroughs and the Cult of Rock 'n' Roll single-handedly changes that. Relying on a wealth of magazine interviews, biographies, books, phone calls, emails and personal interviews, Rae deftly maps out how one of America's most controversial literary figures — a homosexual drug addict with a penchant for guns who shot his wife in the head — transformed the lives of many notable musicians. He thus helped, without trying, to shape the history of audio recording, punk, industrial music, and rock and roll.
Burroughs rose to fame while working on the fringes of mainstream literature during the Beat era. Today he is know for novels like Naked Lunch, Junkie, Queer, The Wild Boys, The Soft Machine, and The Ticket that Exploded, among others. All of them have been widely read, taught, copied and translated. However, Naked Lunch, regarded as his masterpiece, was banned upon publication for being obscene. The novel's bizarre topics, outré characters, wild situations, sexual content, and nonlinear structure perfectly mirrored Burroughs' personality, tastes, and beliefs — all of which appealed to the most daring, innovative musicians of the 1960s, '70s, and '80s.
For pioneering musicians, hanging with Burroughs became a rite of passage, a sort of logical step in a life spent looking for extreme experiences and new artistic frontiers. Furthermore, Burroughs' cut-up techniques for producing lyrics as well as sounds influenced a plethora of artists in many mediums. In Rae's words, "Burroughs people tend to find one another. And then they form bands." These people included luminaries like Bob Dylan, Patti Smith, Kurt Cobain, Michael Stipe, Thurston Moore, David Bowie, Lou Reed, and many others.
Rae, a musician, professor, and cultural critic, is a music lover and a Burroughs fan. Both things shine through in this book. He writes with the passion of a teenager discovering new sounds, and the control and self-assuredness of a seasoned academic. Between external sources and his own research and phone and email interviews, Rae creates a complex, rich picture of Burroughs' life, focusing on his meetings with musicians and the way his techniques and ideas infiltrated them and changed the way they looked at the world as well as their own work. While doing this, Rae stays true to history and always presents Burroughs' duality; shaman and madman, writer and hermit, traveling man and depressed genius. The mixture came to embody rock and roll:
"Is Burroughs a good influence? The answer probably depends on the observer. Nevertheless, it is telling that so many other artists found something relatable in his work, lifestyle, attitude, and intellect."
Simply put, Burroughs embodied the rebellious spirit of rock and roll, and that attracted those for whom rebellion was the only conceivable choice in life.
While the focus is on music and Burroughs' techniques and ideas, William S. Burroughs and the Cult of Rock 'n' Roll is also a biography. Rae deals with the most crucial events in the writer's life. From his homosexuality to the history of his novels, this book adds to the Burroughs canon in a unique way. Rae is a professional and an academic, but the writing here, especially when dealing with music and some of the most traumatic moments in Burroughs' career, flirts with literary fiction without even abandoning the real of nonfiction. A perfect example comes from his discussion of the killing of Burroughs' wife, Joan Vollmer, who the author shot in the head while allegedly undertaking a William Tell trick they often performed at parties. While drunkenness and drug use muddled the memories of the event for many — and Burroughs himself went back and forth on what happened — the consensus, according to Rae, is that Burroughs accidentally missed the shot:
"A bullet leaves the chamber and narrowly misses its target. The tape machine repays the loop: forward, backward; backward, forward. The bullet re-enters the chamber from the barrel end. A gaunt man cocks his eye and takes aim. Again, the reel clatters, the scene unfolds. Backward. Forward. The gun is steadied. The woman turns her head. A shot rings out."
Reading William S. Burroughs and the Cult of Rock 'n' Roll makes it easy to see why Burroughs was so influential on avantgarde creators. He believed there was a major hegemonic force at play in the world. He called this force Control, and considered it the primary enemy keeping people from spiritual and psychic liberation:
"Burroughs believed humanity is imprisoned by this hostile power, which perpetuates itself through the virus of language and establishes a foothold through what he called 'the algebra of need.' Anything that can be used to condition behavior is an asset of Control. And yet the same tools can be used to fight back. Employing words, sounds, images — reordered and weaponized — Burroughs sought to demolish pernicious systems of repression and degradation, including social, civic, and religious dogmas."
In other words, Burroughs' entire belief system was the core of rock and roll, the blueprint for artistic rebellion. William S. Burroughs and the Cult of Rock 'n' Roll celebrates not only the gifted mind and bizarre life of a writer who changed literature forever with his magic and ideas; it also finally gives him the place he deserves in the pantheon of rock and roll.
Gabino Iglesias is an author, book reviewer and professor living in Austin, Texas. Find him on Twitter at @Gabino_Iglesias.
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NZ Semi-Automatic and Assault Rifle Buyback Will Cost up to $200 Million Says PM
By Richard Szabo March 21, 2019
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern (L) speaks during a press conference with Police Minister Stuart Nash at Parliament House in Wellington, New Zealand, on March 21, 2019. (Yelim Lee/AFP/Getty Images)
New Zealand could find itself out of pocket by hundreds of millions of dollars due to a new gun buyback scheme announced on March 21.
The New Zealand government will ban and buy back every military style semi-automatic gun and assault rifle (MSSA) across the country which the Ardern Labor government sees as necessary to avoid a repeat of the March 15 mass shooting in two of Christchurch’s mosques, killing 50 people.
LIVE: Jacinda Ardern announces planned gun control measures for New Zealand https://t.co/N4YsmpQb4g
— Bloomberg (@business) March 21, 2019
Prime Minister Jacinta Ardern said there is no way of knowing exactly how much the buyback will cost the country beforehand.
“One of the failings in our system means we can have a range of weapons that are of this power and calibre and simply not know how many there are,”Ardern told reporters at a press conference.
However, the government predicts it could cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
“The estimate that has been made by officials is that the buyback could cost anywhere between $100 million (US$69 million) and $200 million (US$138 million),” Ardern said. “But that is the price that we must pay to ensure the safety of our communities.”
The prime minister announced immediate action to deter people from starting to stock-pile the soon to be prohibited weapons. Governor-General Patsy Reddy also signed an Order in Council, under section 74A(c) of the Arms Act, on March 21 to reclassify a wider range of semi-automatic weapons as military style firearms under the Act.
The measure legally classifies weapons to be banned under amendments to the Arms Act as weapons requiring an “E endorsement” on a firearms licence—for military-style semi-automatic (MSSA) rifles or shotguns. Spare parts used to convert the guns into MSSAs are also being banned, as well as all high-capacity ammunition magazines.
“The effect of this is that it will prevent the sale of MSSAs and assault rifles to people with A category gun licences,” Police Minister Stuart Nash said in a public statement. “We are introducing transitionary measures for gun owners to hand in their guns to police to hold until details of a buy-back are announced. Likewise, the Police continue to accept guns for destruction.”
Nash encouraged gun enthusiasts not to apply for the firearms and ammunition that will be banned in early April.
“Importers can buy these extended magazines. As the prime minister has alluded to, these are going to be illegal in three weeks time, so don’t waste your money,” he said at the press conference.
Ardern echoed this view and asked the general public not to waste police resources by submitting an application for weapons that will be banned shortly after.
“I can assure you that that would be a fairly pointless exercise … we will be banning these in three weeks’ time, so essentially there is no point in applying,” she said. “You can imagine that the police might have other priorities in that three week period other than processing such applications.”
There will be an amnesty for the weapons to be handed in during the buyback scheme.
The prime minister said she believed that most “legitimate gun owners” would “understand that these moves are in the national interest, and will take these changes in their stride.”
“When Australia undertook similar reforms [in 1996], their approach was to allow for exemptions for farmers upon application, including for pest control and animal welfare,” Ardern said in a statement. “We have taken similar action to identify the weapons legitimately required in those areas, and preclude them.”
The government plans to introduce a bill into parliament when it next sits in the first week of April. A select committee will quickly give feedback on technical aspects of the changes before the amendments to the existing laws will be made with “urgency.”
“Expect these amendments to the Arms Act to be passed within the next session of parliament,” Ardern said.
Nash revealed the bill will include some exemptions for legitimate business use such as professional pest control.
“Police and the Defence Force will also have exemptions. Issues like access for mainstream international sporting competitions are also being worked through,” he said. “We have also acknowledged that some guns serve legitimate purposes in our farming communities, and have therefore set out exemptions for 0.22 calibre rifles and shotguns commonly used for duck hunting.”
Anyone wishing to surrender a gun is asked to phone the local police station ahead of time.
There have been mixed reactions from pro-gun lobbyists to Ardern’s announcement.
Auckland-based Serious Shooters Owner Richard Munt criticised Ardern’s announcement as a “knee-jerk reaction.”
“This usually led to poorly-written legislation, and never addressed the original problem of criminal activities with firearms going unpunished,” he told Newsroom. “All it affects is legal, law-abiding citizens, never criminals.”
Dunedin Clay Target Club President Grant Dodson said military-style semi-automatic rifles and tactical shotguns have limited use for target shooters and recreational hunters since they are designed for military combat use.
“For target shooting and general hunting situations, conventional sporting style bolt action or semi-automatic firearms are much better suited,” Dodson said.
Registered New Zealand gun owners are estimated to have around 1.2 million guns, according to a 2017 Small Arms Survey—a figure representing about one gun for every four people.
Hunting & Fishing New Zealand has said it will be voluntarily removing all military-style assault weapons from their shelves.
“While we have sold them in the past to a small number of customers, last week’s events have forced a reconsideration that has led us to believe such weapons of war have no place in our business—or our country,” the company said in a Facebook post dated March 19.
“Irrespective of gun law changes now or in the future, Hunting & Fishing New Zealand stores will no longer stock military-style assault firearms of any classification or category—whether rimfire, shot shell and centrefire configuration.”
The prime minister defends the government’s tough gun control measures and tried to assure responsible gun owners that they were not being targeted by the government.
“To owners who have legitimate uses for their guns, I want to reiterate that the actions being announced today are not because of you, and are not directed at you,” Ardern said.
New Zealand’s gun laws have been in the spotlight since a gunman in Christchurch killed 50 people at two mosques.
And now six days after the attack, @jacindaardern has announced a complete ban on all military style semi-automatics and assault rifles. https://t.co/doHWx5tkca pic.twitter.com/dbpU1Ujsq5
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) March 21, 2019
Full details of gun bans and interim arrangements here. I feel this might be one of the most important things I have been a part of as a politician. Huge work over the last week. https://t.co/Rt2VUNONIS
— Grant Robertson (@grantrobertson1) March 21, 2019
Trump: US Navy Shot Down Iranian Drone in ‘Defensive Action’
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Eva Pastalkova Wins $25,000 Gruber Award
One of four postdoctoral finalists for the 2009 Blavatnik Award is recognized by the Society of Neuroscience.
Eva Pastalkova, a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience at Rutgers University, Newark, and one of four postdoctoral finalists in the Academy's 2009 Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists competition, has been selected as one of two national recipients of the 2009 Peter and Patricia Gruber International Research Award for Young Scientists sponsored by the Society of Neuroscience.
The Gruber award recognizes prominent young scientists who have demonstrated international collaboration in advancing the field of neuroscience. Along with the award, the society presented her with a $25,000 grant to support her research.
With her advisor, Professor György Buzsaki, Pastalkova developed a method for studying internally generated brain activity in rats. She was also part of the team at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn that identified the molecule, PKMzeta, that plays a central role in maintaining memories, recognized as a major advancement in the field of neuroscience. When the activity of the protein PKMzeta was blocked in the rat hippocampus, long-term memories were erased. This work also demonstrated that the mechanisms that maintain long-term memory potentiation, or long-lasting connections between neurons, are the same mechanisms that sustain spatial memory in rats, a finding that was hailed by Science as one of 10 major breakthroughs in 2006.
In January 2010, Pastalkova will start her own lab at the Janelia Farm Research Center in Virginia, a center of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The winners of the Blavatnik Awards will be announced on November 16 at the Academy's annual Science & the City Gala.
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« NYLCV Backs Jackson Over Espaillat (Updatedx2)
Comptroller Hopeful: Not Hitting Donor Threshold Would Be ‘Colossal Failure’ »
Astorino Asks For Heroes, Perhaps Longer Than Just For One Day
Republican candidate for governor Rob Astorino on Wednesday in an online video expressed frustration that state’s media, whistleblowers and other oversight entities haven’t taken Gov. Andrew Cuomo to task on appointing a special prosecutor in the Moreland Commission controversy.
“Public ethics have fallen so far in New York because crooked public officials can get away with just about anything — and they know it,” Astorino said in the video. “Their allies in the legislature look the other way or outright cover for them. And, let’s face it: much of the press corps has become numb to corruption or to browbeating from the governor’s office.”
Astorino has made repeated calls for Cuomo to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate whether any state laws may have been broken when the governor’s office interfered in the Moreland Commission’s issuing of subpoenas.
U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s office is investigating Cuomo’s office meddling in the commission’s work, and has raised the possibility that coordinated statements from the second floor released by commission members could constitute as tampering and obstruction.
“The Attorney General can’t investigate. He was involved in Moreland. District attorneys can’t investigate; they were involved in Moreland, too. Only a special state prosecutor can objectively determine if and what state laws were broken,” Astorino said. “Without a special prosecutor we are accepting the fact that the Governor of New York is above the law.”
Astorino says the press has “scoffed” at the notion of a special prosecutor, which he says just lets the status quo continue.
“So you know what we do? We do nothing. We stay chest-deep in this swamp of corruption called New York, and we complain about it to our neighbors,” he said.
The video comes after a Marist College poll found Cuomo’s approval rating slide five percentage points in the immediate aftermath of a New York Times story detailing the governor’s influence on the anti-corruption panel.
Nevertheless, Astorino is still struggling with name identification and trails Cuomo by 31 percentage points.
Where are the Heroes? from Rob Astorino on Vimeo.
Print article This entry was posted by Nick Reisman on August 6, 2014 at 1:20 pm, and is filed under 2014. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
Annoyed Westchesterite
Talk about the pot calling the kettle black! As a former high-ranking employee under this son-of-a-felon, attempted election-fixer and crony-politician, I can state unequivocally that this guy and his lieutenants are the most unethical, unprofessional, untrustworthy characters I’ve run into in politics.
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Europe|A New Fashion Catches On in Paris: Cheap Bicycle Rentals
A New Fashion Catches On in Paris: Cheap Bicycle Rentals
By STEVEN ERLANGER JULY 13, 2008
PARIS — They’re clunky, heavy and ugly, but they have become modish — and they are not this season’s platform shoes.
A year after the introduction of the sturdy gray bicycles known as Vélib’s, they are being used all over Paris. The bikes are cheap to rent because they are subsidized by advertising, and other major cities, including American ones, are exploring similar projects.
About 20,600 Vélib’ bicycles are in service here, with more than 1,450 self-service rental stations. The stations are only some 300 yards apart, and there are four times as many as there are subway stations, even in a city so well served by its metro system.
In the first year, the city says, there have been 27.5 million trips in this city of roughly 2.1 million people, many of them for daily commutes. On average, there are 120,000 trips a day. And on July 27, at the conclusion here of the Tour de France, 365 lucky Vélib’ riders will be chosen to ride along for a while and cross the finish line.
There are a Vélib’ Web site, Vélib’ fashions and a Vélib’ blog (http://blog.velib.paris.fr/blog); one recent posting discussed the best way to ride with a skirt. A kind of Vélib’ behavior has emerged, especially at the morning rush, with people swiftly checking for bikes in the best condition: tires inflated, chains still attached, baskets unstolen.
Natallya Ghyssaert, a 34-year-old doctor, has an annual subscription for 29 euros (about $46), which lets her use a bike whenever she wants for 30 minutes at a time without extra charges. She uses a Vélib’ two or three times a day, saying, “I love it; you can see Paris, you can exercise and stay out in the light of day.”
A system for renting Vélib bicycles has become hugely popular in Paris, where about 20,600 of the bikes are in service. Credit Ed Alcock for The New York Times
The Vélib’ — a contraction of vélo for bike and liberté — can also be rented for a day or for a week, with a 150 euro (about $239) deposit taken from the user’s credit card if the bike is not returned. Usage fees over 30 minutes can rise steeply: two hours costs 7 euros (about $11). But 96 percent of all rides are less than 30 minutes, because bikes can be returned to any station.
No one knows quite how many trips by car or taxi are thereby avoided, but the “eco-friendly” nature of the Vélib’ has been much promoted in a country where juice companies warn of the risks to “our fragile planet” in lavish brochures on thick paper.
Benjamin Tomada, 30, a cook parking his Vélib’ near the Music Hall restaurant where he works, said: “I have a car but I don’t use it. It’s always better to take a bike than the metro.”
Still, there have been significant problems with traffic congestion and safety, vandalism and theft. At least 3,000 of the bikes have been stolen — nearly 15 percent of the total, and twice original estimates. Some have been seen in Romania or found in shipping containers on their way to Morocco.
Wearing helmets is not compulsory in France, and three people have died on their rented Vélib’s, hit by buses or trucks.
The Vélib’ program in Paris was conceived by the Socialist mayor, Bertrand Delanoë, and the 10-year contract was won by JCDecaux, a major French public relations and advertising company with good political contacts, after defeating a rival bid from Clear Channel.
Self-service rental stations are ubiquitous in Paris. Credit Ed Alcock for The New York Times
The deal is supposed to be good for Paris, but it promises to be extremely lucrative over time for JCDecaux.
Decaux got to erect 1,628 billboards to rent; it invested nearly $142 million to set up the rental bike system and the billboards, and must provide maintenance and replace stolen bikes; the city of Paris gets the proceeds from the usage of the bikes plus some royalties from Decaux.
So far, according to Rémy Pheulpin, the company’s executive vice president, it has put up 1,500 billboards in a year and expects to make about $94 million a year from them. The company stands to begin turning a considerable profit if not next year, then in the third year of its 10-year contract.
The city has received $31.5 million from subscribers and users of the bikes, plus an additional $5.5 million a year, fixed in the contract, from advertising royalties, according to Céline Lepault, the Vélib’ project manager for City Hall.
Mr. Pheulpin, whose company built similar but much smaller programs in 10 other cities, like Lyon and Rouen, said the company had learned that there were several keys to success: allowing subscriptions, so people get the sense that the bikes are free once they have paid their up-front fee; making sure the bike stations are ubiquitous and keeping the system “user-friendly.”
In fact, the system is easy to use, with instructions in various languages, and bikes can be taken and returned quickly — so long as there are bikes available in good repair. But as many American tourists have discovered, only credit cards with built-in chips, common in Europe but unusual in America, are accepted by the terminals.
The rental stations are also easy to use, contributing to the success of the year-old program. Credit Ed Alcock for The New York Times
A Decaux subsidiary repairs the bikes — some 1,500 a day. The bikes are heavy, to try to prevent theft of key parts like gears, chains and electronic sensors, which measure time of rental. While an average bike weighs 33 pounds and is used for 124 miles a year, Mr. Pheulpin said, the three-gear Vélib’, specially designed and built by a French company in Hungary, weighs nearly 50 pounds and is built to be used more than 6,000 miles a year. Each bike costs $3,460.
As for safety, both the city and Decaux argue that bicycle accidents in Paris have risen only 7 percent compared with a 24 percent increase in bicycle use since early 2007. “Bicycles become fashionable, and the more bikes there are in a city, the safer it is, and the more the city will give space to bicyclists,” Mr. Pheulpin said.
The city and Decaux, after criticism following the latest death on June 23, say they will start a new safety advertising campaign in September. Vélib’ users are supposed to follow road rules, stop at red lights and stay off the sidewalks, but many do not.
Drivers in already congested Paris, never particularly bike-friendly, are not particularly happy with the bikes that further clog the streets or with Mr. Delanoë’s effort to reduce car traffic by 40 percent by 2020. In 2001, Yves Contassot, then deputy mayor for the environment, said of motorists: “It is only by making them live in hell that we’ll get drivers to renounce their cars.” Motorists remember.
Wide bus lanes were set up on major through streets like the Boulevard Montparnasse — considered too wide, termed “XXL” in the press. While nothing like Amsterdam, Paris is also building more bike lanes, as well as reducing parking spaces by putting Vélib’ stations in their place.
“This is what the French call a ‘false good idea,’ ” said Ronald Koven, who drives a car here. “The traffic jams are far worse, and because of them, the pollution is, too.”
Ms. Ghyssaert, the doctor, says she feels safe on the bicycles, “except in some bustling neighborhoods where there are too many cars.” She is not always so careful, she admitted. “I use the bike to dodge in and out of traffic, and I know that the drivers are irritated to see so many Vélib’s.”
Helmets would be a good idea, she said, offering a very French solution: “The city should get further subsidies and give Vélib’ subscribers vouchers to get helmets from big stores.”
An article last Sunday about a municipal bicycle rental system that has become popular in Paris referred incorrectly to credit cards accepted for payment. Cards without a built-in chip common in Europe do indeed work; payment is not restricted to credit cards that have the chip.
Maia de la Baume and Basil Katz contributed reporting.
A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A6 of the New York edition with the headline: A New Fashion Catches On in Paris: Cheap Bicycle Rentals. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe
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Sunday Review|The Mayor’s Showroom
The Mayor’s Showroom
By Alexandra Lange
WHEN Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg redid Gracie Mansion in 2002, it was featured in Architectural Digest. Mayor Bill de Blasio’s redecoration was featured this week on Instagram (2,718 likes by Friday). The medium by which the reveal was made says as much about the changing of the guard as the difference in taste shown by the photographs in question. Federal end tables are out, coffee tables you can rest your feet on are in. For New York City’s first family, the move to Manhattan from Park Slope clearly felt more like an upheaval than a dream realized. The story line was less about being true to the house’s roots than being true to their own.
Mr. Bloomberg’s refresh, designed by Jamie Drake, decorator of the mansion on East 79th Street where the mayor actually lived, was paid for with $7 million in private funds. The de Blasios’ new furniture was announced on Front + Main, the blog of the retailer West Elm, which donated $65,000 in goods to the family. (You truly could not buy the publicity.)
Why West Elm? The blog name should give you a clue: The intersection of Front and Main Streets in Dumbo, Brooklyn, is where West Elm has a large store and its corporate headquarters. The city’s first lady, Chirlane McCray, is quoted on the blog as saying, “We’ve moved to a new borough, but we brought some Brooklyn flavor with us.”
During the Bloomberg years, New Yorkers got used to the mayor’s acting like royalty, waving his hand at Mr. Drake and saying, “Get it done in three months.” He rarely balked at a price tag, or an anonymous donation. Other First House redecorations have proved more fraught: Mary Todd Lincoln famously went over budget when she moved into the White House in 1861, spending the allotted $20,000 and then buying more. During a time of war, her focus on décor and entertaining was considered in bad taste.
Today, when you move into the White House, you get $100,000 and a warehouse full of the furniture of past presidents. The Obamas hired the California decorator Michael S. Smith to redo their living quarters in 2009. The results have rarely been shown publicly, but glimpses include major modern art from the Smithsonian and the National Gallery of Art. When you move into Gracie Mansion, you get what your predecessor left you. It’s not surprising that the de Blasios thought the existing sofa wouldn’t do. (I imagine something leather and bulky.)
And yet, the de Blasios’ Gracie Mansion redecoration seems like another awkward attempt, after their Italian vacation, to act as if their lives remain unchanged — except for having more bathrooms.
Sure, they didn’t hire a decorator, but they got free furniture and free styling. There’s the whiff of something unseemly about taking such a large donation from a single company. It makes the de Blasios seem a little too close to the style bloggers who, when they reach a certain audience size, get their living rooms donated by Design Within Reach. Should Gracie Mansion be the equivalent of a sponsored post?
The wags on Twitter have already made jokes about the Red Hook Ikea being a more authentic Brooklyn choice, but frankly, West Elm is not that far above the Swedish low-cost retailer. If you’re not a V.I.P., you still have to screw together your Parsons desk yourself.
When you present yourself as a modernizer with middle-class values, the midprice midcentury style that West Elm sells is indeed the ideal look. But it’s just that: the look. West Elm’s midcentury desks, now in the de Blasios’ private study, are a contemporary interpretation without attribution. And while West Elm’s corporate headquarters is in Brooklyn, and it sells “Made in Brooklyn” T-shirts, the company is actually a division of the San Francisco-based Williams-Sonoma. Something is lost when you can order the same home from a catalog wherever you are.
Most professional decorators will tell you that you shouldn’t buy everything in a room from one store. The de Blasios’ den, with its lacquered coffee tables, mixed-print poufs and matted black-and-white photos, looks just like a West Elm showroom. If The Daily News hadn’t pointed out that those were family snaps, I wouldn’t have known. The den shot doesn’t show the TV, but you know the succulent plants that the stylist arranged on the table are soon to be replaced with remotes, snacks and feet.
I admit that I winced when I saw the photo on Front + Main of Chirlane McCray with the West Elm stylist Johanna Mele. Why? Because decorating, of course, is still the province of the first lady. Despite Ms. McCray’s significant accomplishments and her policy role in the administration, it still falls to her to get the house in order.
One clarifying aspect of Mr. Bloomberg’s lack of a wife was the way he outsourced the first lady jobs, official and otherwise, to a cast of professionals, Mr. Drake among them. Ms. McCray is smart enough to use this redecoration to make political points, but she’s still there on the West Elm blog, greeting you at the front door.
No one wants to live in a museum, but is living in a showroom more authentic? As they were packing, Ms. McCray posted images on her Tumblr of family heirlooms that were making the move. I’d like to see where they are now, and what stories they tell next to their new neighbors.
It’s not undemocratic to appreciate a piece of New York history, or the public park at its doorstep. A narrative in which the de Blasios moved uptown and gradually made their new house a home, allowing each family member to pick out items that suit his or her taste, wouldn’t just be a nice story. It would be closer to everyone’s reality — no matter what borough you live in.
The author of “Writing About Architecture: Mastering the Language of Buildings and Cities,” and a columnist for the online architecture and design magazine Dezeen.
A version of this article appears in print on , Section SR, Page 7 of the New York edition with the headline: The Mayor’s Showroom. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
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Altogether now: why being in a choir brings so much joy
Lisburn Harmony Ladies Choir
Published: 14:29 Sunday 12 May 2019
Want to make your heart sing and keep your wellbeing in tune? Then join a choir. Helen McGurk talks to those who know how special it is to be part of a group making music.
From the outside, choirs may seem comfy, middle-aged and, well, a bit unhip, but there is much more to it than a group of people harmonising on Stand by Me.
This is Me dementia choir, Larne
Many of us will look back fondly on our days in a school choir; the rehearsals, an oddly transporting highlight of the week, which gave us a temporary release from the stresses of revising for exams and other adolescent anxieties. There was also the sense of connectedness, the friendships and, corny as it may sound, the sheer joy.
For many choirs a polished performance is more of an extra bonus, rather than its raison d’etre.
Singing in a group is a perfect case of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts - a choir can sound far better than it’s individual members’ singing ability; there will always be a few warblers among the nightingales, but that doesn’t matter.
Like meditation, singing is about being in the here and now - it fills your mind and there’s no room for anything else. Acclaimed musician and composer Brian Eno, put it this way: “When you sing with a group, you learn how to subsume yourself into a group consciousness … That’s one of the great feelings – to stop being me for a little while and become us.”
Gemma-Louise Bond, a member of the Belfast Community Gospel Choir
Gemma-Louise Bond knows the exhilaration of singing in a choir.
The well-known blogger, That Belfast Girl, is a member of the Belfast Community Gospel Choir, Northern Ireland’s first and only multicultural gospel choir, which is much sought-after due to its dynamic performances, which are charged with joy, passion and energy.
‘‘I love it because it’s so fun and exciting!,’’ she says.
‘‘We have toured in America and that’s always incredible. I have sung since I was five and did classical singing throughout my teens, but gospel is so uplifting and good for the soul. I joined when I was 19 in 2011 so I’ve been there a long time. I wanted an outlet for singing that would bring me joy.’’
More and more of us seem to be taking the musical plunge. Helped by the influence of television choirmaster Gareth Malone, there are dozens of choirs across Northern Ireland, including those to help rehabilitate people with mental health problems and other conditions.
A recent two-part series for BBC One, Our Dementia Choir with Vicky McClure, illustrated, so poignantly, the magic of music.
The Line of Duty actor, whose grandmother had the condition, brought together a 20-strong group of people with different types of dementia, from McClure’s home town of Nottingham, to form a choir that will give a public performance in a 2,000-seater venue in three months’ time.
The series showed the power of music and friendship. One woman, Julie, had never sung in public before and after weeks of rehearsal remained nervous. “I’ll mother you,” said Betty, putting an arm around her. “You do put yourself down! We’re great friends,” she explained to the camera. “And we’ve only met today!”
Kirsty Orr, musical director of Lisburn Harmony Ladies Choir, has also seen the difference being in a group has made to people’s lives.
‘‘A lot of women would describe it to me as their therapy - they just need it go get through the rest of the week and it’s something they look forward to.
‘‘Just recently someone said to me they had forgotten how joyous it is to sing with other people in a choir.
‘‘It is also a very good way of forgetting what else is going on, because there is a degree of concentration required to sing your part, to follow along, to remember your harmonies. It’s an opportunity for people to switch off and not think about any stresses which are annoying them.’’
Kirsty adds that the social aspect is also very important to its members.
‘‘They describe the choir as a family, and I would say that it is an incredibly supportive group of women that we have managed to get together.
‘‘We have seen people through really serious illnesses, bereavements, divorces and other life-changing events and they are still there and they are still coming back.’’
There are some 130 members in the Lisburn Harmony Ladies Choir, with one, a performing choir, which meets once a week, and another one which meets monthly and which Kirsty describes as being ‘‘very much aimed at positive mental health and purely for good craic.’’
Kirsty says the music spans all genres from gospel, to folk to pop songs by Ed Sheeran and ‘‘everything in between’’.
Lisburn Harmony is 10 years old next year and Kirsty is currently working on a Musical Memories programme.
‘‘We hope to take singing in a choir into every nursing home in Lisburn. I am currently training members of the choir who can then lead these choirs in the nursing homes, for people with dementia and other conditions.’’
Kirsty has worked with the Alzheimer’s Society and knows the power music has for people with dementia.
‘‘The part of the brain where music is stored is the least affected for the longest period of time, which is why people can remember how to sing a song they learned whenever they were a child, but they can’t remember their own name.
‘‘I love watching people’s faces and seeing them light up as the music comes out.’’
Gerardine Mulvenna, alderman for Mid and East Antrim Council and a passionate dementia champion, set up the This is Me choir in Larne last year - an initiative which has been a tremendous success and has a personal resonance as Gerardine’s mother had dementia.
On average 25 people take part in the weekly rehearsals at the The Music Yard in Larne and there are plans for a concert at some stage.
Gerardine explains: ‘‘The choir is for people with dementia and their carers or a member of their family, but we also extend it out to other people, those experiencing loneliness, widowed people and the vulnerable.’’
Watching the choir, Gerardine admits it regularly brings a tear to her eye.
‘‘Some people with dementia who cannot communicate just burst into song and remember old ballads.
‘‘It’s incredible to watch. They become alive when they’re singing - the power of music unlocks their brain and, for me, it’s the joy of seeing them enjoying it - their laughs and their giggles. But also to see the positive effect it has on their carers and family, they also really enjoy it - it’s a release for them.’’
And Gerardine says it doesn’t matter if you can, or can’t, hold a tune.
‘‘It’s about the joy of joining in. There’s the whole social aspect.
‘‘A lot of these people have been meeting since last year. We do the choir for an hour and then we have tea and coffee afterwards and they could be sitting there for another hour chatting - it’s a great bond and friendship.
’’We have one gentleman in his 70s who can’t communicate but he used to be a great harmonica player and during the choir session he will bring out his harmonica and start playing it beautifully...just magic.
‘‘I believe music is part of the fabric of our society. It enriches so many lives.’’
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The judge, though, did not rule out the potential for other challenges of the law by people who could show harm.
“A law that allows a state official to opt out of performing some of the duties of the office for sincerely held religious beliefs, while keeping it a secret that the official opted out, is fraught with potential for harm that could be of constitutional magnitude,” the judge wrote.
The three couples — Kay Diane Ansley and Catherine McGaughey of McDowell County, Carol Ann and Thomas Roger Person of Moore County and Kelley Penn and Sonja Goodman of Swain County – plan to appeal the ruling entered Tuesday in Asheville.
Ansley and McGaughey were married on Oct. 14, 2014, four days after two federal judges ruled in North Carolina that the state’s Amendment One, which defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman, was unconstitutional. That preceded the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June 2015 that made gay marriage legal across the country.
The Persons are an interracial couple who tried to get married in 1976, but two magistrates in Forsyth County refused to preside over their wedding because of religious objections to interracial marriage. Two years later, a federal district court found that the two magistrates had violated the equal protection rights of the couple and ordered that their marriage be performed and for the magistrates to pay their legal fees.
Penn and Goodman are engaged to be married.
Roughly 5 percent of North Carolina’s magistrates are refusing to marry same-sex couples for religious reasons, including every magistrate in McDowell County. In such cases, a magistrate is brought in from another county for gay marriages.
In a hearing on the case in August, Cogburn said he was bothered that when magistrates who claim a religious exception fill out a form saying so, court administrators appear to require that it be kept secret.
[Read the court documents]
Gay couples who come before a local judge for an eviction or small claim have a right to know if that judge won’t marry gays, he said.
“When litigants come to you, they have to know they are getting a fair shot,” Cogburn said.
The challengers argued that no taxpayer money should go to a judge who refuses to uphold the law.
N.C. Senate leader Phil Berger, a Republican from Eden and a lawyer who authored the law, applauded Cogburn’s ruling.
“We appreciate the court recognizing the plaintiffs failed to identify even one North Carolinian who was denied the ability to get married under this reasonable law which protects fundamental First Amendment rights,” Berger said in a statement.
The federal judge’s decision came the same day that the N.C. Court of Appeals issued a ruling against two former NC magistrates who resigned after gay marriage became legal.
Gilbert Breedlove from Swain County and Thomas Holland of Graham County resigned after court officials informed magistrates in a 2014 memorandum that they could lose their jobs if they refused to perform gay marriages.
The two former magistrates, who described themselves as devout Christians, filed a lawsuit in April 2015 seeking to be reappointed as magistrates and to receive back pay and benefits for the time spent resigned from their posts.
The appeals court upheld a lower court ruling to dismiss their case. Both courts found that the plaintiffs lacked standing for their lawsuit because local judges have power to appoint, suspend or fire them – not the state officials who sent the memo.
Anne Blythe: 919-836-4948, @AnneBlythe1
Chad Biggs and his partner Chris Creech, right, exchange wedding vows with Chief Magistrate Dexter Williams presiding at the Wake County Courthouse in Raleigh, N.C., on Oct. 10, 2014. On Wednesday, a federal judge dismissed a challenge to a North Carolina law that lets magistrates refuse to marry same-sex couples due to religious beliefs. Corey Lowenstein clowenst@newsobserver.com
Holly Grange enters Republican race for governor
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Snobbery Begins at Home
"[T]he social snob, while not extinct, has gone underground (except for professionals such as headwaiters and metropolitan hotel room-clerks), and snobbery has emerged in a whole new set of guises, for it is as indigenous to man's nature as ambition and a great deal easier to exercise."
--Russell Lynes, Snobs, A Guidebook to Your Friends, Your Enemies, Your Colleagues, and Yourself
If the assertions of Russell Lynes in Snobs, A Guidebook are correct, it is best not to judge snobs harshly for two compelling reasons. One, there are a variety of kinds of snobbery and at least one form probably encompasses oneself. Two, even if one has avoided all other kinds of snobbery, calling out the pomposity of others is actually a form of snobbery itself. The book is tongue-in-cheek, but in humor, there is truth.
Lynes is quick to point out that we live in the age of the common man. As such, the stereotypical society snob has been driven underground. However, all other types of snob are flourishing. Because they are sub rosa, cloaked in veneers of morality, religion, and/or patriotism, these forms of snobbery mostly go unchecked. Lynes seeks to bring them out in the open in this humorous book.
The Virgin Mary, Lesser Member of the Levis-Mirepoix Family
Following are just a few of the types of snob that Lynes calls out:
The Regional Snob
It turns out those from the provinces are just as likely to be a snob as their urbane countrymen. Lynes provides two humorous examples:
The Texan. “In Texas it is said that you should never ask a man where he comes from. ‘If he’s a Texan,’ they say, ‘he’ll tell you. If he’s not, don’t embarrass him.’”
The Townie. “It was recorded that a decade ago that a boy who lived on Martha’s Vineyard, an island off the Massachusetts coast, was assigned the problem of writing a composition about the then Duce of Italy. His paper started with the sentence: ‘Mussolini is an off-Islander.’”
The Religious Snob
The possibilities here are as diverse as are the world’s religions, but the family of the Duc de Levis-Mirepoix trumps all other contenders. The family holds a title that dates back to the 9th Century and is supposedly descended from a sister of the Virgin Mary. It is said they preface their prayers, “Ave Maria, ma cousine …”
A painting in the family castle depicts a member of the family ascending to heaven and being greeted by the Virgin Mary. She welcomes him with the deference accorded to a member of the more prestigious branch of the family.
The Art Snob
The Art Snob is particulary grating, because he becomes a Trojan Horse in one's home. “[He] can be recognized ... by the quick look he gives the pictures on your walls, quick but penetrating, as though he were undressing them. This is followed either by complete and obviously pained silence or by a comment such as ‘That’s really a very pleasant water color you have there.’”
The Literary Snob
This type of snob either consciously or subconsciously practices the art of one-upmanship. “[He] has not only read the book you are reading but takes pleasure in telling you the names of all the earlier and more obscure books by the same author, and why each was superior to the better known one that has come to your attention.”
The Reverse Snob
Lynes advises not to take snobbery too much to heart, however, lest one become a reverse snob. “This is the snob who finds snobbery so distasteful that he (or she) is extremely snobbish about nearly everybody since nearly everybody is a snob about something.”
The Tastemaker Snob (About the Author)
Russell Lynes unashamedly admits that even daring to write this treatise was a form of snobbery. Moreover, as the New York Times noted in his obituary, Lynes was “one of America’s foremost arbiters of taste and mores.” It would be nearly impossible maintain such a status without opening oneself up to charges of snobbery. If the surname sounds familiar, it is because Russell was the younger brother of homoerotic photographer George Platt-Lynes who was a precursor to one of today’s particularly tyrannical forms of elitism—the Gym Snob.
Snobs, A Guidebook by Russell Lynes
Snobs, A Guidebook (Back Cover)
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Body part hooked by fisherman at Round Valley reservoir is a foot, prosecutor says
By Frank Mustac | Independent Press
CLINTON TWP. — The human body part snagged by a fisherman's hooks at Round Valley Reservoir on Saturday, May 12, is a foot, according to Hunterdon County Prosecutor Anthony P. Kearns III, speaking by phone on May 14.
New Jersey State Police and the Prosecutor’s Office are investigating the discovery. The reservoir, part of a state park, is mainly in Clinton Township, touching Lebanon.
“The partial remains were recovered by a fisherman who reported his hooks snagged the remains. Authorities were contacted and retrieved the remains when the fisherman returned to shore,” said a press release issued late Saturday afternoon by the Prosecutor and the State Police.
The Hunterdon County medical examiner took custody of the foot.
Kearns said this morning, May 14, that he did not have information from the examiner about any findings so far, but that he could have some news soon.
He also said he would be getting information from State Police on its part of the investigation and whether the State Police would be sending divers to search for any more remains in the area of the reservoir where the foot was found.
Kearns did say that the bodies of six people who were reported missing over the years are thought to be in the reservoir.
“That’s not to say that this foot belongs to one of them,” Kearns said.
Fisherman's hook snags human remains at Round Valley Reservoir in Clinton Township
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Great American Taxi debuts ‘Blair Mountain’ as free mp3, raising awareness of mountain ecology
Conqueroo Posted On June 28, 2011
Summer tour dates to feature special guests Todd Snider, Barry Sless, New Monsoon
LOS ANGLES, Calif. — For Great American Taxi and frontman Vince Herman, who grew up in West Virginia, fighting for social justice in Appalachia and calling for an end to mountaintop removal seems the natural thing to do. According to a recent studypublished last week in the journal Environmental Research, a “significantly higher” rate of birth defects exists in babies born near mountaintop removal mining sites than those in non-mining areas. Mountaintop removal mining is a particularly environmentally destructive type of resource extraction that involves using explosives to blow the tops off of mountains to! expose coal underneath the soil and rock.
So it’s no surprise that “Blair Mountain,” the aptly named title of the first single from the band’s forthcoming yet-to-be-titled new album (set for release this fall), premiered exclusively on the Sierra Club’s special public service call-to-action video, Battle for Blair Mountain. The song was recorded in May with Todd Snider producing. Master folk musician Tim O’Brien, a West Virginia native recently inducted into the WV Music Hall of Fame, plays banjo and fiddle on the track.
GAT is encouraging fans to download a free MP3 of “Blair Mountain” from the band’s website and get involved in restoring Blair Mountain to the National Register in support of the Sierra Club’s recently filed legal petition with the WestVirginia Department of Environmental Protection to make Blair Mountain off limits to mining. < www.greatamericantaxi.com>
“I wrote the song “Blair Mountain” to try and do my part to let people know about what we as working people stand to lose if Blair Mountain is destroyed,” said Herman. “As the grandson of a proud union miner, and former resident of the mountain state, this struggle connects deeply. The coal wars are not over in this country as whole communities are destroyed, water tables ruined and mountains bombed daily in what has become a national sacrifice zone to the interests of the coal companies. I hope that his song may help get us closer to ending the destruction of the most diverse forests in America.”
Great American Taxi continues its summer tour; June highlights include concerts with Barry Sless (Phil and Friends, David Nelson Band, Moonalice) at the Nelson Family Vineyards on 6/19, at the Hopmonk in Sebastopol on 6/22, and special guests New Monsoon in Santa Cruz on 6/23. More surprise guests will be announced for the Eldo in Crested Butte on 7/9 and GAT plays with Todd Snider on 6/25 and 6/26.
Great American Taxi includes Vince Herman, Chad Staehly, guitarist Jim Lewin, bassist Brian Adams and drummer Chris Sheldon.
http://www.greatamericantaxi.com
http://marchonblairmountain.org
http://appalachiarising.org
The video is posted on YouTube by NationalSierraClub here:<http://bit.ly/BlairMountain>.
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Cobie Smulders Hoping to Ride Shotgun With Nick Fury in "Avengers"
Published Feb 7, 2011 at 9:30 AM | Updated at 1:44 PM CDT on May 30, 2012
Cobie Smulders has been playing "the hot one" on the hit sitcom "How I Met Your Mother" for six seasons. It looks like she's finally ready to parlay that into a decent role in a major motion picture.
Samuel L. Jackson had let slip to Jimmy Fallon last week that he and "Avengers" director Joss Whedon would be trying out five actresses over the weekend for the role of Nick Fury's female sidekick. Word has it that Smulders gave the best reading, reported Deadline.
Now it's just a question of who Smulders will be playing. The vague "female sidekick" comment opens up a host of possibilities, and fans are speculating it could be anyone from Janet Van Dyne (an Avenger who fights under the alias "The Wasp") to Carol Danvers (who has spent some time in the comics as both the costumed hero Ms. Marvel and as S.H.I.E.L.D. director).
However, the smart money seems to be on Maria Hill, who, in the Marvel world, succeeded Fury as the head of SHIELD, butted heads with Iron Man and had Spider-Man arrested and unmasked.
Whedon has apparently been a fan of Smulders' for some time now, having considered her for the lead role in the "Wonder Woman" film he was once developing. We've been a fan for some time as well, but we're curious to see if she can go as dark as the role requires.
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HBO's Tyson-eque Series "Da Brick" Casts "Attack the Block" Star John Boyega in Lead
Published Sep 1, 2011 at 9:14 AM | Updated at 2:47 PM EDT on May 30, 2012
"Attack the Block"
//www.nbcwashington.com/blogs/popcornbiz/_Attack_the_Block__All__National_-117338603.html
Sony Pictures Picks Up "Attack the Block"
There's been great buzz around this film about a teenage street gang in London that must defend their turf against an alien invasion. Nick Frost co-stars in this sci-fi adventure, which opens in the UK May 13, but is not yet scheduled stateside. (Published Wednesday, May 30, 2012)
Having played a South London street thug in one of the summer's sleeper hits, John Boyega is coming to America to play a Newark street thug.
Boyega has landed the lead role in the HBO series "Da Brick," reported Deadline. The new show aims to riff on Mike Tyson's rise to fame in much the same way that "Entourage" built on the experiences of a young Mark Wahlberg.
The idea for "Da Brick" (the nickname for Newark, NJ) actually came about when Tyson was making an appearance on "Entourage" and told producer Doug Ellin they should do the same thing with his life story. Some time passed, some calls were made and suddenly Spike Lee was on board to serve as producer and director of the pilot.
Boyega has received raves for his work in "Attack the Block," about a gang of kids who stand up to an alien invasion, and earned the nickname "Little Denzel." With Boyega, Spike and Boyega in the mix, "Da Brick" appears to be in good shape.
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‘LEGO Marvel’s Avengers’ gets exclusive PS3/4 DLC
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment have today announced that LEGO Marvel’s Avengers will offer upcoming DLC packs based on the Marvel Studios films Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War and Marvel’s Ant-Man, available as a FREE download exclusively for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3.
The addition of these packs further bolster the blockbuster content in LEGO Marvel’s Avengers, which will now feature storylines and characters from eight films within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as well as classic Avengers content from Marvel Comics. Each pack will include the following content:
Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War Character Pack:
Heroes once united now find themselves divided! This pack features nine playable characters starring in the action-packed theatrical blockbuster.
Iron Man (Mark 46 armor)
Marvel’s Ant-Man Character & Level Pack:
Utilizing the ability to shrink in size but increase in strength, Ant-Man stars alongside nine other memorable characters and a level pack from the theatrical blockbuster.
Theatrical Based Level
Ant-Man (Hank Pym)
Ant-Man (Scott Lang)
Ant-Thony (Flying Ant)
Darren Cross
Hope Van Dyne
The Wasp (Janet Van Dyne)
LEGO Marvel’s Avengers launches on January 29th 2016 for Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, Wii U, Nintendo 3DS and PC.
Category : News, Video Games
Tags : DLC, LEGO Marvel’s Avengers, Marvel’s Ant-Man, Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War, Playstation 3, PlayStation 4, PS3, PS4
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HODGETOWN voted Best Double-A Ballpark
By Kaitlin Johnson | June 24, 2019 at 4:05 PM CDT - Updated June 25 at 8:51 AM
AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) - The home of the Amarillo Sod Poodles is also now the Best Double-A Ballpark of 2019.
BallparkDigest.com has announced HODGETOWN as the winner in the MiLB Best of the Ballparks Double-A competition.
More than 110,000 fans voted in the Double-A brackets this year.
In the final round of voting, HODGETOWN was voted over Peoples Natural gas Field.
“We could not be more proud of and excited for our home, HODGETOWN,” said Sod Poodles President and General Manager Tony Ensor. “Together, we have created one of the most amazing environments for professional baseball in the country. Being named the best ballpark at the Double-A level is a testament to the hard work, support and many, many hours invested by this community, the City of Amarillo, Populous, Western Builders, and Hunt Construction. This tremendous honor in our inaugural season is one we and this community will cherish forever.”
HODGETOWN is the fourth winner of the Best of the Ballparks vote, following Birmingham’s Regions Field in 2015, Pensacola’s Blue Wahoos Stadium in 2016 and Hartford’s Dunkin’ Donuts Park in 2017 and 2018.
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Missouri judge allows abortions to continue, for now
A Planned Parenthood clinic is seen Tuesday, June 4, 2019, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
June 24, 2019 at 12:34 PM CDT - Updated June 24 at 6:12 PM
By SUMMER BALLENTINE Associated Press
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri judge on Monday ruled that the state's lone abortion clinic can continue performing abortions through Friday but kicked the clinic's lawsuit out of court.
St. Louis Circuit Judge Michael Stelzer extended a preliminary injunction he previously issued in order to give a Planned Parenthood affiliate in St. Louis time to take a licensing fight before an administrative panel.
Stelzer ruled the clinic has not yet exhausted its options outside of court to handle the dispute over its license to perform abortions. The state health department on Friday declined to renew the clinic's abortion license.
The judge directed Planned Parenthood to take the issue up with the Administrative Hearing Commission, a panel that typically handles disputes between state agencies and businesses or individuals.
Requests for comment Monday to Planned Parenthood were not immediately returned.
The fate of the clinic has drawn national attention because Missouri would become the first state since 1974, the year after the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion nationwide, without a functioning abortion clinic if it closes. The battle also comes as abortion rights supporters raise concerns that conservative-led states are attempting to end abortion through tough new laws and tighter regulation.
The state has said concerns about the clinic arose from inspections in March. Among the problems Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services investigators have cited were three "failed abortions" requiring additional surgeries and another that led to life-threatening complications for the mother, The Associated Press reported last week, citing a now-sealed court filing.
Planned Parenthood has said Missouri is using the licensing process as a weapon aimed at halting abortions.
Missouri is among several conservative states, emboldened by new conservative justices on the Supreme Court, to pass new restrictions on abortions in the hope that the high court will eventually overturn Roe v. Wade.
Republican Gov. Mike Parson signed legislation on May 24 to ban abortions at or beyond eight weeks of pregnancy, with exceptions for medical emergencies but not for rape or incest.
The number of abortions performed in Missouri has declined every year for the past decade, reaching a low of 2,910 last year. Of those, an estimated 1,210 occurred at eight weeks or less of pregnancy, according to health department data.
More Missouri women are getting abortions in Kansas than in Missouri. Information from the state of Kansas shows that about 3,300 of the 7,000 abortions performed there last year involved Missouri residents.
Kansas has an abortion clinic in Overland Park, a Kansas City suburb just 2 miles (3 kilometers) from the state line.
The nearest clinic to St. Louis is in Granite City, Illinois, less than 10 miles (16 kilometers) away. Illinois does not track the home states of women seeking abortions so it's unknown how many Missouri residents have been treated there.
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PH’s manifesto Oil Price Subsidies only for short-term gain: Salleh
by Petrol Price Malaysia | Mar 11, 2018 | News
PETALING JAYA: Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak said Pakatan Harapan’s election manifesto is only a case of short-term gain, with future generations to bear the brunt of the current government’s folly.
The Communications and Multimedia Minister said the manifesto had been dressed up to appear like they are giving Malaysians milk and honey if they win the upcoming election, but in reality, it was only giving a poisoned cup to drink from.
“As they say in America, there is no such thing as a free lunch. Someone, somewhere, has to pay for it,” he said in a blog post on Saturday evening.
Salleh questioned how the opposition was going to cope with doing away with the Goods and Services Tax (GST) within the first 100 days of taking power, noting that it had helped the government earn RM40 million annually.
“They are going to abolish the GST and reintroduce the Sales and Services Tax (SST) when all over the world countries are introducing it (GST). But they do not explain how much they will earn once the GST is abolished.
“Where is the alternative revenue that will be needed to pay for goods and services and to develop the country going to come from?” he said.
Salleh said another promise by Pakatan, to stabilise the price of petrol and introduce targeted subsidies, was also similarly a populist one, noting that oil prices are subject to global fluctuations and external factors.
“Commodity prices cannot be controlled and once when Malaysia tried to control the tin market before, it ended up in a disaster that is still being felt until today.
“Most economists would disagree that subsidies for petrol is a good thing,” he said.
Salleh added that the manifesto was merely aimed at making voters feel good, similar to when they promised to abolish tolls in 2008, but has failed to do so in Selangor since gaining power that year.
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Paul Goydos
Long Beach State University (1988, Finance)
CHARLES SCHWAB Cup Rank
CHARLES SCHWAB CUP Money
Highlights Paul Goydos judges breaking putt to perfection at 3M Championship In the final round of the 2017 3M Championship, Paul Goydos buries his 20-foot birdie putt on the par-4 11th hole.
Dove Canyon, California
Chelsea (8/21/90), Courtney (9/8/92)
Long Beach, CA, United States
PGA TOUR: 34. Past Champions, Team Tournament Winners and Veteran Members Beyond 150 on the FedExCup Points List: If not otherwise eligible and as needed to fill the field, Past Champion members, Team Tournament Winners and Veteran members beyond 150th place on the previous seasons FedExCup points list in order of their combined official PGA TOUR and Web.com Tour earnings in the previous season.
PGA TOUR Champions: Players within the top 54. from the previous year's final Official PGA TOUR Champions Money List, provided they are among the top 50 on such list..
Korn Ferry Tour: PGA TOUR Past Champion Members, Team Tournament Winners, and Veteran Members beyond 150th place on the previous year's Official PGA TOUR Money list, in order of their combined PGA TOUR, Korn Ferry Tour earnings for the previous year.
Was a substitute teacher in Long Beach, Calif., at the time of his 1992 Yuma Open victory.
Was the 1996 EA Sports Golf Challenge champion. Donated $10,000 prize to Arnold Palmer Children's Hospital.
Says the first and only autograph he ever received was from California Angel Sandy Alomar, who signed his mitt at a game in Anaheim Stadium in 1974. "No, I don't know where the glove is now. I don't have it."
His favorite movie is "Monty Python and the Holy Grail."
Was hitting balls at the Long Beach State driving range in college when football coach and Pro Football Hall of Fame member George Allen decided he wanted to use the range for practice. "He yelled, 'Get that golfer off my football field.' I never met the man, but let's just say he definitely knew who I was."
Also received Major Medical Extensions in 2004 and 2005 because of sinus surgery and hip problems.
1996 Bay Hill Invitational
2007 Sony Open in Hawaii
PGA TOUR Champions Victories (5)
2014 Pacific Links Hawai'i Championship
2015 Allianz Championship
2016 DICK'S Sporting Goods Open, Charles Schwab Cup Championship
2017 3M Championship
Korn Ferry Tour Victories (1)
1992 Ben Hogan Yuma Open
1996 EA Sports Golf Challenge
Q SCHOOL GRADUATE
CURRENT YEAR HIGHLIGHTS
U.S. Senior Open Championship: Carded rounds of 67-69-69-70—275 to finish T6 at the U.S. Senior Open, his sixth top-10 finish of the season.
Mastercard Japan Championship: Carded rounds of 68-74-68 to finish T10 at the Mastercard Japan Championship, his fifth top-10 of the year.
Regions Tradition: Finished runner-up at the Regions Tradition, marking his third top-10 finish at a major championship. Played 46 holes bogey-free, a steak that ended with a final-round bogey on No. 5.
Insperity Invitational: Carded rounds of 68-67-70 and finished T4 at the Insperity Invitational, his third straight top-10 at the tournament.
Bass Pro Shops Legends of Golf at Big Cedar Lodge: For the fifth year, Goydos partnered with Kevin Sutherland at the Bass Pro Shops Legends of golf at Big Cedar Lodge to finish T5 at 15-under, their best finish since finishing runner-up in 2016.
Hoag Classic: Opened and closed with back-to-back birdies to card a final-round 2-under 69 at the Hoag Classic. Finished at 8-under 205 (T5), his best in five starts this season.
Posted seven top-10 finishes with two runner-up finishes (Insperity Invitational, Invesco QQQ Championship) to advance to the Charles Schwab Cup Championship. Finished the tournament in seventh place to finish the season 12th in the standings. Led the Tour in driving accuracy hitting 78.32% of the fairways.
Charles Schwab Cup Championship: Was the first- and second-round leader after rounds of 63-65 at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship. He has led after 18 and 36 holes each of the last three years at the season finale. He went on to finish seventh, his seventh top-10 of the season.
Invesco QQQ Championship: Carded a bogey-free 5-under 67 in the final round of the Invesco QQQ Championship to move five places up the leaderboard for his second runner-up finish this year. Moved to No. 19 in the Charles Schwab Cup.
Sanford International: Carded rounds of 64-70-70 for a T9 finish at the inaugural Sanford International, marking his fifth top-10 finish of the season.
DICK'S Sporting Goods Open: Goydos closed with a 7-under 65, his best score in 15 rounds at the DICK'S Sporting Goods Open, and he finished T5 at 12-under. It was his third top-five at this tournament, as he won in 2016 and was runner-up in 2015.
U.S. Senior Open Championship: Led/co-lead during the U.S. Senior Open final round on two different occasions, but with back-to-back bogeys on the final two holes, finished at 1-under-par for a T5. It was his third top-five finish this season.
American Family Insurance Championship: Goydos finished sixth at the American Family Insurance Championship after he posted three rounds in the 60s (69-68-67) for the first time this season.
Insperity Invitational: Finished T2 at the Insperity Invitational after posting 10-under 206 to fall one shot shy of winner Bernhard Langer. Birdied six of his first 11 holes on Sunday, but bogeyed Nos. 14 and 18.
On the strength of his fifth-career win and a runner-up finish, played in the season-ending Chares Schwab Cup Championship for the fourth consecutive year.
Charles Schwab Cup Championship: Made a strong bid in defense of his Charles Schwab Cup Championship title, leading by one stroke after 36 holes, but faltered in the final round, shooting a 1-over-par 72 to finish T9.
SAS Championship: Weekend rounds of 68-69 led to a T11 finish at the SAS Championship in October.
3M Championship: Won his fifth career title on Tour when he defeated Gene Sauers with a birdie on the first playoff hole at the 3M Championship. After opening with a 2-under-par 70 (T31) he bounced back with a TPC Twin Cities course-record 12-under-par 60 to earn a share of the 36-hole lead with Kenny Perry and Sauers. Traded the lead with Sauers throughout the final round before eventually prevailing with his birdie on the first extra hole.
Insperity Invitational: Posted a T7 finish at the Insperity Invitational.
Bass Pro Shops Legends of Golf at Big Cedar Lodge: Placed T2 at the Bass Pro Shops Legends of Golf at Big Cedar Lodge with teammate Kevin Sutherland, posting a final-round 9-under-par 45 and finishing one stroke behind the team of Carlos Franco and Vijay Singh at Top of the Rock.
Was fourth in Driving Accuracy and at one point had 201 consecutive holes without a three-putt.
Charles Schwab Cup Championship: Became the last of five multiple winners on PGA TOUR Champions in 2016 when he claimed the final event of the campaign, the Charles Schwab Cup Championship. The wire-to-wire victory capped a year where he earned $1,284,816, his best showing in three seasons on Tour and an eighth-place finish overall. Opened with an 8-under-par 62 at the Cochise Course at Desert Mountain, his low round on PGA TOUR Champions. Followed with rounds of 67-66 to hold off Bernhard Langer by two strokes to win.The victory also moved him to third place in the final Charles Schwab Cup race, earning him a $300,000 bonus annuity.
Dominion Charity Classic: Was T10 at the Dominion Charity Classic where he shot a final-round 8-under-par 64 in November which briefly tied the competitive course record, but it was broken an hour later by good friend Kevin Sutherland, who posted a 9-under-par 63.
U.S. Senior Open Championship: Used a final-round 3-under-par 67 to claim a T6 finish at the U.S. Senior Open in Columbus in August.
DICK'S Sporting Goods Open: Steady play down the stretch led to his third PGA TOUR Champions victory when he finished two better than Wes Short, Jr., at the DICK'S Sporting Goods Open in July. Made a critical up-and-down on No. 17 and closed with a two-putt par at No. 18 for the win. He had finished as a runner-up in the event a year earlier.
Bass Pro Shops Legends of Golf at Big Cedar Lodge: Finished T8 with teammate Kevin Sutherland at the Bass Pro Shops Legends of Golf.
Mitsubishi Electric Classic: Narrowly missed an opportunity to join Wes Short, Jr., and eventual champion Woody Austin in a playoff at the Mitsubishi Electric Classic in April when his birdie putt at the 54th hole lipped out. He eventually finished third, one stroke shy of the playoff.
Toshiba Classic: In the last full-field event of the year, the Toshiba Classic near his home, shot three straight rounds in the 60s and finished fourth at Newport Beach CC.
San Antonio Championship: In October, carded a final-round 70 at TPC San Antonio to T7 at the San Antonio Championship.
Dick's Sporting Goods Open: In late August, was solo second at the Dick's Sporting Goods Open, finishing two strokes behind Jeff Maggert. Shared the first-round lead and got within one stroke of Maggert midway on the back nine Sunday.
3M Championship: Rebounded from an opening-round 72 to shoot 65-68 on the weekend at TPC Twin Cities and was T7 at the 3M Championship.
Principal Charity Classic: Was just two strokes off the lead after 36 holes at The Principal Charity Classic and remained in contention at the turn Sunday. However, was one-over on the back nine and eventually finished T5.
Allianz Championship: Highlight of his season came early in the campaign. Won his second career PGA TOUR Champions title in second start of the year, at the Allianz Championship. Got up and down from just behind the green on the final hole for birdie to edge Gene Sauers by a stroke. Downhill chip from 30 feet stopped three inches from the hole to seal the victory. The win came in his 12th career PGA TOUR Champions start and was his second TOUR title in Florida (1996 Bay Hill Invitational). He became the fourth player to win in his first appearance in the Allianz Championship
Joined the PGA TOUR Champions in early August and was among the top-10 in half of his 10 appearances. Used top-10 efforts in back-to-back events in North Carolina to vault into the top 30 on the money list. Made just four of 19 cuts on the PGA TOUR and failed to clear his Major Medical Extension after earning only $43,441.
Greater Hickory Kia Classic at Rock Barn: In Hickory, N.C., secured his place among the top 30 when he finished T6 at the Greater Hickory Kia Classic after three successive rounds in the 60s.
SAS Championship: Battling to earn a spot in the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, he played in the last group at the SAS Championship, and final-round 72 at Prestonwood CC led to a T5 finish. Performance moved him inside the top 30 on the money list.
Pacific Links Hawai'i Championship: Highlight of his rookie season was recording his first PGA TOUR Champions win in just his fifth start, at the Pacific Links Hawai'i Championship, becoming the last of the season's six first-time winners. Fired rounds of 66-63-68 to claim victory for the second time in his career on Oahu. On the PGA TOUR, also won the 2007 Sony Open in Hawaii. Held off both Scott Dunlap and Fred Funk down the stretch thanks to birdies on Nos. 14-17 and then survived an 18th-hole bogey to become the eighth player to win tournaments on the PGA TOUR, PGA TOUR Champions and Korn Ferry Tour (Ron Streck, Keith Fergus, Tom Lehman, Gary Hallberg, Olin Browne, Kirk Triplett, Jeff Maggert).
Shaw Charity Classic: Posted three rounds in the 60s which led to a T7 at the Shaw Charity Classic in late August.
3M Championship: Made his PGA TOUR Champions debut in August at the 3M Championship and finished T9.
Missed the cut in both of his starts as he continued to rehab from left-wrist surgery from 2012. Will have 19 events in the 2013-14 season to earn $590,290, which, coupled with 2012 earnings of $57,220, would equal No. 125 from the 2012 money list.
On March 13, underwent surgery to remove a large bone spur on his left wrist, which was rubbing against a tendon and creating discomfort. The surgery didn't produce the desired results and he remained on the sidelines away from from competitive golf for the remainder of the season.
At No. 63, finished inside the top 100 on the official money list for the sixth consecutive season.
Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open: Four rounds in the 60s at the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open led to a T3 finish, five strokes behind champion Kevin Na. It was his fourth top 10 of the season and 45th of his career.
Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial: Came back the following week with a T10 at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial.
THE PLAYERS Championship: Notched his second top 10 of the season with a solo third at THE PLAYERS. Final round 69 was the only sub-70 score posted by any player who finished in the top five. Produced just his second top 10 in his 13th appearance at THE PLAYERS to go along with his playoff loss in 2008.
The Heritage: Making his eighth career start at The Heritage, managed his first top-10 finish at Harbour Town with a T9, five strokes behind playoff winner Brandt Snedeker. Opened with a 1-over 72, but followed with three under-par rounds to record his first top 10 of the season in his 12th start.
Ryder Cup: In early February, chosen along with Davis Love III, Jeff Sluman and Tom Lehman to be a captain's assistant for the 2010 U.S. Ryder Cup team, which went on to a slim one-point loss to the European team in Wales.
John Deere Classic: Made history when he opened with a 12-under 59 in the first round of the John Deere Classic. In doing so, became just the fourth player in PGA TOUR history to record the iconic number, behind only Al Geiberger, Chip Beck and David Duval (Stuart Appleby would join the list later in 2010). Posted a final-round, 5-under 66 to finish solo second to Steve Stricker. The runner-up spot earned him a late invitation to The Open Championship. Joined historic "59" club at the John Deere Classic, just one of five players to ever record the magic number in an official PGA TOUR event. Finished the season with three top-10s.
AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am: Finished T5 at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. Was tied for the third-round lead with eventual winner Dustin Johnson and held a one-stroke lead at 17-under after a birdie on the 13th hole. But then he made a quadruple bogey-9 on the par-5 14th hole on the way to a final-round 78. The 9 came soon after Alex Prugh and Bryce Molder also made 9s on the hole.
Northern Trust Open: Chipped in for birdie on final hole of Northern Trust Open for final-round 65 and T5 finish, his first top-10 since the 2009 Barclays.
Finished a career-best No. 54 in the FedExCup standings with four top-10 finishes.
The Barclays: Fourth top-10 of the season came at The Barclays where he was co-leader after 18 and 54 holes, finishing T9 following a final-round 4-over 75.
Travelers Championship: Finished T2 at the Travelers Championship, three strokes behind Kenny Perry, who shot a final-round 63. Shot first- and third-round 7-under 63s en route to a 261 total, his career-best 72-hole score, besting his 265 at the 2003 Valero Texas Open.
St. Jude Classic presented by FedEx: Next top-10, a T4, came a month later in Memphis at the St. Jude Classic presented by FedEx, thanks largely to back-to-back 6-under 64s in rounds two and three. Also tied for the lead in greens in regulation that week, hitting 55 of 72 (76.39 percent).
Valero Texas Open: First top-10 of the year came at the Valero Texas Open in May where he shot a first-round 7-under 63. Followed that with a second-round 5-under 65 en route to a T3.
Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial: Two weeks later he finished T10 at the Corwne Plaza Invitational at Colonial. He has three top-10s at the Colonial in 10 starts.
THE PLAYERS Championship: Lost in a playoff to Sergio Garcia at THE PLAYERS after his tee shot at the first playoff hole, the par-3 17th, found the water, allowing Garcia to two-putt for the victory. Held a one-shot lead over Kenny Perry entering the final round and a three-shot lead over Garcia and Jeff Quinney standing on the 14th tee, but bogeyed three of his last five holes to force a playoff. Missed a 15-foot par putt for the win on No. 18. Wore a Long Beach State "Dirtbags" baseball hat that he purchased in the Charlotte-Douglas International Airport the week before. A week after the PLAYERS Championship his Long Beach State hat was auctioned off for $4,000 at a school fundraiser.
Won for the second time in his career and earned more than $1 million for the first time in 15 years on the PGA TOUR.
Deutsche Bank Championship: Ended season with a T30 at the Deutsche Bank Championship.
World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship: Made his first start in a World Golf Championships event at the Accenture Match Play Championship. Lost in the first round to Jose Maria Olazabal in 19 holes.
Sony Open in Hawaii: With three birdies in the final four holes at the Sony Open in Hawaii, claimed his first victory in 11 years. Posted rounds of 66-63-70-67–266, one ahead of Charles Howell III and Luke Donald. Held a share of the 36-hole lead with Luke Donald at 11-under-par 129. Clinched victory on the last hole when 25-foot eagle chip hit the flagstick and settled within tap-in range. Second career victory (1996 Bay Hill Invitational) was worth 4,500 FedExCup points.
Began season in the Major Medical Extension category. Earned enough money in the 12 events he had remaining under the extension to remain in the category for the remainder of the season. Used a runner-up finish at the last full-field event of the season to jump from No. 160 to No. 97 on the money list and earn his fully-exempt status for the 2007 season.
Chrysler Championship: Second top-10 was a runner-up finish at the Chrysler Championship. Entered final round one stroke behind third-round leader K.J. Choi and finished T2, four strokes back of Choi after a final-round 1-under 70. The $466,400 paycheck was the largest of his career at the time and the T2 finish was his best on TOUR since a T2 at the 1991 MasterCard Colonial.
Valero Texas Open: First top-10 was a T8 at the Valero Texas Open in mid-September. It was his first top-10 on TOUR since a T4 at the 2005 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.
Received Major Medical Extension carryover from 2004 due to sinus surgery and hip problems but was only able to play in 15 events.
AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am: In his second start after missing the majority of the previous season due to hip surgery, recorded a T4 at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. It marked first top-10 on TOUR since a T7 at the 2003 Valero Texas Open.
Limited to only two starts at the end of the year because of sinus surgery and hip problems. Received a Major Medical Extension for 2005.
Moved back into top 100 on the money list for the first time since 1999 when he finished 61st. Made cut in last 11 tournaments.
Valero Texas Open: Second top-10 came at the Valero Texas Open where four rounds in the 60s were good for T7 finish, securing his position in the top 125.
Buick Open: Posted first top-10 with a T6 finish at the Buick Open, carding four rounds in the 60s.
Managed to get into 20 tournaments after finishing 132nd on the money list in 2001. Finished between 126-150 for the second straight season with two top-10s.
Fell out of the top 100 for the first time in five seasons (No. 121), but still managed to finish in top-10 three times in 30 appearances.
Accumulated at least four top-10s for the third time in his career.
U.S. Open Championship: Shared first-round lead at U.S. Open after opening 67.
MasterCard Colonial: Earned five-way T2 at MasterCard Colonial, one stroke behind champion Olin Browne.
GTE Byron Nelson Classic: Recorded his career-best round with 62 in opening round of GTE Byron Nelson Classic. Was one back of Tiger Woods' tournament-leading 61.
Deposit Guaranty Golf Classic: Finished second at Deposit Guaranty Golf Classic, where he was two behind winner Fred Funk.
Followed winning season with consistent year, highlighted by five top-10s.
Bay Hill Invitational: First TOUR victory came at 1996 Bay Hill Invitational. With rounds of 67-74-67, was two strokes behind Guy Boros and Patrick Burke entering final round. Shot closing 67 to defeat Jeff Maggert by one stroke and earn $216,000.
LaCantera Texas Open: Earned $10,212 in final tournament, the LaCantera Texas Open, to finish 129th and remain partially exempt.
Finished 75th on money list on strength of three top-10s.
Earned $87,804 in rookie season for 152nd place, but regained card at the PGA TOUR Qualifying Tournament that fall.
PGA TOUR Qualifying Tournament: First earned PGA TOUR playing privileges for 1993 with T13 finish at the PGA TOUR Qualifying Tournament.
Ben Hogan Yuma Open: Won the Yuma Open on the Korn Ferry Tour.
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Ilene Jaroslaw
Bradley D. Simon
Press Release - Phillips Nizer Launches White Collar Criminal Defense Practice with the Addition of Two Former Federal Prosecutors Ilene Jaroslaw and Bradley D. Simon in New York | Read the release
Ilene Jaroslaw, former chief of the General Crimes Section at the EDNY; and Bradley Simon best known for defending numerous prominent individuals in two decades of private practice
Launching a new white collar and investigations practice with two highly respected attorneys, Phillips Nizer LLP welcomes Ilene Jaroslaw and Bradley Simon, former federal prosecutors and private practice attorneys with decades of experience in all areas of civil and criminal trials, as partners in the firm’s New York office. The two will co-lead the firm’s White Collar & Investigations practice group.
Ms. Jaroslaw, who joins from Hoguet Newman Regal & Kenney, is a former Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of New York, where she served as chief of the General Crimes Section. Ms. Jaroslaw tried 30 cases to a jury verdict and argued 30 appeals in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Mr. Simon joins from Simon & Partners, where he has also tried 30 cases to a jury verdict and has represented clients in some of the noteworthy government prosecutions in recent years, including former New York State Comptroller Alan Hevesi. Prior to founding his firm, he was a former Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District and served as a Trial Attorney with the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.
“Ilene and Bradley, both respected as former federal prosecutors and litigators, are leaders in their field. They handle critical internal investigations, and white collar criminal defense work. We are pleased to add their expertise for our clients as part of Phillips Nizer’s strategic expansion,” said Marc Landis, Phillips Nizer’s Managing Partner.
Phillips Nizer has recently been active in adding other prominent attorneys in key practice areas, including cryptocurrency and cybersecurity; and sports law and product licensing.
Mark Elliott, the co-head of Phillips Nizer’s Litigation practice group, noted that continuing to strengthen the investigations and litigation team along with other groups, is a priority as well.
“Ilene is one of the most respected former prosecutors and she has been sought out by companies for her investigative skills to help root out internal problems before they cause significant damage,” he said. “Bradley created one of the premier boutique white collar firms, where he has been regularly brought in to handle the most challenging defense trials and witness representation. There are very few defense attorneys who tried as many high-profile criminal actions, especially in cases touching on political corruption. Both of these attorneys’ reputations and skills in the courtroom are a welcome addition to our litigation team, and will provide our clients with another layer of our business advisory capabilities,” said Mr. Elliott.
Ilene Jaroslaw:
As the head of the General Crimes Section, Ms. Jaroslaw supervised and trained more than 200 prosecutors. She also served as acting deputy chief of the Criminal Division.
Both in the U.S. Attorney’s Office and in private practice, she worked on cases involving a wide range of financial crimes; such as securities fraud, insider trading, FCPA violations, money laundering and health care fraud. In addition to litigation, Ms. Jaroslaw has been deeply involved in internal investigations matters and has been regularly brought in by clients to examine potential problems and to create plans to avoid future violations.
Ms. Jaroslaw has also served as Senior Staff Attorney for the Center for Reproductive Rights, where she represented physicians and medical practices in cases throughout the country. At the Center, she served as lead counsel in June Medical Services v. Gee, the federal trial challenging Louisiana’s laws which targeted abortion providers. Ms. Jaroslaw obtained a decisive victory in the district court, only to have the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issue an emergency stay against the district court’s injunction. On emergency motion, Ms. Jaroslaw successfully obtained a vacatur of the Fifth Circuit’s order, stopping Louisiana from enforcing its unconstitutional law.
At the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Ms. Jaroslaw was awarded the Charles E. Rose Award for Outstanding Service by the Eastern District Association, the Director’s Award for Superior Performance as an Assistant U.S. Attorney from the U.S. Department of Justice, and Prosecutor of the Year by the Federal Law Enforcement Foundation, as well as special recognition from numerous federal agencies including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
“Phillips Nizer has a long reputation for excellence, with attorneys who are widely respected for in-depth subject matter knowledge. The firm has developed market-leading practices in real estate, trusts & estates and fashion. I expect my practice will work very well with attorneys in these groups,” said Ms. Jaroslaw. “Additionally, Phillips Nizer partners have been leaders in the bar, helping to push forward needed reforms on many initiatives, including their recent role in spotlighting the challenges facing women in the law.”
Ms. Jaroslaw received her J.D. and M.S.F.S. magna cum laude from Georgetown University, and her A.B. cum laude from Harvard University.
Bradley Simon:
Mr. Simon represents both corporations and individuals in white collar defense, civil litigation and corporate compliance issues. He has defended clients facing charges in an enormous array of areas, including securities, mail, wire, and bank fraud, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations (FCPA), antitrust, tax evasion, health care fraud, political corruption and other alleged federal and state offenses in jurisdictions throughout the United States.
Over two decades, his representations have included some of the most widely-followed criminal and political corruption cases:
Former New York State Comptroller, Alan Hevesi;
New York Real Estate Developer Jody Kriss in connection with a $100 million RICO claim involving Trump real estate projects, pending in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York;
President and Founder of CDR Securities, David Rubin, accused of leading a municipal bond-rigging scheme;
New York businessman Morris Talansky, in connection with the criminal investigation of former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert;
British Solicitor Jeffrey Tesler, in connection with the Halliburton FCPA prosecution;
Bayou Hedge Fund Co-Founder, James Marquez;
David Chang, whose testimony regarding bribes for New Jersey Senator Robert Torricelli led to the Senator dropping a reelection bid.
In his civil practice, Mr. Simon represents corporations and individuals in complex commercial and contractual disputes, as well as arbitration proceedings and appeals.
Mr. Simon served as the presiding judge at the Barristers' Union 2015 Trial Competition at Yale Law School. He has served as an Adjunct Professor at St. John’s University and Fordham Law Schools and has taught trial advocacy at Emory Law School in Atlanta.
“Phillips Nizer has a platform that I am excited to be a part of. The firm has attracted a team of top attorneys in their fields. After 21 years heading my own firm, I wasn’t looking to move. But the level of strength of the Phillips Nizer partnership made it a very attractive option. It is an exciting challenge to help build the White Collar practice for Phillips Nizer,” said Mr. Simon.
Mr. Simon received his J.D. from Georgetown University and his B.A. cum laude, from Harvard University
Phillips Nizer, founded in 1926, represents domestic and international clients in business, finance and real estate transactions, intellectual property matters, commercial litigation and tax and estate planning, with a particular focus on the entertainment, fashion, real estate and technology industries.
Phillips Nizer’s principal office is in Manhattan, with additional offices in Long Island and New Jersey. The firm is a member of Ally Law, a worldwide network of independent, midsized law firms. To learn more about Phillips Nizer LLP, visit: www.phillipsnizer.com.
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Kansas Regulators Struggle with Record-High 22k Abandoned Oil and Gas Wells
By Zachary Frazier, RPL
By Tim Carpenter, The Hutchinson News ~ EUDORA — Judith Wells brought her car to a slow crawl on a gravel road in Douglas County.
She wasn’t marveling at the beauty of nature or the toil of modern farmers. Nor was she drawn to the sprinkling of lovely rural homesteads.
She was intent on consuming details of crude pooling at the base of a pump jack within shouting distance of Little Wakarusa Creek. Nearby, within the same field, a second jack was surrendering enough thick black oil to scar another slice of ground.
It is the kind of discovery fueling Wells’ mission to convince the oil and gas industry to adhere to state laws, regulations and rules when extracting or depositing energy-related materials in Kansas. It is a quest that put her in conflict with the Kansas Corporation Commission, which is responsible for oversight of the energy sector.
Years ago, she bought property in Douglas County without being informed it had unplugged wells on the land. She emerged as a thorn in the side of eastern Kansas operators by injecting herself into the debate about how to deal with operators who abandon wells.
“This is a big ball of worms,” Wells said. “I’m not against oil. I’m against dirty oil.”
Sense of abandonment
The number of deserted oil and gas wells in Kansas blossomed during the past five years to 22,000. The KCC’s annual reports revealed a fund created in 1996 to finance plugging of wells to be inadequate if the objective was to keep pace with demand for plugging.
As of 2018, the state had capped 10,100 wells. Year-to-year plugging peaked at 750 wells in 2002 and stood at 520 in 2009, but slumped to less than 300 from 2015 to 2018. In 2017, the number of forsaken wells in the state’s inventory surged by 3,000.
The annual budget for plugging has drifted between $1.2 million to $2 million for a decade, with the low side of that range common. The fund is supported exclusively by the oil industry.
“The funds barely exist,” Wells said. “If taxpayers aren’t tapped for these problems, the wells will truly sit open and unattended.”
Epicenter of abandonment is a 32-county area of eastern Kansas served by the KCC’s field office in Chanute. More than 19,000 abandoned wells on Kansas’ list reside in that zone. One-fourth have been prioritized as “requiring action” by the KCC, primarily because of risk for groundwater contamination by defunct wells.
Taste of the tension
KCC chairman Dwight Keen, who previously operated an independent oil and gas company and was chairman of the Kansas Independent Oil and Gas Association, said the industry was “pretty responsible” in dealing with orphan wells.
Some discarded wells were drilled decades ago, he said, and it isn’t clear who to blame or what company to hold liable. The KCC doesn’t have staff or resources to chase down every absconder who didn’t have the cash or desire to cap unneeded wells.
Keen said another problem was lack of contractors eager to bid on plugging work in Kansas, in part, because of density of the KCC bureaucracy. Plugging typically costs at least $12,000 for deep wells in western Kansas and around $5,000 for shallow holes in the east.
“It’s a difficult challenge, but it is one that we will master. We have to,” Keen said. “We’re trying as many unique avenues to protect our freshwater resources.”
Joe Spease, of the Kansas Sierra Club, said the problem festered because of the oil and gas industry’s deep political influence in the Legislature and on the KCC, which has three members appointed by the governor.
He said industry profit has been viewed as more important than public safety or environmental preservation.
“That can and must be stopped,” Spease said. “Solutions to the problem are simple. Require oil and gas companies to assume the cost of plugging any well they use. If a company, and the individuals running it, fails to plug a well, they would be forced to immediately stop all business in the state until the well is plugged.”
LLC shell game
Back on gravel roads of Douglas County, Wells offered Butler Petroleum as an example of how companies slipped through the KCC’s hands. The commission issued a $500 fine in March 2017 to the company’s operator, Brad Butler, because he was sitting on unplugged wells despite holding an expired state license.
Wells alleged Butler Petroleum, of Van Alstyne, Texas, walked away from 480 wells in April 2017. She said half were in Douglas County, while Johnson County had 190 and Montgomery and Franklin counties had about two dozen each.
Wells also said none were placed on the KCC’s abandoned-well lists submitted to the Legislature in 2018 and 2019. She’s filed complaints against Butler Petroleum with the KCC and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Butler’s application for a new license was denied by the KCC, but he teamed in April 2018 with Brandon Parks to form Paradigm Energy, of Lenexa. Leases held by Butler Petroleum were transferred to Paradigm.
Parks said the partnership was designed to make something of 200 oil wells and 100 injection wells that were part of Butler Petroleum’s portfolio, but ongoing state regulatory challenges undermined that effort. He said he recently spent $10,000 to “clean up” the leases and was hopeful of securing state permits to operate fully.
“There weren’t any wells abandoned,” Parks said. “They’re sitting there idled. By no means have we abandoned them.”
David Bleakley, executive vice president at the oil and gas firm Colt Energy in Kansas, has served 21 years on a KCC advisory board and is preparing to become chairman next year of the Kansas Independent Oil and Gas Association.
He is bullish on the KCC’s commitment to eventually plug the state’s abandoned wells. He said energy-boom years of the 1980s drew disreputable people into the business who left scars on the Kansas landscape before vanishing. When prices plunge, he said, potential of more orphan wells escalates.
“I’m confident they’ll get plugged,” Bleakley said. “Let’s keep going.”
He said ability of Kansas operators to run away from problems was reduced once the KCC required each to hold a state license and identify all their wells. New operators in Kansas must have a financial bond or letter of credit from a bank, which could be tapped in event of abandonment. However, that mandate may not guarantee sufficient funding to plug their discarded wells, and the requirement in Kansas is waived after three years for companies with a clean record.
It is unlikely state legislators will appropriate money to speed plugging, Bleakley said, given state general fund appropriations for the purpose ended in 2003.
Bleakley said damage to the water supply from oil leaks from pump jacks or holding tanks was negligible. Runoff of pesticides and herbicides applied to fields to promote higher crop yields is a greater threat to water quality in the state, he said.
“We have far more problems with chemicals sprayed on farms getting into the water,” he said.
He said some the industry’s vocal critics were dedicated to ending reliance on fossil fuels. That kind of advocacy won’t help Kansas deal with abandoned wells, he said.
“Just as you’ve got bad actors in the oil and gas industry,” he said, “you’ve got some environmentalists who are not realistic.”
Kansas in trouble
Susan Sykes, of Burlington, routinely cruises parts of eastern Kansas on weekends in search of evidence of environmental damage in the oil patch. She scouts for evidence saltwater or chemical waste was dumped into streams. She is vigilant about documenting and reporting leaks from storage tanks and pump jacks.
Amid recent heavy rains, she discovered a menagerie of jacks partially submerged by flooding near LeRoy on the Neosho River. It raised the question: What were regulators thinking when allowing oil jacks so close to sources of drinking water?
The KCC assured her the wells had shut-off boxes to keep water out and oil in, but Sykes remained skeptical.
She said the KCC’s pro-industry mindset had demonstrated the state’s regulatory system system was designed to deter people like herself often viewed by the industry as a nuisance. She isn’t willing to give up.
“Kansas is in trouble,” she said. “I don’t know what the answer to any of it is. You take your little toothpick and bang away.”
Related Items:abandoned wells, kansas, Kansas Corporation Commission, Oil and Gas
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Anheuser-Busch brewery in Columbus, Ohio, cited for refrigeration system violations
Anheuser-Busch brewery in Columbus, Ohio,
cited for refrigeration system violations
OSHA inspection finds repeat and serious violations; $92,400 fine proposed
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Anheuser-Busch Cos. LLC, which makes Budweiser and Bud Light beers and other beverages, has been cited by the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration for two repeat and eight serious safety violations following an inspection of its Columbus brewery's ammonia refrigeration system. Proposed penalties total $92,400.
The violations were cited under OSHA's Process Safety Management Standards, which contain specific requirements for managing highly hazardous chemicals in work processes. One such chemical is anhydrous ammonia, widely used as a refrigerant in industrial facilities, including breweries. Ammonia can be a health hazard because it is corrosive to the skin, eyes and lungs. It is a flammable vapor.
"Anheuser Busch has a responsibility to ensure the safe operation of its refrigeration systems by implementing an engineering process for the detection and control of potential ammonia systems releases," said Deborah Zubaty, OSHA's area director in Columbus. "Exposure to ammonia can have serious health consequences. Failure of these systems, such as overpressurization, can result in explosion and fire. Workers should not be put at risk because this company failed to implement the required protections."
The Feb. 4, 2014, inspection found the Anheuser-Busch plant failed to develop procedures for normal and emergency shutdown and restarting refrigeration systems. The company's process hazard analysis failed to address the dangers of overpressurization and ammonia release completely, and failed to address engineering controls and their potential failure. In addition, the company did not install ammonia detection systems or a continuous emergency ventilation system.
An OSHA violation is serious if death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard an employer knew or should have known exists.
The company was issued two repeat citations for failing to document properly the ammonia refrigeration system and the building ventilation design for use in emergencies. The company failed to document the design for a suction header pressure relief system adequately. The company was cited for similar violations in 2010 at a brewery in Cartersville, Georgia.
Anheuser-Busch, headquartered in St. Louis, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev SA, a global brewer, and operates under the Anheuser-Busch name and logo.
The company has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and proposed penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA's area director, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety & Health Review Commission.
To ask questions, obtain compliance assistance, file a complaint or report workplace hospitalizations, fatalities or situations posing imminent danger to workers, the public should call OSHA's toll-free hotline at 800-321-OSHA (6742) or the agency's Columbus Area Office at 614-469-5582.
U.S. Department of Labor news materials are accessible at http://www.dol.gov. The department's Reasonable Accommodation Resource Center converts departmental information and documents into alternative formats, which include Braille and large print. For alternative format requests, please contact the department at (202) 693-7828 (voice) or (800) 877-8339 (federal relay).
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Lower Coal Utilization in China Pegged in Part to Massive Coal Power Glut
Tremors in China’s economy rattled its power sector last year. For the first time since the Cultural Revolution in 1968, the country’s power generation dropped from the previous year—modestly, by 0.2%, but a decline that experts say is symptomatic of more to come.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, by the end of 2015, the country of 1.37 billion people saw a population spurt of 6.8 million since 2014 and nominal growth of 8.9% in the national per capita disposable income of residents. But owing to economic pressures, China’s electric power generation fell to 5.6 trillion kWh, plunging 3.7% in December alone.
Over 2015, the nation’s total thermal power generation fell 2.8%, to 4.21 trillion kWh—representing about 75% of the total power mix (down from 76.96% in 2014). That could also be because, determined to win a war against pollution, the country’s State Council recently tightened rules for inefficient coal power plants. On December 2, for example, it announced ambitious plans that will force coal generators to upgrade and slash emissions of major pollutants by 60% before 2020. In comparison, hydropower surged 4.2%, to 996 billion kWh in 2015, claiming a 17.7% share.
However, some observers say China is grappling with a more insidious issue. Confirming industry estimates, China’s National Energy Administration (NEA) on January 29 said that utilization of all power plants fell to their lowest level since 1978, down 8.1% compared to the previous year. The hardest hit were thermal generators, which saw utilization rates at an average of 4,329 hours last year, and even below 3,500 hours in some regions. At the end of 2014, by comparison, thermal power generation was up 6.7%, claiming a 73.8% share of China’s generation mix, and utilization averaged 5,128 hours.
Some accounts put surplus coal plant capacity at between 130 GW and 200 GW. The lower estimate, 130 GW, is 13% of the total 990 GW of thermal capacity installed at the end of 2015 and nearly 9% of China’s total power capacity of 1,506.7 GW.
The NEA said the plunging coal plant utilization rates resulted because grid operators were able to source more renewable power to meet demand, which had slowed markedly. Another possible explanation is that new builds have outstripped new demand. Reuters reported in December that China has vowed to clamp down on approvals of new coal plants by local governments, noting that nearly 200 GW were given the green light in the first half of 2015.
—Sonal Patel is a POWER associate editor.
Deloitte Survey: Businesses Back Sustainability, Decarbonization »
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Actor Brian Austin Green defends son’s Frozen dress against critics
Meka Beresford September 9, 2017
(Photo by the_native_tiger/Instagram)
Beverly Hills, 90210 actor Brian Austin Green has come to the defence of his young son after critics attacked the family for letting him wear a Frozen dress.
The popular Disney film burst onto our screens in 2013 and quickly became a favourite of children across the globe.
With it came plenty of merchandise, including dresses suitable for all children.
Megan Fox, who is married to and has children with Green, shared some Polaroid snaps on Instagram – one of which showed their four-year-old son, Noah, wearing a dress from the franchise.
The picture drew unwarranted criticism from followers.
One wrote: “Probably a million other pictures of her son but she chose to post one of him in a dress! Lol It’s Hollywood! Makes sense! It’s all about the attention and reactions!”
“You should not dress your son in a dress,” another said.
A third added: “A man can’t be a woman and a woman can’t be a man Poor kid is gonna think he can be a girl.”
Speaking in an interview with Hollywood Pipeline, Green came to the defence of his family and insisted that their child would always be able to wear what he felt like.
BERLIN, GERMANY – OCTOBER 05: (Photo by Andreas Rentz/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures International).
He said: “He’s 4 and if he wants to wear it, then he wears it.
“It’s his life. They’re not my clothes.
“Obviously I don’t wear the nice stuff. I’m wearing shorts and a T-shirt.”
The star added that both he and Fox felt it was crucial to let their children express themselves.
‘I feel like at 4 or 5 that’s a time when he should be having fun.
“He’s not harming anyone wearing a dress. So, if he wants to wear a dress?
“Awesome. Good on him.” Green added.
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Home » Elsie's Bird (Hardcover)
Elsie's Bird (Hardcover)
By Jane Yolen, David Small (Illustrator)
(Picture Book)
Elsie is a city girl. She loves the noise of the cobbled streets of Boston. But when her mother dies and her father moves them to the faraway prairies of Nebraska, Elsie hears only the silence, and she feels alone in the wide sea of grass. Her only comfort is her canary, Timmy Tune. But when Timmy flies out the window, Elsie is forced to run after him, into the tall grass of the prairie, where she's finally able to hear the voice of the prairie-beautiful and noisy- and she begins to feel at home.
Jane Yolen and David Small create a remarkable, poetic, vividly rendered book about finding one's place in the world.
Born and raised in New York City, Jane Yolen now lives in Hatfield, Massachusetts. She attended Smith College and received her master's degree in education from the University of Massachusetts. The distinguished author of more than 170 books, Jane Yolen is a person of many talents. When she is not writing, Yolen composes songs, is a professional storyteller on the stage, and is the busy wife of a university professor, the mother of three grown children, and a grandmother.
Active in several organizations, Yolen has been on the Board of Directors of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, was president of the Science Fiction Writers of America from 1986 to 1988, is on the editorial board of several magazines, and was a founding member of the Western New England Storytellers Guild, the Western Massachusetts Illustrators Guild, and the Bay State Writers Guild. For twenty years, she ran a monthly writer's workshop for new children's book authors. In 1980, when Yolen was awarded an honorary Doctor of Law degree by Our Lady of the Elms College in Chicopee, Massachusetts, the citation recognized that "throughout her writing career she has remained true to her primary source of inspiration--folk culture." Folklore is the "perfect second skin," writes Yolen. "From under its hide, we can see all the shimmering, shadowy uncertainties of the world." Folklore, she believes, is the universal human language, a language that children instinctively feel in their hearts.
All of Yolen's stories and poems are somehow rooted in her sense of family and self. The Emperor and the Kite, which was a Caldecott Honor Book in 1983 for its intricate papercut illustrations by Ed Young, was based on Yolen's relationship with her late father, who was an international kite-flying champion. Owl Moon, winner of the 1988 Caldecott Medal for John Schoenherr's exquisite watercolors, was inspired by her husband's interest in birding.
Yolen's graceful rhythms and outrageous rhymes have been gathered in numerous collections. She has earned many awards over the years: the Regina Medal, the Kerlan Award, the World Fantasy Award, the Society of Children's Book Writers Award, the Mythopoetic Society's Aslan Award, the Christopher Medal, the Boy's Club Jr. Book Award, the Garden State Children's Book Award, the Daedalus Award, a number of Parents' Choice Magazine Awards, and many more. Her books and stories have been translated into Japanese, French, Spanish, Chinese, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Afrikaans, !Xhosa, Portuguese, and Braille.
With a versatility that has led her to be called "America's Hans Christian Andersen," Yolen, the child of two writers, is a gifted and natural storyteller. Perhaps the best explanation for her outstanding accomplishments comes from Jane Yolen herself: "I don't care whether the story is real or fantastical. I tell the story that needs to be told."
copyright ? 2000 by Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers. All rights reserved.
David Small grew up in Detroit, studied Art and English at Wayne State University and completed his graduate studies in art at Yale. He went on to teach drawing and printmaking at the college level for fourteen years, during which time his first book Eulalie and The Hopping Head was published. David no longer teaches but has continued illustrating.
David has illustrated twenty-seven picture books, and has also provided the text for six of them. His Imogene’s Antlers has been featured for fifteen years on PBS’ “Reading Rainbow.” Fenwick's Suit presently is in production by Fox 2000. Four of David’s bestselling picture books were written by his wife, Sarah Stewart. Their book The Gardener was the recipient of 17 awards including the Christopher Medal and the 1998 Caldecott Honor Award.
David’s books have been translated into six languages. He also has worked years as a freelance editorial artist, with his drawings appearing regularly in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe and The Washington Post. His reviews of picture books appear frequently in The New York Times Book Review.
Of his beginnings as an artist David has this to say: “Detroit is not where I would have lived given the choice as a child. Then, I would much rather have lived in Candy Land. But the fact is Detroit—a harsh, industrial—made art and music all the more sweet in my young life, more urgent and more of a necessity. Seen in that light, Detroit was the perfect place for me to grow up.”
David Small and Sarah Stewart make their home in Michigan in an 1833 Greek Revival house on ten acres of land along the banks of the St. Joseph River. Their house is on the National Register of Historic Places, and their property marks the northern boundary of the Great Tallgrass Prairie.
Publication Date: September 2nd, 2010
Maximum Age: 8
Minimum Grade Level: K
Juvenile Fiction / Social Themes / New Experience
Juvenile Fiction / Lifestyles / Country Life
Juvenile Fiction / Social Themes / Death & Dying
Kobo eBook (September 1st, 2010): $10.99
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Control The Crosswind!
It can be vexing to any pilot, but is there a right and wrong way to take on the wind?
By Budd Davisson
Published June 1, 2005 Updated February 20, 2016
There are several ways to start an argument. They range from the old favorites, politics and religion, to the blonde/redhead/brunette thing. Or you can simply state that there’s only one right way to land an airplane in a crosswind and that’s the way you do it. Stand back, folks, brutal words to follow.
Ignoring the two really big crosswind controversies—do you crab all the way down final and kick it out at the last moment or carry a wing-down, sideslipping configuration to the runway?—there are tons of other factors that affect both schools, but still have a bit of debate attached. Is it advisable to use flaps or not? Do you always carry more speed over the threshold in a crosswind? How do you accommodate gusts? The list may not be endless, but it’s certainly a long one.
Hands down, the most important factor in trying to analyze what kind of situation you’re getting yourself into on final is the age-old question “How much wind are we talking about here?” But when we ask that question, we’re doing so within the mental framework represented by, first, the airplane’s capabilities, and then your own as they relate to that airplane. An old hand in a Bonanza, for instance, is going to see a 15-knot wind much differently than does a C-152 student. So, within reason, you can’t just talk wind speed. You have to talk about it within the limits of your own experience and proficiency as well as what you’re flying.
Of course, all of the foregoing considerably changes as the wind moves off the nose and becomes The Dreaded Crosswind(!). Even a crosswind is good, however, because except for a 90-degree barn-burner, part of every crosswind is down the nose and slows down the airplane. Part of every crosswind is exactly 90 degrees to the airplane, though, and it’s that component that keeps us worried.
One of the few POHs with a wind chart in it showed that this particular airplane’s limit with the wind 20 degrees off the nose was 60 mph! When it was 40 degrees, the wind limit was 30 mph, and when it was 90 degrees to the runway, the airplane was rated at 20 mph demonstrated crosswind. If those numbers seem high, think of it this way: They’ve proven this airplane will handle 20 mph right across the runway. So, when it’s at 20 degrees, it takes 60 mph to generate a side component of 20 mph.
When the wind is coming at us from an angle, the airplane and the pilot combination become even more critical because every airplane has the aforementioned limit. At some point, even at full aileron and full rudder, it can’t maintain a straight line. It should be noted, though, that the crosswind limitation of most airplanes is much higher than the crosswind limitation of most pilots.
We’ve said that the amount of wind and its direction is paramount to deciding whether or not we’re actually going flying. Then we have to toss in gusts, which easily can have more effect than everything discussed to this point. It’s the gusts that make any wind difficult. Even a really high crosswind is no sweat if it’s steady, while a much smaller wind with hard gusts can be a bear. Suffice it to say that as the gust spread starts to become a sizable proportion of an airplane’s stalling speed, it’s time to sit up and take notice.
The reason we don’t all destroy airplanes in every gusty crosswind landing is because the strength of the wind goes down as you get closer to the runway. In theory, the wind is zero right on the surface (in the boundary layer), then builds up to the level reported at about 15 feet off the ground. In nearly all winds, the most critical time is as you’re working your way down into ground effect because, once in ground effect and closing on the runway, the wind gradient attenuates and life gets a little less hectic. There are exceptions to that rule, however. Again, see the sidebar for these exceptions.
Gusts also are the determining factor as to the speed and flap issue. As for the flaps, some POHs will tell you what to do in a given situation. A lot of old heads, however, say the higher the gust spread, the less flaps should be used. In a steady wind, the flaps just act like flaps, although as the wind gets really crossed, excess flaps often begin to act as additional side area, so more rudder is required to keep it straight. Flaps, however, accentuate the effects of gusts, making balloons higher and the attendant speed bleed off at the top of a balloon more severe.
So, do you use flaps in a normal crosswind? Yes. Do you use lots of flaps? It all depends on the wind and the airplane.
Is it advisable to add speed in the approach for a crosswind? Generally speaking, no. But what about gusts? An old rule of thumb says that you increase the approach speed by half of the gust factor. The reasoning is that if a gust died, you still would have enough speed in the bank that you could control it more effectively. Some folks have interpreted that to mean faster is better in a crosswind, and that’s just not the case. Increased speed means increased float, and you’ll be floating along right in that band where the wind is the strongest, and too much speed will expose you to its effects longer. So protect yourself against the gusts, but don’t think whistling across the threshold at warp speed is the way to handle every wind.
Now let’s talk all about the big controversy—the “how do we fly the final approach” argument. We’ll let each school of thought speak for themselves.
Reading The Wind
One fact of life is that you’ll never see the exact same wind twice. For that reason, it’s important you take a little time before either taking off or landing to try to read the wind so you have some idea of what you’re getting into.
If the wind appears to be anything even remotely out of the ordinary, sit there and study the sock. Don’t just glance at its direction and stiffness and let it go at that. During the second or two you’re looking at it, the wind sock could be lying to you in a big way because you’re catching it in transition from one place to another. Keep your eyes on it long enough to see how stiff the sock becomes and how soft it gets, as that’s your gust spread. Then notice how it changes direction. Are the direction changes caused by the gusts or are they independent of the gusts? This is important stuff to know.
A gust spread in which the gusts always come from a different direction than the main wind means you’re in for a rougher-than-normal ride. You’ll be set up to handle the main body of the wind, but when a gust comes, it not only tries to affect your lift, but for a split second or two, greatly changes the amount of crosswind correction you’re going to need. For instance, if the high side of the gust always switches the wind from 30 degrees off your nose to 60 degrees, it’s really going to be testing your ability to read how much the airplane is drifting and change the bank angle accordingly.
You also want to compare the gust spread to your stall speed. As the gusts approach 20% to 25% of your stall speed, you have to be aware that they’re going to want to pick you up or slam you down during the flare, so be prepared to behave accordingly.
On downwind, look for telltale signs about the surface winds. Flags are good, as is smoke. Sometimes, you’ll see dirt flowing or trees bent over partway down the runway. Water gives a good graphic view of what’s happening right on the surface.
Nevertheless, you have to deal with whatever you find. A runway can cross through all sorts of micro-climates, and just because you’ve decided it’s a such and such kind of wind, don’t commit yourself to flying it that way. Always use your analysis of the wind as a guide, but make up your mind to deal with the wind on a second-to-second basis, constantly reevaluating your analysis of it and altering the way you handle it. Just because you ask the tower for the wind and they say it’s 120 at 10, never forget that they aren’t measuring the wind where you’ll be landing and that they’re never right.
The “Crab Down Final And Kick It Out At The End” Approach
The goal here is to minimize the amount of time you’re busting your butt, trying to fly a straight line with a wing down. We keep the nose into the wind and simply fly final the same way we fly downwind, when there’s a wind trying to push us, with the nose crabbed into the wind.
The beauty of this kind of approach is that you aren’t constantly adjusting your bank angle and rudder to keep it lined up; the airplane pretty much does it automatically. You cross the threshold with the nose into the wind and then start worrying about getting it straightened out before hitting the runway.
Some people say you can fly it right into the flare that way and kick it straight just before touching down. The downside here is that as soon as you start to take the crab out, the airplane will start drifting, so you have to do it at the last second, and even then, you’ll have a little drift when you touch down. You also stand a chance of having an inopportune gust die and plant you on really crooked. But what the heck? That’s what the tricycle gear is good at, straightening itself out, right? Wrong!
The other school of thought features those pilots who fly the crabbed approach. They don’t want the airplane to touch down in a drift. As they start bringing the nose up to the flare, they gently slide into a sideslip, putting the wing down into the wind and pulling the nose straight with the rudder.
If there’s a downside to this kind of approach or landing, it’s that there isn’t much time when you pull the nose of the aircraft around and put the wing down to judge the effect of the wind. A lot of the top dogs do it this way, and their experience lets them see the wind as it starts to move them and their airplanes, and they simply cancel it out at the last moment.
The “Slip Down Final And Keep It Lined Up All The Way” Approach
Rather than take a chance with the last-minute drama of the crabbed method of handling a crosswind, some pilots opt for setting up the airplane in a sideslip well before they reach the runway. The theory behind the wing-down-on-final way of thinking is that nothing is being left to chance or last-minute reactions. Proponents of this school of thought also feel they’re in better shape to handle gusts because they’re already set up in a stable position, albeit with a wing down.
An advantage to the wing-down approach is that mentally you’re already reading the changing crosswind and changing the bank angle and rudder accordingly. If it’s a steady wind, you’re just sitting there, crossed up and watching it happen. But if it’s gusty, you’re earning your pay, as you’re constantly changing the rudder and aileron combination to cancel out the side component so you’re always pointed right down the centerline.
There is some disagreement as to how far out on final you should slide into the slip. Some pilots fly the entire final that way. Others crab until within something like 1,000 feet of the threshold and then slide into the wing-down position. Either way, pilots from both schools of thought fly the last portion of final in the same way.
Regardless of which approach is used, crabbing or sideslipping, it’s easy to see that too many pilots think too hard about the crosswind. They try to intellectualize it, and you can almost hear them thinking, Okay, the wind is from the right, so I put the right wing down and use left rudder…or is it the other way around? Don’t think about it. Just use whatever rudder is needed to keep the nose right in front of you and keep a wing down to kill the drift, as simple as that.
The bottom line is that there is only one acceptable goal—touching down with the nose on the centerline with no sideways movement whatsoever. Granted, you can paste on a tri-geared airplane almost any way you want, with the nose to the side and drifting, and it will still almost always straighten itself out with a minimum of fuss. But the operative phrase there is “almost always.” There will be situations in which the airplane won’t be able to cope with the terrible situation that the pilot has left for it to sort out without bending something. Besides, even if it’s a minor misalignment or drift, it’s not the right way to do it. If you disagree with this advice, however, remind me to never loan you my airplane.
Truly Dangerous Winds
Once in a while, you’ll find a wind that has some sort of characteristic that makes it truly dangerous. You don’t find them often, but when you do, it might not be a bad idea to find another airport on which to land.
Hard-Edged, Direction-Changing Gusts
Sometimes you’ll watch the sock and see it blowing one direction in a mild manner, then it will violently snap one direction or the other, stand out straight for a couple of seconds, then drop back into the original mild mode. These winds become especially dangerous when they’re snapping from in front of the wingtip to behind the wingtip.
If, when you’re low and getting ready to flare, the wind snaps hard from in front of the tip to behind it, what you’re experiencing is a form of shear. Instantly your airspeed falls, taking the airplane with it. It doesn’t have to be a big wind to have this effect; as little as 10 knots will do it. In some aircraft and some conditions, it’s as if you’ve chopped off the wings. The only cure is instantaneous full power while, at the same time, fighting the urge to pull. The power will pitch the nose up anyway because of landing trim, so your job is to hold a stable, slightly nose-up attitude and hope the airplane powers out of the sink before you kiss off the runway too hard.
“Right Down To The Deck” Winds
As we’ve mentioned, most winds gradually die off as you get close to the ground, but once in a while, you’ll see one that maintains its velocity down to a foot or less off the runway. Sometimes these winds won’t even be rough or gusty, so you don’t know anything is wrong until you’re ready to touch down and find that as your speed goes away and your aerodynamic control becomes weak, you can’t keep the airplane from drifting. It’s as if you’re caught in white-water rapids that are trying to pull your feet out from under you.
Although it depends on the airplane and the situation, most of the time, hard application of upwind aileron and downwind rudder will sort things out, but not always. The safe money drops the hammer and goes around and, once clear of the runway, swings the nose into the wind to maintain the centerline.
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Abandoned Maunsell Sea Forts of World War II
Home > Interesting Places > Abandoned Maunsell Sea Forts of World War II
Posted on May 30, 2018 (May 30, 2018)
The Maunsell Forts are armed offshore towers built in the Thames waters during the WWII in order to help defend the United Kingdom from the Nazi invasion. They were operated as navy and army forts and named after their designer, Guy Maunsell.
These military forts were a part of the Thames defense network, primarily designed to be the anti-aircraft tower-forts. There were six forts in the past.
Maunsell naval forts
The Maunsell Forts were operated by the Royal Navy, to report German air raids and to prevent attempts to lay mines by aircraft in this important shipping channel.
This human-made naval installation is similar to early “fixed” offshore oil platforms. The overall weight of the installation is estimated to approximately 4500 tons.
During the World War II, the Thames estuary Navy forts only destroyed 1 German E Boat.
There were 4 naval forts:
Rough Sands (U1)
Sunk Head (U2)
Tongue Sands (U3)
Knock John (U4)
Maunsell Army Forts
Maunsell Army Forts are primarily designed to be anti-aircraft forts, in order to protect the mainland from the common Nazi air raids during the World War II.
Back then, there were three of these forts, but only two are left standing:
Redsands Fort – In this fort there are 7 towers, located at the mouth of the Thames Estuary. All these towers were previously connected by metal grate walkways. It’s currently the only fort that can be accessed safely from a platform in between the legs of one of the towers.
Shivering Sands Fort – These towers were built on land and floated out in 1943. During the war, equipment was replaced and removed soon after. In 1964 Screaming Lord Sutch set up a pirate radio station (Radio Sutch) on one of the old towers.
The Shivering Sands Fort was occupied by the artist Stephen Turner for 6 weeks in 2005 and described the project as an experiment in isolation and also wrote a blog and a book about it.
After their successful wartime career, the forts were decommissioned in the 1950s.
Tagged England, United Kingdom
The amazing Austrian village of HallstattTunnel of Love in Ukraine
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Statement From the Better World Campaign on the Nomination of Heather Nauert As U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations
If confirmed, we urge Ms. Nauert to continue the strong partnership that her predecessor has formed with UN Secretary-General António Guterres
WASHINGTON (PRWEB) December 07, 2018
“The Better World Campaign congratulates Ms. Nauert on her nomination.
At this critical juncture in world affairs, U.S. leadership and funding at the United Nations matters. We have seen the benefits of a robust U.S.-UN relationship over the years—great strides in reducing extreme poverty and advancing global health plus meaningful reforms in development, management, and peacekeeping operations—which have served American interests while strengthening the UN.
We hope Ms. Nauert will continue the strong partnership with UN Secretary-General Guterres established by Ambassador Haley, as we confront the issues that face the U.S., the UN, and the world.”
About the Better World Campaign
The Better World Campaign works to foster a strong relationship between the U.S. and the UN to promote core American interests and build a more secure, prosperous, and healthy world. The Better World Campaign engages policymakers, the media, and the American public alike to increase awareness of the critical role played by the UN in world affairs and the importance of constructive U.S.-UN relations. Learn more at: http://www.betterworldcampaign.org.
Erika Briceno Howard
The Better World Campaign
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Posted on April 29, 2019 by Portsmouth Daily Times
Monument unveiled honoring Burg LL softball
By Jacob Smith - jsmith@aimmediamidwest.com
These new signs are also on display now to help honor the 2018 Wheelersburg Little League World Series title team at Gene Bennett Park.
Jacob Smith | Daily Times
Names of the players and coaches from the Wheelersburg World Series title team are engraved on the back of the monument.
This monument was donated by the Southern Ohio Vault Co. Inc. to help memorialize last year’s Wheelersburg World Series title run.
Wheelersburg coaches and players from last season’s World Series title team pose with the new monument located at the entrance of Gene Bennett Park.
WHEELERSBURG – Opening day for Wheelersburg Little League always has a special feeling to it, and Friday’s Opening Day ceremonies were no different. The only difference between previous Opening Days and Friday’s were the new features applied to Gene Bennett Park.
Last August, as everyone knows, the Wheelersburg Pirates Little League Softball team captured the state of Ohio and America’s hearts during their run to claim the state’s first ever Little League World Series title. Following Friday’s parade which signaled the start of the Little League season, the World Series team was honored those in attendance.
“Opening day is always a fun and exciting day in Wheelersburg,” said Dusty Salyers, head coach of last year’s World Series Little League team. “It’s a day that everyone looks forward to. This year was just extra special because of the World Series championship. It was great to be able to lead the parade and kind of relive all of those feelings of accomplishment once again. Any time we are able to put the team in a position to be recognized, it’s great.”
Last year’s historic team was not only memorialized in word and memory, but also in stone, literally. As a gesture to help always remember what the Wheelersburg team accomplished on the biggest stage, the Southern Ohio Vault Co. Inc. Monument Division donated a monument to Wheelersburg Little League to be placed at the entrance of Gene Bennett Park in Wheelersburg, home of Wheelersburg Little League and the Wheelersburg Pirates high school softball program.
“The folks at Southern Ohio Vault Co. actually got ahold of me not long after we won the World Series and told me they would like to donate the monument,” Salyers said. “We got together and came up with the design, but for the most part it was all them. We really appreciate the gesture, it’s another really great way to recognize our team and their accomplishment.”
Found on the front of the donated monument is a picture of last year’s World Series title team celebrating their accomplishment with an engraving which reads “2018 World Series Champions: Wheelersburg 11 & 12 yr. old Little League Softball Lady Pirates #BurgTakesTheWorld” and on the back is an engraving which lists the 13 players on last season’s team and the three coaches of the World Champion Pirates.
“We decided fairly quickly, within a couple of weeks of them winning, that we wanted to give them the monument,” said Tammy Hazelbaker of Southern Ohio Vault Co. Inc. Monument Division. “Brandan and Jordan (Russell) being alumni of Wheelersburg and having kids involved at sports there had a lot to do with it, but also it’s just a great thing for our whole community. It’s a really big deal for those girls, and we’re glad they’ll always have this monument to remember their great accomplishment.”
With the beautiful monument now on display at the entrance of Gene Bennett Park, it truly memorializes a special moment in Scioto County history.
Winning a World Series title is setting the bar incredibly high for future Wheelersburg Little League teams. With just five returning players from the World Series team on this year’s 11 and 12 year old team, Salyers is hoping his team achieves that level of success but is realistic about the historic significance of last year’s run.
“This year’s team has five girls returning to the little league program,” Salyers said. “I think it’d be unfair to compare this year’s team to last year’s. What we were able to do last year was unbelievable and would be hard to improve on. I just hope they can bring some of the things they learned last year and help to lead this year’s team. We have a great Little League system which helps carry over to our high school programs. I’m confident this year’s team will have a long tournament run, but if it doesn’t end in a World Series title it doesn’t meant it was an unsuccessful year.”
https://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2019/04/web1_new-burg-sign-1.jpgThese new signs are also on display now to help honor the 2018 Wheelersburg Little League World Series title team at Gene Bennett Park. Jacob Smith | Daily Times
https://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2019/04/web1_burg-mon-pics-1.jpgNames of the players and coaches from the Wheelersburg World Series title team are engraved on the back of the monument. Jacob Smith | Daily Times
https://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2019/04/web1_burg-world-series-mon-1.jpgThis monument was donated by the Southern Ohio Vault Co. Inc. to help memorialize last year’s Wheelersburg World Series title run. Jacob Smith | Daily Times
https://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2019/04/web1_IMG_7726-1.jpgWheelersburg coaches and players from last season’s World Series title team pose with the new monument located at the entrance of Gene Bennett Park. Jacob Smith | Daily Times
By Jacob Smith
jsmith@aimmediamidwest.com
Reach Jacob Smith at (740) 353-3101 ext. 1930, by email at jsmith@aimmediamidwest.com, or on Twitter @JacobSmithPDT © 2019 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved
Hi! A visitor to our site felt the following article might be of interest to you: Monument unveiled honoring Burg LL softball. Here is a link to that story: https://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com/sports/37821/monument-unveiled-honoring-burg-ll-softball
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Lisa Desjardins Lisa Desjardins
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/history-says-the-odds-are-against-repeat-presidential-candidates-like-biden-and-sanders-heres-why
History says the odds are against repeat presidential candidates like Biden and Sanders. Here’s why
Politics May 30, 2019 5:45 PM EDT
There are few bankable rules in modern presidential politics. Many theories just don’t hold up. The taller candidate does not always win. It is not necessarily the economy, stupid. And a host of sports-related predictions fall short.
But we may have a new truism: Repeat candidates usually fail.
The last three decades of U.S. elections show presidential hopefuls do not get a second life. No repeat White House candidate has won since 1988, despite the fact that such candidates have been on the November ballot in all but one of the elections held since.
Put another way: When political parties choose someone who many voters think “could have” or “should have” won the last time, they lose.
The last four Americans to win the presidency were all first-time candidates for that office … all but one of their losing opponents were repeat candidates.
The trend is especially relevant for Democrats now, whose top two presidential candidates in early polling are former vice president Joe Biden, and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.. Both have run for president before and were part of the calculus in 2016, when Sanders was the Democratic runner-up and many felt Biden should have run.
In interviews, top political consultants disagreed on how much of the failed runs by repeat candidates were coincidence, but all of them said it speaks to an important shift.
“I think people are looking for something new, a strong desire to turn the page,” said Michael Steel, who was a senior adviser to the Jeb Bush campaign in 2016.
Of course, the theory of the doomed repeat candidate is not unassailable.
Some could point to the historic streak of wins by incumbent presidents as an overlapping or more important dynamic. And it is risky to explain complicated losses, including those by Al Gore, John McCain, Mitt Romney and Hillary Clinton, in one theory.
But Steel and others said Democrats could make a mistake if they nominate a familiar face because they believe that person is the most “electable.”
Jesse Ferguson, a top staffer on Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, also sees a shift in voter appetite. “There is a growing desire for something different, or the next evolution,” Ferguson said.
The result is a potential sea change from an earlier era, when repeat candidates — especially Republicans — were more successful in White House campaigns the second time around.
Winners and losers
President Barack Obama meets with President-elect Donald Trump (L) in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington November 10, 2016.REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque.
The last four Americans to win the presidency were all first-time candidates for that office: Bill Clinton in 1992, George W. Bush in 2000, Barack Obama in 2008 and Donald Trump in 2016.
All but one of their losing opponents was a repeat candidate. It’s a 180-degree turn from a previous trend among Republicans in particular.
“It used to be that Republicans never won the presidency the first time around,” Steel said, pointing to Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, who all won after multiple campaigns for the White House.
That changed for the GOP with George W. Bush, “the first Republican nominee in decades who had not run for or been president at least once before winning,” Steel added.
“At a time when people are looking for change, maybe it’s harder to be a known quantity.”
Democrats scored similar victories with first-timers Bill Clinton and Obama, but did not cross the electoral finish line with repeat candidates Al Gore in 2000 and Hillary Clinton in 2016.
Of course, both Gore and Hillary Clinton won the popular vote. But neither was able to electrify enough voters in enough states to win the electoral college and the presidency.
In a closely-divided nation, the degree to which a candidate represents something new may be the modern tie-breaker.
“At a time when people are looking for change, maybe it’s harder to be a known quantity,” said Mo Elleithee, who was a spokesperson for Hillary Clinton in 2008.
Motivated by regret
Republican presidential hopeful Elizabeth Dole and her husband former Sen. Bob Dole wave to the crowd inside the Hilton Coliseum where the Iowa Republicans held their annual straw poll August 14. [Elizabeth Dole is seeking a run at the White House, following her husband’s failed attempt against President Clinton in 1996. Photo by Reuters
For political parties, it’s hard to avoid the pitfall of regret.
“I do think there is a dynamic of wistfulness after an unsuccessful election,” Elleithee said. Voters “look back at the person they felt good about but fell short and wonder if this could be [their] time.”
Examples abound. Some Republicans argued that the party’s 1988 runner-up, Bob Dole, would have performed better than President George H.W. Bush against Bill Clinton in 1992. The regret reinforced the narrative that it was Dole’s turn four years later. He was nominated to take on Bill Clinton in 1996 and lost.
In 2000, Gore, as vice president and a top-three finisher in the 1992 Democratic primary, was an obvious choice and easily won the nomination. But in November, he lost one of the closest elections in American history to George W. Bush.
At the end of the George W. Bush presidency, some Republicans saw John McCain as the right fit for the party in 2008: A veteran who had pushed back on foreign policy against the relatively unpopular Bush. And McCain was the runner-up to Bush in the 2000 GOP primary. McCain was nominated, and lost.
FILE PHOTO – Then-U.S. Republican presidential nominee Senator John McCain speaks at a campaign rally in Defiance, Ohio in 2008. REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File Photo
After the McCain defeat in 2008, some Republicans argued that Mitt Romney, the Republican runner-up that year, would have been a stronger contender against Barack Obama. They nominated Romney the next time around, in 2012. And he lost.
Political strategists said the trend suggests there is a problem when primary voters think more with their heads than their hearts.
“It goes back to Bob Dole,” Steel said. Voters “say: ‘We don’t think he’s necessarily the most dynamic or inspiring of candidates this year, but he’s the safest pick. And it’s his turn.’”
The “‘it’s my turn’” argument “works in a smoke-filled backroom,” Ferguson said. But “in the modern era, the process has democratized and that argument doesn’t carry a lot of weight with voters. [It] can really backfire.”
Repeat problems
Then-presidential nominee John Kerry rides his bike in Santa Fe, New Mexico, October 12, 2004. Photo by Jim Young/Reuters
Another issue for repeat candidates? Juggling a new political status when they run again.
Take McCain and Sanders. In their first presidential bids, both candidates “were the insurgents,” Elleithee said. “They both started the second time as the frontrunner.” Having frontrunner status is “incompatible” with the outsider brands they’d built in their initial runs for the presidency, he said.
The change leads to nearly impossible strategic questions.
“You can’t run the same campaign the second time around,” Elleithee added. “But if you come across as a different person, then you are seen as a phony.”
“I think it’s much more about whether you fit the moment … you can overstay your welcome in the national limelight.”
Voters in these situations face a counterintuitive premise: the same experience and name recognition that helps a repeat candidate look strong in the primaries could undermine them in the general election.
“I think it’s much more about whether you fit the moment,” Ferguson said. “It’s different for each figure and it’s different in each circumstance. But you can overstay your welcome in the national limelight.”
Democrats succeeded in 2008, Elleithee pointed out, when they did not follow the prevailing political calculation, which centered on the idea that it was John Kerry’s “turn” following a loss to George W. Bush four years earlier.
“After 2004 the Democratic Party was convinced it needed a southern conservative candidate like John Edwards,” Elleithee said. “But Democrats ended up winning with an African-American guy named Barack Obama from Chicago.”
What does this mean for Biden, Sanders and the 2020 Democratic field?
Democratic 2020 U.S. presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden speaks during a campaign stop in Philadelphia on May 18, 2019. File photo by REUTERS/Mark Makela
In 2016, Trump took the White House by similarly bunking convention, winning with no previous political experience. Now, Democratic voters are leaning in the other direction.
The two returning candidates who are dominating the polls — Biden and Sanders — together have the support of roughly 50 percent of Democratic voters, a gargantuan number in a field of two dozen candidates.
What is driving those voters?
“The No. 1 priority [for Democratic voters], according to the most recent polling, is they are looking for someone who can beat Donald Trump,” said veteran Democratic strategist Stephanie Cutter, who worked on the Obama and Kerry campaigns. “It has to be someone who generates excitement, not just in the base, but with those Obama-Trump voters.”
In a recent Monmouth University poll, 58 percent of Democratic voters nationwide said they prefer someone with a strong chance of defeating Trump, even if they disagree with that candidate’s views.
Cutter, who is not currently working on a presidential campaign, pushed back against the idea that repeat candidates are political poison. She argued that Biden was a serious contender in his own right.
“Biden is starting as the frontrunner not because he is the establishment, but because of the good will he’s built [with] working people with economic policies aimed at building the middle class” she said.
Others point to Biden’s perceived strength in swing states like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.
Steel, the Republican strategist, sees that thinking as a misstep this early in the campaign.
“They say ‘who’s going to win?’ but that feels like, ‘I’m not voting with my heart’,” Steel said. “‘My heart is with with Buttigieg or Warren or whoever, but I think that Joe Biden is most likely to win.’”
“The one truism about the candidates, the one thing we know, is the zeitgeist after the election is almost always wrong by the next election.”
Biden supporters might be underestimating a thirst for change from voters, Steel added.
“Choosing a man who presumably will be the last baby boomer the Democratic party will ever nominate against [Trump], the last baby boomer GOP nominee, does not seem like playing to strength,” he said.
It is a dilemma for Democrats going into 2020. Where do Biden and Sanders fit in to this trend? Could their personal appeal outweigh voter distaste for relitigating the political past?
It’s too early to know, Ferguson said. He added, “The one truism about the candidates, the one thing we know, is the zeitgeist after the election is almost always wrong by the next election.”
Left: Photos by JONATHAN ERNST and Carlos Barria of Reuters
Beto O’Rourke’s immigration plan calls for pathway to citizenship
By Will Weissert, Associated Press
Biden uses education rollout to promote his 1994 crime bill
By Thomas Beaumont, Associated Press
Democrats up requirements for second round of primary debates
By Bill Barrow, Associated Press
Lisa Desjardins is a correspondent for PBS NewsHour, where she covers news from the U.S. Capitol while also traveling across the country to report on how decisions in Washington affect people where they live and work.
@LisaDNews
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Tech Explained
by PCQ Bureau November 5, 2002 0 comments
Simulated patient
His father’s death in the hands of an inexperienced physician led Bill Clark (a military flight and submarine simulator) to set up Medical Simulation Corp. Clark and a handful of engineers who had built simulators for the military, Ford Motor Co and the airline industry, started working in a garage in 1991 with a machine that could realistically simulate heart-catheterization procedures.
Today the company produces high-tech simulators to recreate the toughest of medical cases. Using Medical Simulation’s SimSuite, doctors can practice on 70 different patient cases, each an hour long. All simulations are based on actual cases and many scenarios are designed to present out-of-the-ordinary situations for doctors.
The simulators, including educational software and training programs, will be leased to hospitals, physician practices and medical-device manufacturers. They plan to have around 30 of them running by the end of 2003. The cost of working on the simulator works out to about $120 per hour. More at
www.simsuiteed.com
Surgical simulation simulates the working environment of a surgical procedure using a computer and puts doctors in the perspective of the camera that is at the point of operation.
The first major shift from ‘hand-eye connect’ medical procedures was with the advent of tiny cameras and instruments that
could be inserted into a patient’s tract and monitored closely on a video monitor. Modern day endoscopic surgery relies on these tools to perform surgeries faster and with minimal risks. This is called MIS (Minimally Invasive Surge- ry). Doctors, however, found it a little difficult to adjust to them; hence, the surgical simulation. This concept is not restricted only to endoscopic procedures.
Surgery simulations are manipulations of already existing 3D models of organs. In essence, a surgical simulator performs three tasks: model organs and deformations, simulate actions like cutting of tissue and calculate and generate force feedback reactions. Models are generated by 3D-modeling software from real images taken during actual procedures. Data on the geometric and elastic properties of organs is also fed into the simulator. So much so that 3D models of the vascular system are also superimposed to simulate the blood flow. To iteratively calculate the actions and reactions, FEM (Finite Element Modeling) is used. The force feedback system uses detachable surgical tools mounted on force-feedback devices. Untoward event scenarios and multimedia clips are also incorporated to aid the process of learning.
VR (virtual reality) is extensively used in simulations for surgical training. This extends the concept of MIS, which already use video monitors extensively. An MIS simulation involves a computer-generated 3D model of surgical representations like body organs. The doctor then inserts instruments into the model and performs the surgery virtually.
VR ensures that the organs look and behave like them. So, organs would move, reflect light and get compressed when touched virtually. By means of VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language) and Java, the simulation is easy to model and implement. End users could even work on VRML-capable browsers. Doctors could go through multiple iterations on the virtual model before carrying out the procedure on the live patient.
Robot surgeon
Zeus, a robotic surgery system, aims to increase the scope of MIS (Minimally Invasive Surgery). For instance, currently heart bypass surgery causes a lot of trauma to the patient, as this type of surgery needs a 1-foot incision in the chest. However, with the Zeus system, it is possible to operate on the heart by making three small incisions in the chest, each only about 1 centimeter in diameter. With such MIS, the patient experiences less pain and bleeding, which means faster recovery. System like Zeus, also reduce fatigue and can eliminate hand tremors of surgeons. In addition, the use of computer systems opens another field of telesurgery, where the physical location of the expert will be redundant. He could be in the next room or continents across. Thus, the patient could have access to the best of experts, irrespective of their geographical locations.
Existing, virtual surgery tables are still in infancy. These are actual physical operating tables that have multi-user projection systems. They incorporate active and passive, high-resolution stereo projection system to enable a group of users to work on either side of the table on same or different sets of data.
Motherboard Chipsets Roundup
Predictive Software — EmTech 2009
Ultra-wide Band is Ultra-fastÂ
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Home / Posts tagged “antique grandfather clocks London”
Tag: antique grandfather clocks London
Posted on 8th February 2013 23rd October 2018 by wpPOM
European Clocks
I have been on a sort of busman’s holiday around the world looking at antique clocks. It is amazing how this country has literally pulled the world together or connected it through our history. I examined the close ties with Australia and antique clocks in my last blog. I have also written about the cloc kmakers that headed to USA for a new life. In both countries this meant the setting up production of a new industry in clockmaking. This will be one of my last blogs concerning clocks from around the world. I will look at antique clocks that were made for a particular market. Two countries spring to mind instantly.
Turkish and Portugese Market For Clocks
In the 18th century antique clocks manufactured in London were being sent to countries like Turkey and to another one of our close allies, Portugal. It is our connection with Portugal I will consider here. We have just restored a fantastic London mahogany grandfather clock. This is pictured above that has spent its entire life in Lisbon, I believe, until we purchased it at the end of last year. The superb example is pictured above.
Spencer and Perkins Lisbon Clock
You will see the clock is made by the great clockmakers Spencer and Perkins in London.Built around C1770. It has a strike/silent to the arch saying Repite and Surdo, clearly in Portuguese. This clock was exhibited in Lisbon in 1986 to commemorate the Battle of Aljubarrota in 1385. It was then 600 years since this historic battle. Right so what exactly is our connection with Portugal. The Anglo-Portugese Treaty of 1373 was signed between King Edward III of England and King Ferdinand and Queen Eleanor of Portugal. This is I believe the oldest treaty in the world. It was a treaty established between two great seafaring nations, a treaty of, “perpetual friendships, unions [and] alliances”.
Close Bonds With Portugal
This little heard of treaty has been reinforced throughout history, including in 1386 in this Battle of Aljubarrota. Here the English sent 100 longbowmen, veterans from the Hundred Years wars to honour this alliance in 1373. There were about 6,500 men on the Portuguese and English side against a force from the Crown of Castile, Kingdom of France and Arogonese allies and Italian allies of over 31,000 men. The Portuguese with the help of the English managed to win against overwhelming odds. In 1386, the closeness of the relations between Portugal and England resulted in a permanent military alliance, with the Treaty of Windsor, the eldest still active in existence. This treaty came into play again in 1643,1654,1660,1661,1703,1815,1899. It was also recognized in the Treaties of Arbitration in 1904 and 1914. This Treaty was also used during the Second World War and was also cited during the 1982 Falklands War.
Rise of Clockmaking
During the rise of the clockmaking in the UK in the 18th century under King George II and III we were at war with or on opposite sides with France many times. Supply of wine after French ports were blockaded became a problem. Our alliances with Portugal made British merchants look further afield. Port was invented as in order to stabilize the wines during their long journey at sea. Merchants added a bucket or two or brandy to the barrels before sending them off. Britain and Portugal signed the Methuen Treaty providing for, among other things, bolts of cloth from England for pipes of wine from Portugal. This paved the way for the enormous expansion of port trade in the 18th and 19th-centuries.
Port Trade
King George III was rather partial it was believed to this drink, and he helped his allies from Portugal during many occasions. It was believed fine antiques and clocks and other items were sent after various disastrous earth quakes in Portugal. The 1755 Lisbon earthquake was one of the most deadly earthquakes in history.
Lisbon Earthquakes
The pictures above show one such clock that was manufactured in London. This was sent out to Lisbon, Portugal in the 18th century. It has spent, I believe, all but the last few months overseas. It has a very unusual packing block behind the movement that looks original to the case. This appears to be the way the movement was bolted down for shipment in the 18th century. A really rare feature which you can see below. There is also an 18th century brass plate on the back of the movement that attaches to this block.
It is a fantastic antique clock and it can be viewed on our website, please contact me for any further information.
Daniel R Clements
Tags: antique clocks from around the world, antique grandfather clocks London, Clock export trade 18th century, Portugese antique clock history, rare antique clocks, repite surdo antique clock, Spencer & Perkins antique clock
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Home » AMERICAN HATE: Survivors Speak Out w/ Arjun Sethi
AMERICAN HATE: Survivors Speak Out w/ Arjun Sethi
Please join us for a presentation and discussion with Arjun Singh Sethi!
A moving and timely collection of testimonials from people impacted by hate before and after the 2016 presidential election.
“Why am I in this country now? Should I move elsewhere? Do I want to raise my kids in this country, where hate is so visible and rampant? I’ve been in this fight for decades, but even I struggle. Deep down, though, I know we need to stay the course and continue the fight.” —Marwan Kreidie, after a pig’s head was thrown at the Al-Aqsa Islamic Society Mosque in Philadelphia
In American Hate: Survivors Speak Out, Arjun Singh Sethi, a community activist and civil rights lawyer, chronicles the stories of individuals affected by hate. In a series of powerful, unfiltered testimonials, survivors tell their stories in their own words and describe how the bigoted rhetoric and policies of the Trump administration have intensified bullying, discrimination, and even violence toward them and their communities.
We hear from the family of Khalid Jabara, who was murdered in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in August 2016 by a man who had previously harassed and threatened them because they were Arab American. Sethi brings us the story of Jeanette Vizguerra, an undocumented mother of four who took sanctuary in a Denver church in February 2017 because she feared deportation under Trump’s cruel immigration enforcement regime. Sethi interviews Taylor Dumpson, a young black woman who was elected student body president at American University only to find nooses hanging across campus on her first day in office. We hear from many more people impacted by the Trump administration, including Native, black, Arab, Latinx, South Asian, Southeast Asian, Muslim, Jewish, Sikh, undocumented, refugee, transgender, queer, and people with disabilities.
A necessary book for these times, American Hate explores this tragic moment in U.S. history by empowering survivors whose voices white supremacists and right-wing populist movements have tried to silence. It also provides ideas and practices for resistance that all of us can take to combat hate both now and in the future.
Advance praise for AMERICAN HATE
“Arjun Singh Sethi lifts up those who have been victimized by the hate unleashed by Donald Trump. These stories of intimidation and brutality help us understand that each hate crime is an event that devastates individual lives, terrorizes communities, and tears at the social fabric of America. These are warning signs that we ignore at our own peril.”—Richard Cohen, executive director of the Southern Poverty Law Center
“It’s one thing to talk about the sudden rise of hate in Trump’s America. It’s something else to read the stories of those whose lives have been affected by hate, and, in some cases, devastated by it. By chronicling these personal accounts, Arjun Singh Sethi has done something remarkable and necessary. He has given pain and grief a human face.” —Reza Aslan, author of Zealot and God: A Human History
“Arjun Singh Sethi takes us to the frontlines of today’s American backlash in this searing collection of powerful narratives about hate. American Hate is both a stark reminder of the devastating effects of hate violence and anti-immigrant policies, and an inspiring and hopeful call to action.” —Deepa Iyer, author of We Too Sing America: South Asian, Arab, Muslim, and Sikh Immigrants Shape Our Multiracial Future
“This is a heart wrenching, heart breaking, heart strengthening, powerful book. In the journey towards equality, awareness and understanding are vital. Arjun Sethi gives us the stories of survivors in their own words, providing a shocking window into hate in present day America. This book shares the intimate details that we don’t get from news reports. These survivors have been brave enough to share their stories; we need to be brave enough to listen.” —Piper Perabo, Actor and Activist
Arjun Singh Sethi is a community activist, civil rights lawyer, writer, and law professor based in Washington, DC. He works closely with Muslim, Arab, South Asian, and Sikh communities and advocates for racial justice, equity, and social change at the local and national levels. His writing has appeared in CNN Opinion, The Guardian, Politico Magazine, USA Today, and The Washington Post, and he is featured regularly on national radio and television. He holds faculty appointments at Georgetown University Law Center and Vanderbilt University Law School, and presently co-chairs the American Bar Association's National Committee on Homeland Security, Terrorism, and Treatment of Enemy Combatants. He lives in Washington, D.C.
Penn Book Center
American Hate: Survivors Speak Out (Hardcover)
By Arjun Singh Sethi (Editor)
Published: New Press - August 7th, 2018
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The Visual Arts Department seeks to evoke a joyful curiosity in the pursuit of life-long learning in the visual arts, through an engaging curriculum that exercises the imagination, cultivates visual and cultural literacy, and builds technical skills in a variety of manual and digital media.
The William Penn Charter School Visual Arts department has eight studio/classrooms in our three divisions. The Pre-K has both art and movement studios, the Lower School has two studios, a two-dimensional studio for drawing, painting, collage, weaving and batik, and a fully equipped three-dimensional shop-studio for woodworking, ceramics and sculpture.
The Middle School studio, room 100, supports both two- and three-dimensional work, and uses the Middle School Atrium and other spaces for drawing and interdisciplinary art projects.
The Upper School has four well-equipped studios and a small darkroom for independent work in film photography. Room 105 is a large multi-purpose studio for painting and drawing, photography and interdisciplinary work. Room 105A is our digital lab for film, animation and photography. The lab is fully equipped with the Adobe Creative Suite, Macs, and drawing tablets. Rooms 102-103 are equipped for Upper School three-dimensional work, including 12 pottery wheels, ample studio space for hand-building and sculpture, two kilns, and a pugmill for recycling clay.
Penn Charter is also home to two maker spaces, known as IdeaLabs. The main IdeaLab, located in the Middle School basement, is equipped with laser cutters, 3D printers, a green screen and several large all-purpose work tables.
The Lower School IdeaLab has rudimentary robotics kits, iPads outfitted with interactive learning software and plenty of traditional hands-on learning tools to aid students in creative projects and design-based work.
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Quarles & Brady Partner Thomas McElligott Selected New National Practice Group Chair for the Energy & Environmental Law Practice Group
MILWAUKEE, WI — The national law firm of Quarles & Brady LLP today announced that Partner Thomas McElligott has been selected as the new national practice group chair for the Energy & Environmental Law Practice Group.
As chair, McElligott will lead a national team of attorneys who advise clients on an extensive array of energy and environmental matters, including complex regulatory, litigation, government relations, and transactional matters.
McElligott has significant experience in all aspects of environmental law, including negotiation of air and water discharge permits, defense of governmental and third-party enforcement actions, and representing private and municipal clients in remedial projects.
“I’m honored to be selected for this position,” said McElligott. “I look forward to leading a dedicated group of attorneys as we continue to provide clients with exceptional perspective and service on energy and environmental matters.
McElligott graduated cum laude from Marquette University Law School in 1983. McElligott is also an adjunct professor at Marquette University Law School teaching a Clean Water Act Workshop.
Thomas P. McElligott
Energy, Environment & Natural Resources
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Stories from Rainbow Street
To respect the security, privacy, and dignity of our beneficiaries, we've provided the stories of only a few beneficiaries who have given their consent to share them publicly. These aren't their real names.
Learn more about our work
Bader is a human rights activist who works with UNHCR to support fellow LGBT refugees. He’s also a powerful writer and poet who regularly shares his truth on his page Diary of a Queer Refugee. He wrote his own story below. Since writing this story, he has been permanently resettled in a safe country.
Bader is a trans person who fled to Lebanon over a year ago.
Bader’s family knew about him from the beginning. To protect the family reputation, they forced him to wear a headscarf and forbade him from enrolling in university. They beat him often.
After many years of abuse, Bader finally escaped his family. He remained in hiding and was forced to flee twice more as he traveled to different Middle Eastern countries. He was often homeless, sleeping on building rooftops and other makeshift shelters that didn’t protect him from the winter cold. He walked long distances on an empty stomach because he had no money for food or transportation.
Bader’s ID doesn’t match his appearance, which led to many hardships. No one will hire him, and he’s often detained at police checkpoints. He avoided hospitals for over a year because he was scared to present any identifying documents. Many people tried to exploit or harm him, so Bader tried his best to keep his trans identity to himself.
Today Bader lives in Lebanon. Having a safe place to live is essential for him. When he first got to Lebanon, he lost 22 lb. and started having health problems because he didn't have enough money to eat. For his safety, Bader can't live in the cheaper neighborhoods outside of Beirut. He tried to for a while, but he was stopped and almost detained twice by different religious groups.
With the support of Rainbow Street, Bader now lives in a relatively safe part of Beirut and can eat food whenever he feels hungry—no more depending on friends and strangers to share their food. Soon the winter is coming and there's even more need to live in a warm place, but Bader can live safely with Rainbow Street’s assistance until he's resettled by UNHCR.
Since the writing of this story, Omar has been permanently resettled in safe country.
Omar is a trans man currently living as a refugee in Beirut, Lebanon. Omar questioned his gender identity from an early age. But due to unbearable family pressure in his traditional community, he was forced to marry a man and bear a child. Omar’s husband abused him because of his refusal to conform to gender norms. After years of abuse and nowhere to turn, Omar fled to Beirut, where he lived in homelessness and food insecurity--common challenges for LGBT refugees awaiting resettlement.
Rainbow Street learned of Omar’s case soon after his arrival in Lebanon and leapt into action to get him off the street and into safe housing. Besides providing for Omar’s necessary expenses, Rainbow Street has been coordinating with multiple governmental and non-governmental organizations to help Omar permanently resettle in a safe country.
Raghad
Raghad’s physical threats began at age 10 when her grade school separated students by gender. Refusing to tolerate nonconformity, Raghad’s community rejected and harassed her. Things got worse. At 18, threatened by an armed militia, she contacted Rainbow Street and fled her home country. Rainbow Street staff worked with Raghad to register with the UN refugee agency so she could achieve her goal of permanent resettlement in a safer country. Local staff coordinated financial support from US donors so Raghad could live safely and independently until she was finally resettled over a year later. Raghad is using her fresh start to finally focus on her career in fashion.
Ayman is a young gay man from the Arabian peninsula. He became Rainbow Street’s first success story when he was permanently resettled in Ottawa, Canada with the help of UNHCR and a local guardian group.
Rainbow Street learned of Ayman’s case when he was living as a refugee in Amman, Jordan. Unable to work legally, Ayman was vulnerable to exploitation and forced to engage in risky behavior to make ends meet. Rainbow Street’s sustained monthly assistance provided the stability that Ayman needed to focus on his future instead of his immediate survival.
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If you can envision a shot, the drone can probably help achieve the photograph or video.
Len Calderone for | RoboticsTomorrow
03/03/16, 08:16 AM | Unmanned & Other Topics | UAV
It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's a drone! Faster than a pigeon. More powerful than a mosquito. Able to fly over tall buildings. There is no limit as to what drones will be doing in the future, especially in photography.
Photography has been limited to what could be photographed from the ground or the roof of a building, unless, of course, you were part of a film crew with cranes and helicopters. In the past, if you were an aerial photographer, you had to rent a plane or helicopter to take sweeping landscape shots. Now, a camera mounted on a drone lets you get that same landscape footage without relying on a film crew. All you will need is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), known as a drone, and a still or video camera.
There are rules and laws regarding photography; and there are laws that dictate how a drone can be flown. Therefore, if you want to take those amazing aerial shots, be sure to check out Federal, State and local laws regarding the use of a drone. Just because you can, does not mean that it is legal to fly over private property. In some jurisdictions, flying a UAV over someone's property without their permission is trespassing.
Practice, practice, practice. Flying a drone is not as easy as it looks and taking photographs or video from a moving UAV is even more difficult. If you have ever photographed sporting events or racing, you already know that movement and photography do not easily go together.
Liability is a real issue when flying a drone. You will be held liable if your drone does damage to property should it crash. Be especially careful when there are people in the vicinity. A person could be seriously injured by the drone's propellers or if the drone came down on someone. Remember, a drone is battery powered. If the battery dies, the drone crashes.
Four-time World Cup champion Marcel Hirscher was doing his second slalom run at a race in Italy, when a camera drone carrying a broadcast TV camera narrowly missed him when it crashed.
One of the newest trends is aerial photography in weddings. The unusual perspective of an outdoor wedding is luring couples to the aerial documentation of their wedding. Of course, special considerations are necessary, such as the ability of the UAV to hold the camera and lens. For mirrorless cameras, and especially DSLRs, you will need at least a six or even an eight rotor model. For video, a two or three axis gimbal is essential.
A two-axis gimbal design can tilt (pitch) and also cants (rolls) the camera. The latter adjustment keeps the camera level relative to the horizon. A three-axis system enables the camera to pan (yaw) as well. If the UAV has retractable landing gear, the photographer has a full 360 degrees of unobstructed view.
Drone photography is changing the way high end real estate is being marketed. In addition to an aerial view of the house and the entire property, it can show what the drive home or the kids’ walk to school looks like. The aerial shot can show the neighborhood and surrounding area, including the home’s proximity to amenities, civic developments or local improvement districts.
Technical installations and buildings, such as bridges or dams are subject to strict inspection and safety regulations, which is why they require regular inspections. The data acquisition can be time consuming and expensive; but a drone can cut the time and lower costs, while accessing hard to reach areas. Special sensor technology is available for crack detection in the sub-millimeter range.
Drones can go places reporters can’t, and for this reason, drones now film all sorts of accidents, disasters, conflicts and other incidents in dangerous places. Using a drone to cover a festival or to show the devastation of a tornado would indeed be informative. But a news organization would still have to report from the ground and interview witnesses.
Like the news that is captured by news helicopters, drone footage may be aired live via wireless transmission or stored on media for editing and playback later.
Sports photography is another innovative use of a drone. Used in athletic events or competitions, a drone can capture great footage of everything from a skier going off a ski jump, to distant locations of races, to boat races.
Televised football games already rely on images captured by cameras suspended by wires above the field; but if those wires were replaced by a drone, the action could be followed from any conceivable position, which would give the directors a lot of new camera angles.
Rhinos and elephants in Africa are in more danger than ever before. There were 1,293 rhinos poached in 2014 compared to only 62 in 2007. One single rhino horn can go for $250,000 on the black market. Drones are now being used to prevent poaching in Africa. They are flown at night, utilizing cameras that detect the heat given off by humans. Once the poachers are located, the park rangers move in.
Drones have been deployed on a trial basis in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa since 2012. The result has been a 65 percent drop in rhino poaching. Drones can be used to protect endangered species around the world.
In Chile, drones are assisting lifeguards in saving drowning swimmers at popular beaches. The drones are piloted from the beach and come attached with a float, camera, microphone, and speaker. A drone can fly to a swimmer in trouble, seven times faster than a life guard can swim to that person. Once there, the drone can drop a life preserver so the person can hang on until help arrives.
UAV flights are also used to note the presence of sharks near swimmers. Once sharks are spotted, signs are posted on the beach warning swimmers of the danger and the people in the water are called in.
Light-aircraft crashes are the No. 1 killer of wildlife biologists. Sixty of them were killed in plane or helicopter crashes because they were flying at the low altitudes necessary for observing and tracking wildlife.
UAVs offer a safer way for scientists to observe wildlife. They are less costly, more efficient, and more precise than traditional approaches. They provide an exceptional look at hard-to-reach places, such as orangutan nests high in the jungles of Sumatra and Borneo. The drones carry digital cameras that produce geo-referenced photos; and the data they gather can be fed into image-recognition algorithms to improve the accuracy of population counts.
Aerial cameras typically feature app-based control, while the handheld controller for the aircraft itself often has controls assigned to operate the gimbal. But if you're using an action camera, DSLR, or mirrorless camera shooting video, you might want to let the camera roll the whole time since most drones might get 15 minutes of flying time.
There are many ways that a drone can be used to complement a photographer and his or her camera. Future use of drones is wide open. If you can envision a shot, the drone can probably help achieve the photograph or video. There are many drones on the market that are useful for photography along with accessories to make beautiful images.
Len Calderone - Contributing Editor
Len contributes to this publication on a regular basis. Past articles can be found with an Article Search and his profile on our Associates Page
He also writes short stores that always have a surprise ending. These can be found at http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/Megalen.
More Unmanned & Other Topics Articles | Stories | News
IDS NXT - Novel Vision app-based sensors and cameras
App Your Sensor®! What would smartphones be without apps? They would be mobile phones that can't do much more than make phone calls and sending SMS. Apps turn smartphones into intelligent assistants with any number of different tasks. Transferred into the world of image processing, this app-based approach transforms cameras and sensors into customised, smart vision sensors.
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Box: Standing
Rockhal Box
Doors: 19:00
Organized by A-Promotions
Tickets go on sale on Friday, 7 June 2019 at 10am.
With over 10 million records sold to date, MIKA has become a certified Gold and Platinum artist in 32 countries worldwide and has proven to be a true Renaissance Man displaying his many talents as a song writer, performer, fashion designer, illustrator, and columnist.
Mika’s musical success began with the release of his hit single, “Grace Kelly.” The single was featured on his debut album, Life In Cartoon Motion, which went straight to #1 in the UK and 11 other countries, going on to sell over 7 million copies worldwide. Since his debut he has released three other Platinum selling full length albums, The Boy Who Knew Too Much, The Origin of Love, and No Place In Heaven. In addition, MIKA has not only won a Brit Award for British Breakthrough Act, but he has been nominated for Grammys, MTV Europe Music Awards, Capital Radio Awards and World Music Awards. Additionally, his RA12 primetime variety show “Stasera Casa Mika” won the prestigious Rose D’or Award for Best Entertainment Series in 2017. He has been a judge on France’s The Voice for six years and hosts his own BBC2 Radio show “The Art of Song”.
CATHERINE RINGER CHANTE LES RITA MITSOUKO
KHALID - FREE SPIRIT TOUR
KING GIZZARD & THE LIZARD WIZARD
VIP Offer
Where do I get tickets?
What happens if a show is cancelled?
Travel & Accomodation
Where can I park my car?
Access for persons with reduced mobility
Rockhal
Rockhalstudio
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Five Nights at Freddy's World
Article Type All PC Game News
Date Year 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 Month January February March April May June July August September October November December
Sort Date Title
Five Nights at Freddy’s creator jumps back from series
By Alice O'Connor • 2 years ago • 9
Several years ago, I went through a list of over 1,000 fan-made games inspired by Five Nights at Freddy's. And that was before the jumpscare 'em up series really took off. Several games (and one troubled spin-off) later, creator Scott Cawthon has confirmed that he was working on a Five Nights 6 of sorts - but confirmed this by announcing its cancellation. The pressure of…
Tagged with Five Nights at Freddy's 2, Five Nights at Freddy's 4, Scott Cawthon, Five Nights At Freddy's, Five Nights At Freddy's 3, Five Nights at Freddy's World, Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location.
Five Nights At Freddy’s World Re-Released For Free
FNaF World [official site], the RPG spin-off from animatronic scare 'em up Five Nights at Freddy's, has returned and is now free. Creator Scott Cawthon released it in January, a month earlier than he'd previously planned, and some responses to the game made him rethink that. Really rethink that. He pulled the game from sale, decided to refund the $10 of everyone who bought it,…
Tagged with free games, Scott Cawthon, Five Nights At Freddy's, Five Nights at Freddy's World.
FNaF World Pulled From Sale, Will Return Free
By Alice O'Connor • 3 years ago • 49
Five Nights at Freddy's creator Scott Cawthon has pulled his newly-released RPG spin-off FNaF World [official site] from sale and plans to refund all buyers, then re-release the game later for free. He's unhappy with its reception, he says, and wants to do better. He had released it a month earlier than planned and, apparently, that hasn't quite worked out.
Tagged with Scott Cawthon, Five Nights At Freddy's, Five Nights at Freddy's World.
Boo! Five Nights At Freddy’s World Jumps Out Early
Five Nights at Freddy's World [official site] may be taking the animatronic cast of the smash-hit jumpscare 'em up into a retro-style JRPG, but creator Scott Cawthon still likes to throw a surprise a two out. For example, BOO! It's out right now! FNaF World was due on February 19th but it's out a month early, right here right now right up in your face…
Spooky Teddy JRPG Spin-Off FNaF World Out Soon
By Alec Meer • 4 years ago • 8
I have never played a Five Nights at Freddy's [official site] game. This is nothing to do with loathing the art style or having no patience for jump-scares, and everything to do with an ancient prophecy that states the entire population of the world will spontaneously sprout weeping facial sores should a 5'6", quarter-Jewish man born in Upton Snodsbury, Worcestershire ever play a game about…
Tagged with Five Nights at Freddy's 2, Five Nights at Freddy's 4, Scott Cawthon, Five Nights At Freddy's, Five Nights At Freddy's 3, Five Nights at Freddy's World.
Five Nights At Freddy’s World Is An RPG, Is Real
By Adam Smith • 4 years ago • 13
Five Nights at Freddy's [official site] creator Scott Cawthon has confirmed that while there won't be a fifth game in the main series - "the story is complete" - there will be another FNAF game soon. It's an RPG: "The new game that I'm working on will be called FNAF World. It will not be a horror game, but a role playing game where you…
Tagged with Five Nights at Freddy's 4, Scott Cawthon, Five Nights At Freddy's, Five Nights at Freddy's World.
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American Hollow
Review - American Hollow
March 10, 2016 in Appalachia, Books
Hardcover| 8 x 11 inches | 144 pages | 128 black and white photographs | Bullfinch Press, 1999 | Rory Kennedy | $35
The Kennedy name is not an unfamiliar one in Appalachia. Brothers John and Bobby campaigned there, visits that were well documented and widely circulated. Bobby's son, Robert Jr., has been a longtime environmental advocate working to shed light on the destructive practice of surface mining. For this film (HBO) and companion book, his younger sister, Rory, spent a year off an on with the Bowling family of Saul, Kentucky in Perry County.
I struggle with both the film and the book (for example, constantly referring to the Bowling family as a clan, written twice in the dust jacket alone), but I'm convinced that's not necessarily a bad thing. The issues addressed - poverty, welfare, and violence to name a few - aren't as black and white as we'd all like them to be. They never are. And while I struggle with some of the framing of the story, even its very premise at times, it really asks us to consider the complexity of issues - and people - we tend to generalize and marginalize, intentionally or not.
(Bass [Bascum] at the supper table.)
Nearly every review I read of the film American Hollow used the word "hardscrabble." I can't tell you how much I hate that word as it seems to be perpetually used to describe life in Appalachia. There should be a drinking game designed around this. In fact, Kennedy's introduction to the book begins, "American Hollow is a many-textured story about a hardscrabble life of poverty in a beautiful and unspoiled landscape." Drink.
She continues, "We expect Appalachia to be a place of inbreeds and six-fingered children, of hillbillies and moonshine, an America more backwards than backwoods. But in my year with the Bowlings, I discovered that the truth is not so simple. Early on, the Bowlings and I forged a powerful connection. They immediately opened up their home to me, and I spent more time with them, I was struck by their sense of dignity and pride as they survived life in this forgotten corner of America." Yes, she went there.
(Lisa Raisor, age twelve, jumping.)
The book's foreword was written by Robert Coles, distinguished Harvard professor, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, and founding member of the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University (as well as cofounder of DoubleTake Magazine with Alex Harris). Coles poignantly writes, "The further hope, of course, is that the rest of us take notice of Appalachia, that we become thereby connected in mind and heart to a people both proud and vulnerable, who at a distinct remove from us, even as they salute the same flag we honor, speak the same language we favor. Under such circumstances a nation lives up to its name." Coles describes working in Appalachia as a young physician, which seemed to leave a lasting impression.
Most of the film's focus is on the Bowling family matriarch, Iree. She is really something. She birthed and raised children (thirteen in all), cooked, cleaned, sewed, gardened, doctored, quilted, and did just about everything else that needed to be done on the family land. "I feel like I'm rich, rich as the Lord wants me to be," she declares. She has dedicated her entire life to preserving the old ways, the traditions, and worked to care for her family. Kennedy writes, "Ultimately, I think she knows that her way of life won't survive much longer."
As one might imagine, there is a clear distinction between American Hollow the film and American Hollow the book. It bothers me to no end that photographer Steve Lehman's name is absent from the cover. It is understandably Kennedy's film, but it is very much Lehman's book. As such, it's hard for me let go of this oversight. Without question, the book is beautifully printed and bound. I appreciate text-heavy photobooks when the text isn't merely ornamental; here it is instrumental. The interviews, conducted by Mark Bailey, are masterful and work well in concert with Lehman's photographs. One particular interview with Ivalene Estep (the third child of Iree and Bass), is especially moving. "I've been taking care of kids all my life...It's like this circle we all get in and we're afraid to get out," Estep shares. This could very well be my family.
You can pick up a copy of American Hollow for incredibly little money (as of this writing, I count at least eight copies for less than five dollars including shipping). As I mentioned earlier, I struggle with this book but feel it's a good addition to any collection. It's certainly worth your time to sit with and study a while.
(Iree and Lonzo.)
A couple of side notes:
I met director Rory Kennedy at the Full Frame Film Festival in Durham, North Carolina in 2010 after screening the film (and she signed my copy of American Hollow). A few months earlier, I photographed her brother, Robert Jr., at a debate with Don Blankenship, former Massey Energy CEO, in Charleston, West Virginia. I met two Kennedys in the span of four months.
The film can be seen in its entirety here.
For the first time, I've added a flip-through of the book I'm writing about (below). It's not the best quality as I'm not a videographer (as evidenced here), but I thought it would be nice to provide a more complete overview of the book, its pace, sequence, and design. We'll see how this one is received and if there's a demand, I'll add more. Thanks for looking.
Tags: American Hollow, Kentucky, Rory Kennedy, Steve Lehman
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Anna Effenberger '19 Wins Best in Show at Congressional Art Competition
Anna Effenberger ‘19 won Best in Show at the Congressional Art Competition. The results were announced Friday, May 3. Anna's work will be on exhibit in Washington, D.C. for one year in the Capitol Building Complex.
Pictured is Anna and her work with Representative Chris Smith. “We are very proud of Anna and her achievements,” said Visual Arts Department Chair Kate Greenberg.
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