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Amoris Laetitia footnote contradicts Church’s tradition, says leading German philosopher
Amoris Laetitia (AP)
Robert Spaemann, one of the foremost living Catholic philosophers, has said Amoris Laetitia contradicts the traditional teaching of the Church.
In an interview with the German Catholic News Agency, Spaemann says that most of Pope Francis’s apostolic exhortation is in line with the Church’s teaching – although some sections are capable of being read otherwise. However, Spaemann says that paragraph 305, when read with its accompanying footnote 351, “directly contradicts [widerspricht direkt] paragraph 84 of John Paul II’s letter Familiaris Consortio.”
Spaemann, described as one of Europe’s leading philosophers, has written almost 20 books and has an international reputation for his work in ethics and other areas. He belonged to Pope Benedict XVI’s circle of thinkers and went to meetings organised by the Pope Emeritus.
Paragraph 305 refers to those in “irregular” situations – a term often used to refer to the divorced and remarried – and says: “Because of forms of conditioning and mitigating factors, it is possible that in an objective situation of sin – which may not be subjectively culpable, or fully such – a person can be living in God’s grace, can love and can also grow in the life of grace and charity, while receiving the Church’s help to this end.”
A footnote (f351) adds: “In certain cases, this can include the help of the sacraments. Hence, ‘I want to remind priests that the confessional must not be a torture chamber, but rather an encounter with the Lord’s mercy’ (Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium [24 November 2013], 44: AAS 105 [2013], 1038). I would also point out that the Eucharist ‘is not a prize for the perfect, but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak.’”
Pope St John Paul II’s 1984 exhortation Familiaris Consortio said that remarried people should not receive communion unless they live “in complete continence”. It says that this is based on tradition going back to Scripture: “the Church reaffirms her practice, which is based upon Sacred Scripture, of not admitting to Eucharistic Communion divorced persons who have remarried”.
Spaemann said: “One cannot expect that people enjoy a beautiful text and ignore crucial sentences that shift the teaching of the Church [die Lehre der Kirche verändern] in a papal document. There is actually only a clear yes-or-no decision. To give communion or not to give it, there is no middle position in between.”
Spaemann is perhaps the most high-profile Catholic thinker to say that Amoris Laetitia is inconsistent with Church teaching. Cardinals Christoph Schönborn and Vincent Nichols have said the document is in continuity with Familiaris Consortio, while Cardinal Raymond Burke, seen as a leading “conservative” voice at the first family synod, said: “A post-synodal apostolic exhortation, by its very nature, does not propose new doctrine and discipline.”
Bishop Philip Egan of Portsmouth said last week: “Does the Pope say the divorced and civilly remarried may now be readmitted to Holy Communion? No.”
Two weeks ago Pope Francis said he could not remember footnote 351, when asked about it by a journalist.
Writing in this week’s Catholic Herald, Fr Raymond de Souza suggests that the footnotes are the result of intervention by the document’s editors. “I don’t expect the Holy Father himself waded through all 391 footnotes and followed them up. He already indicated on the plane that he could not remember the most important one. So the mischief here must be attributed to those who edited Amoris Laetitia,” Fr de Souza writes.
Spaemann said that the door was closed to reception of the sacraments by those in ongoing sexual relationships “which objectively contradict the Christian order of life”.
Spaemann said Amoris Laetitia was influenced by a “situation ethics” condemned by John Paul II in his encyclical Veritatis Splendor.
He predicted that there would be “uncertainty and confusion” at all levels of the Church, “from the bishops’ conferences to the little priest in the jungle”, and said it could lead to a schism “at the heart of the Church”, adding: “God forbid that.” He added that the Pope’s objective of reaching people’s hearts had been “scuppered” by the document for “an unforeseeable time” (durch dieses Lehrschreiben auf unabsehbare Zeit zunichte gemacht worden).
Cardinal Christoph Schönborn
Cardinal Vincent Nichols
Robert Spaemann
Archbishop leading US response to Amoris Laetitia says his role has ‘no policy dimension’
Archbishop Chaput said the working group was ‘very ad hoc’
Cardinal Wuerl: ‘Amoris Laetitia is part of Church’s faithful and living tradition’
The US cardinal made the remarks in a letter to the priests of the Washington Archdiocese.
Divorced and remarried are now asking for Communion, says senior Milan official
The priest in charge of Confession at Milan cathedral says there has been a growing “demand” for absolution and Communion
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US bishops back bill to let agencies opt out of adoption for same-sex couples
Baltimore Archbishop William Lori (CNS)
Three bishops, in a joint letter to the measure’s sponsor, voiced their support of the Child Welfare Provider Inclusion Act, which would permit social service agencies to refuse on religious grounds to provide adoption or foster services for households headed by same-sex couples.
The bishops, who chair three US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ committees, called it a “needed bill.”
“The Inclusion Act protects the freedom of all child welfare providers by ensuring they will not be discriminated against by the government because of their religious beliefs or moral convictions,” said the April 10 letter, signed by Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore, chairman of the US bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty; Bishop James Conley of Lincoln, Nebraska, chair of the bishops’ Subcommittee for the Defense and Promotion of Marriage; and Bishop Frank Dewane of Venice, Fla, chairman of their Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development.
“The act prevents the federal government and states that receive federal funds for child welfare services from excluding child welfare providers who believe that children deserve to be placed with a married mother and father,” the three bishops said in the letter to Rep Mike Kelly, R-Pennsylvania.
“The Inclusion Act is needed because child welfare service providers are being subjected to discrimination because of their sincerely held religious beliefs and moral convictions,” said a USCCB fact sheet on the bill.
“For example, certain religiously affiliated charities in Massachusetts, Illinois, California and the District of Columbia have had to stop providing adoption and foster care services because of requirements to place children in households headed by two persons of the same sex,” it said. “In Illinois alone, more than 3,000 children in foster care — more than 20 per cent of the state’s total — were displaced from religiously affiliated organisations.”
The fact sheet added, “Women and men who want to place their children for adoption should be free to choose from a diversity of adoption agencies, including those that share the parents’ religious beliefs and moral convictions. The Inclusion Act recognises and respects this parental choice.”
“The freedom to serve in accord with one’s religious beliefs and moral convictions is foundational to religious freedom in our nation,” the three bishops said. “Our first and most cherished freedom, religious liberty, is to be enjoyed by all Americans, including child welfare providers who serve the needs of children.”
family marriage
US bishops
US Supreme Court agrees to hear same-sex marriage cases
The court has accepted petitions from Tennessee, Michigan, Kentucky and Ohio
German bishops ‘regret’ same-sex marriage vote
The bishops vowed to fight for the ‘Christian understanding of marriage’
Canadian bishops urge politicians to reject bill to legalise assisted suicide
The legislation sets out conditions under which seriously ill and dying adults may seek medical help to end their lives
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InicioLecture from Gilberto Lozano at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Lecture from Gilberto Lozano at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada
October 1st. 2015
I am so happy to be here in this panel sharing with you my experience on the pacifist revolution that is being engineered and happening in Mexico.
Mexico shares with Canada the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in which there are plenty interests in diverse areas among them: economic development, and without any doubt, a migratory policy, this, and especially lately, the increase of Mexicans in Canada is mostly a product of a their own country plagued with impunity, corruption, poverty and violence.
I offer few relevant insights about the Mexican actual context
Mexico has been recognized the fifth (5th) richest country of the world measured according to their natural resources (mining, lakes, petroleum, natural environment, and its strategic geographic position in Latin America).
Nevertheless, we have 63% of poverty, measured according to the world standards, it is the fourteen economy of the world with one hundred and twenty millions of inhabitants, and very importantly, its inequality according to the GINI coefficient is extremely high as we have few world millionaires cohabiting with a large amount of poor people.
The system of justice, processes only (.01) point zero one percent of the delinquency acts in a country that justice and injustice can be bought with money.
What is the anthropological and sociological history of our nation? Mexico evolves in the magic of its culture, a land of shamans, where the Aztec and Mayan cultures have left us an incredible legacy not only to Mexico but to the world, but at the same time, slavery occurred within the history of colonialism.
The arrival of Quetzalcoatl, as an Aztec prophecy (it predicted the arrival of a saviour with a very different ethnic characteristics, like a god and so, this is the reason that the Spanish took control of Mexico, because the Indians thought they were the Quetzalcoatl), it finished with our Empire, later we had an unfinished independence and a stolen revolution.
In Mexico, Mexicans are NOT the owners of their natural resources such as the petroleum, the beaches. Through corruption, and a good amount of traitors, all has been sold.
In the revolution, revolutionaries were assassinated, the monarchy and the European dictatorships, were substituted by an oligarchy in the hands of 88 families. All the legal system is based on fraud, and protects sectarian interests and the legal culture is just incipient.
The television and educational monopolies sustain a society of lords and slaves where the hope of social mobility is non real. The minimum wage of 4 dollars a day, only secures an ongoing ignorance, hunger and continued social stratification.
Tourism can see only Disneyland in Mexico, but cannot see the reality of the struggles that Mexicans face every day.
Twelve thousand killings per year, five thousand forced disappearances and a corruption that position Mexico in the top five.
We are not a democracy, nor a republic. We do not choose our leaders, all the system is a well fabricated façade (FASAD) by the corrupted, unresponsive, unaccountable political parties and their members.
The political parties have accorded to distribute among them one billion dollars every year, two hundred posts are distributed every six years: 40% as deputies and 50% as senators without Mexicans taking any decision on these enactments.
That is why this fight is equal to that of Spartacus, to abolish the Mexican neo“slavery”.
Today a revolution is being engineered all over the country.
Inspired in a pacifist movement like that of Gandhi, Mandela, Martin Luther King, Lech Walesa, we have begun this process five years ago.
In our revolution, our slogan is
” Alone we are just a drop, united we are a Tsunami” Article thirty nine (39) of the constitution and basis for our independence is that “we the people are the power, we are the principal, the boss, the chief”
This is a quantum jump in citizenship participation. From being apathetical and servants of the politicians (in a highly clientelistic system) to become today the politicians’ bosses and regain our agency to instigate the changes we want to see.
The benchmark of austerity, expenditure, debt acquisition, are non-sense in an ocean that we have to cross now.
The financial lords and conspirators of the new world order, are part of the structure, but our reality is that those who steal from Mexicans, are not connected with them. In Mexico, politicians have acquired a legal permit to steal from us. We have two types of crime, the illegal and the legal (criminals attracted by a spoiled system from its design and its operation)
In the case of Mexico, the government steals from its citizens, and therefore, citizens have to run for themselves. This is a vicious cycle that we have to break. Informal market is an act of self-defence, and unfortunately, justice is being taken more and more in the hands of a citizenship that feels unprotected by the system.
Learning experience:
Alternating powers have not bring about a change in Mexico, there is a façade (FASAD) called “democracy” because elections occur and alternating parties take power but, citizenship has not yet clearly increased their civil and political rights in an inclusionary fashion. Exclusion is the everyday bread. Poverty is produced and reproduced by the system to continue its maintenance.
The creation of more political parties have represented more expenditure and waste. This has been a strategy to divide people and maintain the status quo.
Now we have more laws and rules to the citizens that not necessarily translate in wellbeing and progress.
What are we doing? Where do we want to go?
We are focusing on organizing the citizen, the voter. We are the principal agents, we are focusing on the sovereignty of the organized people to build a real democracy and a genuine republic.
Bring all over Mexico the case of Cheran, Michoacan. A community that regained their self-determination, retained their autonomy and decided to vote openly for their representatives and get rid of the corrupt politicians and their political parties. In this place where twenty eight thousand people live, they attained zero criminality, zero corruption, high efficiency, accountability, responsibility and community building through assuming their role as chiefs and not as clients. A good analogy of what is happening in Cheran is life in a condominium, where the owners of the appartments are the chiefs and they put an employee to administer it. The president of a country is an employee not the owner of a country.
Build a strong base of citizenship able to exercise their power, to conceive themselves as principals as chiefs of their community outcomes, and able to freely and strongly exercise the check and balances of their public servants (we are changing the language to talk about then, we began to call our politicians, employees). Build a virtuous cycle where the people is organized, connected and their civil and political rights are extended towards all inclusively.
In just five years we have three thousand and nine citizens cells, with one point three million of registered participants all connected with each other.
Some examples of the cells’ contribution: They have exercised their will and their role as chiefs and have get rid of unnecessary tax increases, have made penal accusations to deputies and corrupt politicians, support laws towards the acceptance of independent candidates to run for public posts, citizen congress in Nuevo Leon, Sonora, Baja California, Colima among others have influence law making and function as observers and evaluate politicians outcomes. Now as a national project, we are all over Mexico, collecting signatures to legally exercise an accusation against the president of Mexico for money laundry, corruption and crimes against humanity among others.
We have used judicial system for legitimation and also social pressure of the social movement to push forward our goals.
We have no ideologies, just common sense. In this movement we look for the power of self-determination and sovereignty and not to be part of the already corrupt system of parties and politicians.
How do we operate?
Horizontal structure with a critical base of values and principles.
We operate through Social Networks and invite others to unite the movement. Every year we double the amount of people joining the movement.
State coordinators, City Coordinators, and cell coordinators
Weekly meetings to decide what do we have to do now
Every citizens of the movement devotes around three hours a week to exercise their responsibility with power and agency.
National meetings every six months to get national accords and projects.
National Citizens Congress is growing every day and soon we will see that a new citizenship is emerging to forge a better present and promising future for Mexico
Our vision is to get to a point in which we do not need politicians anymore, as they only reproduce the status quo. You might think this is anarchy, but NO, in education we want educators, in construction we want engineers and technicians, in health, we need doctors and nurses and not politicians. We think in a new paradigm of legislators, we need common people that do not live out of politics. Also, members of the board in every municipality that are volunteer citizens and no politicians.
We believe that in the next three years, National Citizen Congress will be a big stakeholder all over Mexico. Stronger than political parties, stronger than government itself as it will represent the majority, because we are the POWER, they are the FORCE.
You have two decisions, whether leaving this actual Mexican revolution to the next generation or should we take the charge, become responsible, get rid of the fear and take this as our destiny, exercising our power as the owners of Mexico.
Thank you very much. All questions are welcome.
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Slow Eating Might Help Curb Calories
Study found some people consume more when meals are rushed
By Alan Mozes
THURSDAY, Jan. 2, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- As people look for fresh strategies to cut back on calories and shed pounds, a new study suggests that simply eating more slowly can significantly reduce how much people eat in a single sitting.
The study involved a small group of both normal-weight and obese or overweight participants. All were given an opportunity to eat a meal under relaxed, slow-speed conditions, and then in a time-constrained, fast-speed environment.
The catch: Although all participants consumed less when eating slowly and all said they felt less hungry after eating a slow meal compared to a fast meal, only people who were considered normal weight actually reduced their calorie intake significantly when eating more slowly.
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"One possible reason [for the calorie drop seen] may be that slower eating allows people to better sense their feelings of hunger and fullness," said study author Meena Shah, a professor in the department of kinesiology at Texas Christian University, in Fort Worth.
Slow eating also seemed to increase water intake and stomach swelling, Shah said, while also affecting the biological process that determines how much food people consume.
The study was published online Jan. 2 in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
Although just less than 15 percent of Americans were obese in the early 1970s, that figure increased to nearly 36 percent by 2010, the researchers said.
To explore a potential connection between slow eating and reduced caloric intake, the team focused on 35 normal-weight men and women and 35 overweight or obese men and women.
During a two-day study period, all were asked to consume the exact same meals under two conditions. The "slow" meal was spread over an average of 22 minutes per meal, involving small bites and deliberate chewing without concern for time. The "fast" meal involved large bites and quick chewing, under the notion that time was of the essence. The average fast-meal time was about nine minutes.
The result: Normal-weight participants were found to consume 88 fewer calories when eating slowly, a decrease deemed "significant." By contrast, the obese/overweight group saw only a 58-calorie reduction during the slow-eating session, which was not considered significant.
The researchers said the obese/overweight group actually consumed less food overall during both the slow- and fast-eating sessions than the normal-weight group. That finding might explain the smaller calorie drop during the first group's slow-eating trial, they said.
Some self-consciousness among the participants might also have affected eating patterns, leading them to consume food in a manner that differed from a private, real-world setting. "There is always the possibility that people will eat differently when they are being observed," Shah said.
Both groups ate less when eating slowly, however, and a notable spike in water intake during the slow-eating test might be a major reason why. When eating slowly, water intake increased by 27 percent among the normal-weight group, and by 33 percent among the overweight/obese group.
Susan Roberts, a senior scientist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, suggested that the study suffers from a number of analytic flaws.
"First of all, slow eating reduces [calorie] intake by 10 percent in the normal-weight folk and 8 percent in the obese ones," said Roberts, who works at the nutrition research center at Tufts University in Medford, Mass. "The 10 percent is [deemed] statistically significant, whereas the 8 percent is not. However, there is no significant difference between 8 percent and 10 percent, meaning ... there is no difference in the effect of eating speed on [calorie] intake according to whether you are obese or lean."
"More importantly," she added, "the obese individuals in the study substantially under-ate during the measurements, which calls into question whether the results are meaningful and repeatable."
Lona Sandon, assistant professor of clinical nutrition at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, said the study did not control for a number of factors that could have influenced the findings. That makes it impossible to conclude that there is any direct cause and effect between slower eating and lower food consumption, she said.
"However, there are other theories and camps of research that support the theory that we consume less when we eat more slowly," said Sandon, a registered dietitian. "Taking time to enjoy and be more mindful of the food we are eating is associated with eating less."
"[But] it may be a better strategy for preventing weight gain, as opposed to treating overweight and obesity," Sandon said.
To learn more about healthy weight, visit the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
SOURCES: Meena Shah, Ph.D., professor, department of kinesiology, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth; Lona Sandon, R.D., assistant professor, clinical nutrition, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas; Susan Roberts, Ph.D., senior scientist, USDA Human Nutrition Research Center, Tufts University, Medford, Mass.; Jan, 2, 2014, Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, online
Last Updated: Jan 3, 2014
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888 Holdings At a Glance
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888 is listed on the London Stock Exchange (ticker: 888).
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↪ Title 1. Government Organization.
↪ Chapter 6. Merit Personnel System.
↪ Subchapter XI. Classification; Compensation.
↪ § 1–611.10. Compensation — Members of the Board of Education.
§ 1–611.09. Compensation — Mayor and members of Council; Attorney General.
§ 1–611.11. Classification and compensation policies and procedures for educational employees.
§ 1–611.10. Compensation — Members of the Board of Education.
Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, each member of the District of Columbia Board of Education shall receive a salary of not more than $15,000 annually; except the President of the Board of Education shall receive not more than $16,000 annually. These sums shall not increase unless by an act of the Council.
(Mar. 3, 1979, D.C. Law 2-139, § 1110, 25 DCR 5740; Feb. 24, 1987, D.C. Law 6-175, § 3(b), 33 DCR 7232; Apr. 9, 1997, D.C. Law 11-198, § 301(a), 43 DCR 4569.)
1981 Ed., § 1-612.10.
Section References
This section is referenced in § 1-602.02 and § 38-2651.
Board of education, limitations on member compensation, see § 1-204.95.
For temporary amendment of section, see § 301(a) of the Fiscal Year 1997 Budget Support Congressional Adjournment Emergency Amendment Act of 1997 (D.C. Act 12-2, February 19, 1997, 44 DCR 1590).
Section 1001 of D.C. Act 12-2 provided for the application of the act.
For temporary (225 day) amendment of section, see § 301(a) of Fiscal Year 1997 Budget Support Temporary Amendment Act of 1996 (D.C. Law 11-226, April 9, 1997, law notification 44 DCR 2584).
Application of 11-198: Section 1001 of D.C. Law 11-198 provided that Titles I, II, III, V, and VI and sections 405 and 406 of the act shall apply after September 30, 1996.
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↪ Title 2. Government Administration.
↪ Chapter 12. Business and Economic Development.
↪ Subchapter VIII. Business Improvement Districts.
↪ Part A. General.
↪ § 2–1215.18. Term of BID; extension; termination and dissolution.
§ 2–1215.17. Civil action for BID taxes.
§ 2–1215.19. Prohibited acts.
§ 2–1215.18. Term of BID; extension; termination and dissolution.
(a)(1) Each BID shall have an initial term that shall end on the last day of the 5th full fiscal year of the District during which the BID has been registered pursuant to § 2-1215.06(h). A BID may be extended for successive 5-year terms if:
(A) The BID notifies the Mayor at least 180 days before the end of the BID’s term that it desires to extend its status as a registered BID for a subsequent 5-year term;
(B) The BID submits a plan for the next 5 years of BID operations to the Mayor; and
(C) The Mayor holds a public hearing in accordance with this subsection and subsequently issues a notice of BID re-registration.
(2) Notice to the public shall be made no fewer than 21 days before the hearing.
(3) The Mayor shall:
(A) Publish the notice of the public hearing along with the notice of preliminary finding in the District of Columbia Register;
(B) Ensure that the notices are published in at least 2 sources of local general interest print or electronic media; and
(C) Hold the public hearing no earlier than 120 days before the end of the fiscal year, and no later than 30 days before the end of the fiscal year.
(a-1) If, at the end of the fiscal year, the BID has requested an extension and the Mayor has not issued an order revoking the registration or denying an extension, the BID shall be deemed to be re-registered for a subsequent 5-year term.
(b) The Mayor shall issue an order revoking the registration of a BID at any time if:
(1) By a 2/3 majority vote of the Board, the Board elects not to seek re-registration of the BID;
(2) Not more than one year and not less than 90 days before the end of each 5-year period, the owners of at least 51% in assessed value of taxable property and at least 25% in number of taxable properties within the BID elect to dissolve the BID effective as of the last day of the then applicable 5-year term;
(3) The Mayor determines that there has been unlawful conduct by the management or Board of the BID, which conduct has not been remedied within 30 days of notice thereof;
(4) The Mayor determines that the conduct of the BID has jeopardized the ability of the BID to carry out the purposes of this subchapter, which conduct has not been remedied within 30 days of notice thereof;
(5) The BID corporation is voluntarily or involuntarily dissolved in accordance with law;
(6) The operations of the BID cease for any reason for at least 60 consecutive days at any time after the initial organizational period of 120 days; or
(7) A BID corporation voluntarily files for bankruptcy protection, becomes insolvent, or has a receiver appointed for all or substantially all of its assets, or any such proceeding is instituted against the BID corporation and is not discharged within 60 days.
(c) Within 60 days of dissolution, the Board shall adopt a plan to timely distribute funds and dispose of assets to satisfy all creditors in the order of their priority, if any. Any surplus funds, including the proceeds of the sale of all real and personal property, shall be returned to the owners in proportion to their obligation to pay BID taxes within 30 days of adoption of the plan of distribution.
(d) The Mayor may designate the Department of Small and Local Business Development to perform the functions described by this section.
(May 29, 1996, D.C. Law 11-134, § 18, 43 DCR 1684; renumbered as § 19, Oct. 8, 1997, D.C. Law 12-26, § 2, 44 DCR 4320; Feb. 26, 2015, D.C. Law 20-161, § 2(n), 61 DCR 10741; Oct. 8, 2016, D.C. Law 21-160, § 2072(a), 63 DCR 10775.)
1981 Ed., § 1-2288.
Effect of Amendments
The 2015 amendment by D.C. Law 20-161 rewrote (a); added (a-1) and (d); and substituted “taxable” for “nonexempt real” throughout (b)(2).
Expiration of Law
Expiration of Law 11-134
See Historical and Statutory Notes following § 2-1215.01.
For temporary amendment of section, see § 2 of the Business Improvement Districts Emergency Amendment Act of 1997 (D.C. Act 12-89, June 19, 1997, 44 DCR 3747), and § 2 of the Business Improvement Districts Congressional Review Emergency Amendment Act of 1997 (D.C. Act 12-146, August 12, 1997, 44 DCR 5054).
For temporary (90 day) amendment of section, see § 2 of Extension of Time Emergency Amendment Act of 2010 (D.C. Act 18-605, November 17, 2010, 57 DCR 11050).
For temporary (90 day) amendment of section, see § 2 of Extension of Time Congressional Review Emergency Amendment Act of 2011 (D.C. Act 19-10, February 11, 2011, 58 DCR 1429).
For temporary (90 days) amendment of this section, see § 2(n) of the Business Improvement Districts Emergency Amendment Act of 2014 (D.C. Act 20-435, Oct. 7, 2014, 61 DCR 10717, 20 STAT 4154).
For temporary (90 days) amendment of this section, see § 2(n) of the Business Improvement Districts Congressional Review Emergency Amendment Act of 2014 (D.C. Act 20-582, Jan. 13, 2015, 62 DCR 1269, 21 STAT 735).
For temporary (90 days) amendment of this section, see § 2 of the Business Improvement Districts Charter Renewal Emergency Amendment Act of 2015 (D.C. Act 21-227, Dec. 17, 2015, 62 DCR 16249).
For temporary (225 day) amendment of section, see § 2 of the Business Improvement Districts Temporary Amendment Act of 1997 (D.C. Law 12-23, September 23, 1997, law notification 44 DCR 5762).
Section 2 of D.C. Law 18-306 added subsec. (d) to read as follows:
“(d) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) of this section, the Board of the Adams Morgan BID may give notice under subsection (a) of this section up until, but no later than, December 31, 2010. Any approved re-registration under this act shall be for a term beginning October 1, 2010.”
Section 4(b) of D.C. Law 18-306 provided that the act shall expire after 225 days of its having taken effect.
For temporary (225 days) amendment of this section, see § 2 of the Business Improvement Districts Charter Renewal Temporary Amendment Act of 2015 (D.C. Law 21-89, Mar. 9, 2016, 63 DCR 796).
Mayor's Orders
Extension of the term of the Golden Triangle Business Improvement District Pursuant to the Business Improvement Districts Act of 1996, see Mayor’s Order 2003-130, September 11, 2003 ( 50 DCR 8036).
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What is a mammal?
Any of various warm-blooded vertebrate (back boned) animals of the class Mammalia, whose young feed on milk that is produced by the mother's mammary glands. Unlike other vertebrates, mammals have a diaphragm that separates the heart and lungs from the other internal organs, red blood cells that lack a nucleus, and usually hair or fur. All mammals but the monotremes (duck-billed platypus and the echidna) bear live young. Mammals include rodents, cats, dogs, ungulates, cetaceans, and apes.
Badger Big Brown Bat Black-Tailed Deer
Black-Tailed Jackrabbit Bobcat Botta's Pocket Gopher
Brush Rabbit California Ground Squirrel Coyote
Deer Mouse Desert Cottontail Dusky-footed Woodrat
Eastern Fox Squirrel Gray Fox Mountain Lion
Pallid Bat Raccoon Striped Skunk
Tule Elk Virginia Opossum Western Gray Squirrel
Wild Pig
Badger (Taxidea taxus)
Description - The body of a Badger is flattened, and the legs are short and stocky. The fur on the back and flanks (between the last rib and the rear legs) of the Badger ranges from grayish to reddish. The underside is a tan color. The face of the badger is distinct. The throat and chin are whitish, and the face has black patches. A white dorsal (back) stripe extends back over the head from the nose. Male badgers are significantly larger than the females with females weighing about 15 ½ pounds while the males can weigh up to 25 pounds. Badgers measure about 23 to 30 inches from head to tail. Badgers are the largest members of the weasel family.
Habitat - Badgers are usually found in dry open grasslands, fields, and pastures. Badgers are found from high alpine meadows to sea level (or below in Death Valley, California). Badgers dig burrows which are used in the pursuit of prey, but they are also used for sleeping. A typical badger den may be as far as 10 feet below the surface, contain about 32 feet of tunnels, and have an enlarged chamber for sleeping. Badgers use multiple burrows within their home range, and they may not use the same burrow more than once a month. In the summer months they may dig a new burrow each day.
Prey or food - Badgers are omnivorous (eating both plants and animals) and they feed mainly on ground squirrels, voles, and pocket gophers, which they dig up from their underground nests. Badgers also prey on ground nesting birds, lizards, amphibians, carrion (dead and rotting meat), fish, insects, and some plant foods.
Reproduction - Mating occurs in late summer or early autumn, but the embryos (earliest stage of life) remain dormant until they are actually implanted into the uterine wall from December to February at which time they resume development. So, although a female is technically pregnant for 7 months, gestation is a mere 6 weeks. Litters of 1 to 5 offspring, with an average of 3, are born in early spring. Females are able to mate when they are 4 months old, but males do not mate until the autumn of their second year. Most females mate after their first year. Female badgers prepare a grass-lined den in which to give birth. Badgers are born blind and helpless with a thin coat of fur. The eyes of the youngsters open at 4 to 6 weeks old, and the young are nursed by their mother until they are 2 to 3 months old. Females give their young solid food before they are weaned and for a few weeks after they are weaned. Young may emerge from the den as early as 5 to 6 weeks old. Juveniles disperse at 5 to 6 months.
Lifespan - The average lifespan of a Badger in the wild is 4 to 5 years but they have been known to live up to 26 years in captivity.
Interesting facts - Badgers are solitary animals. Badgers are mainly active at night, and tend to be inactive during the winter months. They are not true hibernators, but spend much of the winter in cycles of torpor (a state of physical and mental inactivity) that usually lasts about 29 hours. During torpor body temperatures fall to about 48 degrees and the heart beats at about half the normal rate. They emerge from their dens on warm days in the winter.
Photo Credit - Bethany Weeks
More photos of Badger in CalPhotos
Big Brown Bat (Eptesicus fuscus)
Description - The Big Brown Bats are about 4 to 5 inches long, not counting the tail, and they have a wingspan of about 13 inches. The fur is moderately long and shiny brown. The wing membranes, ears, feet, and face are dark brown to blackish in color with no fur. They only weigh about half of an ounce.
Habitat - The Big Brown Bat is found in almost all habitats from deserts, meadows, cities, to forests, mountains and chaparral. Big brown bats are nocturnal (active at night and sleep during the day), roosting during the day in hollow trees, beneath loose tree bark, in the crevices of rocks or in man-made structures such as attics, barns, old buildings, eaves and window shutters. Big brown bats hibernate (become inactive) during the winter months, often in different locations than their summer roosts. Winter roosts tend to be natural subterranean (underground) locations such as caves and mines where temperatures remain stable. They range from the extreme northern parts of Canada through the United States, Mexico, Central America, northern South America and the Caribbean Islands.
Prey or food - Big brown bats are insectivorous (eating mainly insects), eating many kinds of night-flying insects including beetles, mosquitoes, moths, and wasps which they capture in flight. They do not see their prey. To hunt, they use echolocation. This means they send out high-frequency sounds (humans can't hear them) which bounce off objects, big and small. Then they can listen to the echoes and tell where things are, what size they are, and how they're moving. Big Brown Bats catch insects in their wings.
Reproduction - Big Brown Bats mate sporadically from November through March. After breeding season, they form maternity colonies (mothers and babies) of up to 600 bats. Female bats give birth to one or two young (pups). Young bats can fly in three to four weeks. Males do not participate in raising young.
Lifespan - Big brown bats can live up to 18-20 years in the wild. Unfortunately most Big Brown Bats die during their first winter because they did not store enough fat to survive through their entire hibernation period.
Interesting facts - Big Brown Bats can fly 40 miles per hour. In the water they swim well, but they cannot take off from the surface as some of the smaller bats can.
Photo Credit - Drew Stokes and Cheryl Brehme - Courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey
More photos of Big Brown Bat in CalPhotos
Black-Tailed Jackrabbit (Lepus californicus)
Description - The Black-tailed Jackrabbit is 18 to 25 inches long and is tan colored, peppered with black above, and white below. The tail has a black stripe above. The ears are long and brown with black tips. The Black-Tailed Jackrabbit is a member of the lagomorphs, that peculiar order consisting of the rabbits and hares. The Jackrabbit is a hare, ie., a lagomorph of the running type (hares) rather than the burrowing type (rabbits). His huge ears provide good early warning protection from some predators and a very important heat-radiating mechanism in our hot summers
Habitat - Black-tailed Jackrabbits are found throughout the southwestern United States into Mexico, as far east as Missouri, north into Washington, Idaho, Colorado and Nebraska, and west to California and Baja California. Black-tailed jackrabbits inhabit desert scrubland, prairies, farmlands, and dunes. They favor arid (dry) regions and areas of short grass rangeland from sea level to about 12,000 feet.
Prey or food - The Black-tailed Jackrabbit prefers grasses and herbaceous (a plant that has leaves and stems that die down at the end of the growing season to the soil level) matter, but twigs and young bark of woody plants are the staple food when other plants are not available. Sagebrush and cacti are also taken. Jackrabbits eat almost constantly and consume large quantities relative to their size. Jackrabbits do not require much water and obtain nearly all the water they need from the plant material they consume.
Reproduction - Usually several litters are born each year with the average litter size from 2 to 4. The mother hides her young when she goes out to feed, and, upon returning, mother and young call to locate each other. The mother does not make a nest, she simply chooses a place to her liking and the young are born fully furred, with their eyes wide open. The mothers only nurse their offspring for about 2-3 days and are not seen with their young after that time. The young grow rather rapidly and reach adult size in about 7 or 8 months. Sexual maturity is attained at about the same time, but young females do not breed until early in the year following their birth.
Lifespan - The average lifespan for the Black-tailed Jackrabbit is 2-3 years but they can live 5-6 years in captivity.
Interesting facts - The fur of the Jackrabbit is not durable or valuable, but it has been extensively used in the manufacture of felt and as trimming and lining for garments and gloves. Jackrabbits obtained their name from early settlers of the Southwest who, noting the animal's extraordinarily long ears, dubbed it "jackass rabbit." This name was later shortened to jackrabbit.
Photo Credit - Scott Rheam - Courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey
More photos of Black-Tailed Jackrabbit in CalPhotos
Bobcat (Lynx rufus)
Description - Color of the fur ranges from grayish brown to tawny to dark reddish brown and lighter on the undersides. They have dark spots on their coat and dark bars on their forelegs. Bobcats have a 'bobbed' tail that has a light underside and bold bands on top. They have forward-facing yellow eyes with black elongated pupils. Bobcats are one and a half to two times larger than a typical house cat with an average body length, including the tail, of 36". Their average height from ground to shoulder is 14-15". Males range from 16-30 pounds while females average 20 pounds.
Habitat - The bobcat - solitary, restless and wide ranging - may claim a territory that spans several square miles. Areas are defined (or chosen) by availability of prey, quality of habitat and locations of natural boundaries. A bobcat will not share its territory with another of the same sex, but it will permit some overlap with a cat of the opposite sex.
Prey or food - Bobcats are strict carnivores and prey upon a wide variety of mammals, reptiles, and birds.
Reproduction - A female must be especially selective in choosing her territory because she has to find an area suitable for her young. The female raises the young alone. One to six, but usually two to four kittens are born in April or May, after roughly 60 to 70 days of gestation. There may sometimes be a second litter, with births as late as September.
Lifespan - Bobcats typically live to six or eight years of age, with a few reaching beyond ten.
Interesting facts - The bobcat marks its territory with tree scratches, ground scrapes, urine and fecal matter. Instead of digging a burrow, the bobcat makes its den in hollowed logs, thickets, dense brush piles, rocky shelters or caves - sites that offer concealment from predators (such as cougars, coyotes or other bobcats), protection from weather extremes, and favorable nearby sites for hunting.
Photo Credit - Sue Dekalb © All Rights Reserved
More photos of Bobcat in CalPhotos
Botta's Pocket Gopher (Thomomys bottae)
Description - The pocket gopher coloration ranges from dark blackish brown through various shades of reddish and yellowish browns to pale gray. The underside is usually the same color as the back. It is not uncommon to find patches of white on the throat, chest, or abdomen. The body color is closely tied to the soil color. Pocket gophers are a small rodent about 5 to 7 inches long not including the tail. The tail is short and is usually between 2 to 3 ½ inches. They have tiny ears and eyes, and huge, yellowish front teeth (incisors) which are always exposed. They also have large, curved front claws used for digging and highly sensitive facial whiskers.
Habitat - Pocket gophers live in a burrow system that can cover an area of 200 to 2,000 square feet. The burrows are about 2 ½ to 3 ½ inches in diameter; feeding burrows are usually 6 to 12 inches below ground, whereas the nest and food storage chamber may be as deep as 6 feet. The burrows can be found in meadows and fields, deserts, grasslands and prairies, and shrub and brush lands.
Prey or food - Pocket gophers are herbivorous, feeding on a wide variety of vegetation, but generally preferring herbaceous plants, shrubs, and trees. Gophers use their sense of smell to locate food. Most commonly they feed on roots and fleshy portions of plants they encounter while digging. Gophers will also pull entire plants into their tunnel from below.
Reproduction - Gophers reach sexual maturity at about 1 year of age. Females produce one to three litters per year. In non-irrigated areas, breeding usually occurs in late winter and early spring, resulting in one litter per year, whereas in irrigated sites, up to three litters per year may be produced. Litters usually average five to six pups.
Lifespan - Female pocket gophers have a life span of 3 to 4 years while the male life span is about 1 year.
Interesting facts - Pocket gophers are burrowing rodents that get their name from the fur-lined external cheek pouches, or pockets, that they use for carrying food and nesting materials. An unusual adaptation is the gopher's lips, which can be closed behind the four large incisor teeth to keep dirt out of its mouth when it is using its teeth for digging. Pocket gophers have very poor eyesight as is true with most burrowing animals. This species is also known as the Valley Pocket Gopher.
Photo Credit - Ken-ichi Ueda
More photos of Botta's Pocket Gopher in CalPhotos
Brush Rabbit (Sylvilagus bachmani)
Description - Brush Rabbits are smaller than most cottontails. The fur is evenly dark, consisting of steel gray, black, and orange. The ears are fairly small (about 2 to 2 ½ inches) with a slight point. The tail is not prominent, on the top it is the same dark brown and it is gray underneath. The underside of the Brush Rabbit is usually white or pale gray. Adult rabbits measure anywhere from 10-14 inches long and rarely weigh over two pounds with females generally larger than males.
Habitat - Brush Rabbits inhabit dense, brushy cover, most commonly in chaparral vegetation. It also occurs in oak and conifer habitats and it will live in brush or grassland, and form networks of runways through the vegetation. They are found in western coastal regions of North America, from the Columbia River in Oregon to the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula. Its range extends as far east as the eastern sides of the Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountain ranges.
Prey or food - They are herbivores whose diet varies with the season. Grasses make up a large portion of their diet; however, brush rabbits feed on other species of plants, including leaves, forbs and scrubs such as wild rose and blackberries. Whenever available, green clover is preferred.
Reproduction - Brush Rabbit mating may occur year round but peak breeding seasons are between February and August. The gestation period of the Brush Rabbit female is about 22 days. A female Brush Rabbit can have as many as five litters per year but two to three is more common. One to seven young are born per litter with the average number being three. The young are born helpless and do not leave the nest until they are two weeks old.
Lifespan - The average lifespan for the Brush Rabbit is about 3 ½ years.
Interesting facts - The Brush Rabbit is also known as the Western Brush Rabbit. Although a gregarious species while foraging, brush rabbits are mostly solitary. It is estimated the home ranges of the Brush Rabbit average just less than one acre for males and just less than a 1/2 acre for females. The Brush Rabbit does not dig its own burrow or den, but uses the burrow of other species, brush piles, or forms. In the San Francisco Bay Area, it was found that the Brush Rabbit concentrates its activities at the edge of brush and exhibits much less use of grassy areas. To protect themselves from predators, Brush Rabbits can sit perfectly still for long periods of time. When threatened they run in a zig-zag manner at about 20 to 25 miles an hour.
Photo Credit - Alice_knitter
More photos of Brush Rabbit in CalPhotos
Deer Mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus)
Description - Deer mice are the prototype for "field mice" with large, bulging eyes, big naked ears, a bicolored pattern and a long tail. The body color varies from a yellowish or reddish brown to grayish above, with pure white undersides and feet. The deer mouse is small in size, only 3 to 4 inches long, not counting the length of the tail.
Habitat - Deer mice inhabit a wide variety of plant communities including grasslands, brushy areas, woodlands, and forests. Throughout their range, they are found in nearly all ecological communities and life zones from the desert floor to the high mountains.
Prey or food - Deer mice are omnivorous with the main dietary items including seeds, fruits, arthropods, leaves, and fungi. Throughout the year, the deer mouse will change its eating habits to reflect what is available to eat during that season. During fall and winter months, deer mice eat spiders, caterpillars, and other bugs. In fall they also eat and store seeds in caches for use during the winter. During the spring months leaves, seeds, larvae from moths and butterflies, and other insects are consumed. During summer months they eat seeds and fruits.
Reproduction - The female deer mouse can reproduce at all times of the year, though in most parts of their range deer mice breed from March to October. Deer mouse breeding tends to be determined more by food availability than by season per se. Females can have up to four litters per year with an average of three to six young per litter. The gestation period is from 22 to 25 days long. Deer mice reproduce profusely and are highest in numbers among their species compared to other local mammals. Males usually live with the family and help care for the young.
Lifespan - The average lifespan for the Deer Mouse is about 5 years but they have been known to live up to 7 years.
Interesting facts - They are accomplished jumpers and runners by comparison to house mice, and their common name of "deer mouse" (coined in 1833) is in reference to this agility. Like other Peromyscus species, it is a carrier of emerging diseases such as Hantaviruses and Lyme disease. In reference to the coloring, the word Peromyscus comes from Greek words meaning "booted mouse". The deer mouse is generally a nocturnal creature.
Photo Credit - Phil Myers
More photos of Deer Mouse in CalPhotos
Desert Cottontail (Sylvilagus audubonii)
Description - Like all the cottontail rabbits, the Desert Cottontail has a rounded tail with white fur on the underside which is visible as it runs away. The body is a light grayish-brown in color, with almost white fur on the belly. Adults are 13 to 17 inches long and weigh up to 3.3 pounds. The ears are 3.1 to 3.9 inches long, and the hind feet are large, about 3.0 inches in length. Females tend to be larger than the males, but have much smaller home ranges, about 1 acre compared with about 16 acres for a male.
Habitat - Desert Cottontails are particularly associated with the dry near-desert grasslands of the American southwest, though they are also found in less arid habitats such as pinyon and juniper forest.
Prey or food - They mainly eat grass, but will eat many other plants, even cacti. They rarely need to drink, getting their water mostly from the plants they eat or from dew.
Reproduction - Cottontails can breed at eighty days old, then mate again soon after giving birth. Mating occurs year round. Gestation is one month long. The young are born in a shallow burrow or above ground, but they are helpless when born and do not leave the nest until they are three weeks old. Where climate and food supply permit, females can produce several litters a year.
Lifespan - The average lifespan for the cottontail is 2-3 years.
Interesting facts - They do not form social burrow systems though they are relatively tolerant of other individuals in their vicinity. The cottontail's normal defense against predators is to run away in zig zags. They can reach speeds of over 19 mph. Against small predators they will defend themselves by kicking. To avoid overheating, desert cottontails have higher activity periods at night; light-colored fur to minimize absorption of solar heat; and large ears, with blood vessels just below the skin level, that can radiate body heat to the air. When temperatures climb above eighty degrees Fahrenheit, the cottontails' activity level decreases significantly.
More photos of Desert Cottontail in CalPhotos
California Ground Squirrel (Otospermophilus beecheyi)
Description - The squirrel's upper parts are mottled, the fur containing a mixture of gray, light brown and dusky hairs; the underside is lighter, buff or grayish yellow. The fur around the eyes is whitish, while that around the ears is black. Head and body are about 12 inches long and the tail an additional 5.9 inches. The tail is relatively bushy for a ground squirrel.
Habitat - Ground squirrels live in a wide variety of natural habitats but usually avoid thick chaparral, dense woods, and wet areas. Populations may be particularly high in grazed rangelands and in areas disturbed by humans such as road or ditch banks, fence rows, around buildings, and in or bordering many crops.
Prey or food - Ground squirrels are primarily herbivores or plant eaters. Their diet changes with the seasons. After emergence from hibernation, they feed almost exclusively on green grasses and herbaceous plants (plants that have leaves and stems that die down at the end of the growing season to the soil level). When annual plants begin to dry in the summer and produce seed, the squirrels switch to seeds, grains, and nuts, and begin to store food.
Reproduction - Ground squirrels usually breed soon after emerging from hibernation. They make their nests in the ground or in rock piles. The California Ground Squirrel has a gestation of a month, usually one litter per year with an average of seven young per litter. The young remain in the burrow about 6 weeks before they emerge, but grow rapidly and by 6 months of age resemble adults.
Lifespan - California Ground Squirrels can live up to 6 years in the wild.
Interesting facts - Ground squirrels live in a burrow system where they sleep, rest, rear young, store food, and avoid danger. The burrow openings are about 4 inches in diameter, but can vary considerably. The burrows may be 5 to 30 feet or more in length and may go 2 to 4 feet below the soil surface. Often there is more than one opening in a burrow system. Ground squirrels live in colonies that may include several dozen animals in a complex of burrows. More than one squirrel may live in a burrow. Ground squirrels usually forage close to their burrows. Their home range typically is within a 75-yard radius of their burrow.
More photos of California Ground Squirrel in CalPhotos
Black-tailed Deer (Odocoileus hemionus)
Description - The Columbian Black-tailed Deer coat is reddish brown in summer and gray brown in winter. Black-tailed deer can be distinguished from Mule Deer by their larger tail, the back of which is completely covered with black or dark brown hairs. Black-tailed deer are smaller than both Mule Deer and White-tailed Deer. Mature Columbian Black-tailed bucks (males) weigh from 105 to 200 pounds and does (females) weigh between 90 to 140 pounds.
Habitat - This species thrives on the edge of the forest, as the dark forest lacks the underbrush and grasslands that the deer prefers as food, and completely open areas lack the hiding spots and the cover it prefers for harsh weather. The Black-tailed deer is currently common in northern California, western Oregon, Washington, in coastal and interior British Columbia, and north into the Alaskan panhandle.
Prey or food - During the winter and early spring they feed on acorns, Douglas fir, western red cedar, red huckleberry, salal, deer fern, and lichens that grow on trees. Late spring to fall they munch on grasses, blackberries, fireweed, pearly everlasting, forbs, salmonberry, salal, maple, and poison oak.
Reproduction - The "rut" or mating season usually begins in the fall as does go into estrus (become sexually active) for a period of a few days and males become more aggressive, competing for mates. Does may mate with more than one buck and go back into estrus within a month if they do not settle (become pregnant). The gestation period for does is six to seven months with fawns being born late May and into June. Twins are common after the first or second fawning and triplets are rare.
Lifespan - The natural life span is 9 to 10 years (17 to 20 years in captivity,) although many live far less since they are either hunted or killed by predators. It is believed that where heavily hunted, bucks live for only about 3 to 5 years.
Interesting facts - Though it has been argued that the Black-tailed deer is a species, virtually all recent authorities maintain it as a subspecies of the Mule Deer. A buck's antlers fall off during the winter, to grow again in preparation for the next season's rut. Does do not have antlers. Black-tailed deer are California's most popular game mammal. Deer are ruminants, which means they have a four-chambered stomach, chew a cud, and regurgitate food more than once before finally swallowing it. The Columbian black-tailed deer is also known as black-tail, coast black-tail, Columbian deer, and Pacific buck. Black-tailed deer often spend their entire life in the same general area.
More photos of Black-tailed Deer in CalPhotos
Coyote (Canis latrans)
Description - The coloration of coyotes varies from grayish brown to a yellowish gray on the upper parts. The throat and belly are white. The long tail, which is half the body length, is bottle shaped with a black tip. Coyotes are distinguished from domesticated dogs by their pointed, erect ears and drooping tail, which they hold below their back when running.
Habitat - Coyotes inhabit all life zones from low valley floors to the crest of the highest mountains, but they live especially on open plains, grasslands, and high mesas. The coyotes' natural habitat is open grassland, but it will move to wherever food is available. The coyote can be found throughout North and Central America from Panama in the south to all but the northernmost portions of Canada. Some studies indicate that in the desert, valleys and low foothills, Coyotes occupy a range of no more than 10 or 12 square miles. In mountainous areas they probably have both a summer and winter range, as heavy snows drive them to lower elevations.
Prey or food - Coyotes are omnivorous (feeding on both plants and animals). They eat primarily small mammals, such as cottontail rabbits, ground squirrels, and mice. They occasionally eat birds, snakes, large insects and other large invertebrates. Fruits and vegetables are a significant part of the coyote's diet in the autumn and winter months. Coyotes can live in a variety of areas since they will eat almost anything, including human trash and household pets. Part of the coyote's success as a species is its dietary adaptability.
Reproduction - Coyotes mate between late January and March. Once the female chooses a partner, the animals may remain paired for a number of years. Gestation lasts from 60 to 63 days. Litter size ranges from 1 to 19 pups (the average litter size is 6 pups). They usually breed once each year.
Lifespan - Coyotes have been known to live a maximum of ten years in the wild and 18 years in captivity.
Interesting facts - Coyotes are night time predators, but can occasionally be seen during daylight hours. Coyotes are capable of running at speeds up to 40mph, and they can jump horizontal distances of up to 13 feet. Coyotes are less likely to form packs than are wolves, so they usually hunt individually, in pairs, or small family groups. Coyote scat (poop) is about the diameter of a cigar and is tapered at one end. Since coyotes eat small animals, birds, and insects, their excrement contains bits of bone, feathers, fur, and insect casings.
More photos of Coyote in CalPhotos
Dusky-footed Woodrat (Neotoma fuscipes)
Description - The Dusky-footed Woodrat is a medium-sized woodrat, grayish brown with a white or pale underside. It is approximately 15 ½ to 17 ½ inches long including the tail, which is about half of this length. The ears are thin, large, rounded, and broad as well as hairy. It has sooty colored hairs on the top of the hind feet. The claws are short, sharp, curved sharply downward and almost equal in length. The claws are also colorless. Every Dusky-footed Woodrat has whiskers that are disposed in six parallel, evenly spaced rows. Males usually weigh more than females.
Habitat - The range of the Dusky-footed Woodrat is restricted to the Pacific coastal area of the United States and Lower California. Toward the east, the Dusky-footed Woodrat's range reaches the Cascade-Sierra Nevada mountain system and the Mojave and Colorado deserts. It constructs fairly elaborate stick nests on the ground, in the vegetation, and on rocky slopes. It is found mostly in scrub and woodland communities.
Prey or food - They eat a variety of foods depending on their habitat and they forage on the ground, in bushes, and in trees. The Dusky-footed Woodrat eats primarily woody plants, including leaves, flowers, nuts and berries. It especially likes live oak, valley oak, soap plant, maple, coffeeberry, and elderberry. It drinks water, but can survive without it, relying instead on leaves and fungi.
Reproduction - The reproductive period of this species usually begins in late September and continues until mid-June or mid-July. This coincides with the onset of the rainy season and the growth of plants. The inactive reproductive period arrives in the dry season when much of the vegetation is not growing. The suckling young, about 2 to 3 per litter, are dependent to the mother until the time of weaning. They usually have one litter a year but can have as many as five.
Lifespan - Dusky-foot Woodrats have a lifespan of about 3 years in the wild and up to 7 years in captivity.
Interesting facts - The Dusky-footed Woodrat is generally nocturnal although some have been observed during the daytime. They frequently carry small items in their mouths, including typical campsite trash, and much of this is added to their houses. Woodrats are noted for their ability to metabolize oxalic acid, a substance that is highly toxic to other mammals. Within their habitats, rats live in colonies of three to fifteen or more nests (homes). The Dusky-footed Woodrat and its relatives in the genus Neotoma are sometimes called pack rats, trade rats, bush rats, and cave rats.
More photos of Dusky-footed Woodrat at Flickr.com
Eastern Fox Squirrel (Sciurus niger)
Description - The Eastern Fox Squirrel has three distinct color patterns. In the northeastern part of its range, it is gray above with yellowish undersides. In the western part of its range, it is gray above and rust colored on its undersides. In the southern part of its range, it is black with a white stripe on its face and a white tip on its tail. The tail color is rust mixed with black and the feet are rust colored. They have very sharp claws for climbing. There is no sexual dimorphism in size or appearance. Individuals tend to be smaller in the west. The body length is about 10 to 14 inches with the tail adding another 7 to 13 inches. Fox Squirrels have excellent vision and a well developed sense of hearing and smell.
Habitat - The Fox Squirrel is most often found in forest patches with little understory or in open grasslands with scattered trees. They are never found in tree stands with dense undergrowth. They thrive best among trees such as oak, hickory, walnut, and pine that produce winter storable foods like nuts. Their natural range extends throughout the eastern United States, excluding New England, north into the southern prairie provinces of Canada, and west to the Dakotas, Colorado, and Texas. They have been introduced to both northern and southern California. Eastern Fox Squirrels have two types of homes called dreys: leaf nests and tree dens. They may have two tree cavity homes or a tree cavity and a leaf nest. Tree dens are preferred over leaf nests during the winter and for raising young. Leaf nests are built during the summer months in forks of deciduous trees about 30 feet above the ground.
Prey or food - The Eastern Fox Squirrel eats acorns, walnuts, tree buds, insects, bulbs, roots, bird eggs, pine seeds, tree fruit, berries, and fungi. Nuts are stored for use in the winter. The Eastern Fox Squirrel locates its stashes using its keen sense of smell.
Reproduction - Eastern Fox Squirrels normally produce two litters a year with an average litter size of 3 pups. The gestation period of Eastern Fox Squirrels is 44 to 45 days. Earliest litters appear in late January with most births occurring in mid-March and July. Tree squirrels develop slowly compared to other rodents. The young are born blind, without fur and helpless at birth. Juveniles usually disperse in September or October, but they may den together or with their mother the first winter.
Lifespan - In captivity, Eastern Fox Squirrels have been known to live 18 years, but in the wild most Fox Squirrels die at 7 months, before they even become adults.
Interesting facts - Fox Squirrels got their name from their gray and rust fur coat that resembles that of a gray fox. The Eastern Fox Squirrel is the largest species of tree squirrel native to North America. They are impressive jumpers, easily spanning fifteen feet in horizontal leaps and free-falling twenty feet or more to a soft landing on a limb or trunk. They are also known as Fox Squirrel, Cat Squirrel, or Stump-eared Squirrel.
Photo Credit - TexasEagle
More photos of Eastern Fox Squirrel at Calphoto
Gray Fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus))
Description - The Gray Fox looks a lot like a small dog with a bushy tail. The fox's back is whitish-grey in color. The sides of its neck, the base of its tail, back and legs, and the underside of its tail are bright rusty-red. A black stripe runs along the top of its bushy tail, which ends in a black tip. Its nose is black and a black stripe goes from its eyes towards its neck. The Gray Fox is 21 to 30 inches long, and its tail is another 11 to 16 inches long. It stands about 15 inches at the shoulder. The adult Gray Fox weighs 7 to 11 pounds. The Gray Fox's ability to climb trees is shared only with the Asian raccoon dog among canids. Its strong, hooked claws allow it to scramble up trees to escape predators such as the domestic dog or the coyote, or to reach tree-bound or arboreal food sources. It descends primarily by jumping from branch to branch, or by descending slowly backwards as a house cat does. The Gray Fox is nocturnal (active at night) or crepuscular (active at dawn or dusk) and dens in hollow trees, stumps or appropriated burrows during the day.
Habitat - The Gray Fox ranges throughout most of the southern half of North America from southern Canada to northern Venezuela and Colombia. The Gray Fox lives in the chaparral of California. It prefers wooded and brushy areas where most of the rainfall is in the winter, while the summers are hot and dry.
Prey or food - The Gray Fox is a solitary hunter and is largely omnivorous (eats both plants and animals). It frequently preys upon the cottontails though it will readily catch voles, shrews, and birds. The Gray Fox supplements its diet with whatever fruits are readily available.
Reproduction - The Gray Fox is monogamous (having one mate) and they are thought to mate for life. The gestation period lasts about 53 days. Litter size ranges from 1 to 7. The family group remains together until autumn when the young reach sexual maturity and disperse.
Lifespan - The average life span is 4 years. They can live up to 15 years, but almost half of all Gray Foxes die in their first half-year of life.
Interesting facts - Kits begin to hunt with their parents at the age of 3 months. By the time they are 4 months old, the kits have developed their permanent teeth and can forage on their own.
More photos of GrayFox in CalPhotos
Mountain Lion (Felis concolor)
Description - Mountain Lions are very large cats with a coat color that is typically tawny (light brown to reddish orange), but ranges to silvery-grey or reddish, with lighter patches on the under body including the jaws, chin, and throat. Mountain Lion coloring is plain (hence the Latin concolor) but can vary greatly between individuals and even between siblings. Infants are spotted and born with blue eyes and rings on their tails; juveniles are pale, and dark spots remain on their flanks (between the last rib and rear legs). Adult Mountain Lions stand about 2 to 2 ½ feet tall at the shoulders. The length of an adult male is around 8 feet long nose to tail and they typically weigh 115 to 220 pounds. Females typically weigh between 64 and 141 pounds. The head of the Mountain Lion is round and the ears are erect. They have five retractable claws on their forepaws and four on their hind paws.
Habitat - The Mountain Lion has the largest range of any wild land animal in the Americas. Its range spans from northern Yukon in Canada to the southern Andes in South America. They inhabit all types of forest as well as lowland and mountainous deserts. The Mountain Lion prefers regions with dense underbrush, but can live with little vegetation in open areas. Its preferred habitats include steep canyons and cliffs, rim rocks, and dense brush.
Prey or food - The Mountain Lion will eat any food it can catch including deer, rabbits, squirrels, rodents, birds, and even insects. Like all cats, it is an obligate carnivore, feeding only on meat, but it may consume other materials (vegetable or mineral) for non-nutritional purposes.
Reproduction - Females reach sexual maturity between 1 ½ to 3 years of age. They typically average one litter every two to three years, though the period can be as short as one year. Only females are involved in parenting. Female Mountain Lions are fiercely protective of their cubs, and have been seen to successfully fight off animals as large as grizzly bears in their defense. Litter size is between one and six cubs; typically two or three. Caves and other alcoves that offer protection are used as litter dens. Born blind, cubs are completely dependent on their mother at first, and begin to be weaned at around three months of age. As they grow, they begin to go out with their mother, first visiting kill sites, and after six months beginning to hunt small prey on their own. Young adults leave their mother to attempt to establish their own territory at around two years of age and sometimes earlier; males tend to leave sooner.
Lifespan - Life expectancy of the Mountain Lion in the wild is reported at between 8 to 13 years. Cougars may live as long as 20 years in captivity
Interesting facts - Mountain Lions have large paws and proportionally the largest hind legs in the cat family. This physique allows it great leaping and short-sprint ability. The Mountain Lion can run as fast as 35 to 45 mph but is best adapted for short, powerful sprints rather than long chases. It is adept at climbing, and although it is not strongly associated with water, it can swim.
Photo Credit - BlueRidgeKitties
More photos of Mountain Lion in CalPhotos
Pallid Bat (Antrozous pallidus)
Description - The Pallid Bat has beige fur on its back and white fur on its belly. It has very big pale ears that are almost half as long as the total length of its head and body. The ears are naked and are crossed by transverse lines. Pallid Bats have larger eyes than most other species of bats in North America. They have on average a total body length of 3.6 to 5.3 inches and a wingspan between 15 and 16 inches. The face has small wart-like glands that produce a skunk-like odor, which is thought to be used as defense mechanism.
Habitat - The Pallid Bat can be found in arid regions with rocky outcroppings or in sparsely vegetated grasslands. Pallid Bats are also called desert bats because they are mostly found in desert habitats. They roost in a variety of places but favor rocky outcrops. They also occur in oak and pine forested areas and open farmland. Pallid Bats typically use three different types of roosts. During daytime hours they look for warm places like horizontal crevices, at night they roost in the open but with foliage nearby, and when they hibernate they use buildings, caves, or cracks in rocks. Water must be available in the vicinity of all the roosting sites.
Prey or food - Pallid Bats are insectivores that feed on arthropods such as crickets, scorpions, centipedes, ground beetles, grasshoppers, cicadas, praying mantis and long-horned beetles. Although they normally catch their prey on the ground, they usually transport their prey to their night roost to eat it. Unlike most other North American bats, this species captures little, if any, prey while in flight. With its huge ears, it can detect insects simply by listening for footsteps, and it can respond accurately to a split-second sound from up to 16 feet away.
Reproduction - Maternity colonies are rather small in size, ranging from 20-100 animals. Mating takes place in the fall resulting in usually two babies being born in the late spring. Birth weight is near 3 grams. The mothers will carry the young during her foraging flights for the first few days after birth. The pups begin to fly within five to six weeks. Mothers will stay with their young for 12 months after the young are flying on their own.
Lifespan - Pallid Bats can live up to 10 years in the wild.
Interesting facts - Pallid Bats are skilled at climbing and crawling and while on the ground they exhibit a variety of gaits and strides. The Pallid Bat is actually immune to a scorpion's sting. A Pallid Bat can eat half of its body weight in one night. Pallid Bats are highly social and a single colony can range from 12 to 100 bats. About 95% of groups consist of at least 20 individuals. The Pallid Bat is the sole species of its genus.
Photo Credit - Keaton Wilson
More photos of Pallid Bat in CalPhotos
Raccoon (Procyon lotor)
Description - The most characteristic physical feature of the raccoon is the area of black fur around the eyes which contrasts sharply with the surrounding white face coloring. This is reminiscent of a 'bandit's mask' and has thus enhanced the animal's reputation for mischief. The slightly rounded ears are also bordered by white fur. The Raccoon's tail also contains alternating black and grey rings all the way along its length. On other parts of the body, the long and stiff hairs are usually colored in shades of gray and, to a lesser extent, brown. The body length of the Raccoon is 16 to 28 inches and the weight is 8 to 20 pounds.
Habitat - The Raccoon is very adaptable and can be found in forests, mountainous areas, coastal marshes, and urban areas. Although they have thrived in sparsely wooded areas in the last decades, raccoons depend on vertical structures to climb when they feel threatened. Raccoons make their dens in hollow trees and rock crevices. If such dens are unavailable or accessing them is inconvenient, raccoons utilize burrows dug by other mammals, dense undergrowth, roadside culverts in urban areas, or tree crotches.
Prey or food - Raccoons are opportunistic feeders, eating almost anything edible, including many invertebrates (an animal with no backbone), fruits, nuts, berries, crayfish, frogs, small rodents, birds, and eggs. Being extremely curious and clever, they also enjoy knocking over garbage cans in their nightly search for food. Though usually nocturnal, the raccoon is sometimes active in daylight to take advantage of available food sources.
Reproduction - Raccoons typically have litters of two to five young. The kits (also called 'cubs') are blind and deaf at birth, but their mask is already visible against their light fur. Once the kits weigh about two pounds, they begin to explore outside the den, consuming solid food for the first time after six to nine weeks. The kits are usually weaned around 16 weeks. In the fall, after their mother has shown them dens and feeding grounds, the juvenile group splits up. While many females will stay close to the home range of their mother, males can sometimes move more than 12 miles away. Male Raccoons take no part in raising young.
Lifespan - Raccoon typically live 2 to 3 years in the wild but have been known to live more than 20 years in captivity. It is not unusual for only half of the young born in one year to survive a full year.
Interesting facts - A group of Raccoons is called a nursery. Raccoons are very agile. They climb trees well, moving forward or backward on their way up or down the tree. They are one of few animals which can descend a tree headfirst. They can also drop, unharmed, 35 to 40 feet. They are fast runners (15 mph) and excellent swimmers. Raccoons are also known for their excellent night vision and keen sense of hearing.
Photo Credit - Jeremy Hiebert
More photos of Raccoon in CalPhotos
Striped Skunk (Mephitis mephitis)
Description - The Striped Skunk has a black body with a white stripe along each side of its body; the two stripes join into a broader white area at the back of the neck. Its forehead has a narrow white stripe. The Striped Skunk is about the size of a house cat, it weighs 2.5 to 14 pounds with a body length (excluding the tail) of 13 to 18 inches. Males may be 10% larger than females. The bushy tail is 7 to 10 inches long, and sometimes has a white tip. The presence of a Striped Skunk is often first made apparent by its odor. It has well-developed scent glands that can emit a highly unpleasant odor when the skunk feels threatened by another animal.
Habitat - The Striped Skunk is only found in North America. Its range runs from central Canada to northern Mexico. The Striped Skunk tends to live in open areas with a mix of habitats like woods and grasslands or meadows. It is usually never further than two miles from water. They build a den in a protected place. A skunk den is usually a burrow with up to five entrances. Inside, the den usually has between one and three chambers. Skunks may use an old animal burrow, or dig their own. Sometimes they den in a hollow log or under a building. One of the chambers is used as a nest, with the skunk adding dried leaves and grass.
Prey or food - The Striped Skunk is omnivorous (eats both plants and animals) and has a varied diet. Much of its diet is made up of insects like beetles, grasshoppers and crickets. It also eats earthworms, snails, crayfish, wasps and ants. Striped Skunks also prey on vertebrates (animals with backbones) like frogs and small mammals including voles, mice, moles, rats and squirrels. The Striped Skunk also eats bird eggs, berries, grains, and nuts. Striped Skunks eat mostly insects and mammals during the spring and summer. During the fall and winter, more plant matter is consumed. Skunks are one of the primary predators of the honeybee, relying on their thick fur to protect them from stings. The skunk scratches at the front of the beehive and eats the guard bees that come out to investigate. Mother skunks are known to teach this to their young.
Reproduction - Striped skunks mate from mid-February to mid-March. The babies are born about two months later. An average skunk litter has five to six babies. Skunk babies are blind and deaf when they are born. They will nurse in the den for about a month and a half. After they leave the den they may stay with their mother for up to a year.
Lifespan - The lifespan of a Striped Skunk in the wild is 2-4 years, but they have been known to survive 15 years in captivity. Up to 90% of young skunks die in their first winter.
Interesting facts - Striped Skunks are not built to run fast. Their legs are made for digging, so they run with a slow 'waddle'. Skunks can spray up to fifteen feet and the smell of the spray can travel a mile. Skunks do not hibernate but they do fatten up before winter comes. Skunks are the number one carrier of the Rabies Virus.
More photos of Striped Skunk in CalPhotos
Tule Elk (Cervus canadensis)
Description - Tule Elk bulls and cows have reddish summer coats with darker head and legs. Rump patches have a tawny (light tan) appearance. The long winter coat appears brown, varying from gray on the sides to very dark head and legs. The Tule Elk's coat is paler both winter and summer than other varieties of elk. The Tule Elk (sometimes called the dwarf elk) is considered the smallest of all the elk species in North America and is endemic (native) to California. A fully matured bull (or stag) will weigh 700 pounds with the cows (or hinds) about 400 pounds. Only males have antlers which are rounded and widely spread, averaging four to six points on each. Antlers are shed in March with new ones fully grown by September. Each year new antlers grow a little larger with more tines.
Habitat - Tule Elk thrive on the grasslands and in the marshlands of the Central Valley to the grassy hills on the coast. Prey or food - This subspecies of elk derives its name from the Tule (marsh grass) that it feeds on in the marshlands. Tule Elk also forage on annual grasses, leaves and twigs, and plants like globe mallow and wild licorice.
Reproduction - In September, as soon as the antlers are fully developed, the mating season (rut) occurs. The bulls make their presence known by 'bugling' a clear musical whistle that calls the cows to them. New bands are formed which consist of 5 to 20 females and a single bull. Each bull, by his dominance, holds the cows together in a harem band (group of females). Cows carry their young about eight and a half months; a single calf is born in May or June of the following year. The calf is spotted when born and is eating green vegetation by the time it is a month old, but the mother may continue to nurse it until winter. The calf can take care of itself by fall but may stay with its mother through the winter. At the age of four it is fully grown.
Lifespan - Tule Elk may live 15 to 22 years in the wild.
Interesting facts - Native Americans used the Tule elk antlers and bones for tools and some jewelry, and the hides were used for clothes, while the meat of the animal was used for food. The American elk is more correctly known by its Shawnee Indian name 'Wapiti', or white rump.
Photo Credit - David Dugan
More photos of Tule Elk in CalPhotos
Virginia Opossum (Didelphis virginiana)
Description - The Opossum's head is usually white, and its coarse body fur is mostly grayish white but tends to be darker on its legs. It has an elongated snout, a pink nose, feet and tail, black eyes and prominent, naked black ears. An adult opossum is 2 to 3 feet long and weighs between 4 and 12 pounds. Its naked, scaly tail is able to wrap around and grasp limbs and can support the animal's full weight for short periods. The opossum's skull has 50 teeth, the highest number found in any mammal. Opossums are the only marsupials (female mammal with a pouch for carrying and feeding her young) native to North America.
Habitat - Good opossum habitat includes a combination of large trees and shrub thickets (dense growth of bushes), abundant water and crop fields. An opossum will den nearly anywhere that is dry, sheltered and safe, such as the abandoned dens of other animals, hollow trees and logs and brush piles. A nest of leaves and grass is usually made at the den site. An opossum will use a number of dens within its home range. Opossums are very adaptable and can live wherever water, food, and shelter exist. Opossums are at home in trees and they use their prehensile tails to help stabilize them when climbing.
Prey or food - An Opossum does not have a method for storing food or energy and needs food sources that are stable from season to season and year to year. Its diet includes a wide variety of foods, including insects, earthworms, small mammals, fruits, grains, plants, and the flesh of dead animals it happens to find. It forages intensively in a small area on whatever is available. When food resources become depleted in one place, the animal simply moves to a new area. Although the foods an Opossum eats are varied, they must be abundant and closely spaced. Extreme weather conditions, such as a severe drought or extended cold, can reduce food availability and have devastating effects on Opossum populations.
Reproduction - A female opossum usually has two litters per year. Mating occurs in mid-January through February and continues into August. Young partially-developed opossums are born 13 days after mating. They migrate to the female's pouch where they continue to develop for several weeks. The young emerge from the pouch when they are 1 ½ to 2 months old and ride on their mother's back. They are weaned at three months. The adult female mates again soon after the first litter is weaned, and the first litter disperses within one month of weaning. Young from the second litter are weaned and on their own by September or October. There are 8 to 10 young in an average litter, but litters of 17 have been reported. The young are capable of reproducing at six months of age, but usually don't until the year after they are born.
Lifespan - The Opossum lifespan is unusually short for a mammal of its size, usually only two to four years.
Interesting facts - They were introduced near San Jose, California about 1910 from the eastern United Stated as furbearers, and have since spread throughout the warm, cultivated lowlands of Central California. They are nocturnal. The word opossum comes from the Algonquian aposoum, meaning "white beast" When threatened or harmed, they will 'play possum', mimicking the appearance and smell of a sick or dead animal. When 'playing possum', the lips are drawn back, teeth are bared, saliva foams around the mouth, and a foul-smelling fluid is secreted.
Photo Credit - US Fish and Wildlife Service, Refuge Staff
More photos of Virginia Opossum in CalPhotos
Western Gray Squirrel (Sciurus griseus)
Description - The Western Gray Squirrel is a silver gunmetal gray with a pure white underside. The ears are large, without tufts, and they turn reddish-brown at the back in the winter. The tail is long and typically very bushy with black and white hairs mixed in with the gray. The eyes are outlined in creamy white. It is the largest native tree squirrel in the western coastal United States. Their bodies measure 17 to 23 inches in total length with a 9 to 12 inch tail length, and they range in weight from 1 to 2 pounds.
Habitat - Western Gray Squirrels are forest dwellers, and can be found at elevations up to at 6500 feet or more. Squirrel nests are called dreys and can be seen in trees, built from sticks and leaves wrapped with long strands of grass. There are two stick nest types made by the Western Gray Squirrel: the first is a large, round, covered shelter nest for winter use, birthing, and rearing young. The second is more properly termed a "sleeping platform," a base for seasonal or temporary use. Both types are built with sticks and twigs and are lined with leaves, moss, lichens and shredded bark. Western Grey Squirrels are found in the Pacific States from Washington to California.
Prey or food - Time on the ground is spent foraging, but they prefer to travel distances from tree to tree. They are active only during daytime hours, and feed mainly on seeds and nuts, particularly pine seeds and acorns, though they will also take berries, fungus and insects.
Reproduction - Unlike other squirrel species the Western Gray Squirrel has only one litter a year, with between three and five young per litter. Slower reproduction is one of the reasons they are at risk. Kits are born without hair and their eyes don't open for 24 to 42 days. The kits are relatively slow in development, and will not leave the nest for six months or more.
Lifespan - The life span of the Western Gray Squirrel is about 7 to 8 years in the wild.
Interesting facts - Western Gray Squirrels are also known as California Gray Squirrels. They have very good eyesight even in dim light, and a wide field of vision. They also have a well developed sense of smell and hearing. The Western Gray Squirrel is recognized as a "species of concern" by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and a "sensitive species" and "management indicator species" by the U.S. Forest Service but they are not listed as threatened or endangered.
Photo Credit - Larry McCombs
More photos of Western Gray Squirrel in CalPhotos
Wild Pig (Sus scrofa)
Description - The color usually varies from dark grey to black or brown, but there are great regional differences in color. Wild boar piglets are colored differently from adults, being a soft brown with longitudinal darker stripes. The stripes fade by the time the piglet is about half-grown, when the animal takes on the adult's grizzled grey or brown color. The fur consists of stiff bristles and usually finer fur. During winter the fur is much denser. The body of the invasive wild boar is compact; the head is large, the legs relatively short. Adult boars average 4-6 feet in length and have a shoulder height of 3 feet. As a whole, their average weight is 110–200 pounds, though boars show a great deal of weight variation within their geographical ranges. The continuously growing tusks (the canine teeth) serve as weapons and tools. The lower tusks of an adult male measure about 7.9 inches.
Habitat - The wild pig prefers oak woodland and chaparral regions with water and tree cover nearby.
Prey or food - Wild Boar are omnivorous scavengers, eating almost anything they come across, including grass, nuts, berries, carrion, roots, tubers, refuse, insects, and small reptiles.
Reproduction - Adult males are usually solitary outside of the breeding season, but females and their offspring (both sub-adult males and females) live in groups called sounders. Sounders typically number around 20 animals, although groups of over 50 have been seen, and will consist of 2 to 3 sows; one of which will be the dominant female. Group structure changes with the coming and going of females giving birth, the migration of maturing males (usually when they reach around 20 months) and the arrival of unrelated sexually active males. Pregnancy lasts approximately 115 days and a sow will leave the group to construct a mound-like nest, 1–3 days before giving birth (farrowing). Litter size is typically 4-6 piglets but may be smaller for first litter, usually 2-3.
Lifespan - The lifespan for a wild boar is about 15 to 20 years.
Interesting facts - The term boar is used to denote an adult male of certain species — including, confusingly, domestic pigs. However, for wild boar, it applies to the whole species, including, for example, "wild boar sow" or "wild boar piglet". Wild boar are also known by various names, including wild hogs or simply boars. In North America they are more commonly referred to as razorbacks or European boars. You can spot areas where wild boar have been rooting by the presence of earth that looks like it has been rototilled.
More photos of Wild Pig in CalPhotos
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British Doctors Want To Permanently Ban All Cigarette Sales
Tristyn Bloom Contributor
The British Medical Association will vote Tuesday on whether to lobby for a permanent ban on the sale of cigarettes to anyone born after the year 2000, the Guardian reports.
“80% of people who smoke start as teenagers,” said Tim Crocker-Buque, who proposed the vote. “It’s very rare for people to make an informed decision in adulthood. The idea of this proposal is to prevent those children who are not smoking from taking up smoking.”
It is already illegal to sell cigarettes to anyone under 18 in the United Kingdom.
“The idea that free-thinking adults could be barred from buying cigarettes because of the year in which they’re born is both preposterous and discriminatory,” said Simon Clark, director of the smokers’ lobbying group Forest. “It’s arbitrary, unenforceable and completely illiberal.”
The BMA has significant clout in the UK, having already successfully lobbied for the banning of smoking in all workplaces, enclosed public spaces, and cars with children in them.
British Revenue and Customs currently estimates that nine percent of cigarettes and 35% of rolling tobacco consumed in the UK are smuggled–about two billion pounds’ worth of lost tax revenue. They seized over one billion illicit cigarettes between April and December 2013 alone–and government officials are worried that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
“We are worried that not enough is being done by the Government and its appropriate agencies to combat the problem of tobacco smuggling,” read a 2014 parliamentary report. “While there have been some high profile successes, over the last three years the numbers of prosecutions and convictions for organised crime cases involving tobacco have fallen. We do not believe that these numbers are decreasing due to the reduction in this type of crime.” The HRMC reported 156 tobacco smuggling arrests in 2012-2013.
The BMA has been busy this summer, opposing allowing charitable groups to sell alcohol at events and lobbying for higher alcohol prices. (RELATED: Jihadi Militants Ban Smoking, Guns In Conquered Territories)
One BMA member expressed skepticism about the smoking ban, calling it “a great sentiment but…a bit nonsensical.”
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Tags : smoking united kingdom
Tristyn Bloom
Melania Turns Heads In Gorgeous Black Pantsuit At WH Event
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Collins Dauda Facing $200m Housing Deal Probe
Collins Dauda
The Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Justice, Gloria Afua Akuffo, has indicted Alhaji Collins Dauda, former Minister for Works and Housing under the previous Mahama administration, over the controversial $200 million Saglemi Housing Project.
The previous National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration reportedly used $200 million to construct 1,502 houses for sale when it was supposed to build 5,000.
The initial contract of $200 million for 5,000 houses at Saglemi in rural part of the Greater Accra Region had parliamentary approval, but when it was ‘reviewed’ to 1,502 allegedly by Mr. Dauda, the agreement did not receive any parliamentary approval although the entire cost was maintained in the execution of the contract.
The Brazilian Contractor, Constratora OAS Ghana Limited, in February 2019, notified the government that it wanted to terminate the contract because the remaining 20 per cent of the contract sum had not been paid.
The Akufo-Addo administration, through the Works and Housing Ministry, referred the matter to the Attorney General for advice.
Current Works and Housing Minister, Samuel Atta Akyea, who wrote to the Attorney General over the matter, told journalists recently in Accra that the government could not make any decision on the matter without the advice of the AG.
The minister disclosed that the 1,502 housing units should have cost at least $60 million, announcing that the country was woefully shortchanged in the review of the contract.
As a result, the AG, in a letter to Mr. Atta Akyea dated May 8, 2018, said the Ministry of Justice had reviewed all the documents regarding the Saglemi Housing Project and had come to the conclusion that the matter should be subjected to criminal investigation.
The AG, in her observations, said, “Both the Executive approval and the Parliamentary approval for the Saglemi Housing Project were for the construction of 5,000 housing units at a cost of US$200,000,000.00.”
“From the documents reviewed, there is no evidence justifying the variation of the scope of the agreement in the First and Restated Agreement signed by the then Minister, Hon. Collins Dauda, which reduced the number of housing units to be constructed from 5,000 to 1,502 even though the price remained US$200,000,000.”
According to the AG’s letter, “Since the First and Restated Agreement witnessed a substantial reduction in the scope of the agreement from 5,000 housing units to 1,502 housing units, the ministry ought to have resubmitted the agreement to Parliament for approval.”
The AG said, “The ministry’s failure to resubmit the First and Restated Agreement to Parliament for approval therefore renders it null and void.”
The then Chief Director of the Ministry of Works and Housing, Alhaji Ziblim Yakubu, signed the Second and Restated agreement dated December 21, 2016, with Messrs Constructurora Limited, which changed the terms of the original agreement to 1,502 housing units, which were to be delivered at three different stages of completion as 1,024 housing units to be fully constructed; 388 housing units to be completed externally and 90 units to be left at foundation or lintel levels.
Final Advice
The AG, therefore, advised that since the agreement expired in June 2017, there can be no termination of a non-existent agreement as requested by the ministry.
The AG also stated that “the agreement, having expired in June 2017, the purported Notice of Termination by the contractor has no basis in law and is therefore of no effect. The ministry is therefore advised to write formally to the contractor rejecting the purported Notice of Termination.”
Furthermore, the AG said that “since the parties to the agreement are bound by the agreed accrued rights and obligations, notwithstanding its expiration, the ministry is advised to demand specific performance of the obligations of the contractor as contained in the expired agreement. Alternatively, a demand may be made by the ministry on the contractor for a refund of all overpayments, as well as interest subject to the conduct of a value-for-money audit.
“In the absence of a valid explanation for the variation of the terms of the original agreement, it’s advised that the matter be referred to the appropriate authority for criminal investigation,” the AG added.
By Melvin Tarlue
Tags: Collins Dauda, politics
2016: THE RABBIT & THE TORTOISE
The NDC Rigging Hallucination
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Critics.ioReviews By You, For You
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PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN 4 review (no spoilers) - Blind Film Critic
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You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘swamp’ tag.
Swamp Gators and Antebellum Cane Plantation
March 23, 2018 in exploring the USA | Tags: alligators, antebellum South, B&C Cajun Restaurant, Cajun Pride Swamp Tours, food, Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana, New Orleans, Oak Alley, plantation, slavery, sugar cane, swamp, turtles | 9 comments
Swamp ahead!
We showed up for the 9:00 am Cajun Pride Swamp Tours in Frenier, Louisiana. It was hot and sticky that day, as a swamp should be. As with everything else in my New Orleans vacation, I had no expectations and was prepared to enjoy anything we did or saw. We climbed onto a boat filled with tourists and were soon moving through human-cut waterways through the swamp in a nature reserve on the shores of Lake Pontchartrain.
This was my actual view through the boat railings. I cropped the rest of the photos.
We began seeing wildlife right away. There were many alligators, and most of them rather small. Our captain told us that alligators grow 8 to 9 inches a year in the wild, and can live to be 60 years old. We saw two kinds of turtles, and three remarkable birds: the Great Egret, the Great Blue Heron, and an Osprey. We also saw a lot of raccoons, who beg from the side of the waterways for treats from the boats, but we were most excited about the alligators.
The shores of our waterway were thick with forest.
Cypress were the most interesting trees, and I saw Spanish Moss for the first time.
Abandoned trapper cabin fixed up for tourists. Our captain said it was his home – ha! See the alligators?
Raccoons hoping for treats thrown by the captain.
Whenever you spot an alligator in the wild, chances are good that you are looking at a female. First of all, when there is a dominant male in an area, he will kill any nearby males, to minimize competition for mates. But the greater determining factor is birthrate. If the temperature at birth is 87 degrees or cooler, the entire clutch will hatch female. If the temperature is 88 or 89, there is an equal chance of either sex. And if the temperature is 90 degrees or above when the eggs are laid, they will all be male. It works out that there is a 15:1 ratio of females to males.
There’s a big one.
Turtles on the log.
Our tour boat filled with tourists.
Our boat pilot was a local Creole man and proud of his heritage. He said that his father spoke the French-based Creole language, but he did not. To show us how different the language is from the French language, he played some music for us. French tourists on the boat shook their heads and laughed. They couldn’t make sense of any of it.
He explained to us that the unique Cajun foods were simply a matter of collecting what was available from the land. Obviously the main courses are catfish, shrimp, crawdad, and Nutria (also called a swamp rat) because those are the available meat sources. He said that the spices and garnishes also originate in what could be harvested from the swamp.
We learned that the different kinds of trees we saw are the Palmetto Palm, Red Maple, Tupelo gum tree with long narrow leaves, and of course the famous Cypress tree. I learned that the knobs of wood emerging from the water around the base of the Cypress are its roots! They are called the knees, and apparently you can cut them off entirely without hurting the tree itself. Though Cypress trees are protected, the knees are knot. (heh heh)
There is an interesting legend about the site of this particular swamp tour. A woman named Julia Brown took up witchcraft, which made everyone afraid of her, and she was ostracized. In retaliation Brown warned that when she died she was taking the town and everyone with her. During her funeral in 1915, the wind picked up and a storm moved in. It was a hurricane. Wiped the town off the map and only 22 of the hundreds of residents survived. For this reason, many people believe that the swamp is haunted by the ghosts of the dead townsfolk.
The captain then introduced us to a 2-year-old female alligator that we all got to hold if we wanted to. If you know me, you know I held her.
My new friend.
Farther west, away from New Orleans, was a plantation Patrick said he has always wanted to see called Oak Alley.
We found it and explored the grounds. This was a former sugar cane plantation that had over 100 slaves at its peak production. Some of the slave quarters have been restored, and the home itself is in beautiful shape. It is named for magnificent oak trees that line an alley in front and in back of the house.
Oak Alley Plantation house
Sun lights up the house.
“Please do not ring bell.” I was tempted!! This bell called the slaves to work in the morning and sent them to their quarters each night.
The Oaks at the front of the house.
The famous Oak Alley. There are 28 oaks in the front alley. This home and its oaks have been featured in many films, shows, and videos.
WWII tent and interpreter were on the grounds.
WWII tent set up as it would have been during the Civil War.
The ticket to enter mainly covers a guided tour of the house, but there is so much more to see, including a blacksmith’s shop, a movie on sugar cane processing and history in the area, a Civil War tent, and of course the Slave Quarters which were set up with educational signs and also had a site interpreter provide a talk on slaves in the time of the sugar cane production. There were a series of information signs that told the history of all the different owners of the plantation and the many uses to which the land was put. We explored it all and saved the house tour for last.
I admit it was awkward for me as a tourist to participate in the tour guided by a black woman. That pervasive White Person’s Guilt struck me, and I wondered what it was like for her, day after day, describing the nearly incomprehensible conditions of the slaves of the plantation, like when their futures were tossed about by the owners of the home as part of an inheritance negotiation. Someone asked our very sweet and smiling tour guide what she liked about being a guide, and she actually said she liked seeing the reactions from people when she talked about the differences between a white person’s life and a black person’s life in a typical day in this plantation’s history. So interesting.
Another bedroom
The Lavender Room
By this time we were STARVING. We had passed a roadside restaurant on the way through Vacherie, and went back to it, knowing nothing about the place. B&C Seafood Riverside Market & Cajun Restaurant is now my favourite place to eat in Louisiana.
Patrick knew what he was doing at a place like that, and while I ordered something like a sampler, he began listing to the waitress what he needed: a pound of shrimp, three pounds of crawdads, boudin, and a bloody mary. “To wash the shrimp down,” he said. My meal was fried catfish, fried oysters, and smoked rabbit gumbo with hush puppies. Oh man, I can’t even tell you how amazing that food was. We ate every last bite, crawdad juice going everywhere. I tipped up my bowl to get the last drop of rabbit gumbo. Luckily the bathroom had showers to scrub down after the crawdads. Kidding.
We were a distance out of town and decided to just go for a scenic drive as our next plan for the day. Instead of heading east back to New Orleans, we went north, then east, then dropped south to New Orleans so we could drive over Lake Pontchartrain.
Sun setting on Lake Pontchartrain.
Lake Pontchartrain is 630 square miles and the bridge crossing it is almost 24 miles (38 km) long.
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Manjana Milkoreit
Manjana Milkoreit is as an Assistant Professor at Purdue University in the Department of Political Science.
Dr. Milkoreit’s research integrates international relations scholarship and cognitive theory to study actor motivations and policy design in global climate change politics and diplomacy. She is interested in governance challenges at the science-policy and science-society interfaces that impact the search for and implementation of sustainable solutions to climate change. These include the use of scientific knowledge in policy and governance decisions, the role of ideologies in advancing or preventing effective societal responses to climate change, and meaning-making processes related to the Anthropocene.
Two major topics dominate her current research agenda: the challenges of future thinking (scientifically informed imagination) in climate change policy and decision-making, and the design of effective review mechanisms under the Paris Agreement, which was concluded in December 2015.
Manjana received her Ph.D. in Global Governance from the University of Waterloo (Canada), where she held a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship. Prior to her appointment at Purdue University she was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Arizona State University’s Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability. At ASU she lead the Imagination and Climate Futures Initiative, a collaboration between the Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiative, the Center for Science and the Imagination, and the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing.
Arizona State University unveils climate fiction anthology
Writ in Water: Millimeters to the End of the World
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Posts Tagged ‘Todd Helton’
Knoxville’s Lost Ballparks – Caswell Field, Smithson Stadium, Bill Meyer Stadium
Since at least 1917, baseball has been played at a ball field located at 633 Jessamine Street near the intersection of East 5th Street and Jessamine Street in Knoxville Tennessee. In 1916, William Caswell, a former confederate soldier, donated land to the city in East Knoxville for construction of a public park, including a ball field, which became known as Caswell Park. Caswell was one of the original longtime fans of the game, having participated in what may have been the first game of baseball played in Tennessee – an 1865 contest between the Holstons, Caswell’s team, composed of former Confederate soldiers, and the Knoxvilles, composed of former Union soldiers.
Ball Field at 633 Jessamine Street, Formerly Caswell Field, Smithson Stadium, and Bill Meyer Stadium, Knoxville, Tennessee
Professional baseball was first played at 633 Jessamine Street in 1921, when the Appalachian League Knoxville Pioneers called Caswell Field home. In 1925, Knoxville changed leagues and names, joining the South Atlantic League as the Knoxville Smokies, in honor of the nearby Great Smoky Mountains. Knoxville did not field a team in 1930, and shared a Southern Association team with Mobile in 1931 (playing their games in Mobile, Alabama).
Former Site of Caswell Field, Smithson Stadium, and Bill Meyer Stadium, Knoxville, Tennessee
In 1932, Caswell Field was replaced with a new ballpark, Smithson Stadium, named in honor of the Knoxville City Councilman W.N. Smithson who spearheaded a drive to bring professional baseball back to the city. The Southern Association Knoxville Smokies returned that same year, playing their home games at Smithson Park. In 1946, the Smokies joined the Tri State League and in 1953 played in the Mountain States League.
Memorial Garden, Former Site of Bill Meyer Stadium, Knoxville, Tennessee
In 1953 Smithson Stadium was demolished by a fire and the city constructed a new ballpark, Municipal Stadium, on the site. In 1954 the Smokies rejoined the Tri-State League for one season, playing at new Municipal Stadium. Knoxville did not have a professional team in 1955, but half way through the 1956 season the South Atlantic League Montgomery Rebels moved to Knoxville.
Bill Meyer Stadium Postcard
In 1957, Municipal Stadium was renamed Bill Meyer Stadium in honor of Knoxville native and former major league player and manager William Adam Meyer. In 1964, the Smokies joined the Southern League, where they have played ever since. In 1972 the team changed its name to the Knoxville Sox and in 1980, the Knoxville Blue Jays. In 1993, the team changed its name back to the Knoxville Smokies.
Plaque Honoring Bill Meyer Stadium, Knoxville, Tennessee
Professional baseball departed Bill Meyer Stadium after the 1999 season. In 2003 the stadium was demolished and in 2008 the ball field was renamed “Ridley-Helton Ballfield.” Neal Ridley was a former owner of the Knoxville Smokies and was largely responsible for keeping minor league baseball in Knoxville in the 1950s. Todd Helton is a Knoxville native and former Major League player who provided funds to renovate the ball field.
Plaque Honoring Neal Ridley and Todd Helton at Former Site of Bill Meyer Stadium, Knoxville, Tennessee
Although the Bill Meyer Stadium structure is long gone, the field remains, as well as modest bleachers and covered dugouts.
First Base Foul Line and Dugout, Ridley-Helton Field, Knoxville, Tennessee
The stadium grandstand behind home plate once sat in what is now an extension of Jessamine Street, which runs behind home plate and a memorial park.
Former Location of Third Base Grandstand, Bill Meyer Stadium, Now Ridley-Helton Field, Knoxville, Tennessee
A metal storage shed remains on the site from the time of Bill Meyer Stadium, still painted Knoxville Smokies blue.
Storage Shed Remaining At Site Next to Former Terminus of Third Base Grandstand
Out beyond left field is the former Standard Knitting Mills Building. The building has loomed large over the outfield wall since its construction in the mid 1940’s.
Standard Knitting Mills Building Out Beyond Left Field at Ridley-Helton Field, Formerly Bill Meyer Stadium, Knoxville, Tennessee
Detail of Standard Knitting Mills Building, Knoxville, Tennessee
Several light stanchions original to Bill Meyer Stadium remain at the site as well.
Light Stanchion, Ridley-Helton Field, Formerly Bill Meyer Stadium, Knoxville, Tennessee
Today Ridley-Helton Field continues to host youth and high school baseball, helping insure that baseball will continue to be played into the field’s second century.
Right Field Line, Ridley-Helton Field, Formerly Bill Meyer Stadium, Knoxville, Tennessee
In 2000, the Knoxville Smokies moved 20 miles east to a new ballpark, Smokies Park, located in Kodak, Tennessee. Having departed Knoxville, the team changed its name to the Tennessee Smokies.
Smokies Stadium, Kodak, Tennessee, Home of the Tennessee Smokies
Smokies Park also serves as a visitor center for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Smokies Park and Smoky Mountain Visitors Center, Kodak, Tennessee
Out beyond right field are four wood stadium seats from Bill Meyer Stadium, painted Knoxville Smokies blue.
Seats from Bill Meyer Stadium, Located Beyond Left Field Wall, Smokies Stadium, Kodak, Tennessee
Smokies Park is a fine minor league facility and a great place to watch a game of baseball. However, it has another 85 years before it can match the nearly 100 years of baseball that has been played at the Smokies former home in Knoxville.
Chicago Cubs Prospect Kris Bryant at Smokies Stadium, Kodak, Tennessee
Tags: 633 Jessamine Street, Appalachian League, Bill Meyer Stadium, Caswell Field, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Holstons, Knoxville, Knoxville Blue Jays, Knoxville Municipal Stadium, Knoxville Pioneers, Knoxville Smokies, Knoxville Sox, Knoxvilles, Kris Bryant, lost ballparks, minor league baseball, Mountain States League, Neal Ridley, Ridley-Helton Field, Smithson Stadium, Smokies Park, South Atlantic League, Southern Association, Standard Knitting Mills, Tennessee Smokies, Todd Helton, Tri State League, W.N. Smithson, William Caswell
Posted in Bill Meyer Stadium/Ridely-Helton Field, Tennessee ballparks | Comments (0)
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Edwards, John (x) ›
"Finian's Rainbow" program
A program for a production of "Finian's Rainbow", written by E. Y. Harburg, Fred Saidy, and Burton Lane, and performed by the University of Manitoba Glee Club in 1956. This program contains a note from the co-chairmen of the Glee Club, Harry Rostig and Don Lindsay; a synopsis of the play; biographies of Harburg, Saidy, and Lane; biographies of the key cast members and supporting personnel; a list of songs; and a list of the entire cast, supporting personnel, orchestra, and patrons.
"Girl Crazy" program
A program for the University of Manitoba Glee Club's 1957 production of "Girl Crazy". The musical was written by Ira and George Gershwin, with a book by Guy Bolton and John McGowan. The program contains a note from the co-chairmen of the Glee Club, Henri Enns and Walt Patterson; a synopsis of the play; biographies of the Gershwins and Bolton, as well as short biographies of the key cast members and supporting personnel of the performance. A list of songs and of the entire cast, supporting personnel, and orchestra is also included.
"Wonderful Town" program
A program for the University of Manitoba Students' Union Glee Club's 1958 production of "Wonderful Town". The musical was written by Jerome Chodorow, Joseph Fields, Betty Comden, Adolph Green, and Leonard Bernstein, based on "My Sister Eileen" by Ruth McKenney. This program contains a note from the co-chairmen of the Glee Club, Ann Paquet and Walt Patterson; a synopsis of the play; biographies of Bernstein, the key cast members and supporting personnel; a list of songs; and a list of the entire cast, supporting personnel, orchestra, and patrons.
An Absence of Glee - University of Manitoba Alumni Journal, Spring 1973
An article, with photographs, published in the University of Manitoba’s Alumni Journal Spring 1973 issue. The article was submitted by former University of Manitoba student and Glee Club member Jock Abra. Abra reflects on the history and decline of the University of Manitoba’s Glee Club, specifically his experiences auditioning, rehearsing, performing, and socializing with the Glee Club in the early 1960s.
Cast members of University of Manitoba production of "Patience"
A photograph, dated 1930, of eleven of the cast members of the University of Manitoba's production of "Patience".
Cast of "Princess Ida"- Act 1
Photograph of the cast of the first act of the theatrical production "Princess Ida". The comic opera was presented by the University of Manitoba Glee Club in Winnipeg in 1931. Annotation indicates the production was directed by Edith Sinclair.
Photograph of the cast of the second act of the theatrical production "Princess Ida". The comic opera was presented by the University of Manitoba Glee Club in Winnipeg in 1931. Annotation indicates the production was directed by Edith Sinclair.
Photograph of the cast of the third act of the theatrical production "Princess Ida". The comic opera was presented by the University of Manitoba Glee Club in Winnipeg in 1931. Annotation indicates the production was directed by Edith Sinclair.
Cast of "Sabotage"
A photograph of the cast of the University of Manitoba Dramatic Society's 1917 production of "Sabotage".
Cast of "The Golden Doom"
A photograph of the cast of the University of Manitoba Dramatic Society's 1917 production of "The Golden Doom".
Cast of "The Neighbors"
A photograph of the cast of the University of Manitoba Dramatic Society's 1917 production of "The Neighbors".
Cast of "The Twelve-Pound Look"
A photograph of the cast of the University of Manitoba Dramatic Society's 1917 production of "The Twelve-Pound Look".
A program for a Choral Symphony Concert performed by the University of Manitoba Students' Board of Music on Friday, 5 March 1954 at the Residence Auditorium. Concert was directed by Glen Pierce. The program includes performance itinerary, an advertisement, and lists of the members of the Board of Music Executive, Choral Society Committee, Symphony Committee, the Choir, and the Orchestra.
Glee Club Shows - University of Manitoba Alumni Journal, Autumn 1971
An article published in the University of Manitoba’s Alumni Journal Autumn 1971 issue, which lists the annual performances of the University’s Glee Club from 1928 to 1971. The piece discusses the club's shift away from Gilbert and Sullivan, which characterized their early years, and towards Broadway productions.
Members of Saint John's Dramatic Society performing "Surprise in the Portico"
A photograph, dated 1936, of eight unidentified members of the St. John's Dramatic Society performing a scene from "Surprise in the Portico". Attached to the back of the photograph is a newspaper reproduction of the photograph dated 14 October 1977.
Principal actors from "Patience"
A photograph of the principal actors from a University of Manitoba theatre production of "Patience" in 1930, likely performed by the University of Manitoba Glee Club. Eleven unidentified actors are visible in costume. Annotation refers to Edith Sinclair.
Student Operetta Performance at University of Manitoba
A photograph, dated circa 1970, of student musicians participating in an operetta performance at the University of Manitoba.
A photograph, dated circa 1970, of unidentified students performing in an operetta at the University of Manitoba. The entire set on the stage is visible, and musicians in the orchestra pit are partially visible in the photograph.
A photograph of unidentified students performing in an operetta at the University of Manitoba. The entire set on the stage is visible, and musicians in the orchestra pit are partially visible in the photograph. This photograph is dated circa 1970.
A photograph, dated circa 1970, of a conductor and student musicians participating in an operetta performance at the University of Manitoba. Another performer is partially visible on a stage in the background.
Students performing in a play at the University of Manitoba
An undated photograph of University of Manitoba students performing an unidentified play or musical. Based on the annotations on the back of the photograph, which read "Crop. Fred & Lilli. Page no 221. Pix no 4. Order 1061", the play may be "Kiss Me, Kate".
The University of Manitoba Glee Club Scrapbook
A University of Manitoba Glee Club scrapbook containing theatre programs, newspaper clippings and photographs of operatic productions performed between 1929 and 1941. The productions included in the scrapbook are as follows: "The Gondoliers" as performed in 1929, 1933 and 1938; "Patience" in 1930; "Princess Ida" in 1931; "The Mikado" in 1934 and 1941; "Ruddigore" in 1936; "Utopia Limited" in 1937; "Iolanthe" in 1939; "H.M.S. Pinafore" in 1940. Also included is an advertisement about two plays presented by the Glee Club: "Chelkash" and "The Man Who Wouldn't Go To Heven", both in 1933. The productions were performed at The Gordon Bell School Auditorium, The Playhouse, The Concert Hall Auditorium and the Civic Auitorium. The shows were directed by various directors, including Claude Sinclair, Edith Sinclair, Winona Lightcap and Ronald Gibson. The theatre programs contain advertisements from local business throughout.
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Filtering by Tag: Tom Morey
The STILL POINT a Taki Bibelas film
January 22, 2011 / desiree east
[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/12666679 w=400&h=300]
The STILL POINT - Official Trailer
A film by Taki Bibelas
Produced by Pixi Fish Films
WORLD PREMIERE: Metro 4 Theatre, Tuesday, February 1st at 5pm.
2nd SCREENING: Metro 4 Theatre, Wednesday, February 2nd at 10am.
(Please note the schedule is subject to change)
SYNOPSIS: A T.S. Eliot Poem inspires a film about water and the ocean that is told by worlds legendary pioneer surfers.
‘At the still point of the turning world .... Where past and future are gathered .... Neither movement from nor towards .... Except for the point, the still point, There would be no dance, and there is only the dance.’
The images from these words bring us to a place where there is everything and nothing, an image found in eastern thought and a concept found in quantum physics. Surf is a metaphor.
We hear about all life being made of waves, from the waves on our planet to the waves of light. Wave and Particle theory deals with mater on a sub atomic level, but being in the ocean is the only place we can tangibly feel a wave like motion. Is that why it feels good in the water?
Does time change in the ocean, can one become water, what is mana, why does it feel good to jump in the ocean, is all life made of waves. Does it offer a rite of passage? Is all life made of waves? How does science fit in? Where is the art form, what is the dance? Is the ocean alive, does it have a consciousness? If we believed it, we might be more respectful of it. The curl of the wave is a Fibonacci spiral, the golden ratio, a mathematical form found everywhere in nature from the shape of the galaxy, to patterns in plants, to the double-helix spiral of our own DNA.
What we learn from the ocean must surely apply to all of nature: plants, animals, people. Being in tune with life, understanding the concept of nothingness, having respect having respect for everything, will in the end lead us down the path of seeing all things in a simpler way. A film about waves, surf and the connection of all things.
Cast: Simon Anderson, Wayne "Rabbit" Bartholomew, Peter Cole, Mark Cunningham, Jeff Divine, Mike Doyle, George Downing, Skip Frye, Leroy Grannis, Ricky Grigg, Glenn Henning, Kimo Hollinger, Joey Cabell, Buffalo Keaulana, Brian Keaulana, Tom Morey, Mickey Munoz, Dorian (Doc) Paskowitz, Claudia Parmenter, Michael Peterson, Steve Pezman, Jericho Popler, Tom Stone, Paul Strauch, Jock Sutherland, Tom Wegener.
................................................................................................................................................. Paris, France - A few months before Miki Dora passed away he was at a dinner at the Madrid Hotel in Guéthary, France with Stacy Peralta and Agi Orsi to discus a follow up film to their movie Dog Town and Z boys to be based on Miki's life. Photographer and film maker, Taki Bibelas, was at that dinner, the next day he told Miki that if he ever made a film about surfing there would be almost no surfing in it, you would just have to feel it. It is touching and fitting that Miki's father, Mikos, agreed to narrate the film.
Taki wanted to understand how he or anybody else could be so attracted to the ocean's waves. The Still Point is a documentary about the ocean and waves as seen through the eyes and thoughts of some of the worlds most legendary water-men.
categories / culture, featured artists, festivals, surf
tags / Brian Keaulana, film, Film festival, influencers, Jock Sutherland, Leroy Grannis, Mickey Munoz, Miki Dora, pixie fish films, postaweek2011, Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Simon Anderson, Skip Frye, Surfing, taki bibelas, Tom Morey, waves
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ArtistesPEROS Nick
PEROS Nick
The music of composer Nick Peros has received wide acclaim from critics and audiences alike. A prolific composer with over 200 works in his catalogue, Peros is fluent in symphonic, orchestral, choral, vocal and chamber genres.
Peros has been composing exclusively classical concert music since 1987, with his earlier works being primarily for solo and chamber ensembles, as well as for solo voice & piano. He has since composed in virtually every genre, with a number of his works receiving a high international profile. In 1992 Peros composed his symphony Isumataq, for full orchestra and choir, as part of an artistic collaboration with Canadian painter Ken Kirkby. In March 1993, the Isumataq project was recognized by the Canadian government as a work important for Canada and Canadian culture - a special ceremony held in the Canadian Parliament, House of Commons to pay homage to Isumataq was attended by Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, the Speaker of the House, the Party leaders and the Members of Parliament.
His orchestral work Northern Lights was composed in 1993 and received its world premiere in November 1994. In 1997 Northern Lights was further performed across Canada, including a performance by the Regina Symphony, conducted by Marc David, which was recorded and broadcast nationally by CBC Radio.
In 2002 Peros composed Prayer of Consolation, a large scale a cappella choral work composed to commemorate the events of 9-11. Featuring a Biblical text compiled by Peros to reflect a dialogue between God and Man on the events of 9-11, Prayer of Consolation received its world premiere on September 10, 2002, in Washington DC at Washington National Cathedral, performed by The Palestrina Choir, as part of the US commemorations of the First Anniversary of 9-11. Portions of the concert were broadcast nationally across Canada on CBC Television as part of CBC’s First Anniversary commemorations.
Peros’ debut CD, Motets (Phoenix Records/Canada) was released in 1999 and features 20 a cappella choral works that cover a wide range of choral composition, encompassing both rich polyphony as well as chordal textures, and composed for choirs of two, four and five parts. Peros’ second CD, Songs (Phoenix Records, 2000) features 31 songs for solo voice & piano with texts by Emily Dickinson, A.E. Housman, William Wordsworth, Robert Louis Stevenson, William Blake and, most notably, Emily Brontë – 17 of the 31 songs on the CD are settings of Brontë's poetry, with some songs being the first time that Brontë's poems have been set to music. His CD Soliloquies (Phoenix Classical, 2012) features various works for solo instrument, including Five Poemes for Solo Piano; Eden, for solo flute and Suite No. 1 for Solo Cello.
Peros’ latest recording, Nocturnes: 24 Nocturnes for Solo Guitar (DeoSonic, 2017), features the World Premiere recording of the 24 Nocturnes performed by guitarist Michael Kolk, released in conjunction with the international publication of the compositions and score by Les Productions d’OZ.
Peros is also the recipient of one Certified Platinum Record Award and three Certified Gold Record Awards for his CDs O Canada – A Canadian Celebration (Certified Platinum), Home for Christmas (Certified Gold), HomeGrown (Certified Gold) and Stories from Home (Certified Gold).
For more information on Nick Peros visit www.nickperos.com
24 NocturnesPEROS NickAvancé - Guitare seule20.00$ | DZ 2836
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Remove this filter Type: Systematic review
Remove this filter Public health area: Disease prevention
Systematic review on the diagnosis, treatment, care and prevention of tuberculosis in prison settings
Systematic review - 30 May 2017
The objective of this report is to systematically review data on the diagnosis, treatment, care and prevention of tuberculosis in prison settings, with a focus on the countries of the European Union and the European Economic Area.
Systematic review on the diagnosis, treatment, care and prevention of tuberculosis in prison settings - EN - [PDF-2.61 MB]
Systematic review on the incubation and infectiousness/shedding period of communicable diseases in children
Systematic review - 2 Jun 2016
Illnesses caused by infectious diseases are common in children in schools or other childcare settings. Currently there is no common EU approach to the control of communicable diseases in schools or other childcare settings, and existing information is uncertain.
Systematic review on the incubation and infectiousness/shedding period of communicable diseases in children - EN - [PDF-1.12 MB]
Systematic review of the effectiveness of infection control measures to prevent the transmission of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae through cross-border transfer of patients
Systematic review - 8 Dec 2014
The goal of this systematic review is to update the 2011 ECDC risk assessment. Evidence from this review will be used to develop guidance on this topic.
Systematic review of the effectiveness of infection control measures to prevent the transmission of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae through cross-border transfer of patients - EN - [PDF-1.64 MB]
Systematic review of the effectiveness of infection control measures to prevent the transmission of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae through cross-border transfer of patients
This systematic review seeks to identify evidence for the effectiveness of targeted infection control measures to control the spread and transmission of ESBL-E when transferring patients between healthcare settings, especially when the transfer is cross-border.
Systematic review of the effectiveness of infection control measures to prevent the transmission of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae - EN - [PDF-1.83 MB]
Review of the scientific literature on drivers and barriers of seasonal influenza vaccination coverage in the EU/EEA
Systematic review - 4 Nov 2013
The report aims to provide a critical review of evidence on the barriers and drivers of seasonal influenza vaccination coverage in the EU/EEA. The report focuses on high-risk groups where high coverage of seasonal flu vaccination is most important. The 2009 Council of the European Union Recommendation on seasonal influenza vaccination encourages countries to implement measures that would increase seasonal influenza vaccination uptake to at least 75% for defined older age groups, and, if possible, for other risk groups. In support of this, the ECDC report summarises the evidence on what are the barriers and what are the drivers for seasonal influenza vaccination by each risk group
Review of the scientific literature on drivers and barriers of seasonal influenza vaccination coverage in the EU/EEA - EN - [PDF-1.1 MB]
Systematic review and evidence-based guidance on perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis
Systematic review, Technical report - 25 Jun 2013
Perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis (PAP) is considered one of the most effective measures for the prevention of surgical site infections (SSIs). An ECDC commissioned ‘Systematic review and evidence-based guidance on perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis’ was performed to identify effective measures to improve compliance with PAP among healthcare professionals. The
Perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis - June 2013.pdf - EN - [PDF-1.42 MB]
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Hungary: EUA denounces attacks on academic freedom
The European University Association (EUA) strongly condemns the recent intimidation of academics in the Hungarian media. The pro-government magazine Figyelo listed the names of more than 200 people, calling them “mercenaries” of George Soros, a Hungarian-American entrepreneur and philanthropist who founded EUA member Central European University (CEU). The list includes current and former CEU staff members, as well as employees of NGOs that are financially supported by Soros.
“This is a direct attack on academic freedom, a fundamental principle of higher education that we as Europeans must share and protect,” said Lesley Wilson, EUA Secretary General. “We cannot allow university staff to teach and conduct research in an atmosphere of intimidation and oppression from political groups or governments. This is simply unacceptable.”
The attacks were at the heart of a political campaign linked to the country’s parliamentary elections held on 8 April, which saw Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s ruling Fidesz party secure a two-thirds majority. Next month, the re-elected government is expected to adopt the so-called “Stop Soros” legislation package, which will heavily impact NGOs receiving foreign funding.
This intimidation is the latest in a series of attacks on CEU over the past year. Most prominently, in April 2017, the Hungarian government amended higher education legislation in a way that would exclusively impact CEU, in an attempt to force its closure. This was the first time that the government of an EU country sought to shut down a university – an act that was widely condemned, including by EUA. CEU has worked to comply with the additional regulations set out in the legislation, which require a university issuing foreign degrees in Hungary to establish educational activities in the institution’s country of origin. While CEU has done this at New York's Bard College, it remains in limbo as the Hungarian government has yet to sign off on the new operating licence.
Given the latest developments, EUA calls upon the Hungarian government and the press that supports it to refrain from political interference in university matters, to respect institutional autonomy, and to establish a dialogue with the sector that is based on mutual trust and the rule of law. Specifically, it calls on Hungarian President Janos Ader to fulfil his duty as the leader of an EU member state to protect academic freedom as a shared European value.
Freedom from political intervention and pressure is a condition sine qua non in enabling universities to fulfil their very important role in our societies. EUA will continue to monitor the events in Hungary and to stand by its member CEU.
Please contact Jessica Carter, +32 27431159; mobile: +32 473748785; jessica.carter@eua.eu
Institutional Autonomy
Autonomy & Governance
Universities & Values
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“The Great Escape” – fact, fiction and Rabbits
AuthoreuropeantractionPosted on March 22, 2017 September 8, 2017 CategoriesGermanyTagsGermany
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Fans of the 1963 movie The Great Escape may find a little of extra interest to see whilst exploring southern Germany with 218 power. An astonishing number of seemingly disparate scenes were filmed in and around the pretty town of Füssen, and the station itself was where the scene involving the death of David McCallum’s character Ashley-Pitt was filmed.
However, the true story on which the film was largely based also has links to the region, and specifically to routes and areas that the 218s have been synonymous with throughout their careers. Although the camp, Stalag Luft III, was situated about 500 miles away – in the now-Polish town of Żagań, east of Cottbus and south of Poznań – two of the escapees actually made it all the way by rail to Bavaria.
Four days after the escape, on 29th March 1944, South African airmen Johannes Gouws and Rupert Stevens had almost made it to their destination – neutral Switzerland. But they could not evade the Gestapo for long. One was apprehended on a Lindau-bound express at Kaufbeuren, the other on a local train between Mühldorf and Rosenheim; history seems unclear which was which. That they had dodged capture for so far and for so long was clearly against all odds, and it is tragic to consider that had the first managed to remain unidentified for just a little while longer on his train, then he would have reached Lindau, and actually been within clear sight of Switzerland and safety.
218415 at Füssen. In the film, the character of Ashley-Pitt collapsed in a heap about halfway down the length of the train, whereas one of the real escapees was apprehended just 25 miles away in Kaufbeuren. 17/01/15 (JW)
Of the 76 men who escaped the camp, 73 were recaptured, of which 50 were executed on Hitler’s direct orders. Gouws and Stevens were to be among them. Little is definitively known about their capture and what happened next, other than the fact that the Nazis are thought to have taken the cost of their cremation out of the money found on them when they were captured. Urns containing their ashes were sent back to Stalag Luft III with only the date of 29th March 1944 and the location of München noted upon them. Both men are buried in the Old Garrison Cemetery in Poznań.
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Pedro Albizu Campos
This article uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is Albizu and the second or maternal family name is Campos.
Pedro Albizu Campos (September 12, 1891[2] – April 21, 1965) was a Puerto Rican attorney and politician, and the leading figure in the Puerto Rican independence movement. Gifted in languages, he spoke six. He graduated from Harvard Law School with the highest grade point average in his law class, an achievement that earned him the right to give the valedictorian speech at his graduation ceremony. However, animus towards his mixed racial heritage led to his professors delaying two of his final exams in order to keep Albizu Campos from graduating on time.[3] During his time at Harvard University he became involved in the Irish struggle for independence.[4][5]
Pedro Albizu Campos during his years at Harvard University, 1913–1919
(1891-09-12)September 12, 1891[1]
Machuelo Abajo, Ponce, Puerto Rico
University of Vermont Harvard University
Puerto Rican Nationalist Party
Laura Meneses
Albizu Campos was the president and spokesperson of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party from 1930 until his death in 1965. Because of his oratorical skill, he was hailed as El Maestro (The Teacher).[6][7] He was imprisoned twenty-six years for attempting to overthrow the United States government in Puerto Rico.
In 1950, he planned and called for armed uprisings in several cities in Puerto Rico. Afterward he was convicted and imprisoned again. He died in 1965 shortly after his pardon and release from federal prison, some time after suffering a stroke. There is controversy over his medical treatment in prison.
Early life and educationEdit
He was born in a sector of Barrio Machuelo Abajo[8] in Ponce, Puerto Rico to Juana Campos, a domestic worker of African ancestry, on 12 September 1891. His father Alejandro Albizu Romero, known as "El Vizcaíno," was a Basque merchant, from a family of Spanish immigrants who had temporarily resided in Venezuela[2][9][10] From an educated family, Albizu was the nephew of the danza composer Juan Morel Campos, and cousin of Puerto Rican educator Dr. Carlos Albizu Miranda. The boy's mother died when he was young and his father did not acknowledge him until he was at Harvard University.[9]
Albizu Campos graduated from Ponce High School,[11] a "public school for the city's white elite."[9] In 1912, Albizu was awarded a scholarship to study Engineering, specializing in Chemistry, at the University of Vermont. In 1913, he transferred to Harvard University so as to continue his studies.
At the outbreak of World War I, Albizu Campos volunteered in the United States Infantry. Albizu was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the Army Reserves and sent to the City of Ponce, where he organized the town's Home Guard. He was called to serve in the regular Army and sent to Camp Las Casas for further training. Upon completing the training, he was assigned to the 375th Infantry Regiment. The United States Army, then segregated, assigned Puerto Ricans of recognizably African descent as soldiers to the all-black units, such as the 375th Regiment. Officers were men classified as white, as was Albizu Campos.
Lieutenant Pedro Albizu Campos (U.S. Army)
Albizu Campos was honorably discharged from the Army in 1919, with the rank of First Lieutenant. However, his exposure to racism during his time in the U.S. military altered his perspective on U.S.- Puerto Rico relations, and he became the leading advocate for Puerto Rican independence.[12]
In 1919, Albizu returned to his studies at Harvard University, where he was elected president of the Harvard Cosmopolitan Club. He met with foreign students and world leaders, such as Subhas Chandra Bose, the Indian Nationalist leader, and the Hindu poet Rabindranath Tagore. He became interested in the cause of Indian independence and also helped to establish several centers in Boston for Irish independence. Through this work, Albizu Campos met the Irish leader Éamon de Valera and later became a consultant in the drafting of the constitution of the Irish Free State.[4][5] Also while at Harvard University he co-founded the university's Knights of Columbus chapter along with other Catholic students.[13]
Albizu graduated from Harvard Law School in 1921 while simultaneously studying Literature, philosophy, Chemical Engineering, and Military Science at Harvard College. He was fluent in six modern and two classical languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Latin, and ancient Greek.
Upon graduation from law school, Albizu Campos was recruited for prestigious positions, including a law clerkship to the U.S. Supreme Court, a diplomatic post with the U.S. State Department, the regional vice-presidency (Caribbean region) of a U.S. agricultural syndicate, and a tenured faculty appointment to the University of Puerto Rico.[14]
On June 23, 1921, after graduating from Harvard Law School, Albizu returned to Puerto Rico—but without his law diploma. He had been the victim of racial discrimination by one of his professors. He delayed Albizu Campos' third-year final exams for courses in Evidence and Corporations. Albizu was about to graduate with the highest grade-point average in his entire law school class. As such, he was scheduled to give the valedictory speech during the graduation ceremonies. His professor delayed his exams so that he could not complete his work, and avoided the "embarrassment" of a Puerto Rican law valedictorian.[15]
Albizu Campos left the United States, took and passed the required two exams in Puerto Rico, and in June 1922 received his law degree by mail. He passed the bar exam and was admitted to the bar in Puerto Rico on February 11, 1924.[16]
MarriageEdit
In 1922, Albizu married Dr. Laura Meneses, a Peruvian biochemist whom he had met at Harvard University.[17] They had four children named Pedro, Laura, Rosa Emilia, and Héctor.[18]
Historical contextEdit
After nearly four hundred years of colonial domination under the Spanish Empire, Puerto Rico finally received its colonial autonomy in 1898 through a Carta de Autonomía (Charter of Autonomy). This Charter of Autonomy was signed by Spanish Prime Minister Práxedes Mateo Sagasta and ratified by the Spanish Cortes.[19]
Despite this, just a few months later, the United States claimed ownership of the island as part of the Treaty of Paris, which concluded the Spanish–American War. Persons opposed to the takeover over the years joined together in what became the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party. Their position was that, as a matter of international law, the Treaty of Paris could not empower the Spanish to "give" to the United States what was no longer theirs.[20]
Several years after leaving Puerto Rico, in 1913 Charles Herbert Allen, the former first civilian U.S. governor of the island, became president of the American Sugar Refining Company,[21] the largest of its kind in the world. In 1915, he resigned to reduce his responsibilities, but stayed on the board.[21] This company was later renamed as the Domino Sugar company. According to historian Federico Ribes Tovar, Charles Allen leveraged his governorship of Puerto Rico into a controlling interest over the entire Puerto Rican economy.[22]
Early careerEdit
Puerto Rican Nationalist Party leadershipEdit
Pedro Albizu Campos in 1936.
Nationalist activists wanted independence from foreign banks, absentee plantation owners, and United States colonial rule. Accordingly, they started organizing in Puerto Rico.
In 1919, José Coll y Cuchí, a member of the Union Party of Puerto Rico, took followers with him to form the Nationalist Association of Puerto Rico in San Juan, to work for independence. They gained legislative approval to repatriate the remains of Ramón Emeterio Betances, the Puerto Rican patriot, from Paris, France.
By the 1920s, two other pro-independence organizations had formed on the Island: the Nationalist Youth and the Independence Association of Puerto Rico. The Independence Association was founded by José S. Alegría, Eugenio Font Suárez and Leopoldo Figueroa in 1920. On September 17, 1922, these three political organizations joined forces and formed the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party. Coll y Cuchi was elected president and José S. Alegría (father of Ricardo Alegría) vice president.
In 1924, Pedro Albizu Campos joined the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party and was elected vice president. In 1927, Albizu Campos traveled to Santo Domingo, Haiti, Cuba, Mexico, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela, seeking support among other Latin Americans for the Puerto Rican Independence movement.
In 1930, Albizu and José Coll y Cuchí, president of the Party, disagreed on how the party should be run. Albizu Campos did not like what he considered to be Coll y Cuchí's attitude of fraternal solidarity with the enemy.[23] As a result, Coll y Cuchí left the party and, with some of his followers, returned to the Union Party. On May 11, 1930, Albizu Campos was elected president of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party. He formed the first Women's Nationalist Committee, in the island municipality of Vieques, Puerto Rico.[24]
After being elected party president, Albizu declared: "I never believed in numbers. Independence will instead be achieved by the intensity of those that devote themselves totally to the Nationalist ideal."[25] Under the slogan, "La Patria es valor y sacrificio" (The Homeland is valor and sacrifice), a new campaign of national affirmation was carried out. Albizu Campos' vision of sacrifice was integrated with his Catholic faith.[26]
Accusation against Dr. Cornelius P. RhoadsEdit
Main article: Cornelius P. Rhoads
In 1932, Albizu published a letter accusing Dr. Cornelius P. Rhoads, an American pathologist with the Rockefeller Institute, of killing Puerto Rican patients in San Juan's Presbyterian Hospital as part of his medical research. Albizu Campos had been given an unmailed letter by Rhoads addressed to a colleague, found after Rhoads returned to the United States.[27]
Part of what Rhoads wrote, in a letter to his friend which began by complaining about another's job appointment, included the following:
I can get a damn fine job here and am tempted to take it. It would be ideal except for the Porto Ricans. They are beyond doubt the dirtiest, laziest, most degenerate and thievish race of men ever inhabiting this sphere. It makes you sick to inhabit the same island with them. They are even lower than Italians. What the island needs is not public health work but a tidal wave or something to totally exterminate the population. It might then be livable. I have done my best to further the process of extermination by killing off 8 and transplanting cancer into several more. The latter has not resulted in any fatalities so far ... The matter of consideration for the patients' welfare plays no role here – in fact all physicians take delight in the abuse and torture of the unfortunate subjects.[28][29]
Albizu sent copies of the letter to the League of Nations, the Pan American Union, the American Civil Liberties Union, newspapers, embassies, and the Vatican.[30] He also sent copies of the Rhoads letter to the media, and published his own letter in the Porto Rico Progress. He used it as an opportunity to attack United States imperialism, writing:
The mercantile monopoly is backed by the financial monopoly ... The United States have mortgaged the country to their own financial interests. The military intervention destroyed agriculture. It changed the country into a huge sugar plantation ..." Albizu Campos accused Rhoads and the United States of trying to exterminate the native population, saying, "Evidently, submissive people coming under the North American empire, under the shadow of its flag, are taken ill and die. The facts confirm absolutely a system of extermination." He went on, "It [the Rockefeller Foundation] has in fact been working out a plan to exterminate our people by inoculating patients unfortunate enough to go to them with virus of incurable diseases such as cancer.[31]
A scandal erupted. Rhoads had already returned to New York.[32] Governor James R. Beverley of Puerto Rico and his attorney general Ramón Quiñones, as well as Puerto Rican medical doctors Morales and Otero appointed thereby, conducted an investigation of the more than 250 cases treated during the period of Rhoads' work at Presbyterian Hospital. The Rockefeller Foundation also conducted their own investigation.[27] Rhoads said he had written the letter in anger after he found his car vandalized, and it was intended "as a joke" in private with his colleague.[30] An investigation concluded that he had conducted his research and treatment of Puerto Ricans appropriately. When the matter was revisited in 2002, again no evidence was found of medical mistreatment. The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) considered the letter offensive enough to remove Rhoads' name from a prize established to honor his lifelong work in cancer research.[30]
Early Nationalist effortsEdit
The Ponce Massacre, 1937. Carlos Torres Morales, a photo journalist for the newspaper El Imparcial, took this when the shooting began.[33]
The Nationalist Party obtained poor electoral results in the 1932 election, but continued its campaign to unite the island behind an independent Puerto Rico platform. In 1933, Albizu Campos led a strike against the Puerto Rico Railway and Light and Power Company for its alleged monopoly on the island. The following year he represented sugar cane workers as a lawyer in a suit against the United States sugar industry.
The Nationalist movement was intensified by some of its members being killed by police during unrest at the University of Puerto Rico in 1935, in what was called the Río Piedras Massacre. The police were commanded by Colonel E. Francis Riggs, a former United States Army officer. Albizu withdrew the Nationalist Party from electoral politics, saying they would not participate until the United States ended colonial rule.
In 1936, Hiram Rosado and Elías Beauchamp, two members of the Cadets of the Republic, the Nationalist youth organization, assassinated Colonel Riggs. After their arrest, they were killed without a trial at police headquarters in San Juan.[34]
Other police killed marchers and bystanders at a parade in the Ponce massacre (1937). The Nationalists believed these showed the violence which the United States was prepared to use in order to maintain its colonial regime in Puerto Rico.[35] Historians Manuel Maldonado-Denis and César Ayala believe the motive for this repression, especially during the Great Depression, was because United States business interests were earning such enormous profits by this colonial arrangement.[35][36]
First arrestEdit
After these events, on April 3, 1936, a federal grand jury submitted an indictment against Albizu Campos, Juan Antonio Corretjer, Luis F. Velázquez, Clemente Soto Vélez and the following members of the cadets: Erasmo Velázquez, Julio H. Velázquez, Rafael Ortiz Pacheco, Juan Gallardo Santiago, and Pablo Rosado Ortiz. They were charged with sedition and other violations of Title 18 of the United States Code.[37]
Clemente Soto Vélez, Juan Antonio Corretjer and Pedro Albizu Campos (L to R), immediately before their trial and federal imprisonment.
The prosecution based some of its charges on the Nationalists' creation and organization of the Cadets, which the government referred to as the "Liberating Army of Puerto Rico". The prosecutors said that the military tactics which the cadets were taught were for the purpose of overthrowing the Government of the United States.[38][39] A jury of seven Puerto Ricans and five Americans acquitted the individuals by a vote of 7-to-5.
However, Judge Robert A. Cooper did not approve of this verdict. He called for a new trial and a new jury, which was composed of ten Americans and two Puerto Ricans. This second jury concluded that the defendants were guilty.[40]
In 1937, a group of lawyers, including a young Gilberto Concepción de Gracia, appealed the case, but the Boston Court of Appeals, which held appellate jurisdiction, upheld the verdict. Albizu Campos and the other Nationalist leaders were sentenced to the Federal penitentiary in Atlanta.
In 1939, United States Congressman Vito Marcantonio strongly criticized the proceedings, calling the trial a "frame-up" and "one of the blackest pages in the history of American jurisprudence."[41] In his speech Five Years of Tyranny, Congressman Marcantonio said that Albizu's jury had been profoundly prejudiced since it had been hand-picked by the prosecuting attorney Cecil Snyder. According to Marcantonio, the jury consisted of people "...who had expressed publicly bias and hatred for the defendants."[42] He said Snyder had been told that "the Department of Justice would back him until he did get a conviction."[42]
Marcantonio argued for Puerto Rican rights, saying "As long as Puerto Rico remains part of the United States, Puerto Rico must have the same freedom, the same civil liberties, and the same justice which our forefathers laid down for us. Only a complete and immediate unconditional pardon will, in a very small measure, right this historical wrong."[42]
In 1943, Albizu Campos became seriously ill and had to be interned at the Columbus Hospital of New York. He stayed there until nearly the end of his sentence. In 1947, after eleven years of imprisonment, Albizu was released; he returned to Puerto Rico. Within a short period of time, he began preparing for an armed struggle against the United States' plan to turn Puerto Rico into a "commonwealth" of the United States.
Later careerEdit
Passage of the Gag LawEdit
In 1948, the Puerto Rican Senate passed Law 53, also called the Ley de la Mordaza (Gag Law). At the time, members of the Partido Popular Democrático (Popular Democratic Party), or PPD, occupied almost all the Senate seats, and Luis Muñoz Marín presided over the chamber.[43]
The bill was signed into law on June 10, 1948, by the United States-appointed governor of Puerto Rico Jesús T. Piñero. It closely resembled the anti-communist Smith Law passed in the United States.[44]
The law made it illegal to own or display a Puerto Rican flag anywhere, even in one's own home. It limited speech against the United States government or in favor of Puerto Rican independence and prohibited one to print, publish, sell or exhibit any material intended to paralyze or destroy the insular government or to organize any society, group or assembly of people with a similar destructive intent. Anyone accused and found guilty of disobeying the law could be sentenced to ten years imprisonment, a fine of $10,000 dollars (US), or both.
Dr. Leopoldo Figueroa, then a member of the Partido Estadista Puertorriqueño (Puerto Rican Statehood Party) and the only non-PPD member of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives, spoke out against the law, saying that it was repressive and in direct violation of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, which guarantees Freedom of Speech.[45] Figueroa noted that since Puerto Ricans had been granted United States citizenship they were covered by its constitutional protections.[45][46]
1950s uprisings and second arrestEdit
The National Guard occupy Jayuya.
Pedro Albizu Campos was jailed again after the October 30, 1950 Nationalist revolts, known as the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party Revolts of the 1950s, in various Puerto Rican cities and towns against United States rule. Among the more notable of the revolts was the Jayuya uprising, where a group of Puerto Rican Nationalists, under the leadership of Blanca Canales, held the town of Jayuya for three days; the Utuado uprising which culminated in what is known as the "Utuado Massacre"; and the attack on La Fortaleza (the Puerto Rican governor's mansion) during the Nationalist attack of San Juan.
On October 31, police officers and National Guardsmen surrounded Salón Boricua, a barbershop in Santurce. Believing that a group of Nationalists were inside the shop, they opened fire. The only person in the shop was Albizu Campos' personal barber, Vidal Santiago Díaz. Santiago Díaz fought alone against the attackers for three hours and received five bullet wounds, including one in the head. The entire gunfight was transmitted "live" via the radio airwaves, and was heard all over the island. Overnight Santiago Díaz, the barber who survived an armed attack by forty police and National Guardsmen, became a legend throughout Puerto Rico.[47]
During the revolt, Albizu was at the Nationalist Party's headquarters in Old San Juan, which also served as his residence. That day he was accompanied by Juan José Muñoz Matos, Doris Torresola Roura (cousin of Blanca Canales and sister of Griselio Torresola), and Carmen María Pérez Roque. The occupants of the building were surrounded by the police and the National Guard who, without warning, fired their weapons. Doris Torresola, who was shot and wounded, was carried out during a ceasefire by Muñoz Matos and Pérez Roque. Alvaro Rivera Walker, a friend of Pedro Albizu Campos, somehow made his way to the Nationalist leader. He stayed with Albizu Campos until the next day when they were attacked with gas. Rivera Walker then raised a white towel he attached to a pole and surrendered. All the Nationalists, including Albizu, were arrested.[48]
On November 1, 1950, Nationalists Oscar Collazo and Griselio Torresola attacked Blair House in Washington, D.C. where president Harry S. Truman was staying while the White House was being renovated. During the attack on the president, Torresola and a policeman, Private Leslie Coffelt, were killed.
Because of this assassination attempt, Pedro Albizu Campos was immediately attacked at his home. After a shootout with the police, Albizu Campos was arrested and sentenced to eighty years in prison. Over the next few days, 3,000 independence supporters were arrested all over the island.
Lolita Lebrón and third arrestEdit
Albizu was pardoned in 1953 by then-governor Luis Muñoz Marín but the pardon was revoked the following year after the 1954 nationalist attack of the United States House of Representatives, when four Puerto Rican Nationalists, led by Lolita Lebrón, opened fire from the gallery of the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C..
Though in ill health, Pedro Albizu Campos was arrested when Lolita Lebrón, Rafael Cancel Miranda, Andrés Figueroa Cordero, and Irvin Flores, unfurled a Puerto Rican flag and opened fire on the members of the 83rd Congress on March 1, 1954 with the intention of capturing world-wide attention to the cause of Puerto Rican independence.[49] Ruth Mary Reynolds, the American Nationalist, went to the defense of Albizu Campos and the four Nationalists involved in the shooting incident with the aid of the American League for Puerto Rico's Independence.[50]
Later years and deathEdit
During his imprisonment, Albizu suffered deteriorating health.[51] He alleged that he was the subject of human radiation experiments in prison and said that he could see colored rays bombarding him. When he wrapped wet towels around his head in order to shield himself from the radiation, the prison guards ridiculed him as El Rey de las Toallas (The King of the Towels).[52]
Officials suggested that Pedro Albizu Campos was suffering from mental illness, but other prisoners at La Princesa prison including Francisco Matos Paoli, Roberto Díaz and Juan Jaca, claimed that they felt the effects of radiation on their own bodies as well.[53][54]
Dr. Orlando Daumy, a radiologist and president of the Cuban Cancer Association, traveled to Puerto Rico to examine him. From his direct physical examination of Albizu Campos, Dr. Daumy reached three specific conclusions:
1) that the sores on Albizu Campos were produced by radiation burns
2) that his symptoms corresponded to those of a person who had received intense radiation,
3) that wrapping himself in wet towels was the best way to diminish the intensity of the rays.[55]
In 1956, Albizu suffered a stroke in prison and was transferred to San Juan's Presbyterian Hospital under police guard.
On November 15, 1964, on the brink of death, Pedro Albizu Campos was pardoned by Governor Luis Muñoz Marín. He died on April 21, 1965. More than 75,000 Puerto Ricans were part of a procession that accompanied his body for burial in the Old San Juan Cemetery.[56]
LegacyEdit
The Pedro Albizu Campos Park built at his birthplace: the Tenerias community of Barrio Machuelo Abajo, Ponce, Puerto Rico.
Pedro Albizu Campos's legacy is the subject of discussion among supporters and detractors. Lolita Lebrón called him "Puerto Rico's most visionary leader"[57] and nationalists consider him "one of the island's greatest patriots of the 20th century."[58] In describing his legacy, social scientist Juan Manuel Carrión wrote that "Albizu still represents a forceful challenge to the very fabric of [Puerto Rico's] colonial political order."[59] His followers state that Albizu's political and military actions served as a primer for positive change in Puerto Rico, including the improvement of labor conditions for peasants and workers, a more accurate assessment of the colonial relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States, and an awareness by the political establishment in Washington, D.C. of this colonial relationship.[60] Supporters state that the legacy is that of an exemplary sacrifice for the building of the Puerto Rican nation ... a legacy of resistance to colonial rule.[61] His critics say that he "failed to attract and offer concrete solutions to the struggling poor and working class people and thus was unable to spread the revolution to the masses."[62]
The revival of public observance of the Grito de Lares and its significant icons was a result of Albizu Campos's efforts as the leader of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party.
FBI files on Albizu CamposEdit
In the 2000s, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) files released under the Freedom of Information Act, revealed that the San Juan FBI office coordinated with FBI offices in New York, Chicago and other cities, in a decades-long surveillance of Albizu and Puerto Ricans who had contact or communication with him. These documents are viewable online, including some as recent as 1965.[63][64]
HonorsEdit
You may listen to one of the speeches made in Spanish by Albizu Campos on YouTube
and view a portion of the Albizu Documentary Trailer on YouTube made in English.
Albizu Campos has been the subject of hundreds of books and countless articles. He has also been honored both in the United States and in Puerto Rico in many ways:
In Chicago, an alternative high school is named the Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos High School.
In New York City the Campos Plaza Community Center and housing project in Manhattan are named after him.
In New York City, Public School 161 in Harlem is named after him.
In Puerto Rico, five public schools are named after him.[65][self-published source]
In Puerto Rico, there are streets in most municipalities named after him.[65]
In Ponce, there is a Pedro Albizu Campos Park and lifesize statue dedicated to his memory. Every September 12, his contributions to Puerto Rico are remembered at this park on the celebration of his birthday.[66]
In Salinas, there is a "Plaza Monumento Don Pedro Albizu Campos", a plaza and 9-foot statue dedicated to his memory. It was dedicated on January 11, 2013, the birth day of Eugenio María de Hostos, another Puerto Rican who struggled for Puerto Rico's independence. Quite unique among Puerto Rican thought, the plaza-monument was erected and dedicated by a municipal government of the opposite (statehood) political ideology as that of Albizu Campos.[67]
In 1993, Chicago alderman Billy Ocasio, in supporting a statue of Albizu Campos in Humboldt Park, likened him to such American leaders as Patrick Henry, Chief Crazy Horse, John Brown, Frederick Douglass, and W. E. B. Du Bois.[68]
Puerto Rico portal
World War I portal
Puerto Ricans in World War I
San Juan Nationalist revolt
Puerto Rican Independence Party
^ Luis Fortuño Janeiro. Album Histórico de Ponce (1692–1963). Page 290. Ponce, Puerto Rico: Imprenta Fortuño. 1963.
^ a b Luis Fortuño Janeiro. Album Histórico de Ponce (1692–1963). p. 290. Ponce, Puerto Rico: Imprenta Fortuño. 1963.
^ "Juramentación de Pedro Albizu Campos como Abogado: Regreso de Harvard a Puerto Rico", La Voz de la Playa de Ponce, Edición 132, November 2010. Page 7. A reproduction of a segment from the book Las Llamas de la Aurora: Pedro Albizu Campos, un acercamiento a su biografía, by Marisa Rosado (San Juan, Puerto Rico: Ediciones Puerto. 1991.)
^ a b Boston Daily Globe, November 3, 1950.
^ a b Marisa Rosado, Pedro Albizu Campos: Las Llamas de la Aurora (San Juan, PR: Ediciones Puerto, Inc., 2008), p. 71.
^ Victor Villanueva. Colonial Memory and the Crime of Rhetoric: Pedro Albizu Campos. 2009. Page 636.
^ Neysa Rodriguez Deynes. Brevario Sobre la Historia de Ponce. Page 117. Gobierno Municipal Autonomo de Ponce. Oficina de Cultura y Turismo. 2002.
^ Carmelo Rosario Natal. Ponce En Su Historia Moderna: 1945–2002. Published by Secretaría de Cultura y Turismo of the Government of the Autonomous Municipality of Ponce. Ponce, Puerto Rico. 2003. p. 252.
^ a b c A. W. Maldonado, Luis Muñoz Marín: Puerto Rico's Democratic Revolution, La Editorial, University of Puerto Rico, 2006, p. 85
^ Federico Ribes Tovar, Albizu Campos" Puerto Rican Revolutionary, p. 17. Note: It says that his father, Alejandro Albizu Romero, known as "El Vizcaíno", was a Basque merchant living in Ponce. His mother, Julia Campos is described as being of Spanish, Indian (Taíno) and African descent.
^ Puerto Rico's Secret Police/FBI Files on Suspect #4232070, Pedro Albizu Campos., Federal Bureau of Investigation. In, "Freedom of Information – Privacy Acts Section. Office of Public and Congressional Affairs. Subject: Pedro Albizu Campos. File Number 105-11898, Section XIII." Page 38. Retrieved 31 December 2011.
^ Negroni, Héctor Andrés (1992). Historia militar de Puerto Rico (in Spanish). Sociedad Estatal Quinto Centenario. ISBN 978-84-7844-138-9.
^ Marisa Rosado, Pedro Albizu Campos: Las Llamas de la Aurora (San Juan, PR: Ediciones Puerto, Inc., 2008), pp. 56–74.
^ American Gunfight. Simon and Schuster. 2005. ISBN 0-7432-8195-0. Retrieved May 5, 2009.
^ "Juramentación de Pedro Albizu Campos como Abogado: Regreso de Harvard a Puerto Rico", La Voz de la Playa de Ponce, Edición 132, November 2010. Page 7. A reproduction of a segment from the book Las Llamas de la Aurora: Pedro Albizu Campos, un acercamiento a su biografía, by Marisa Rosado (San Juan, Puerto Rico: Ediciones Puerto. 1991.), p. 74.
^ "Juramentación de Pedro Albizu Campos como Abogado: Regreso de Harvard a Puerto Rico"[permanent dead link], Periódico La Voz de la Playa de Ponce, November 2010, p. 7
^ "Juramentación de Pedro Albizu Campos como Abogado: Regreso de Harvard a Puerto Rico", Periódico La Voz de la Playa de Ponce, Edición 132, November 2010. Page 7. A reproduction of a segment from the book Las Llamas de la Aurora: Pedro Albizu Campos, un acercamiento a su biografía by Marisa Rosado (San Juan, Puerto Rico: Ediciones Puerto. 1991.)
^ Marisa Rosado, Las Llamas de la Aurora: Pedro Albizu Campos, pp.98–107; Ediciones Puerto, Inc., 2008
^ Ribes Tovar et al., p.106–109
^ a b Charles H. Allen Resigns", New York Times, 16 June 1915, accessed 2 November 2013
^ Federico Ribes Tovar; Albizu Campos: Puerto Rican Revolutionary, pp. 122–144, 197–204; Plus Ultra Publishers, 1971
^ Luis Muñoz Marín, By A. W. Maldonado, Pg. 86, Publisher: La Editorial, Universidad de Puerto Rico, (December 1, 2006), ISBN 0-8477-0158-1, ISBN 978-0-8477-0158-2
^ Rosado, Marisa; Pedro Albizu Campos, pp. 127–188; pub. Ediciones Puerto, Inc., 1992; ISBN 1-933352-62-0
^ Maldonado, A. W. (2004). LMM: Puerto Rico's democratic revolution. La Editorial, UPR. ISBN 0-8477-0158-1.
^ Bridging the Atlantic. SUNY Press. 1996. p. 129. ISBN 0-7914-2917-2. Retrieved May 5, 2009.
^ a b "Dr. Rhoads Cleared of Porto Rico Plot", New York Times, 15 February 1932
^ Packard, Gabriel. "RIGHTS: Group Strips Racist Scientist's Name from Award", IPS.org, 29 April 2003 21:45:36 GMT
^ Truman R. Clark. 1975. Puerto Rico and the United States, 1917–1933, University of Pittsburgh Press, pp. 151–154. This has full text of letter.
^ a b c Starr, Douglas. "Revisiting a 1930s Scandal: AACR to Rename a Prize", Science, Vol. 300. No. 5619. 25 April 2003, pp. 574–5.
^ "Charge Race Extermination Plot," Porto Rico Progress, 4 February 1932.
^ Susan E. Lederer, " 'Porto Ricochet': Joking about Germs, Cancer, and Race Extermination in the 1930s", American Literary History, Volume 14. No. 4, Winter 2002, Retrieved 12 December 2012.
^ "La Masacre de Ponce" (in Spanish). Proyecto Salón Hogar. Retrieved January 10, 2010.
^ Federico Ribes Tovar, Albizu Campos" Puerto Rican Revolutionary, pp. 57–62; Plus Ultra Publishers, Inc., 1972
^ a b Manuel Maldonado-Denis, Puerto Rico: A Socio-Historic Interpretation, pp. 65–83; Random House, 1972
^ César J. Ayala; American Sugar Kingdom, pp.221–227; University of North Carolina Press, 1999
^ FBI Files on Puerto Ricans Archived September 24, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
^ "FBI Files"; "Puerto Rico Nationalist Party"; SJ 100-3; Vol. 23; pages 104–134. Archived November 1, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
^ "Nationalist Insurrection of 1950", Write of Fight
^ Timelines: "The Imprisonment of Men and Women Fighting Colonialism, 1930 – 1940", Puerto Rican Dreams, Retrieved December 9, 2009.
^ Congressional Record, 76th Cong., 1st Sess., 81:10780 Appendix
^ a b c Congressional Record, 76th Cong., 1st Sess., 81:10780, (Appendix)
^ Dr. Carmelo Delgado Cintrón Archived March 27, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, "La obra jurídica del Profesor David M. Helfeld (1948–2008)", Academia Jurisprudencia, Puerto Rico
^ "Puerto Rican History". Welcome to Puerto Rico. Retrieved November 20, 2011.
^ a b "Para declarar el día 21 de septiembre como el Día del Natalicio de Leopoldo Figueroa Carreras", Lex Juris, LEY NUM. 282 DE 22 DE DICIEMBRE DE 2006, accessed 8 December 2012
^ La Gobernación de Jesús T. Piñero y la Guerra Fría
^ Premio a Jesús Vera Irizarry
^ The Nationalist Insurrection of 1950
^ Carlos "Carlitos" Rovira (March 2012). "Lolita Lebrón, a bold fighter for Puerto Rican independence". S&L Magazine. Archived from the original on November 9, 2007.
^ Guide to the Ruth M. Reynolds Papers 1915–1989
^ Secret files: FBI File on Albizu Campos, Puerto Rico, Retrieved December 9, 2009.
^ Federico Ribes Tovar, Albizu Campos: Puerto Rican Revolutionary, p. 136-139; Plus Ultra Publishers, 1971
^ Rosado, Marisa; Pedro Albizu Campos; pub. Ediciones Puerto, 2008; p. 386. ISBN 1-933352-62-0
^ Torres, Heriberto Marín; Eran Ellos, pub. Ediciones Ciba, 2000; pp. 32–62
^ Federico Ribes Tovar, Albizu Campos: Puerto Rican Revolutionary, Plus Ultra Publishers, 1971; pp. 136–139.
^ "Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos". Archived from the original on May 2, 2009. Retrieved May 3, 2009.
^ Ray Quintanilla. "From rebel to peacemaker." The Chicago Tribune. 9 January 2006
^ Juan Manuel Carrión. "Two variants of Caribbean nationalism: Marcus Garvey and Pedro Albizu Campos." p. 27. Centro Journal. Spring 2005.
^ Marisa Rosado, Pedro Albizu Campos: Las Llamas de la Aurora (San Juan, PR: Ediciones Puerto, Inc., 2008), pp. 210–217, 244–248, 313–397.
^ La Nación puertorriqueña: ensayos en torno a Pedro Albizu Campos. Juan Manuel Carrión, Teresa C. Gracia Ruiz, Carlos Rodríguez-Fraticelli, eds. p.12. University of Puerto Rico Press. 1993.
^ NY Latino Journal Retrieved June 20, 2014 Archived August 26, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
^ FBI Files on Pedro Albizu Campos Archived August 6, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
^ FBI Files on Surveillance of Puerto Ricans in general Archived August 6, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
^ a b Abuse of Process, Hugo D. Menendez(XLibris Pub., 2013), ISBN 978-1-4836-0604-0, p.140
^ Rememorarán a Burgos y Albizu en Ponce. Reinaldo Millán. La Perla del Sur. Ponce, Puerto Rico. 11 September 2013. Retrieved 11 September 2013.
^ Colapsa en acto público Ayoroa Santaliz: inauguración de la Plaza Monumento Pedro Albizu Campos en Salinas. Reinaldo Millán. La Perla del Sur. Ponce, Puerto Rico. Year 31, Issue 1520. Page 14. 16 January 2013. Retrieved 24 October 2013.
^ Billy Ocasio, "Campos Deserves Respect-and A Statue", Chicago Tribune, 12 August 1993. Retrieved 23 March 2012.
Acosta, Ivonne, La Mordaza/Puerto Rico 1948–1957. Río Piedras, Puerto Rico, 1987
Connerly, Charles, ed. Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos, Vieques Times, Puerto Rico, 1995
Corretjer, Juan Antonio, El Líder De La Desesperación, Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, 1978
García, Marvin, Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos, National Louis University
Torres Santiago, José M., 100 Years of Don Pedro Albizu Campos
"War Against All Puerto Ricans: Revolution and Terror in America's Colony"; Author: Nelson Antonio Denis; Publisher: Nation Books (April 7, 2015); ISBN 978-1568585017.
Wikiquote has quotations related to: Pedro Albizu Campos
Joan Klein, Oncology Times Interview: "Susan B. Horwitz, PhD, Finishes Term (Plus!!) As AACR President!/Cornelius P. Rhoads Controversy", Oncology Times, 25 July 2003, Vol. 25 – Issue 14, pp. 41–42
"Pedro Albizu Campos", Portraits of Notable Individuals in the Struggle for Puerto Rican Independence, Peace Host website
Pedro Albizu Campos Archive at marxists.org
"Human Radiation Experiments", US Department of Energy, 1994
"Pedro Albizu Campos" Biografias y Vidas
Habla Albizu Campos, Paredon Records, Smithsonian Institution
¿Quién Es Albizu Campos? (Who is Albizu Campos?), Film Documentary website, not in distribution
"War Against All Puerto Ricans: Inside the US Crackdown on Pedro Albizu Campos and the Nationalist Party" Democracy Now!, 21 April 2015
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pedro_Albizu_Campos&oldid=906682301"
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Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall and Museum
(Redirected from Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall)
For other monuments with the same name, see Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument.
Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall and Museum (or often simply Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall) is a National Register of Historic Places landmark in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It is the largest memorial in the United States dedicated solely to honoring all branches of military veterans and service personnel.
Soldiers and Sailors Military Museum and Memorial
City of Pittsburgh Historic Structure
Pittsburgh Landmark — PHLF
Front view of the memorial and its lawn from Fifth Avenue
Henry Hornbostel
Schenley Farms Historic District (#83002213)
74001746 [1]
Designated CP
July 22, 1983[1]
Designated CPHS
February 11, 1991[2]
Designated PHLF
It was conceived by the Grand Army of the Republic in the 1890s as a way for Pittsburgh and Allegheny County to honor the dwindling ranks of its American Civil War veterans; it was built on what had served as the army mustering ground during the Civil War. The Memorial today represents all branches of the service and honors both career and citizen soldiers who have served the United States throughout its history.
Architect Henry Hornbostel designed the memorial in 1907. Dedicated in 1910, the building is in the Beaux-Arts style and is heroic in scale. It is located in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh at 4141 Fifth Avenue (although the walkway leading to its main entrance is signed as "Matthew Ridgway Blvd." in honor of the World War II and Korean War hero who called Pittsburgh home) and adjacent to the University of Pittsburgh campus and its Cathedral of Learning. The building is set back from Fifth Avenue, featuring expansive and well-kept lawns dotted with large cannons and other war implements. Side streets flanking the building are Bigelow Boulevard and University Place; directly behind is O'Hara Street.
The Memorial houses rare and one-of-a-kind exhibits that span the eras from the Civil War to the present day conflicts. Since 1963 it has operated the "Hall of Valor" to honor individual veterans from the region who went above and beyond the call of duty. Today the hall has over 600 honorees among them are Medal of Honor, The Kearny Cross, Distinguished Service Cross, Navy Cross, Air Force Cross, Silver Star and Distinguished Flying Cross winners.
The building houses an auditorium seating 2,500, a banquet hall, and meeting rooms, in addition to its museum. The expansive lawn of the memorial sits on top of an underground parking garage operated under a long-term lease by the University of Pittsburgh.
It has served as host for many city, civic, university, and business events including the April 25, 1978 Gulf Oil Corporation shareholders meeting.[4]
Fictional PortrayalsEdit
Silence of the Lambs had the hall fill in for the "Memphis Courthouse" scenes, including the escape scene. All were filmed completely at Soldiers & Sailors.
Sorority Row had its graduation scenes filmed at the hall.
Dog Jack shot many scenes at the Memorial and hosted its premier in the Museum.
Famous visitorsEdit
Ferdinand Foch visited the hall in 1921.[5]
Garner Ted Armstrong of The World Tomorrow (radio and television) spoke at The Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall on March 25, 1978.[6]
Nelson Mandela spoke at the hall on Dec. 6, 1991.
Barack Obama visited the hall in 2008.
Donald Trump spoke at the hall on April 13, 2016.
The bronze work America (1910) by Charles Keck sits above the entrance to the memorial
The cast bronze Lookout (1923) by Frederick Hibbard on the memorial grounds.
Cast bronze Parade Rest (1923) by Frederick Hibbard on the memorial grounds.
World War II torpedo monument outside of the memorial
Bell from the heavy cruiser USS Pittsburgh (CA-72)
The 2,300 seat auditorium, which includes a stage backdropped by the Gettysburg Address,[7] holds events and concerts throughout the year.
Barack Obama with Senator Bob Casey, Jr. in the auditorium in 2008.
A life mask of Abraham Lincoln on display in the museum
Interior hallway with military uniforms and equipment on display
USS Pennsylvania bow ornament
Kidney, Walter C. (2002). Henry Hornbostel: An Architect's Master Touch. Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation & Roberts Rinehart Publishers. ISBN 1-57098-398-4.
Toker, Franklin (1994) [1986]. Pittsburgh: An Urban Portrait. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press. ISBN 0-8229-5434-6.
^ a b National Park Service (2006-03-15). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "nris" defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
^ "Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation: Local Historic Designations". 2002-05-01. Archived from the original on 2011-07-21. Retrieved 2009-07-11.
^ "Internet Archive: Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation: PHLF Plaques & Registries". 2007-01-27. Archived from the original on 2007-01-27. Retrieved 2009-07-11.
^ Black, Harry (April 26, 1978). "Cash Short Gulf Cuts People, Oil Search Budget". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved January 25, 2013.
^ "The Pittsburgh Press - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com.
^ (PDF) http://www.herbert-armstrong.org/Worldwide%20News/WWN%201978%20(Prelim%20No%2007)%20Mar%2027.pdf. Missing or empty |title= (help)
^ Ackerman, Jan (August 13, 2001). "Soldiers & Sailors hall winning war on neglect". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Archived from the original on October 6, 2012. Retrieved February 10, 2013.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Soldiers and Sailors National Military Museum and Memorial.
SoldiersandSailorsHall.org official site
Carnegie Library's page on the memorial
NRHP nomination form
Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, in the war for the suppression of the rebellion, 1861-1865 : roll of honor, defenders of the flag, attack on Fort Sumter, S.C., April 12, 1861, surrender at Appomattox, Va., April 9, 1865 Lists the names of Civil war soldiers from Allegheny County
WQED onQ: Soldiers and Sailors Hall
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Soldiers_and_Sailors_Memorial_Hall_and_Museum&oldid=906449111"
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Veruca Salt
(Redirected from Veruca Salt (band))
This article is about the band. For the fictional character, see Veruca Salt (character).
This article's lead section does not adequately summarize key points of its contents. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article. Please discuss this issue on the article's talk page. (February 2017)
Veruca Salt is an American alternative rock band founded in Chicago, Illinois, United States, in 1992 by vocalist-guitarists Nina Gordon and Louise Post, drummer Jim Shapiro and bassist Steve Lack.[2]
Alternative rock[1]
grunge[1]
Beyond Music
Sympathy for the Record Industry
Nina Gordon
Louise Post
Jim Shapiro
Steve Lack
Stacy Jones
Stephen Fitzpatrick
Paul Bitar
Jimmy Madla
Suzanne Sokol
Gina Crosley
Kellii Scott
Nicole Fiorentino
Michael Miley
1992–1998: Formation and growthEdit
Named after Veruca Salt, the British spoiled rich girl from the 1964 children's book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl and its 1971 film adaptation Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory directed by Mel Stuart, Veruca Salt was formed in Chicago by Louise Post (guitar/vocals) and Nina Gordon (guitar/vocals). Post and Gordon were introduced through mutual friend Lili Taylor, and began playing music together. They wrote songs for a year and a half before being joined by Gordon's brother, Jim Shapiro, on drums and Steve Lack on bass. Songwriting was shared between Gordon and Post, though the two seldom collaborated. Rather, each would typically submit a complete song to the group and sing the lead vocal on that song, while the other would record backing vocals.
The band had performed a handful of shows when Jim Powers of Minty Fresh Records asked them to sign to the independent label.[3] The band's first release was the single "Seether"/"All Hail Me" on Minty Fresh Records, in 1994. The single was a success and Veruca Salt accompanied Hole on a tour, before releasing their first full-length album, American Thighs. The album, which included "Seether" and "All Hail Me", eventually reached Gold status. In a 2014 retrospective, music magazine Paste listed "Seether" as #10 and "All Hail Me" as #39 on their list of the 50 greatest grunge songs of all time.[1]
After signing to Geffen Records, the band quickly gained in popularity as "Seether" became an MTV hit. A stop-gap EP recorded by Steve Albini, Blow It Out Your Ass It's Veruca Salt, was released in 1996.
Their second album, Eight Arms to Hold You, was produced by Bob Rock and released in 1997. Lead single "Volcano Girls" gained exposure as the opening theme to the teen comedy film Jawbreaker. Veruca Salt performed another single, "Shutterbug", on Saturday Night Live; however, instead of the featured musical group performing two songs as had been tradition, the musical performances were split between Sting and Veruca Salt. Shapiro left the band soon after the release of Eight Arms, due to unease with having to learn how to play drums - an instrument he had only started playing when asked to join the band - while under public scrutiny.[4] Shapiro was replaced by Stacy Jones (of Letters to Cleo and American Hi-Fi). Jones toured with the band on the Eight Arms tour and appeared in the music videos for "Volcano Girls" and "Shutterbug", but would eventually leave the band in 1998 along with Gordon.[5]
In 1996, Veruca Salt appeared as Pavement's replacement band in their video "Painted Soldiers".
In 1997, they opened for the band Bush in a North American Tour.[6]
1998–2005: Gordon's departure, reformation and ResolverEdit
In 1998, Gordon left the band to pursue a solo career (her first album, Tonight and the Rest of My Life, was released in 2000 and featured drumming by Stacy Jones, who had also left Veruca Salt and was in a relationship with Gordon[7]). The undisclosed dispute between Gordon and Post has been described as "one of the greatest rock soap operas since Fleetwood Mac or Hüsker Dü."[8]
Post, as the only remaining band member, contributed the song "Somebody" to the Depeche Mode tribute album For The Masses before recruiting a new lineup. Guitarist Stephen Fitzpatrick joined and went on to become one of Post's principal songwriting partners during the next decade. Jimmy Madla and Suzanne Sokol joined on drums and bass guitar respectively. Most of the band's record label support had been fired during the Universal/PolyGram merger, so Post left Geffen Records, formed her own Velveteen Records label, and signed a distribution deal with Beyond Records. The reformed band released the album Resolver, which spawned both a single and video for "Born Entertainer," in May 2000.[9]
Sokol left the band at the end of 2000 and was replaced by Post's friend Gina Crosley. The band continued to tour through the summer of 2001 in the UK. Post and Crosley also attempted to form a supergroup with Courtney Love of Hole and others but the project soon imploded.[10] This allowed the pair to focus on new material for Veruca Salt which eventually yielded the Officially Dead EP that was primarily distributed during the band's 2003 tour of Australia (followed by a 2005 tour of Australia).
2005–2012: VSIV and hiatusEdit
By 2005, Madla left to enter the restaurant business and Crosley was also dismissed. They were replaced in the studio by Solomon Snyder and Michael Miley respectively. Veruca Salt began 2005 by touring Australia undertaking both headline festival appearances and club shows. This session resulted in the Lords of Sounds and Lesser Things (LOSALT). The band went on tour with Post, Fitzpatrick, drummer Kellii Scott, and bassist Nicole Fiorentino. LOSALT was released independently by the band and included six new songs. The EP's title is an extract from Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God. This lineup then recorded a full-length album, IV, and released it in September 2006 (like Resolver before it, this album was released a month apart from a Nina Gordon solo album). The band then went on what would prove to be the last tour of Louise Post's solo incarnation of the band. A single, "So Weird", was released to radio at the end of October 2006 but neither the song nor the album did well commercially.
In 2007, the band recorded a cover of Neil Young's song "Burned" for a 2007 Breast Cancer Benefit album and then went almost entirely dormant. Louise Post took time to have a child while Fiorentino went on to play bass with the Smashing Pumpkins and The Cold and Lovely. Kellii Scott returned to his original band, Failure. On March 14, 2012, the band announced on their official website that they were on an indefinite hiatus.
2013–present: Reunion and Ghost NotesEdit
On March 15, 2013, the band announced the reunion of its original line-up (Nina Gordon, Louise Post, Jim Shapiro, and Steve Lack) with a message on the band's official Facebook page which read, "for now let's just say this: hatchets buried, axes exhumed." The band have also mentioned that they might be open to adding material from their time apart into their sets at some point.[11] The reunion marked the first time Shapiro would play drums since leaving the band in 1997. It had also been years since Lack played bass, with his time out of the band spent on overcoming drug and alcohol abuse and pursuing surfing.[4]
On September 29, 2013, the band announced via social media that they were working on new material. Their first release since reforming came in the form of a release for Record Store Day 2014. The band released a 10-inch vinyl EP, MMXIV, which contains two new songs, "It's Holy" and "The Museum of Broken Relationships" on one side and a twentieth anniversary re-release of Seether on the other. The band then toured both the USA and a 9 date sold out tour of Australia.
On May 19, 2015, the band announced the release of their fifth full-length LP, Ghost Notes. The album, released on July 10, 2015, is the first to feature the band's original lineup since 1997's Eight Arms to Hold You.[12]
Louise Post and Nina Gordon appeared on Ken Reid's TV Guidance Counselor Podcast on August 7, 2015 and revealed that Veruca Salt were approached to host a FOX comedy variety show in the 90s.
In March of 2017, the band reunited with Nicole Fiorentino for a one-off performance at a Planned Parenthood charity event. Patty Schemel, formerly of Hole, filled in on drums.[13]
The band returned to Australia in February 2018 for a series of headline shows, as well as being part of the mini-festival A Day on the Green alongside The Fauves, Tumbleweed, The Lemonheads, Spiderbait and The Living End.
Veruca Salt teamed up with Rock the Vote for the 2018 American election releasing a track titled Low Grade Fever from the Ghost Notes recording sessions.
On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed Veruca Salt among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.[14]
Band membersEdit
Nina Gordon – guitar, vocals (1992–1998, 2013–present)
Steve Lack – bass guitar (1992–1998, 2013–present)
Louise Post – guitar, vocals (1992–2012, 2013–present)
Jim Shapiro – drums (1992–1997, 2013–present)
Stacy Jones – drums (1997–1998)
Stephen Fitzpatrick – guitar (1999–2012)
Jimmy Madla – drums (1999–2005)
Suzanne Sokol – bass guitar, backing vocals (1999–2000)
Gina Crosley – bass guitar, backing vocals (2000–2001)
Kellii Scott – drums (2005–2012)
Nicole Fiorentino – bass guitar, backing vocals (2006–2008)
Touring members
Bill Brabec - bass guitar (1997-1998)
Eva Gardner – bass guitar (2005)
Toby Lang – drums guitar (2005)
Studio members
Mareea Paterson – bass guitar (2003, 2005)
Solomon Snyder – bass guitar (2004)
Michael Miley – drums (2004–2005)
TimelineEdit
DiscographyEdit
Studio albumsEdit
1994 American Thighs Minty Fresh
DGC/Minty Fresh (re-release)
1997 Eight Arms to Hold You Outpost/Geffen
2000 Resolver Beyond and on MGM Records (Aus)
2006 IV Sympathy For The Record Industry (US) and on Shock Records (AUS)
2015 Ghost Notes El Camino and on Warner Bros Music (AUS)
Extended playsEdit
EP Title
1996 Blow It Out Your Ass It's Veruca Salt DGC/Minty Fresh
2003 Officially Dead Embryo Records
2005 Lords of Sounds and Lesser Things Velveteen
2014 MMXIV Minty Fresh
SinglesEdit
Single Title
Album taken from
1994 "Seether" / "All Hail Me" American Thighs
1995 "Number One Blind"
"Victrola"
1997 "Volcano Girls" Eight Arms to Hold You
"Shutterbug"
"Benjamin"
"The Morning Sad" (Promo Only)
"Straight" (Promo Only)
2000 "Born Entertainer" Resolver
"Only You Know" (Promo Only)
2003 "Born Entertainer" (Australian Release)
"Officially Dead" (Australian tour EP)
"Yeah Man" (Australian Promo)
2006 "So Weird" IV
2014 "The Museum of Broken Relationships" / "It's Holy" MMXIV
2015 "Laughing in the Sugar Bowl" Ghost Notes
Chart performanceEdit
UK[15][16]
AUS[17]
American Thighs 69 47 26
Eight Arms To Hold You 55 95 69
Resolver 171 DNC DNC
IV DNC DNC DNC
Ghost Notes 159 DNC DNC
US Mod
US Main
UK[15][16][18]
AUS Triple J
Hottest 100
"Seether" 8 34 61 6
"Number One Blind" 20 68 106
"Victrola" 88
"Volcano Girls" 8 9 56 47
"Shutterbug" 38 114
"Benjamin" 75
"Straight" 39
"Born Entertainer" 192 1
"Yeah Man" 13
"Officially Dead" 5
"Laughing in the Sugar Bowl"
List of alternative music artists
^ a b c "The 50 Best Grunge Songs". Paste. August 4, 2014. Retrieved May 15, 2016.
^ "Veruca Salt (Official)". Facebook. March 21, 2013. Retrieved March 21, 2013.
^ [1] Archived December 16, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
^ a b Caro, Mark (July 3, 2014). "Veruca Salt reunites years after explosive breakup". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved May 22, 2019.
^ Kaufman, Gil (July 30, 1998). "Ex-Veruca Salt Leaders Branch Out with New LPs". MTV. Retrieved May 23, 2019.
^ "Veruca Salt North American Tour with Bush Schedule". Chrispy.net. 1997-07-29. Archived from the original on 2017-07-01. Retrieved 2015-07-12.
^ Woodlief, Mark (June 30, 2000). "Nina Gordon Enjoys Life After Veruca Salt". MTV. Retrieved May 23, 2019.
^ Stephen Thomas Erlewine (2000-05-16). "Resolver – Veruca Salt | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 2015-07-12.
^ Hay, Carla (22 Apr 2000). "Veruca Salt Returns On Velveteen/Beyond". Billboard. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
^ Saidman, Sorelle. "Courtney's Bandmates Bail". www.rollingstone.com. Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2015-07-12.
^ Culpan, Troy. "Louise Post of Veruca Salt". maytherockbewithyou.com. May The Rock Be With You. Retrieved 2014-09-23.
^ Geslani, Michelle (2015-05-19). "Veruca Salt announces reunion album, Ghost Notes, premieres "Laughing in the Sugar Bowl"". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved 2015-05-19.
^ "Volcano Girls". Youtube. Retrieved 1/4/19. Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
^ Rosen, Jody (25 June 2019). "Here Are Hundreds More Artists Whose Tapes Were Destroyed in the UMG Fire". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 June 2019.
^ a b Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 585. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
^ a b "Official Charts > Veruca Salt". The Official UK Charts Company. Retrieved 2015-10-09.
^ a b Australian (ARIA Chart) peaks:
Top 50 peaks: "australian-charts.com > Discography Veruca Salt". Hung Medien. Retrieved 2015-10-09.
Top 100 peaks: Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010. Mt. Martha, VIC, Australia: Moonlight Publishing.
"Number One Blind" and "Shutterbug": "Response from ARIA re: chart inquiry, received 2015-07-15". Imgur. Archived from the original on 2015-07-16. Retrieved 2015-10-09.
^ "Chart Log UK 1994–2010 > V – Vybe". Dipl.-Bibl.(FH) Tobias Zywietz. Archived from the original on 2015-10-16. Retrieved 2015-10-09.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Veruca Salt.
Veruca Salt at AllMusic
Veruca Salt at Rolling Stone
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Welsh Church Act 1914
The Welsh Church Act 1914[1] is an Act under which the Church of England was separated and disestablished in Wales and Monmouthshire, leading to the creation of the Church in Wales. The act had long been demanded by the Nonconformist element in Wales, which composed the majority of the population and which resented paying taxes to the Anglican Church of England. It was sponsored by the Liberal party (the stronghold of the Nonconformists) and opposed by the Conservative party (the stronghold of the Anglicans).[2]
Long title
An Act to terminate the establishment of the Church of England in Wales and Monmouthshire...
Territorial extent
Wales and Monmouthshire (de facto)
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (de jure)
(see Suspensory Act 1914)
Amended by
Welsh Church (Temporalities) Act 1919
Welsh Church (Amendment) Act 1938
Welsh Church (Burial Grounds) Act 1945
Irish Church Act 1869
Suspensory Act 1914
Status: Amended
Text of statute as originally enacted
Text of the Welsh Church Act 1914 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.
The Act, which took effect in 1920, was a controversial measure and was passed by the House of Commons under the provisions of the Parliament Act 1911, which minimized the ability of the House of Lords to block it. The main financial terms were that the Church no longer receive tithe money (a land tax), but kept all its churches, properties and glebes.[3]
The Bill was politically and historically significant as one of the first pieces of legislation to apply solely to Wales (and Monmouthshire) as opposed to the wider legal entity of England and Wales.[4]
In Wales the passing of the Bill was the culmination of a long campaign which had begun in the mid-nineteenth century, led largely by Welsh Nonconformists such as Calvinistic Methodists, Baptists, Unitarians, and other Protestant groups which objected to paying tithes to the Church of England. The campaign was later strongly supported by the patriotic Cymru Fydd movement.
English Catholic author G. K. Chesterton ridiculed the passion that was generated by the Bill in his poem Antichrist, or the Reunion of Christendom: An Ode, repeatedly addressing F. E. Smith, one of the chief opponents of the act.
Owing to the outbreak of the First World War in August, the Act was given Royal Assent on 18 September simultaneously with another controversial bill, the Government of Ireland Act 1914. In addition, Royal Assent was also given to the Suspensory Act 1914 which stated that the two other Acts would not come into force for the remainder of the war. On 31 March 1920 most of the Welsh part of the Church of England became the Church in Wales, an independent province of the Anglican Communion, with six dioceses led by the Archbishop of Wales. However, 19 out of 20 church parishes which spanned the Welsh/English border overwhelmingly voted in a referendum to remain within the Church of England. For example, St Stephen's Church, Old Radnor (Powys, Wales) is part of the diocese of Hereford, England.
The Welsh Church Act and the Government of Ireland Act were (together with Parliament Act 1949) the only acts enacted by invoking the Parliament Act 1911 until the War Crimes Act in 1991.[5]
Calvinistic Methodists
Nonconformity in Wales
Religion in Wales
^ http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo5/4-5/91/contents
^ Glanmor Williams, The Welsh Church from Reformation to Disestablishment, 1603-1920 (U of Wales Press, 2007).
^ Simon J. TAylor "Disestablished Establishment: High and Earthed Establishment in the Church in Wales." Journal of Contemporary Religion 18.2 (2003): 227-240.
^ Jenkins, P. (1992) A History of Modern Wales 1536–1990.
^ http://www.totalpolitics.com/blog/177342/the-parliament-act-a-century-on.thtml
O’Leary, Paul. "Religion, Nationality and Politics: Disestablishment in Ireland and Wales 1868–1914." in Contrasts and Comparisons: Studies in Irish and Welsh Church History, edited by J.R. Guy and W.G. Neely (1999): 89-113.
Taylor, Simon J. "Disestablished Establishment: High and Earthed Establishment in the Church in Wales." Journal of Contemporary Religion 18.2 (2003): 227-240.
Watkin, T. G. "Disestablishment, Self-determination and the Constitutional Development of the Church in Wales." in Essays in Canon Law–A Study of the Church in Wales (U of Wales Press, 1992).
Williams, Glanmor. The Welsh Church from Reformation to Disestablishment, 1603-1920 (U of Wales Press, 2007).
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Welsh_Church_Act_1914&oldid=906847072"
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"Summer Institute of Linguistics" redirects here. For the Linguistic Society of America's Summer Linguistics Institute, see Linguistic Society of America.
1934; 85 years ago (1934)
Scientific institute
Research in linguistics, promotion of literacy, language preservation
William Cameron Townsend (founder)
Michel Kenmogne (Executive Director)
Karel van der Mast (Board Chair)
www.sil.org ‹See Tfd›(in English)
Formerly called
SIL International (formerly known as the Summer Institute of Linguistics) is a U.S.-based, worldwide, Christian non-profit organization, whose main purpose is to study, develop and document languages, especially those that are lesser-known, in order to expand linguistic knowledge, promote literacy, translate the Christian Bible into local languages, and aid minority language development.
The organization was founded by Presbyterian minister William Cameron Townsend, an American missionary to Guatemala, where he worked among the Kaqchikel Maya people. In 1933, Townsend turned to Mexico with the purpose of translating the Bible into indigenous languages there, as he had done for Kaqchikel. Townsend established a working relation with the Mexican ministry of education under the progressive government of Lázaro Cárdenas and founded SIL to educate linguist-missionaries to work in Mexico. Through the following decades the SIL linguists worked at providing literacy education to indigenous people of Mexico, while simultaneously working with SIL's partner organization, Wycliffe Bible Translators, also founded by Townsend, to translate the Bible into the languages where they were working. SIL gradually extended its work to other regions of the world where indigenous languages were spoken, including Papua New Guinea, Southeast Asia and Africa. While initially SIL's staff only received basic training in linguistics and anthropology, gradually the organization has become more professional, and today many members have advanced degrees.
SIL has more than 6,000 members from over 50 countries. Based on their language documentation work, SIL publishes a database, Ethnologue, of its research into the world's languages, and develops and publishes software programs for language documentation, such as FieldWorks Language Explorer (FLEx) and Lexique Pro. SIL holds formal consultative status with the United Nations, has been recognized by UNESCO for their contributions in Asia,[1] and is a member of the Forum of Bible Agencies International.
Its headquarters are located in Dallas, Texas.
3 Methodological contributions
3.1 Ethnologue and ISO 639-3 codes
3.3 Fonts
4 Recognitions
6 Regional offices
6.1 Africa
6.2 Americas
William Cameron Townsend, a Presbyterian minister, founded the organization in 1934. In the early 1930s, Townsend worked as a Disciples of Christ missionary among the Kaqchikel Maya people in Guatemala. In 1933, he turned to Mexico with the purpose of translating the Bible into indigenous languages there, as he had done for Kaqchikel. Townsend established a working relationship with the Mexican Secretariat of Public Education under the government of President Lázaro Cárdenas (in office 1934-1940) and founded SIL to educate linguist-missionaries to work in Mexico. Because the Mexican government did not allow missionary work through its educational system, Townsend founded Wycliffe Bible Translators in 1942 as a separate organization from SIL. Wycliffe Bible Translators focused on Bible translation and missionary activities whereas SIL focused on linguistic documentation and literacy education.[2]
Having initiated the collaboration with the Mexican education authorities, Townsend started the institute as a small summer training session in Sulphur Springs, Arkansas in 1934 to train missionaries in basic linguistic, anthropological, and translation principles. Through the following decades the SIL linguists worked at providing literacy education to indigenous people of Mexico, while simultaneously working with the Wycliffe Bible Translators on Bible translation. One of the students at the first summer institute in its second year, 1935, Kenneth Lee Pike (1912–2000), would become the foremost figure in the history of SIL. He served as SIL's president from 1942 to 1979, then as president emeritus until his death in 2000.
In 1979, SIL's agreement with the Mexican government was officially terminated[by whom?] after critiques from anthropologists regarding the combination of education and missionary activities in indigenous communities, though SIL continued to be active in that country.[3] At a conference of the Inter-American Indian Institute in Mérida, Yucatán, in November 1980, delegates denounced the Summer Institute of Linguistics, charging that it was using a scientific name to conceal its Protestant agenda and an alleged capitalist view that was alien to indigenous traditions.[4] This led to the agreement with the Ecuadoran government being terminated in 1980,[5] although a token presence remained. In the early 1990s, the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) demanded the expulsion of SIL from the country.[6] SIL was also expelled from Brazil, Mexico, and Panama, and restricted in Colombia and Peru.[7] As of 2016[update], SIL operates in several of those countries.[8]
From the 1950s to 1987 the University of Oklahoma in Norman hosted SIL training. The agreement between the university and SIL was terminated[by whom?] in 1987 after a controversy about SIL's involvement in missionary activities and its relationship with Latin American governments.[citation needed]. As of 2018, SIL training is offered in about 25 locations around the world.[9]
SIL's as of 2016[update] current president, Dr. John Watters, took office in 2008 after serving as executive director from 2000 to 2007.
Contributions[edit]
SIL's principal contribution to linguistics has been the data that has been gathered and analyzed from over 1,000 minority and endangered languages,[10] many of which had not been previously studied academically. SIL endeavors to share both the data and the results of analysis in order to contribute to the overall knowledge of language. This has resulted in publications on languages such as Hixkaryana and Pirahã, which have challenged the universality of some linguistic theories. SIL's work has resulted in over 20,000 technical publications, all of which are listed in the SIL Bibliography.[11] Most of these are a reflection of linguistic fieldwork.[12]
SIL's focus has not been on the development of new linguistic theories, but tagmemics, though no longer promoted by SIL, was developed by Kenneth Pike, who also coined the words emic and etic, more widely used today in anthropology.[13]
Another focus of SIL is literacy work, particularly in indigenous languages. SIL assists local, regional, and national agencies that are developing formal and informal education in vernacular languages. These cooperative efforts enable new advances in the complex field of educational development in multilingual and multicultural societies.[14]
SIL provides instructors and instructional materials for linguistics programs at several major institutions of higher learning around the world. In the United States, these include Biola University, Moody Bible Institute, Houghton College, University of North Dakota, the Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics, and Dallas Theological Seminary. Other universities with SIL programs include Trinity Western University in Canada, Charles Darwin University in Australia, and Universidad Ricardo Palma in Lima, Peru.
The organization has recently established a new Language and Culture Documentation Services Unit that aims to preserve and revitalize languages threatened by extinction. The creation of this department reflects a growing interest in documenting endangered languages and incorporates a multidisciplinary approach of anthropology and linguistics.[15]
SIL also presents the fruits of some of its research through the International Museum of Cultures.[16] Located in Dallas, it was developed by linguists and anthropologists associated with SIL International for the purpose of celebrating peoples of diverse cultures in an effort to promote greater appreciation and understanding of cultural differences.
Methodological contributions[edit]
Ethnologue and ISO 639-3 codes[edit]
Main article: Ethnologue
Ethnologue: A Guide to the World's Languages, is published by SIL.[17] Starting with the 16th edition in 2009, Ethnologue uses the ISO 639-3 standard, which assigns 3-letter codes to languages; these were derived in part from the 3-letter codes that were used in the Ethnologue's 15th edition. SIL is the registration authority for the ISO 639-3 standard. The 15th edition, which was published in 2005, includes 7,299 codes. A 16th edition was released in the middle of 2009, a 17th in 2013, and an 18th in 2015.[18]
Software[edit]
SIL has developed widely-used software for linguistic research.[19] Adapt It is a tool for translating text from one language into a related language after performing limited linguistic analysis.[20] In the field of lexicon collection, ShoeBox, the newer ToolBox (Field Linguist's Toolbox),[21] and Lexique Pro[22] have largely been replaced by FieldWorks Language Explorer (FLEx Windows and Linux)[23][24][25][26][27] for linguists and WeSay (also Windows and Linux)[28] for non-professionals. Graphite is a smart-font technology and rendering system.[29][30][31][32]
Fonts[edit]
SIL has developed several widely used font sets that it makes available as free software under the SIL Open Font License (OFL).[33] The names of SIL fonts reflect the Biblical mission of the organization "charis" (Greek for "grace"), "doulos" (Greek for "servant") and "gentium" (Latin for "of the nations"). These fonts have become standard resources for linguists working on the documentation of the world's languages.[34] Most of them are designed only for specific writing systems, such as Ethiopic, Devanagari, New Tai Lue, Hebrew, Arabic, Khmer, Yi, Myanmar, Coptic, and Tai Viet, or some more technical notation, such as cipher musical notation or IPA. Fonts that support Latin include:
Gentium: "a typeface family designed to enable the diverse ethnic groups around the world who use the Latin, Cyrillic and Greek scripts to produce readable, high-quality publications. It supports a wide range of Latin- and Cyrillic-based alphabets."[35]
Doulos SIL: "a Unicode serif font similar in design to Times/Times New Roman. It contains a comprehensive inventory of glyphs needed for almost any Roman- or Cyrillic-based writing system, whether used for phonetic or orthographic needs. In addition, there is provision for other characters and symbols useful to linguists. It contains near-complete coverage of all the characters defined in Unicode 7.0 for Latin and Cyrillic."[36][37][38]
Charis SIL: "a Unicode-based font family that supports the wide range of languages that use the Latin and Cyrillic scripts. It is specially designed to make long texts pleasant and easy to read, even in less than ideal reproduction and display environments."[39][40][41]
Andika: "a sans serif Unicode font designed especially for literacy use and the needs of beginning readers. The focus is on clear letterforms that will not be easily confused with one another. It supports near-complete coverage for Latin and Cyrillic."[42]
Recognitions[edit]
The 1947 Summer Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America passed a resolution that the work of SIL "should be strongly commended by our Society and welcomed as one of the most promising developments in applied linguistics in this country."[43]
SIL holds formal consultative status with UNESCO and the United Nations, and has been publicly recognized by UNESCO for their work in many parts of Asia.[44] SIL also holds non-governmental organization status in many countries.[citation needed]
SIL's work has received appreciation and recognition in a number of international settings. In 1973, SIL was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for International Understanding. This foundation honors outstanding individuals and organizations working in Asia who manifest greatness of spirit in service to the peoples of Asia.[45] UNESCO Literacy Prizes have been awarded to SIL's work in a number of countries: Australia (1969), Cameroon (1986), Papua New Guinea (1979), Philippines (1991).[46]
The organization's focus on language description, language development and Bible translation, and the missionary activities carried out by many of its field workers have been criticized by linguists and anthropologists who argue that SIL aims to change indigenous cultures, which exacerbates the problems that cause language endangerment and language death.[47][48][49] Linguists have argued that the missionary focus of SIL makes relations with academic linguists and their reliance on SIL software and knowledge infrastructure problematic in that respective goals, while often overlapping, also sometimes diverge considerably.[50][34]
SIL does not consider efforts to change cultural patterns a form of culture destruction and points out that all their work is based on the voluntary participation of indigenous peoples. In the SIL view, ethnocide is not a valid concept and it would lead to pessimism to characterize culture change resulting from the inevitable progress of civilization as ethnocide.[51][50] SIL considers itself as actively protecting endangered languages by promoting them within the speech community and providing mother-tongue literacy training.[52][50] Additionally, their expanded interest in preserving threatened languages has resulted in the creation of a new Language and Culture Documentation Services Unit.[53]
Regional offices[edit]
Besides the headquarters in Dallas, SIL has offices and locally incorporated affiliated organizations in the following countries:[8]
Africa[edit]
Cameroon: Yaoundé (central office), Bamenda (regional office), Maroua (regional bureau for the north of the country)
Chad: N'Djaména
Ethiopia: Addis Ababa
Senegal: Dakar (central office), Ziguinchor (regional office), Thies (regional office)
Togo: Lomé
Kenya: Nairobi (Africa Regional Office)
Nigeria: Jos
Americas[edit]
Brazil: Cuiabá
Colombia (1962–2002)
Mexico: Instituto Lingüístico de Verano (Mexico), based in Tlalpan (Distrito Federal)
Peru: Instituto Lingüístico de Verano (Peru), based in Lima
Suriname (1968–2001)[54]
Oceania[edit]
Australia: Kangaroo Ground
Papua New Guinea: Ukarumpa
JAARS
^ Appeal: SIL (Summer Institute of Linguistics) International
^ Hartch, Todd (2006). Missionaries of the State: The Summer Institute of Linguistics, State Formation, and Indigenous Mexico, 1935–1985. Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press.
^ Clarke 2001, p. 182.
^ Bonner 1999, p. 20.
^ Yashar 2005, p. 118.
^ Cleary & Steigenga 2004, p. 36.
^ a b Worldwide, SIL International .
^ https://www.sil.org/training/training-programs-language-development
^ Endangered Language Groups, SIL .
^ "Bibliography", Language and Culture Archives, SIL .
^ "Fieldwork", Linguistics, SIL .
^ Headland et. al. 1990.
^ About, SIL International, archived from the original on 2005-11-24 .
^ Language and Culture Documentation, SIL .
^ The International Museum of Cultures, SIL .
^ Stepp, John Richard, Hector Castaneda, and Sarah Cervone. "Mountains and biocultural diversity." Mountain Research and Development 25, no. 3 (2005): 223-227. "For the distribution of languages we used the Ethnologue database produced by the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL). Ethnologue is widely regarded as the most comprehensive data source of current languages spoken worldwide."
^ Hammarström, Harald (2015). "Ethnologue 16/17/18th editions: A comprehensive review". Language. 91 (3): 723–737. doi:10.1353/lan.2015.0038.
^ "Software". SIL International.
^ "Adapt It". SIL Software Catalog. SIL International.
^ "Field Linguist's Toolbox". SIL Language Technology. SIL International. Retrieved 2019-04-09.
^ Guérin, Valérie, and Sébastien Lacrampe. "Lexique Pro." Technology Review 1, no. 2 (2007): 2.
^ Baines, David. "FieldWorks Language Explorer (FLEx)." eLEX2009: 27.
^ Butler, L., & HEATHER, V. V. (2007). Fieldworks Language Explorer (FLEx). Language documentation & conservation, 1(1).
^ Rogers, C. (2010). Review of fieldworks language explorer (flex) 3.0.
^ Ulinski, M., Balakrishnan, A., Bauer, D., Coyne, B., Hirschberg, J., & Rambow, O. (2014, June). Documenting endangered languages with the wordseye linguistics tool. In Proceedings of the 2014 Workshop on the Use of Computational Methods in the Study of Endangered Languages (pp. 6-14). "One of the most widely-used toolkits in the latter category is SIL FieldWorks (SIL FieldWorks, 2014), or specifically, FieldWorks Language Explorer (FLEx). FLEx includes tools for eliciting and recording lexical information, dictionary development, interlinearization of texts, analysis of discourse features, and morphological analysis. An important part of FLEx is its "linguistfriendly" morphological parser (Black and Simons, 2006), which uses an underlying model of morphology familiar to linguists, is fully integrated into lexicon development and interlinear text analysis, and produces a human-readable grammar sketch as well as a machine-interpretable parser. The morphological parser is constructed "stealthily" in the background, and can help a linguist by predicting glosses for interlinear texts."
^ Bush, Ann. "Download - FieldWorks". SIL Language Technology. SIL International. Retrieved 2019-04-09.
^ tarmstrong (16 November 2012). "WeSay on Linux". WeSay.Palaso.org. SIL International. Archived from the original on 2 July 2013.
^ "Graphite". SIL. 2 June 2015.
^ Black, H. Andrew, and Gary F. Simons. "The SIL Field-Works Language Explorer approach to morphological parsing." Computational Linguistics for Lessstudied Languages: Texas Linguistics Society 10 (2006).
^ Bird, S., & Simons, G. (2003). Seven dimensions of portability for language documentation and description. Language, 557-582.
^ Byfield, B. (2006). Graphite: Smart font technology comes to FOSS. Linux. com. Online: http://www Archived 2001-04-26 at the Wayback Machine. linux. com/articles/52884. Accessed July, 18(2007), 652.
^ Cahill, Michael, and Elke Karan. "Factors in designing effective orthographies for unwritten languages." SIL International (2008).
^ a b Dobrin & Good 2009.
^ "Gentium". SIL: Software & Fonts. SIL International. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
^ "Doulos SIL". SIL: Software & Fonts. SIL International. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
^ Cahill, M. (2011, January). Non-linguistic factors in orthographies. In Symposium on Developing Orthographies for Unwritten Languages‐Annual Meeting, Linguistic Society of America.
^ Priest, L. A. (2004, September). Transitioning a Vastly Multilingual Corporation to Unicode. In 26th Internationalization and Unicode Conference, San Jose, CA.
^ "Charis SIL". SIL: Software & Fonts. SIL International. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
^ Wells, John (2012-06-04). "IPA transcription in Unicode". University College London. Retrieved 2015-07-12.
^ Wells, John. "An update on phonetic symbols in Unicode." In International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Saarbrüken. Retrieved January, vol. 1, p. 2011. 2007.
^ "Andika". SIL: Software & Fonts. SIL International. Retrieved 2016-10-29.
^ "Proceedings", Language, The Linguistic Society of America, 24 (3): 4, 1947, JSTOR 522186 .
^ Appeal: SIL (Summer Institute of Linguistics) International, Unesco BKK .
^ "Summer Institute of Linguistics", Ramon Magsaysay Awardee for International Understanding, 1973 .
^ Literacy Prize winners 1967–2001 (PDF), UNESCO .
^ Epps, Patience (2005), "Language endangerment in Amazonia: The role of missionaries", in Wolgemuth, Jan; Dirksmeyer, Tyko (eds.), Bedrohte Vielfalt: Aspects of Language Death, Berlin: Weissensee: Berliner Beiträge zur Linguistik .
^ Hvalkof & Aaby 1981.
^ Errington 2008, pp. 153-162.
^ a b c Dobrin 2009.
^ Olson 2009.
^ Cahill, Michael (2004), From endangered to less endangered: Case studies from Brazil and Papua New Guinea, Electronic Working Papers, SIL, 2004-004, retrieved August 5, 2013 .
^ "Suriname", Americas, SIL .
Sources[edit]
Bonner, Arthur (1999), We Will Not Be Stopped: Evangelical Persecution, Catholicism, and Zapatismo in Chiapas, Mexico, Universal Publishers, ISBN 1-58112-864-9 .
Brend, Ruth Margaret, and Kenneth Lee Pike (eds.): The Summer Institute of Linguistics: Its Works and Contributions (Walter De Gruyter 1977), ISBN 90-279-3355-3.
Clarke, Colin (2001), Class, Ethnicity, and Community in Southern Mexico: Oaxaca's Peasantries (PDF), Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-823387-6, archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-10-12 .
Cleary, Edward L; Steigenga, Timothy J (2004), Resurgent Voice in Latin America: Indigenous Peoples, Political Mobilization, and Religious Change, Rutgers University Press, ISBN 0-8135-3461-5 .
Cobbs, Elizabeth A. "Thy Will Be Done: The Conquest of the Amazon: Nelson Rockefeller and Evangelism in the Age of Oil – book reviews" (Christian Century, November 1, 1995) Findarticles.com
Colby, Gerard; Dennett, Charlotte (1995), Thy Will Be Done: The Conquest of the Amazon: Nelson Rockefeller and Evangelism in the Age of Oil, Harper Collins, ISBN 0-06-016764-5. This book contains allegations of Rockefeller's use of American missionaries, and in particular, the Summer Institute of Linguistics, who cooperated in conducting surveys, transporting CIA agents and indirectly assisting in the genocide of tribes in the Amazon basin.
Dobrin, Lise M. (2009), "SIL International and the disciplinary culture of linguistics: Introduction", Language, 85 (3): 618–619, doi:10.1353/lan.0.0132.
Dobrin, L. M.; Good, J. (2009). "Practical language development: Whose mission?". Language. 85 (3): 619–629. doi:10.1353/lan.0.0152.
Erard, Michael (July 19, 2005), "How Linguists and Missionaries Share a Bible of 6,912 Languages", The New York Times .
Errington, Joseph (2008), Linguistics in a Colonial World: A Story of Language, Meaning, and Power, Wiley-Blackwell, ISBN 978-1-4051-0569-9
Gow, Peter: An Amazonian Myth and Its History (Oxford University Press 2001), ISBN 0-19-924195-3 / ISBN 0-19-924196-1.
Hartch, Todd (2006). Missionaries of the State: The Summer Institute of Linguistics, State Formation, and Indigenous Mexico, 1935–1985. Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press.
Hart, Laurie K. (1973), "The Story of the Wycliffe Translators: Pacifying the Last Frontiers", NACLA's Latin America & Empire Report, VII (10). This article describes SIL's collaboration with US oil corporations and military governments in South America in the 1950s and 1960s.
Headland, Thomas; Pike, Kenneth; Harris, Marvin, eds. (1990), Emics and etics: The insider/outsider debate, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Hvalkof, Søren; Aaby, Peter, eds. (1981), Is God an American? An Anthropological Perspective on the Missionary Work of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, Copenhagen/London: (A Survival International Document, International Workgroup for Indigenous Affairs, ISBN 87-980717-2-6.
Lewis, Norman: The Missionaries (London, Secker and Warburg 1988; McGraw-Hill Companies 1989), ISBN 0-07-037613-1.
Mantilla, Castro, and Maria Dolores: El Trabajo del ILV en Bolivia, 1954–1980, Informe Final (The Work of SIL in Bolivia, 1954–1980, Final Report; La Paz, Ministerio de Desarollo Humano 1996). This report in Spanish contains a detailed chart of SIL activities in Latin American countries.
Olson, Kenneth S. (2009), "SIL International: An emic view", Language, 85 (3): 646–658, doi:10.1353/lan.0.0156.
Orlandi, Eni Pucinelli: Sprache, Glaube, Macht: "Ethik und Sprachenpolitik / Language, Faith, Power: Ethics and Language Policy", in: Brigitte Schlieben-Lange (ed.): Zeitschrift für Literaturwissenschaft und Linguistik 116, Katechese, Sprache, Schrift (University of Siegen / J.B. Metzler 1999) The author presents a discourse analysis of the practices of SIL.
Perkins, John: Confessions of an Economic Hit Man (Plume Publishers 2006), ISBN 0-452-28708-1. Contains references to alleged SIL missionary activities and displacement of indigenous peoples in South America.
Pettifer, Richard; Bradley, Julian (1991), Missionaries, BBC Publications, ISBN 0-563-20702-7 .
Stoll, David (1982), Fishers of Men or Founders of Empire? The Wycliffe Bible Translators in Latin America. A US Evangelical Mission in the Third World, London: Zed Press, ISBN 0-86232-111-5. Criticism of alleged SIL missionary activities.
Willibrand, W. A: Oklahoma Indians and the Summer Institute of Linguistics (1953).
Yashar, Deborah J (2005), Contesting Citizenship In Latin America. The Rise of Indigenous Movements and the Postliberal Challenge, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-82746-9 .
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=SIL_International&oldid=905921092"
Christian missions
Evangelical parachurch organizations
Religious organizations established in 1934
Christianity-related controversies
Religion in South America
Religious organizations based in the United States
Linguistic research institutes
Missionary linguists
Organizations based in Dallas
Articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases from April 2016
Wikipedia articles with CINII identifiers
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The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Botanical Gardens
< The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)
←Bot-Fly
The Encyclopedia Americana
Botanical Geography→
Edition of 1920. See also Botanical garden on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
1522264The Encyclopedia Americana — Botanical Gardens
BOTANICAL GARDENS. The term botanical garden is used to designate a limited area of ground on which is grown a collection of plants including a large number of species brought together to subserve scientific, educational, æsthetic or economic purposes. In the broadest sense, it is a museum of plants and one of its chief ends is to represent, by means of living specimens so far as possible, the principal types of vegetation of the earth. It is impossible to cultivate more than a few thousand species on any given area under the natural conditions of soil and climate, and the open-air plantations are generally supplemented by collections grown under shelter, in glass houses and in specially prepared soils. It has been found practicable to grow in this manner as many as 12,000 or 15,000 species of the higher plants in the botanical gardens at Saint Louis and New York, at Kew, near London, England, and at Berlin, Germany. A proper selection of this number may be made to represent somewhat fairly the principal forms of plants, which include about 250,000 species. That is to say, it is possible to grow in one place about one species out of every 17 in existence.
Living plants cultivated in the open air are most suitably arranged in plantations according to their general habit and in such manner as to show their general relationships. Then special groups are often made of certain families, such as the conifers, the willows and poplars, the grasses, ferns or mosses. The most common arrangement of plantations includes the herbaceous grounds, the aquatic plants, alpinum, viticetum, fruticetum, arboretum and economic plantations. Some institutions bring together collections for the purpose of illustrating the local flora or the flora of any given geographical district
The herbaceous plantations are intended to include the representatives of small soft-bodied plants which die down to the soil during the winter or resting season, and which may or may not have a perennial underground stem-formation of some kind. Many of the species are annuals and must be grown from seeds every year.
The pools for aquatic plants are arranged to afford suitable means for the culture of forms which float or root in ponds and streams of fresh water, and include a wide variety, such as the water-lily, pondweeds, Philotria, water-hyacinth, etc.
An alpinum is a special plantation generally arranged to afford means of cultivation of species from cold climates on mountain-tops or in higher latitudes. Plantations of this kind are often termed rockeries, and are in the form of a ridge or hill covered with boulders. In such plantations precautions must be taken to give lime-loving plants a place among limestone rocks, and with the necessary low temperatures.
The viticetum is a plantation devoted to the cultivation of climbing and trailing vines, and may take almost any form demanded by the exigencies of practical gardening. Among the necessary features are trellises or supports for twining and tendril climbing forms.
The fruticetum includes all woody perennial plants which do not form a central trunk six feet in height, and which are therefore not trees. These are most effectively grouped when the individuals of the separate species are placed in the ground separately in a scheme of general arrangement by which every plant may be inspected from all sides and is unshaded by its neighbors.
The arboretum includes trees, and these may be variously arranged, singly or in groups, always with respect to their mutual relationship. On account of their great size and comparatively slow growth and greater permanency, the placing of trees in any given landscape scheme in a garden is attended to with the greatest care.
The economic plantations may include useful plants arranged according to their relationships, and grouped according to the use or nature of the derivative. Thus a division may be made in which only species used for medicine, foods or clothing are included, or a division may be made to include plants which yield starches, oils, gums and resins.
Special plantations of selected families must depend for their constituency upon the location of the garden. Thus it would be possible to form a collection of palms in a tropical garden and one of pines or willows in a temperate climate. Geographical plantations may take any given district by variously arranged plantations.
Still another group of plantations is being made in some gardens to illustrate types of habit and structure. Some of the principal groups to be illustrated in this manner are parasites, which draw nourishment from the living bodies of other organs; saprophytes, which live on decaying organic matter; xerophytes, plants adapted to living under the driest conditions; plants with structures serving as a protection against animals. Forms of propagation and reproduction, methods of dissemination of spores and seeds, etc., also serve as subjects to be illustrated by separate groups.
The collections grown under shelter and in conservatories are generally grouped in such manner that species are partly assembled with regard to their climatic requirements, and partly according to their relationships. Thus a house may be devoted to tropical plants, or to temperate plants, or may contain only orchids, palms, ferns, cacti or succulents, or other special groups.
The part of the vegetable kingdom which may not be cultivated may be represented in a museum by dried specimens, material in preserving-fluids and dissections of various kinds. Here again the arrangement may be upon the basis of natural relationship, or upon the basis of economic usefulness. The species which formed the vegetation of the previous geological periods are represented by fossil specimens, completing the history of the plant-world so far as it is known, and yielding suggestions as to the descent of the present types.
Two general educational purposes are served by an institution of this character. Its collections are arranged to present information on the form, relationship, mode of life, habit and general biological character of the principal types of vegetation, in such manner as to be capable of comprehension by persons unacquainted with the technical aspects of the subject. Further interpretation of such facts may be made by means of books, journals, lectures, etc., devoted to this branch of work and study.
The material accumulated for the exploitation of popular knowledge of plants also affords an excellent basis for the induction of students into the more strictly scientific aspects of botany; and when such material is supplemented by laboratories furnished with apparatus, microscopes and other instruments of precision, the activities of these students may be carried beyond the frontiers of the subject into the investigation and discovery of new facts and phenomena. This extension of the boundaries of knowledge concerning the plant-world may be carried on to advantage only when a library is at hand containing all of the more important literature bearing upon the subject.
Botanical gardens owe their origin to the needs of medical science, in accordance with which species showing valuable medicinal properties were grown in convenient places.
The first authentic record of the introduction of medicinal plants into cultivated plots of ground dates no farther back than the time of the elder Pliny (23-79 A.D.), who writes of the garden Antonius Castor, at Rome, in which were grown a large number of medicinal plants. This step, however, may have been taken much earlier by the Greeks, Chinese or Mexicans. Later the Benedictine monks of northern Italy paid great attention to the growing of remedial herbs, and devoted an important proportion of the monastery gardens to this purpose. This practice was also carried beyond the Alps, and in 1020 a garden was in existence at the monastery of Saint Gall, in Switzerland, not far from Lake Constance, which contained 16 plots occupied by medicinal plants. A garden of this character was founded 1309 at Salerno, and another at Venice 1330.
The 16th and 17th centuries witnessed the foundation of many gardens in England, France, Germany, Holland and Sweden, some of which have had a continuous existence to this day. The garden of Bologna was founded 1568; Leyden, 1577; Leipzig, 1579; Montpellier, 1596; Paris, 1597. The last named was organized for the determination of “what variations were possible in the style of bouquets worn at the royal courts.” Then followed the establishment of the gardens at Giessen, 1605; Strasburg, 1620; Jena, 1629; Oxford, 1632; Upsala, 1667; Chelsea, 1680.
The number of these institutions at the present time is nearly 300, only a few of which, however, are devoted to the more important purposes named above. Many botanical gardens are merely municipal parks in which some attempt is made to exhibit special groups of plants, and are devoted chiefly to floriculture. Others are almost entirely experiment stations for the exhibition and testing of economic species, while still others find their chief usefulness as an aid in teaching botany in schools and colleges. For the educational value of botanical gardens, consult Monroe, ‘Cyclopedia of Education.’
Daniel Trembly MacDougal,
Department of Botanical Research, Carnegie Institution, Washington.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=The_Encyclopedia_Americana_(1920)/Botanical_Gardens&oldid=4924690"
EA 1920 no volume
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Cosumnes Firefighters Announce Local Political Endorsements
Published by Elk Grove Laguna News September 9, 2016
COSUMNES FIREFIGHTERS ANNOUNCE ENDORSEMENTS FOR COSUMNES COMMUNITY SERVICES DISTRICT BOARD AND ELK GROVE CITY COUNCIL
The Men and Women of the Cosumnes Firefighter’s Unit, Local 522 announce candidate endorsements of retired Fire Captain Jim Luttrel and incumbent board member Michelle Orrock for election to the board of the Cosumnes Community Services District. Cosumnes Firefighter’s Unit also announces the endorsements of Darren Suen and Steve Detrick for Elk Grove City Council. Endorsed candidates have proven themselves to be strong advocates for public safety in the community we serve. Maintaining the safety of our community is our highest priority. We support candidates who share this commitment and who will stand up for public safety as our neighborhoods continue to grow.
For Cosumnes CSD
Jim Luttrel, a resident of Elk Grove for 36 years, has coached various local youth teams, organized neighborhood picnics, volunteered at charity fundraisers, worked as a firefighter, and fire captain. He has devoted his life to helping others and later serving those who devote their life to helping others in his position as President of the Sacramento Area Firefighters, Local 522. He has a strong desire to serve the communities of Galt and Elk Grove keeping them “safe and livable” in his own words.
Michelle Orrock, a resident of Elk Grove and CCSD Board member since 2008, is an advocate for responsible spending while not jeopardizing public safety. Michelle is an active presence in the community and truly cares about the quality and levels of service provided by the CSD. She has continued to maintain a close relationship with the firefighters.
For Elk Grove City Council
Darren Suen, a resident of Elk Grove for 15 years, has remained focused on developing a strong economy and supporting public safety in and around the city. Darren is a civil engineer with experience in land use planning transportation, and water resources. Importantly, Darren has built strong relationships with his constituents and peers while serving on the City Council and Community Planning Advisory Council.
Steve Detrick, a resident of Elk Grove for 26 years, has been a strong supporter of the firefighters in the communities of Elk Grove and Galt since first earning our endorsement eight years ago. Steve has extensive experience and the City Council and has worked tirelessly support our local economy and public safety. He remains active in the community and among his constituents.
The endorsement process within the Sacramento Area Firefighters, Local 522 is a thorough process, including candidate interviews. We only endorse candidates who show a steadfast support of public safety workers and the interests we represent, namely the safety of those we serve.
Elk Grove Laguna Forums
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Elizabeth Hawes
By Melinda Watt
Elizabeth Hawes (1901-1971) belonged to the first generation of American designers who succeeded in making a name for themselves as individuals outside the sphere of the Parisian couture. In 1925 Hawes graduated from Vassar College, where she was an economics major sympathetic to socialism, but she pursued an interest in fashion by participating in school theatricals and making her own clothes. By graduation she had decided to go to Paris and learn fashion design. Hawes spent the next three years in various positions within the couture business: as a design copyist, journalist, and assistant designer. During this time she wrote a fashion column for The New Yorker, using the pen name "Parisite." She also worked briefly for Nicole Groult, the sister of the designer Paul Poiret. Her life in Paris was divided between socializing with her wealthy Vassar friends and engaging in the bohemian life; she spent much of her time with an artistic crowd, including the sculptors Alexander Calder and Isamo Noguchi.
Hawes's Vassar education gave her the critical faculty to dissect the couture industry and the fashion press, while her social connections and her exposure to couture at the highest levels left her ambivalent about fashion, a feeling that grew all the stronger for her love of its creative potential. In 1928 Hawes returned to New York and started her own custom dressmaking business with a Vassar classmate, Rosemary Harden. Harden left the business one year later, and Hawes decided to continue on her own as Hawes, Inc. Advertising, for which Hawes herself wrote the copy, helped business pick up significantly. Calder and Noguchi designed decorative objects for her New York showroom and influenced Hawes's own work. In 1930 Hawes married the artist Ralph Jester, whom she had known in Paris; they divorced in 1934.
Fashion and Politics
In 1932 Hawes and two other young American designers were promoted by the Lord and Taylor department store. This was one of the earliest attempts (if not the first) to prove that there was homegrown talent worthy of the public's notice. Hawes fully understood the power of publicity and exploited it. The ensembles in her collections were named according to themes: Spring/Summer 1933 was political, and the collection included such ensembles as "The Five Year Plan," a cotton nightgown and bed jacket; "the Yellow Peril," a silk afternoon dress; and "Disarmament," an embroidered evening dress. Her work was characterized by a bold use of fabrics-wide strips and large prints were used in simple, comfortable silhouettes. Hawes was an early advocate of trousers for women and wore them often herself.
Callot Sisters
In 1935 Hawes traveled to the Soviet Union to explore her growing interest in mass-produced clothing; as part of this trip, she showed some of her designs to members of the Soviet State Clothing Production Board, known as the Soviet Dress Trust. During her trip to the Soviet Union, she was accompanied by the theatrical director Joseph Losey, whom she married in 1937. The next year brought the birth of their son, Gavrick, and the publication of her first major work as an author: Fashion Is Spinach. This was Hawes's manifesto, and in it she expounds on the difference between "style" and "fashion" and how women are manipulated by the fashion industry:
"Style …gives you the fundamental feeling of a certain period in history. Style doesn't change every month or every year…. Fashion is that horrid little man with an evil eye who tells you that last winter's coat may be in perfect physical condition, but you can't wear it. (pp. 5-6) "
Hawes's criticism was not limited to women's clothing; she maintained that men needed to be freed from their conservative attitudes toward clothing. She staged an all-male fashion show in 1937, showing brightly colored clothes of her own design. This led to her next book, Men Can Take It, published in 1939. She could be considered the Dorothy Parker of fashion criticism, with her snappy tone and tell-it-straight attitude.
Radical by Design: The Life and Style of Elizabeth Hawes
Hawes, Inc., closed early in January 1940. The onset of World War II had firmly awakened Hawes's social conscience, and she felt that being a fashion designer was not an appropriate career for her at that time. She became committed to her career as a writer, becoming involved in writing for the new left-wing paper, PM. In 1943 she took a job in a munitions factory for three months and then relocated to Detroit to work for the United Auto Worker's Union, where she also wrote for the Detroit Free Press. The result of her war work was her fifth book, Why Women Cry; or, Wenches with Wrenches (1943).
In 1948 Hawes made a last attempt at the fashion business and reopened Hawes, Inc., for eleven months. To demonstrate the timelessness of her designs, she played a game at the inaugural show, making guests guess which designs were new and which were from 1930s collections. Hawes settled in Southern California in the early 1950s. While she experimented with the production of knitwear, creating simple shapes decorated with abstract patterns, she spent the majority of her time writing. Her most rewarding experience during this period was her association with the young designer Rudi Gernriech, in whom she found a kindred spirit. In 1967 a retrospective of their work was mounted at the Fashion Institute of Technology.
Hawes moved back to New York in 1967 and lived in the Chelsea Hotel until her death on 6 September 1971. In total, she published nine books on fashion and culture as well as numerous articles in journals ranging from the left-leaning PM to the Ladies' Home Journal. In reality, her clothes did not appear radical for their time; it was her outspoken philosophy that set her apart.
See also Fashion Designer; Fashion Journalism; Paris Fashion; Politics and Fashion.
Berch, Bettina. Radical by Design: The Life and Style of Elizabeth Hawes. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1988.
Elizabeth Hawes. "The American Designer Has Not Yet Been Born." Magazine of Art April 1937.
--. Fashion Is Spinach. New York: Random House, 1938.
Mahoney, Patrick. "In and Out of Style." Vassar Quarterly 82, no. 2 (Spring 1986): 8-10.
Steele, Valerie. Women of Fashion: Twentieth-Century Designers. New York: Rizzoli International, 1991.
Grunge's Influence on Fashion By Shannon Bell Price
Japanese Textiles By John S. Major
History of Men's Hats By Susie Hopkins
Fashion and Identity By Susan B. Kaiser
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By Pamela Golbin
A direct heir of the couture tradition of Gabrielle (Coco) Chanel, Cristóbal Balenciaga, and Christian Dior, Yves Saint Laurent explored, discovered, and polished, in the course of a career lasting more than forty years, the infinite resources of his vocabulary. Taming the signs and codes of his age, he created the grammar of the contemporary wardrobe and imposed his language, which became the inescapable reference of the twentieth century. In search of a uniform for elegance, Saint Laurent combined the greatest rigor of production with extreme sophistication of form to create clothing of impeccable cut with harmonious proportions, where the aesthetic of the detail was transformed into an absolute necessity. "Fashion is like a party. Getting dressed is preparing to play a role. I am not a couturier, I am a craftsman, a maker of happiness" (Teboul 2002).
Biography of Yves Saint Laurent
Yves Mathieu Saint Laurent was born on 1 August 1936 in the Algerian city of Oran, the oldest of the three children of Lucienne-Andrée and Charles Mathieu Saint Laurent. He said later: "As long as I live I will remember my childhood and adolescence in the marvelous country that Algeria was then. I don't think of myself as a pied noir. I think of myself as a Frenchman born in Algeria" (Teboul 2002). He entered the Collège du Sacré-Cœur in September 1948. Strongly influenced by the play L'École à deux têtes of Jean Cocteau, he designed his first dresses: stage costumes for paper puppets with which he performed for his sisters. "I had a terrible time in class, and when I got home at night I was completely free. I thought only of my puppets, my marionettes, which I dressed up in imitation of the plays I had seen" (Benaïm, p. 451).
Folklore Look
Saint Laurent designed a good deal, imitating Jean Gabriel-Domergue, Christian Bérard, René Gruau, Christian Dior, Cristóbal Balenciaga, and Hubert de Givenchy. In February 1949 he created his first dresses, made for his mother and his two sisters. At the age of sixteen he attended a performance of Molière's L'École des femmes, performed and directed by Louis Jouvet. Bérard had designed both sets and costumes. Seeing this play inspired in Saint Laurent a passion that he never surrendered for the theater. In December 1953 he went with his mother to Paris to receive the third prize in the competition of the Secrétariat de la Laine. There he was introduced to Michel de Brunhoff, who was then editor of the French edition of the essential fashion magazine Vogue.
Back in Oran, he began a correspondence with de Brunhoff, sending him fashion and theater sketches. The following year, armed with his baccalaureat (earning second prize for the philosophy essay and a score of 20 out of 20 in drawing), Saint Laurent settled in Paris and attended the École de la Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture for three months. He won first prize for dresses in the Secrétariat de la Laine competition. It was at about this time that, struck by the similarity of Saint Laurent's designs to those of the fall-winter collection of Christian Dior, de Brunhoff decided to introduce him to Dior, who promptly hired him as an assistant. During the next two years-years of apprenticeship and intense collaboration- a lasting complicity was established between the two men. "I remember him above all.… The elegance of his feelings matched the elegance of his style" (Yves Saint Laurent, p. 31).
At the House of Dior
On 24 October 1957 Christian Dior died from a heart attack at the age of fifty-two. On 15 November Saint Laurent was designated his successor. At age twenty-one he became the youngest couturier in the world. He presented his first collection in January 1958 and had his first triumph with the Trapeze line, which propelled him onto the international scene with its enormous success. He was given the Neiman Marcus Award. That same year he met Pierre Bergé, who soon became his companion and business partner.
While designing six collections a year for the house of Dior, Saint Laurent satisfied his passion for the theater, and he designed his first stage costumes (Cyrano de Bergerac, Ballets de Paris de Roland Petit, 1959). Influenced by Chanel, the spring-summer collection had solid success and provoked a craze, but the autumn-winter collection saw the appearance of a more controversial style: turtleneck knits and the first black leather jackets. Singularly prophetic, Saint Laurent had taken his inspiration directly from the street. Drafted into the Algerian armed forces in 1960, he was replaced at Dior by Marc Bohan.
Saint Laurent was soon declared unfit for service and hospitalized for nervous depression, and it was thanks to Bergé that he was able to leave the army. "Victoire" Doutrouleau, one of Dior's star models and a "marvelous muse" for Saint Laurent, recalls: "He left the hospital anxious, dazed, and alone. Yves a soldier? You might as well try changing a swan into a crocodile!" (Benaïm, p. 108). In open conflict with the Dior fashion house, which he sued for breach of contract, Saint Laurent decided to establish his own couture house in 1961, in association with Bergé. The financial support came from an American businessman, J. Mack Robinson: "I was impressed by such great talent in such a young man. I knew nothing about fashion, and I didn't want to get involved. This was the realm of Yves, the creator, and I immediately saw that he was a genius" (Yves Saint Laurent, p. 16).
Starting the Yves Saint Laurent Label
The house opened officially on 4 December 1961. Former employees of Christian Dior left Dior to work for Saint Laurent, and more than half the seamstresses came from the Dior workshops. The graphic designer Cassandre created the YSL logo. Saint Laurent designed his first dress-labeled 00001-for Mrs. Arturo Lopez Willshaw, followed by the famous white feather costume for the dancer Zizi Jeanmaire. In 1962, on rue Spontini in Paris, the house presented its first show, described by Life as "the best suitmaker since Chanel" (p. 49). Dino Buzzati, special correspondent for the Corriere della sera, wrote: "Closing the show, a wedding dress in goffered white piqué brought an ovation from the public. The pale face of the young couturier then appeared for a moment from backstage; only for a moment, because a swarm of admirers surrounded him, embraced him, devoured him." This collection was memorable for the Norman jacket, the smock, and the pea jacket, which became "foundations" of the Saint Laurent style.
Saint Laurent designed the sets and costumes for Les chants de maldoror and Rapsodie espagnole, staged by Roland Petit, and the dresses for Claudia Cardinale in Blake Edwards's film The Pink Panther (1964). In April 1963, accompanied by Pierre Bergé, who had become his Pygmalion, he made his first trip to Japan, where he presented shows in Osaka and Tokyo.
The year 1964 saw the launch of a perfume for women, called "Y." But Saint Laurent's new collection was showered with negative criticism. The press spoke only of the André Courrèges' bombshell collection. Saint Laurent explained: "I have never been able to work on a wooden mannequin; I play by unrolling the fabric on the model, walking around her, making her move. … The only collection that I made a mess of, a complete fiasco, the very year when Courrèges's came on the scene and succeeded, I did not have good models, and I was not inspired" (Vacher, p. 68). Still drawn to the theater, he designed the costumes for Le mariage de Figaro and Il faut passer par les nuages for the Renaud-Barrault company.
In 1965 he triumphed with the Mondrian collection (named for the modern artist Piet Mondrian), which was surprising for its strict cut and the play of colors. Show-ered with praise by the American fashion press, he had become, according to Women's Wear Daily, "the Young King Yves of Paris." It was at this time that he made his first trip to New York, accompanied by Bergé. Richard Salomon (of Charles of the Ritz) acquired all the stock of the Yves Saint Laurent design company. At this time, too, Saint Laurent began a long friendship with the dancer Rudolph Nureyev, for whom he designed stage costumes and street clothes. He also created the wardrobe that Sophia Loren wore in Stanley Donen's film Arabesque (1966), as well as the costumes for Roland Petit's Notre-Dame de Paris.
For his summer 1966 haute couture show Saint Laurent presented the first see-through garments, the "nude look," and the first dinner jacket: "If I had to choose a design among all those that I have presented, it would unquestionably be the tuxedo jacket.… And since then, it has been in every one of my collections. It is in a sense the 'label' of Yves Saint Laurent" (Vacher, p. 64). For his haute couture collection of winter 1966-1967 he introduced the Pop Art collection. He met Andy Warhol and Loulou de la Falaise, his future muse. On 26 September 1966 Saint Laurent opened his first ready-to-wear shop, Saint Laurent Rive Gauche, at 21, rue de Tournon, with Catherine Deneuve, for whom he had designed the costumes in Luis Buñuel's film Belle de jour (1967), as godmother.
With the designs of Saint Laurent, ready-to-wear fashion established its pedigree, for he himself supervised the creation, manufacture, and distribution of the clothing: "The ready-to-wear is not a poor substitute for couture. It is the future. We know that we are dressing younger, more receptive women. With them it is easy to be bolder" (Benaïm, p. 153). That same year he won the Harper's Bazaar Oscar award; published an illustrated book, La vilaine Lulu; and launched his so-called African dresses. It was at that time that Saint Laurent and Bergé discovered Marrakesh, where they bought a house. For the spring-summer 1968 show, he presented the first jacket for the safari look, more see-through garments, and the jumpsuit, which would be successfully repeated in 1975. The style "Il" or "He" was born, comprising mini evening dresses and men's suits: "I was deeply struck by a photograph of Marlene Dietrich wearing men's clothes. A tuxedo, a blazer, or a navel officer's uniform- any of them. A woman dressed as a man must be at the height of femininity to fight against a costume that isn't hers" (Buck, p. 301). In September, the first Saint Laurent Rive Gauche shop was opened in New York. In a television interview, Chanel identified Saint Laurent as her spiritual heir, while galleries in London and New York exhibited his theater drawings.
The autumn-winter 1969 collection was dominated by the tapestry coat, patchwork furs, and jeweled dresses created by his sculptor friends the Lalannes. He continued to work in the cinema, designing costumes for Catherine Deneuve in François Truffaut's La sirène du Mississippi (1969); then, with Bergé, he opened the first Saint Laurent Rive Gauche shop for men at 17, rue de Tournon. In 1971, inspired by the designer Paloma Picasso, who bought her clothes at flea markets, he created the Libération collection, also known as Quarante, which provoked a scandal with its "retro" style. Saint Laurent later said that this collection-featuring puffed sleeves, square shoulders, platform shoes, and his famous green fox short jacket-was a humorous reaction to new fashion tendencies. In its wake, he posed nude for the photographer Jean-loup Sieff to advertise his first eau de toilette for men, YSL pour Homme, provoking another scandal.
Beginning in 1972 great changes took place. Pierre Bergé, whose ultimate aim was to recover all the stock of Yves Saint Laurent, repurchased from Charles of the Ritz (which had become a subsidiary of the American pharmaceutical giant Squibb) its shares in the couture house, thereby taking control of the couture and ready-to-wear businesses. Bergé and Saint Laurent then developed a licensing policy; although it had existed earlier, it was strengthened and enforced. The designs presented in the spring of 1972 (embroidered cardigans, padded jackets, "Proust" dresses with taffeta frills) were greeted triumphantly by a press once again overflowing with praise: "the man is pure and simple, the greatest fashion designer in the world today," said Harper's Bazaar (March 1972, p. 93). To close the season with a flourish, Andy Warhol did a series of portraits of Saint Laurent.
The following years found Saint Laurent ever more in demand in the world of film and theater. He designed costumes in succession for Anny Duperey in Alain Resnais's film Stavisky …, for Ellen Burstyn in the same director's Providence, and for Helmut Berger in Joseph Losey's The Romantic Englishwoman. He created the costumes for the ballets La rose malade (1973) and Schéhérazade (1974) for Roland Petit; for Harold and Maude (1973), a play by Colin Higgins; and for Jeanne Moreau and Gérard Depardieu in The Ride across Lake Constance (1974) by Peter Handke. In 1974 an exhibition of his costume and stage set sketches was staged in the Proscenium gallery in Paris. In July of the same year, the couture house moved from its cramped quarters to a Second Empire mansion at 5, avenue Marceau.
In 1976 the Opéra-Ballets Russes collection (homage to the Russian ballet producer Sergey Diaghilev) enjoyed international success and was featured on the front page of the New York Times. Saint Laurent, who was celebrating his fortieth birthday, said: "I don't know if this is my best collection, but it is my most beautiful collection" (Au-gust 16, 1976, p. 39). At about this time, Saint Laurent suffered a severe depression, and beginning in 1977 rumors circulated about his impending death. He replied with major colorful collections with exotic themes: the Espagnoles, with dresses straight out of a painting by Diego Velázquez, and the Chinoises, celebrating the annals of imperial China. He also launched a new perfume, Opium, the advertising for which, orchestrated by the Mafia agency, created a scandal with the slogan "For those who are addicted to Yves Saint Laurent."
In 1978, having just designed the sets and costumes for Cocteau's L'Aigle à deux têtes and for Ingrid Caven's cabaret show and written the preface for Nancy Hall-Duncan's book The History of Fashion Photography (1979), Saint Laurent demonstrated with his spring-summer collections, "Broadway suits" that he was still in touch with the current climate. He said, "This collection is very elegant, provocative, and at the same time wildly modern, which might appear contradictory. I have sought for purity, but I have interjected unexpected accessories: pointed collars, little hats, shoes with pompons. With these kinds of winks, I wanted to bring a little humor to haute couture, … give it the same sense of freedom one feels in the street, the same provocative and arrogant appearance as, for example, punk fashion. All of that, of course, with dignity, luxury, and style" (Yves Saint Laurent, p. 23).
During the ensuing decade Saint Laurent carried on with his favorite themes-the now classic blazer, dinner jacket, smock, pea jacket, raincoat, pants suit, and safari jacket-while presenting his collections in the form of the homage to various artists and writers. Pablo Picasso, the surrealist poet Aragon, the French poet Guillaume Apollinaire, Cocteau, the French artist Henri Matisse, Shakespeare, the American painter David Hockney, the French artist Georges Braque, the French painter Pierre Bonnard, and the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh were invoked in turn, inspiring strongly colored garments in which were inscribed the emblematic forms of the painters and the verses of the poets. His creations were "setting static things in motion on the body of a woman," he said in Paris-Match (12 Février 1988, p. 69). The press around the world never stopped singing his praises.
The 1980s were full and rich for Saint Laurent. In 1981 he designed the uniform for the writer Marguerite Yourcenar, the first woman elected to the Académie Française, and launched a men's perfume, Kouros. The year 1982 was the twentieth anniversary of the founding of his couture house; the occasion was celebrated at the Lido, where he received the International Fashion Award of the Council of Fashion Designers of America.
In 1983 he showed the Noire et Rose collection, introduced the perfume Paris, designed costumes for the play Savannah Bay by Marguerite Duras, and enjoyed the opening of the exhibition "Yves Saint Laurent, 25 Years of Design" at the Metropolitan Museum of New York, the largest retrospective ever devoted to a living couturier. One million visitors attended the exhibition, organized by Diana Vreeland. As Vreeland put it, "Saint Laurent has been built into the history of fashion now for a long time. Twenty-six years is proof that he can please most of the people most of the time four times a year. That's quite a reputation" (Time, December 12, 1983, p. 56). That same year he made his appearance in the Larousse dictionary.
President François Mitterrand awarded Saint Laurent the medal of Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur in 1985, the same year the African Look collection debuted. Accompanied by Pierre Bergé, he traveled to China for the exhibition devoted to his work at the Fine Arts Museum of Beijing (which recorded 600,000 visitors) and received, at the Paris Opera, the award for Best Couturier for the body of his work. In 1986 he presented his fiftieth haute couture collection, and a retrospective of his work was given at the Musée des Arts de la Mode in Paris. Bergé and Saint Laurent, with the participation of Cerus, purchased Charles of the Ritz, owner of Yves Saint Laurent perfumes, for $630 million.
The next year retrospectives were mounted in the U.S.S.R. (Hermitage, Saint Petersburg) and in Australia (Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney). That season five hundred of his pieces sold, principally to a foreign clientele. In 1988, Saint Laurent became the first couturier to present a show for the French Communist Party, at the Fête de l'Humanité. Shares of the Saint Laurent group were introduced on the secondary market of the Paris Bourse in 1989, and the revenues of the house of Saint Laurent reached 3 million francs.
The decade of the 1990s began with an exhibition at the Sezon Museum of Art in Tokyo; the opening of the first shop for accessories, at 32, rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré; and the presentation of the collection Hommages, considered a "farewell" by some of the press. Scandal arose, however, from an interview Saint Laurent gave to Le figaro, in which he spoke of detoxification, his homosexuality, his overuse of alcohol, and his fits of nervous depression. But in 1992, like the phoenix reborn from his ashes, he presented his 121st collection, Une Renaissance, and celebrated the thirtieth anniversary of the Saint Laurent fashion house by inviting 2,800 guests to the Opéra Bastille.
In May 1993 the Yves Saint Laurent group merged with the Elf-Sanofi company. With this acquisition, Elf-Sanofi became the third-largest international prestige perfume and cosmetic company, after L'Oréal and Estée Lauder. Saint Laurent then launched the perfume Champagne, "for happy, lighthearted women, who sparkle." On 21 July, he presented his 124th haute couture collection, with models parading to the melody of The Merry Widow. In a major spectacle at the Stade de France, for the opening of the 1998 World Cup of soccer Saint Laurent and Bergé paraded three hundred models before a packed stadium, while two billion spectators watched the event on television. In November of that year, in order to devote himself entirely to haute couture, Saint Laurent turned women's ready-to-wear over to Albert Elbaz and men's ready-to-wear to Hedi Slimane.
François Pinault
In 1999 François Pinault, owner of the department store Printemps, bought Saint Laurent from Elf for 1.12 billion euros and pumped in an additional 78 million euros to take control of all rights to the label, which he turned over to Tom Ford, the Texan designer for Gucci, a house also controlled by Pinault. Bergé announced the opening of the Centre de Documentation Yves Saint Laurent, in Paris, planned for January 2000.
Leaving Haute Couture
After forty-four years of fashion designing, Saint Laurent announced the closing of his house at a press conference given on 7 January 2002. He took his leave of haute couture with these words: "I have always stood fast against the fantasies of some people who satisfy their egos through fashion. On the contrary, I wanted to put myself at the service of women. … I wanted to accompany them in the great movement of liberation that they went through in the last century. … I am naïve enough to believe that [my designs] can stand up to the attacks of time and hold their place in the world of today. They have already proved it."
Saint Laurent fixed the ephemeral and constantly sought beauty, shifting between classicism and provocation. Favoring methodical work, recurrent themes, and improvisations in the form of homages, he referred to other artists as catalysts. Shakespeare, Velázquez, Picasso, Proust, and Mondrian each, in turn, served as an inspiration to him. By pushing to extremes the exoticism of the street and delving into forgotten folk traditions, he brought forth a new spirit that illuminated his palette, for example, in the African, Ballets Russes, and Chinoises collections. In an even more radical shift, he took on the male wardrobe, diverting and transposing the dinner jacket, pants suit, safari jacket, and pea jacket to bring masculine and feminine together in a single design. But, it is Pierre Bergé who best describes Yves Saint Laurent's contribution for Yves-and herein lies his uniqueness- each collection is a means of bringing dreams to life, expressing fantasies, encountering myths, and creating out of them a contemporary fashion" (Saint Laurent, p. 27).
See also Art and Fashion; Ballet Costume; Fashion Shows; Film and Fashion; Haute Couture; Paris Fashion; Perfume; Ready-To-Wear; Retro Styles; Theatrical Costume.
Benaïm, Laurence. Yves Saint Laurent. Paris: Grasset, 1993.
Buck, Joan Juliet. "Yves Saint Laurent on Style, Passion, and Beauty." Vogue (December 1983): 301.
Yves Saint Laurent, Diana Vreeland, et al. Yves Saint Laurent. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc., 1983.
Teboul, David. Yves Saint Laurent: 5, Avenue Marceau, 75116 Paris, France. Paris: Martinière, 2002.
Vacher, Irène. "Lesgens." Paris Match, 4 décembre 1981, p. 68.
Yves Saint Laurent par Yves Saint Laurent, 28 ans de création. Paris: editions Herscher, 1986.
Paris Fashion By Valerie Steele and John S. Major
Dolce & Gabbana Brand History By Simona Segre Reinach
Japanese Fashion By Yuniya Kawamura
Appliqué By Nan H. Mutnick
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Biden declares LGBTQ rights his No. 1 legislative priority
By BILL BARROW
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden declared Saturday that the Equality Act would be his top legislative priority, an effort to enshrine LGBTQ protections into the nation’s labor and civil rights laws.
The former vice president shared his hopes of signing the legislation as part of a keynote address to hundreds of activists at the Human Rights Campaign’s annual Ohio gala on the first day of Pride Month. In a half-hour at the lectern, his remarks ranged from emotional tributes to his audience and their personal endurance to condemnations of President Donald Trump.
“It’s wrong and it is immoral what they’re doing,” Biden said of the Trump administration. Among other Trump polices, he cited attempts to bar transgender troops in the U.S. military, allow individuals in the medical field to refuse to treat LGBTQ individuals, and allow homeless shelters to refuse transgender occupants.
“Just like with racial justice and women’s rights, we are seeing pushback against all the progress we’ve made toward equality,” Biden said.
The Equality Act would address many such discriminatory practices. It recently passed the Democratic-run House, but will not become law under Trump and the Republican Senate. That means LGBTQ residents in dozens of states are still subject to various forms of discrimination that are either specifically allowed or not barred by state law.
“It will be the first thing I ask to be done,” Biden said.
Biden spoke in Ohio, a political battleground he was visiting for the first time since beginning his bid, on the same day that more than a dozen of his rivals were in San Francisco for the California Democratic Convention and a massive MoveOn.org conference. By the end of the weekend, 14 candidates will have addressed thousands of activists in California, which has more than 400 delegates to the 2020 convention, about a fifth of what it will take to win the nomination.
Among them, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, nodded to Biden’s absence with subtle jabs.
“Some Democrats in Washington believe the only changes we can get are tweaks and nudges. … Some say if we all just calm down, the Republicans will come to their senses,” Warren said, an allusion to Biden’s recent prediction that Republicans will have “an epiphany” once Trump leaves office.
Biden made no mention of his rivals, with his go-it-alone itinerary and his message signifying his burgeoning confidence at his position atop the pack of 24 presidential hopefuls.
Campaigning in a Midwest battleground is no surprise for Biden. One of the prevailing arguments for his candidacy is that his moderate, deal-making, “Middle Class Joe” brand offers Democrats their best shot to win back the industrial belt that Trump wrested from the party in 2016.
Yet the HRC event offered both Biden and his audience a chance to go beyond that simplified framing of the 2020 landscape.
“The thing that gets overlooked when the story is written about Ohio and the Midwest is that we’re incredibly diverse,” said Shawn Copeland, HRC’s Ohio director.
Copeland said HRC has identified about 1.8 million “equality voters” in Ohio, including 400,000 LGBTQ citizens, plus their family members, friends and other allies. Trump got 2.84 million Ohio votes to Hillary Clinton’s 2.4 million in 2016.
Biden, meanwhile, used the forum to underscore his long alliance with HRC and LGBTQ activists — a key to Biden’s contention that he’s more progressive than the party’s left flank acknowledges.
The former vice president visibly enjoyed recalling the 2012 presidential campaign when he announced his support for same-sex marriage before his boss, President Barack Obama, had done so.
Biden recalled that most political observers “thought I had just committed this gigantic blunder.” He said he’d let Obama know beforehand what might be coming. “I told the president if asked, I was not going to be quiet.”
The rest of his remarks were less jovial, as Biden lamented the widespread discrimination that still exists in the U.S. and abroad. Noting recent killings of black transgender women, he roared: “It’s outrageous. It must, it must, it must end. The fastest way to end it is to end the Trump administration.”
He lowered his voice as he listed the percentage of LGBTQ children and teens who attempt or consider suicide. “I don’t have to tell you how hard it is for these kids, because many of you were these kids,” he said, “the terror in your heart as you spoke your truth.”
Several Democratic hopefuls have addressed HRC state dinners this year. National officials with the organizations say they’ve worked with the campaigns and the state organizations to schedule the occasions.
A Biden campaign statement issued before the speech said the choice to go to Ohio proves Biden wants to have conversations about LGBTQ rights “not just on the coasts of this country, but in the heartland and with any and all Americans.”
The venue also allowed him to push back, at least indirectly, at some of the jabs from California. He reminded the audience that he campaigned for many of the freshman House Democrats who helped the party to a net gain of 41 seats — mostly by winning swing or GOP-leaning districts.
“We didn’t have to be radical about anything,” he said. “They talked about basic, fundamental rights.”
With the resulting House majority, Biden noted, the Equality Act has gotten further than ever before.
Follow Barrow on Twitter at https://twitter.com/BillBarrowAP
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American, Chinese Execs and Scholars Discuss Digital Innovation at CEIBS US Forum
BOSTON, May 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- About 80 high-level Chinese business executives and entrepreneurs joined scholars from the US and China in Boston on May 15 for a discussion on how both sides can work together to break new ground in today's digital economy. They gathered for a half-day event co-hosted by China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) and Z-Park Innovation Center.
"The enthusiasm and openness with which participants shared their views during today's event is an indicator of how important it is for us to keep engaging with each other. There is still a very strong interest in doing business with, and in, each other's markets. This is why we were able to bring with us a team of high-level Chinese business executives who are eager to engage with the local business community in Boston," CEIBS Assistant President Dr. Snow Zhou said on the sidelines of the forum. "We hosted today's event to provide a platform for knowledge exchange on both sides, which we hope will be useful as we move forward."
In addition to the forum, which included opportunities to network and explore potential opportunities for future collaboration, the Chinese business executives and entrepreneurs -- all CEIBS alumni and/or students -- will also benefit from visits to local companies. Over the next few days they will be hosted by their peers from a range of industries, including some related to the forum's theme. "The digital economy is becoming increasingly important and it is imperative that we -- as business executives -- find a way to work together for mutual benefit," said Allen Tang, an executive at JD Finance, the finance unit of China's second biggest e-commerce player JD.com Inc. "The US market is an important one for us and I am pleased to be a part of the activities CEIBS has planned in Boston."
This foray into Boston is also a signal of the importance with which CEIBS itself views the US market, which is a vital part of the school's internationalization strategy. This is the third time CEIBS is hosting a forum in the US, but this event has the added significance of being a part of the school's 25th Anniversary Celebration.
The forum included welcome addresses by CEIBS President (European) Professor Dipak Jain and CEO of ZGC Boston Innovation Management LLC, Mr. Ming Qiao. There were also keynote speeches by MIT Professor of Physics Max Tegmark and Northwestern University's Director of CS Plus X Initiative, Prof. Kristian J. Hammond. An impressive list of names from the US and China participated in two panel discussions throughout the day that respectively looked at the topics of 'Creating a New Space in the e-Commerce Market' and 'Reshaping the Future of Finance Through Innovation'.
In welcoming the audience of about 200, Prof. Jain spoke about the evolution of global business, and how management education has changed as a result. "The new 'diet' of the global economy consists of digital, innovation, entrepreneurship and technology," he said. He also shared how CEIBS is evolving as well. Building on its growing reputation as Asia's leading business school, CEIBS has now turned its attention to enhancing its international visibility, building a strong brand presence in the US, and strengthening its European and African initiatives. All of this is being done while retaining CEIBS' competitive advantage, its focus on China knowledge. The Boston forum accomplishes two out of three of those goals.
In his welcome speech, Mr. Qiao told the audience that it was an honour for Z-Park Innovation Center -- the Zhongguangcun Development Group's second largest innovation centre outside of China -- to co-host the forum with CEIBS. "We are committed to building a bridge for innovation and exchange between China and the US. We hope that, through this event, we can enhance communication and provide better resources for entrepreneurs from both countries," he added.
In the day's first keynote speech, Prof. Tegmark shared his views on the timely topic of "Getting empowered, not overpowered by artificial intelligence". There is an opportunity, he said, for us all to take a collective journey into the future with artificial intelligence (AI), an area that has already seen significant growth and progress that has changed our lives and will be the source of many more life-altering changes ahead. The question, he told the audience, was how far we would go on this journey. Will we ever have machines that can match human intelligence at all tasks? "This is the definition of Artificial General Intelligence, AGI, which has been the holy grail of AI research since it's inception," he explained. If AGI were achieved he noted, AI (not humans) would drive further AI development. "This would mean that future AI improvement could be much faster than the typical human R&D cycle of years, and raises the controversial possibility of an intelligence explosion, where recursively self-improving AI rapidly leaves human intelligence far behind, creating what's known as superintelligence," he said. He told the audience that while there are conflicting views on how close we are to this scenario, most researchers think it will be "within decades". Humans need to be ambitious enough to envision and steer towards "a truly inspiring high-tech future" instead of complacently building machines without any thought to the consequences of making humans obsolete. This, he said, will require a change in the old strategy of learning from mistakes to one where we get it right the first time.
The entire world, said Prof. Tegmark has the responsibility for this mammoth task, with all of humanity sharing equally in the benefits and risks of having our lives changed by AI. "No country can address such unconventional and large-scale challenges alone," he said. China, he added, is uniquely positioned to take a leading role in steering AI because the country is a "world-leading science and technology power and can therefore help lead research not only on how to make AI powerful, but also on how to make it robust and trustworthy." He also pointed to China's growing international influence, "together with its ability to inspire, and power to shape the global AI agenda." He added, "China has both one of the oldest surviving civilizations and a successful tradition of long-term planning. It can therefore play a leading role in developing global AI governance." He also spoke of global efforts and initiatives under way to ban or avoid an arms race in lethal autonomous weapons by using science to find new ways to help rather than harm; to use AI to figure out a way to make everyone better off from AI-generated wealth; and invest in AI safety research. These three parts make up the roadmap on how to win what he calls the "wisdom race" in order to create a high-tech future. And a large part of this involves building AI that empowers -- not overpowers -- us.
The day's first panel discussion then focused on issues such as what would likely be the next big thing for US tech giants and Chinese e-commerce companies' next foray. Panellists included Mr. Aravind Cherukuri, Vice President of Ocean Spray International Inc; Mr. James Lin, CEO of UNIS; Mr. Jie Tang, General Manager of Suning.com USA; Mr. Rob Weisberg, CEO of Invaluable; and Mr. Anders Zhang, Co-founder & CEO of Starluxe.
The stage was set by Xiande Zhao, CEIBS Professor of Operations and Supply Chain Management, who is also JD.COM Chair in Operations and Supply Chain Management, and Director of CEIBS-GLP Centre of Innovations in Supply Chains and Services. His presentation looked at trends, opportunities and challenges within China's e-commerce and new retail landscapes. Drawing on his extensive expertise and the latest data, Prof. Zhao pointed out that the percentage of e-commerce in total retail sales in China is increasing faster than in the U.S. with the gap between the two countries widening between 2013, when it was 8.1%, and 2017 when it was 23.6%. Meanwhile, China's cross-border e-commerce (CBEC) is growing even faster. "The demand for buying foreign goods has increased at a 34% CAGR in the past five years, and will increase 4 times by 2022," he said, adding "the percentage of CBEC in e-commerce will double by 2022." He also provided insights into how Chinese consumers' preferences have changed and the new challenges that have emerged for the supply chain as a result. Chinese consumers, said Prof. Zhao, are now focused on quality and the experience a product can provide, they have a growing demand for customised/personalised products, are prepared to spend more for convenience and efficiency and willing to buy products that contribute to health and wellness. Supply chains will therefore need to be able to sense customer demand, and let it drive the entire chain. They will need to be digital, providing end-to-end data integration with digital technology, and optimize supply chain decisions based on big data. They will also need to be agile, with enough flexibility at various stages of the process to respond quickly and accurately to customer demands.
During the discussion that followed, Prof. Zhao and panellists explored the major challenges and opportunities of doing e-commerce in their respective industries, how they use digital technology and big data to support their businesses, the role of supply chain integration and innovation, as well as how they use big data to analyse consumer behaviour and design, produce and deliver products and services to improve consumer experiences and create more value for them.
In the day's second keynote speech, Northwestern University's Prof. Kristian J. Hammond shared his views on Leading the New Future of Digital Economy. Sharing his long-standing fascination with "the promise of machine intelligence", he spoke of the importance of studying intelligence and the even greater pleasure he gets from building intelligence. Humans are smart because of their ability to learn from the past, Prof. Hammond noted, then using that information to shape the present and predict the future. "This link to learning holds for machine intelligence as well. Nearly all of the work in AI we see today is based on successes in machine learning," he said. The advances we have made have opened up a mountain of opportunities, he noted, and the key to leveraging these is starting with a task. "Once you have the task, you have to understand it and link it to the data that drives it," he said. He told the audience that new AI technologies are driven by data and analytics, with machine learning at the forefront of most of them. He stressed, though, that problems are not solved with machine learning but with the knowledge and rules that it brings. "With intelligence, the machine becomes our partner," he said.
This was followed by the second panel discussion, which looked at fintech from the perspective of how US firms have -- or have not -- breathed new life into traditional financial products, how their Chinese counterparts have tried to use technology to reshape the financial industry and what the future holds for the sector in both countries. Panellists included Mr. David Fragale, Chief Operating Officer of Arwen; Mr. Eo Hao, Founder of Future Money; Mr. Jack Klinck, Managing Partner for Hyperplane Venture Capital; and Mr. Leo Zhao, Co-founder & Chairman of Mintech. Their discussion was moderated by Prof. Yan Gong, Programme Director of CEIBS Entrepreneurial Leadership Camp who is also Programme Co-Director of CEIBS Venture Capital Camp, and Professor of Entrepreneurial Management Practice. Unlike the earlier sessions and speakers, this final part of the event focused largely on blockchain and other digital currency. The discussion revolved around issues including how to evaluate crypto-currencies' impact on the society from a broader historical perspective; predictions on which players may grow to become the future Amazon, Microsoft, or China's BAT in the field of blockchain; and how the strengths of traditional financial talent can be leveraged to benefit the fintech industry.
The forum ended with a closing address by CEIBS Vice President and Co-Dean Prof. Zhang Weijiong who gave a brief recap of event highlights and then thanked all those who made the event possible, especially Z-Park Innovation Center, led by Ming Qiao. He also thanked the CEIBS alumni and students, including many who flew in from China to attend the forum as well as those based in the US. He also made the point that the US Forum is the first of five major events being organised around the world by CEIBS as part of the school's 25th anniversary celebration. It comes two days before a forum in Zurich where thought leaders from Europe and China will share their views on the evolution of innovation in both regions. The next two forums will be in Munich on July 1 and Brussels on July 12. These are just some of the activities planned to mark the CEIBS 25th Anniversary Celebration in Asia, Europe, Africa, and North America, before culminating in a closing ceremony at CEIBS' flagship Shanghai campus in November. The activities will span 11 cities across four continents. The theme of the eight-month-long celebration is China Essence, Global Significance. For more details about CEIBS 25th Anniversary Celebration visit http://www.ceibs.edu/special/25/en/index.html
About CEIBS
China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) is among the top international business schools in Asia, where it is the only one to have simultaneously made it to the Financial Times' top 5 list of global MBA and EMBA programmes.
CEIBS has more than 22,000 alumni from over 80 countries worldwide, and over the last 25 years has provided a broad range of management programmes to more than 160,000 executives both at home and abroad. It also offers a Finance MBA, Hospitality EMBA and a wide range of Executive Education programmes. With a faculty team that has extensive China knowledge and global insight, CEIBS is uniquely equipped to nurture business leaders, at every stage of their careers, preparing them to make a global impact. An unrivalled China expert, CEIBS is guided by the concept of China Depth, Global Breadth. This is tangibly reflected in the school's activities and operations at its 5 campuses across 3 continents. CEIBS has campuses in Shanghai, Beijing, and Shenzhen in China, as well as Zurich in Switzerland, and Accra in Ghana.
About Z-Park Innovation Center
Z-Park is a professional platform dedicated to providing global acceleration services to local innovation and entrepreneurial communities while providing clients with integrated solutions for cross-border development.
Z-Park has established two innovation centers in North America, one in Silicon Valley, CA, and the other in Cambridge, MA. These large comprehensive innovation centers are hubs for technology and business exchanges for enterprises, investors, and entrepreneurs.
Aiming to bridge top-tiered resources in the US and China, Z-Park provides dedicated workspace, acceleration, and consulting services to help local companies in the US to engage the Chinese market, as well as help Chinese companies to expand their overseas business in compliance with local laws and regulations.
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Los Angeles County Museum of Art Goes for Splash and Experimentation
Brian T. Allen
National Review April 20, 2019
A tsunami of criticism has crashed upon the shores of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and its director, Michael Govan. Museum lovers and taxpayers — it’s a government-owned museum — just learned that the imperially expensive new building that Govan and the museum board want offers less, not more, space for the display of art. This is, as critics correctly note, unprecedented. It will also have little back-of-house space for offices and storage, meaning that the curators and art not on view will go to parts unknown but not in the museum’s main building on Wilshire Boulevard. Many claim that Govan and the trustees will wreck the museum.
Well, that’s always been the point.
Govan has been the director for twelve years. Yes, LACMA long aspired to become an encyclopedic big-city museum like the Art Institute of Chicago or the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It aspired to a comprehensive collection of great things from all media, cultures, and periods, housed in a single giant palace with departments of curators busily researching in their silos like professors in great universities. It aspired to be the powerhouse of scholarship and leadership in the visual arts for the West Coast.
It aspired, and it fell short. Not a Myra Breckenridge–type flop, but a chronic disappointment. As a consolation, It’s a Wonderful Life more than disappointed. It was a box-office flop.
Having known all of its many directors from the past, say, 40 years and many of its curators, I can say with confidence that it’s always been dysfunctional. It belongs to Los Angeles County, and why should anything there be better run than any other government agency? The land of Tinsel Town and the Beach Boys seems to promise nothing but a supporting part for an art museum, under any circumstances. It’s a place where people want to be outside, unless they’re seeing a movie. Its rich people are more often than not stingy, narcissistic, and demanding. Couth isn’t a native species. It’s hard to nourish a museum where tradition is devalued, where the new is prized above all else, where so much is fake, and where nothing is permanent.
In the face of these headwinds, LACMA has built an impressive collection. The museum was never an exhibition or scholarly giant, though. It’s not an egghead place. As a big player, it just never got traction. The Getty Center plays the starring role in that production. LACMA has many good curators. It seems, though, that whenever it does a really great show, most of the time it comes from someplace else. The museum has always been on the fringe. I think a big, Met-style museum in Los Angeles is culturally counterintuitive, and I mean the civic culture. In L.A. style, it’s time to do something fresh.
I like Govan. He’s a Williams man, as am I, and part of the famous “Williams Mafia” of directors and curators, as was I. Williams aside, or possibly via Williams, he’s smooth, classy, smart, and he has good taste. He was hired to break the long cycle of dysfunction and redevelop the museum in a way that both befits a great city and fits this particular city’s zeitgeist.
The board and Govan champion a new building designed by the Swiss architect Peter Zumthor. I think it will be beautiful, distinctive, and a destination. It’s tranquil, even mystical, and yes, looks like a Hollywood movie set with a modernized art deco feel. It looks like a massive spaceship, too, streamlined like the ones in the Star Wars movies, flying cities among the stars. It belongs in L.A. — odd since the architect lives in the Alps. It’s so sleek that it’s ironic beyond delicious that it’s landing next to the La Brea tarpits. That’s where dinosaurs roamed, and there’s another irony. Zumthor’s building will replace four of LACMA’s current old, outdated buildings, from the ’60s through the ’80s.
I like these buildings, too. The LACMA campus is nice, neo-Neutra, with lovely outdoor spaces. It feels quaint. Govan and the board think that they’re tear-downs and will cost so much to renovate and retrofit for earthquakes that it makes more sense to start afresh. I don’t buy this, but my Vermont “making do” mania, for once, seems irrelevant. This is L.A. “Making do” Yankee-style is about as attractive as mud season. Everything there gets trashed sooner or later.
Over the last few years, LACMA tried to make the former May Department Store into a museum annex. It’s an attractive, workable art deco building on the next block. When the board hired Govan, they had to know he wouldn’t be happy with this solution, and neither would glitzy, rich L.A. types. Donna Reed and Celeste Holm were attractive and workable. Lana Turner was fabulous. L.A. will always crave fabulous.
The Zumthor project will cost a fortune. Will LACMA do deeply into debt? Probably. Will the total project cost more than $650 million? Of course! Govan’s masters in county government will soon be tethered to the project. They’ve approved it, and once there’s a hole in the ground, there’s no retreat. They will find the money to finish it. LACMA has been trying to build a new campus for 20 years. It’s gone through one iteration after another, each a painful flop. There’s something to be said for a “let’s just do it” spirit of Mickey Rooney when he played Andy Hardy.
I think a single credential on Govan’s résumé explains why LACMA is where it is. He’s a protégé of Tom Krens. Krens was the director of the Guggenheim Museum in New York for many years. He is a museum entrepreneur. He gave us the Guggenheim in Bilbao and was the father of Mass MoCA, which I love. He made the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice a place that combines style and scholarship. Govan was the deputy director of the Guggenheim during the Bilbao project. He then went to the Dia Foundation. There, he directed the museum when he moved to a massive, repurposed factory in Beacon, N.Y. Like Krens, he believes that bold statement architecture brings people in the door.
Krens pioneered and then refined the concept of museum branding and museum spawning, making the Guggenheim an international name. The Guggenheim’s motorcycle show was controversial in stuffy circles. It was flashy and brought in crowds. The day I went, the Devil Dolls, Hell’s Belles, and Badass Babes were waiting to visit, their motorcycles parked wherever-they-damn-well-pleased. Krens and Govan want to market art to a wide audience, and that’s fine, too. Bilbao is great. Some of Krens’s projects flopped, but when you dream big dreams, that happens. Why the Guggenheim is collaborating with the United Arab Emirates on a museum project in Abu Dhabi is beyond me, since they throw gay people off the roof, work foreign laborers like slaves, and treat women only a little better than in A Thousand and One Nights. I wouldn’t work for Krens because I’m too much of a traditionalist, but I admire his egalitarian vision. He brought a corporate-style flair and opportunism to the museum world, and this isn’t all bad.
Govan has brought his own vision to LACMA, and that vision descends from Krens and then from Williams, where art history emphasized aesthetics and accessibility. It’s not “accessibility” in terms of equity, inclusion, and diversity piffle. It’s scrutability — the idea that art provides sensual pleasure, that a work of art isn’t a Social Warrior Action Figure or an illustration but a thing of beauty and refinement anyone with a brain and eyes can savor. “The Williams Way” saw art more in terms of experience, aesthetics, and craftsmanship than according to school, medium, chronology, and other classifications, or, worse, a cudgel for class struggle.
Govan, like Krens, is more about the big splash than anyone at Williams ever was, but to paraphrase Dorothy, “he’s not at Williams anymore.” He’s in Los Angeles. They’re getting what they want. I won’t comment on whether they’re getting what they deserve.
Govan’s plan limits spaces devoted to specific departments. We’re not likely to see “print galleries” or “Asian wings” or period rooms. This isn’t for everyone, and it’s not for everywhere, thank God, but it offers an eclecticism that seems right for Los Angeles. Zumthor’s building will be mostly used for rotating temporary and permanent collections show, with the emphasis on “rotating,” and that means “always new and fresh.” The fat’s in the fire on this point. Govan has hired curators who share his philosophy. They’re doing good, provocative shows. The Old Guard is gone.
My biggest concern is that the permanent collection will lose its place of privilege. Govan and the board need to make the baby LACMAs in the neighborhoods a place where the collection can shine. Under Govan, the collection has gotten some very fine new things. He’s not forgetting what the museum owns.
I read an essay in the Los Angeles Review of Books by the dogged, perceptive, and brave Joseph Giovannini. It skewers the LACMA plan. I disagree with his bottom line — he recommends canceling the project — but it’s a brilliant, scorching piece. He did a space audit, which uncovered the incredible shrinking museum as a news story, and then presented the plan in depth. Govan wanted the article squashed. Zumthor, however great an architect he is, has never worked on this scale and has a history of cost overruns in his projects. There was no search, but as bad as this almost always is, L.A. isn’t a convene-a-committee place, and its last architect search was a fiasco.
Giovannini and others observe that the Zumthor plan functionally precludes a future on-site expansion. It eats all of LACMA’s land. This is true, but that’s the plan. It forces LACMA to open branches throughout the county, much as the Guggenheim has Guggenheim babies. Los Angeles County is the size of Connecticut. It’s big and diffuse. One giant, central, all-encompassing civic museum won’t grab local hearts and minds the way it would in Philadelphia, Chicago, or a dozen smaller cities where a big museum would be icon of civic identity and pride.
We’re blessed the American museum system is so decentralized and so open to what is, at LACMA, now a start-up. Like the Guggenheim, it’s a multigenerational project and a fascinating experiment. I hope Los Angeles County sticks with it, and I hope Govan stays there to finish it.
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A Systems Approach to Integrative Medicine Research
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Dr. Roberto Vargas introduces the systems approach to research in integrative medicine.
Medical research commonly used for Western medicine favors the disease-based reductionist model, while most Integrative Medicine modalities, including traditional Chinese medicine, emphasize wellness, individuality, self-healing, and mind-body interaction. As the study and practice of Integrative Medicine expands, new models of research have emerged to take into account this holistic and patient-centered approach of integrative medicine.
Roberto Vargas, MD, MPH is an Assistant Professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and Associate Natural Scientist at the RAND Corporation. He has partnered with the UCLA Center for East-West Medicine in the development of a research program to conduct health services research and outcome studies in integrative medicine.
Using Chinese Medicine's Approach to Educate Individuals and Influence Their Behavior
Dr. Ka-Kit Hui, UCLA Center for East-West Medicine, talks at the Pacific Health Forum, October 15, 2007, Fragrant Hill Hotel, Beijing.
Holism vs. Reductionism: Comparing the Fundamentals of Conventional and Alternative Medicinal Modalities
Patient health care in today’s world is subjected to the biases of the care provider, yet many biomedical doctors have foregone traditional medicine in favor of what are termed Complementary Alternative and Integrative Medicine (CAIM) modalities.
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The arts of Tai Chi and Tai Chi Chih, meditation, stress management guidance, and other techniques to enhance self-awareness.
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Posts Tagged ‘Kenneth Branagh’
Posted in Movie Blog, tagged Benedict Cumberbatch, Boris Karloff, Bride of Frankenstein, Christopher Lee, Colin Clive, Danny Boyle, Dark Universe, Frankenstein, Frankenstein Created Woman, Frankenstein's Wedding, Gene Wilder, German Expressionism, gods and monsters, Hammer, Henry Frankenstein, Igor, James Whale, Jonny Lee Miller, Jonny Lee Miller and Benedict Cumberbatch, Kenneth Branagh, Kirkstall Abbey Leeds, Marry Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, Mel Brooks, Nick Dear, Penny Dreadful, Peter Cushing, Terence Fisher, The Modern Prometheus, The Royal Ballet, The Royal Ballet Frankenstein, Universal Horror, Victor Frankenstein, Young Frankenstein on January 24, 2018| Leave a Comment »
Two hundred years ago this month, at the age of just twenty, Mary Shelley published one a novel that still resonates in the cinema of today. At last count, there are around 120 film and television adoptions of Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus.
The origin of the novel came eighteen months earlier when Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin was in Switzerland with her lover and future husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley visiting Lord Byron at the Villa Diodati by Lake Geneva. Known as the “Year Without a Summer”, 1816 was particularly cold and wet due to the so called volcanic winter following the eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia. Having read all the ghost stories the villa’s library had to offer the group decided to write their own. History suggests Mary’s was the best. Originally not a commercial success, the novel found early success on stage, then in the twentieth century on film. Often referred to as the original adaptation, James Whale’s seminal Frankenstein (1931), was not the first. The first film adaptation, Frankenstein (1910) came from Edison Studios in the silent era and was written and directed by J. Searle Dawley This was followed by Life Without Soul (1921), written by Jesse J. Goldburg, and directed by Joseph W. Smiley. There was also the Italian version, the Italian Il Mostro di Frankenstein (“The Monster of Frankenstein”), no known prints of this film remain.
I am not sure when I first saw a Frankenstein movie, but have always been aware of Frankenstein or to be more precise, his monster. But to many people, Frankenstein is the monster not the monsters creator, who is actually called Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein. An easy mistake to make as the creator is the real monster, but I am getting ahead of myself. The monster, or at least the Boris Karloff, Universal version of him is probably the most recognisable and iconic character in movie history. When did I first see him? Probably a clip on TV. The first, I really remember is one of two things: cardboard Halloween masks given out by the ice-cream man, or the Frankenstein’s monster alike, Herman Munster who seemed to always be on TV in the 80’s.
Then at the age of around ten or eleven I saw Frankenstein Created Woman (1967) (shown in a double bill on channel 4 with Dracula: Prince of Darkness 1966). I soon watched many more Hammer movies including their first Frankenstein, The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) with Christopher Lee as the monster. These are probably the best of the Hammer Frankenstein movies, and significant in the series. Made off the back the Universal Monster Movies that were experiencing a renaissance on TV on both sides of the Atlantic, the 1957 film was the first significant adaptation in years. Without the use iconic look, the rights to which were owned by Universal Hammer had to be creative. Taking the board strokes the source material but telling its own story, with a subtext of a fear of science, this is after all a film made a decade after WWII and in the early days of the cold war. Directed with style by Terence Fisher and perfectly performed by Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. Like Shelley’s novel, the movie was poorly received by critics but loved by audiences proving to be commercial success and a springboard to the Hammer movies of the next decade and a half.
A few years later I saw the aforementioned James Whale, Universal movies. Frankenstein (1931) and Bride of Frankenstein (1935) starring Colin Clive as Frankenstein, and Boris Karloff as the monster. One of the few films where the sequel is better than the original, but like The Godfather, or Mad Max, it doesn’t matter, as they are both brilliant. Great art often comes from the obscure places. Universal were haemorrhaging money. Dracula, essentially a filmed play starring Bela Lugosi, made a lot of money so they decided to fast-track further horror/monster movies. They hired James Whale, two pictures into a five movie contract (His previous credits were a couple of world war one movies, one of which starred future Henry (changed from Victor) Frankenstein, Colin Clive. He was also one of the unaccredited directors on Howard Hughes’ Hell’s Angels). Whale elevates the movie above Dracula’s stage origin by both expanding the canvas and through cinematic flair. Influenced by German Expressionism, the film set a template for future horror. It also helps that both Whale and Karloff, individually and collectively understood that the monster wasn’t really the monster of the story.
Then I read Mary Shelley’s original novel and became obsessed with Frankenstein and its many adaptations. They include Young Frankenstein (1974). Not to be misunderstood, Young Frankenstein (1974) is actually among the best Frankenstein movies. Written by Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder; Directed by Brooks and starring Wilder, it both tells Shelley’s story, understands the themes, and most importantly, it is devastatingly funny. Utilising original props and set dressing from the 1931 movie, it also looks like a Frankenstein movie.
The total opposite to the Hammer version, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1994) received good reviews but was less popular with audiences; Audiences who had grown up with various film versions but were less familiar with the original novel, audiences who expected the monster to be a monster. Kenneth Branagh directs with swagger and style and is ok in the lead but Robert De Niro wasn’t the best choice of monster. It is a film well worth revisiting.
The adaptations are still coming thick and fast, here are a few from the current decade:
2011: The BBC broadcast a live production from Kirkstall Abbey, Leeds; billed as Frankenstein’s Wedding.
2011: The National Theatre produced a version by Nick Dear and directed by Danny Boyle. Actors Jonny Lee Miller and Benedict Cumberbatch alternated the roles of Frankenstein and the monster. The play was broadcast live to cinemas worldwide.
2014: Dr. Victor Frankenstein and the Monster were both recurring characters in the (excelled) TV horror series Penny Dreadful.
2014: I, Frankenstein: Frankenstein’s monster joins an age old battle between and Gargoyles. A truly terrible film.
2015: Frankenstein: a modern-day adaptation told from the monster’s point of view.
2015: Victor Frankenstein: Victorian set drama told from Igor’s perspective.
2016: Frankenstein: A full length ballet performed by The Royal Ballet and simulcasts worldwide.
2019: Bride of Frankenstein: The second film in the “Dark Universe” with Javier Bardem as the monster was due out next year, but is currently in turnaround.
If you are interested in Frankenstein, but don’t know where to start, I would recommend either the 1931 movie or Mary Shelley’s original novel. Don’t wait for the next adaptation, it is unlikely to live up to either of these. And finally for those who are wondering, the title of the article comes from a line that appeared in Bride of Frankenstein (1935), and not a line spoken by Russell Crowe in the trailer for The Mummy (2017).
Thor v The Hulk
Posted in Comic Book Movies, tagged Ant-Man, Black Widow, Bruce Banner, Captain America The Winter Soldier, Clint Barton, Edward Norton, Guardians of the Galaxy, Hawkeye, Idris Elba, Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, Jeremy Renner, Kat Dennings, Kenneth Branagh, Mark Ruffalo, Marvel Universe, Natalie Portman, Natasha Romanoff, Nick Fury, Rene Russo, Scarlett Johansson, Stellan Skarsgård, The Avengers, The Avengers Age of Ultron, The Hulk, Thor, Thor movie, Thor The Dark World, Thor V The Hulk, Tom Hiddleston, Tony Stark on November 10, 2013| 7 Comments »
Thor and The Hulk are difficult characters within the Marvel universe. They are big brash characters that should be cinematic, and in some ways they are, but in others they are just a little dull and limited. The great success of Iron Man (2008) and Iron Man 3 (2013) is that we see more of Tony Stark than of Iron Man. The biggest failure of Iron Man 2 (2010) is its reliance on Iron Man and not Tony Stark. And that is possibly why The Hulk has never really worked in his own movie, the various filmmakers have never found a balance between Banner and The Hulk.
When the first Thor film came out two years ago I wasn’t really interested. I have never read any Thor comic books and knew nothing of the character. I was also sceptical of how a fantasy character would fit into the Marvel universe as seen in Iron Man. I went to see it out of curiosity and to see what Kenneth Branagh was doing with a film so far from what you would expect for him. The result was a total surprise. It fulfilled every expectation for an action adventure movie, but I never expected it to be so funny and such good fun. Tom Hiddleston who I had never heard of at the time was brilliant. Natalie Portman is sensational in everything she does. Stellan Skarsgård was surprisingly funny. Kat Dennings isn’t the best actress in the world but she is always adorable and her character is always hilarious. All the same is true of Thor: The Dark World, it also gives Idris Elba and Rene Russo a little more to do. All things considered it isn’t as good as the first movie, but it is still great fun and ticks all the boxes you expect it to tick.
The Hulk had the most memorable moment of The Avengers but until that point he had never really made his mark in movies. Despite its reputation, the Ang Lee movie from 2003 wasn’t bad. Eric Bana wasn’t a bad Bruce Banner. But it was just that, not bad, no better. The next movie, The Incredible Hulk (2008) was better and Edward Norton was actually really good. But the character never truly worked until The Avengers (2012). Mark Ruffalo is the perfect Bruce Banner, his banter with Robert Downey Jr’s Tony Stark was brilliant, but more importantly the plot actually found a way to use The Hulk including the movies aforementioned best moment with Tom Hiddleston’s Loki.
The success of The Hulk in The Avengers is partly down to the time constraints of an ensemble movie, but Thor has hade it work Twice. As mentioned at the top, there is no getting away from the fact Thor is a limited character. In the first movie he was a fish out of water, in the avengers he was one of a collective, in the second Thor movie a lot of the plot is developed without Thor (Chris Hemsworth). This is a brave move, but one that pays of thanks to such a strong supporting cast. This is what The Hulk needs, if he is going to have his own movie again. That, however looks unlikely at the moment. While I am sure Marvel haven’t given up on the big green fella he doesn’t appear to be in Marvels plans at the moment beyond The Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015). Other forthcoming Marvels movies are: Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Ant-Man (2015) and possibly a Nick Fury movie after that. While I wouldn’t mind seing another Hulk movie I would be more interested in seeing move of Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Clint Barton / Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner).
Ultimately they are two characters that have a lot to offer but with limited cinematic appeal, one has been perfectly handled and scripted to overcome the limitations, the other that is yet to live up to its potential. As the first phase of The Avengers got under way, I don’t think anyone expected the immediate future of the franchise to be dominated by Iron Man/Tony Stark, but that is what happened. This is all down to great scripts and the charisma of Robert Downey Jr. In Mark Ruffalo, they have the perfect actor, if they are going to give the hulk another go they just need to find a great script.
Posted in Comic Book Movies, tagged Black Widow, Bruce Banner, Captain America, Captain America: The First Avenger, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Clint Barton, Hawkeye, Iron Man, Jeremy Renner, Joe Johnston, Jon Favreau, Joss Whedon, Kenneth Branagh, Loki, Mark Ruffalo, Marvel Avengers Assemble, Natasha Romanoff, Robert Downey Jr, Scarlett Johansson, Seamus McGarvey, Steve Rogers, The Avengers, The Hulk, The X-Men, Thor, Tom Hiddleston, Tony Stark on May 3, 2012| 2 Comments »
Already the most talked about movie of the year so far, the one thing we don’t need is another review of The Avengers. Therefore I am going to try and avoid reviewing the movie other than to say I have seen it, and I loved it. So what follows are just a ramblings and thoughts on the franchise and where it is going. To begin with, lets get one thing straight, the new UK title Marvel Avengers Assemble is a bit of a mouthful and is frankly crap so from this moment on I will refer to the movie as The Avengers.
Making a movie of The Avengers must have seemed like a good idea, but how do you bring together a disparate group of characters in a coherent story? By starting with a series of movies involving the individual characters gives a strong base and also solves the problem of protracted introductions of multiple characters. The problem, it builds expectations of the fans and risks alienating the uninitiated. The greatest challenge is probably containing Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark / Iron Man who could run away with the whole movie, but there is even more to it than that. How do you use Bruce Banner and The Hulk within the team? To add to this problem Mark Ruffalo is the third Bruce Banner in less than a decade, do you introduce him again or go with an assumed back story? Then you have Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Clint Barton / Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) who have made fleeting appearances but have not had their own movies, they also seem to lack any supper abilities. Slotting the two fish out of water character, Steve Rogers / Captain America (Chris Evans) and Thor (Chris Hemsworth) into the mix also has its challenges. If you can solve all these problems you then need a suitable villain. The X-Men movies accomplish this by using multiple villains to pair off against the heroes, this works for them but The Avengers are a very different group to The X-Men. Loki (Tom Hiddleston) was a great choice, having already been introduced in Thor we already know his back story. He is also an interesting villain with a typically comic book agenda.
Where do you start a project like this? The director. It would have been easy to pick one of the successful directors of the earlier films: Jon Favreau (Iron Man), Joe Johnston (Captain America: The First Avenger), Kenneth Branagh (Thor), but the avengers needs to be its own movie not an Iron Man or Thor sequel. My interest certainly increased when Joss Whedon’s name was attached to the project. To put it simply, Whedon just gets it. Treating the group as a dysfunctional family whose personalities get in the way whenever they are put in a room together. This clash is what makes the movie funny, but it is also the basis that makes the team work as just that, a team. The key to the success is the relationships, as a group of individuals they are defined by the way they interact. Tony Stark and Steve Rogers are like bickering siblings, but Iron Man and Captain America are a proficient team. The biggest beneficiary of the Whedon effect is Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow who is promoted from little more than eye candy in Iron Man 2. She is funny and sexy and is a surprisingly deep character. There has to be some mileage in giving Black Widow an origin movie of her own or possible one shared with Hawkeye. Given his background of ass kicking female characters (Buffy/River/Echo), Joss Whedon would be the perfect director to take it on.
One of the first things I noticed about the film was the unusually narrow aspect ratio (1.85:1), the fact that I completely forgot this within a few minutes suggests it wasn’t important and the chosen format worked. I have read that Cinematographer Seamus McGarvey chose the ratio to help frame the unusually tall characters like The Hulk along side normal and short characters. It has also been mentioned that Joss Whedon favoured this ratio of the more normal wider ratios with his climatic Manhattan, sequence in mind.
Given the least back-story I wondered where Clint Barton / Hawkeye would fit in to the story. He is actually really important to the plot and along with Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow give the team and the movie a grounding. It all helps in the meteoric rise of Jeremy Renner, I had little idea who he was a few years ago, I vaguely remember him in 28 Weeks Later and S.W.A.T. and have no recollection of him in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. His breakthrough performance came in The Hurt Locker where he received a much deserved Oscar nomination. Clearly Hollywood was just as impressed as I was, he has found his way into three big franchises. As well as Hawkeye in The Avengers he also landed a part in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol that is rumoured as a future replacement for Tom Cruise as the main star of the franchise. Later this year he will appear in The Bourne Legacy, possibly the first part of a new trilogy.
With a positive response from critics and a strong box-office this will not be the only time we see the Avengers assemble, but here dose the franchise go from here? Avengers 2, Iron Man 3, Captain America 2, Thor 2, The Hulk 3 (or rebooted)? Probably all of the above. As mentioned above I would also like to see a Black Widow and/or a Hawkeye prequel/origin. There is also space for a Nick Fury stand alone movie. Not to mention all the other Marvel Characters who could appear. The most obvious would be Spider-Man, this probably isn’t possible at them moment as Sony currently own the rights (along with Ghost Rider). A similar problem exists with Fox who hold: The X-Men, Daredevil and The Fantastic Four. This isn’t a bad thing as I am happy to see the Avengers and X-Men universes kept apart.
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Killing Floor 2 is the sequel to the 2009 first-person-shooter, Killing Floor originally released as an Unreal Tournament 2004 mod back in 2005. Developed by Tripwire Interactive on the Unreal Engine 3, Killing Floor 2 was released via the Steam Early Access program for the PC in April 2015. The full version of the FPS is scheduled for release sometime later in 2015 for the PC, Linux, and PlayStation 4.
Killing Floor 2 features solo and cooperative play with up to six players. Gameplay has players fighting through progressively more difficult waves of Zeds, the game’s version of zombies, using a wide variety of firearms and melee weapons, healing implements, and a welding torch to seal entrances and exits to impede the Zed hordes for a short period of time. Similar to Valve’s Counter-Strike: Source, if a player dies in Killing Floor 2 they do not respawn until the completion of the current wave. The mission fails if all players die in the same wave. Progressing from wave to wave, player’s face an increasing number of Zed and incrementally more difficult types as each wave passes, eventually ending in a challenging final wave boss fight. Killing Floor 2 drops the players into a world set just a month after the events of the original title in continental Europe during a deadly pandemic that mutates people into the zombie-like Zed and causing a global breakdown of civilization as we know it now.
Tripwire Interactive began work on Killing Floor 2 following the release of their 2001 World War II tactical shooter Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad in 2011. They announced in the May 2014 issue of PC Gamer that the game would ultimately be released for PC and Linux. In an interview for the PC Gamer article, Tripwire president, John Gibson stated that the development of Killing Floor 2 was the first time that they had been able to develop a game with a reasonable team size and budget – the first title having been developed by ten people in three months. By the time of the announcement in 2014, Tripwire had expanded to fifty people. Killing Floor 2 is being developed using the Unreal Engine 3 from Epic Games. Tripwire considered building the game using Unreal Engine 4 but concerns about scaling the game down to run on low-end computers and having to scrap all progress on the game development made thus far with Unreal Engine 3 ultimately shelved the idea.
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Assassin’s Creed III
Assassin’s Creed III is an upcoming action-adventure video game in Assassin’s Creed Series being developed and published by Ubisoft. This game in general is being developed for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii U and Microsoft Windows.
Assassin’s Creed III will be the fifth major addition in the Assassin’s Creed series. It is scheduled for release on October 30, 2012.
Ubisoft has illustrated the game as the “most ambitious” project in the company’s history.It has also been said by the Ubisoft that the Assassin’s Creed III will be superior to any of its previous additions.
Assassin’s Creed III holds a complete new engine, AnvilNext, which features enhanced visual graphics, character models and AI, allowing battleground full of fighters. And for its further projects Ubisoft will be using AnvilNext.The story, gameplay will revolve around a new protagonist, half English and half-Native American. The game will feature Single and Multiplayer mode both.
Posted in Action-adventure Games, Console Game, PS3, XBOX360
Tags: Action games, action-adventures games, adventures games, assassin's creed, games, microsoft windows games, multiplayer games, onlline games, ps3 games, Wii, xbox 360 games
BEFORE HE WAS A MAN, HE WAS A GOD.
An upcoming action-adventure video game in God of War series developed by SCE Santa Monica Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment, exclusively for PlayStation 3. It is set for a release on March 12, 2013. In God of War series, it will be seventh installment, and will feature Stereoscopic 3D. God of War series is an award winning game series in action-adventure video games. The main trilogy till date in God of War series is God of War I, II and III. Till the date series has sold about 21 millions copies worldwide, this is a gigantic success.
The story takes place after Kratos sold his soul to Ares’, tells his journey from his precedent sins and the rise of his rage to break free from Ares’ bond.
Experience the new combat in God of War: Ascension build sophisticatedly for PlayStation 3. For the very first time any game in God of War series comes with multiplayer feature. Experience the epic gameplay with a single player or multiplayer game supporting up to eight players in objective-based battles.
Tags: Action games, action-adventures games, God of War, Kartos, Multiplayer game, PlayStation 3, sins, sony, Spartans, studio, Zeus
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Movie review: Inferno
Hello, my dear readers!
The latest Dan Brown/Ron Howard/Tom Hanks collaboration – Inferno – has reached cinemas, so, let’s review it!
IMDb summary: When Robert Langdon wakes up in an Italian hospital with amnesia, he teams up with Dr. Sienna Brooks, and together they must race across Europe against the clock to foil a deadly global plot.
I have done a preview post for this film where I talked about all the books as well as the previous films of the franchise (you can find it here). As usual, I’ll try to list as many book-to-movie changes as I could spot, although it has been a few months since I’ve read the novel, so I might not have noticed everything. Once again, the critics are ripping this movie apart (like the earlier movies of the series), so I’ll also try to defend it from a fan’s perspective.
The screenwriter David Koepp adapted Dan Brown’s novel to the big screen and did a fairly good job. Koepp’s track record has been mixed. Although the movies he has written have been very financially profitable, not all of them were liked by the movie goers or the critics. He has contributed to such successes as Jurassic Park, Mission: Impossible and Panic Room. However, he also co-wrote the horrible Indiana Jones 4 and directed one of the worst films of Johnny Depp’s career – Mordecai. Koepp has also written the second film of the Robert Landon franchise – Angels & Demons – it used to be my favorite, but I think Inferno has taken its place.
For the bigger part of the movie, narrative alterations have been minimal. Even the third act and the finale went down in a similar way in the book, however, the final end-game of the story was changed completely.
To begin with, the book started with Langdon already in the hospital, while the movie added an explanatory set-up (and yet ‘Would you press a button’ idea came from the book). The picture immersed the viewers into the film’s world first and then dropped Langdon in it, while the book used Langdon as the reader’s lens into the world of the story. The screenwriter also modernized the narrative by showing Zobrist giving a Ted talk like presentation and by using a drone to look for Langdon and Sienna.
The scriptwriter also added some shared history for Sienna and Langdon (met when she was a kid), introduced an idea that Langdon might be a carrier of the virus, and also added a new character of Christoph Bouchard – the inclusion of him allowed the film to explore the plot-line of a virus possibly being stolen and sold. Furthermore, Koepp cut Sinskey’s personal background and added some shared backstory for her and Langdon. He also streamlined the story and made it more linear, as usual for book-to-movie adaptations.
The film’s finale happened in the same location as did the book’s. The premise was also similar – Langdon + W.H.O. and Sienna were separately looking for the bag. However, that’s where the similarities ended. In the film, Sienna had mini bombs to break the bag – she didn’t have them in the book. However, the biggest change was the fact that the virus was actually contained in the movie, while the book explained that the bag has dissolved a week ago and that the virus was already out in the world. The film only talked about the virus killing half of the population, while, in the book, this was only a false facade to hide the fact that the virus would sterilize a third of world’s population. The book also had Sienna’s character surviving the whole thing and she even ends up working for World Health Organization to research the virus, though the book also made it explicit that the sterilization of some humans might be a good thing. The movie cut this kinda controversial ending and finished the picture with the good guys winning and Sienna dying for basically nothing. I wish the filmmakers would have had the courage to keep the novel’s ending.
The film had a lot of expositional dialogue and monolog – some of it worked well and seemed organic, some appeared forced and out-of-place. The character development through dialogue was good: e.g. Sienna mentioning her childhood and Langdon saying that he had a fear of tight spaces and a bad past relationship. However, before the 3rd act of the film began and all the characters had to get on the same page, that part of the exposition was a bit cliche and an extremely obvious plot device.
Ron Howard (Rush, In The Heart of The Sea) directed the picture, like the two previous features of the franchise and did a solid job. The pacing was really good for the majority of the film, but the movie did slow down during the Sienna/Zobrist flashback and before the 3rd act. The dream montages were effective and quite scary and Langdon’s disorientation was also portrayed well through the shaky cam, close-ups, and quick cuts. I also liked how the classical music was incorporated into the finale – it wasn’t just an outside soundtrack but an actual diegetic musical score. I also found it amusing that the 3rd act’s action happened in the water – fitting for Langdon’s swimming/water polo background.
Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon was good as always. I’m one of a few people who actually like Hanks as this character and I also cannot ever find anything wrong with his acting abilities – in my opinion, he is one of the best and most reliable actors (quality-wise) of today. I don’t think that I would be able to pick my favorite movie of his because I have seen so many and all of them have been great, so I’m just gonna list his latest and upcoming performances. Hanks recently starred in Bridge of Spies, A Hologram for the King, and Sully (which will only premiere in the UK in December – so annoying). Going forward, he will star and produce The Circle and will also come back to voicing Woody in Toy Story 4.
Felicity Jones as Dr. Sienna Brooks was great as well. Since I knew the big twist of her character, I think I noticed a few hints at it in Jones’s performance. She had a weird look here and a strange expression there, so I was expecting the reveal and was mostly sure that it wouldn’t be cut. I was first introduced to Jones in The Theory of Everything, since then she has moved to way bigger things. On top of being in Inferno and another possible awards’ contender for this year – A Monster Calls – she will also play the lead in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
Ben Foster as Bertrand Zobrist was good. He didn’t get a lot of screen-time – he actually mostly appeared in flashbacks or in videos. Nevertheless, he played a solid mad genius. Foster’s recent performances include The Program, The Finest Hours, Warcraft and one of my favorite movies from this year Hell or High Water.
Omar Sy (The Intouchables, Jurassic World) as Christoph Bouchard, Sidse Babett Knudsen (A Hologram for the King) as Elizabeth Sinskey and Irrfan Khan (Life of Pi, Jurassic World, The Jungle Book Hindi version) as Harry Sims were also great in their supporting roles. Khan probably stood out the most out of the three of them just because his character was so interesting – wish we could have explored his backstory and his company more.
In short, Inferno was a solid action adventure film with some art history sprinkled on top. It had an okay writing, good directing and nice performances. It wasn’t a special or groundbreaking movie, but I still had fun with it and definitely do not understand why critics hate it so much.
Trailer: Inferno trailer
October 14, 2016 October 14, 2016 Lou Tagged a hologram for the king, a monster call, a monster calls, action, action movie, adventure, angels and demons, apollo 13, art, art history, ben foster, book, book review, book to movie, books, cast aways, cinema, cinema review, cinematography, dan brown, dante, dante's inferno, david koepp, directing, feature, feature film, felicity jones, film, film review, film reviews, filming, films, hell or high water, history, in the heart of the sea, indiana jones 4, inferno, inferno review, irrfan khan, jurassic world, jurrasic park, kingdom of the crystal skull, life of pi, mission impossible, mordecai, movie, movie film, movie preview, movie review, movie reviews, movies, omar sy, panic room, pixar, robert langdon, rogue one, rogue one a star wars story, ron howard, rush, sidse babett knudsen, splash, star wars, star wars rogue one, star wars story, star wars the force awakens, sully, the circle, the da vinci code, the divine trilogy, the finest hours, the green mike, the green mile, the intouchables, the jungle book, the lost symbol, the program, the theory of everything, tom hanks, toy story, warcraft, woody, writing 8 Comments
Movie review: Captain America: Civil War
I’ve just come back from the cinema where I’ve watched the newest Marvel movie. I have been eagerly waiting for Captain America: Civil War since it was announced and I can’t wait to discuss it with you. I’m also predicting that this post will be quite long, so prepare yourselves! I’ve already done a review of the graphic novel that this movie is based on, so I invite you to read that blog entry before checking out this review! You can also find the reviews of other MCU movies here: Captain America 1&2, Avengers 2, Ant-Man and Guardians of the Galaxy.
IMDb summary: Political interference in the Avengers’ activities causes a rift between former allies Captain America and Iron Man.
Just before I start talking about the movie, I would like to mention a few things about the audience of the film. I complained in BvS’s review that there were only a few female viewers in my screening. Well, Civil War’s screening was also male-centric but there were more female viewers than in the BvS. The screening that I went to was also solely adult, which was kinda weird. Dark DC films are not as appropriate for children as the lighter Marevl films and yet there were a few kids in BvS and no children in Civil War. This might have just been a coincidence, but I still found it strange and worth mentioning.
Writing and Story
Captain America: Civil War was written by a long-time duo of screenwriters – Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. They have written all previous Captain America’s films, Thor: The Dark Wold and will be scripting both parts of the Infinity War. I believe that they more than succeeded with the story of Civil War. In general, Marvel/Disney has done it AGAIN. They not only met my expectations but exceeded them.
To begin with, this film was not an adaptation of the Civil War comic book, and that may annoy some people. Captain America: Civil War was a sequel to Winter Soldier, a continuation of Iron Man’s trilogy, Age Of Ultron’s sequel and a setup/origin story for the new characters. Civil War arc was the thing that tied all of these story lines together but was not the main focus of the film. I enjoyed the fact that the movie had so many connecting yet different/separate storylines – it gave the feeling of a bigger cohesive universe – Marvel Cinematic Universe – while in BvS all the different plotlines just made the film messy. That’s why you make an epic team-up/versus movie 13th in the franchise, not 2nd.
Winter Soldier sequel – the movie expanded the Winter Soldier’s backstory. We found out that in the 1990s Hydra was operating in Russia – moved from the nazis to the soviets. The movie also introduced the idea that there were more Winter Soldiers but never really went anywhere with it. I would have liked an explanation for that blue stuff/liquid. The new villain of the film (who wasn’t really a villain) also used the info that Black Widow put online at the end of Winter Soldier. Lastly, the character of Crossbones, who was first introduced in Cap 2 as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent (member of the S.T.R.I.K.E. team) was also featured in the Civil War’s opening, while trying to get his revenge on Captain America as well as steal a bio weapon.
Continuation of Iron Man’s story – Tony Stark’s past – his parent’s death – as well as his present actions as an Avenger – played an important role in the film. This film also kinda returned the title of the leader of the Avengers back to Tony. Remember, how at the end of Age of Ultron, Captain America was the one shouting Avengers Assemble? Well, Civil War’s ending kinda suggested that Iron Man is resuming the position of the leader, since Cap is an outlaw now. Or maybe Cap will be leading Secret Avengers? Iron Man became the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. at the end of comic book Civil War, so it’s only right that he is back at the helm of the Avengers in the movie.
The film’s main idea, as well as Zemo’s main objective, was to break the empire from the inside – a.k.a break the Avengers from the inside. And while it looks like he succeeded – he certainly thinks that he succeeded – the hopeful ending of the film with the letter and the phone kinda suggests that the Avengers will be back together. Plus, we, as viewers, know that they will be back together since thy will have to fight Thanos.
Age of Ultron sequel – Sokovia accords, Zemo’s desire for revenge and Iron Man’s guilt originated in the Avengers sequel and were dealt with in Civil War. Also, the woman who confronted Tony at MIT was probably a nod to the comic book Mrs. Sharpe or she might have been an actual Mrs. Sharpe.
The origin stories for new characters: Civil War introduced us to Black Panther and Spider-Man. We got a chance to see T’Challa take on 2 mantels – king’s and warrior’s. We also met the new Peter Parker as well as his aunt – that whole sequence was one of the funniests in the film.
Shout-outs to the missing characters: Both Hulk and Thor were mentioned in the film. The characters wonder about their location and also questioned whose side would they choose. I think it was a good idea to cut them from the film, so as not to overcrowd it, especially when we will see both of them in Thor: Ragnarok
Jokes: during the first half of the film, I kinda thought that Civil War might probably be the most serious film of the MCU with the smallest amount of jokes. However, then Ant-Man and Spider-Man showed up and went to town. I feel like both of their characters represented us – the viewers – and their actions probably mimic the actions that the fans would make if they met their favorite superheroes.
The writers also did an extremely good job with making the viewers understand and even sympathize with both conflicting sides. That’s why the action scenes, where the heroes were fighting each other, were so interesting – the audience did not know who to root for.
Lastly, the film featured a version of the prison for superheroes and it was completely different from the prison in the comics, which is not surprising. Nevertheless, it looked really cool and I wish that we would have gotten a chance to explore it more.
Directing and Action
The Russo brothers did an amazing job directing the film – I am so glad that they will be the ones in charge of Avengers Infinity War Part 1 and 2. In Civil War, The Russos successfully juggled all the different storylines, gave the viewers enough character moments and plenty of exciting and epic action. It looked like action scenes were filmed with a handheld camera (and were actually done in-camera), so the frame was very mobile – it constantly moved and I needed a few minutes to get used to it. However, after that, I enjoyed all the actions scenes immensely. There were so many of them that they all kinda blurred together – I need a second viewing of the film to pull them all apart.
Having said that, even though I’ve only seen the film once, I do perfectly remember those iconic shots with both teams charging into battle as well as Iron Man, Winter Soldier and Captain America fighting at the end. I really really enjoyed the sequence of the big battle because of the different fighting pairs and because those pairs constantly shifted. For example, Black Widow wasn’t always fighting Hawkeye and Iron Man wasn’t always going up against Captain America. Cap had a fight with Spidey and Hawkeye tried going against Black Panther. All of the characters moved around non-stop and fought whoever was in their way.
In addition, the other aspect of the film’s action that I liked was the Avengers, combining their powers – especially Scarlet Witch lifting Cap and then working with Falcon. I also would like to applaud the fight choreograpger – James Young – for his amazing work – all of the action scenes were unique and different yet all equally interesting. Moroever, the movie was set all over the world and I really appreciated the international feeling that it had, since Marvel’s fan come from all over the world. Lastly, the picture had an amazing and emotional score by Henry Jackman, who has previously composed music for X-Men: First Class, Captain Phillips, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Kick-Ass, and Big Hero 6.
Acting and Characters
Although the film had a lot of characters, not any of them felt shoved in – they all fit into the story organically and all got plenty of screentime/development.
Team Captain America:
Chris Evans as Steve Rogers / Captain America: Evans was, once again, really great in the role. He is the Captain America and I will be very sad if someone else will take his mantel. This might happen in the near future, as the producers have said that Captain America’s story arc that started in The First Avenger is now complete. Moreover, Evans only has Infinity War Part 1 and 2 left of the contract. The way he dropped his shield at the end might be a reference to the fact that the end is near for Roger’s Captain America. I also really loved that they brought back the line ‘I could do this all day’. If you would like to see a non-comic book movie with Evans, may I suggest Snowpiercer.
Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier: Stan was also really good in the role. I loved the fact that we find out more of his backstory but I would also like to find out even more about that red book and why those specific words trigger something in him. Plus, I liked his friendly (or not) banter with Falcon – I felt like they were fighting for the position of Steve Roger’s best friend. Lastly, a great non-comic book film, starring Stan, is The Martian, if you are interested.
Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson / Falcon: Mackie’s Falcon is slowly becoming my favorite secondary character (and by secondary I mean that he doesn’t have a standalone frannachise). I enjoyed the shots with him fighting and I loved seeing him use the wings to fight and flip over. I also loved how he and Scarlet Witch combined their powers in the opening action scene. I wouldn’t mind if Falcon would get his own movie or at least would be featured on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. If you want to see more of Mackie but don’t want to wait for him to get his on movie or TV show, check out Triple 9.
Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton / Hawkeye: Renner was also great as Hawkeye once again. I have always been a fan of his character, since I love archery myself, so I am always happy to see him, although half of the fandom usually is not. I loved the fact that Civil War continued Renner’s and Scarlet Witch’s relationship – he was the one who talked her into going into battle in Age of Ultron, and her brother was the one to die saving Hawkeye, so it was only right that Clint was the one to break Wanda free. Film suggestion for the fans of Renner – Mision Impossible: Rogue Nation.
Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch: another new favorite. I loved her hand movemets in Age of Ultron and they still look cool in Civil War. Plus, I enjoyed Olsen’s facial expressoons, especially in the opening scene, where she realized what she has done. Also, the way she threwv cars at Iron Man was a pretty great move. Her accent was also consistent and authentic – I especially like her accent because that’s the accent that I have, as an Eastern European (mine is not that strong though). Olsen has previously starred in Godzilla and next year will start in thriller Wind River, alongside Renner.
Emily VanCamp as Sharon Carter / Agent 13: I was so glad to see more female characters in the comic book film. I loved the fact that they finally came out and said that she is a Carter and a relative of Peggy’s – Steve’s face, when he find that out was nicely confused. That whole scene, however, was quite sad, because I didn’t want to see Peggy go. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the fact that they gave Sharon some action scenes to participate in and that she was an important informant for Team Cap: while no one can replace Peggy, Sharon might be a great substitute. Her kiss with Steve was only a cherry on top – especially when they showed Bucky’s and Sam’s reaction – that shot was priceless and got the most laughs from the audience during my screening. I would love to see Sharon Carter pop up on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – that would also mean more work for VanCamp – I used to watch her on Revenge, but that series ended a few years ago, so I’m sure that VanCamp would be open for more work.
Paul Rudd as Scott Lang / Ant-Man: I was really happy to see Paul Rudd as Ant-Man. I loved his interactions with Sam as well as his adoration of Cap. And can we just talk about the ‘big distraction’? They turned him into Giant-Man – didn’t even save that for the Ant-Man sequel – and it was epic. The CGI of Giant-Man was also pretty great. Tony Stark’s reaction to him – ‘okay, does anyone on our side have any amazing tricks?’ – was also superb. Scott Lang’s line ‘Hank Pym told me to never trust a Stark’ was also pretty great. Ant-Man sequel is scheduled for 2018, so we still have a few years to wait.
Team Iron Man:
Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark / Iron Man: Downey, Jr. could probably play this role in his sleep or, actually, he would not even need to play it, because he is both Tony Stark and Iron Man. I loved the fact that we got to see Downey, Jr. fight as both Tony Stark (that watch was super cool) and Iron Man. The Pepper Pots tie-ins were kinda hit and miss for me, though. Nonetheless, I enjoyed seeing that weird presentation with the hologram of young Tony – the CGI was amazing and that scene also set up the fact that Tony is still dealing with the loss of his parents. Lastly, I would not be surprised if we would get more Iron Man stand-alone films in the near of far future. Then again, Iron Man is set to appear in the new Spider-Man film, so maybe Downey, Jr. will only be appearing in other character’s films moving forward. For those interested, a quite good non-comic book film with Downey, Jr., which was also produced by him, is The Judge.
Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow: an old time favorite of mine (both the character of Black Widow and Scarlett Johansson as an actress). Black Widow was the one who changed sides during the big battle, while in the comics, Spider-Man did that. But, since Spidey is so new to the MCU, it is not surprising that they didn’t use him that much and only featured him in the big battle and in the scenes with Iron Man. Black Widow had a few nice moments with Hawkeye (‘are we still friends?‘) and with Iron Man (‘do you actually agree with me?‘). I still have hope that we will get Black Widow stand-alone film,but until then, check out Johansson in Hail, Caesar! and Lucy.
Don Cheadle as James “Rhodey” Rhodes / War Machine: Cheadle was good in the role, but his injury was not that shocking, since he is a secondary character that was mostly features in Phase 1 and at the begining of Phase 2 and is not really that memorable (basically Rhodes only apperead in Iron Man films and the last picture of that trilogy came out 3 yeras ago – nobody really remembers those film that well, especially when we had so many oher MCU films in the past 3 years). By the way, Cheadle’s other big franchise is Ocean’s Eleven/Twelve/Thirteen films, if you want to see more of him.
Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa / Black Panther: Boseman was amazing in the role and I think that Marvel has succesfully launched a new character with the perfect actor to portray it. I loved T’Challa’s few scenes with his father T’Chaka, played by John Kani. I am also interested to see how the character that Martin Freeman played – Everett Ross – will be featured in the Black Panhter stand-alone film. In the comics, Ross is an ally of T’Challa, but at the end of Civil War, they were on different sides. Although, Black Panhter never truly picked a side – he only chose Iron Man because that suited his personal interests. However, after he learned the truth and realized that killing is not a solution, he kinda picked Captain America’s side. Moreover, Black Panhter is hiding the Secret Avengers, as shown in the middle credits scene. Last thought about the new character – I really liked the accent that Boseman spoke with – it felt authentic and fitting to the character’s heritage. Black Panhter’s stand-alone film is coming out in 2018, but if you want to see more of Boseman, the only other movie of his that I’ve seen and, thus, can reccomend is Draft Day.
Paul Bettany as Vision: I loved the little glimpses of the Vision’s personality that we got a chance to see – his scenes alongise Wanda were nice and their short fight was also interesting. I also liked that scene were Vision and Iron Man were discussing the fact that Vision is an AI with feelings, who is also dangerous, powerful and might even be uncrontrolable. Loved to see this idea developed futher. Other Bettany’s films, worth checking out are Legend, and a few not so great ones that you might want to see – Transendence and Mordecai.
Tom Holland as Peter Parker / Spider-Man: I was really worried about the new Spider-Man because in the past 10 years, we already had 2 different Spider-Mans. However, all my worries were for nothing – Holland played an amazing and most true to the comics Spider-Man and the most believable Peter Parker. Now I am really excited about his new stand-alone films. It was also really nice that they featured aunt May, played by Marisa Tomei, in Civil War. I loved that awkward scene between aunt May, Tony Stark and Peter. I was first introduced to Holland as an actor in In The Heart of The Sea – that movie is defintely not as bad as its box office numbers suggest.
William Hurt as Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross: I hated Ross in The Incredible Hulk but I disliked him even more in this film, so I guess Hurt did a good job, making me hate the character that he played. Nevertheles, his character was useful in the movies because his presence added a political aspect and increased the sophistication of the story.
Daniel Brühl as Helmut Zemo: Bruhl was really good in the role and he will probably appear in a different MCU film in the future. His story arc in the film – the arc of revenge – was not the most original but it did work. He played up the superheroes against one another in a similar way that Lex Luthor did in BvS. I don’t really know which one of them (if any of the two) was more succesful with his plan. Zemo was not a great villain but I don’t think that the filmmakers intended to portray him as an all-powerful villain. He was just a man, dealing with the loss by getting revenge. Zemo himself has mentioned that ‘more powerful men have went up against the Avengers and lost‘, so he kinda admitted that he was not a great villain. A few of Bruhl’s films that might be wroth your attention are Rush (alongside Thor), Inglourious Basterds (alongside Magneto), The Fifth Estate (alongside Doctor Strange) and Woman in Gold (alongside Deadpool).
Stan Lee had his obligatory cameo, this time as a FedEx delivery man – he also had a very cheesy joke – Tony Stank!
Middle-Credits and Post-Credits Scenes
The Middle Credits scene showed Captain America and Winter Soldier in Wakanda. Bucky is being fridged (literally) until someone figures out how to restore his mind. This scene also gave me an idea that Black Panhter might be the new financer of the Secret(?) Avengers – a replacement for Tony Stark.
The Post-Credits scene was a cheeky teaser for the Spider-Man film. It showed Peter Parker back home, trying to explain to aunt May what happened (‘I just picked a fight with Steve from Booklyn’) and also discovering some toys that Tony Stark created for him.
The actual credits of the film were also quite nice and unique. I loved the addition of those shadowy symbols – Anthony Mackie’s name appeared with wings for Falcon, Paul Bettany has a gem for Vision and Tom Holland had a spider-web for Spider-Man and etc.
In short, Captain America: Civil War was/is my new favorite Marvel movie. It had a great and sophisticated story and plenty of jokes. It has amazing character moments as well as exciting non-stop action. Marvel has done it again, and I couldn’t be more pleased.
Were/Are you #TeamIronMan or #TeamCaptainAmerica? What did you think of the film and are you planning to see it more than once? I usually don’t do multiple viewings of films at the cinema, but I might make an exception for Civil War.
P.S. I went to see this movie again and enjoyed it even more than the first time because I was able to focus on the little details. I also realized 3 new-ish things:
The dialogue was really cleverly written and engaging.
The plot was actually quite complex yet the story was aranged in a way that was easy to follow and not hard to understand – it was sophisticated yet clear.
The movie walked the line between the two idealogies extremely well and neither of the two sides seemed more right or wrong than the other.
Rate: 5/5
Trailer: Captain America: Civil War trailer
April 29, 2016 May 16, 2016 Lou Tagged age of ultron, agent 13, agent carter, agents of shield, ant ma, ant man, anthony mackie, avengers, avengers age of ultron, black panhter, black widow, bucky, bucky barnes, captain amerIca, captain america 3, captain america civil war, captain america civil war review, captain america the first avenger, captain america the winter soldier, chadwick boseman, chris evans, civil war, civil war review, clint barton, comic book movie, credits, daniel bruhl, deadpool, directing, doctor strange, don cheadle, elizabeth olsen, emily vancamp, falcon, film, film review, film reviews, films, gossip girl, gurdians of the galaxy, hawkeye, henry jackman, in the heart of the sea, infinity war, international, iron man, james young, jeremy renner, kevin feige, legend, marisa tomei, marvel, marvel cinematic universe, marvel entertainment, marvel movie, mission impossible rogue nation, mordecai, movie, movie film, movie preview, movie review, movie reviews, movies, paul bettany, paul rudd, peggy carter, revenge, robert downey jr., rush, ryan coogler, sam wilson, scarlet johansson, scarlet johhanson, scarlet witch, screenplay, script, sebastian stan, secret avengers, sharon carter, snowpiercer, stan lee, steve rogers, team captain america, team iron man, the fift estate, the incredible hulk, the judge, the martian, the russo brothers, the russos, the winter soldier, tony stark, transendence, triple 9, united we stand divided we fall, vision, war machine, winter soldier, woman in gold, writing, x men 34 Comments
Movie review: The Huntsman: Winter’s War
I just came back from watching The Huntsman: Winter’s War film, so without further ado, let’s talk about it!
To begin with, I was (and still am) surprised that this movie even exists. The first movie was financially profitable, but I didn’t think that it earned enough money to establish a franchise. The critical reception was also so-so (48% on Rotten Tomatoes). Also, that scandal with Kristen Stewart and the director of Snow White and the Huntsman – Rupert Sanders – really overshadowed the movie itself. Basically, I did not expect to see a sequel/prequel and, moreover, I don’t really think that anybody asked for one.
I have the same problem (the fact that they are not needed or asked for) with all the retellings of the fairy-tale movies. In addition, I still question the choice to retell them in such a dark and grim fashion, when the majority of cinema goers are more familiar with and are fans of the children-friendly Disney versions. Having said that, I do applaud the filmmakers for following their artistic vision and for putting a new spin on a well-known property. Also, a lot of these stories are very adult and dark at their core – just read the original versions of all the popular fairytales (we actually even studied them in English literature class during the last term at university), so portraying them in a darker tone is in line with the original tone of the stories. However, when going to see a fairy-tale based/inspired film, I usually want to escape the grim reality of life. Let’s be honest – we have enough of dark and inhumane stuff happening in the real world, we don’t need more of it in movies. So, on the whole, I have very mixed feelings about these fairy-tale movie remakes.
In addition, Snow-White’s story is a tale, which I have a strong personal connection with because I grew up reading it . I still have the actual copy of the book that I used to read the story from – it is on a shelve in my room, in my parent’s house back in Lithuania with all my other most prized possessions a.k.a. other books. On that same shelve, one would be able to find a book entitled Princesses’ Fairytales by Nicola Baxter – basically, I was a hardcore fan of stories about princesses even before I ever saw my first movie, be it a film about princesses or just a random animated feature
Speaking about other films, based on fairy tales, here is my review of 2015’s live-action Cinderella (that post is more of a personal study of feminism). Later this year, a few other fairy-tale inspired live-action films will hit cinemas: one sequel – Alice Through The Looking Glass and two new remakes – The Jungle Book and The Legend of Tarzan.
Lastly, before I went to see this film, I did not rewatch neither the 2012’s Snow White and the Huntsman nor the Mirror Mirror version from the same year. However, I revisited the original animated picture Snow White and the Seven Dwarves from 1937 (the first feature length animated picture by Disney), and I gotta say, it still holds up. The hand painted 2D animation is refreshing and nostalgia-inducing in a world of 3D computer generated graphics. The songs are still pleasant (but a bit annoying, though), while the story is just a right balance of silly and sweet to be enjoyable. A must watch for any fans of animation from any generation.
So, I have given you a lot of context for this movie (maybe too much). Nevertheless, I will try my best to treat The Hunstman: Winter’s War as a separate entity and to judge it on its own. Let’s try that!
IMDb summary: As two evil sisters prepare to conquer the land; two renegades – Eric the Huntsman – who previously aided Snow White in defeating Ravenna, and his forbidden lover, Sara set out to stop them.
The film’s script was written by a quite unusual duo of screenwriters: Craig Mazin and Evan Spiliotopoulos. Mazin has written scripts for movies like Scary Movie (3 and 4) and The Hangover (Part 2 and 3). Spiliotopoulos has mainly worked on Disney’s direct-to-video animated features, but he has also written 2014’s Hercules (not the best film) and is writing a screenplay for 2017’s live-action Beauty and the Beast. So, The Huntsman was a union of raunchy comedy (by Mazin) and more traditional animated storytelling (by Spiliotopoulos). The question is: was this ‘union’ successful? Somewhat, yes and no.
First of all, the film was both a prequel and a sequel. It opened with a short recap of the first film – really good idea because I don’t think that a lot of people remember what happened in the first film. The opening also kinda set up The Huntsman to be a total prequel – ‘a story that happened long before the happily ever after’. However, the prequel plot ended after the first 25 minutes. Then, the movie time jumped 7 years and told us that the events that happened in Snow White and the Huntsman occurred in that 7 years span. The rest 1 hour and 20 minutes were a continuation and an expansion of that story – a sequel.
The Hunstman had two storylines/ideas that were very reminiscent of the first film:
In the 2012’s Snow White, the Huntsman was mourning his dead wife – this film shows how they met and how she ‘died’.
In the first film, Queen Ravenna feared that Snow White will grow up to be more beautiful than she. In this film, she was fearful of her sister’s daughter for the same reason.
A few people from the first film also cameoed in the sequel: most notably, Sam Claflin as King William, Snow White’s husband and Snow White herself – at least her back – played by someone who was definitely not Kristen Stewart.
The world of this series was expanded quite a bit. The film gave us the backstory of the Huntsman and added a few new characters, including a new villain/anti-hero – Ravenna’s sister Freya, the Ice Queen with the frozen heart (literally). Her whole power set was very similar to that of Elsa’s in Frozen. The sibling relationship between sisters was also another aspect, which made this film seem like a live-action Frozen remake. However, the ‘end-game’ of the sisterly relationship in The Huntsman was completely different from the loving reconciliation between Anna and Elsa in Frozen.
Writing: – | + | –
The film was mostly predictable. It was easy to guess that the death of the Huntsman’s wife was only an illusion and that Freya’s baby daughter was killed by her sister/the baby’s aunt. The only thing that I didn’t predict but should have was that whole supposed betrayal by the wife. However, in the end, it turned out to be double-crossing and not a true betrayal (that part I did predict once again).
The movie’s narrative appealed to me because I am a fan of high fantasy worlds and adventure stories that happen in these worlds, like Lord of The Rings or Game of Thrones. I also can’t help but notice that all fantastical stories are usually set in medieval/historic times. Well, I guess medieval history is a bit mysterious, and the leap from mystery to magic is relatively small.
On the other hand, the film annoyed me a few times. First with the addition of the dwarves, who sounded very Scottish by the way. The comic relief that these characters provided was stupid and unnecessary. Also, that whole thing with competing genders wasn’t pleasant either. Lastly, that whole pairing up of the characters was also a cheap conclusion. Nevertheless, the overarching theme of the film was love (the most overdone topic of all), so maybe the pairing up did work. Maybe I just hate love. Am I secretly Freya, or even worse – her sister Ravenna? Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised.
Because of the aforementioned scandal, Sanders did not return to direct the sequel/prequel film. He was replaced by Cedric Nicolas-Troyan – the visual effects supervisor of the first film, who was also the director of the second unit. He also was the second unit director on Maleficient. So, The Huntsman was the French director’s directorial debut (well, full one). I think that he did quite a good job with the film. The fighting scenes were exciting and interesting. The slower ‘talking’ scenes were also nice. Sanders combined close-ups of the actors’ faces with quite wide establishing and scenic shots. The sets, which were showed in those wider shots, were absolutely gorgeous – both the physical and the CGI ones. The costumes were also wonderful – the character design was impeccable and all actors, especially the two queens, looks breathtaking from head to toe. The liquid gold of the mirror was my favorite visual from the first film and it continued to be my favorite visual in the second film as well. The end credits were also very beautiful, paired nicely with the main theme song – Castle by Halsey .
Winter’s War had a very start studded cast, led by the four(!) leads in the main roles:
Chris Hemsworth as Eric, the Huntsman. Hemsworth was really good in the role, especially in the fight scenes. I kinda feel that Snow White and The Huntsman is a backup franchise for Hemsworth if MCU doesn’t work out (small chance of that happening). Nevertheless, Hemsworth also stars in other pictures – I recently watched 2013’s Rush, in which he was really good. I also have reviewed his In The Heart of The Sea a few months ago. His other 2015 film Blackhat is also a not bad B picture and he was also in the first 10 minutes of 2009’s Star Trek. Going forward, later this year, Chris will be in Ghostbusters.
Jessica Chastain was also really good in her role of Sara, the Warrior. I loved the fact that she was an archer (who never misses) because I enjoy archery in my free time. Her back and forth bickering with Hemsworth was also good – they definitely had chemistry. I have only seen the most recent Chastain’s films, like Interstellar, The Martian and Crimson Peak. I also want to watch Zero Dark Thirty and A Most Violent Year, in which she stars.
Emily Blunt as Freya, the Ice Queen was a believable villain (well, sort of a villain). Her backstory was a bit cliche, but Blunt embraced the flawed writing and gave a great performance. She first appeared on my radar with 2006’s The Devil Wears Prada, but her best roles have come in the past few years, namely in Edge if Tomorrow, Sicario and my ultimate guilty pleasure film – Into The Woods. I am really excited to continue following her career in the near and far future.
Charlize Theron as Ravenna, the Evil Queen. Theron did not have that big of a role in this film. She mainly appeared in the first and last acts of the picture. Theron did a nice job, but her character’s power (tar tentacles?) was a bit weird. If you want to see a different film, in which Theron plays a bad-ass, just watch Mad Max Fury Road. I also recently checked out Prometheus (because I will be traveling to the filming locations of that picture’s opening sequence – Isle of Skye) – she is great in that film as well. Lastly, Theron is listed to be in next year’s Fast 8 – that should be interesting.
Other cast members included Nick Frost, Rob Brydon, Alexandra Roach and Sheridan Smith as the dwarves who annoyed me. Sam Claflin (Mockingjay Part 1 and Part 2; Love, Rosie) also had a cameo. BTW, I am really excited for Claflin’s next film Me Before You. In addition, Testament of Youth’s Colin Morgan had a minor role as well.
To sum up, The Huntsman: Winter’s War was a perfectly enjoyable fantasy and adventure picture. The story was a bit cliche and predictable, but it nicely expanded the original narrative of the first film. The visuals were breathtaking while the acting was also believable. It is not a must-see for the majority of cinema goers, but casual fans of the high-fantasy genre should enjoy it. However, really die-hard fantasy fans might find it too generic. Lastly, I kinda feel that if this film is even slightly profitable, Universal will make another, so you might want to watch this one so as to prepare for the future movies.
Rate: 3.75/5
Trailer: The Hunstman: Winter’s War trailer
April 11, 2016 April 19, 2016 Lou Tagged anna, avengers, beauty and the beast, castle, charlize theron, chris hemsworth, cinderella, colin morgan, crimson peak, disney, elsa, emily blunt, film, film review, film reviews, freya, frozen, game of thrones, halsey, huntsman, in the heart of the sea, interstellar, isle of skye, jessica chaistain, kristen stewart, lord of the rings, mad max, mad max fury road, maleficient, marvel, me before you, motion picture, motion picture review, movie, movie review, movie reviews, princess, prometheus, ravenna, rush, sam claflin, sanders, snow white, snow white and the huntsman, snow white and the seven dwarves, snowhite, snowwhite, star trek, testament of youth, the evil quenn, the huntsman, the huntsman review, the huntsman winter's war, the huntsman winter's war review, the ice queen, the martian, the mockingjay, thor, winter's war 19 Comments
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Snoop Dogg Demands USA Women's Soccer Team Get Equal Pay: 'Pay Them Girls'
posted by Lauren Crawford - Jul 8, 2019
Snoop Dogg will not stand for pay discrimination — especially when it comes to the United States women's national soccer team.
After the U.S. Women's National Team beat the Netherlands to win their fourth World Cup on Sunday (July 7), the legendary hip hop artist took to Instagram to express his disappointment over the pay disparity between the Women's National Team and Men's National Team.
"Food for thought," he began. "Shout out to the USA women's soccer team for their fourth World Cup. What I want to talk about is they only get $90,000 per player [after winning the World Cup], but the men, if they win it, they get $500,000 per player. The sorry a** f**king men from the US men's soccer team ain't ever won sh*t, ain't gon' ever win sh*t, can't even get out the first round — man, pay them ladies."
"Pay them girls what they're worth," he continued. "The women should be getting $500,000 per athlete. Snoop Dogg said so. Yeah, I'm rocking with that. Them girls done won four World Cups and [only get] $90,000? Man, please! Pay them $500,000 per player [...] let's go, girls," he added before concluding his speech with late rapper Nipsey Hussle's slogan: "The marathon continues."
While his numbers might have been a little off — the U.S. women's team will reportedly walk away with $260,000 per player while the men, who have yet to win a World Cup, would have gotten $1.1 million each — Snoop's point is still the same: the women's team is not getting the pay they not only deserve but have earned.
As fans of the game know, the 28 players on the women's National Team filed a class action lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF) — their employer — in March. According to the Washington Post, the team claims they are paid less than the men's team and are provided with less support, "despite their consistent outstanding performance." The lawsuit also argues the women's team's success has "translated into substantial revenue generation and profits" for USSF and "during the period relevant to this case, the WNT earned more in profit and/or revenue than the MNT."
However, the soccer federation denied the WNT's claims, arguing that the pay difference between the men and women players is "based on differences in aggregate revenue generated by the different teams and/or any other factor other than sex" and that the two teams are "physically and functionally separate organizations."
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Judge blocks Trump rules on birth control in 13 states including California, New York
By Sudhin Thanawala The Associated Press
WATCH ABOVE: U.S. judge partially blocks Trump administration birth control rules
OAKLAND, Calif. A U.S. judge in California on Sunday blocked Trump administration rules, which would allow more employers to opt out of providing women with no-cost birth control, from taking effect in 13 states and Washington, D.C.
Judge Haywood Gilliam granted a request for a preliminary injunction by California, 12 other states and Washington, D.C. The plaintiffs sought to prevent the rules from taking effect as scheduled on Monday while a lawsuit against them moved forward.
But Gilliam limited the scope of the ruling to the plaintiffs, rejecting their request that he block the rules nationwide.
The changes would allow more employers, including publicly traded companies, to opt out of providing no-cost contraceptive coverage to women by claiming religious objections. Some private employers could also object on moral grounds.
READ MORE: Donald Trump to sign executive order expanding health insurance options
California and the other states argue that women would be forced to turn to state-funded programs for birth control and experience unintended pregnancies.
“The law couldn’t be more clear — employers have no business interfering in women’s healthcare decisions,” California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said in a statement Sunday.
WATCH: Trump election prompts birth control fears amongst women in the U.S. (November 2016)
“Today’s court ruling stops another attempt by the Trump Administration to trample on women’s access to basic reproductive care. It’s 2019, yet the Trump Administration is still trying to roll back women’s rights. Our coalition will continue to fight to ensure women have access to the reproductive healthcare they are guaranteed under the law.”
The U.S. Department of Justice said in court documents the rules “protect a narrow class of sincere religious and moral objectors from being forced to facilitate practices that conflict with their beliefs.”
READ MORE: Donald Trump rolls back rules on birth control coverage for women
At issue is a requirement under President Barack Obama’s health care law that birth control services be covered at no additional cost. Obama officials included exemptions for religious organizations. The Trump administration expanded those exemptions and added “moral convictions” as a basis to opt out of providing birth control services.
At a hearing on Friday, Gilliam said the changes would result in a “substantial number” of women losing birth control coverage, which would be a “massive policy shift.”
The judge previously blocked an interim version of the rules — a decision that was upheld in December by an appeals court.
The ruling affects California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and the District of Columbia.
birth control access u.s.
Donald Trump Birth Control
no-cost birth control
opt out of no-cost birth contol
trump birth control court case
u.s. president donald trump
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Access denied: How Uganda’s social media tax is turning news and information into luxury goods
Posted 19 July 2018 20:07 GMT
A demonstration against the social media tax on July 11, 2018. Photo shared widely on Twitter.
Ugandans took to the streets of Kampala on July 11 to demand an end to a tax scheme that has upended communication, information and payment methods for mobile users across the country. Petitioners are also challenging the constitutionality of the tax in court.
Imposed on July 1, the new law forces Ugandans to pay a daily tax on “over the top” (OTT) mobile apps including — but not limited to — Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp, Viber, LINE, Snapchat, Skype, LinkedIn, Tinder and Grindr.
The law also places a 1% tax on the use of mobile money, which is now the required method for recharging SIM cards.
Taken together, these new policies will make it more costly for Ugandans—especially those living in poverty—to communicate and perform everyday tasks using their mobile devices.
President Yoweri Museveni says the tax on social media is intended to curb online gossip and increase public revenues. What he doesn’t acknowledge is that the tax will do much more than limit conversation.
The social media tax costs too much. For Uganda’s poorest residents, it raises internet connection costs by 10%.
The social media tax violates net neutrality. It creates a two-tiered system in which accessing the “whole internet” is more expensive than accessing “some internet.”
The social media tax leaves Uganda’s poorest residents with less access to information.
The social media tax turns the right to free speech on major internet platforms into a privilege, available only for those who can afford to pay.
This tax costs too much
Ugandans now literally encounter a paywall each day when they set out to use any of the 58 OTT applications identified in the regulation. If they wish to proceed, they must pay a fee of 200 Ugandan Shillings (USD $0.05).
With Uganda's average GDP per capita at USD $604, daily use of social media or messaging apps could eat up three percent of the average Ugandan's annual earnings. This comes on top of the cost of a mobile phone handset, a talk/text/data plan, and the 1% tax on recharging SIM cards.
According to the Uganda-based Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA), the tax will cause Uganda’s poorest residents to see their internet connection costs increase by 10%. Using just 1GB of data will now cost nearly 40% of their average monthly income.
It remains to be seen to what extent the new tax will drive down internet use and access in Uganda, where internet penetration was estimated to be at nearly 22% in 2016, according to World Bank data.
An MTN vehicle in Uganda, November 28, 2005, CC BY 2.0
A violation of net neutrality
The tax also squarely violates network neutrality, the principle that service providers should treat all internet traffic equally, and not block or throttle access to online content and services.
Uganda does not have legal protections for net neutrality, and both the government and telcos have violated the principle in the past, with tiered pricing and social media blocking.
In addition to censoring social media during elections (at the government’s behest), telcos have offered special packages that give users access only to WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter, for a rate lower than that of a full data plan. Although it is not technically zero-rating, the package has a similar effect: it offers some savings to users who use only these applications. At the same time, it makes the “whole internet” more expensive than just “some internet”, and pushes users with limited budgets towards dependency on these particular applications.
While the new tax violates net neutrality, it simultaneously eliminates the benefits of packages like these — this particular offer was priced at 200 USh per day, but with the new tax, the cost officially doubles. For people who were able to pay the price of the special package, but not much more, the tax may mean they’ll be cut off from these services altogether.
Limiting access to information (to those who can afford it)
The original rationale for the tax was described by President Museveni as follows:
I am not going to propose a tax on internet use for educational, research or reference purposes… these must remain free. However, olugambo (gossip) on social media (opinions, prejudices, insults, friendly chats) and advertisements by Google and I do not know who else must pay tax because we need resources to cope with the consequences of their olugambo.
Museveni’s categorization of social media use as a luxury activity exposes significant gaps in the government’s understanding of how people use and depend upon these technologies.
As any experienced user in the region knows, WhatsApp is not just a place where people chat and gossip idly. In Uganda (similar to many countries in Africa and Latin America) WhatsApp is a key platform for distribution of community information, news, and public alerts during emergencies. Poorer Ugandans who cannot afford the tax will thus be excluded from these already-existing networks of information and news distribution. While they can build new methods for information exchange, this requires time, labor and know-how that are hard to come by, especially for people living in poverty.
Ugandans showed their opposition to the country's new social media tax at a gathering on July 6, 2018.
The popularity, versatility and usability of apps like WhatsApp and Facebook — combined with discounted offers of service, as mentioned above — also mean that for many people (in Uganda and across the globe), these services are the only online service they know how to use.
As Ugandan activist and Global Voices author Prudence Nyamishana wrote:
The tax ignores a critical lack of digital literacy, particularly among poor Ugandans. When I interviewed women living in Bwaise, a slum in Kampala, I learned that for them, WhatsApp and Facebook are the internet. These are the only platforms they know how to use. So with the new tax, they will be cut off altogether.
Many Ugandans are now using VPNs to circumvent the tax, but the government is also threatening to block these services.
Turning free speech into a privilege
While the government seems to be eager to increase tax revenues coming from the telecommunication sector, Ugandan activists are questioning the government’s real intentions, particularly in light of Uganda’s recent history of online censorship.
Voters line up at a polling station in Nyendo Masaka, Uganda, on February 18, 2011. Photo by Peter Beier. Copyright Demotix.
During the last presidential election in February 2016, the Uganda Communications Commission forced operators to block access to social media services. Over the past few years, authorities arrested several users over posts critical of the government and President Museveni, under the 2011 Computer Misuse Act.
‘’For Ugandans, the social media levy isn’t just another tax’’, wrote Ugandan journalist Lydia Namubiru for Quartz Africa. ‘’It is the latest in the government’s efforts to punish and discourage online expression’’.
Government stands by tax, telcos silent
After promising to review the new measures last week, the Ugandan government is still standing by its decision to tax the use of OTT services. A bill to amend the 2018 Excise Duty Act, which was submitted to the parliament on July 18, provides for a reduction of the tax on mobile money withdrawals from 1% to 0.5%, but offers no change to the social media tax.
In the meantime, service providers operating in the country have been mostly silent. While one small operator, Smile, offered to pay the tax on the behalf of its customers for three months (in a likely attempt to attract more business), the three biggest providers, MTN Uganda, Airtel India and Africell only released a notice to the general public announcing the implementation of the new taxes.
“The telcos are not reacting because they are protecting their own interests,” Prudence Nyamishana told us. “Being oligopolists, they can behave the way they want without putting people at the centre of their interests.”
With the absence of a strong and independent regulator to defend the interests and rights of users, Ugandan activists are left on their own to fight this tax. While the Uganda Communications Commission, which regulates the telecommunication industry, is ‘’independent’’ on paper, all members of its board are appointed by the ICT minister and approved by the government. In addition, a bill proposed by the government and approved by the parliament last year eliminated a system of parliamentary checks and balances on the ICT minister’s supervision of the communications sector.
With these regulations in place, the UCC can only obey government orders, and this is best reflected in the commission's support of the social media tax. Ibrahim Bbossa, the UCC’s consumer affairs manager told local media that the government is ‘’right’’ and ‘’has been insightful’’ in implementing this tax because ‘’voice tax is about to disappear’’. The commission also ordered operators to block VPNs to prevent users from bypassing the paywall.
This tax will not prevail without a fight
The day after the tax was implemented, petitioners filed a court case against the government, arguing that the tax violates citizens’ rights to freedom of speech and access to information, as defined by the Ugandan Constitution of 1995. These rights are also protected under international treaties including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Uganda is a signatory to both documents.
Online, #Notosocialmediatax campaigns have coalesced on both Facebook and Twitter, with major celebrities and some political leaders calling on the government to reconsider the tax. And in the streets, protests have drawn huge crowds of supporters — and police, who have used teargas and violence to break up demonstrations.
Citizen are awaiting a response to the amendment proposed on July 19, and petitioners are awaiting a court date to challenge the law’s constitutionality.
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Written byAfef Abrougui
Written byEllery Roberts Biddle
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Hillsborough Township Public Schools » Community » REMS » FAQs » How can I make my schools safe?
How Schools Can Become More Disaster Resistant
FEMA is encouraging city officials, businesses, schools, residents and others within communities to work together before disaster strikes. Prevention is always the best disaster action.
Many states now require specific disaster preparedness activities in their school systems. In California, for example, schools are required to have a disaster plan, to hold periodic drop, cover and hold drills and to hold educational and training programs for students and staff. In Kentucky, a 1992 bill mandated disaster plans, drills and training in the schools. Disaster drills in schools are required in Oregon, Montana and Missouri, and Idaho and Arkansas mandate earthquake resistant design for all public buildings, including schools.
In support of the growing awareness of the need for disaster preparedness in schools, FEMA offers a course several times each year at our Emergency Management Institute in Emmitsburg, Maryland. Called the Multi-Hazard Safety Program for Schools, the week-long course outlines a specific plan of action for all schools. As discussed in this class, FEMA recommends the following actions for all school officials:
Identify hazards likely to happen to your schools
Mitigate against the hazards
Develop a response plan, including evacuation route
Plan for coping after a disaster
Implement drills and family education
When beginning your disaster preparedness planning and hazard assessment it's important to realize that past experience shows that most people will survive even the worst disaster. Most of the injuries and deaths related to natural disasters are caused by falling objects, fires, the release of hazardous materials, flying debris and roof collapse. Be sure, then, to look for such hazards when doing your assessment.
Begin with a determination of which natural and technological disasters are possible in your area. For help, visit the FEMA Web site at www.fema.gov or contact your state or local emergency management office. Don't assume you know all the risks. You may be surprised to learn that your area is subject to natural disasters you hadn't anticipated. For example, earthquake risk is not restricted to the Pacific Coast. Such states as New York also are at some risk. The New Madrid fault affects such states at Kentucky and Missouri. Also, remember that disasters can have a cascading effect - forest fires can bring mudslides; earthquakes cause fires, tornadoes cause downed power lines. Think about how transportation routes or other external factors may also affect your schools: Are you near a major highway where hazardous chemicals are transported, putting your school in danger of a chemical spill?
Once you find out what disasters are possible in your area, assess your structures. If you are in a wildfire area - do you have bushes trimmed back from the buildings and non-flammable roofs? If you are located in a hurricane-prone area, do you have the roof securely attached using hurricane straps. And if you are in earthquake areas, have you walked through the schools to ensure that bookcases and heavy appliances are securely bolted to the walls? Fluorescent lights not properly secured fell on students during the 1983 Coalinga, CA, earthquake. Libraries are particularly hazardous areas since unsecured bookshelves are extremely dangerous for both students and staff. Science classrooms and custodian closets are another intrinsically dangerous area, where hazardous chemicals on open shelves can break or fall during a tornado or earthquake, causing toxic fumes and compounding a disaster. During the Coalinga earthquake, chemicals burned through two floors of a high school.
Conduct your survey in a systematic manner, making an inventory of all items that require attention. It may be possible to enlist volunteers from among your parents or emergency management community. This is no paper exercise. You and your staff must personally walk the halls and classrooms to determine what risks exist. Peter Anderson, of the Los Angeles Unified School District, saw many of his schools severely damaged by the Northridge Earthquake. He said the principal and plant manager of each of his schools walk together through every classroom at the beginning of the school year, with checklist in hand. Hazards are corrected immediately. He also noted that before a disaster, schools should document their property, something which can be done as part of the hazard assessment.
"Schools that took photos and videos prior were far ahead in recovery with less hassle and more quickly restored than the schools where files were missing and records were not kept," he said.
Mitigate Against Hazards
Based on your assessment and using information on mitigation from the FEMA Web site, it's best to prioritize your needed mitigation measures by degree of life safety, cost, frequency of identified potential hazard and potential number of people exposed. Unfortunately, it's unlikely that you will have the unlimited resources necessary to make all mitigation measures that you might like, but many important measures are reasonably priced for the protection they offer - a good cost/benefit ratio. Many measures are simply common sense and will cost almost nothing - like moving chemicals to lower shelves or placing electronic equipment and computers on higher floors if you have a flood risk. Some examples of inexpensive mitigation measures include using lockdown devices or threaded washers and nuts to strap computers down in earthquake prone areas. Approved storage cabinets for hazardous materials cost about $500 and shatter resistant plastic film covering glass cases cost $2 to 7$ per square foot. Some schools have a bucket in each classroom, stenciled with the room number, that include immediate first aid and rescue tools. Higher ticket items such as strapping buildings to foundations and installing hurricane straps should be seen as a long-term investment in the safety of your students.
Anderson reiterated that his Los Angeles Unified School District schools must look at disaster preparedness and mitigation as important as the traditional reading, writing and 'rithmetic - regardless of tight school budgets.
"You can't teach in an unsafe, potentially dangerous situation. If you aren't taking steps for mitigating you are morally and legally at fault," he said. "If you're not prepared to expect the unexpected, you're rolling the dice."
In the New Hanover school district in North Carolina, where Hurricane Fran closed schools for seven days, mitigation efforts in the future may even include moving some schools that are in particularly risky locations, said Harris McIntyre, the district's director of Education, Training and Safety.
Developing A Response Plan
It is important to remember that while your focus is planning how to safeguard your school and students during and immediately following a natural disaster, your plan must incorporate the larger issues that will be facing the community at such times. For example, any large disaster will result in widespread telephone outages, damage to roads and bridges, loss or damage of utility systems, fires, release of hazardous materials and possibly flash flooding relating to dam damage or damage to sewer and water systems.
Even medium-sized disasters will quickly push your community's normal emergency response forces to the limits. During the 1987 Whittier Narrows earthquake, which was only moderate in size, all of the Los Angeles fire department's ambulances and half of its fire engines were committed within the first 40 minutes. Citizens, businesses and others had to depend on their own resources for hours and days. School disaster plans must take this into account with the goal of being able to survive on your own - food, water and power - for 72 hours after a catastrophic disaster.
It's important to have a school-based emergency plan that includes an incident commander, search and rescue team, hazardous materials, security, utilities, assembly area, first aide, reunion gate for students and fire suppression team. FEMA also recommends keeping good records and logs before and after a disaster and to keep a tab on money spent for supplies and equipment damaged to make it easier for schools to receive reimbursements they might be entitled to.
It's important that your plan address safe evacuation routes, keeping in mind your potential hazards, including the location of gas and power lines, chain link fences, transportation routes of vehicles carrying hazardous material, clay or slate tiles on the roof etc. Obviously, select an evacuation route that minimizes exposure to hazards, and have a back-up route in case of debris. The advantage of using the same evacuation route for a fire is that it is easier for students and staff to remember; the disadvantage is that different disasters may block evacuation routes in different ways.
Your plan should also address the needs of students and staff with disabilities and the possibility of debris covering the floor. Consider keeping a push broom in every room with mobility impaired people or consider having a buddy system to assist persons with disabilities. Be sure to practice this during disaster drills. Also consider evacuation plans for any animals that may live at the school, including those in science classrooms. They should be evacuated as well since it is often impossible to know how long you will need to be away from the school. Your local humane society of animal welfare organization can assist with animal disaster planning.
Your disaster planning should also include an onsite shelter because disasters may occur that require you to keep students overnight. Your plan should focus on such issues as where students will sleep and which rooms are the safest. It's important each school has sufficient supplies for use during an emergency, including: food, blankets, stored water, flashlights with batteries, first aid kits, blankets, battery-powered radio and other supplies.
Each school should develop plans that include teaching students and staff what to do during disasters that are likely to occur in their area - whether those occur while they are at school or at home. Schools in earthquake risk areas should teach drop, cover and hold to their students. Even kindergartners can understand the importance of getting under a desk or table and covering their head if the earth starts shaking. Children in tornado country should know to get away from windows. Teachers can incorporate disaster preparedness into lessons of science, geography, art and reading and other subjects. The FEMA for Kids Web site (www.fema.gov/kids) includes curriculum that teachers can use, as well as stories, activities and games to make disaster preparedness appealing to youngsters.
Jim Miller, superintendent of the Wishkah Valley school district in Washington State, said his teachers are instructing students to deal with the aftermath of disaster, not just the immediate occurrence.
"We want them to understand what to do later," he said. "How to prepare for the aftershocks, for example. You don't just flip a button and go back to normal."
Schools also need to plan ahead to determine when and whether they will release students. Children should not be let out to wait for the bus during lightning storms, for example. During heavy rain with flashflood watches or warning, schools should have written guidelines about the release of students. School buses can be swept away by as little as 6 inches of water, thus releasing students may put them at greater risk than keeping them in the safety of your buildings. School staff can monitor weather conditions better if each school has a NOAA weather radio, which costs only about $30 or $40.
Superintendent Jim Miller attended FEMA's Multi-Hazard Safety Program for Schools in 1996. Upon his return from Washington, he immediately formed committees to address the preparedness and mitigation issues raised in the course. One of their first innovations was changing their drills by putting up barriers to test new routes for students. They also halted their original use of codes to describe various emergency situations in the school, on FEMA's advice. In reality, Miller said, the codes can be confusing to staff, who forget what they refer to, and are confusing to substitute teachers. Instead, they now are honest when there is a situation at the school, such as an intruder.
Miller said his long-term disaster planning will focus on both volcanoes - Mount St. Helens is nearby - and earthquakes.
"It's inevitable that we're going to have an earthquake," he said. "If it happens, you're going to wish you had a plan in place."
Miller emphasized the importance of bringing parents into the planning process. They will feel more comfortable if they know you have a plan and understand how it works. It's also important for them to understand such emergency actions you may take, such as restricting to whom students are released and where following a disaster. Reminders should be sent out at the beginning of each school year. Parents with special skills may also be recruited as emergency volunteers - particularly if they live within walking distance. Parents who are doctors, nurses, telecommunications experts, machinists or electricians may be particularly helpful. And don't forget to also include members of your surrounding community. Schools don't exist in a vacuum, and during a disaster, they may be looked upon as a vital recovery element by the community. Your plan should take into account this possibility.
After a disaster, your school may serve as the gathering place for hundreds of people who live or work nearby. Your plan should address how school personnel are released and in what order. Some staff, for example, may live nearby and may be able to stay while others have small children and will need to get home in the case of an emergency. All staff, however, must have back-up family plans in case they cannot return home or must remain at the school following a major disaster. This responsibility to students in a disaster should be covered in each individual's contract.
While planning can be an overwhelming process, it may help to sketch out a chronology of what to do immediately following a disaster. Often the first decision will be to evacuate or to stay put. Your plan will address both options. Your plan must then address what actions to take if there are people who will remain in the buildings. Damage must be assessed and damaged portions of the building sealed off. Injured students and staff must be attended to. All people in the buildings must be accounted for and searches initiated for the missing. Small fires must be extinguished and utilities assessed and shut off, if necessary. Hazardous spills must be contained and sealed off. And, of course, students need to be kept calm and reassured. Staff must be responsible for establishing contact with the outside and for handling media questions. Someone - the principal or designee, should be identified as the Incident Commander and in charge of the disaster scene. Individual schools may use the term campus commander to differentiate from the top school district level incident commander.
Coping After A Disaster
Psychological trauma after a disaster is very real. Reactions of children to disaster are affected by five factors: their perception of the adult's reaction; the direct exposure they've had to the destruction; child's developmental age; existence of problems prior to the event; prior experience in another disaster. It is important that schools plan ahead of time to deal with the inevitable psychological aftermath. The FEMA for Kids Web Page includes information for teachers on identifying at-risk children and for conducting classroom exercises that help students voice their fears and overcome them.
Identifying at-risk students is one of the most important things your staff can do after a disaster. Signs to look for include withdrawn/quiet students, those acting overly responsible or parental, hyperactive children with little focus, children who are edgy, jumpy or quick to anger, vying for attention, out of control or with an attitude of non-caring. Work done after the Loma Prieta Earthquake, which struck Northern California in 1989, is helpful for schools developing such aftermath plans. Classroom exercises that can help include discussions of the disaster, temporarily reducing academic performance expectations, encouraging involvement in school recovery efforts and resuming social activities. Student artwork and essays can be posted on the FEMA for Kids Web site. Information on how to do this is found on the FEMA Web site.
Planning for a future disaster may seem overwhelming - and it is difficult. But it is not impossible and by using the resources of FEMA and those within your local communities and within your school districts, you can all be better prepared. Finally, it's important to realize that even if disaster strikes, your community will recover. It's an important lesson to remember. Even communities as hard hit as those hit by spring floods in 1997 are coming back. As Kaitlan Deikson, of Manvel School, in North Dakota, writes: It all started when my mom woke me up and said we have to evacuate. So I got dressed and brushed my teeth and packed my stuff. We were ready to go. Then we drove to Manvel to stay with my grandparents. So here I am at Manvel School. I like it. It is kind of fun being at a new school. There are many new kids and lots of other new people. Everyone here has been very nice. Everything is OK. The flood is going away and soon we'll be back home. But this will be my new school for the rest of second grade.
Excerpts from http://www.fema.gov/kids/schdizr.htm
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Monday 24th October 2016
Posted in Life the Universe and Other Things on October 24, 2016 by bishshat
I’m A Boy
One little girl was called Jean-Marie
Another little girl was called Felicity
Another little girl was Sally-Joy
The other was me
And I’m a Boy
My name is Bill and I’m a head case
They practice making-up on my face
Yeah I feel lucky if I get trousers to wear
Spend days just taking hairpins from my hair
I’m a boy, I’m a boy
But my ma won’t admit it
But if I say I am
Put your frock on, Jean-Marie
Plait your hair, Felicity
Paint your nails little Sally-Joy
Put this wig on little boy
I wanna play cricket on the green
Ride my bike across the street
Cut myself and see my blood
I wanna come home all covered in mud
I’m a boy I’m a boy
I’m a boy, I’m a boy, I’m a boy
I’m a boy, I’m a boy, I’m a boy, I’m a boy
I’m, A, Boy!
Sunday 23rd October 2016
Cardinals 6 Seahawks 6
For the first time in Seahawks history, they had a game end in a tie, thanks in part to both teams missing short attempts at game-winning field goals in overtime. For the game to end 6-6, both kickers had to miss attempts inside of 30 yards in, an unusual finish, to say the least, to a defensive struggle at University of Phoenix Stadium.
The Seahawks offense found itself out of sync through four quarters of play on Sunday night at University of Phoenix Stadium, but eventually found its rhythm in the overtime period, as Seattle played its way to a 6-6 tie with the Arizona Cardinals in an NFC West clash that was very much more of a defensive battle than an offensive showcase.
“We just couldn’t get in sync at all,” Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll said at his postgame press conference. “We couldn’t get in any kind of sync in the first half.”
Seattle averaged just 2.5 yards per play in the first two quarters and went into halftime with just 47 total yards, converting only two first downs and going 0-5 on the all-important third down. By the end of regulation those numbers didn’t look too much better, in part because of penalties that had wiped out a number of big plays the offense did manage to put up.
“If we made a play all the sudden the penalties started jumping up on us and we must have had three or four holds, five,” Carroll said. “They really were costly in a really tough, tight game. They impacted our drives, we’re first-and-20 and we weren’t able to make it back.”
Added receiver Jermaine Kearse, who had a 14-yard third-quarter catch wiped out by an offensive pass interference call: “It’s tough to get drives going and keeping that momentum when you’re continuously going backwards, the wrong way. So we’ve just got to continue to clean those up.”
But in overtime, thanks large in part to a Seahawks defense that was equally as stingy in keeping a potent Arizona offense under wraps, Seattle still had a chance to win the ball game. Six of the Seahawks’ 11 first downs on the night came in the extra period, as quarterback Russell Wilson led a field goal drive to tie the game at six and then helped set up a potential game-winning kick as he started connecting with Kearse, Jimmy Graham, Tyler Lockett, and Doug Baldwin for sizable gains, while running back Christine Michael found room to run on the ground.
“It comes down to me delivering the ball at the right time, guys making the catch, guys making the run, guys making the block, and it’s really that simple of a game,” said Wilson, who finished 24-of-37 for 225 yards passing. “We didn’t do that in the first part of it, but I kept telling the guys on the sideline, ‘The score’s just 3-0, the score’s just 3-3, the score’s just 6-3,’ and just stay the course. Adversity is temporary. We kept battling, we kept believing in our defense, that we’re going to keep standing up and making plays and offensively we kept believing in one another.
“We had a chance to win it, which is the good part of the game.”
In addition to all the penalties slowing the offense down – the Seahawks were flagged a total of 10 times, tying a season-high – Wilson said field position played a role in preventing Seattle’s offense from staying on schedule.
“We were kind of backed up the whole game it felt like in a lot of situations and we’re just trying to battle and find a way to get out of there and find a way to give ourselves chance, which we did,” he said. “And that’s the exciting part about our football team. That’s the best part about it all is that we have a great football team that believes in one another, sticks together and we believe that every time we’re in these situations, these tight games, we’re going to win it. Hopefully we can find a way to not make it so tight, but next time we believe we’re going to make it and find a way to win.”
Since Carroll arrived in Seattle, Mondays at Virginia Mason Athletic Center have been reserved for telling the truth of what happened during the game, and this week’s meeting with undoubtedly touch on some of the offense’s struggles in the desert.
“Sometimes the defense is going to have their night and the offense isn’t and sometimes it is going to be the other way around,” Carroll said. “We know it’s going to be back and forth and that has no bearing on the way we look at things here. We just have to get right and get better and make sure when we need you, you’re there for us. And when we needed it, the offense got down the field and we just didn’t get it done at the end.
“We will figure it out and talk a little about it tomorrow, tell the truth, and then we’ll move on.”
Said Kearse: “We’ve just got to clean stuff up. We’re going to take a look at the film and just continue to try to get better. We’ve still got a lot of games left on the schedule to make things happen, and that’s what we’re looking forward to.”
Saturday 22nd October 2016
Colin Jeffery
Forever changing in quick, slow time.
A place to go my friends to find.
Duty calls! It’s natures way
to summon hope and save the day.
Stefan Stanimirov
Eternal field for Uppyalf
where my soul twin still jumps about.
Bad Cat and Hincho come sometimes
to share friendship, love and rhymes
Steve Haywood
Field of green and sky of blue.
I like to jump and dance in you.
You make me feel alive and well.
So please stay the happy place I dwell.
Christie Schultz
Sweeping into the sky,
Sparkling liquid notes fly,
Float on the soft air,
And spiral downward to home.
Shannon Edwards
Sometimes, longing is a trumpet call,
A blank command,
A siren singing me past each horizon
To find what this vast desire
must have called into being,
Somewhere.
Michala Gyetvai
Through all the changing seasons
A different dance I gave
In thanks and admiration
For natures gifts it made
Lou Lowe
Wind, rain, sun, or snow,
To the field Bish will go,
Camera ready, box of tricks,
Jump around, take lots of pics.
Weather beaten, never mind,
Another day…….without a find!
Mike Mosier
A lovely field across the Pond,
As Bish’s leaps help form a bond.
There are fields here much like there,
Wind, rain, sun, and the same air…
John and the Field
What is there to say
One makes art
The other hay.
Giovanna Marie
Clay History in the making
The field stands still
A work of Art, he’s creating
The still life water colours
The field is his canvas
Ever changing day by day
Seasons come and go
Leaves change as the earth
Turns from green to gold
Winter carpets fields with snow
The field is ever changing
Its’ images captured with his lens,
Our lives are rearranging
But the field stands—still
Even after we’re gone
And it always will
Bournemouth O Spurs O
Spurs missed the chance to move top of the Premier League – at least for a few hours – as they were held to a goalless draw at Bournemouth.
Bournemouth nearly took a shock early lead when Charlie Daniels’ close-range effort following a corner was brilliantly saved by Hugo Lloris, the Spurs keeper reacting to deflect the ball onto the bar with his legs. Spurs’ Erik Lamela then hit the crossbar at the other end, and though the visitors raised their game after the break, the Cherries held firm, with keeper Artur Boruc keeping out Dele Alli and Danny Rose, while Bournemouth substitute Benik Afobe headed just over late on.
Meanwhile, referee Craig Pawson upset the home fans who felt Lamela should have been shown a second yellow card, while substitute Moussa Sissoko was not punished for an apparent elbow into Harry Arter’s face. Pawson then waved away late Bournemouth appeals for a penalty when Jack Wilshere went down after a challenge by Jan Vertonghen.
Both managers had praised their opponent’s style of play in the build-up and it was no surprise when the game began at a high tempo with both sides attacking freely.
But Bournemouth showed more steel than the side who lost 5-1 to a Harry Kane-inspired Spurs this time last year, with Arter particularly relishing the physical battle, epitomised by a perfectly timed tackle – hard but fair – on Victor Wanyama. While Tottenham shaded possession, the frenzied nature of the game and the visitors’ determination to stop Bournemouth counter-attacking at pace saw Lamela, Vertonghen, Alli and Rose all enter Pawson’s notebook before half-time for fouls.
Lamela was perhaps fortunate not to receive a second caution before the break for a challenge no better than those that had earned earlier bookings – minutes after he had struck the bar with a curling shot. Alli tested Boruc from long range early in the second half, with the big Pole diving right to palm the ball away – but the 20-year-old only lasted 71 minutes before being withdrawn. Wilshere, closely shadowed by the towering Wanyama while having every touch booed by the away fans for his Arsenal connections, found space to cross for Callum Wilson who headed wide.
Meanwhile, Rose – one of four English full-backs whose buccaneering play must have impressed Southgate – was first wasteful after being set up by Christian Eriksen, skewing his shot across goal, and then foiled by Boruc after trying a low shot with 15 minutes left.
Friday 21st October 2016
Inspired by Compton Verney’s nationally designated Chinese bronze collection, contemporary visual artist Aowen Jin will host an exciting interactive art event for this year’s Museums at Night festival, looking into the cultural and social impact of early Chinese civilisation on our modern lives.
In this spectacular installation, Aowen will cover the floors of our newly restored ‘Capability’ Brown chapel with UV reactive and glow in the dark rice – wonder at the significance of the grains of rice and explore them with UV torches. You’ll also have the opportunity to perform your own ritual with her magical glowing rice in our beautiful Adam hall.
Spectacular interactive art installation in the chapel.
Make your own rice-based artworks in Adam Hall.
Bronze handling demonstrations with Compton Verney’s China expert Morgan Jones.
Inspirational talks and a Q&A with a renowned poet, an award-winning BBC radio producer and journalist, an emerging artist and Aowen herself. A great opportunity to find out more about the creative industries and how to start and grow a creative career, and ask questions.
Soap Box: listen to how MA students from The School of Art & Design at Coventry University reflect on The Ritual and see how they created new and innovative works with the specially treated rice.
Unique late-night access to Compton Verney’s stunning collection of ancient Chinese bronze.
I worked all afternoon alongside Aowen Jin today It was quite an experience. She was great fun and I found her a real tonic to be with but I was worn out by the time I got home as she is a pocket sized whirl wind. She was super super excited by the free mayonnaise.
Aowen Jin was born in Luoyang, Henan in China. She moved to the United Kingdom as a student when she was 18, and initially studied Law & Economics at Durham University. After rediscovering a passion for art she switched to studying Fine Art at Goldsmiths, University of London.
During her degree she was commissioned to produce painting works for British Prime Minister Tony Blair and for Queen Elizabeth II’s 80th Birthday, and was named by both Dazed & Confused magazine and The Times Magazine as one of the UK’s top emerging artists.
Aowen was part of Goldsmith’s graduate exhibition at Free Range Shows in 2006, titled ‘Textile Collective’.
Today marks 211 years since the Battle of Trafalgar – the day when Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson successfully halted Napoleon Bonaparte’s quest to conquer Europe.
The battle, held on 21 October 1805, not only stopped Napoleon but also cemented the British Royal Navy as ruler over the high seas, a status that has given Britain status as a global power for more than a century.
While the Battle of Trafalgar was a victory for Britain, the day also saw the death of a British hero on his ship HMS Victory.
It seems strange to me that on this anniversary a flotilla of Russian warships is sailing down the English Channel to and appears to me is an provocative display of military force with tensions between Britain and Vladimir Putin at breaking point. The aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov sailed through the North Sea and then into the English Channel. At the same time, two other Russian corvettes, which are travelling north towards the UK from the direction of Portugal, are also set to be watched by the Navy.
Country Dreamer
I’d like to walk in a field with you,
take my hat and my boots off too.
I’d like to lie in a field with you.
Would you like to do it too, may?
Would you like to do it too?
I’d like to stand in a stream with you,
roll my trousers up and not feel blue.
I’d like to wash in a stream with you.
You and I, country dreamer,
when there’s nothing else to do;
Me oh my, country dreamer,
make a country dream come true.
I’d like to climb up a hill with you,
stand on top and admire the view.
I’d like to roll down a hill with you.
In December 1941, two agents from the Czechoslovak government-in-exile, Jozef Gabčík (Cillian Murphy) and Jan Kubiš (Jamie Dornan) are parachuted into their occupied homeland. Jozef is badly injured when he crashes through a tree upon landing, but both men set out to find their contact in Czechoslovakia. They are discovered shortly after by two resistance fighters who turn out to be traitors; one is shot by Jozef but the other man escapes. Stealing their truck, the agents head for Prague.
When they seek out their contact, they are directed to Dr. Eduard (Sean Mahon), who stitches Jozef’s foot, and arranges for the agents to meet other members of the resistance, led by “Uncle” Jan Zelenka-Hajský (Toby Jones). The agents reveal that they are to execute “Operation Anthropoid,” an assassination of Reinhard Heydrich (Detlef Bothe), the main architect of the Final Solution, and the head of Nazi forces in German–occupied Czechoslovakia.
With limited intelligence and little equipment in a city under lock-down, Jozef and Jan must find a way to assassinate Heydrich, an operation that, they hope, will change the face of Europe. With the help of two young women, Marie Kovárníková (Charlotte Le Bon) and Lenka Fafková (Anna Geislerová) along with other plotters, the agents plan to ambush Heydrich as he arrives at his headquarters by car. When the agents learn that Heydrich is about to be transferred, the plan goes into effect with the duo bolstered by the addition of other agents who have been parachuted into Czechoslovakia and the remaining resistance fighters in Prague.
On 27 May 1942, the attack is carried out but nearly botched when Jozef’s Sten submachine gun jams, but Heydrich is severely wounded when Jan throws a bomb that shatters his limousine, followed by Jozef’s fusillade of gunfire. Immediately after, the assassins go on the run, and Nazi forces round up thousands of Czech citizens and carry out a terrible reprisal. When Heydrich dies, the combined group of seven parachutists are pursued to their refuge at the Orthodox Cathedral of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Prague. Resistance fighter Karel Čurda (Jiří Šimek) turned on the agents and revealed where they were hiding. Hundreds of Nazi troops storm the cathedral and all the agents are killed in a fierce battle.
Reprisals continued with the village of Lidice destroyed with all the males 16 years old and older shot, children gassed to death and women sent to camps. Another Czech village, Ležáky, was also destroyed and its inhabitants were murdered because a radio transmitter was found there. Ultimately, a total of 15,000 Czechs were killed in the aftermath of the “Heydrich Terror”. The assassination of SS-Obergruppenführer Heydrich was the only successful government-organised assassination of a top-ranking Nazi in the Second World War.
Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich was a high-ranking German Nazi official during World War II, and one of the main architects of the Holocaust. He was SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Polizei (Senior Group Leader and Chief of Police) as well as chief of the Reich Main Security Office (including the Gestapo, Kripo, and SD). He was also Stellvertretender Reichsprotektor (Deputy/Acting Reich-Protector) of Bohemia and Moravia, in what is now the Czech Republic. Heydrich served as president of the International Criminal Police Commission (ICPC; later known as Interpol) and chaired the January 1942 Wannsee Conference, which formalised plans for the Final Solution to the Jewish Question—the deportation and genocide of all Jews in German-occupied Europe.
Many historians regard him as the darkest figure within the Nazi elite; Adolf Hitler described him as “the man with the iron heart”. He was the founding head of the Sicherheitsdienst (SD), an intelligence organisation charged with seeking out and neutralising resistance to the Nazi Party via arrests, deportations, and murders. He helped organise Kristallnacht, a series of co-ordinated attacks against Jews throughout Nazi Germany and parts of Austria on 9–10 November 1938. The attacks, carried out by SA stormtroopers and civilians, presaged the Holocaust. Upon his arrival in Prague, Heydrich sought to eliminate opposition to the Nazi occupation by suppressing Czech culture and deporting and executing members of the Czech resistance. He was directly responsible for the Einsatzgruppen, the special task forces which travelled in the wake of the German armies and murdered over two million people, including 1.3 million Jews, by mass shooting and gassing.
Heydrich was critically wounded in Prague on 27 May 1942 by a British Special Operations Executive-trained team of Czech and Slovak soldiers who had been sent by the Czechoslovak government-in-exile to kill him in Operation Anthropoid. He died from his injuries a week later. Intelligence falsely linked the assassins to the villages of Lidice and Ležáky. Lidice was razed to the ground; all men and boys over the age of 16 were shot, and all but a handful of its women and children were deported and killed in Nazi concentration camps.
Tuesday 18th October 2016
Bayer 0 Spurs 0
Spurs withstood Bayer Leverkusen’s second-half assault to secure a 0-0 draw and hold on for valuable point in the Champions League. Mauricio Pochettino’s side started the better of the two sides at the BayArena, going close through Dele Alli, Vincent Janssen and Erik Lamela in the first half.
But Leverkusen, who are 10th in the Bundesliga, responded strongly after the break and they should have gone ahead minutes after the restart but Hugo Lloris produced a spectacular save to deny former Manchester United striker Javier Hernandez. Roger Schmidt’s side continued to pile the pressure on Spurs, who needed Lloris to keep out Charles Aranguiz and Admir Mehmedi, but Pochettino’s side held on for a valuable draw to stay second in the group behind Monaco, who drew 1-1 with CSKA Moscow.
You are currently browsing the Bishshat Annex blog archives for October, 2016.
Bishop Family (continued)
Ethelred II and other Stuff
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Why Good People Skills Matter in a Recession
Gill Corkindale
I spend a great deal of my time coaching executives on how to become more effective leaders and managers. An important part of this work is to help them develop good relationships with their key staff and stakeholders. We explore different ways of influencing, motivating, and leading people and by extending their skills — I help executives to get the best out of their people.
A common response when I ask executives about their leadership or management styles is: “I just focus on tasks and results,” or, “I’m a people person.” It can take a while to convince them that to be really successful, executives have to master both sides of the equation. Fortunately, I am not the only one passing on this message — the best companies reinforce this by promoting and developing senior executives on the strength of both sets of skills.
However, I have noticed that the financial crisis has undermined these good practices. Command-and-control leaders are back in fashion and companies appear to be condoning it. I had my first direct confirmation of this last year, when I called a German CFO to check on how she had been progressing with her action plan following our coaching sessions. When we met in London three months earlier, she had complained of a lack of motivation and accountability in her team. We had agreed that she should focus her efforts on active listening, coaching, and more delegation to galvanise the team. “How are you getting on with your team?” I asked. “Have your new approaches worked?”
“I didn’t need them,” she shot back. “I just got rid of the difficult ones and told the rest what I wanted them to do. It’s very simple. The recession is great for me because I can act exactly as I want — I don’t have to bother with complicated people management.”
This was rather disquieting. We had spent a lot of time together working out strategies that would help her mature as a leader and develop her people. Her feedback indicated that her tough, abrasive style annoyed her peers and her team disliked and feared her. She had acknowledged that she needed to change if she was to advance in the organisation and fulfil her career ambitions. Yet just three months on, she had ditched all thoughts of changing her style and was evidently delighted that the crisis was allowing her to carry on as before.
There is increasing evidence that the recession has allowed some managers and leaders to jettison everything they have learned about people management in favour of a more instrumental style. This is a pity since they should be doing the exact opposite to motivate and get the best from their staff. Of course, the economic environment makes it more challenging to do the right thing by people, especially when cuts are required and tough decisions have to be made. And it looks like we may be in crisis for a good while longer as a double dip recession and further economic chaos are on the horizon.
It’s critically important that companies develop strategies to manage their people through the crisis if they are to survive and prosper in the long term. There’s a lot of good information about how to manage in a recession, but much of this overlooks the subtler aspects of keeping people engaged and committed to the organisation. Employee loyalty, motivation, and trust in the organisation will all suffer if leaders and managers are careless about the way they treat people in a recession.
Among the complaints I have heard from staff is that senior executives are deliberately overworking them, threatening them with further layoffs, demanding longer hours for lower pay, silencing dissent, and withholding information. Particularly prevalent is the belief that those who have survived layoffs should be doubly motivated and harder working simply because they have kept their jobs.
Unfortunately such practices can lead to fear, more demotivation, loss of trust and loyalty, contempt for senior management, and poor-quality work, all of which will affect the bottom line. And once the crisis is over, it will result in staff rapidly leaving the organisation in search of better jobs and bosses elsewhere.
So what should be the approach to managing and leading people through a recession? Here are a few guidelines drawn from my own practice and conversations I have had with senior executives and staff in companies that are handling their people well in the recession.
Be visible. Walk around, hold meetings and speak in small groups
Be as open, honest, fair and decent as possible
Be serious and realistic but remain positive and hopeful for the future
Keep people in the picture even when there is little concrete news. Share as much information as you are able — in person, in meetings and through frequent updates — about the challenges the company is facing and how it is performing. If you don’t know what’s going on, say so.
Give people frequent opportunities to discuss and ask questions about the situation
Be a role model. Do your job well and stay positive. This will ensure there is a positive mood in the office and that morale is high so people can work with fewer distractions.
Engage your staff — leverage their expertise, involve them in decisions and remind them of the shared responsibility to pull the organisation through the crisis.
Encourage and motivate people through positive feedback and extra help if they are struggling. Don’t be over-critical as this may backfire on you.
Let your people know how much you value them. This can be done through positive feedback, recognition and rewards such as small gifts or flexible working. If people feel they are valued, you will have their loyalty and support.
Keep an eye on your peoples’ health and wellbeing. Recessions are stressful
Ensure that you have good training and development programmes in place — these are a good investment for the future and will pay dividends when the organization has come through the recession. Coaching and mentoring also foster self-reliance and self-worth, which are important factors when it comes to keeping motivation high.
These are just a few ideas for keeping your team on track and ensuring that your people skills remained sharp during the recession. What is your experience of managing or being managed through the recession? Have you found it tough to give people attention when there are so many pressing business issues? Have your boss and company been supportive to you during the recession? Have you — or your boss — changed styles? If so, what have been the effects?
Gill Corkindale is an executive coach and writer based in London, focusing on global management and leadership. She was formerly management editor of the Financial Times.
This article is about MANAGING PEOPLE
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DIFFERENT WAYS TO THINK ABOUT MORAL PROBLEMS
An Introduction to Ethics as an Academic Discipline
The purpose of this essay is to introduce you to some of the central features of ethics as an academic discipline. You may be surprised to learn that ethics is a subject matter at college in which you can take classes. After all, isn’t ethics a matter of personal opinion? You have your values and beliefs and I have mine. How can I impose my values on you, and similarly, how can you impose your values on me? Certainly, there are limits on the ways we can impose our views on others, but at the same time, part of what it means to hold beliefs is being prepared to explain and defend them. One purpose of ethics as an academic discipline is to help you think more seriously and more deeply about some of the beliefs you hold.
Unlike many other disciplines you will study at college, ethics involves making value judgments. To decide that something is right or wrong is to approve or disapprove of it. Therefore, ethics as a discipline evaluates different choices and discriminates between them. It recommends courses of action. That is to say, ethics as an academic discipline articulates moral judgments. To articulate a judgment, however, is different from voicing an opinion. An opinion is merely asserted while a judgment has the support of reasons. The discipline of ethics involves identifying arguments, discriminating between them, and articulating good reasons for making particular value judgments. In what follows, I’ll try to show you some of the different ways in which moral philosophers and theologians have tried to reason about moral questions and defend moral judgments.
The Importance of Identifying a Point of View
A moral judgment is always articulated in response to some question about human action. People, throughout their lives, encounter situations that require making decisions. In a perplexing situation, one must decide on a plan of action; confronted by an array of options, one must choose a particular course of action. For example, a student graduating from high school faces a number of possibilities. He or she might start working right away in the family business, begin to pursue a career in professional sports, join a cloister to become a monk or a nun, or attend college to earn a baccalaureate degree. Confronting these possibilities, the high school graduate must make a choice, he or she must decide on a course of action.
The way one approaches questions about human action, however, and the judgment one makes about the right course of action, can vary depending on one’s point of view. A question about human action asked from a first-person point of view is a question about what I should do. A question about human action asked from a third-person point of view is about what they should do. For example, the theologian Karl Barth believed that ethics concerned the shape of human obedience to the command of God. He approached ethics from a first-person perspective, because he wanted each person to encounter God directly and ask, what is God’s will for me? How should I respond to the command of God? In contrast to Barth, the philosopher John Stuart Mill believed ethics was about how to achieve the greatest overall happiness in society. Mill approached ethics from a third-person point of view, because he wanted to give advice to decision-makers like politicians and legislators about what they needed to do to make society a better place to live in.
The perspective one adopts on ethical questions can influence the shape of one’s moral judgments. Consider the question: should reproductive technologies involving surrogacy be permitted? A woman who asked this question from Karl Barth’s first person perspective would ask, what does God want me to do? The woman might decide that God has commanded that her body be given to one man in marriage, that surrogacy requires sharing her body in intimate ways with more than one man, and that, therefore, God’s command to her is that she not be a surrogate mother. In thinking about the question this way, the woman would not be making a judgment about surrogacy in general; she would not be making a judgment about what other women should do; she would be deciding about herself. Now consider the same question about surrogacy asked from John Stuart Mill’s third-person perspective. The question is no longer, should I be a surrogate mother? but rather, should society allow the practice of surrogacy? Legislators deliberating on this question should, according to Mill, consider what policy will produce the greatest overall happiness in society. They would need to weigh the happiness the practice of surrogacy can bring to infertile couples against any potential harms, and if they decide that surrogacy will bring more overall happiness than unhappiness, they should make the practice legal for others. Notice, however, that in making surrogacy legal, the legislators would not be recommending surrogacy one way or another to any particular woman asking herself, should I be a surrogate mother?
It turns out that the perspective a thinker adopts when approaching ethical questions not only affects the answers they give to particular questions, but can also affect the shape of an entire moral theory. Thinkers who like to approach ethical questions from a first-person perspective frequently produce a moral theory focused on character and virtue. Thinkers who like to approach ethical questions from a third-person perspective often produce a moral theory focused on results and consequences. Let’s consider these two kinds of moral theory briefly.
The Difference Between Moral Theory Focused on Character and Moral Theory Focused on Consequences
A moral philosopher with whom you may be familiar, Socrates, generally approached ethical questions from a first-person perspective. His concern with first-person questions also led him to develop a moral theory focused on character. Socrates believed the most important task in life was to become a moral person. The steps in the development of his moral theory went something like this: I know I want to be happy, but what is happiness? True happiness is not really the good feeling I get when I’m in a good mood, rather true happiness is a condition of the soul. Therefore, if I want to know what true happiness consists of, I need to understand the nature of the soul. Now, the nature of the soul is to seek out what is true and good, and the best way to seek out what is true and good is to live a virtuous life. To live a virtuous life depends on wisdom, and wisdom gives rise to virtues necessary for living a happy life. Germaine Walsh’s chapter in this book mentions several of the virtues Socrates pursued: justice, courage, moderation, piety, love, and friendship. Any person who lacks such virtues, Socrates believed, also lacks the ability to make good decisions, and a person who cannot make good decisions will never be happy. Therefore, Socrates reasoned, if I want to be happy, I need to acquire the virtues and develop my moral character.
Of course, Socrates was not the only philosopher to develop a moral theory centered on character and virtue. Many philosophers have adopted his basic approach to the moral life, and we label this approach virtue theory or character ethics. Character ethics, as the name implies, is concerned with questions of moral character. It is a type of moral theory particularly well suited for asking questions from a first-person perspective. Within the framework of character ethics, the moral agent asks herself, what kind of person will I become, if I decide to act in this way?
However, because of its focus on the individual, character ethics is not always helpful when thinking about social questions, questions which we are more likely to approach from a third-person perspective. Many times—although not always—thinkers concerned with social questions will develop a moral theory focused on consequences. One important moral philosopher who developed a moral theory focused on consequences was John Stuart Mill. Mill called his theory utilitarianism. According to utilitarianism, ethics is about producing the greatest good for the greatest number. An action that produces more good consequences than bad consequences is the right one; an action that produces more bad than good is wrong. According to Mill, the greatest overall good should be measured in terms of utility, a principle that assesses happiness. Thus the greatest overall good is that which produces the greatest overall happiness.
Mill’s utilitarianism led him to develop a defense of toleration and liberty. According to Mill, the only justification for interfering into the affairs of another person is to prevent him or her from harming someone else. Since to allow someone to harm another would be to allow a decrease in the overall happiness in society, harm should be prevented. Otherwise, however, when people are not harming others, they should be left free to do as they choose, according to their own good pleasure.
In fact, utilitarianism became part of a larger movement of social reform in 19th century England. Mill and others like him looked at laws and social practices in their day and found them lacking. For example, laws which prohibited unorthodox religious beliefs and practices, or laws which punished people for personal immorality (things like adultery or sexual deviance) could not be justified in light of the principle of utility—they did not contribute to the overall happiness. Similarly, restrictions on the roles that women could fill in society were unjustified because they inhibited a woman’s personal development, which again subtracted from the overall happiness. In short, the theory of utilitarianism raised questions about the way people were being treated in society and generated arguments about how to improve things.
This ability to focus on social questions is the main strength of utilitarianism. At the same time, because it focuses so exclusively on social questions, utilitarianism has very little illuminating to say about personal ethics. In other words, by adopting a third-person perspective so exclusively, utilitarianism forgets about first-person questions altogether. To discuss first-person questions, we need something like character ethics.
However, to make matters even more complicated, there is yet a third type of moral theory, different from both character ethics and utilitarianism, which focuses on duties and obligations. This third type of moral theory is often labeled deontology.
Deontology: Ethics Centered on Duty and Obligation
Deontology is a type of moral theory that focuses on absolute rules. Rather than focusing on consequences, as in utilitarian theory, or focusing on questions of character, deontology says that one should form moral judgments about human action by applying the appropriate rules. Furthermore, these rules are exceptionless. So, for example, if I want to know whether I should tell a lie, I don’t need to think about the overall consequences—as with utilitarianism—and I don’t need to ask about what lying will do to my character—as with character ethics—I simply need to discover whether or not there is a rule against lying. If there is a rule against lying, which there is, it will be exceptionless. Therefore, one may never tell a lie, period—no exceptions.
Deontology introduces a new set of considerations into our discussions of ethics, which do not overlap with the distinction between the first- and third-person perspectives I introduced earlier. One can arrive at deontological positions setting out from either a first-person or third-person perspective. One moral philosopher who held deontological positions, but who approached ethics from both a first- and third-person perspective, was Immanuel Kant. Kant is a very difficult philosopher to read, but he is also an important one, so trying to understand Kant is worthwhile.
Kant believed human beings were rational; they could understand the rules of logic and use logic to understand the world. Kant also believed morality was rational; whatever the moral law commanded was in agreement with the rules of logic. Because the moral law is rational, and because human beings are also rational, human beings could discover the moral law within their own reason, that is, within their own minds. A person who looks within her own mind and discovers the moral law within her reason must then confront a choice. Either she may disregard the moral law or she may obey it. This, in a sense, is a first person question: should I be moral, and if so why?
Kant says I should obey the moral law, because in obeying the moral law I become free and self-determining. The person who obeys the moral law is free and self-determining because he causes his own action. By contrast, a person who ignores the moral law is not free, because in that case the cause of his action is something other than himself. To be free is to be the cause of your own actions. Since the moral law exists in my own mind, I cause my own actions when I obey the moral law within me. To be unfree is to have your actions caused by something else. When I disregard the moral law, my actions are caused by things outside of myself; for example, the opinion of my peers or the desire for material possessions.
So for Kant the answer to the question, should I be moral? is yes, because by acting in a moral way I become free. Furthermore, according to Kant, the moral law applies all the time, without exception. Since only the person who adheres to the moral law is free, if we wish to remain free, we must adhere to our moral duty at all times. We can never make exceptions. Kant held that the moral law is exceptionless; that makes his theory deontological.
Kant’s deontological theory influenced the way he approached social ethics, questions approached from a third-person perspective. In approaching social ethics, Kant developed a theory of human rights. To say that people have rights is to say that they are entitled to a certain kind of just treatment, without exception and regardless of the consequences. Kant believed that because human beings are rational and have the moral law within them, they must always be treated as ends and never as merely a means. Kant called this the categorical imperative, which he formulates this way, “Act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of another, always at the same time as an end and never simply as a means.”[1] To treat someone as an end is to respect them for who they are; to treat someone as a means is to use them as tool in a project. So Kant’s categorical imperative may just be a fancy way of expressing the Golden Rule: do unto others as you would have them do unto you. For Kant, however, the Golden Rule applies absolutely, without exceptions. To disregard the rights of another, no matter what the circumstances, is a violation of the moral law.
Overview and Evaluation
We have reached a point where we can summarize a number of central points concerning ethics as an academic discipline. Broadly speaking, there are three types of moral theory. The first type of theory we considered focuses on character and virtue and might simply be called character ethics. The second type of theory we considered focuses on consequences and is frequently called utilitarianism. The third type of moral theory centers on duties and obligations and is usually called deontology. In addition, moral questions can be approached from at least two different perspectives, what I’ve called a first-person and third-person perspective, and the kind of perspective a thinker adopts tends to influence the shape of his or her moral theory.
In fact, many moral disagreements are rooted in competition between conflicting moral perspectives and theories. Consider, for example, the controversy surrounding legalized gambling. Many states sponsor a lottery or other forms of gambling as a way of increasing state revenue without levying taxes. Proponents of state sponsored gambling argue that this is a painless way to raise revenue, since only the people who want them buy lottery tickets. Proponents make a kind of utilitarian argument about the good consequences that come from state sponsored gambling. In contrast, critics argue that state lotteries appeal primarily to the poor, who can’t afford to spend money on the lottery, but who dream that winning the lottery will improve their economic circumstances. In other words, the argument goes, the lottery takes advantage of certain kinds of character weaknesses found among the poor, and even contributes to perpetuating those weaknesses. This is an argument based, at least in part, on character ethics, because the argument is that gambling is bad for moral character. Of course, if one were a deontologist who believed gambling was wrong in itself, then one would oppose state sponsored gambling regardless of the good consequences it might bring, and irrespective of questions about the effects of gambling on moral character.
Given the variety of approaches to ethical questions, you might reasonably feel confused about which theory or perspective is best to adopt. My own suggestion would be that, rather than electing for one moral theory or perspective, you should recognize that every theory and perspective casts light on an aspect of moral experience that is important. The difficulty is knowing when and how to draw on different perspectives and theories when formulating moral judgments.
Consider deontological theory, which is frequently the object of criticism, but which also seems to offer a necessary perspective. To many, an ethic which disregards all consequences and focuses exclusively on exceptionless rules seems irresponsible. For example, Kant argued that a person could never tell a lie, even if by doing so he could protect a person hiding in his house from a potential murderer. Many of Kant’s critics have thought this position extreme. A utilitarian would say that a person must accept responsibility for the consequences of his actions. Thus it would be better to tell a lie in order to protect the person hiding in your house, than to assist the murderer by telling the truth. An ethical system like Kant’s, which focuses on duty without regard for the consequences, is irresponsible—or so a utilitarian like John Stuart Mill would argue.
On the other hand, certain aspects of the moral life simply cannot be explained convincingly without the view that sometimes one must do right regardless of the consequences. Consider a moral value like fidelity. The nature of fidelity is to remain faithful, but faithfulness manifests itself most strongly in situations where a person is under pressure to be unfaithful. A martyr remains faithful to God at the cost of his or her life. In marriage, fidelity means standing by one’s spouse for better or worse, in sickness and in health. A wedding ceremony in which husband and wife promised to be faithful just so long as that would contribute to the greatest overall happiness would be—at the very least—odd. As a matter of fact, the vast majority of figures in the Western intellectual traditional who have thought about ethics have also held deontological convictions of some sort or another—although they have generally not been radical deontologists of the sort Kant was.
Nobody can tell you when precisely to adopt a particular perspective during the consideration of a particular moral problem. That’s a matter for individual deliberation and judgment. At the same time, by learning to draw upon these different moral theories and perspectives you may discover certain issues and questions that you had not seen before. For example, one way to think about the difference between deontology and utilitarianism, a way that goes beyond simply choosing to adopt one approach over the other, is to recognize that the differences between the two have a lot to do with the way we measure the nature and extent of human responsibility.
People with deontological views tend to think that human responsibility is limited. Their view is often related to theological commitments, particularly a belief in God’s providence. Ultimately, a deontologist might say God is responsible for the human condition, which includes both good and bad. Human beings are neither wise enough nor powerful enough to manage that condition; thus they are not responsible for the negative consequence that may follow from adhering to the moral law. The difference between God and human beings, on this view, is the source of moral limits. A utilitarian, by contrast, is likely to find the effort to limit human responsibility objectionable. Indeed, the central utilitarian maxim, the greatest good for the greatest number, assumes that, with sufficient deliberation, human beings are capable of producing the greatest overall good.
This utilitarian confidence in our capacity to manage human affairs is distinctly modern. It depends upon a level of scientific understanding and technological mastery of nature unknown throughout most of human history. In the Middle Ages, for example, Europe was ravished by the bubonic plague, a bacterial disease transmitted by fleas carried by rodents which can be easily treated today. But people in the Middle Ages did not know about bacterial infections and how to treat them, nor did they understand the importance of hygiene, and we do not fault those people for failing to prevent the spread of the Black Death. Today, however, if fifty to seventy-five percent of the population in Austin and San Antonio were wiped out by the bubonic plague we would rightly blame public health officials for failing to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe. Again, when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans a few years ago, the government was criticized for failing to help the thousands of people stranded in the city. A hundred years earlier, however, a hurricane destroyed the city of Galveston, possibly killing more than 10,000 people, who, because they lacked satellite imagery, did not even know the hurricane was coming. We do not hold a government in 1900 to the same level of responsibility to which we hold the government in 2005, because the human mastery of nature and technology in the two centuries is vastly different.
Our ability to manipulate nature and to manage societies is not only a necessary presupposition of utilitarianism, it is also the source of tremendous improvements in the human condition, improvements all of us would wish to affirm. A strong sense of the ways in which we can make the world a better place inspires every moral theory, like utilitarianism, that emphasizes consequences and the human responsibility for outcomes. At the same time, one should ask whether the human capacity to produce the greatest good is really unlimited. Much of twentieth century history records the rise and fall of totalitarian regimes, like Nazism and communism, which caused tremendous suffering. Yet the guiding maxim for every totalitarian regime is the greatest good for the greatest number. One could even argue that in a certain sense the most influential utilitarians in history were Adolph Hitler and Joseph Stalin, a fact that should give us pause.
Be that as it may, my point is not to deny that each type of moral theory has its limited value. Rather my point is to illustrate the way our use of moral theories is usually embedded in a larger framework of concerns related to our view of the world and the perspectives we adopt when taking up ethical questions. Each type of moral theory responds to authentic moral concerns, but different types of concerns generate different types of moral theory. A piece of advice for engaging different thinkers is to try to understand their basic motivations and worries. A serious thinker always responds to serious concerns. That does not mean, of course, that every thinker is equally good and every moral theory is equally satisfactory. Some thinkers may do a better job than others of responding to authentic concerns, and some thinkers may be better than others at integrating the legitimate perspectives arising from the different sides of an issue. Any serious thinker, however, will give you something to think about, and learning to think is an important part of the discipline of ethics.
Aquinas, Thomas. On Law, Morality, and Politics. Ed. William P. Baumgarth. Hackett Publishing Company, 1988.
Barth, Karl. Church Dogmatics: The Doctrine of God Vol. 2 Part II. Eds. G. W. Bromiley, T. F. Torrance. London: T&T Clark International, 1957.
Kant, Immanuel. Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals with a Supposed Right to Lie Because of Philanthropic Concerns. Trans. James Ellington. Hackett Publishing Company, 1993.
Mill, John Stuart. On Liberty. Hackett Publishing Company, 1978.
____. Utilitarianism. Hackett Publishing Company, 2002.
Plato. Plato Five Dialogues: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Meno, Phaedo. Trans. G. M. A. Grube. Hackett Publishing Company, 2002.
[1] Immanuel Kant, Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals, trans. James W. Ellington (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1981): 36.
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Beauty, Brains and Brawn: Why Strong Women Matter
by Heather | 9 Keys, Life By Design | 0 comments
Have you ever taken a step back and considered our culture’s crazy complex relationship with celebrity? We seem to be obsessed with both building people up to near infamy, then systematically tearing them down.
These days, a common measure of “success” worldwide is that of Hollywood movie stars. These people become our icons, our idols — we admire them and want to emulate them. We expect them to be flawless, at all times, and their ability to live their life in this stratosphere of celebrity and fame is proof positive of just how much better they are than us, right? Yeah, right.
That’s why I so admire a woman like Hedy Lamarr. While she leveraged her beauty to build a successful career as an actress, first in Europe in the 1920s and then throughout the 1940s in Hollywood, she always nurtured a love for applied sciences and wanted to invent things. During World War II, she was alarmed by the idea that German submarines were torpedoing passenger liners, saying at one point, “I’ve got to invent something that will put a stop to that.”
So she did.
Working with an avant garde musical composer, George Anheil, Hedy developed a frequency hopping protocol that she patented in 1942. And she did so while also starring in blockbuster Hollywood films and raising two small children! How cool is that? Well, it gets even better.
At the time, the US Navy didn’t think much of Hedy’s idea, and dismissed it as a tool to use during the war. It was used minimally by the US government in later years, but the invention didn’t gain widespread adoption until it was used as the basis of some of the technology that we’ve come to rely on so heavily today, such as WiFi and Bluetooth.
To me, Hedy Lamarr exemplifies the creative brilliance we women can have when our nurturing, compassionate side is accented by our natural curiosity and desire to challenge ourselves. She is the epitome of successful women I love that her empathy inspired her, and that she helped contribute to what is now considered an essential aspect of our society. And it’s pretty freakin’ cool that she did all of this during a time when ladies like us weren’t encouraged to participate in science and technology!
How about you? Is there a historical female figure that you find inspiring? Share away. I’d love to hear all about her!
← Previous Post Guess Who’s Amazing? Yep. You. Next Post → Stay the Course: A Season of Sacrifice and Commitment
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Who says Tube workers won’t co-operate with management?
As everyone knows, industrial relations in the London Underground tend towards the sensitive.
Yet the people who keep the system running are among the most committed and long-serving in the country, which makes them the ideal source for suggestions as to how to make things work better and more efficiently.
Suggestions boxes had been tried; when we first met, they’d had just ten suggestions in the previous year, none of which were printable.
What could we do with £10K? Enter Brian, Oscar’s little fat brother.
Standing for Bright Relevant Ideas Actively Noticed and handily an anagram of BRAIN, BRIAN is an awards system. It promises cash prizes and recognition for anyone producing a winning suggestion. Presented as a free-standing concept, there’s not a whiff of management about his being.
Supported with posters and leaflets throughout the Underground, it produced more the 100 solid proposals in its first month alone.
The first statuette winner came up with an idea for replacing broken carriage windows that saved the London Underground more than a quarter of a million pounds a year in its first year.
Just goes to show; the right idea, in the right place, with the right tone of voice and almost anything’s possible.
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June 8, 2019 / 5:10 AM / a month ago
Modi's ruling NDA may win key Rajya Sabha majority next year: projection
Devjyot Ghoshal
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling alliance could achieve a crucial majority in the Rajya Sabha next year if some small regional parties join the bloc that recently won a massive mandate in the Lok Sabha, according to a projection by an independent research firm.
FILE PHOTO - Prime Minister Narendra Modi gestures towards his supporters after the election results at Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) headquarter in New Delhi, India, May 23, 2019. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi/File Photo
Dominating both houses is essential to pass controversial legislation that Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) party has promised to its Hindu nationalist base, such as granting citizenship to non-Muslim immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh and Pakistan.
The prediction by PRS Legislative Research, which tracks the functioning of India’s parliament, shows that the BJP alone could secure 83 seats in the upper house by next year - 10 more than it currently holds.
The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) could control 107 seats, seven more than its current tally and just 15 short of a majority in the 243-member chamber, PRS said.
Most members of the Rajya Sabha are elected by lawmakers from state assemblies, while a dozen are nominated by the central government. All of them enjoy a full-term lasting six years, with a third of the house retiring after every second year.
The increases in the NDA numbers in the projection come from states like Uttar Pradesh that the BJP resoundingly won in the 2017 state election.
PRS’s projection shows that to get to the 122 seats needed for a majority, the NDA would need the support of regional parties from eastern and southern India. Some of the key parties have supported the NDA in the past.
Modi and the BJP already have an iron grip over the Lok Sabha after they won a general election last month with a landslide mandate, improving on his massive win in 2014. During his first term, though, the government’s legislative agenda was often thwarted by opposition parties who hold sway in the Rajya Sabha.
“There are several unfinished items from the first term because the NDA did not have a majority in the Rajya Sabha, and we are looking forward to the time when some of these items can get passed and legislated,” BJP National Vice President Baijayant Panda said.
The government’s legislative pipeline could include a bill to stop Muslim men seeking instant divorce, or “triple talaq”, and pushing key economic reforms, such as changing labour regulations and rules for land acquisition that have long been demanded by Indian industry.
A senior BJP leader, who declined to be named, told Reuters the party is looking to stitch up a two-thirds majority in both houses.
That would allow it to pass constitutional amendments such as ending the decades-old special rights for the people of Jammu and Kashmir, the country’s only Muslim-majority state, parts of which are also claimed by neighbouring Pakistan.
Such a move would be regarded as highly inflammatory by separatists in Kashmir and by Pakistan as they argue it could lead to many more Hindus moving into the state from other parts of India, changing the religious balance of the region.
The BJP’s election manifesto also mentioned its intention to create a uniform civil code that would apply to all Indians, replacing different laws for major religious communities that apply to family matters such as marriage, divorce and succession.
India’s main opposition Congress party, on the other hand, is set to lose 12 seats in Rajya Sabha by 2020, bringing its total tally down to 38.
In the Lok Sabha, Congress controls only 52 seats, compared to the BJP’s record 303 members, rendering it unable to block any legislation in that chamber.
Here is a table based on PRS numbers to show how the NDA could increase its tally in the Rajya Sabha.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi gestures as he addresses his supporters during a public meeting in Ahmedabad, India, May 26, 2019. REUTERS/Amit Dave
Reporting by Devjyot Ghoshal; Editing by Martin Howell and Richard Pullin
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Social Intelligence Product Suite TM
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Social Intelligence Product Suite TM Digitas Health Social Media POV
Sarah Larcker
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© 2009 DIGITAS HEALTH
generate specific learnings that
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22 10/20/2009 CAPCPR
Publié dans : Business, Technologie
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Sarah Larcker , Vice President, Brand Strategy & Planning at Digitas Health at Digitas Health
Thanks Gurpreet. Glad you enjoyed.
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Social Media What’s in it for pharma? Sarah Larcker Business Strategy October 21, 2009 This presentation, which contains confidential information belonging to Digitas Health, is for use solely in connection with the recipient’s evaluation of a potential business relationship with Digitas Health and may not be used by, copied by, or disclosed or distributed to any third parties without the prior written consent of Digitas Health.
A common (but faulty) way of defining Social Media… The Technologies Blogs Microsharing Podcasting Online Chat Message Boards Photoblogging Technologies Media Sharing MoSoSo Wikis RSS Widgets Social Networks Social Bookmarking © 2009 DIGITAS HEALTH *** 2 10/20/2009 CAPCPR
Social media really is… A Trend “…a social trend in which Read me! people use technologies to get the things they need from each other, rather than from traditional institutions…” © 2009 DIGITAS HEALTH 3 10/20/2009 CAPCPR
It’s really about the relationships and the innate human desire to connect , not the technologies © 2009 DIGITAS HEALTH 4 10/20/2009 CAPCPR
Social media is not a channel © 2009 DIGITAS HEALTH 5 10/20/2009 CAPCPR
…it’s a conversation health conversation And the It’s more going on out there right now is big influential than marketing or mass media And right now pharma is largely peripheral to it This conversation will go on regardless And a choice not to © 2009 DIGITAS HEALTH engage is a choice for irrelevance 6 10/20/2009 CAPCPR
Interruption marketing worked… The average person is exposed to advertising messages every day SOURCE: Nielsen, Trust in Advertising Report, 10/07 © 2009 DIGITAS HEALTH 7 10/20/2009 CAPCPR
…as long as people didn’t have choices of people who can skip TV ads, do © 2009 DIGITAS HEALTH SOURCE: Nielsen, Trust in Advertising Report, 10/07 8 10/20/2009 CAPCPR
…and as long as customers trusted marketers Only 14% 50% of people agree that it is of people trust advertising important to be seen as somebody who can always see through exaggeration and hype © 2009 DIGITAS HEALTH SOURCE: Nielsen, Trust in Advertising Report, 10/07 Yankelovich Monitor, 2005/2006 9 10/20/2009 CAPCPR
…especially in the Pharma industry 48% of Americans trust pharma less than they did 5 years ago 55% believe there’s more negative press compared to 5 years ago © 2009 DIGITAS HEALTH SOURCE: DDB, Health is the New Wealth – 2009 10 10/20/2009 CAPCPR
But today, people do have choices of people trust the recommendations of people like themselves © 2009 DIGITAS HEALTH SOURCE: Nielsen, Trust in Advertising Report, 10/07 11 10/20/2009 CAPCPR
And increasingly they’re trusting their peers 54 million US consumers now connect to others or to online content created by others regarding health issues1 User Generated Content 84% of these social connectors now appears on turn to online social spaces to educate the first three pages themselves about a disease or condition, of health searches especially when prompted by a new 88% Wikipedia diagnosis or HCP consultation2 of the time3 appears on the first page in 63% 70% of searches3 of consumers believe that pharma information © 2009 DIGITAS HEALTH from peers is credible even if the peers are not experts2 1. JupiterResearch, Online Health: Assessing the Risk of Social and One-to-One Media, Feb. 2007 2. iCrossing, How America Searches: Health and Wellness, Jan. 2008 12 10/20/2009 CAPCPR 3. Envision Solutions, LLC, Diving Deeper Into Online Health Search, February 2007
In the past year, more Americans have gotten health information off the Internet than from their doctors. I don’t know… Google it! © 2009 DIGITAS HEALTH Source: iCrossing, How America Searches: Health and Wellness, January 2008 13 10/20/2009 CAPCPR
People are talking about your brands right now © 2009 DIGITAS HEALTH 14 10/20/2009 CAPCPR
And this trend will only accelerate Resources used by US adult Internet users who searched online for health and wellness information in the past year Source: eMarketer as reported by : iCrossing How America Searches: Health and Wellness, January 2008, as cited by eMarketer in Pharmaceutical Industry Online, 2009 © 2009 DIGITAS HEALTH 15 10/20/2009 CAPCPR
So what’s a pharma marketer to do?
It can be done… P People Assess your customers’ social activities Read me! O Objectives Decide what you want to accomplish S Strategies Plan for how relationships with customers will change T Tactics © 2009 DIGITAS HEALTH Decide which social technologies to use 17 10/20/2009 CAPCPR
Understand the social technographics of your customers Lonely Fellow Sufferers Misery Loves Company Misery Loves Company These patients who are managing difficult, chronic problems stand to Diabetes Cancer Obesity benefit most from social media, Depression/ anxiety because they are also likely to connect with and support one Other mood disorder another online Sleep disorder High cholesterol Migraine Chronic pain Lonely Fellow Sufferers Social Benefit* These patients, whose Arthritis Skin disorder participation in social media is below average could benefit but don’t share online HTN GI Asthma Other PUD Connectors Who Don’t Care Osteoporosis Walking Disability These patients willingly connect Other CV for non-health reasons…but not Allergies about their health problems. GU ED CHF The Disconnected This group is likely neither to seek fellow disease sufferers nor to Thyroid Condition realize significant benefit from © 2009 DIGITAS HEALTH doing so The Disconnected Connectors Who Don’t Care Social Participation† 18 10/20/2009 CAPCPR SOURCE: Forrester Research, North American Technographics Benchmark Survey, 2008 *Based on a Forrester score for emotional and behavioral value of social support †Percent of consumers participating in some form of social media at least monthly
Map objectives to strategies to technologies Objectives Strategies Tactics Ongoing monitoring and mining of customer Listening conversations with each other, instead of • Active listening occasional surveys and focus groups Participating in and stimulating two-way • Blogs conversations customers have with each • Microblogging (e.g., Twitter) Engaging other, not just outbound communications to • Podcasts customers • Video sharing • Physician social networks (e.g., Sermo, Within3) Empowering advocates to inform and Energizing persuade other customers • Consumer social networks (e.g., Facebook) • Private communities (e.g., Communispace) • Wikis • Support forums Supporting Enabling customers to support each other • Support networks • Microblogging Helping the customer community to • Social networks Embracing generate ideas to improve your products • Wikis © 2009 DIGITAS HEALTH and services 19 10/20/2009 CAPCPR
Social IntelligenceTM The art and science of Active Listening Qualitative Analysis Real time dashboards Quantitative analysis & measurement Marketing insights & actionable recommendations © 2009 DIGITAS HEALTH 10/20/2009 CAPCPR
Social Intelligence Product Suite TM • Quick observation of online conversation supplied in modular site that can display multiple sources of public information. • Efficient monitoring of conversations as Observation they occur in near real time for Room qualitative, directional sampling Active Listening Research Influencer database, On-demand private panel Influencer ID Community organized by affiliation, community. Useful when advocates/ detractors looking to understand community dynamic or © 2009 DIGITAS HEALTH generate specific learnings that may or may not be present in the public conversation 22 10/20/2009 CAPCPR
“Legal will never approve this…”
The risks are known…and manageable Only a fraction of social media posts contain reportable AEs… SOURCE: Nielsen Online, “Listening to Consumers in a Highly Regulated Environment” 8/08 © 2009 DIGITAS HEALTH …and DDMAC enforcement has focused on long familiar issues 10/20/2009 CAPCPR
Find your balance between risk tolerance and customer benefit Least Risk More Risk Most Risk Least Customer Benefit More Customer Benefit Most Customer Benefit Limit who you touch Limit users’ actions Add safeguards Listening platform Community with limits Pre-moderated on actions community Private community Moderated contests Sponsored community Physician community Generic condition community SOURCE: Adapted from Forrester Research, How To Create A Social Application For Life Sciences Without Getting Fired, 4/09 © 2009 DIGITAS HEALTH 10/20/2009 CAPCPR 25
Draw on the experience of your peers © 2009 DIGITAS HEALTH 26 10/20/2009 CAPCPR
“But I still have to get my message out”
Messages are not a conversation… © 2009 DIGITAS HEALTH 28 10/20/2009 CAPCPR
But messaging and conversation can be part of the same plan Social Intelligence™ Insight Mining & Activation Strategy Aligned Earned Media Strategy Optimized Paid Media Strategy Foundational © 2009 DIGITAS HEALTH Owned Media Strategy 29 10/20/2009 CAPCPR
Look no further than your own government… WHITEHOUSE.GOV © 2009 DIGITAS HEALTH 30 10/20/2009 CAPCPR
Want proof? 10:03 AM EDT 10:25 AM 10:30 AM 10:30 AM 11 AM 12 PM 1 PM 2 PM 3 PM © 2009 DIGITAS HEALTH 31 10/20/2009 CAPCPR
Another company with PR problems? 1.4 MILLION VIEWS © 2009 DIGITAS HEALTH 32 10/20/2009 CAPCPR
Helping Comcast turn it around “Frank Eliason: Helping Comcast suck a little bit less” “I can give full kudos to Frank for being so personable, and as much as it pains me to say it, I have to acknowledge Comcast as a whole for bringing customer service to the digital age.” BusinessWeek: “I think it's safe Frank Eliason to call Comcast's Frank Eliason the most famous customer service manager in the U.S., @comcastcares possibly in the world.” © 2009 DIGITAS HEALTH 33 10/20/2009 CAPCPR
What can we learn from Comcast & Obama? Do we reallywant to know what our customers think about us? Are we ready to put them first? Are we willing to make the changes in our organizations that this will require? Do we know how to have a real conversation © 2009 DIGITAS HEALTH with them instead of a monologue? 34 10/20/2009 CAPCPR
Five things you can do right now • Demystify AE Reporting • Start listening • Involve your agencies •Get trained in your company’s •Work with a partner •Propagate learnings to creative, Drug Safety SOP account planning teams •Learn from what you hear •If your company doesn’t have •Use learnings to inform one for social media, help them •Fix what needs to be fixed segmentation and other market develop one •Do more of what’s valued research •Don’t forget PR • Get your hands dirty • Get your feet wet •Open your own accounts on •Identify a pilot social media Facebook, Twitter, YouTube… opportunity consistent with your company’s risk tolerance •Keep it personal, authentic, transparent, and off-hours •Test…and learn •Share value © 2009 DIGITAS HEALTH 35 10/20/2009 CAPCPR
“Your brand is what your customers say it is…so you’d better start listening” — Charlene Li & Josh Bernoff © 2009 DIGITAS HEALTH 36 10/20/2009 CAPCPR
@slarcker @Digitas_Health
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Home » Friedreich’s Ataxia Experimental Treatments » CAT-4001
CAT-4001 is a treatment for Friedreich’s ataxia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis that is under development at Catabasis Pharmaceuticals.
Friedreich’s ataxia is a rare genetic disease caused by FXN gene mutations. The abnormalities lead to reduced production of the frataxin protein, which is crucial to the functioning of mitochondria, cell components that generate energy.
Symptoms of FA include impaired muscle coordination, loss of muscle strength and sensation, slurred speech, and impaired vision and hearing. The disease worsens over time.
There are no effective treatments for FA, although a lot of potential therapies are in the pipeline. CAT-4001 is still in early stages of development.
How CAT-4001 works
CAT-4001 activates a protein called Nrf2 that reduces inflammation and oxidative stress. It also inhibits the NFkB protein, which plays a role in inflammation.
CAT-4001 consists of monomethyl fumarate and docosahexaenoic acid, or DHA. Catabasis designed it not only to reduce inflammation and oxidative stress but also to restore mitochondrial function.
Studies in cell cultures and animals have shown CAT-4001 to be more effective than either of its components in addressing underlying problems of FA. This is true whether each component is used by itself or in combinations with other therapies.
CAT-4001 in clinical trials
CAT-4001 has yet to be tested in humans, but the results of animal studies have been encouraging.
In 2015, Catabasis received funding from the Friedreich’s Ataxia Research Alliance to test CAT-4001 in cell cultures and animal models of FA.
The grant, the Kyle Bryant Translational Research Award, was named for a man who was diagnosed with FA in his early teens. It goes to researchers whose work can lead to new treatments.
Note: Friedreich’s Ataxia News is strictly a news and information website about the disease. It does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. This content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website. The opinions expressed in this column are not those of Friedreich’s Ataxia News, or its parent company, BioNews Services, and are intended to spark discussion about issues pertaining to Friedreich’s Ataxia.
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First look at Elliot Harper as Miss Trunchbull in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Matilda The Musical UK & Ireland Tour
The Royal Shakespeare Company have released the first images of Elliot Harper as Miss Trunchbull in Matilda The Musical’s UK and Ireland tour. Elliot joined the production on Tuesday 15 January at Theatre Royal Plymouth. The tour will then play at the Alhambra Theatre, Bradford (19 February – 23 March 2019), Edinburgh Playhouse (2 – 27 April 2019), The Bristol Hippodrome (7 May – 8 June 2019), Mayflower Theatre, Southampton (11 June – 6 July 2019) and Norwich Theatre Royal (16 July – 17 August 2019). The West End production will continue to play at the Cambridge Theatre, where it is now in its eighth year and is booking until 24 May 2020.
Carly Thoms (Miss Honey) and Sebastien Torkia and Rebecca Thornhill (Mr and Mrs Wormwood) will continue in their roles until the tour concludes its run at Norwich Theatre Royal on 17 August 2019.
Elliot Harper’s West End theatre credits include Father Joe in The Exorcist at the Phoenix Theatre, Matilda The Musical(Cambridge Theatre), One Man Two Guvnors (National Theatre), Les Misérables (Queens Theatre) and The Phantom of the Opera (Her Majesty’s Theatre). Other theatre credits include Sweet Charity (Watermill), A Study In Scarlet (Southwark Playhouse), The Silver Tassie (Druid/Lincoln Center NY), Rope, Arsenic and Old Lace (Pitlochry Festival Theatre), The Big Sleep (The Mill At Sonning), As You Like It, Deathtrap, The Taming of the Shrew, The Talented Mr Ripley and Travels with my Aunt (Queens Theatre, Hornchurch), and the UK touring productions of Jesus Christ Superstar and The Buddy Holly Story. Harper’s film and television credits include Howard Goodall’s 20th Century Greats (Tiger Aspect), Showroom, which was a winning film at SXSW Film Festival, and The Egg, Masters of the Universe (Asalva Productions).
The full adult cast includes Richard Astbury, Joe Atkinson, Nina Bell, Peter Bindloss, Oliver Bingham, Emily Bull, Samara Casteallo, Matthew Caputo, Matt Gillett, Michelle Chantelle Hopewell, Sam Lathwood,Steffan Lloyd-Evans, Charlie Martin, Tom Mather, Anu Ogunmefun, Carly Thoms, Rebecca Thornhill,Sebastien Torkia, Adam Vaughan and Dawn Williams.
The role of Matilda is shared by Sophia Ally, Scarlett Cecil, Poppy Jones, Emma Moore and Nicola Turner. The other young performers in the UK and Ireland Tour in the three teams who play the roles of Bruce, Lavender, Amanda and the rest of the pupils at Crunchem Hall and are as follows: Evie Allen, Louella Asante-Owusu, Joseph Black, Georgia Mae Brown, Isobelle Chalmers, Jessica Chalmers, Madeline Gilby, Sheldon Golding, Cuba Kamanu, Tom Lomas, Adam Lord, Maddison Lowe, Ilan Miller, Felicity Mitson, Toby Mocrei, Ashton Murphy, Joely Robertson, Ruaridh Sinnott, Kit Swaddling, Chantelle Tonolete, Harrison Wilding andHarry Wilson.
Matilda The Musical is written by Dennis Kelly, with music and lyrics by Tim Minchin, and developed and directed byMatthew Warchus. The production is designed by Rob Howell, with choreography by Peter Darling, orchestrations, additional music and musical supervision by Christopher Nightingale, lighting by Hugh Vanstone, sound by Simon Baker and the special effects and illusions are by Paul Kieve.
The production is accompanied by Change My Story, a new education programme inspired by Matilda The Musicalwhich will engage young people in towns and cities across the UK and Ireland. With a travelling library of stories led by the musical’s librarian Mrs Phelps and whole school takeovers, the RSC aims to reach over 15,000 children, in collaboration with touring theatre partners. Further details can be found at http://uk.matildathemusical.com/tour/schools/matilda-school-resources/.
Matilda The Musical has now been seen by 8.7 million people worldwide, having toured to over 72 cities and played more than 6500 performances in the West End, on Broadway and on tour across North America, the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. Matilda The Musical had its first non-English language production at the LG Arts Centre in Seoul, South Korea in September 2018.
Inspired by the incomparable Roald Dahl’s beloved book, Matilda The Musical was commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company and premiered at the RSC’s Stratford-upon-Avon home in November 2010, before transferring to London’s West End in October 2011, where it opened to rave reviews. The New York production of Matilda The Musicalopened in April 2013 at Broadway’s Shubert Theatre and was celebrated on 10 “Top Ten” lists for 2013, including TIME Magazine’s #1 Show of the Year.
Matilda The Musical swept the board at the 2012 Olivier Awards, with a record-breaking seven awards, and won four Tony Awards and a Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theater for the four girls sharing the title role on Broadway.
The North America production toured 52 cities. The Australian and New Zealand production won a Sydney Theatre Award for Best Musical in 2015, and played sold-out seasons in Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and Auckland. The show broke further records in July 2016 by winning all 13 Helpmann Awards for which it was nominated.
Matilda The Musical is produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company with André Ptaszynski and Denise Wood as Executive Producers. The production was developed with the support of Jeanie O’Hare and the RSC Literary Department.
The production is designed by Rob Howell, with choreography by Peter Darling, orchestrations, additional music and musical supervision by Christopher Nightingale, lighting by Hugh Vanstone, sound by Simon Baker and the special effects and illusions are by Paul Kieve.
TOUR LISTINGS
Theatre Royal Plymouth
Tuesday 15 January – Saturday 16 February 2019
Box Office: 01752 267 222
www.theatreroyal.com
The Alhambra Theatre, Bradford
Tuesday 19 February – Saturday 23 March 2019
www.bradford-theatres.co.uk
Edinburgh Playhouse
Tuesday 2 – Saturday 27 April 2019
Box Office: 0844 871 3014*
www.atgtickets.com/venues/edinburgh-playhouse/
The Bristol Hippodrome
Tuesday 7 May – Saturday 8 June 2019
www.atgtickets.com/bristol-hippodrome
Mayflower Theatre, Southampton
Tuesday 11 June – Saturday 6 July 2019
www.mayflower.org.uk
Norwich Theatre Royal
Tuesday 16 July – Saturday 17 August 2019
www.theatreroyalnorwich.co.uk
* Calls cost 7p per minute, plus your phone company’s access charge.
** Calls cost 4.5p per minute plus your phone company’s access charge.
www.matildathemusical.com
Photo credit: Cornershop PR
Elliot Harper, Matilda, musicals, theatre
First rehearsal images released of Ivo van Hove’s All About Eve
News: Waltham Forest awards £135,000 to 12 community arts groups as new funding round opens in Mayor’s first London Borough of Culture programme
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MSNBC ratings crater as NBC looks for new direction
Ed MorrisseyPosted at 11:01 am on April 1, 2015
Yes, yes, it’s easy to laugh at the travails of MSNBC, but there are some important lessons from its audience collapse. Deadline Hollywood detailed the destruction yesterday, using a Dickensian motif in comparing MSNBC to Fox. FNC not only crushes its competition overall, but it demolished both CNN and MSNBC in the target demo — 25-54 year olds.
MSNBC during the Olbermann era believed it had a claim on the younger demographic, especially with the rise of progressive populism in the middle of the second Bush term. The Iraq War and Hurricane Katrina energized the progressive movement, especially on college campuses, and MSNBC positioned itself to sweep up a new generation of politically active viewers. Critics noted that Fox, while leading in the ratings overall, skewed older, and would eventually fall, both with advertisers and with overall ratings as viewer loyalty built up their progressive rival.
That strategy didn’t pan out so well:
Talk about a tale of two cable news networks. With its 53rd consecutive quarter total audience win, Fox News Channel saw a 10% primetime rise among adults 25-54 in first-quarter 2015 over last year. In fact, with 321,000 on average among the 25-54s in primetime, Fox News thrashed rivals CNN (187,000) and MSNBC (132,000) with more news demo viewers than the other two combined, according to Nielsen.
In fact, Fox is almost tripling MSNBC in the demo for prime time, but it’s not just the demo. As Deadline notes, MSNBC’s prime-time lineup has suffered an unprecedented collapse in viewership across the board:
Contrast that to the fate of the NBCUniversal-owned MSNBC, which not only saw a 39% drop in the demo compared to Q1 2014 but its worst quarterly result in the category since Q2 2005. If that almost decade-old result wasn’t enough of a blow, and rising CNN’s fourth consecutive win over MSNBC in prime didn’t cut deep enough, take a look at the gutting the cabler newser’s nighttime offerings are suffering.
With just 145,000 viewers among the 25-54s on average over the December 29, 2014 – March 29, 2105 period, the once-proud flagship The Rachel Maddow Show hit an all-time quarter low with the worst result since its September 8, 2008 launch. Not only is Maddow down 46% in the demo, but her 9 PM show is also down 19% in total viewers. Fellow primetime show All In With Chris Hayes and Last Word With Lawrence O’Donnell fell to their worst quarterly demo ratings since their respective 2013 and 2010 debuts. O’Donnell’s show also had its lowest total quarterly viewership results. And 7 PM’s Hardball With Chris Matthews had its lowest-rated quarter in the demo since 2Q 2005 with an average viewership of 126,000.
I’d guess that Huffington Post gets more than 126,000 page views an hour during a good portion of the day.
MSNBC president Phil Griffin had already come under pressure for a major revamp of the cable channel, and this will only increase it. (Fun fact from Deadline: MSNBC actually lost to HLC and CNBC in the last quarter, both considered secondary/specialty cable channels.) But what will MSNBC choose to do? A few years ago, Griffin and I talked about audience building at a conference in Jerusalem, along with HBO’s CEO and others. Griffin said at the time that he was less interested in ratings in general than with building brand loyalty and passion, a model that works quite well for HBO — in part because they sell subscriptions rather than ads, though. At that time the model appeared to be succeeding for Griffin, but maybe only because the political winds of the time favored progressives.
That may not have changed as much as one might hope, but clearly MSNBC is no longer getting a benefit from its community building and brand loyalty. That could be seen as an indicator that progressive populism has waned considerably, thanks to the incompetence of the Obama administration and the aggressively autocratic agenda of the Democrats, but that may not be the entire issue either. It’s also the quality of the shows themselves, as this clip from last night’s Ed Schultz show demonstrates:
Strident demagoguery may sell for a short period of time, but it has little staying power. In contrast, the talking head shows on Fox and CNN deal with dissent in a much more mature manner, and usually features more of it than MSNBC prime-time shows do. For that matter, Morning Joe has a much different dynamic than the channel’s prime-time shows, and it’s thriving.
Conservatives who think that MSNBC will suddenly lean to the right may be missing the point, too. Even if that produces a burst of curiosity, it’s not going to stick unless the quality of the broadcasts improve. Griffin ran out the string on his form of progressive tribal signaling as the primary strategy, and his audience has dissipated because MSNBC’s primetime doesn’t deliver anything more than that. They need talent more than anything else, and a way to make themselves relevant to more than just the progressive fringe. Griffin has a much more difficult task ahead of him, if NBC allows him to stick around long enough to complete it.
Tags: Ed Schultz Keith Olbermann MSNBC Nielsen ratings Phil Griffin
So woke: Elizabeth Warren has added her preferred pronouns to her Twitter bio
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Home / Tips and Tricks / Magic Leap expands into Switzerland with the New Optics Center, revealing more about the Seattle facility «Magic Leap :: Next Reality
Magic Leap expands into Switzerland with the New Optics Center, revealing more about the Seattle facility «Magic Leap :: Next Reality
Tips and Tricks 34 Views
Magic Leap has returned to the lab in the wake of mixed reviews for Magic Leap One to improve the successor to the device.
To further innovate and disseminate its physical footprint, Magic Leap has released a new version on Monday at its new Center of Excellence in Lausanne, Switzerland, which will expand the company's overall research and development capacity.
Magic Leap has selected Lausanne because it is a "center for innovation and future-oriented technological developments". Magic Leap / YouTube Image
The Lausanne Center of Excellence "will focus on advancing Magic Leap's optics and photonics work for future devices," says Magic Leap's website. In addition to the location in Switzerland, similar work is being carried out at the Magic Leap Optics Centers in Plantation, Florida (headquarters of the company); Seattle, Washington; Boulder, Colorado; Sunnyvale, California; and Austin, Texas.
"The development of photonics and optics is critical to the future of Magic Leap and Spatial Computing," said Paul Greco, Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering and Programs at Magic Leap. "We've assembled a world-class team that is excited to support the future of Magic Leap and Spatial Computing."
On Tuesday, Magic Leap gave GeekWire a look at his Seattle plant being led by the company's chief futurist, Neal Stephenson
According to the report, the Self-Contained Existence Unit (SCEU) tasked with expanding the possibilities of augmented reality content. The name "Goat Labs" is created and used for other developers because of its roots in trying to transfer Baby Goat Videos (a popular category on YouTube) to Augmented Reality.
In recent weeks, Magic Leap has faced criticism for the relatively limited field of view of its first device, with some commenting also on the device's bulky, sci-fi look. Nonetheless, Magic Leap, like its current competitors, will have multiple iteration cycles to achieve FoV enhancements and reduce its optics to a size that suits a more stylish form factor.
CEO Rony Abovitz has even officially announced this. These areas will be improved in future models. But for these future enhancements, which are even significant, the company first has to figure out how to capture the public's interest while developing these features over several years. With six facilities now dedicated to the issue of optics, Magic Leap seems to have at least a realistic chance of achieving some of these goals.
Do not miss: The next 30 people of reality will be seen in Augmented Reality 2018
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Women's VU; Vol. 13 Issue 05 Jan. 1991
Margaret Cuninggim Women's Center (Vanderbilt University. Margaret Cuninggim Women's Center, 1991-01)
Women's VU; Vol. 12 Issue 10 June 1990
Women's VU; Vol. 16 Issue 08 Apr. 1994
Women's VU; Vol. 16 Issue 07 Mar. 1994
Women's VU; Vol. 12 Issue 06 Feb. 1990
Women's VU; Vol. 17 Issue 02 Oct. 1994
Women's VU; Vol. 16 Issue 04 Dec. 1994
Margaret Cuninggim Women's Center (81)
SubjectFeminism (81)Gender equity (81)Margaret Cuninggim Women's Center (Vanderbilt University) (81)Vanderbilt University -- Periodicals (81)Women's studies -- Periodicals (81)... View MoreDate Issued1999 (10)1998 (10)1997 (11)1996 (10)1995 (9)1994 (11)1991 (10)1990 (10)
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Hyderabad: 11-yr-old boy clears class XII examhttps://indianexpress.com/article/education/hyderabad-11-yr-old-boy-clears-class-xii-exam-4615582/
Hyderabad: 11-yr-old boy clears class XII exam
In 2015, Agastya Jaiswal cleared the SSC examination at the age of 9 and had then taken permission from the Telangana SSC Board to appear for the exam
By PTI |Hyderabad | Published: April 16, 2017 7:05:38 pm
Child prodigy Agastya Jaiswal has achieved the rare feat of passing the class XII examination at the age of 11.
Agastya’s father Ashwani Kumar said he passed the intermediate second year examination with 63 per cent. He claimed his son is the first person in the state to have passed the examination at such a young age.
He is a student of St Mary’s Junior College, Yousufguda, and appeared for the exam in March this year. The results of the exam were announced today.
Agastya cleared the SSC examination at the age of 9 in 2015, and had then taken permission from the Telangana SSC Board to appear for the exam, Kumar said.
But no such special permission is needed to appear for intermediate examination, Kumar said.
An official with the Board of Intermediate Education said the students appearing for the class XII exam only have to give information related to the subjects, medium of instruction and the second language, but not age.
The Board of Intermediate Education relies on SSC data for other information, he said.
1 Telangana Inter 2017 results: 11-year-old Hyderabad boy clears class 12 exam
2 Telangana Intermediate 2017 exam results declared at cgg.results.gov.in
3 Telangana intermediate exams 2017: Results for 1st and 2nd year declared, girls outshine boys
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Blue plaque supposedly celebrating Save the Children founder has been commemorating the wrong woman for 23 years
Founder of Save the Children and Malborough resident Eglantyne Jebb was honoured with a plaque in 1996
The plaque commemorated Eglantyne Mary Jebb, a relative of the Save The Children founder (Photo: Blue Plaque Places)
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A blue plaque celebrating a female charity pioneer will be replaced after 23 years – because it features the wrong name.
Marlborough resident Eglantyne Jebb, who founded the Save the Children organisation in 1919, was honoured with a plaque in 1996.
Unfortunately, a local researcher found the plaque has been mistakenly celebrating a relative of Ms Jebb, rather than the founder, for more than two decades.
Mixed up with her cousin
Sue Round, a writer for Marlborough News, discovered that Ms Jebb’s cousin was actually the one honoured when she noticed the plaque featured a middle name.
Eglantyne Jebb, a teacher in the local area who later went on to found the charity, did not appear to have a middle name listed in the town’s local records.
Her cousin, Eglantyne Mary Jebb, however, did have a middle name listed, and confusingly, she also taught in the area, according to BBC News.
Who is Eglantyne Jebb?
Eglantyne Jebb lived 1876-1928.
She taught at St Peter’s school in Marlborough, Wiltshire.
The teacher founded the Save the Children organisation at the end of the first World War to relieve the effects of famine in Austria and Germany.
Ms Jebb also drafted the UN document the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, which was adopted by the League of Nations in 1923.
She died after suffering from a thyroid problem.
Although blue plaques are commonly associated with English Heritage, councils and private organisations are entitled to create and mount plaques for historical figures of significance.
Marlborough Town Council even invited Princess Anne to unveil the plaque in 1996.
They said they have “no idea” how the error happened.
‘Somehow wires were crossed’
Shelley Parker, town clerk of Marlborough council told i: “We’ve co-funded with Marlborough News a replacement of the plaque to highlight the centenary of Save the Children and highlight all of the great work Eglantyne Jebb carried out.
“She’s little known, surprisingly, but she’s really made her mark when she set up Save The Children. We’re helping to raise her profile on the centenary of her work.”
She added: “We have no idea how the error happened. There were a committee of people keen to commemorate her when the plaque was first discussed in the mid-nineties, and somehow wires were crossed and the middle name of one of her relatives was added to the plaque.
She added: “If anything comes out of the mistake, we hope people will be made aware of all of the good that she did.”
Eglantyne Jebb (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)
The plaque replacement will be unveiled on Friday in celebration of the charity’s 100th birthday.
Regardless of the memorial’s difficulties, tourists and historians alike will be happy to see another woman added to the collection.
In London, there are more than 900 plaques that celebrate the contributions of pioneering Londoners – but just 14 per cent of those celebrate women.
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Revenge porn victims could be granted anonymity in review of laws
How can we close the political gender gap?
I had an abortion and I'm not ashamed - we need to talk about it more
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The UN report into austerity captured a key shift in how disabled people are treated – and Amber Rudd is going to ignore it
It is no coincidence that austerity has hit disabled people harder than any other group in society
Britain’s Home Secretary Amber Rudd leaves from 10 Downing Street (Getty Images)
Marsha de Cordova 8 months Wednesday November 21st 2018
Jacob Rees-Mogg’s failed coup shows the hard Brexit delusion is dead
How a no deal Brexit can still happen, even if most MPs are against it
Boris Johnson's idea that hard work cures mental illness is totally ab
Why a landslide victory for Boris Johnson should worry even the Tories
Ms was meant to be the solution to sexism - but I hate it just as much
If you ever wonder why abused women don't leave, look at this picture
It’s shameful that the UN felt the need to investigate the rising levels of poverty and hardship in one of the richest countries in the world – the UK.
The conclusions of the two week inquiry were stark. Under this Government, the UN says compassion has been replaced by a “punitive, mean-spirited and callous approach”, in which concern over genuine wellbeing has been exchanged for “blind compliance”.
‘Compassion has been replaced by a social security system stacked against them’
For the millions of disabled people relying on the social security system in this country, the UN captured an important shift in the way that they are treated. For disabled people under this Conservative Government, compassion has been replaced by a social security system stacked against them, shaped by a callous assessment framework and a punitive sanctions regime.
Of the 14 million people living in poverty in the UK today, nearly half of them are disabled or live with someone who is. It is no coincidence that austerity has hit disabled people harder than any other group in society. A report published by the Equality and Human Rights Commission earlier this year found that some families with disabled children have lost on average £10,000 per year as a result of the Conservative Government’s tax and welfare ‘reforms’. Disabled people have consistently and disproportionately been forced to bear the brunt of Tory austerity. Despite claims otherwise, spending on social security for disabled people has shrunk by £5 billion over the last decade.
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This is not the first time that the UN has raised the devastating impact of austerity on disabled people. In 2016, the UN Committee for the Rights of Disabled People launched an inquiry into the UK Government’s mistreatment of disabled people, which they concluded amounted to “grave” and “systematic” human rights violations.
Poverty is a political choice
Yet in the face of all evidence, the Conservatives have repeatedly dismissed the findings of UN experts. This week, the Government once again buried its head in the sand. Amber Rudd, who presided over the hostile environment at the Home Office and is now the newly appointed Work and Pensions Secretary, condemned the “political nature” of the UN’s findings. This shocking attack on the integrity of the UN’s report suggests that Rudd is set to ignore the evidence of the hardship caused by her Government’s policies, just as her predecessor did.
Universal Credit: Amber Rudd dismisses issues as ‘teething problems’
Rudd felt keen to label Professor Alston, the UN Rapporteur, as politically motivated because Alston was bold enough to insist that poverty is a political choice. Under the Tories, compassion has been replaced by “punitive” austerity. But as Britain opens its eyes to the suffering caused by Universal Credit and a hollowed out social security system, it is becoming clearer and clearer that the Government cannot hide that austerity is indeed a political choice, and that poverty is too.
Marsha de Cordova is the Labour MP for Battersea and Shadow Minister for Disabled People
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Harnessing progenitor cells in neonatal white matter repair
December 21, 2016 /in Genetics and Rare Diseases, Genetics and Rare Diseases News, Neonatology, Neonatology News, Neurology & Neurosurgery News, Neurology and Neurosurgery /by Kathey Jaucian
The sirtuin protein Sirt1 plays a crucial role in the proliferation and regeneration of glial cells from an existing pool of progenitor cells — a process that rebuilds vital white matter following neonatal hypoxic brain injury. Although scientists do not fully understand Sirt1’s role in controlling cellular proliferation, this pre-clinical model of neonatal brain injury outlines for the first time how Sirt1 contributes to development of additional progenitor cells and maturation of fully functional oligodendrocytes.
The findings, published December 19 in Nature Communications, suggest that modulation of this protein could enhance progenitor cell regeneration, spurring additional white matter growth and repair following neonatal brain injury.
“It is not a cure. But, in order to regenerate the white matter that is lost or damaged, the first steps are to identify endogenous cells capable of regenerating lost cells and then to expand their pool. The glial progenitor cells represent 4 to 5 percent of total brain cells,” says Vittorio Gallo, Ph.D., Director of the Center for Neuroscience Research at Children’s National, and senior author of the study. “It’s a sizable pool, considering that the brain is made up of billions of cells. The advantage is that these progenitor cells are already there, with no requirement to slip them through the blood-brain barrier. Eventually they will differentiate into oligodendrocyte cells in white matter, mature glia, and that’s exactly what we want them to do.”
The study team identified Sirt1 as a novel, major regulator of basal oligodendrocyte progenitor cell (OPC) proliferation and regeneration in response to hypoxia in neonatal white matter, Gallo and co-authors write. “We demonstrate that Sirt1 deacetylates and activates Cdk2, a kinase which controls OPC expansion. We also elucidate the mechanism by which Sirt1 targets other individual members of the Cdk2 signaling pathway, by regulating their deacetylation, complex formation and E2F1 release, molecular events which drive Cdk2-mediated OPC proliferation,” says Li-Jin Chew, Ph.D., research associate professor at Children’s Center for Neuroscience Research and a study co-author.
Hypoxia-induced brain injury in neonates initiates spontaneous amplification of progenitor cells but also causes a deficiency of mature oligodendrocytes. Inhibiting Sirt1 expression in vitro and in vivo showed that loss of its deacetylase activity prevents OPC proliferation in hypoxia while promoting oligodendrocyte maturation – which underscores the importance of Sirt1 activity in maintaining the delicate balance between these two processes.
The tantalizing findings – the result of four years of research work in mouse models of neonatal hypoxia – hint at the prospect of lessening the severity of developmental delays experienced by the majority of preemies, Gallo adds. About 1 in 10 infants born in the United States are delivered preterm, prior to the 37th gestational week of pregnancy, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Brain injury associated with preterm birth – including white matter injury – can have long-term cognitive and behavioral consequences, with more than 50 percent of infants who survive prematurity needing special education, behavioral intervention and pharmacological treatment, Gallo says.
Time is of the essence, since Sirt1 plays a beneficial role at a certain place (white matter) and at a specific time (while the immature brain continues to develop). “We see maximal Sirt1 expression and activity within the first week after neonatal brain injury. There is a very narrow window in which to harness the stimulus that amplifies the progenitor cell population and target this particular molecule for repair,” he says.
Sirt1, a nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide-dependent class III histone deacetylase, is known to be involved in normal cell development, aging, inflammatory responses, energy metabolism and calorie restriction, the study team reports. Its activity can be modulated by sirtinol, an off-the-shelf drug that inhibits sirtuin proteins. The finding points to the potential for therapeutic interventions for diffuse white matter injury in neonates.
Next, the research team aims to study these processes in a large animal model whose brains are structurally, anatomically and metabolically similar to the human brain.
“Ideally, we want to be able to promote the timely regeneration of cells that are lost by designing strategies for interventions that synchronize these cellular events to a common and successful end,” Gallo says.
Tags: Cabrera-Luques, Catron, Chew, Gallo, Gierdalski, glial cells, histone deacetylase, Jablonska, Lichauco, neonatal brain injury, neonatal hypoxia, progenitor cell regeneration, sirt1, sirtuin, white matter
https://innovationdistrict.childrensnational.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Sirt-1-Protein-HomeImage-NIH.jpg 272 489 Kathey Jaucian https://innovationdistrict.childrensnational.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/idlogo1-tagline-Advances-in-Medicine.gif Kathey Jaucian2016-12-21 10:50:582017-06-07 14:24:36Harnessing progenitor cells in neonatal white matter repair
Placental function linked to brain injuries associated with autism
Congenital heart disease and cortical growth
Congenital heart disease and white matter injury
Perinatal hypoxia associated with long-term cerebellar learning deficits and Purkinje cell misfiring
Vittorio Gallo, Ph.D., honored with Senator Jacob Javits Award in the Neurosciences
How the environment helps to shape the brain
Setting a baseline for healthy brain development Down syndrome indicators in diverse populations
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Los Gatos Field Trip
The California and the West study group invites you to tour the exhibition at the History Museum of Los Gatos, American Bohemia: The Cats Estate in Los Gatos. The exhibition explores the storied lives of Charles Erskine Scott Wood and Sara Bard Field, acclaimed literary figures and intellectuals, and their home, which became a gathering place for some of America’s most significant artists and writers, including Robinson Jeffers, Ansel Adams, John Steinbeck, Ralph Stackpole, and Lincoln Steffens. Please contact Ann Harlow if you are interested in the 2:00 p.m. tour, and let her know if you would like to have dinner in Los Gatos and attend the 7-9 p.m. program, “a salon-style evening of conversation, food, and drink with scholars of the lives of Sara Bard Field and C.E.S. Wood and their time in California.” The program will take place at the Former Los Gatos Library, future home of The Museums of Los Gatos.
The Cats Estate was recently sold, but a series of short videos of the property are still viewable at realtor Duane Adams’s website.
The History Museum of Los Gatos is housed at the old Forbes Mill Annex, an 1880 stone building. The name Los Gatos goes back to an 1840 Mexican land grant, El Rancho Rinconada de los Gatos, named for the cougars and bobcats that still inhabit the nearby hills. Sara Bard Field and C.E.S. Wood commissioned sculptor Robert Paine to create the pair of eight-foot concrete statues of wild cats that can still be seen from Highway 17 at the gateway to the estate. They have become a kind of symbol of the town.
Downtown Los Gatos also has many historic buildings. There are some interesting local history photographs at the Los Gatos Public Library website.
‹ History Expo
Report on Los Gatos Field Trip ›
Play Readers Upcoming Meeting
Tuesday, August 20, 1 pm: We will finish The Madness of George III by Alan Bennett.
The group welcomes new members. If you wish to be placed on our email list and receive announcements, contact Joanne Lafler.
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Sir Robert Hamilton Lang
Biography of Sir Robert Hamilton Lang
Robert Hamilton Lang took classes in Greek at the University of Glasgow in the academic year 1849-50. Lang was born in Glassford, Scotland, in 1832 and was educated at Hamilton Academy before entering the University at the age of 13. He only studied for one year, however, and left to work as a clerk in a Glasgow marine insurance firm. Lang later acquired a more senior role in the Glasgow Custom House and after a series of postings as clerk to places including Beirut and Cyprus he became the manager of the Imperial Ottoman Bank in Larnaca. After nine years in this position he moved to the Cairo branch and was later posted to Romania and Constantinople where he became a Director General of the ‘Caisse de la Dette’, the body managing the Ottoman Empire’s foreign loans. In 1897 Lang became the Governor of the Imperial Ottoman Bank in Constantinople.
During his time in Cyprus Lang served as Acting Vice-Consul on three occasions and Consul from 1871-72, and as such was considered one of the most important members of the foreign community on the island. He also helped to organise the Cypriot court at the Colonial and Indian Exhibition in London in 1886. Lang took a keen interest in the antiquities of Cyprus and acquired many artefacts from archaeological digs. Much of his collection has been purchased by the British Museum, however many objects were also donated to Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Museum.
A series of honours were bestowed on Lang by the many countries in which he worked including a KCMG by the British government, the Medjedie (Third Class) by the Khedive of Egypt, and several major honours by the Ottoman Sultan.
Sir Robert Lang retired to Essex and died in 1913.
McAdam, E (2008) Collection Significance Report: Ancient Civilizations: Cyprus , Glasgow Museums
Born 1832.
Died 1913.
GU Degree: Arts, 1849-1850;
Occupation categories: clerks; consuls
Record last updated: 1st May 2014
Scotland, Glassford
England, London, Hampstead
Cyprus, No Region
Lebanon, Beirut
Turkey, Constantinople
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Maddie Poppe Debuts New Song ‘First Aid Kit,’ Announces Full-Length Album [Listen]
Last season's American Idol winner, Maddie Poppe, has released her third new single since winning the competition, "First Aid Kit." She also announced that her next new song, "Little Things," will debut on March 1.
Along with the two new songs, she will release her full-length album on May 17 on Hollywood Records. No further details have been formally announced.
"I’m really excited to release ‘First Aid Kit’ because it feels like it’s authentically me. It’s about finding someone who helps you heal from a broken heart and learning to love again,” she explains in a press release. “I love the message of this song, and it feels incredible to release something that I feel such a personal connection to. It’s very heartwarming."
Poppe says her upcoming single "Little Things" is inspired by her relationship with fellow American Idol alumni Caleb Lee Hutchinson. The two met and began their relationship while filming the show, and “I couldn’t believe how much every word rings true to my relationship and how it feels when we’re apart," she states.
With only three official singles out and her American Idol covers, Poppe has amassed over thirteen million streams worldwide. Her first single post-American Idol, “Going Going Gone,” soared to No. 3 on the iTunes U.S. Overall chart, No. 2 on the iTunes US Pop Charts, and peaked at No. 4 on the Spotify U.S. Viral chart.
Since winning American Idol last May, she has headlined American Idol on Tour while writing and recording her original new music.
"The process on this album has been a lot of fun," Poppe shares of the new music. "Hollywood Records has been such a blessing to work with — they have given me the reins to make the album that I want to make, and have supported my decisions. I'm really staying true to myself on this album and I’ve gotten to work with a really great team."
See Forgotten American Idol Auditions
How Many of These American Idol Finalists Do You Remember?
Source: Maddie Poppe Debuts New Song ‘First Aid Kit,’ Announces Full-Length Album [Listen]
Filed Under: Maddie Poppe
Categories: Country Music News, Country Songs
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JFH Indie Review
Jonathan & Jamie Fitt
Style: Acoustic
Official Site: Official Website
Buy It: AmazonMP3
Though it's no Nashville or Austin, the city of Philadelphia does have a music scene of its own, spawning acts like mewithoutYou and The Cross Movement, among many more. One of its lesser-known acts is a duo of brothers named Jonathan & Jamie Fitt. Directors of the Philadelphia Tabernacle of David, the duo released some live albums (under the ministry's name), but have now embarked on a journey into recording studio albums. Their first album, Bloodlines, released earlier this year, and it's a bit different than what you'd expect from a live worship artist.
Though Bloodlines is rather musically diverse, most of the music finds a comfortable groove in progressive rock. The best moments on the album are when the Fitts take the rock style of Alan Parsons Project and mix it with the high energy (and slightly heavier riffs) of bands like Petra. That's not a perfect description, but it should give you an idea of what you're in for. "Echoes of Eternity" is an early song on the tracklist, but it features some of the best music on the album. An anthemic guitar is soon joined by driving rock music that gets your foot tapping and head bobbing. The hook gets a little too repetitive, but it's easy to overlook when everything else is so solid. Though a lot of the middle portion is much quieter, the rock returns with some southern gospel and funk influence in "Abundance," which focuses on God's complete ownership of all things in the earth ("For the gold and silver are Mine, and the world and its fullness are Mine, and the beasts in the field they are Mine, and all wealth and riches are Mine"). The funk vibe continues into "By Your Light," which also features a ska-like guitar structure and some upbeat, jazzy piano licks. It almost comes out of left field, but it really fits the overall scope of the album and sounds great.
The Fitts clearly excel in their brand of rock music, but their slower songs are also terrific; the best example is a song entitled "Blood of the Lamb." Musically, it's equal parts "Africa" by Toto and "Wicked Games" by Chris Isaak, featuring a slower, almost industrial-influenced, electronic beat with gorgeous guitar licks and delicate piano and synth. "High & Lifted Up" has hints of the anthem rock, but is actually piano-led and more in the realm of a ballad. The hook borrows from the Book of Isaiah: "You are high and lifted up, and the train of Your robe fills the temple." The tempo picks up a bit in the bridge, with more powerful vocals and louder guitar and drums; this happens after an odd rap break that, stylistically, doesn't quite fit with the song.
There isn't much to say that isn't good about this album. Some of the musical choices may not have been best suited for their surroundings, such as the aforementioned rap in "High & Lifted Up" or the disco/dance music in "Mahanaim" - though, to be fair, the song is about a victory dance, so it makes some sense. Other than these, and perhaps some spots where the vocals can be a bit dry, there's a lot to like. The Fitts are fantastic musicians with a strong creative vision for their songs and artistry, and their love for the Lord is captured in the worshipful and victorious moments in the album. I also really like that some of the songs are long. A lot of times, an album with a lot of long songs can be a turn-off. But here, the length of the song is there to expand upon itself and create an atmosphere to reflect on both the music and lyrics. I don't know that I ever felt like any of these songs were too long.
Bloodlines is a surprising musical adventure unlike what most bands are producing these days. It's extremely easy for people to create and release albums these days, which can, understandably, cause some cynicism in music fans wanting quality content. Jonathan & Jamie Fitt went into this album with strong ideas and came out with an album that's easily better than most major label releases this year. If you're looking for some good, new rock music, I'd recommend you check out Jonathan & Jamie Fitt's Bloodlines.
- Review date: 9/6/17, written by Scott Fryberger of Jesusfreakhideout.com
Record Label: None
Album length: 12 tracks: 76 minutes, 32 seconds
Exodus (6:37)
Echoes of Eternity (6:53)
What Was Broken (5:53)
Mahanaim (5:11)
Deeper Place (6:02)
High & Lifted Up (7:12)
Delivered (7:27)
This Is My King (7:22)
Abundance (5:24)
By Your Light (5:38)
Blood of the Lamb (8:12)
Dream Tonight (4:41)
Jesus Freak Hideout (Scott Fryberger): Before working under just your names, did you toss around any band name ideas?
Jonathan: Well, we are directors of a ministry called Philadelphia Tabernacle of David, and we have been involved with a number of recording projects through that ministry over the last few years. Those projects have generally been spontaneous worship sets that were recorded at conferences we have hosted over the years, and included a number of other people associated with our ministry, so they went out under that name. In reality, recording studio versions of pre-written material for Bloodlines was quite a departure from what we have been mostly doing. And since this was a project written by just the two of us, we decided to release it under our names rather than the ministry.
JFH (Scott): Is music your day job? What do you do in your spare time?
Jonathan: I guess you could say music is our day job. We are both in full-time ministry. We stay pretty busy with our weekly ministry in Philadelphia, as well as traveling somewhat extensively leading worship and teaching at conferences and other gatherings. We also both have four kids at home, so whenever we are not on the road, we are usually spending time with our families.
JFH (Scott): The cover art for Bloodlines has a lot going on. Did you create this yourselves?
Jonathan: Actually, the artwork is an oil painting that was done by a friend of ours who is a pastor and an artist: Nick Okore. We just loved the piece and it spoke so well to the theme that we had in mind for the album. If you look carefully, you see Jesus hanging on the cross, dying for the nations.
JFH (Scott): Where did the name Bloodlines come from?
Jonathan: We are all very much a product of the bloodline we come from; much more than we probably realize. Both positive and negative things can exist in our bloodlines and family trees, and they are passed down to us for better or worse. Many times our bloodlines become corrupted and perverted by the enemy, but there is healing and deliverance for all who will receive it. Jesus died to redeem every bloodline and family tree. Many of the songs are about this theme.
As for us, we dedicated the album to our grandmother. She and her mother were church planters, and led worship music with traveling evangelists. We didn’t find this out until close to the time of her passing, but it is her shoulders that we are standing on in many ways.
JFH (Scott): Who is responsible for what when writing songs?
Jonathan: We probably don’t collaborate the way most other songwriters do. I can’t remember a time we have ever sat down for a song writing session. Certainly not for this album. More of what happens with us is the songs happen to us while we are worshiping. When we lead worship in churches or conferences, the majority of what we do is spontaneous or unrehearsed music. Often times we will capture certain moments that we felt were unique or powerful in some way, and they will become the basis for a song. There are a few songs that one or the other of us wrote by ourselves, but most of our music is birthed out of the spontaneous flow. With all that being said, I am generally more focused on the music and Jamie on the lyrics.
JFH (Scott): The Gospel is a message for all people, but music always has a target demographic. What's the demographic that you specifically try to reach with your music?
Jonathan: This is a tough one to answer. I guess it's not something we have put much thought into. Our music/message seems to resonate with a very wide variety of social/economic/ethnic groups. At our ministry in Philadelphia, we have one of the most diverse groups coming together that we are aware of. We are actually very proud of that fact.
JFH (Scott): Are there any new albums that you've really gotten into?
Jonathan: Not exactly new, but Andrew Ehrenzeller’s album Beauty Is What Remains is a fantastic album I’ve been listening to a lot recently. As far as worship music, we like everything from old Vineyard albums to guys like Rick Pino and Jason Upton. But we also listen to a lot of other styles and genres of music as well.
JFH (Scott): Lastly, tell me about the song "Mahanaim." That's a place from the Bible you don't really see/hear a lot of songs about!
Jonathan: "Mahanaim" is actually a Hebrew word meaning "two camps." It comes from Genesis 32 when Jacob was encamping his army, and he stumbled upon a camp of angels, or "God's Camp." He called that place with both a camp of angels and a camp of men "Mahanaim." There is a certain synergy or partnership between the armies of heaven and the armies of Earth. It is our intentional partnership with the purposes of God in the Earth that ignites this synergy. We call it "the dance of the two camps," and that’s what we are singing about in this song.
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Best Of The Web Tech
The Sudden End of the Jumbo Jet
Steven Poole, The Guardian | PUBLISHED Feb 19, 2019 |
“When is the future no longer the future? Only a decade ago, air travel seemed to be moving ineluctably towards giant planes, or “superjumbos”. But last week Airbus announced it will cease manufacturing its A380, the world’s fattest passenger jet, as current trends favour smaller and more fuel-efficient craft. Progress changed course. A more vivid reminder of lost dreams will come in a few weeks: 2 March marks the 50th anniversary of the maiden flight of Concorde. Once upon a time, all aviation was going to be supersonic. But sometimes, the future is cancelled.
What if what we think is going to be the future right now is cancelled in its turn? We are supposedly on an unstoppable path towards driverless vehicles, fully automated internet-connected “smart homes”, and godlike artificial intelligence – but, then, we’ve been promised flying cars for half a century, and they are still (allegedly) just around the corner. We live in a time when technological change is portrayed as an inexorable, impersonal force: we’d better learn how to surf the tsunami or drown. But as a society, we always have a choice about which direction we take next. And sometimes we make the wrong decision.
For one thing, history is full of technological marvels that were abandoned for reasons that were only reassessed much later. To most people in the late 19th century, when fleets of electric taxis operated in London and Manhattan, the electric car was clearly going to win out over the filthy petrol-driven alternative. But then vast oil reserves were discovered in America, and the future went into reverse. Until, in the late 20th century, global warming and advances in battery technology made electric cars seem like a good idea again. Similarly, vinyl records have enjoyed a major resurgence in the age of the MP3: not necessarily because they are an objectively better sonic format, but because it turned out that people liked owning their culture as physical objects.”
https://jewishjournal.com/newsroom/tech/the-sudden-end-of-the-jumbo-jet/
JJ Editor's Daily Picks
The End of British Soft Power
Gordon Brown, Project-Syndicate
"The likely successor to British Prime Minister Theresa May, Boris Johnson, has plans to subsume the government department overseeing development aid into the foreign office, effectively eliminating it. That will destroy a post-Brexit United..."
Predicting the Unpredictable President
K.S. Bruce, RealClearPolitics
"Gerard Baker, editor-at-large at the Wall Street Journal (no reflexively anti-Trump publication) recently wrote a piece decrying Donald Trump and his foreign policy as a fount of erratic unpredictability. This essay will give the counter view...."
Will Ilhan Omar Be Allowed Into Israel?
Gil Hoffman, Jerusalem Post
"On Wednesday, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar announced that she will be visiting Israel and the Palestinian territories in the coming weeks. Omar will be accompanied by Rep. Rashida Tlaib. The two freshman congresswomen have become a focal point of..."
Why Is Netflix Obsessed with Adam Sandler?
Joan E. Solsman, CNET
"Netflix may have lost US subscribers for the first time since it began making its own shows, but that didn't stop the streaming giant from dropping new figures about how many people are sucked into its Adam Sandler vortex. (Spoiler: More than..."
Get Ready for the Four-Day Work Week
Paul Davidson, USA Today
"A few years ago, Amy Balliett, CEO of a Seattle-based design and marketing firm, noticed that as the work week slogged on, her employees’ energy and productivity wilted. “That would slump to such an extent that the same task on Monday would..."
No, FaceApp Isn't an Evil Russian Plot
Arwa Mahdawi, The Guardian
"Over the last few days the #faceappchallenge has taken over social media. This “challenge” involves downloading a selfie-editing tool called FaceApp and using one of its filters to digitally age your face. You then post the photo of your wizened..."
Understanding the American Lawn
Ted Steinberg, LongReads
"Although there are plenty of irrational aspects to life in modern America, few rival the odd fixation on lawns. Fertilizing, mowing, watering — these are all-American activities that, on their face, seem reasonable enough. But to spend hundreds..."
Learning How to Listen
Tobias Carroll, Electric Literature
"Can a book change the way we think? I don’t mean that in the sense of a reader’s opinion or ideology shifting—of course the right literary work can do that. But can a book rewire the brain itself, literally changing the way one particular mind..."
For Sibling Battles, Be a Sportscaster, Not a Referee
Heather Turgeon, New York Times
"It’s our job to let kids know we see and hear them, but we’re not necessarily going to solve siblings’ conflicts for them (or else they never get the practice). When squabbles start, imagine you’re a sportscaster and describe what you see in..."
Dating: A Great Way to Get a Free Meal
Joe Pinsker, The Atlantic
"Magali Trejo-Martinez, a 22-year-old living in Salem, Oregon, recently went on a date that was rather uninspiring. “I had dinner, had a couple margaritas, and then went home,” is how she recapped the evening. This outcome wasn’t entirely..."
The Aesthetic Achievement of the Moon Landing
Matthew Walther, The Week
"The first lunar landing was many things — a D-Day-like feat of planning and logistics, a testament to the power of man's will, an ostensible propaganda coup for NATO. It was also, I think, one of the most misunderstood events in the history of..."
Unpacking Bernie's Jewishness
David Klion, Jewish Currents
"THE FIRST TIME Bernie Sanders ran for president, he didn’t talk much about being Jewish. In fact, he didn’t talk much about himself at all. His 2016 primary campaign, like his whole political career, was relentlessly focused on one topic: income..."
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NextGen Metadata Professional: Continuing Resources
Created: March 24, 2016
George Washington University Washington, D.C.
Position Description Summary
The George Washington University, located in the heart of Washington, D.C., offers undergraduate and graduate programs in many disciplines. The GW Libraries is a member of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), Washington Research Library Consortium (WRLC), the Chesapeake Information and Research Library Alliance, and the Northeast Research Libraries Consortium. The Libraries support and collaborate with faculty in research and teaching, and are committed to development, training, and professional service.
Under the direction of the Resource Description Coordinator, the incumbent is a member of the Resource Description Group (RDG) and the greater metadata management group within the George Washington University Libraries. The RDG is responsible for describing and providing access to library collections including serial and monographic content in all formats. The RDG plays an instrumental role in helping the Libraries achieve the objectives laid out in its strategic plan, has been involved in and collaborated on the next generation metadata development through BIBFRAME, PCC, and with colleagues worldwide. The NextGen Metadata Professional has the primary responsibility for creating metadata for continuing resources; performing complex metadata revision; and is expected to write scripts (e.g. Python, Perl) for repurposing existing metadata, and identity management work for library’s collections. The NextGen Metadata Professional is expected to collaborate with colleagues from functional areas across GW Libraries and beyond in service of the GW Community and the profession.
Performs original and complex metadata creation, editing, for continuing resources in all formats—print and non-print— that the Library collects in multiple languages and time periods according to national and local standards.
Works closely with, and supervises paraprofessionals in an innovative, fast paced, forward-thinking, and production driven environment by taking full advantage of available metadata, helper applications, and emerging technology to augment, enhance and reuse the resource description and subject analyses for access to Library collections.
Assumes a leadership role in designing, implementing and conducting training, resource description, and data analysis for all Library projects where metadata is the essential component.
Articulates the business value of metadata and data quality; assigns priority to work that results in progress toward strategic goals.
Participates in Library planning, serves on Library, University-wide and Washington Research Library Consortium committees.
The George Washington University librarians are expected to be active in the profession, including contributing to developments in the field, as well as perform additional duties as assigned.
Master’s degree in library and information science from an ALA-accredited library program, or a Master’s degree in a related information field, or an advanced degree
Minimum 2 years of professional cataloging experience. Professional understanding and knowledge of cataloging principles and procedures, including but not limited to: RDA, LC/PCC PS, LCSH, LC Class.
Demonstrated professional knowledge in non-metadata such Dublin Core, MODS, RDA/RDF, etc., thesauri, controlled vocabulary, identity disambiguation and reconciliation
Demonstrated knowledge of and proven ability to apply/use current cataloging standards, practices, and tools for original and complex copy cataloging for continuing resources following CONSER standards
Demonstrated experience in creating, editing, and transforming non-MARC metadata, such as EAD, Dublin Core, or others.
Experience working with OCLC and an Integrating Library System
Demonstrated ability to be self-motivated and to work creatively, independently, collaboratively,
Demonstrated experience with organizational, project and time management skills
Demonstrate strong service-orientation, forward-thinking, flexible
Effective oral, written communication and interpersonal skills
Proven experience in using open source tools and/or free software such as MarcEdit, etc.
Working knowledge of at least one Western European language
Working knowledge of at least one Middle Eastern and North African language
Familiarity with Semantic Web Linked data (e.g. BIBFRAME, RDF vocabulary, OWL, etc.)
Familiarity with XML & Linked data processing language (e.g. XSLT& SPARQL)
Knowledge of a high level programming language, e.g. Ruby, Python, Perl, etc.
http://www.gwu.jobs/postings/33233
Dan Tam Do
XSLT XML Web Ontology Language SPARQL Ruby Python Perl Dublin Core BIBFRAME
Published: Thursday, March 24, 2016 21:24 UTC
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Keeping the Blues Alive / Blues News / Blues Birthdays / Blues Birthdays – July 15 to July 21
Blues Birthdays, Blues News
This Week’s Blues Birthday’s – July 15 – July 21
This week’s Blues birthdays features Washboard Sam, Denise LaSalle, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Brian May and guitar virtuoso Carlos Santana. Be sure to check back next week for more blues birthdays!
Robert Brown AKA Washboard Sam: 7/15/1910
A very popular Chicago blues singer and washboard player. He was also an adept songwriter, who during the 30’s and 40’s, made over 150 recordings. He worked extensively with the likes of Big Bill Broonzy, Tampa Red, and Memphis Slim throughout his career. In 1935, he began recording in his own right for both Bluebird and Vocalion Records. Becoming one of the most popular Chicago blues performers of the late 1930s and 1940s. Selling numerous records and playing to packed audiences. He recorded over 160 tracks in those decades. His strong voice and songwriting talent overcame his stylistic limitations.
Denise Allen AKA Denise LaSalle: 7/16/1939
Blues, soul and R&B singer-songwriter who is best known for her hit singles, “Now Run And Tell That”, “Man Sized Job”, and her biggest release, “Trapped By A Thing Called Love”, which went on to sell a million copies in 1971.
Screamin Jay Hawkins: 7/18/1929
Screamin’ Jay Hawkins was an American singer-songwriter, musician, actor, film producer, and boxer. Famed chiefly for his powerful, operatic vocal delivery and wildly theatrical performances of songs such as “I Put a Spell on You.” He sometimes used macabre props onstage, making him an early pioneer of “shock rock.” Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Hawkins studied classical piano as a child and learned guitar in his 20s. His initial goal was to become an opera singer but when his initial ambitions failed, he began his career as a conventional blues singer and pianist. Hawkins’ most successful recording, “I Put a Spell on You” (1956), was selected as one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.
Brian May: 7/19/1947
Brian May is an English musician, singer, songwriter and astrophysicist. May was a co-founder of Queen with lead singer Freddie Mercury and drummer Roger Taylor, having previously performed with Taylor in the band Smile, which he had joined while he was at university. Within five years of their formation in 1970 and the recruitment of bass player John Deacon completing the lineup, Queen had become one of the biggest rock bands in the world with the success of the album A Night at the Opera and its single “Bohemian Rhapsody”. From the mid-1970s until the early 1990s, Queen were an almost constant presence in the UK charts and played some of the biggest venues in the world, most notably giving an acclaimed performance at Live Aid in 1985. As a member of Queen, May became regarded as a virtuoso musician and he was identified with a distinctive sound created through his layered guitar work, often using a home-built electric guitar called the Red Special. Following the death of Mercury in 1991, Queen were put on hiatus for several years but were eventually reconvened by May and Taylor for further performances featuring other vocalists. In 2001, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Queen and in 2018 the band received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
Carlos Santana: 7/20/1947
Celebrated Mexican American guitar virtuoso, songwriter and bandleader who has been at the forefront of Latin rock for over 40 years. His band, Santana, rose to prominence in the late 1960’s with its mixture of blues, jazz, Latin and psychedelic rock, and has sold over 100 million records around the world in addition to having acquired numerous awards throughout the years. Santana had early success with their appearance at Woodstock in 1969 and their first three albums, Santana (1969), Abraxas (1970), and Santana III (1971). Santana is one of the best-selling groups of all time with 43.5 million certified albums sold the US, and an estimated 100 million sold worldwide. Its discography includes 25 studio albums, 14 of which reached the US top 10. In 1998, the line-up of Santana, Rolie, Carabello, Shrieve, Brown, and Areas was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2000, the band won six Grammy Awards in one night, a record tied with Michael Jackson, and three Latin Grammy Awards.
That’s it for Blues Birthdays for this week but be sure to check back next week to see who we pick.
Brian May, Carlos Santana, Denise LaSalle, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Washboard Sam
The Master Of Latin Psychedelic Blues Rock
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Tough times at the Praia da Barra
The last few months have been difficult for the Praia da Barra. Late last year the Salinas Bar was destroyed in an arson attack, and this was followed soon after by heavy storms that swept away most of the beach, including most of the bar/restaurant Casa Demar. We lost a third bar, the Offshore Bar, but this was demolished by the owner and is presently being rebuilt.
The sea was extremely rough, and washed away much of the dunes. All through the winter months a little more of the beach was lost with each incoming tide. The walkway along the dunes, which had only been renovated the previous summer, was partially destroyed, leaving wreckage along the beach and huge gaps in the wooden structure.
A depth of almost 10m (30 feet) of dune was washed away by the sea, leaving a sandy cliff that revealed old wooden walkways that hadn’t been seen since the 1980s:
It was sad to see, and such weather was unknown in the area. In the spring the waves died down, and life on the beach started to return to normal. But the destruction was plain to see.
Late in May the local council started to do something about it. Fences went up and huge lorries were seen transporting sand onto the beach. The volume of sand being moved was incredible and the surfers struggled to get to the waves:
Eventually the whole of the beach was fenced off, frustrating for surfers and sunbathers alike as there was only a small section of beach available. The work is continuing and hopefully in a couple of months the beach will be open for everyone again. But it’s certainly sad to see the beach in such a condition, and the fear is that if the sea is the same this coming winter then there may be no resolution in sight.
barra, beach, portugal, surfing, waves
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Glide Magazine Premieres The Furious Seasons Video For The Song, "Expo Line"
http://thefuriousseasons.com/
The Furious Seasons will release their new album, Now Residing Abroad on June 22nd.
Glide Magazine is offering a sneak peek of the new album with an exclusive premiere of the video for “Expo Line”
This folksy Americana pop band is releasing their 2nd Album as a trio. Veteran Los Angeles singer-songwriter and guitarist, David Steinhart founded the band, Pop Art in 1984 and Smart Brown Handbag in 1993 (Both bands still have cult followings). In 2008 The Furious Seasons was formed when Steinhart was joined by his brother, Jeff Steinhart on upright bass and Paul Nelson on guitar and harmony vocals.
As a trio, Steinhart has assembled one of his finest small orchestras in The Furious Seasons. Co-produced with music engineer, Glenn Nishada, Now Residing Abroad consists of 13 songs of acoustic music with folk, pop, Americana and as Steinhart puts it, “kind of jazz overtones.” The music is easy to listen to and can seem overly restrained if you listen casually, but upon closer listening there is a depth, passion and attention to detail that will draw you in. Taking a soulful approach to the music Steinhart’s “husky yet melodic” vocals help make The Furious Seasons’ sound uniquely their own. The band has shared the stage with John Hiatt, David Lindley, A.J. Croce, America and Donovan.
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Get a Sneak Peek at the Final ‘Nashville’ Episodes
CMT has announced that the final eight episodes of the hit TV series Nashville will run this summer, beginning on June 7. Readers can press play above to watch a trailer for the series' concluding episodes.
After six drama-packed seasons about life behind the scenes in a semi-fictional country music world, Nashville's multi-year storylines will wrap up in a dramatic series finale, which will air on July 26. However, viewers have a bit more to look forward to in the seven preceding episodes, as the clip above shows.
Nashville, which launched its first season in 2012, follows the personal and professional lives of several musicians as they both fade from and emerge onto the country music scene. After being canceled by ABC, its original network, after Season 4, the show found a new home on CMT beginning with Season 5. Show creators announced in the fall of 2017 that Nashville would come to an end after Season 6 concluded.
The cast of Nashville is capping off the last run of episodes with a series of concerts, including a visit to the Grand Ole Opry on March 25. Clare Bowen, Chris Carmack, Charles Esten, Jonathan Jackson, Sam Palladio and Lennon and Maisy Stella will perform at the Opry before heading to Ireland and the United Kingdom for a handful of shows in April.
Country Stars Who Have Made Cameos on Nashville
NEXT: 5 'OMG!' Moments From the 'Nashville' Season 6 Mid-season Finale
Source: Get a Sneak Peek at the Final ‘Nashville’ Episodes
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Archive for the ‘learning’ Category
Assessing American High School Students: Not a Pretty Picture
In the average American big city among 17 assessed, only about 34% of the high school students graduate. About 60% of those same young people have a sexually transmitted disease (STD).What does this say about America’s future? And why aren’t we hearing solutions to these glaring social ills from our candidates for President of the United States?
“The mind of this country, taught to aim at low objects, eats upon itself,” wrote Ralph Waldo Emerson in 1837.
Wouldn’t he be proud of today’s teenagers, their parents and teachers?
In the most recent study of high school graduation trends, seventeen of the nation’s 50 largest cities had high school graduation rates lower than 50 percent, with the lowest graduation rates reported in Detroit, Indianapolis and Cleveland, according to a report released April 1, 2008.
The study was conducted by America’s Promise Alliance, an organization founded by former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Secretary of State Colin Powell. His wife Alma chaired the assessment group.
Colin Powell while serving as Secretary of State. We at Peace
and Freedom have the utmost respect for Colin and Alma Powell for their work.
“When more than 1 million students a year drop out of high school, it’s more than a problem, it’s a catastrophe,” said Powell. “This has to stop. We, as a nation, must correct this problem.”
“We must invest in the whole child, and that means finding solutions that involve the family, the school and the community,” said Alma Powell.
While more than one million boys and girls drop out of high school, more than 3 million girls nationwide have a sexually transmitted disease (STD).
“This is pretty shocking,” said Dr. Elizabeth Alderman, an adolescent medicine specialist at Montefiore Medical Center’s Children’s Hospital in New York.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sponsored the STD study.
“Those numbers are certainly alarming,” said sex education expert Nora Gelperin, who works with a teen-written Web site called sexetc.org. She said they reflect “the sad state of sex education in our country.”
“Sexuality is still a very taboo subject in our society,” she said. “Teens tell us that they can’t make decisions in the dark and that adults aren’t properly preparing them to make responsible decisions.”
The Associated Press reported that the teens were tested for four infections: human papillomavirus, or HPV, which can cause cervical cancer and affected 18 percent of girls studied; chlamydia, which affected 4 percent; trichomoniasis, 2.5 percent; and genital herpes, 2 percent.
Dr. John Douglas, director of the CDC’s division of STD prevention, said the results are the first to examine the combined national prevalence of common sexually transmitted diseases among adolescent girls.
He said the data, now a few years old, likely reflect current prevalence rates.
Disease rates were significantly higher among black girls — nearly half had at least one STD, versus 20 percent among both whites and Mexican-Americans.
Besides high school graduation rates and rates of sexually transmitted diseases, how else might we seek information on American teenagers?
One area already assessed is the rate that our nation reads and “self-educates.”
We’ve written about and commented about reading trends several times in multiple publications.
But a Washington Times editorial published November 21, 2007 said it best: when it comes to reading many Americans have decidd not to.
Bombarded with media, computers and video games, their reading habits are declining measurably. Nor is it simply the young.
In an unprecedented research synthesis released this week, the National Endowment for the Arts shows how reading habits have declined in recent years with a grim picture of what could only be called the nation’s nonreading public.
Here are some of the troubling highlights of “To Read or Not to Read: A Question of National Consequence.”
From 1982 to 2002, the percentage of 18- to 24-year-olds who read literature dropped from 60 percent to 43 percent. Fifty-two percent of the same age demographic said they read a book voluntarily in 2002, which is down from 59 percent a decade earlier.
The percentage of 17-year-olds who read for pleasure almost every day dropped from 31 percent to 22 percent over the period 1984-2004. It also seems that a college education is ever less a guarantee of good reading skills. The sole bright spot occurs among 9-year-olds, whose reading comprehension has improved over the last decade.
Barring this exception, the results are remarkably and troublingly consistent in study after study. Money spent on books in the United States dropped 14 percent during the period 1985-2005 when accounting for inflation. Seventy-two percent of employers report finding high-school graduates “deficient” in reading comprehension.
And the number of adults with bachelor’s degrees who score “proficient in reading prose” fell from 40 percent in 1992 to 31 percent in 2003.
With the rise of the Internet and online news consumption, some might argue that queries about “reading” fail to capture the entire picture if they do not account for online activities. But all modes of reading are not equal.
We might take this argument more seriously when teenagers are found reading Shakespeare or Herman Melville online. Far likelier they are surfing MySpace or Facebook.
Our increasing failure to read constitutes a kind of creeping national illiteracy which should concern everyone, not simply librarians and booksellers.
Literacy is an integral aspect of civil society. Substance, culture and literature should not be the ironic casualties of the “Information Age.”
All we’ve discussed here still leaves out the disabling impact of drugs, alcohol and teen pregnancy on our younger generation.
The only conclusion one can possibly draw from reading the reports on high school graduation rates, sexually transmitted disease rates and reading trends among American youth is this: unless action is taken we are a nation with a future at risk.
There are about 300 million Americans just now. There are about 1.3 billion Chinese.
And China has a world recognized machine for turning out the educated young people it needs.
One has to draw his or her own conclusions.
Compiled from the official reports cited in the text, AFP, AP, UPI, Fox News, ABC News The Washington Times and CNN.
U.S. High Schools Graduate “About Half” in Cities
Study finds 1 in 4 US teens has a STD
Teen Prescription Drug Abuse: Alarming Facts
Harry Potter: More Worthless Pop Culture
Kids reading fewer books despite Harry Potter hoopla
The End of Literacy? Don’t Stop Reading.
The Dumbing Of America; Nation of Dunces?
Government study: Americans reading less
High Prescription Drug Use and Abuse in Colleges
American High Schools: Abysmally Few Graduates
Posted in Alma Powell, America's Promise Alliance, American students, child sex, china, chinese, Colin Powell, culture, education, Facebook, graduation, herpes, high school, HPV, illiteracy, learning, literacy, literature, MySpace, National Endowment for the Arts, news, politics, public schools, reading, sexually transmitted diseases, STDs, teen sex, teens, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, urban, Washington Times | 1 Comment »
Leadership, Accountability and the Media
I became a believer in the “freedom of the press” and the great importance the media plays in good government and accountability during the last eleven years. It was eleven years ago this summer that I retired from the U.S. Navy, an organization with a sometimes jaundiced eye on the media. Just eleven years ago this summer I decided to become a journalist myself.
During this eleven year journey, I have seen the power of the free press “up close and personal,” as they say, here in the U.S.A. I have also witnessed the terrible and disgusting disregard for truth and free media in places like China and Vietnam. In those two countries and others, the lack of a free and open media allows government human rights abuses and downright malfeasance to thrive.
Here in the U.S. I am proud to say that I supported The Washington Post in its campaign to right the many wrongs of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and its lack of appropriate follow-up for soldiers under their care. We have also applauded many papers who stimulated the Congress to pay more attention to the equipment sent to support our soldiers during the current war.
Every now and again a journalist, even a fledgling like me, gets to see some small product of his or her work reflected in one of the great bastions of journalistic excellence.
Today I was reminded of something I wrote in 2003, which echoed across the pages of the Washington Post and New York Times just recently.
In the Washington Times on October 26, 2003 I was proud to see published my essay “District Leadership is a National Disgrace.” The piece pointed toward numerous leadership and management lapses on the part of the elected and appointed caretakers of the government of the District of Columbia. A part of that essay dealing with the D.C. schools read, “As the school year started in 2003, School superintendent Vance was shocked to learn that the entire school system’s budget would only pay his system’s staff until Sept. 30. The superintendent is also a ‘fat cat’ with an enormous salary. Meanwhile, the schools are in a decrepit state of repair. Last winter, several school days were lost at more than one school because the furnaces wouldn’t start. Cost of educating the elementary school students in the District? Among the highest in the nation. Grades and measures of effectiveness? Among the lowest.”
Fast forward to 2007. In Fact, take a peak at the New York Times editorial of September 4, 2007, under the headline “National Disgrace.” That editorial reads in part, “remaking the schools [of the District of Columbia] will inevitably mean dismantling a central bureaucracy that has shown a disturbing talent for subverting reform while failing the city and its children in every conceivable way.”
Bravo New York Times. And Bravo also to the Washington Post, which earlier this summer ran a multiple part series exposing the many problems of the D.C. school system. And Bravo finally to the Washington Times, which has been exposing the malfeasance foisted upon the people of the District of Columbia by elected and appointed highly paid “public servants” for years.
In today’s Washington Times, a page one headline reads, “D.C. textbook chief appealed firing.” You see, one Donald Winstead, the lone manager of the school system’s often-troubled textbook department, was fired by former schools Superintendent Arlene Ackerman in 1998 after books were not delivered in a timely manner. The Times’ Gary Emerling wrote that, “Mr. Winstead was reinstated in his position Dec. 19, 2000, following a settlement reached a day earlier between Mr. Winstead and the school system through the D.C. Office of Employee Appeals.”
Needless to say, the textbook situation in D.C. schools is still a disaster. In an August 7, 2007 Washington Times article Mr. Gary Emerling wrote, “The new [D.C. school system] chancellor has faced several difficulties that have plagued the system for years, including news that at least half of the city’s 146 schools may not have textbooks by the time school starts and that others will not have air conditioning.”
So, to those who doubt that a free and open media is a good thing for our nation, our society and, in fact, all nations everywhere; we ask them to look no further than the capital of the United States of America. The New York Times, the Washington Post and the Washington Times may just help bring change to a very troubled and corrupt school system.
We are proud of these newspapers and the journalists who serve the people.
This brings us to the case of Virginia Tech. Parents, in good faith, entrusted the University and the Commonwealth of Virginia leadership with the safety, care and education of their children. Last April, many of those children died unnecessarily.
Last April 16, at Virginia Tech, two students were found dead in a campus dorm room. This had never before occurred. Not on this campus. Not at Virginia Tech.
The police “assumed” a domestic dispute was the cause. The campus remained un-alerted.
During the last academic year, at Virginia Tech, an English teacher had a student exhibiting such unusual, some said evil, writing and actions that other students would not come to class if he attended. The teacher alerted the university and nothing happened.
The school sent the student for medical care — a mental evaluation in fact — and then never checked to verify his status or condition. He may have been diagnosed as a threat to the university population yet the school didn’t follow up.
The Virginia Tech study panel that reported to Virginia Governor Tim Kaine recommended no accountability from anybody following scores of deaths on the campus.
Kaine said the school’s officials had “suffered enough” without losing their jobs.
The parents of the dead have questions.
USA Today asked, in a September 4, 2007 editorial, “Why did so many keep Cho’s [the Virginia Tech killer] problems to themselves? Certainly they underestimated the threat. But more important, many incorrectly believed that privacy laws prevented sharing the information. Interpreting the law narrowly is the ‘least risky’ path for a university to take, the report concludes.”
We wonder why more news media members and commentators have not spoken out about the lack of accountability at Virginia Tech? Where is the uproar similar to the one that engulfed Senator Larry Craig and maybe will cost him his job? More than thirty innocent students and teachers are dead and nobody is accountable. Yet because of the media a Senator has offered his resignation.
The relatives of the Victims in the Virginia Tech massacre deserve to be heard. And they deserve more appropriate action from the Commonwealth of Virginia.
District Leadership is a National Disgrace
Just after hurricane Isabel passed, there was some talk that the leadership of the District of Columbia had been less than cordial in its dealings with the federal government throughout the crisis. Metro, some said with city blessing, shut down on Thursday at 11 a.m. without very much consultation with the federal government. Consequently, the feds were compelled to cancel the workday entirely.
After the hurricane, city officials cited city ordinances in an effort to get more of the FEMA financial aid pie than their neighbors in Maryland or Virginia. FEMA and its parent, the Department of Homeland Security, rightly rebuffed District officials.
Here are a few tidbits of information we have learned about the District of Columbia during the last few years (much of it from The Washington Times).
–The police chief continues to collect perks and pay raises year after year. He was hired to reduce crime. In fact, crime is up. The crime rate in D.C. is about 50 percent greater than other cities with similar populations. What is down is the police department’s success rate in crime-solving (one of the lowest in the nation). The disgracefully inept execution of the Chandra Levy case reminds us of how badly the police department functions.
–Our fire chief a few years back, one Ronny Few, had apparently “padded” his resume to secure his job. When exposed by the newspaper, he blamed the mayor’s office. Finger-pointing in City Hall ensued but nobody took responsibility for the shoddy way candidates for city jobs are vetted. The chief had also hired several cronies. Their resumes, we discovered, were also inflated, falsified or otherwise inaccurate.Meanwhile, several fire stations were in a decrepit state, a house fire had to be doused by a nearby garden hose because the fire truck had so many problems, and someone actually died due to the inefficiency of the 911 operators.
–Recently, the District’s inspector general resigned. His resume was also inflated. Do we see a trend beginning to emerge? The incumbent mayor’s re-election committee forged many of the required signatures to get the mayor on the ballot. If he is such a great leader, how can he tolerate such conduct? And why was fraud preferred over obtaining legal signatures?
–The president of the University of the District of Columbia lives in a publicly owned mansion. The taxpayers recently paid for a “renovation” of this estate that cost more than $215,000. “Repairs” included the addition of Italian granite and marble countertops worth more than $9,000. The university president also has a handsome salary. Yet the University of the District of Columbia’s Law School is rated dead last among more than 230 law schools rated by the American Bar Association. The percentage of graduates that pass the bar the first time is 22 percent. Only two colleges have rates in the 30th percentile and two schools are in the 40th percentile. All other law schools can boast that at least half the graduates pass the bar on the first try. The cost of educating a law student at UDC? The highest in the nation.
–As the school year started in 2003, School superintendent Vance was shocked to learn that the entire school system’s budget would only pay his system’s staff until Sept. 30. The superintendent is also a “fat cat” with an enormous salary. Meanwhile, the schools are in a decrepit state of repair. Last winter, several school days were lost at more than one school because the furnaces wouldn’t start. Cost of educating the elementary school students in the District? Among the highest in the nation. Grades and measures of effectiveness? Among the lowest.
–The D.C. coroner recently resigned. The morgue is in such disastrous condition that opportunities for forensics resolution to many crimes is seriously doubted. Overall, working for the District of Columbia government provides the best pay, bonus and retirement structure of almost any city in the nation.
Finally, the District of Columbia would like to tax commuters who come to the city to work. This is one way the banana republic preys upon its neighbors. Traffic enforcement cameras, predatory parking enforcement, towing and other practices contribute to the city coffers and to the ill will the city engenders in the neighborhood.
So I ask the voters in the District of Columbia, “Do you have the best government money can buy? Are you satisfied and content? Are you proud of your city and your flag?”
D.C. Schools: A National Disgrace
Rhee raps D.C. schools ‘bureaucracy’
http://www.washingtontimes.com/article/20070807/
METRO/108070064/1004/metro
D.C. textbook chief appealed firing
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070905/METRO/109050074/
1001&template=nextpage
Virginia Tech: No Accountability
Life After Virginia Tech
Virginia Tech: ‘Least Risky’ Path Raises Risk
China: ‘Trust but verify’ needed
China Saying No to News
Pentagon says it acts as quickly as it can to meet needs
The article above was written before the full implications of the sex scandal in D.C. fire houses was completely understood.
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“Super Duper Alice Cooper”
Alice Cooper documentary and rock opera takes us through a journey through his life.
Eagle Rock Entertainment, in association with Banger Films, are proud to announce the world premiere of Super Duper Alice Cooper at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival (TFF), presented by AT&T, where it will screen as part of their Spotlight section. Taking us through his life and career, ALICE presents his story in the first ever “doc opera” film – a dizzying blend of documentary archive footage, animation, and rock opera.
Super Duper Alice Cooper is the twisted tale of a teenage Dr. Jekyll whose rock n’ roll Mr. Hyde almost kills him. It is the story of Vincent Furnier, a preacher’s son who struck fear into the hearts of parents as ALICE COOPER, the ultimate rock star of the bizarre. From the advent of Alice as front man for a group of Phoenix freaks in the 60’s to the hazy decadence of celebrity in the 70s to his triumphant comeback as 80s glam metal godfather, we will watch asAlice and Vincent battle for each other’s’ souls. Alice’s story is told not only by the man himself, but through exclusive interviews with members of the original Alice Cooper band, Elton John, Iggy Pop, John Lydon, and Dee Snider.
Super Duper Alice Cooper is the creation of Scot McFadyen and Sam Dunn at Banger Films, producers of Iron Maiden: Flight 666 (2009 SXSW Audience Choice Winner) and Rush: Beyond The Lighted Stage (2010 Grammy-nominated and Tribeca Audience Choice Winner), and much-lauded filmmaker Reginald Harkema, winner of the TIFF Special Jury Prize for his film Monkey Warfare.
The 13th edition of the Tribeca Film Festival will take place from April 16 to April 27 at locations around New York City.
For more information on Super Duper Alice Cooper, please visit www.SuperDuperAliceCooper.com or like theFacebook page https://www.facebook.com/superduperalicecooper
Alice Cooper needs no introduction. Still touring the world, with over 100 concerts scheduled in 2014, and hosting his internationally syndicated “Nights With Alice Cooper” radio show five nights a week for over a decade, Aliceshows no sign of slowing down.
For more information on Alice Cooper, please visit:
Website: http://www.alicecooper.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AliceCooper
Twitter: https://twitter.com/realalicecooper
Written by Juice MagazineMarch 12, 2014Submit Comment
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Four Steps Boards Should Take to Build Global Brands
Martin Roll, Business and Brand Strategist, Founder of Martin Roll Company (INSEAD MBA ‘99D) | March 16, 2015
The board has a much more critical role to play in successful branding than ever before. It needs to act as the catalyst, supporter, enhancer and implementer of brand building strategies.
A basic premise and one of the core objectives of a board in any organisation is to build and sustain shareholder value. To fulfill these objectives on a continuous basis, a board must focus on making the equity of the organisation’s brands a reputational asset in the minds of the consumer. With organisations rapidly expanding globally on one side and also rapidly consolidating via mergers and acquisitions on the other, the board has a stronger onus to lead the way for building and managing strong global brands.
No one can deny the fact that creating shareholder value has become increasingly challenging in recent times. Organisational growth, the primary catalyst for driving value, is extremely difficult to maintain over sustained periods of time. This is more challenging for organisations that have a wider geographic footprint as they are more exposed to the influences of broad economic, political, regulatory and financial factors.
In such challenging and uncertain environments, global brand building by the board needs to happen within a structured framework, should be pursued with discipline and should be aligned with the organisation’s financial goals. Four steps a board should consider for implementation are:
1. Create and develop the brand vision: The board’s involvement in brand building should not start as a random intervention in a brand’s life, but should start at a very strategic level and at the top. The board should play a key role in the creation of a brand’s vision and its sustenance. This should be made possible by having an individual on the board who is closest to building brands in the organisation or who has being tasked with this specific responsibility. In many instances it is the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) or the Chief Brand Officer (CBO), but it could be anyone. This individual’s role within the board is to get the board involved and enthusiastic about developing the brand vision.
2. Action a global implementation strategy: Brand building starts with a vision but does not end there. A vision on paper is just what it is, on paper. To have an impact on organisational growth, brand visions need to be translated into global strategies that are pragmatic, actionable and measurable. Global brand strategies have long been the property of marketing and branding functions, but it is high time the board starts to influence and enhance these strategies.
Implementing a global brand strategy driven by the board ensures that the strategy is truly global in nature and has the brand vision driving it on a long-term basis. Such strategies are free from global versus local push and pull, position the brand with both a present and future perspective and are in line with organisational values and shareholder expectations. Because of these aspects, such strategies have a stronger impact on brand building and also in terms of enhancing organisational growth.
3. Motivate, influence and align goals and objectives: A critical task for the board is to motivate employees and align their goals and objectives with those of the organisation. In this case, the role of the board changes to be able to influence individuals to align their personal goals and expectations with the global brand building strategies. This is easier when the board has an understanding of brand building and has representation of individuals who can finely balance the need for building strong brands with the need for short-term and medium-term profitability and healthy shareholder returns.
The process of motivating and influencing should be top-down with the board selecting the influential individuals, who can then take on the responsibility of percolating the vision and the associated strategies to the wider organisation. The selection of individuals, who have strong credibility, visibility and influence within the organisation, is the key here.
4. Sustain, enhance and sustain again: Brand building is a continuous effort and when practiced at a global level, can also be a long-term process requiring lots of persistence and focus. This requires the brand building process to be sustained through continuous board level support. But sustenance is only half the story. To survive and to maintain a competitive edge in any category, a brand needs to continuously evolve and strengthen its positioning. This also requires a continuous enhancement of the brand building process. With the emergence of digital channels, this has now become more of an imperative rather than being an option.
Consequently, the board should be involved in any form of enhanced brand building strategies globally. This also forces consistency of efforts and general direction the brand is taking when there are multiple regional and local stakeholders interested in developing the brand from their respective markets. The board should drive consistency in brand building efforts and should also ensure that none of the organisation’s future direction for its brands is in contradiction with the mission and brand values.
Every level of enhancement in a brand building strategy is followed by a phase of sustenance. The role of the board, as highlighted earlier, should not be a sporadic one, but should ensure a continuous and close association with any form of brand building that is being implemented anywhere.
Brands for the long-term
In summary, a board needs to move out of its traditional mindset of being only interested in generating short-term and medium-term shareholder returns, to a more long-term perspective of building value through investing in brand building strategies. Easier to think than implement, the board involvement in brand building is a long-term one, which includes creating a brand vision, helping in its implementation, enhancing and broadening its aspects, supporting growth and sustenance initiatives and motivating employees. By following some of the best practices explained above, the board enhances its role as a success driver for the organisation’s brands and also invests in their future.
Martin Roll is a business & brand strategist, and the founder of Martin Roll Company. He provides advisory and guidance on leadership, strategy and execution, and how to build and sustain high performing, enduring brand-driven businesses and global, marketing-oriented organisations. Martin Roll has an MBA from INSEAD (’99D) and is the author of Asian Brand Strategy. You can follow him on Twitter @MartinRoll
Follow INSEAD Knowledge on Twitter and Facebook
Should Business Schools Peddle Shareholder Value Maximisation?
Boards Should Guide Branding
Building a Luxury Brand Image in a Digital World
Guest19, 23.11.2015 at 06.51 pm
Globa brands
What are global brands and their role?
Gaurav, 17.06.2019 at 09.15 pm
Board role in brands
could we seek your guidance on more specific. Strategy unfortunately has become a mystic blue word to sort of make action list into a magic wand type approach. What strategy one should adopt to give birth to a global brand.
Martin Roll
Martin Roll (INSEAD MBA '99D) is a Distinguished Fellow & Entrepreneur in Residence, INSEAD. He is a business and...
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For all the latest news relevant to you & your business
New creative agency in Garstang
Arran Eleanor Creative Ltd, a creative marketing company based in Garstang, launched earlier this year with an ethos reflecting managing director Arran Rigney’s sentiment that “great marketing should be available to everyone.” The company works with small businesses and start-ups, aiding with website design, social media marketing, and events management, with a focus on keeping costs to a minimum.
“Why should marketing just be for the big dogs?” asks Arran. “Many agencies are focusing their efforts on signing the biggest clients they can find, but that’s not what we’re about.” she says. Arran passionately believes in marketing as a tool for growing businesses from the ground up, which is why her company focuses on finding creative solutions for small budgets. Director Adam Young agrees with this sentiment, “small businesses are often overlooked by marketing agencies, we’re looking to change that.” he said.
The company currently works with The Fleece Inn at Dolphinholme and, after successfully managing their social media accounts during a period of redevelopment, were handed a web development contract with them. The new website is due for release early in May. They also work with Down By The Riverside festival, boosting their ticket sales through highly-targeted social media campaigns. “This is what it’s all about”, says Arran, “enabling growth in businesses that can make a real difference in their community”.
Looking forward, the company aims to build on their recent success by connecting with businesses in the local area looking to boost their growth through digital marketing. By focusing their attention on smaller businesses and looking to support companies within their local community, Arran Eleanor Creative Ltd hope to be at the forefront of a prosperous future for small businesses in Lancashire.
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Same-sex Marriage in Latin America
Jordi Díez | April 2016
To the surprise of many a casual observer, Latin America has become a leader in the expansion of sexual rights. Long considered a bastion of Catholic conservatism and machismo, several countries in the region have advanced rights to sexual and gender minorities, ranging from constitutionally entrenched protections against discrimination (Mexico and Bolivia) to the enactment to the world’s most advanced gender identity law (Argentina). For some, this represents a ‘gay-rights’ revolution (Encarnación 2016). The expansion of a right that would appear to be the most puzzling is that of same-sex marriage, given how controversial it can become. In effect, polling suggests that more individuals across the Americas tend to support the enactment of legislation to protect gays and lesbians from discrimination than they do of allowing them to marry. Yet, despite long-standing and deep-rooted stereotypes in the region, today same-sex marriage is accessible to over 62% of Latin Americans. What accounts for this? While the study of sexual rights in Latin America was barely approached by political scientists a mere decade ago, current research not only provides us with a clearer picture of the general landscape in the state of same-sex marriage in the region, but allows us to better understand this seemingly puzzling phenomenon.
A regional overview of same-sex marriage in Latin America
While same-sex marriage is accessible to almost 62 % of Latin Americans, the state of same-sex marriage in the region is highly uneven, and Latin American countries can be divided into several specific groups based on particularities. In the first group, one can place countries in which same-sex marriage (known as ‘equal marriage’ in the region) has been approved at the national level: Argentina (2010) and Uruguay (2013). In these two Southern Cone countries, reforms were undertaken to their national civil codes that changed the definition of marriage, making it non-gender specific. Brazil and Mexico belong to a second group, where the process to allow for same-sex marriage has been more fragmented and ‘judicialized.’ While both countries are characterized by federal systems, unlike Argentina, the civil codes are administered at the sub-national (state) level of government. This type of federalism has resulted in a fragmented reform process. In both countries, supporters of same-sex unions have been forced to seek their recognition at the state level.
In the Mexican case, supporters of same-sex marriage decided to pursue gay marriage in Mexico City in 2009. Reforms to the City’s civil code, allowing for same-sex couples to contract marriage, were approved by the City’s Legislative Assembly later in the year, and came into effect in 2010. Soon after, however, the then-administration of Felipe Calderón (2006-2012) challenged the reforms before Mexico’s Supreme Court. The Court issued two separate rulings. A first one argued that the reforms undertaken by Mexico City were constitutional, thereby upholding the reforms. Two weeks later, it ruled that all 31 states in Mexico had the obligation to recognize marriage contracted by gays and lesbians in the capital city. The immediate result of these rulings was further fragmentation and judicialization. On the one hand, as a backlash to the rulings, some states attempted to ‘shield’ themselves by defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman in their constitutions. The Supreme Court subsequently squashed those attempts. On the other hand, supporters of same-sex marriage, given the clear position the Court has taken on the issue, launched a campaign to challenge, through writs of amapro, state civil codes. That strategy has resulted in numerous rulings by the Court in favour of numerous plaintiffs from several states. Mexico’s inter partes legal system means that, in amparo cases, only the plaintiffs benefit from unconstitutionality cases, unlike those characterized by stare decisis systems – in which rulings set universal precedent, such as in Canada and the United States. However, in May of 2015, the Court ruled that all sub-national courts must accept all amparos presented by same-sex couples to the judiciary anywhere in the country. Though judicialized, marriage is thus available to all same-sex couples in Mexico.
Brazil exhibits similar characteristics. In that country, proponents of same-sex marriage have mostly favoured civil unions, an objective that, given its federal system, they have also pursued at the sub-national level. As lower-level courts began to hear cases, and decisions came down mostly in favour, the battle worked itself up to the highest courts. The process culminated in two historic rulings: In May 2011, the country’s Supreme Federal Court ruled that all civil unions must be recognized throughout the country; and on May 2013 the National Council of Justice ordered all notary publics to register same-sex civil unions as marriages upon request. Unlike Argentina and Uruguay, and similar to Mexico, access to same-sex marriage is universally allowed, but an additional legal step must be taken.
In a third group one can place most countries in which same-sex marriage has not been approved. These include Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru and Venezuela. In some of them, such as Chile and Costa Rica, there is currently a national debate on the issue. Several other countries belong to a third group: those in which the definition of marriage is very explicitly worded as one between a man and a woman, or in which same-sex marriage is prohibited in the national constitutions. In these cases, the obstacles for proponents of same-sex marriage are stronger, given that higher parliamentary thresholds needed to undertake constitutional reforms. In a lonely final group is Colombia, where the status is legal uncertainty.
After a long judicial process, in 2010 Colombia’s Constitutional Court mandated Congress to legislate on the issue, giving it a two-year stay. Parliamentarians’ inability to vote on the issue within that period encouraged judges throughout the country to issue marriage certificates to same-sex couples. However, the Attorney General’s Office, occupied by a social conservative, began in turn to challenge these rulings, citing disobedience. The case is likely to make its way back to the Constitutional Court.
Growing, albeit still limited, political science research on sexual rights in Latin America carried out over the last five years has begun to point to several explanations for the expansion/stagnation/retrenchment of the right to marriage by same-sex couples: we are beginning to understand what factors are behind the uneven regional landscape. First, we know that there is a clear correlation between tolerance and economic and human development. Countries that have higher levels of development tend to exhibit higher levels of support for same-sex marriage (Corrales 2015). In these countries, politicians can be more easily encouraged to support same-sex marriage. It should therefore come as no surprise that same-sex marriage has been approved in the wealthiest countries. However, that relationship is not perfect, and certain important exceptions stand out, forcing us to look for additional explanations. For example, according to most measurements, Chile is the most developed country in Latin America, yet it has not yet approved same-sex marriage. Second, research clearly points to the important role activism plays in forcing states to extend this right (Díez 2015, Encarnación 2016). Again, it should not be surprising that three of the countries in which same-sex marriage is has been enacted have the oldest gay and lesbian movements in Latin America: Argentina, Brazil and
Mexico. While the strategies and tactics have varied across the three cases, a clear lesson that emerges from the research we have today is that rights are generally conquered, not willingly extended by governing elites. Finally, we also know that a key factor in explaining the presence or absence of same-sex rights is the specific ways in which counter-movements, and in particular socially conservative religious groups, are able to block reform, or what in political science is referred to as their ability to function as ‘veto players’. In many cases, a country’s institutional design shapes the ability of opponents to become veto players (Díez 2015). For example, the first two countries to have approved same-sex marriage nationally, Argentina and Uruguay, do not have confessional (religious) parties. In these countries, religious groups are unable to oppose the extension of same-sex marriage rights en bloque in parliaments. In other countries, such as Brazil and Mexico, there exist clearly confessional parties that have rather vocally opposed same-sex marriage. However, given the countries’ federal systems, they can only block reforms when they form government at the sub-national level. In countries such as Chile, however, the left-of-centre coalition that has governed Chile since the return to democracy (1990-2010 and 2014-present) has had, for several reasons, to rely on the Christian Democrats to pass legislation. Given that party’s opposition to same-sex marriage, it has essentially had veto power over the discussions.
Political science has a rather dismal record in predicting future developments, and it is difficult to know what the prospects of same-sex marriage are in the region. However, the research available today suggests several possibilities. Given the relationship that exist between economic development and support for same-sex marriage, it would appear that countries in which support is lowest (e.g. in Central America) it will take time for the debate to assume national import, let
alone result in the extension of this right. Secondly, while there are important differences among the region’s gay and lesbian movements, mobilization does seem to matter. As a result, it is likely that same-sex marriage will be approved in countries in which gays and lesbian mobilize more strongly. Finally, while in many countries socially conservative religious forces appear to gain social and political strength, especially those of the Evangelical Christian variety, social mobilization could potentially circumvent their veto power through, for example, the courts. That of course assumes that such power is not exercised within the judiciary in the same way it has been through the legislative and executive branches of government.
Corrales, J. 2015. LGTB Rights and Representation in Latin America and the Caribbean: The Influence of Structure, Movements, Institutions and Culture. The LGTB Representation and Rights Institute. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina.
Díez, J. 2015. The Politics of Gay Marriage in Latin America: Argentina, Chile and Mexico. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Encarnación, O. 2016. On the Periphery: Latin America’s Gay Rights Revolution. New York: Oxford University Press.
The views and opinions expressed in this
article are those of the author/s and do not
necessarily reflect those of the LARC.
Jordi Díez is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Guelph. Hereceived his B.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Toronto, and his M.A. from the University of Essex. Professor Díez has taught at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po) and the University of Toronto and has been a Visiting Professor at the El Colegio de México, the Universidad Diego Portales in Santiago de Chile, and the University of California, San Diego. A recipient of numerous research awards, from organizations including the Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and the International Development Research Council (IDRC), he is especially interested in comparative politics, Latin American politics, processes of democratization, comparative public policy, social movements, citizenship studies, environmental politics and policy, civil-military relations and the politics of gay and lesbian rights.
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When Legislators Actually Mattered
By Laurie L. Levenson
PROFESSOR GERARD MAGLIOCCA spares no detail in his comprehensive review of John Bingham’s life and his drafting of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. For history buffs, constitutional scholars, and civil war experts, the book is a smorgasbord of facts about a critical period in America’s history. The reader is taken step by step through the political and legal hurdles required to enact one of the most significant post–Bill of Rights provisions of our Constitution.
The 14th Amendment makes America the country it is today. Without it, Reconstruction following the Civil War was unlikely to have succeeded. Without it, there would be no limits on the states’ ability to restrict freedoms of speech and religion, nor any guarantee that local law enforcement would honor citizens’ rights against unreasonable search and seizure.
Yet, the importance of this book is not just in what it teaches about the meaning of the 14th Amendment. Magliocca’s greatest contribution lies in simply reminding us that there was a time in America’s history — a tumultuous but glorious time — when statesmen actually did their jobs. They not only drafted laws that protected the Republic, but also crafted constitutional provisions that had grand and lasting effect. Congress held the future of America in its hands, but did not become paralyzed. National leaders, such as John Bingham, thought big, and they had the skill and wherewithal to do all the work necessary to ensure that our federal government had the tools to protect everyone’s basic rights, especially those of the newly freed slaves.
The 14th Amendment
John Bingham’s legacy is expressed in the first section of the 14th Amendment. If average citizens were asked what that section provides, a glazed look would likely appear on their faces. Civics books today may teach about the First or Fifth Amendments, but the 14th is rarely recognized as a significant guarantor of our basic rights today.
Section 1 of the amendment provides:
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
What do these words do? The first sentence, which actually was not written by Bingham, overruled the Supreme Court’s infamous Dred Scott decision by declaring all American-born persons of African descent citizens. The remainder of Section 1 imposed obligations on the states. No longer could they abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens; no longer could they deprive persons of life, liberty, or property without due process; no longer could they deny persons the equal protection of laws. In other words, states — including the former Confederate states that were to be readmitted into the Union — must adhere to the basic principles of the Constitution. Section 5 of the 14th Amendment then gave Congress the power to enforce these rights with legislation. Thus, America began its long journey toward recognizing the rights of all of its citizens.
The 14th Amendment did not, however, accomplish everything Bingham hoped it would. Bingham wanted an amendment that would automatically require the states to follow the Bill of Rights. The 14th Amendment did not immediately accomplish this goal; instead, it took many more decades for the Supreme Court to apply the bulk of those rights to the states. The 14th Amendment also failed to protect African Americans in the South from lynchings and other attacks by private individuals who terrorized them. It also did not initially guarantee voting rights for all, especially for women. But it was a start — a very important start that gave subsequent leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr., the foundation for securing those rights. Eventually, the amendment was used to desegregate the public schools, carry the movement to end discrimination and provide voting rights, and develop recognition of the right to sexual privacy.
For Bingham, the “vital principle of our government” was “the equality of the human race.” That was the “holy Temple of Freedom.” Today, much lip service is given to ideas of equality. For Bingham, it was his reason for living. It was his legacy.
John Bingham — The Statesman
Magliocca’s book is not just a study in constitutional law. It is a study in what makes a legislator into a statesman. There is a difference between a person who holds a seat in Congress and one who dedicates his life to using the political process to create a better future, a better Republic. Bingham lived that life. Yet, as Magliocca notes, Bingham was “forgotten even before he died.”
Bingham lived through the important moments that defined America before, during, and immediately after the Civil War. As soon as he entered the House of Representatives in 1855, he was one of the strongest antislavery voices of the Republican Party. When Abraham Lincoln was shot, he was one of the prosecutors at the military trial of the assassination conspirators. And the man could talk. His closing argument was described as a “spellbinding performance that lasted two days,” leading one observer to comment that Bingham’s “invective burned and seared like hot iron.” He was a friend of George Custer, for whom he served as a reference when Custer was having difficulties getting into West Point due to sexual escapades. He served as a prosecutor in the impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson, and ultimately went on to become ambassador to Japan.
But, foremost and always, Bingham was a statesman. Possessed of superb debating skills, he pushed his antislavery agenda through decades of legislative sessions. Bingham’s rise to power began during the 1854 debate over the Kansas-Nebraska Act. The bill sought to expand slavery into the territories, thereby repealing the 1820 Missouri Compromise. Bingham began then a lifetime pursuit of interpreting and arming the Constitution to prohibit slavery.
Bingham argued that because the word “slavery” was not in the Constitution, it was clear that the Founding Fathers intended that the institution should die. He further argued that Congress had broad authority to regulate the territories under Article IV, Section 3, of the Constitution. He argued that the states were unequal with respect to rights and that the federal courts could invalidate laws in some states that were constitutional in the original 13. Ultimately, Bingham’s position boiled down to the argument that the Constitution did not permit racial distinctions with respect to fundamental rights. He said:
You will search in vain, in the Constitution of the United States, for the word white; it is not there. You will look in vain for it in the first form of National Government — the Articles of Confederation; it is not there. The omission of this word — this phrase of caste — from our national charter, was not accidental, but intentional.
Despite his fervent belief that the fundamental rights of all Americans were protected by the Constitution, he did not include suffrage in those rights. He viewed the constitutional right to vote as a political right and believed that states retained the right to regulate which of their citizens could vote. As such, not only did he not believe that the Constitution guaranteed blacks the right to vote, he also did not support the argument that women had the fundamental right to vote.
Bingham also did not believe that all rights were guaranteed during wartime. Thus, the man who fought so hard to guarantee fundamental rights for blacks also helped draft the Habeas Corpus Suspension Act of 1863, which authorized the use of military commissions for civilians, rather than jury trials, during the Civil War.
However, when it came to nation-building after the Civil War, Bingham’s recipe was simple: he embraced the 14th Amendment as the perfect answer. The amendment would require states, including Southern states, to respect the privileges and immunities of all citizens. He argued that the states had always been ethically or morally obligated to enforce the other provisions of the Constitution, including its first 10 amendments, collectively known by the magic phrase, “the Bill of Rights.” His opponents were formidable, including President Johnson, who would not accept the 14th Amendment and used all his powers to block its ratification. Bingham also battled against Congressman Thaddeus Stevens, who sought more punishment of the Confederate states.
In the end, Bingham succeeded. But although the 14th Amendment was ratified, Bingham could not declare complete victory. Instead of interpreting the amendment as extending the Bill of Rights to the states, the Supreme Court, in the Slaughter-House cases, gave a narrower list of what would count as national “privileges or immunities.” The Supreme Court also ruled, in United States v. Cruikshank (1876), that nothing in the 14th Amendment protected against the encroachment of one citizen’s rights by another citizen. Thus, while blacks were no longer slaves, and the 14th Amendment would one day become the basis for greater civil rights, the South continued a legacy of lynchings and other violations well beyond Bingham’s lifetime. New laws — civil rights laws — by new leaders were needed. But, at the very least, Bingham had paved the way.
As the pastor of an African Methodist Episcopal Church said at his eulogy in 1901, Bingham was not an idle dreamer or fanatic. Rather, he was a “truehearted, fearless, faithful champion of the bondsman and invincible defender of those principles which mean the fulfillment of the highest ideals consistent with truth, honor, justice, and liberty.” He was a Congressman who got things done. He had a calling to serve and he did. He did not engage in stalling tactics; he persuaded and acted. That, by itself, is an example today’s legislators should consider following.
Ultimately, American Founding Son’s sum is greater than its parts. Magliocca has created a book jammed with information and firsthand sources. History buffs will love it, and Civil War connoisseurs will embrace it. However, in the end, its message is for everyone. Words with meaning can be the best legacy a person can leave behind, even if no one ever remembers your name.
Laurie L. Levenson’s second piece for LARB.
American Founding Son
John Bingham and the Invention of the 14th Amendment
By Gerard Magliocca
New York University Press
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Conferences & Exhibitions
College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences > Student Resources > Undergraduate Research > Grant Programs
Summer Undergraduate Research Grant (SURG)
SURG is a program sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences to encourage mentored student research. The SURG program awards financial support to undergraduate students in support of their research, scholarly, or creative projects to be completed over the summer. While all student proposals require a faculty sponsor, this award is for student-centered projects. It is thus fundamentally different from the Undergraduate Research Assistant Program (URAP), a program which supports faculty research in the college.
The program offers students the opportunities to design a project and develop a proposal for competitive review. Applications are judged on the quality of the proposed project and the educational benefit to the student. The process is competitive. Since funding is limited, awards are granted to the strongest proposals.
View Student Guidelines for preparing a SURG application
View Faculty Guidelines for sponsoring a SURG application
SURG Past Recipients
2011-2012
SURG grants provide students a taxable stipend according to the following schedule:
For projects proposed by a single student: $1500.00
For projects proposed by two students: $1250.00 per student
For projects proposed by three or more students: $1000.00 per student
The stipend will be paid in regular payments between late June and September. Each proposal application may also request an expense allowance of up to $250 per project (not per student) to cover such expenses for supplies or other costs necessary for the project.
Eligible students are those full-time undergraduates in the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences who:
have a cumulative G.P.A. of 3.0 or higher, and
are registered for at least 12 credit hours the spring preceding and the autumn following the summer in which the grant was awarded.
Past award recipients may reapply, but priority will be given to first-time applicants. Past award recipients must have completed a final report for all previous projects to be eligible to be considered for a subsequent award.
The annual application cycle opens on March 15th and closes on April 15th. Applications must be submitted using this Online System. Award notification is usually made by May 1st.
Undergraduate Research Fund (URF)
The Undergraduate Research Fund (URF) Program was created to support DePaul undergraduate students by reimbursing the expenses incurred for participation in scholarly meetings to which they have been invited to share their research or creative work. The URF provides funding for registration, travel and accommodation only.
View Student Guidelines for preparing a URF application
While students are encouraged to seek other sources of support, the URF is committed to reimbursing the registration, travel and accommodation costs necessary for the student to present at these events. Unless otherwise requested due to financial hardship, reimbursements will be made after travel has occurred.
The URF is available to students whose primary major is in the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences. For a complete list of LAS majors, see here. Applicants must also be:
full-time students in good academic standing with an overall GPA of 3.00 or higher, and
sole or main authors and are identified as presenters in the conference program or in a letter of acceptance from the conference organizers (proof of acceptance is required as part of the application).
Students may receive more than one award per year, but preference is given to applicants applying for the first time within the academic year.
Previous awardees are eligible to reapply in subsequent years.
Applications are reviewed and decisions made on a rolling basis throughout the academic year until funds are depleted. Applications may be submitted online as soon as a student has received confirmation of their acceptance in the event’s program. In that application, students will be required to provide the name of a faculty member who has agreed to endorse their application. Applications must be submitted using this Online System.
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Pia Wurtzbach takes test for HIV
TESTING Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach, Miss Universe 2015 and UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador for Asia-Pacific, receives a public HIV testing in Manila. —AP
Philippine Daily Inquirer / 07:06 AM August 11, 2017
The Philippines’ former Miss Universe conducted a public HIV test in Manila on Wednesday, a week after the United Nations (UN) said her country had the fastest-growing number of infections in Asia.
Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach, UNAIDS goodwill ambassador for Asia and the Pacific, took the test in front of reporters as part of her efforts to raise awareness of HIV and remove the stigma surrounding the virus in the conservative nation.
The United Nations and the government said last week that the Philippines saw a 140-percent increase in new cases from 2010 to 2016, bucking a regional trend that saw infections decline by 13 percent over the same period.
“It is very tricky in the Philippines because we’re a predominantly Catholic country and we are conservative. That’s why it can be quite a challenge to spread awareness on this issue,” Wurtzbach said.
“This is a problem that’s really happening right now and if we don’t do anything about it, we’re gonna be number one in the world.”
The nation of 100 million people, of whom 80 percent are Catholic, is heavily influenced by the church which frowns on contraceptive use. Testing for HIV is also considered taboo.
Wurtzbach has been campaigning for HIV awareness since winning the 2015 beauty pageant. She secured the crown following a major blunder in which host Steve Harvey initially gave it to Miss Colombia in error.
Target: Young people
On Wednesday, Wurtzbach launched an HIV information campaign for young people as she expressed support for proposed laws which would allow 15-year-olds to get an HIV test without parental consent. The minimum age is now 18.
The health department had said most reported HIV cases were among men having sex with men. This group on average started having sex at 16 before they had begun using condoms or taken tests, increasing the risk of infection.
“We hope to see an increase in the rates of regular HIV testing among Filipinos to normalize the procedure as a regular medical exam,” Wurtzbach said. —AFP
HIVMiss UniversePia Alonzo WurtzbachUNAIDS
clopez
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Lesley Max
Lesley Max is the co-founder and CEO of Great Potentials Foundation, established in 1990. She devised the Family Service Centre model, now in seven locations; introduced HIPPY – Home Interaction Programme for Parents and Youngsters, now in 44 communities; and introduced MATES – Mentoring and Tutoring Education Scheme, now in 14 schools. She was awarded a Winston Churchill Foundation Scholarship, which resulted in her strong advocacy for the creation of Family Start. She has held Government appointments in the fields of health and family violence. Lesley is Patron of the Family Help Trust, the National Council of Women, Teach First New Zealand, and Sistema Aotearoa. She grew up on the North Shore, graduated from the University of Auckland and was a secondary school teacher in London and Auckland. She wrote for Metro magazine for 13 years and wrote an influential book, “Children: Endangered Species?” In 2010 she was made a Dame Commander of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to children. She is married to Dr Robert Max. They have four children and five grandchildren.
MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN OUR COMMUNITIES: PANEL C152 / NetanyaLesley Max • Manny Waks • Paul Wilton • David Zussman
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Sports » Features
RBC GranFondo Whistler to allow e-bikes in Medio
Co-founder says 55-kilometre event about providing an experience
by Dan Falloon
Photo courtesy of RBC GranFondo Whistler E-bikes will ride alongside self-powered athletes in the Medio event of this year's RBC GranFondo Whistler.
RBC GranFondo Whistler co-founder Neil McKinnon has long stressed the importance of the event in getting people involved in cycling.
The marquee ride of the annual September event, which is celebrating its 10th running in 2019, is the 122-kilometre ride from Vancouver's Stanley Park to Whistler and pits several of the world's top riders against one another in the elite category.
But with a number of amateur divisions on offer as well, McKinnon said the race looks to serve all its participants. That's why, he said, the 55-km Medio event, which takes riders from Whistler Village to the Callaghan Valley and back, will open its ranks to those riding e-bikes at the Sept. 7 festival.
"We've reserved the Forte, the team challenge and the GranFondo to be exclusive of e-bikes. However, with the Medio, it's all about experiences and it's to get people into the event, into cycling and (building) further participation with families," McKinnon said. "We thought that that would be a great introduction to include it in the 2019 RBC GranFondo Whistler."
McKinnon said though e-bike users are allowed to participate, they won't receive timing chips to be measured alongside those riding the full distance.
"Because they have electric assist, to time athletic endurance and creating a level playing field would be difficult intermixing with the regular bicycles in the category," he said.
McKinnon said in the future, there might be an opportunity to create that level playing field, but doesn't expect it to be in the coming years.
Though the announcement resulted in media attention with the race over half a year away, McKinnon doesn't expect significant numbers to take up the e-bike offer in the early stages. However, the opportunity is just as much about offering it to riders at all as it is to bringing in swaths of new participants.
"We are usually first to market with all new innovations as we are with this inclusion," he said. "It's exciting to see that, again, there's a new element that we're bringing to the fore."
Some critics are wary of the move, opposing it on the grounds that all participants should power themselves the entire distance. McKinnon, however, reiterated that e-bikes are only allowed in the festival's most recreational division.
"I certainly understand if people in the GranFondo, and certainly the Forte (a 152-km ride with an incline up Cypress Mountain thrown in), where they're really putting out as much athleticism as they can possibly muster-and towards the end of the ride, somebody pushes a button and they just pass you to the end, that would be very demoralizing and I understand that. We agree with that," he said. "The Medio is about experience and having fun, and it's not as much focused on the incredible athleticism that's involved in the Forte or the GranFondo itself-not to minimize, obviously, the ride up the Callaghan and the ride up Powerline Hill-but we have no plans to introduce e-bikes into the other divisions."
McKinnon also added that apart from creating any confusion be appearing to conflate the accomplishments of e-bike riders and regular riders completing longer distances, there are practical considerations for not allowing them in those divisions as well.
"Consideration for the longer distances is the battery life. The last thing we want people to do is have an experience in the GranFondo on the longer courses, then all of a sudden, coming up Powerline Hill when the battery comes out and now they have a very heavy bike to get to the finish line," he said. "That would not be fun for any athlete, quite frankly."
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Fatal crash in Cambria Hts.
Posted: Thursday, June 6, 2019 10:30 am
The NYPD is investigating a crash that killed a 53-year-old St. Albans man and injured three others in Cambria Heights early last Sunday morning.
Police at the NYPD’s 105th Precinct said the incident took place at approximately 2:34 a.m. when a BMW being driven by Darwin Evariste of 203rd Street collided with a Jeep operated by a 23-year-old woman with two passengers.
Officers found Evariste to be suffering from head and body trauma. He was taken by EMS personnel to Franklin Hospital Medical Center in Valley Stream, LI, where he was pronounced dead. The three people in the Jeep were taken to North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, LI, for treatment of their injuries.
The preliminary police investigation revealed that the Jeep was heading north on Springfield Boulevard and collided with the BMW as Evariste, heading west on 114th Road, attempted to make a right turn onto Springfield. Police said no arrests have been made, and that the investigation is being conducted by the Highway Collision Investigation Squad.
— Michael Gannon
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15 Essential Australian rock and folk albums!
September 20, 2013 · by Make Your Own Taste · in Acoustic, Dream pop, Folk Rock, New Wave, Power pop, Protest, Psychedelic, Punk, Rock, Singer-songwriter. ·
I’ve been a devotee of Australian rock ‘n roll for a long time, ever since I picked up my first Midnight Oil and Church albums in my teens. There are a lot of parallels between my country and theirs, the population size, the ties to the Empire, the oppressed Aboriginal minority, the vast open spaces.
There’s just something special about the way you guys do it. Mind you, familiarity breeds contempt, and maybe that explains my lack of interest in Canadian tunes (except for Rush. If you diss Rush, I will likely punch you). Also perhaps due to the fact that I spent a lot of time in bands that should have gotten somewhere, and getting nowhere often had less to do with our lack of talent or effort than with the trend-oriented nature of Canadian tastes. Oh yes, it’s trendy here. And being the prime international innovators of indie rock is not exactly a feather in our caps. Let me qualify this by shouting out to all my talented musician homies. We shoulda made it. And no dissing of Bruce Cockburn, Gordon Lightfoot and other fine acts.
I mean, sure, we have some bands that have done well, such as Blue Rodeo, Sloan and The Tragically Hip, and they all have some good tunes, but for every one of our popular bands (except Rush) there’s an Aussie band that does it better. Unless you think The Arcade Fire is genius, and in that case … uh. And let me remind you that our biggest export is Nickelback, while Australia’s biggest band is Powderfinger. Need I say more?
This is by no means a definitive list of THE essential Aussie albums (I’d never be so presumptuous), but it IS a list of albums that every serious rock fan needs, spanning folk, muscular manly rock, pop and psychedelia. I should also point out that I have no idea how popular most of this music was down in the Antipodes, so you could say my perspectives are rather objective. If it went platinum or tin, don’t matter to me. If you are Australian, send this list to your non-Aussie friends so they can git an eddycation.
Read on. There are YouTube links too.
The Church – After Everything Now This (2002)
I’ve given plenty of ink to Sydney’s global kings of neo-psych, who started up with the Of Skins and Heart album in 1981, with their wondrous chiming dual guitars and mind-blowing lyrics. Read this. This album is not their best-known by a long shot, but it represented a true return to top form by the band that does this kind of music better than any other. In any age. Several of the band’s best songs ever are on this, including the majestic melancholy of “After Everything“, the mystical magic of “Radiance“, the slippery nastiness of “Numbers“, and the list goes on. Singer Steve Kilbey is in great lyrical shape, spinning mystical verse like God’s own poet, and the guitar parts and textures devised by Marty Willson-Piper and Peter Koppes are out of this world. This band takes you to mental and spiritual places that no one else can. There’s SO much more to The Church than “Under the Milky Way”, as lovely as that song is.
Cold Chisel – Cold Chisel (1978)
Cold Chisel was a very popular band in Australia, sort of the Powderfinger of their day. Their sound was a mixture of high-octane blues-rock with the AOR sound popular in the early eighties, though the lingering appeal of Cold Chisel lies in the fact that their sound was much rawer than the Loverboys and Foreigners of the period. With most vocals handled by leather-lunged Jimmy Barnes, sort of a more powerful Lou Gramm, the band’s hits were in the care of a good throat. A little slick but a little Springsteen too, Cold Chisel knew how to rock hard and how to write smart songs for the everyman without talking down to him. This first album is rightfully considered a classic and is the rawest of their albums, right out of the gates with the riffery of “Juliet“. The album also contains the landmark Aussie anthem “Khe Sanh“, about a vet’s problems upon his return from ‘Nam (yes, Aussies were there). The throbbing pulse of “Darskarzine” is another highlight. If you want the finest in high-octane rock ‘n roll, look no further.
The Go-Betweens – Tallulah (1987)
Brisbane’s Go-Betweens are often spoken of in terms of being “underappreciated”, which is true, but I’d say they’ve acquired their fair share of admirers over the years. Unfortunately, they will not be making more music, since one half of the songwriting duo, Grant McLennan, has tragically left this earth. But he left in his wake a ton of great albums. Tallulah is something of a transitional album, from the spartan post-punk sounds of earlier albums to a lush pop sensibility. But the band’s sharp and melodic songwriting remained intact. Both McLennan and Robert Forster present some of their best pop songs here, including McLennan’s pair of classics, “Right Here” and “Bye Bye Pride” (mega hits that should have been), as well as Forster’s taut, edgy rockers “You Tell Me” and “I Just Get Caught Out“. Other highlights include the ballad “The Clarke Sisters” and Forster’s “The House that Jack Kerouac Built”. These guys represent some of the pop world’s finest songwriting skills, with a warmth and intelligence rarely found. If you haven’t experienced it yet, do so!
Not Drowning, Waving – The Little Desert (1985)
Melbourne’s Not Drowning, Waving was led by pianist/vocalist David Bridie. A pretty unique band, Not Drowning, Waving took the fusion of rock music, world music and ambient further than Talking Heads ever did. Indeed, the sound is a fusion of the better end of eighties pop with ambient sounds worthy of Harold Budd and Brian Eno. The Little Desert is their masterpiece, a collection of gentle songs and instrumentals replete with field recordings that evoke the wilderness and small towns of Australia. This is an album best digested as a seamless listening experience, but you’re hooked immediately by the elegant piano ballad “The Same Heat“, while “Empty Trees and Buildings”, “Tide” and “Big Sky” are examples of the excellent ambient pieces on the record. I do believe this is an album that every ambient music fan should own, but it’s also a very important recording in the history of Australian music, very much ahead of its time, and one of my favourite albums, period.
The Triffids – Born Sandy Devotional (1986)
Perth’s Triffids were led by the late David McComb, a prodigiously talented and very focused songwriter. The band did not achieve the success it deserved but has a loyal cult following. Perhaps being from Western Australia is what lent McComb’s songwriting its widescreen, cinematic vibe. While the instrumentation is very much new wave with roots touches, the imagery is pastoral and rural, but not always in a pretty way, for often the songs are dark and tragic stories played out under the unforgivingly huge and empty skies of the bush. A more evocative lyricist would be hard to find. This, the band’s strongest album, features the all-time classic “Wide Open Road” with its simple but hard-hitting lyrics, but also the very dramatic “Stolen Property” and the moody “Lonely Stretch“. The Triffids are an example of a band that really couldn’t be from anywhere else, which is possibly why they did not find international success, but what a band it was.
Silverchair – Diorama (2002)
This is maybe not Silverchair’s best, since it was followed by the quite spectacular Young Modern. But there’s something special about Diorama. And what that something is, is a major talent blossoming before our eyes. Daniel Johns, who got signed at what, 15? must have been doing some serious listening, because the adolescent band’s understandable reliance on derivative grunge (how good was YOUR band when you were 16?) mixed with Sabbath is replaced by an inventiveness that no one could have foreseen. Sure, a lot of the songs still have massive distorted guitars, but the structure of the pieces, the creative arrangements (well, having Van Dyke Parks certainly helped!), and the overall maturity level represents an astonishing development in his progression. Not all the tunes are great, some of them hearkening back too much to the thumpy early days, but Johns’ powerful, soaring voice overcomes all. And oh the gems, from the slightly Beach Boys-ey “Across the Night” to the pure pop magic of “Luv Your Life” to the monolithic riffing majesty of “Without You” and the delicate sadness of “World Upon Your Shoulders”. If this is grunge, then I’m happy to just listen to this and forget the rest of it. I never much liked grunge anyway.
Midnight Oil – Blue Sky Mining (1991)
Perth’s Midnight Oil is the band your friends say of, “Oh, are they the ones with the bald guy who wants me to care about shit?” Yes, yes, they are. But there’s so much more. In fact, the Oils are the best live band I’ve ever seen, what with the perfect harmonies, manic energy, musical inventiveness and the drummer whose arm starts above his head every time he hits the snare. After Diesel and Dust, with its explicitly Australian themes, was a freak international hit, briefly vaulting the Oils to near the top of the rock heap, Garrett, Moginie, Hirst, Rotsey and new bassist Bones Hillman had the opportunity to make a grand statement, which they did. Where the previous album was spare and dry, Blue Sky Mining is lushly produced, with strings, boatloads of keyboards and more elaborate arrangements. The emphasis had become global again as well, as the Oils tackled a bevvy of issues. The topics go from the local (the title track) to the very future of humanity (“Antarctica”), and along the way we hit the mega-intensity of the glorious “Forgotten Years” (their best song, yes it is) and the prog-rock grandiosity of “Mountains of Burma“. A huge-sounding album from one of the most important bands of all time, both lyrically, in terms of their public presence, and their musicality.
Weddings Parties Anything – Roaring Days (1988)
Not much known outside of Australia, Melbourne’s accordion-led Weddings Parties Anything was the Aussie equivalent of, say, The Pogues or The Men They Couldn’t Hang, an energetic and patriotic folk-rock band that drew stories from working-class Australia and from the history of the country. This long album doesn’t really have a bad track and is an unflinching journey into the heart of eighties Australia. The band knows how to rock, as evidenced by the title track and the political “Industrial Town”, but the band could be quite tender as well, as on the affectionate portrait of a town, “Brunswick“, and the wonderful acoustic song “Sisters of Mercy“. For a bonus, there’s a tribute to folk balladeer Tex Morton and a stomping version of Morton’s “Sergeant Small”. There’s also a really strong pop sensibility in this band’s writing that you don’t find so much in the English “folk-punk” bands. I really wish I hadn’t misplaced my copy of this…writing about it has reminded me to get another!
Mark Seymour – Embedded (2004)
If you’re a fan of Melbourne’s venerable Hunters and Collectors, this should appease you. I like the “Hunnas” a lot, but none of their albums entirely does it for me from track one through whatever, no matter how many great songs are on there (I still have all the albums, of course). Still, there are usually 5 or 6 amazing songs per album by the muscular but sensitive horn-driven collective. Remember “Throw Your Arms Around Me?” Now, lead singer Mark Seymour’s solo career is a slightly different story. This album and the next, Westgate, are two of the best roots singer-songwriter albums I’ve ever heard. Westgate is rootsier while this is poppier. And it’s a wonderful collection of super-melodic classic pop-rock that Crowded House fans should drool over. Seymour’s voice has improved as a solo artist to the point where I’d say it’s one of the most expressive and pleasant I’ve heard. This is not experimental music, it’s uplifting, heart-warming but thought-provoking. I present as evidence the mournful “Paradise Downunder” and “Waratah Street“, and the intensity of “Left Alive” and “Show Me Love”. There appears to be a loose theme about the disconnectness of suburban living, which believe me, we can identify with here. I grew up in such a place. Embedded is like a warm blanket I like to throw on periodically, and I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Seymour’s fine live act a couple of times. A top talent who deserves more listeners than he has, all over the world.
Warumpi Band – Big Name, No Blankets (1985)
Best known to many for being in a documentary with Midnight Oil, The Warumpi Band, formed in remote Papunya, were no slackers themselves, I can assure you. This band contained, inspiringly, both Aboriginal and white members, and many of the songs are in the indigenous language. While the album occasionally devolves into typical boogie woogie and there’s one unsuccessful dalliance with reggae, the majority of the album is a storming collection of basic, driving four-on-the-floor rock and roll, drums, bass, guitar and let’s go! The Aboriginal lyrics and vocal tones do lend an air of exoticism, but these are good tunes regardless. The driving “Waru” and “Warumpinya Papunyan” represent the band at its best. And the album contains the anthem of reconciliation, “Blackfella Whitefella“, which is essential listening for anyone who cares about these things. And you should. This album is not a curiosity, it’s a slice of the real-life outback brought right to your front door, and you shouldn’t miss it.
Archie Roach – Charcoal Lane (1990)
Charcoal Lane is an important album, for it seems the Aboriginal community had never had a voice like Roach’s to express its outrage and sorrow. And what a voice! One of the sweetest country-folk voices you’ll ever hear. They should have sent Aaron Neville to study with this guy. And the songs! It’s like Roach was born with a magical ability to sum up all of his people’s suffering (of which he has had his share) and make it clearly understandable for those of us who couldn’t possibly comprehend what they have been put through. There are so many sad gems on here, from the heartbreaking “Took the Children Away” (they took Canadian Native children away too, and what incredible damage it did), to the tragedy of “Munjana” (one woman’s life of oppression examined in tragic detail), and the deceptive sweetness of “Native Born”. But Roach doesn’t just do issues well. “Summer of My Life”, expressing the loneliness and memories of a recently widowed woman, possibly breaks my heart more than anything I’ve ever heard. And all of this with tastefully sparse production, letting the voice express everything. What a great album.
Kev Carmody – Pillars of Society (1988)
Carmody, another Aboriginal folkie, is sort of the far-left complement to Roach’s humanism. While Roach is expert in sorrow and uplift, Carmody’s pen and tongue are sharp. He wants you to know exactly why his people are so fucked up and why the world is so fucked up in general. He points his finger angrily but he points it in just the right directions. And his sardonic vocal tone is a perfect vehicle for this uncompromising truth-telling. Witness “Pillars of Society”, wherein he lays out the stupidity of capitalism in a rather matter-of-fact manner, as though it’s self-evident. Which it is. Other wrenchingly honest tracks are “Thou Shalt Not Steal“, one of the best songs about the White occupation I’ve ever heard, the poem “Comrade Jesus Christ”, a new version of the sorts of sentiments expressed by Leon Rosselson in “Stand Up for Judas” many decades ago (in fact, in some ways Carmody is the Aborigine Rosselson), and the vitriolic “White Bourgeois Woman”. If you like activist music like classic Billy Bragg and Phil Ochs, Carmody will be a revelation for you.
Powerfinger – Vulture Street (2003)
As I implied earlier, if this is your top-40 rock in Oz, you have no idea how lucky you are. Truly. For what we have here is five likeable blokes kicking out some delightful old-skool rock ‘n roll. Powderfinger’s earlier albums were a little too Pixies-ish college rock for me, but on this album they really found their footing in a set of bitchin’ Stonesy/Hooply/Facesey boogie woogie woogie. I’ll take it over the Black Crowes any day, even though Powderfinger plays it a little safer than the average sloppy rock ‘n roll band. Ian Haug and Darren Middleton’s amps sound cranked to 12, Bernard Fanning discovers his Southern rock singin’ mojo, and the tunes are just plain fun. Witness the skittery Keith Moonish drumming and mountain-size riffing of “(Baby I’ve Got You) on My Mind“, the big-ass chorus dynamic (and Jimmy Page-style solo) on “Love Your Way“, and the exultant stomp of “Sunsets” and “Stumblin'”. A great album to rock with on a sunny afternoon. So if you’re an indie hipster full of disdain for the Finger, give your head a shake. For the record, the band’s last album, Golden Rule, is their best, but this is too much of a good time not to recommend.
The Boys Next Door – Door, Door (1979)
Aussies did do punk, and I’m shamed to say I don’t know The Saints’ discography, which I’ve heard great things about, well enough to detail anything here. But before he became sort of a Goth god and sometime novelist, young Nick Cave and The Birthday Party were this bitchin’ punk/post-punk band. I’m sure he’d read this and wonder why I’m not highlighting one of his many other fine albums with The Bad Seeds and The Birthday Party, but I just think this album should be heard more. This is not nasty “oi” punk; it belongs more on your playlist with The Buzzcocks and The Damned, but it’s a super-rockin’ collection of short, melodic punk nuggets. Listen to “The Nightwatchman” to hear what I mean. The album progresses as expected, but at the end we get the gloriously juvenile “Shivers“, a long, mournful, and hyper-dramatic ballad with sentiments so very despondent that they make noted moper Morrissey sound like Kool and the Gang. A great way to spend 4.5 minutes, I assure you. Cave is indeed a major talent, and these are his roots. What fun roots they are!
Ups & Downs – Sleepless (1986)
I bet you haven’t heard of Brisbane’s Ups & Downs, but now you have. An early eighties pop/neo-psych band led by the Atkinson brothers, Ups & Downs ploughed the same furrows as early Church, Echo and the Bunnymen and The Psychedelic Furs, cinematically dramatic songs with chiming neo-Byrdsy guitars and soaring choruses. And it’s some of the best of that sort of music I’ve heard — these tunes are epic. Put them in the “should have made it” bin with other great bands like Ireland’s Cactus World News … it’s hard to believe this stuff didn’t go big when you listen to alternate-reality hits like “The Living Kind“, the Diamond cover “Solitary Man” and “Hearts”, with its ecstatic guitar crescendos. And Greg Atkinson has a wonderful voice. The band’s best song, “Moments Away”, isn’t on this album, but if you can find this and you like great melodic rock/dream pop/what have you, you simply must have it.
Tags: Australian, Go-Betweens, Midnight Oil, Nick Cave, Powderfinger, Rock, Silverchair
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8 responses to “15 Essential Australian rock and folk albums!”
Bruce September 20, 2013 at 12:41 pm · · Reply →
No Paul Kelly!? I’m speechless.
Make Your Own Taste September 20, 2013 at 12:54 pm · · Reply →
Forgive me, Paul. Hence the disclaimer. Not THE list, just A list. I like Paul a lot though. Perhaps a part II is in order soon. It’ll give me time to learn properly about The Saints!
Make Your Own Taste September 20, 2013 at 12:55 pm · ·
Forgive me Bruce that is. It’s early here.
Bruce September 20, 2013 at 1:03 pm · ·
No prob. It’s a good selection of artists and albums with some worthwhile discoveries and many cool insights. Loved the Triffids piece.
Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network
Adrian December 26, 2013 at 8:14 am · · Reply →
You show remarkable insight into the aussie scene and these selections are very good. Love the Ups and Downs – in the same vein look for the Moffs !
Make Your Own Taste December 26, 2013 at 2:06 pm · · Reply →
Thanks! And I will!
Christopher L. Handlebars August 18, 2016 at 10:42 am · · Reply →
Ups and Downs, nice addition. Are you into his later stuff as Big Heavy Stuff? I’m a big fan of their last two albums, Dear Friends and Enemies and especially Size of the Ocean, which I highly recommend to you due to your apparent taste, if you are not already familiar with it.
Make Your Own Taste August 18, 2016 at 11:39 am · · Reply →
I am not familiar- that band was not well known here and the records weren’t east to get.
I will look them up, thanks!
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Royal Court Open House Day
By Hazel Last edited 160 months ago
Hazel Royal Court Open House Day
Where would we be without the Royal Court Theatre? Snuggled next to Sloane Square tube station and beaming benevolently on the Chelsea shoppers thronging London's fashionable King's Road, this playhouse for new writing and new drama was where the angry young man was born, where post-war British theatre took shape and eventually abolished the Lord Chamberlain's censorship of the stage, where the new wave, new shock of British dramatists and writers exploded into national consciousness in the 1990s with their gay rape, baby-eating and very bad language. The Royal Court Theatre: where there are no romantic misunderstandings, no French windows, and no one, absolutely no one is up for tennis on the lawn.
To celebrate 50 years of being what the New York Times calls "the most important theatre in Europe," the Royal Court Theatre will have an Open House day from 11.00am to 11.00pm this Saturday (25th March). The invitation to visit the theatre is as follows:
"We love the Royal Court and we want everyone around us to love it too.
So, as part of our 50th Anniversary celebrations, we are flinging open our doors to you, the public. If you've ever wondered what goes on here, this is the day to find out. Every available space in the Royal Court's Sloane Square building will be animated with vibrant exhibitions, performances, workshops, backstage tours, live theatre and more."
Just drop in and simply by wandering through the building at any point between 11.00am and 11.00pm, you can see the stage, tour the building, see exhibitions, catch the opening scene of the evening's show in rehearsal while the technical crew run through their cues, street theatre in Sloane Square itself and specially priced lunches in the theatre restaurant. Extracts from iconic Royal Court plays will be performed in spaces throughout the building, from the Cloakroom to the Balcony to the bookshop. There'll be budding playwrights attempting to write a play in a day and workshops going on all over the place.
Don't let it be said that London theatre is a closed shop - for Saturday, the Royal Court will do what it does best and explode (perhaps literally...) all expectations.
The Royal Court Open House Day starts at the Royal Court Theatre at 11.00am with events throughout the day until 11.00pm. The theatre restaurant and cafe bar will be open for coffee, lunch and supper as well as drinks and snacks with live music. All events are free. For more information, go to the Royal Court Theatre website here.
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← Saving the peace talks from failure
The House Divided →
History of Palestine – Part 1
Many of my American friends do not know the history of Palestine. Until relatively recently, I sure didn’t.
Here’s my attempt to “educate” my fellow Americans. I would appreciate any constructive comments to my first draft.
“The erasure of Palestinian culture and history is a tactic of war and occupation, a means to further limit the self-determination of the Palestinian people. Yet the richness, beauty, and complexity of Palestinian existence was everywhere evident, in the historical and contemporary cultural material produced by writers, poets, journalists, artists, archivists and librarians, and in the histories passed down through stories and from person to person. We bore witness to a culture of resistance, which in all its myriad forms resoundingly refutes the notion that Palestine does not exist.” – Delegation of Librarians and Archivists who visited Palestine (August 2013)
As an American growing up in the 1950s & 60s, and taking note of the world beyond my horizon beginning in the 1970s, I learned about the Middle East through the Israeli narrative which the U.S. mainstream media picked up lock, stock and barrel.
The story-line went this way: The young Jewish state provided a safe-haven for the persecuted victims of the Holocaust. The kibbutzim were a progressive social experiment in a relatively empty landscape that might flourish one day. Hostile Arab neighbors were ruthless and wanted to destroy Israel in her infancy. As the only democracy in that part of the world, America’s alliance with Israel made perfect sense; maybe America could spread some of its noble values around.
I didn’t question this story-line or look deeper because there were more pressing concerns – raising a family and starting a career – and, of course, the Viet Nam quagmire. Frankly, Southeast Asia was on my radar screen more than the Middle East until the “intifada” hit the nightly news in the late 1980s. What is an “intifada”? Why were these children throwing rocks? The Israeli narrative began to crack but I was still too preoccupied to bother learning about the occupation. Most Americans, I suspect, were as unconcerned as I was about the Middle East.
Today a visitor can travel to France and easily grasp that country’s culture, its environs, and the current political scene without having any knowledge of the French Revolution; or to India without a scintilla of information about the British East India Company. Not so in Palestine.
The signs of the Israeli Occupation are everywhere. Travelers disembarking at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, intending to visit the West Bank or Gaza, are immediately confronted with the reality of the Occupation. Israeli security guards separate, isolate and question them, sometimes instruct them to open their Facebook and email accounts, and meticulously search their belongings. When this happened to me on my first visit in 2004, I started asking myself questions about the Occupation. What is an Occupation? Why is Israel occupying Palestine? Who is responsible for this Occupation? Finding the answers required learning about the past.
Palestine isn’t a country, nation-state, or province; in the minds of some people, Palestine and Palestinians don’t even exist![2] Do they have a history?
Before I set off on my second trip to the Middle East in 2011, I decided I needed to do some homework. Reading up on the history of the region was part of my self-assignment. I quickly learned that the conflict is not limited to the politicians and rock-throwing youth. Historians are also battling with each other.
In the late 1980s, a group of Israeli historians, including Ilan Pappe and Benny Morris, began to challenge the commonly-accepted version of Israeli history based on newly-declassified Israeli government documents. Morris called them the New Historians. They went head-to-head with the traditional historians who cast Israel as the peace-seeking victim in a hostile Arab world, the David-and-Goliath narrative. The New Historians shared a more nuanced history of the exodus of the Palestinians and the reasons for the persistent political deadlock with the Arab states in the region.[3]
Why is the history of Israel and Palestine so important?
At its core, the conflict is framed from both sides as an issue of existence and identity. Israeli leaders assert that their nation’s existence is threatened by hostile neighbors in the region, and they see criticism as an attempt to delegitimize Israel’s identity.
Palestinians also frame the conflict as one of existence and identity. They say Israel is trying to wipe them off their land, and their identity as Palestinians is threatened in the absence of a sovereign state to call their own.
The historians continue to struggle with competing narratives. Students in Israel and Palestine are learning their own historical narratives through textbooks which conveniently omit the other’s narrative. Most diplomats and peace negotiators conduct their business as though the conflict between Israel and Palestine began in 1967, ignoring the pain and injustices that occurred when Israel first declared statehood in 1948.
Israelis and Palestinians are bound together in what appears to be an intractable conflict because of the history they share but refuse to acknowledge. Each side wants to cast their history in a light most favorable to their claims on the land, and also to legitimize their current actions. For the most part, neither side wants to hear the other and so no “peace agreement” nor “two-state solution” will mend this historical divide.
A non-historian’s summary of the history many Americans do not know.
Palestine’s location put it at the ancient crossroads of trade, science, scholarship and religion for many different people and cultures.
Zionists argue their claim on this land they call Judea and Samaria outranks all other claims because their God gave them this land thousands of years ago.
Palestinians (primarily Muslims) point to the conquests of the Arabian Peninsula beginning in the 630s by Prophet Mohammed and his followers. The region was governed by Muslim rulers for hundreds of years, with the exception of the Crusades (1099 – 1291) and then the establishment of Israel in 1948.
My eyes glaze over and I stifle a yawn when the advocates on either side turn back this far into history to support their claims. I can’t believe any deity wants his or her followers to trumpet their rights to the land or rationalize their cruelties and injustices based on events dating back so far in history.
Instead, I turn to more recent times when the Turks ruled their Ottoman Empire, including this region of the Middle East, for more than 400 years. There were no Arab states at that time – no state of Palestine — but after WWI the victorious British Empire laid claim and established Palestine’s first borders in 1922 with the blessing of the League of Nations.
Although there were Jewish immigrants escaping the pogroms and arriving in Palestine as early as the 1880s from Europe, the inhabitants in Palestine were predominantly Arab Muslims and Christians. [stats].
The British Mandate of Palestine (1920 – 1948) was a stressful time for everyone. The indigenous Arab population had a flourishing network of towns and villages, a thriving commerce, and strong educational, religious and cultural institutions which knit them together. [Photos] They didn’t need or want British rulers.
The Zionist project was also flourishing, and Jewish immigrants were arriving in larger and larger numbers. [stats] Resentments grew. For hundreds of years, Jews had been kicked out, humiliated, treated as second-class citizens, and worse, everywhere they went. The Zionists wanted a safe home to call their own and they had a very deliberate plan for how to accomplish their goal.
The British tried to keep the peace but were attacked by both sides. In 1948, they said “enough is enough!” and departed, turning the keys (so to speak) over to the United Nations. Prior to their departure, the UN General Assembly approved the Partition Agreement on November 29, 1947, dividing the British Mandate of Palestine into two – giving 55% to a new Jewish state and 45% to a Palestinian Arab state. The Jewish Agency accepted the division; the Arab governments in the region rejected it and war broke out.
Why did the Arabs reject the Partition Agreement? I suspect they felt the division was unfair. At the end of 1946, 1,269,000 Arabs and 608,000 Jews lived within the borders of Mandate Palestine. Jews had purchased 6 – 8% of the total land area of Palestine amounting to about 20% of the arable land. Overnight, more than half the land passed into the hands of less than 1/3 the total population, and it just didn’t pass the smell test for most of the indigenous Arabs in the region. [ ]
1948-49 is the most disputed period in this history. Israelis celebrate May 14, 1948 as the birth of their new state. Palestinians mourn May 15, 1948 as the Nakba (Catastrophe). Traditional Israeli historians believe that thousands of Palestinians voluntarily picked up and left their homes and villages in 1948-49. The New Historians have written about the deliberate plans to forcefully expel the native population; destroying or depopulating more than 450 towns and villages. [ ]
The key to home.
By the end of 1948, two-thirds of the Palestinian population (approximated 750,000 people) was exiled, and more than 50% were driven out under direct military assault. Others fled as news spread of massacres committed by Jewish militias in Palestinian villages like Deir Yassin and Tantura. Tens of thousands of shops, businesses and stores were left in Jewish hands. Many Palestinian families took with them the keys to their homes thinking they would return one day soon. Six decades later, the keys have been passed on to their grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
School children in Gaza City who asked me to take their photo. 🙂
The Nakba may be decades-old history but it lives today in every Palestinian home and in the heart of every Palestinian man, woman and child. There are approximately 5 million Palestinian refugees (those who fled in 1948-49 and their descendants) living today in 61 camps in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon.
The Nakba trauma is recounted in the history books of Palestinian students just as Israeli students learn about the Holocaust. Evidence of the Nakba can be seen in murals on major streets in the occupied Palestinian territories. The Imans’ sermons in local Mosques can be heard recounting the devastation of the Nakba.
Refugee camps.
In June 1948, David Ben Gurion unilaterally announced the State of Israel was open and ready to do business, now on 78% of the territory of the former British Mandate. This new Jewish state was expanding. The Gaza Strip, West Bank, and the Arab East Jerusalem made up the other 22%.
The UN General Assembly tried to bring closure and peace by passing Resolution 194 on December 11, 1948. The Arab member states rejected it. Resolution 194 places Jerusalem, as the center of three world religions, under international control. Israel’s acceptance as a member of the United Nations was conditioned on its acceptance of the terms of Resolution 194. The most contested provision concerns the rights of the Palestinian refugees.
Paragraph 11: Resolves that the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or in equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible.
During the next 20 years (1948 – 1967), the Gaza Strip was ruled by Egypt, and the West Bank and East Jerusalem were ruled by Jordan.
The Palestinian Liberation Organization was created in 1964, but U.S. leaders ostracized the PLO from the first day. When Yasser Arafat was elected PLO Chairman in 1968 (or 1969?), he galvanized the Palestinians and gave them a voice even though they did not have a state of their own. Arafat was invited to the United Nations in 1974 where he spoke about carrying both a gun and an olive branch, and pleaded with delegates, “do not let the olive branch fall from my hand.” [ ] The U.S. refused to speak with the PLO until 1988.
The Six Day War in June 1967 is another bone of contention between the traditional historians and the New Historians. Whether the Arab nations were mobilizing to strike and destroy Israel, as the traditionalists assert, or Israel preemptively attacked Egypt, Jordan and Syria to expand its borders and demonstrate its superiority, there is no doubt about the outcome. Israel took control of the remaining 22% of the former territory of the British mandate, including the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, as well as the Golan Heights from Syria, and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt.
Following the war, in November 1967, the U.N. Security Council passed Resolution 242 to proclaim the “inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war and the need to work for a just and lasting peace in the Middle East in which every State in the area can live in security.” The PLO rejected Resolution 242 but in September 1993 agreed to support it. Resolution 242 is arguably the cornerstone for any discussions or negotiations between Israel, the Palestinians and their Arab neighbors because it firmly checks Israel’s plans for expansion and provides legitimacy to the Palestinians’ claims.
Palestinians living under Occupation – many are held per administrative detention without charges or evidence brought against them.
Israel’s military control of the lands it captured in the 1967 Six Day War is called an Occupation. To Palestinians and hardcore activists, this is so elementary that it needs no explanation. To most Americans, and even some Jews, the Occupation is either a new concept because the Western media rarely mentions it or it may be considered a hurtful and anti-Semitic term because it challenges Israelis’ version of history and the core beliefs of many Israelis about their country.
Spending time in Gaza, I witnessed how the Nakba (1948) and the Occupation (1967) live within the Palestinians today. These are much more than history lessons in a schoolchild’s textbook. Their identity and culture, even their dreams and goals for the future, are wrapped up in the injustices perpetrated during the Nakba and continuing to the present for those living under Occupation.
Traditional Israeli historians, and many Israeli politicians, assert time and time again that Palestinians do not want peace; they are monolithic in their desire and determination to fight with the ultimate goal of destroying Israel. The New Historians dispute this claim.
A lost opportunity came in January 1976 when the PLO went to the UN Security Council with a proposal for two states (Israel and Palestine) with Palestinians accepting the remaining 22% of the territory that had been divided in 1948. Israel refused to attend the meeting and the U.S. vetoed the resolution. At that time, the U.S. was still not talking with the PLO.
Egypt normalized relations with Israel in 1978 when Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin signed the Camp David Accords at the White House. For their efforts, they shared the Nobel Peace Prize. Israel returned the portion of the Sinai it had captured in the Six Day War to Egypt with strict conditions about keeping it a demilitarized zone; and the U.S. promised to provide lots of money and military equipment to both Israel and Egypt, which it continues to do to this day. [ ] The Camp David Accords angered Palestinians and many Arab nations. Egypt was expelled from the Arab League and Sadat was murdered in 1981 by members of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad.
The Occupation became firmly entrenched in the 1970s and 1980s. Jewish settlements grew in the West Bank and Gaza (the occupied Palestinian territories), and the Israeli military transformed itself into an Occupation force to protect the settlers and keep the Palestinians subdued. A new generation of stateless Palestinian refugees was growing up under the oppressive humiliation of Occupation. The international community, by and large, remained silent.
On December 8, 1987, an Israeli truck swerved and killed four Palestinians at a busy checkpoint in the Gaza Strip – a doctor, an engineer, and two laborers. [ ] Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank were outraged and the Intifada (“rising up” in Arabic) was sparked. It was spontaneous and probably caught Palestinian leaders and the PLO off-guard, but it became organized very quickly. This was a genuine grassroots resistance movement to the Occupation.
Hamas, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, was founded in 1987 during the Intifada, which raged on for the next six years. In 1988, the Palestinian National Council (the legislative branch of the PLO) voted to accept two states with Palestine on the remaining 22%, and declared Palestine’s independence. The international community was silent. [I want to know more about this.]
The First Intifada came to an end in 1993 with the beginning of the Oslo Peace Process. PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin signed the Declaration of Principles at the White House on September 13, 1993. They thought they were setting up a five-year transition process during which time the Israeli military would begin to withdraw from parts of the West Bank and Gaza, a new Palestinian National Authority would be created to assume control of parts of the occupied territories, and the parties would use this time to negotiate issues about final borders, the rights of refugees, Jerusalem, settlements and security.
Indeed, the Palestinian Authority (PA) was created but nothing else. For their efforts, Rabin, Peres and Arafat shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994.
PART II to follow.
Filed under Gaza, Israel, People
Tagged as History of Palestine, Palestinian history
25 responses to “History of Palestine – Part 1”
http://ltbglobal.4cyberbiz.com
My family members always say that I am wasting my time here at web, but I know I am getting knowledge daily by reading thes nice posts.
To better understand Michael who wants nothing to do with the truth that is being progressively publicized globally about the Zionist Movement of the past 150 years, this article
http://www.redressonline.com/2013/08/angela-merkel-reaffirms-german-servility-to-israel/
and this one
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=40f_1278522672
might wake some people up.
Lora Lucero
John: I just read your bio-profile. What a fascinating life journey! Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me.
Thanks, Lora, I am sure your own life has ben equally interesting. I’d like to know where our friend Michael is coming from. I run into Israelis who seem to be paid by the Mossad with US State Department funds to attack such information as is being presented on your site. Now changing http://forward.com/articles/182171/israels-everyday-racism-and-how-american-jews-tu/
It makes no difference whether Mossad or anyone else is reading and commenting on my blog. I treat the comments as a game of catch — I toss the ball to see who catches it, and if someone responds (returns the ball) then I play. If someone is not interested in playing but merely spouting rhetoric or inflammatory nonsense, I don’t bother trying to catch the ball.
I’m interested in an intelligent conversation — learning from each other. I’ve learned that many people aren’t.
I have actually praised Lora for posting an excellent summary of the modern history of Israel – Jews willing to give up pretty much everything for peace and Arabs refusing anything short of Jew-free Israel.
I would also like to thank you, John, for your weblog, I’ve had a blast reading it. You’ve managed to fuse every conspiracy theory into a unifiyng theory of conspiracies. “Zionists are […] using oppressed Jewish people as pawns in the Roman Empire’s game of Crusades to Jerusalem to find the Holy Grail”. That’s dynamite!
If you want to know where I’m coming from, you’re welcome to read my weblog 😉
Michael, You read what you want to read and ignore what doesn’t fit your paradigm you described in your reply. There is no discussion to be had here. And no praise needed. I only have sympathy for you and anyone else who is so blinded.
Well, Lora, I am open for discussion. You know your history, you’ve shown that much. You obviously know the Arab point of view better than I do, and there are a couple of things I don’t understand properly. Could you elaborate on a couple of points in your next post?
Was the occupation of Judea, Samaria and Gaza by Jordan and Egypt also called occupation in that time, and was it condemned by the international community?
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was established in 1964, when there was no Israeli occupation. Which parts of Palestine did they want to liberate? Were they opposing the Egyptian and Jordanian occupation?
Why no Palestinian state was established during the 20 years after 1948, when Arabs had control of all of Judea, Samaria and Gaza?
What happened to the Jewish residents of Jerusalem and Gush Etzion (and Baghdad, Tripoli, Tunis etc.) after 1948, and will they be allowed to come back to their homes if there is a peace agreement in which the cease-fire lines of 1948 become borders?
Perhaps John can write a guest-post, further explaining his stand point that its OK to indiscriminately kill Israelis as Israel has no civilians, being fully militarized society.
The simple answer is no … and no. As far as I know, neither Jordan nor Egypt were considered belligerent powers by the indigenous population.
Definition of a Military Occupation – “Military occupation occurs when a belligerent state invades the territory of another state with the intention of holding the territory at least temporarily. While hostilities continue, the occupying state is prohibited by International Law from annexing the territory or creating another state out of it, but the occupying state may establish some form of military administration over the territory and the population. Under the Martial Law imposed by this regime, residents are required to obey the occupying authorities and may be punished for not doing so. Civilians may also be compelled to perform a variety of nonmilitary tasks for the occupying authorities, such as the repair of roads and buildings, provided such work does not contribute directly to the enemy war effort.
Although the power of the occupying army is broad, the military authorities are obligated under international law to maintain public order, respect private property, and honor individual liberties. Civilians may not be deported to the occupant’s territory to perform forced labor nor impressed into military service on behalf of the occupying army. Although measures may be imposed to protect and maintain the occupying forces, existing laws and administrative rules are not to be changed. Regulations of the Hague Conventions of 1907 and, more importantly, the 1949 geneva convention for the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War have attempted to codify and expand the protection afforded the local population during periods of military occupation.
I believe in the early years, the PLO was trying to liberate the entire lands of Palestine (including what we know now as the state of Israel) because they viewed the Jews as thieves who stole their land and violently dispossessed 750,000 Palestinians from their homes, farms, businesses in 1948 (The Nakba). In 1993, the PLO recognized Israel’s right to exist in peace, accepted UN Security Council resolutions 242 and 338, and rejected “violence and terrorism”; in response, Israel officially recognized the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people.
Good question but complex and beyond my limited historical education. I have hunches, but I don’t know for sure and don’t want to speculate.
I suspect the fate of the 22 settlements (70,000 people in 2011) that make up Gush Etzion today are part of the items under negotiation and we will have to wait to see if there is an agreement. What hurts many Palestinians (and is mind-boggling to me) is that a Jew anywhere in the world can settle in the State of Israel today, become an Israeli citizen, no questions asked. But a Palestinian whose grandfather, great-grandfather lived and owned property inside what we now know as the State of Israel, cannot return to visit, much less claim compensation for the losses. Many Palestinians still have keys to their families’ houses in the State of Israel.
I believe there will never be a lasting, durable peace until Israel does two things: apologizes and compensates the Palestinian refugees. The US largesse to Israel ($3 Billion per year — and some have said it’s closer to $5 Billion per year) would be much better spent on building a fund to compensate the Palestinian refugees, than on equipping the Israeli military.
Thank you for your reply. Let me see if I understand it correctly.
According to the definition of occupation you provide, the control of Judea, Samaria and Gaza by Egypt and Jordan was indeed occupation. And this occupation went on without the slightest protest. Although one can argue there was no state in those territories at the time, and therefore no occupation occurred. In which case, of course, there is no Israeli occupation as well.
If the PLO wanted to liberate the entire lands of Palestine, I’d like to see proof of their struggle against the Jordanian and Egyptian occupation prior to 1967. Otherwise, I must conclude that the PLO is established with the single goal of destroying the State of Israel. Every single map of Palestine they ever drawn includes all of Israel, so there’s no basis to the claims they recognize the State of Israel.
You have no answer as to why no Palestinian state was established during the 20 years after 1948. Shame, because it is a pivotal question, an essential one. The Arabs had an opportunity, yet didn’t use it. There was no Israeli occupation, yet there was terror against Israel. Unless there is an adequate answer to why did the Arabs fail to create a Palestinian state when they had all the means, there can be no answer as to why the Jews should establish one.
And in your answer to the last question, you ignore the statements of the Arab leaders that “there will be not a single Jew left in Palestine”, ignore the part of my question about the Jews of Jerusalem, expelled by the Jordanians during their occupation, and ignore the fate of the Jews expelled from the Arab states after 1948, after having lived there for thousands of years. Any account of the history of the conflict must at least mention these people and any just solution must address their sufferings and the injustices inflicted upon them. What about the Jewish lives, houses and businesses in Baghdad, Tripoli, Tunis and innumerable other cities and villages that the Jews were cleansed out of?
As to the US aid to Israel, as far as I know, it is a condition of the peace agreement between Egypt and Israel. Unless you want that peace agreement revoked, I suggest to leave this aid out.
I believe there will never be a lasting, durable peace until the Arabs apologize and compensate the Jewish refugees. And I believe there is no point in creating another Arab state in a time when they are exploding one by one. What good is there in signing peace agreements with dictators if their followers can revoke them on a whim?
Hope I have given you something to chew on.
Michael: I really don’t want to spend time chewing. I’m willing to keep an open mind and learn new things, but you aren’t giving me new things, only warped interpretations of what I have shared.
“Occupation” is a legal term under international law which requires belligerency – hostility. No doubt, Israel’s occupation is belligerent and hostile and the Fourth Geneva Convention applies. Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits an occupying power from transferring its civilian population into the territories it occupies. That’s why the international community condemns Israel’s settlements in the West Bank.
If you want to search more about the history of the PLO …. I welcome you to do it. Begin with Israel’s recognition of the PLO, that might surprise you. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Peace/recogn.html
There are statements from both sides …. Palestinians who want to rid the land of every Israeli, and Israelis who want to rid the land of every Palestinian. I’m not going to engage in that endless chatter with you. It’s unproductive.
If you want to enlarge the history lesson to the pain and suffering that Jews have suffered around the world, then there will be many volumes to read. I don’t discount that suffering. But the Palestinians are not responsible for that suffering, for the Holocaust, for the current criticism by the international community.
My bottom line — the occupation must end, both for the sake of the Palestinians but also for the survival of the State of Israel. Lets drop this tit-for-tat.
Lora, you’re just ignoring my comments and questions. I agree that there can be no meaningful dialogue this way.
You ignore the 20-year long Arab occupation of Judea, Samaria and Gaza and the fact they could have had a Palestinian state if they only wanted to.
The definition of occupation you provided includes a state, that doesn’t exist in Judea and Samaria (Gaza is not occupied).
The Israelis living in Judea and Samaria are there of their free will, not transferred by force, so nothing illegal there.
As to the Jewish refugees, those expelled from the Muslim countries where they lived for thousands of years, I bring them into the discussion because they were expelled as a revenge for the Arab defeat of 1948 and they ended up in Israel, which took care of them. Unlike the Arab countries, who still hold their brothers and sisters captive in ghettos.
My bottom line – there is no occupation, there is a Palestinian state called Jordan (the Arabs of Judea and Samaria are citizens of that state), the survival of the State of Israel is guaranteed by the solid principles of freedom, equality and democracy upon which Israel is built. Have a nice day.
[Moderator, here is a simpler version of my last attempt, you can choose]:
For Michael and the Herzl vision of a European Jewish empire from Bagdad to Alexandria:
A Diverse Collection of Peoples
Daniel Lazare
The Land of Israel was the birthplace of the Jewish people. Here their spiritual, religious and political identity was shaped. Here they first attained to statehood, created cultural values of national and universal significance and gave to the world the eternal Book of Books. After being forcibly exiled from their land, the people kept faith with it throughout their Dispersion and never ceased to pray and hope for their return to it and for the restoration in it of their political freedom.
So says the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel, issued in Tel Aviv on 14 May 1948. Shlomo Sand’s last two books have questioned the document’s assumptions: were the Jews ‘forcibly exiled’ or did they go abroad in search of new opportunities? If they ‘never ceased to pray and hope for their return’, why did so few bother to visit their homeland for centuries on end? How do we know that the people who ‘kept faith’ throughout the Diaspora were the same as the ones who headed out to begin with? Did they share the same genes? Or were they as far removed from the original Jews as, say, Polish Galicians are from the Galicians of Spain?
In The Invention of the Jewish People, Sand sought to demythologise his people’s identity. It was a bestseller in Israel and won the Prix Aujourd’hui in France. Eric Hobsbawm called it a ‘much needed exercise in the dismantling of nationalist historical myth’. Sand’s new book, The Invention of the Land of Israel, aims to trace the concept of a Jewish homeland from the vague territorial references of the Torah to today’s armed and embattled Jewish state. The concept has evolved over the years. While Genesis 15 promised that Abraham’s offspring would rule ‘from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates’, the actual kingdom of Judah, from which the term ‘Jew’ derives, was never more than a hilltop duchy some thirty miles across. Yet today it is the coastal plain, formerly the haunt of the Philistines, that is in the hands of the Zionists, and Judah for the most part is in the hands of the Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. So what exactly is this ‘land of Israel’ that everyone argues about, what are its boundaries, and how did it come about?
Sand has set out to explicate the history of a land and a people – or, rather, the idea of a land and a people, since the actual population has changed so much. It’s an ambitious and tricky undertaking. While it’s still permissible to question this or that aspect of Israeli policy, criticism of Zionism as a whole is all too often declared off-limits, and not only by the Anti-Defamation League, so for many people Sand’s attempt to break down Zionism’s ideological assumptions goes beyond the pale. Yet with the Middle East reminiscent of the pre-1914 Balkans, going beyond the pale is not only permissible but de rigueur. Somebody has to figure out how the storm arose, and since Zionism is a big part of the story, there’s no reason for it to be shielded from criticism. The more some people try to bar the door, the more others can’t help wondering what they’re hiding.
Sand’s investigation is more than justified, and it would be nice to report that his effort is subtle, sober and perceptive, as wide-ranging as it is morally serious. But it isn’t. Hobsbawm and the rest notwithstanding, The Invention of the Jewish People was a messy polemic – helter-skelter, tendentious and ill-informed. The Invention of the Land of Israel is better and winds up with a discussion of Zionist territorial ambitions that places Israeli policy in a new light. But it is undermined by a shaky concept of Jewish history. Sand rightly insists on the relevance of the ancient past to contemporary politics, but his distortions are an obstacle to a full understanding of the modern Israeli-Palestinian predicament.
Sand’s problem is that he works from a photographic negative of Zionist ideology. If an idea ‘conforms with the Zionist meta-narrative’, as he puts it, then it must be false. If Zionists, like all nationalists, idealise the nation and insist that it is continuous, unbroken and eternal, then there must have been a rupture at some point between the Jews of the Bible and the so-called Jews of today. If Zionism preaches a glorious history going back to the days of David and Solomon, then that history must be a fiction cooked up centuries later for ideological purposes. If Zionism maintains that Jews longed to go home, then they must have been content to stay put. And if Zionists base their claim to the land of Israel on the Hebrew Bible, then the Bible must be an ‘anti-patriotic’ document that is silent on the question of a Jewish homeland. As Sand writes in The Invention of the Land of Israel, ‘the idea of patriotism that developed in the northern Mediterranean basin was barely known on its southern shores and known even less in the Fertile Crescent.’ The biblical basis for the Jewish state is nil.
Sand is wrong on many points, among them the lessons he draws from the archaeological revolution that began to unfold in the 1980s. Earlier archaeologists had accepted the biblical narrative as more or less accurate, taking it for granted that a flight from Egypt had occurred, followed by a conquest of Canaan under Joshua. But then the narrative fell apart: researchers were unable to find evidence of a Hebrew presence in Egypt at any time, much less the 13th century BCE when the Exodus was most likely to have occurred. The country’s eastern frontier turned out to have been especially well fortified during that period: border guards monitored the comings and goings even of ‘Shasu’ nomads. So why was there nothing about a mass escape of Hebrew slaves? Searches of sites where the Israelites were said to have camped during their forty years in the wilderness came up dry. So did surveys conducted elsewhere in the Sinai. After the 1967 war, when Israeli archeologists gained access to the West Bank, the heartland of ancient Israelite culture, they expected to find the rich cities of the Book of Joshua. But instead they found evidence only of a society impoverished by centuries of Egyptian taxation. Jericho turned out to have been poor and unfortified in the 14th century BCE and totally abandoned in the 13th, when its walls supposedly came tumbling down. The city of Ai, whose destruction is celebrated in Joshua 8, was also found to have been abandoned. The same was true for Gibeon, Kephirah, Beeroth and Kiriath Jearim, mentioned in Joshua 9:17. All were empty. Extensive land surveys revealed something even less expected: a development pattern that, beginning around 1200 BCE, was entirely self-generated. Instead of being implanted from outside, the Israelite hilltop culture had grown up entirely on its own.
Such findings should have been a godsend for Sand since they showed that the Israelites, far from conquering the whole of Canaan, had taken root in one very small corner. And indeed The Invention of the Jewish People eagerly trumpets the discovery of the archaeologist Israel Finkelstein, the foremost proponent of the new archaeology, that the conquest of Canaan never occurred and that the dual monarchy of David and Solomon, supposedly the wonder of the ancient world, was a myth. But Sand also endorses the hyper-sceptical ‘biblical minimalism’ of Philip Davies, Thomas Thompson and Niels Peter Lemche, which regards such findings as irrelevant since, as they see it, the early history of Israel is actually a fiction that returnees from the Babylonian exile made up after the sixth century BCE. Sand seems unaware of the conflict between the two views or of the fact that Finkelstein and the journalist Neil Asher Silberman issued a stinging rebuttal of the minimalist stance in 2006. David may have been little more than a hilltop chieftain, but contrary to the minimalists, the discovery in 1993 of a ninth-century BCE Aramaic victory inscription referring to a royal ‘House of David’ leaves little doubt that he was a real historical figure.
Sand’s discussion of the issue of Jewish conversion is equally confused. Since Zionism plays up the Jews as ‘a people apart’, Sand emphasises the continual infusions of new blood; or, to put it differently, the waves of racial ‘adulteration’ that repeatedly washed over the diaspora, submerging whatever ties it may have had with the homeland. North Africa, he writes, was the scene of an ‘amazing … new wave of Judaisation’ in late antiquity as Berbers and remnants of the old Phoenician stock adopted Judaism wholesale. A Jewish Berber priestess known as Dihya al-Kahina led the Jewish tribes in a great anti-Arab resistance movement in the late seventh century. Al-Kahina ‘was a strong ruler’, Sand writes, ‘and in 689, when the Muslims launched their renewed effort to conquer North Africa, she united several powerful tribes and succeeded in defeating the mighty forces of Hassan ibn al-Nu’man.’ How does Sand know she was Jewish? Well, the renowned Moroccan polymath Ibn Khaldun says she was in his account of the Berbers in his great historical compendium, Al-’Ibar. That Ibn Khaldun was writing in the late 14th century, nearly seven hundred years after the Arab conquest, doesn’t give Sand pause. It doesn’t trouble him either that Ibn Khaldun describes the Berbers as once having been ruled by the biblical Goliath or that earlier chroniclers do not so much as hint at Al-Kahina’s Jewish identity. A sensational revelation that comes to light centuries after the fact would normally raise an eyebrow or two. Instead, Sand accuses the Israeli historian Haim Ze’ev Hirschberg of succumbing to a ‘purifying essentialist ideology’ for daring to suggest that evidence of Berber Judaisation is ‘extremely flimsy’. Given Sand’s disregard for the normal rules of evidence, it’s difficult not to sympathise with Hirschberg.
Sand’s next step in The Invention of the Jewish People is to establish that the Yiddish-speaking Jews of Eastern Europe are actually Khazars, descendants of a Turkic tribal federation that adopted Judaism, probably in the mid-eighth century, in order to distance itself from both the Byzantine Empire and the caliphate. Reports of a Jewish empire somewhere on the Pontic-Caspian steppe have long stirred the imagination. They have also stirred speculation about a connection with the subsequent Jewish population surge in Poland, Hungary and the Ukraine. Where did the Khazars go once their empire melted away? Did they adopt Islam or Christianity? Or, pushed westward by the Mongol invasions, did they become the Ashkenazim, who, even after the Holocaust, still account for some 80 per cent of world Jewry?
The Khazar thesis was made famous by Arthur Koestler in The Thirteenth Tribe (1976).It is tempting from an anti-Zionist perspective because, if true, it would mean that today’s Jews have no special historical claim to Palestine, especially compared with the Palestinians, whose kinship ties to the people of the Bible are probably a good deal stronger. But is it true? In fact, we know very little about this ‘steppe Atlantis’, as the Soviet historian Lev Gumilev called it. The Khazars’ adoption of Judaism is not in dispute: in 837-38 the empire issued imitation Abbasid dirhams stamped with the Muslim-influenced formula, ‘There is no god but God and Moses is his messenger.’ But the question of the depth of Khazar Judaism – whether it was confined to a narrow ruling-class stratum or filtered down to the population at large – is another matter. D.M. Dunlop, whose History of the Jewish Khazars (1954) marks the starting point for modern Khazar studies, argued that the federation, like other steppe empires, was fast-growing and powerful, but at the same time shallow and unstable. Drawing its income from taxes, tolls and tribute, a military elite was able to keep things together only as long as it could manage a complex chequerboard of ethnic forces. Dunlop described the array: ‘Nomads of the steppes, townsmen of the capital and other cities … cultivators and hunters from the western provinces, Turks, Jews and Arabs, as well as men of Slav and Finnish or kindred race … presided over by an aristocracy, whom we may call the White Khazars, consisting of a relatively small number of partially Judaised Turks’. The elite held on for three centuries, a long time for the steppe, and blocked the caliphate from expanding across the Caucasus. But around 965, the Khazars were defeated by the Rus, and vanished as an independent political force.
What legacy did they leave? Dunlop quotes the Persian explorer and geographer Ahmad ibn Rustah, who around 903 wrote that the Judaism of the Khazars was a thoroughly upper-class affair: ‘Their supreme ruler is a Jew, and likewise the Isha [vizier] and those of the generals and the chief men who follow his way of thinking.’ But the rank and file, he said, adhered to traditional Turkish beliefs. Dunlop cites another Persian geographer, Al-Istakhri, who about thirty years later wrote that ‘though the king and his court are Jews’, the rest of the population was either Christian or Muslim. If such reports are true, then Judaism’s impact was slight. According to Dunlop it isn’t implausible that the entire Khazar elite went over to the Islamic side in an attempt to drum up support for the battle against the Rus. In the end, all he’ll say is that ‘to speak of the Jews of Eastern Europe as descendants of the Khazars … would be to go much beyond what our imperfect records allow.’ So the Khazar thesis is unsupported by the documentary evidence.
But Sand is undeterred. ‘The Khazar kingdom,’ he writes, ‘remained Jewish for too long … not to warrant the assumption that the practice and the faith trickled down to broader strata.’ Yet he offers no evidence other than the report of a 12th-century German rabbi that local people in a nearby area known as Kedar (located most likely in today’s eastern Ukraine) spent their Sabbaths eating sliced bread in the dark, but were otherwise ignorant of the Jewish prayers and the Talmud. Sand quotes the mid-20th-century historian Salo Wittmayer Baron, who wrote that Khazaria Jews ‘began drifting into the open steppes of Eastern Europe’ after the fall of the empire, and helped lay ‘the foundations for a Jewish community which, especially in 16th-century Poland, outstripped all the other contemporary areas of Jewish settlement’. Sand concludes that Baron is in agreement with the Israeli historian Ben-Zion Dinur that Khazaria was the ‘diaspora mother’ of East European Jewry. Baron insists, Sand writes, that ‘the “born Jews” who were in Khazaria before it was Judaised’ laid the foundations for Polish Judaism, but otherwise assumes ‘that the majority of the Yiddish people did not originate in Germany but in the Caucasus, the Volga steppes, the Black Sea and the Slav countries.’
But Baron assumes no such thing. On the contrary, he writes that with just five thousand people or so as of the year 1300, the Polish Jewish population remained minuscule long after the Khazar empire had faded from memory. Only later – much later – did Polish Jewish numbers start to rise, reaching 30,000 in the year 1500, 150,000 in 1576, and then 450,000 in 1648. This is half a millennium after the Khazar empire’s demise, so what did the one have to do with the other? Once immigration began to accelerate, Baron leaves no doubt as to where it came from:
A major propelling force was the progressive shrinkage of the outlets still open to German Jews in the territories of the Bohemian Crown and Hungary during the 16th century. In fact, the numerous local expulsions from Bohemia and Moravia, the decline of Hungary, and its final division into Habsburg, Ottoman and Transylvanian sections after 1526 sent out new waves of Jewish wanderers looking for havens of refuge. The Czech areas now became the main source of Jewish manpower entering first western Poland, and then the other still greatly underpopulated provinces of the Polish Crown and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania … Because of their superiority in numbers, wealth and cultural attainments, the new arrivals succeeded, within a relatively short time, in imposing their own rituals, customs and speech upon the local Jews. Even the segment which had originally come from Khazar, Byzantine or Muslim lands became totally submerged in the new Polish-Lithuanian community organised by the Western immigrants.
Despite Sand’s efforts to enlist him in the Khazar cause, Baron maintains that it was German Jewish immigration from the west that overwhelmed the older Jewish presence from the east and not the other way around.
Sand dismisses the possibility that Polish Jewish population growth could have been internally generated, but Baron notes that Polish Jews didn’t serve in the military, didn’t practise celibacy and may have derived certain health benefits from the kosher food laws. In 1618, a Polish anti-semite called Sebastyan Miczyński complained that Jews ‘multiply enormously, for they do not die in wars, they run away before the “air” [i.e. pestilence], and marry very early’. The 18th-century Polish Jewish philosopher Salomon Maimon claimed to have been married at the age of 11 and become a father at the age of 14, while Baron writes that many Jewish parents rushed their children into marriage before the tsarist government could crack down on the practice in 1853. The Polish economy was booming prior to the mid-17th century and conditions for Jews were highly favourable, so internal population growth of this magnitude is hardly unimaginable.
Distortions like these are unfortunate because Sand is essentially correct in arguing that Jews aren’t the people apart that Zionist ideology makes them out to be. But the infusion of foreign genes didn’t occur at the end of the journey, as the Khazar thesis suggests: it occurred at the beginning, as Judaism began to coalesce out of a diffuse ‘Yahwist’ milieu extending across much of the ancient world.
Sand thinks of Jewish influence as proceeding in one direction only: from Judah outwards. He tries to show that the notion that the Jews were forcibly expelled from their homeland after the abortive Jerusalem revolt of 66 to 70 is a myth and that many simply drifted off in search of economic opportunity: ‘Jewry’s amazing expansion between 150 BCE and 70 CE was the result of an extensive migration of Judeans to all parts of the world … [a] dynamic, if painful, process that produced the thriving Israelite diaspora.’ Spreading the national faith, they won growing numbers to their side through strength of argument or perhaps by force. (When the Persian Jews went forth to slaughter their enemies, Esther 8:17 reports that ‘many people of other nationalities became Jews because fear of the Jews had seized them.’) But the more people they converted, the more the original ethnic stock was lost.
The reality was more complex. If Sand weren’t so dismissive of biblical history, he would know that the Israelites – not quite the same thing as the Jews – did not begin as worshippers of Yahweh but of the Canaanite El. The very name ‘Israel’ means ‘El fights’ or ‘El does battle’; as the 19th-century biblical scholar Julius Wellhausen showed, it was an indication of the militancy of the Israelite faith. Only later did the Israelites adopt the cult of a non-Canaanite warrior god known as Yahweh from the Sinai or Arabah to the south. The Song of Deborah (Judges 5), a war chant dating from perhaps 1100 BCE, thus proclaims:
O Yahweh, when you went out from Seir,
when you marched from the land of Edom,
the earth shook, the heavens poured,
the clouds poured down water.
The mountains quaked before Yahweh, the one of Sinai,
before Yahweh, the god of Israel …
Israel was merely one element in a growing international movement, one that in the coming centuries would spread from Iraq to southern Egypt and beyond. Moreover, what Sand refers to (after the iconoclastic biblical scholar Morton Smith) as ‘the monotheistic cult of “YHWH-alone”’ was an even smaller subset of the whole, one that other followers regarded as cranky and fanatical. Most people worshipped Yahweh in conjunction with other deities: Ashtoreth and Molech for Solomon; Baal for the ninth-century Phoenician princess Jezebel (though she gave her three children proper Yahwist names); and Anat in the case of a fifth-century BCE Israelite military colony on the island of Elephantine in the Upper Nile. Only the Yahweh-alone party insisted on worshipping him in isolation. Eventually the exclusivists won out, but the process may not have been complete until the Idumean-Roman king Herod finished building a vast new temple in 19 BCE, establishing Jerusalem as the foremost site of pilgrimage in the Roman world.
The words ‘Judean’ and ‘Jew’ did not mean the same thing. One denoted a native of Judea, to use the Latin term for Judah, and the other referred to any Yahwist who genuflected toward Jerusalem. Jews were a religion rather than a nation and, in the New Testament, Jews included everyone from Parthians and Medes to Arabs, Egyptians and Libyans: the entire ethnic panoply from Persia to Rome (Acts 2:9-11). There was no original ethnic stock to dilute, but instead a diverse collection of peoples who looked to Jerusalem as their religious capital but made their homes elsewhere.
Confessional boundaries were at the same time vague. There were Jews; semi-Jews who sacrificed to Yahweh but resisted taking the final step of circumcision; fellow travellers like the Arabs; Christians who continued to visit Jewish synagogues well into the Middle Ages, and so forth. Lines eventually hardened as the rabbis took the reins with the establishment of the Pax Islamica following the Abbasid revolution of 750. But it was probably not until early modern Poland that Jews truly became the people apart of Zionist lore. At a time when Italian Jews were still inviting Christian friends to weddings, circumcisions and musical soirées (much to the Church’s chagrin), Polish Jews spoke a different language, wore different clothes, sported sidelocks and beards and, thanks to the Kabbalah, thought of themselves as existing on a higher spiritual plane. The gulf separating them from the surrounding population had never been greater. What Zionism regards as an eternal aspect of the Jewish condition was actually a product of early modernity.
The overall trend was from a loosely defined milieu to a tightly bound legal community, and from an international cult to a scattered nation among whom religion and ethnicity were effectively combined. Sand may scorn ‘Jewish genetics’ as racist, but the latest genetic research does in fact seem to tell the same story. A 2010 study by researchers at Emory University, Johns Hopkins and the University of Texas found that Ashkenazic Jews are more genetically diverse than a comparable sample of non-Jewish Europeans, possibly because they ‘arose from a more genetically diverse Middle Eastern founder population’ than previously believed. The researchers also found that Ashkenazim were more closely related to Italians and French than to specific Middle Eastern groups such as Palestinians, Druze or Bedouins, which is consistent with a broadly eastern Mediterranean population flowing into Northern and Central Europe via Italy and the Rhone Valley.
So today’s Jews are in significant measure descended from the Jews of classical antiquity, except that the Jews of classical antiquity were not from Judah, but from the broader region. If anything, this diverse ‘founder population’ renders the notion of a specific Jewish homeland even more dubious than Sand realises. But the question is again more complicated than he appreciates. Palestine was not the birthplace of the Jewish people, but it was the birthplace of the Yahweh-alone movement and, despite Sand’s description of the Bible as anti-patriotic, nothing was more central to the movement than the land issue. One land, one god, one people: this, in essence, was the slogan of the monolatrous – not monotheistic – movement that arose in the ninth century BCE. It was a profoundly xenophobic movement, opposed to the king and queen, Ahab and the hated Jezebel, and their expansionist policy, which threatened to dilute the state’s ethnic character; and it was obsessed with the land question because increased trade and monetisation were undermining the highland peasantry. In response, the prophet Elijah (‘Yahweh is God’), his disciple Elisha and others fashioned a holy trinity consisting of a sacred land, a chosen people and a divine landlord to see to it that they remained united in perpetuity. (The story of Naboth’s vineyard in 1 Kings 21, in which Elijah predicts Jezebel’s downfall for attempting to purchase an Israelite’s property, is the crucial document in this regard, because it accuses the royal couple of using money in violation of the divine trust uniting Yahweh, the Israelite people and the holy land.) When, centuries later, in 587 BCE, the god of the hill country allowed the land to fall to the Babylonians, the exiles blamed themselves and elevated Yahweh to the status of an all-powerful universal monarch in order to compensate for their loss. For the Zionists it’s a powerful package. God gave the land to the Israelites, or so the Yahweh-alone movement maintained, and today’s nationalists believe that they have three thousand years of myth on their side in demanding exclusive ownership.
But ownership of what? The Zionists have always been evasive about their precise territorial ambitions. Did they want the coastal plain, the whole of Palestine, or more? Since the Promised Land was a concept, they could adjust their demands to fit the circumstances. David Ben-Gurion was a maximalist who sometimes argued for a homeland extending from Palestine to the East Bank of the Jordan, as far north as Damascus and as far south as the island of Tiran at the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba. Yet when the Peel Commission offered the Zionists a relatively small sliver of land in 1937, he grabbed it despite his colleagues’ protests: ‘The debate has not been for or against the indivisibility of Eretz Israel,’ he said. ‘No Zionist can forego the smallest portion of Eretz Israel. The debate was over which of two routes would lead quicker to the common goal.’ The Peel Commission’s offer was just the first step on the path to a greater Israel. As Chaim Weizmann said, the rest of the land was not going anywhere, and the nationalists would get to it in due course.
The strategy can be seen as a slow-motion invasion: the settlers first gain a toehold and then take advantage of every outbreak of armed violence to enlarge their domain. First there were the scattered settlements of the Yishuv; then the establishment of a Jewish state in 1948-49; the seizure of the West Bank in 1967; and, finally, more settlements aimed at harassing the Palestinians. The latest proposal by the ultra-rightist Naftali Bennett, to annex outright the 60 per cent of the West Bank known as Area C, can be seen as the culmination of a century-long process aimed at confining the Palestinians to a few scattered outposts. Assuming the annexation goes through, more provocations will follow until ethnic cleansing is complete. The Palestinian hill country is central to the mythology of the Hebrew Bible, and the West Bank has always been the prime target. But other prizes lie not far off, and there will be no shortage of opportunities for expansion as violence envelops the Muslim world.
Not interested, John, not interested.
Yes, only The Facts on the Ground, right? Sad what has happened to those who survived Nazism only to become the same. Is that the nature of sanity to you?
No, its just that you were kind enough to suggest reading material to me, and if I want to read it, I will. So no need for you to copy-paste it.
Well, Michael, no discussion is really necessary in the RealPolitik that Israel stands upon with the full might of USNATO’s interest in Arabian oil to keep them there. The “facts on the ground” is all that matters to the Zionazis.
Yep, that’s the kind of people you’re in with, Lora. I’ll stick to the sane world, thank you.
Michael, you need to read Arthur Koestler’s “The Thirteenth Tribe”. You could use some understanding of the history of the Ashkenazi people and their lack of historic relation to Arabia, in which they have now established – with the help of USNATO – a European colony.
There is alot more available on the margins of the sanctified media that promotes Zionism; but, you might not like it. Much of it is also by Jews who know the rarely publicized truth.
Lillooetian
Wonderful post Lora! Lot’s of detail and succinctly stated. The issue always stirs up lots of emotions, but as the old saying goes “No justice, no peace.” Namaste brother.
This is what the US population needs to be forced to read/view/hear; but it is pushed to the margins and very few can accept this fact.
My version of the same, based on my personal experience there and for a year, fifty years ago, ans subsequent further learning, is called, “Palestine: a Media Patch”
http://zeroanthropology.net/the-state-of-palestine-a-media-patch/
John: I deviated from my plans this afternoon to take time to read your piece. You have connected dots that I didn’t even know existed … and in a way that I’m not sure I fully understand. You have given me ALOT to chew on. Thank you.
“[…] established Palestine’s first borders in 1922 with the blessing of the League of Nations” – borders that were intended for a Jewish national home and which included the Golan Heights, the area south of the Litani river and all of what’s now Jordan.
In 1948 “war broke out” – it didn’t “break out”, the Arab states invaded Israel with the stated goal of killing every single Jew.
“Paragraph 11: Resolves that the refugees wishing to return to their homes…” – the refugees, not Palestinian refugees. Like the Jews who were cleansed out of Jerusalem and Gush Etzion, for example. Or Baghdad.
“During the next 20 years (1948 – 1967), the Gaza Strip was ruled by Egypt, and the West Bank and East Jerusalem were ruled by Jordan.” – and they haven’t created a Palestinian state because?
“The Palestinian Liberation Organization was created in 1964” – when there was no “occupation”. Which parts of Palestine do they want to liberate then?
And whatn happened with those resolutions?
1) The Jewish Agency accepted the division; the Arab governments in the region rejected it […]
2) Resolution 194 […] The Arab member states rejected it.
3) The PLO rejected Resolution 242 […]
To me it sounds like a pattern – Jews (and later, Israelis) accepting proposals for peace, Arabs rejecting them again and again. I guess they’re not satisfied with anything less than Judenrein Palestine.
Michael: I appreciate you sharing your comments. You have demonstrated how the history can be so polarizing. And our interpretation of the “facts” typically shed more light on who we are rather than the correctness of our version of history.
I don’t know how to bridge the gap in understanding the history. People who share your perspective are unlikely to want to explore the Palestinian narrative or read the New Historians.
Many Palestinians probably have no interest in hearing your narrative of the history.
So the big question is NOT whose narrative is more correct or more justified. The big question is how do we bridge the gap so people can move into a peaceful coexistence?
Actually, I do have a suggestion. People should learn the facts. History is not about narratives or bridging gaps, its about truth (as science always is). And the truth is, as you have so correctly stated, that the Jews have agreed to division of land already theirs, have agreed to propositions of dividing their homeland even further, have agreed to give up control of the cradle of their cultire and of their holiest places, just to have peace. And that the Arabs, instead of being content with 99.9% of the Middle East, with 90% of the land originally intended for the Jewish state, still want it all, time after time refusing far-reaching peace proposals. Well, now they’re too busy smashing each other’s heads to think of Israel. Maybe when they’re done fighting each other (probably in a century or two), they will take a look at the prosperous, democratic, enlightend and safe country right at their doorstep and start learning from the blasted Jews instead of trying to kill them.
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lovelyhaitian
I would like to share my thoughts with you.
« The Best Relationship You Can Have Is Being With Yourself!
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Success Secrets Of The World’s Most Powerful Women
by Lovely Haitian on July 19, 2014
When my great-grandmother was born in the early 1900s, women couldn’t vote in a national election. She was barely expected to finish high school, and the idea that she could attend college was pure fantasy—practically unheard of for a woman then. She was considered a pioneer at the time because she had the gall to divorce her husband. And later, when she took a job as a secretary she was quite literally propositioned daily and chased around the desk by male managers.
Those were the days when, with more women becoming typists and telephone operators, society was grappling with questions like: How do we protect these virtuous women from the uncontrollable nature of men in the office? And: How do we keep our husbands from running off with their secretaries?
We’ve come incredibly far incredibly fast. Even just 30 years ago, there’d be only one or two women in an MBA lecture class.
When Ertharin Cousin, the newly appointed executive director of the World Food Programme, graduated law school in 1982, a professor pulled her aside and told her she needed to look like a man because it was important she not let being a woman hurt her ability to represent a client. So for years she wore gray and black shapeless suits, bowties and little to no jewelry.
For her, progress was measured in color. She told me the first time she interviewed for a job in a bright red suit was when she truly felt like a confident woman who could bring herself to the job.
I’ve heard countless stories. Women trying to run businesses who had their heads patted by men who thought their efforts were “cute.” Women gunning for the c-suite who would walk into meetings and be asked to fetch coffee.
Those days are gone. Today we are expected to attend university. We are encouraged to pursue business, law or be our own bosses. We can wear red and be feminine and still get the job done. It’s an incredible sea change in just the last century.
But for all of our progress, we’re still worlds away from equal. While women have infiltrated the ranks of middle management, while some are becoming CEOs and world leaders, the percentage of those at the top remains miniscule. Only 4% of the world’s major corporations are led by women. Let me put that another way: Men still run 96% of our biggest companies. And most of their advisors are other men. On average, women are just 15% of executives and corporate officers.
Yet women represent half of the world’s population, thus are half of the world’s customers. Isn’t it just good business that they drive at least half of the decisions?
Now, not everyone wants to be CEO—I get that. It’s a lot of responsibility, and maybe that’s not your goal. But almost every working woman is still impacted by a lingering wage gap. In most developed countries, women still earn 80 to 85 cents for every dollar earned by men. Even when you compare men and women with the same education, in the same industry, even in the same job—women earn less. And the gap widens with age. A 20-something woman makes 90% of what a 20-something man makes. Not great—but not that bad either. Thirty years later, she’s making 75% as much as him.
We also know that women don’t get promoted as much or as quickly. A man must show that he’s capable of performing at the next level—that he has the potential. However, a woman must already be performing at that level in order to get promoted into it. So what you see is equal numbers of men and women at the bottom and as you move up the ladder, fewer and fewer women.
It’s not good for women or their companies to get left behind. Because here’s what happens when you’re no longer challenged: You’re bored. Your energy’s not as high. It’s hard to get motivated. If you find yourself with the choice to stay home with the kids vs. stay in a job that’s not stretching you…home starts looking pretty good.
It’s not fair, but for now it’s a reality that all too many face. You can be the change. You can manage your own career—by knowing what people make in your job and asking for it; by understanding the value of your product and charging it; by recognizing when it’s time to move up and fighting for it; by not only working hard and exceeding expectations, but letting people know about it.
You can also help cultivate the careers of other women—by not underpaying her, by putting her name in the hat, by offering advice when she needs it and by opening a door when she’s earned it.
My grandmother fought for a world in which women got a chance. That’s why we’re all here today. I want to give my daughter a world where women have a path—where they are rewarded for good work, where they are heard when they speak, where they have every opportunity to shape the decisions that shape our lives.
Tags: career, powerful women, women in business
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A LEO Woman is #1
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Skype for Business Support Comes to VMware Horizon VDI
By Kurt Mackie
Microsoft will enable Skype for Business communications using VMware's Horizon virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) solution.
In particular, the partnership centers on enabling Microsoft's Skype for Business on VMware's Horizon 7 solution. VMware is billing the combined technologies as an improved way of serving up Microsoft's unified communications solution. One of the main benefits of this approach is the use of peer-to-peer connections between the client devices for processing communications, which is designed to lessen the processing burdens on the remote server.
In addition, because it's a VDI arrangement, the deployment and management is centralized for organizations. VMware also is promising greater security for Skype for Business chats, ease of use for end users across multiple devices and lowered costs from the peer-to-peer processing approach.
Horizon is tapping a Skype for Business plug-in to enable the VDI scheme. It'll work with both Skype for Business Server and Skype for Business Online offered via Office 365 services, VMware indicated. The client support is enabled via Microsoft Media Manager APIs, and there will be support for Linux, Mac and Windows devices, according to VMware.
VMware expects to roll out a tech preview of the new Horizon plug-in for Skype for Business in the first quarter of 2017. It's possible to sign up for the preview at this page.
In other Microsoft-related news from VMworld 2016 Europe this week, VMware also announced that it is adding data loss prevention security for Office 365 applications on its Workspace One solution, along with enabling single sign-on access to Web and enterprise apps. The data loss prevention option will be arriving in Q4 2016, but the single sign-on capability is currently available.
There's also a new VMware Workspace One Essentials edition that provides user authentication support for bring-your-own-device scenarios, such as using unmanaged devices to access business resources. This Essentials edition adds single sign-on access support, as well as user self-service controls for accessing apps. The new VMware Workspace One Essentials solution will be arriving sometime in Q4 2016, priced at $4 per user per month.
Kurt Mackie is senior news producer for the 1105 Enterprise Computing Group.
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Where There's Gold
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13 Jun 2006 Nikko Part II – Synergy of Culture and Nature (Podcast 41)
Posted at 00:06h in Art Talk, Musings, Podcast by Martin Bailey 0 Comments
Nikko Part I - Waterfalls, Waterfalls... (Podcast 40)
Macro Photography Part I - An Introduction (Podcast 42)
Much of the Nikko area in Tochigi Prefecture, a few hours drive north of Tokyo, is perched high in the mountains, and is very close to the Japanese people’s hearts. Nikko is the synergy of Culture and Nature. Last week we looked at some shots from two Sundays I spend in Nikko in May 2006, and this week, although we’ll initially look at another view of the famous Kegon Falls and some landscapes in the area, we will also take a look more into the cultural side with some shots from the Toushouguu Temples and Futarasan Shrine areas.
To give you a brief outline of the Nikko area, Nikko is split mainly into two areas. The area we visited last week perched high in the mountains at around 1,400 meters, and then the Nikko City itself, where there are 103 Shrines and Temples. Nine buildings are registered as World Heritage national treasures and 94 of them registered as important cultural property and natural environments. Forty two of these buildings are in the Toushouguu Shrine area, 23 are in the neighbouring Fatarasan Shrine area, with the remaining buildings in the surrounding area. Before we take a look at just a few images from the Nikko shrines at Toushougu and Futarasan, let’s look at a few more shots from the highland area that we also discussed last week.
The first shot for today is image number 1000 of the beautiful Kegon Falls. This was shot with my 16-35mm F2.8 lens, using a tripod of course, and the ISO was set to 100. The shutter speed was 1/4 of a second with an ND8, 3 stop neutral density filter, to show a certain amount of movement in the water by making it a flowing stream and not freezing the motion as a faster shutter speed would have done, and the aperture was F11. Most of the scene was quite far away from me, and at a focal length of 21mm, that is plenty to attain pan-focus. That is, where everything is sharp from the nearest object in the image to the farthest.
Kegon Falls in the Rain #1
Again, as I mentioned last week, the fact that it was raining on this day meant that the fresh spring greenery, being all wet, was recorded as a beautiful lush green that is just not possible on a bright sunny day, even at the same time of year. The overcast sky helps to give even lighting to the scene, as basically the whole sky is just one big diffuser box, like the ones you can put on the front of flash units. The cloud is creeping over the top of the mountain in the top center to left from the Chuuzenji lake that we can see in one of the shots I showed you last week, and this helps to add depth to the shot as the trees in the top right of the shot are quite highly contrasted against the mist and the farthest parts of the scene are basically quite low contrast because of it.
Also before anyone says it, no this shot does not need rotating a degree or so to the right. I always use a spirit level in my flash shoe when using a tripod and I can assure you this image is straight. The waterfall is flowing with such force due to the rain that the volume of water is pushing it further away from the rock face as usual making this optical illusion. I really like this and the other shot that I uploaded of these falls, just because of the misty, moody feel. I think this shot has a lot of atmosphere, and I hope it comes across in this smaller version that you’ll see in iTunes or on my Web site.
I had shot the Ryuuzu or Dragon Head falls also after shooting at this location on this day, but as we discussed that last week, in comparison to the nice bright day version from the previous week, we’ll skip those images today. After shooting the Ryuuzu falls we headed down the Irohazaka, which is a very steep winding road that leads back down to the Nikko city area. Let’s look at image number 1009. On the way down the Irohazaka, when there are not so many cars and tourist buses around, you can sometimes pull the car up at the side of the road and get out to shoot some pictures. The bus drivers as they come around the bends, which is usually where the best shots are visible from, get frustrated if you have a tripod setup taking up part of the road, as this makes them have to work harder to swing their bus around. For handheld shots you can get right up against the white crash-barrier at the side of the road as I did for this shot, and that way you don’t annoy anybody. I had a bus driver shouting at me last autumn for getting in his way, but I don’t see any no photography or no parking signs, so generally try to avoid doing this just to keep the peace. If the shot is available no other way though, just try to get as close to the barrier as possible without being in danger of toppling over it.
Misty Spring Mountain
This particular shot was again shot with my 16-35mm lens at ISO 200 as I was hand holding, and still at F11. Exposure time was now 1/100th of a second which is plenty fast enough for hand holding at 31mm. I was also using plus 1/3 of a stop exposure compensation, as the large expanse of white mist and cloud and the bright green foliage was fooling the camera’s meter into under exposing this image just slightly. I also shot some images from this point that were a little bit wider, containing more of the mountain to the left, but I felt that it was not adding anything to the scene, so I went again with this slightly more tightly cropped version.
Nioh Statue
After descending the hill completely and reaching the Nikko City area, we now headed for the Toushouguu temple area. On the way into the main area there is a gate called the Omote Mon, which basically just means the front gate. This gate is guarded by a security guard to stop anyone going in that has not bought a ticket, but it is also guarded by a Nioh Statue at either side. I shot the one on the left on the way in, but the more successful shot was actually the one on the right as I came out an hour or so later, but we’ll look at that first. It is image number 1012. You will see a fearsome looking fellow, painted in the bright red that is common to many Japanese temples and shrines. Red is believed to ward off evil, and this guy looks like he will definitely be accomplishing his purpose.
I hand held this shot resting my elbows on a wooden ledge, looking up at the statue. I chose this perspective as I find looking up at this guy with his sword about to thrust down upon us helps to make him look as menacing as he can. I was shooting at ISO 400 with my 24-105mm F4 lens, wide open at F4 to get as much light onto my sensor as possible. I had the image stabilizer turned on and the shutter speed was 1/8th of a second at 70mm. I shot in a burst of about 3 or 4 shots though due to the slow shutter speed and indeed some of them were slightly blurred. I selected -2/3 of a stop exposure compensation as the shadows behind the statue would have fooled the camera into over-exposing the statue, even though as I’ve mentioned before, I always use center-weighted metering. Note that by Center Weighted, I’m using the Canon definition, which is where the camera weights the priority in the center but still is averaged for the entire scene. Please do not confuse this with Evaluative Metering, where the entire scene’s average is used, or Partial metering, which is where the center 8% of the scene is metered, or Spot metering, where just the center 3.5% of the scene is metered. To confuse matters, it seems that Nikon use the term Center Weighted to refer to what Canon refer to as Partial Metering, you’ll need to check your manual if you want more information on the various metering modes available for your camera. Basically though, I pretty much always have my camera set to Center Weighted metering, sometimes switching to Partial or Spot metering for more accurate readings from a small area.
Shourou (Belltower)
Moving on though, let’s take a look at image number 1011. This is actually a bell tower inside the Toushouguu grounds. I chose this shot to upload and to talk about today to give you a taste of the sort of architecture within the grounds, but this really does not do Nikko justice. The temples themselves are difficult to get full shots of, because even on rainy days like the one I visited on, the place is usually teaming with tourists. Most shots you see of the temples and shrines at Nikko are either just the tops of the buildings, to cut out the tourists, or they have the full building but the bottom half of the shot is indeed full of tourists. I dare say, if you really wanted some nice serene shots of the buildings you could spend the night in a hotel close by and get there as early as possible in the morning to beat the crowds and get your images, with some patience. I personally have never done that so far, and I’m not that bothered about doing so, despite the obvious beauty of the buildings.
Without going into too much detail, the temples and shrines of Nikko came to be from an original commission for a small temple to be built to house the body of Ieyasu Tokugawa, a Shogun lord, born during the feudal period of Japans history. Ieyasu is accredited largely with bringing peace to Japan, and when he died on April 17th, 1616 at the age of 75, he left a will instructing his body to be enshrined for one year in Mt Kuno in his hometown of Shizuoka. After that he had instructed that a small shrine be build in Nikko in which he was to be enshrined as a God and said he would be the guardian of Japan. Nikko is in the North of Japan, and for a long time the North was regarded as evil and barbaric. Ieyasu wanted to be enshrined there to protect Japan from the evil that lay within, and he wished for eternal peace under the Tokugawa government.
Although he’d requested just a small shrine, his third successor Iemistu rebuilt the area in today’s form which is really way more than Ieyasu had originally requested but probably more befitting one of the most powerful and influential Shoguns that Japan has ever known. The Nikko temples and shrines cost around 40 billion yen. That is 40 billion in the US or I guess 40 thousand million in the UK. This equates to around 400 million dollars in today’s terms. 4,540,000 people were involved in the reform, which took just one year and 5 months, and was completed in 1636.
Five Storied Pagoda
Most of the inner buildings are covered in ornate carvings and many painted in bright colours or clad in gold leaf. I appreciate their beauty but have never to date been able to photograph them in a way in which I like, partly because of the crowds, but also probably because I prefer more subdued colours as opposed to bright sparkling, almost gaudy colours. Having said that, the next shot, image number 1013 of the bright red Five Storied Pagoda just outside the Front Gate with the Nioh statue we looked at earlier, could well be considered gaudy, to a certain degree. I posted this shot and included it in today’s Podcast to talk about the thinking behind the shot.
As I turned and walked down the stone steps after shooting the Nioh statue, I noticed this lady standing looking at a map to the right of the pagoda, and her striking red jacket match the red of the pagoda, and there was no other subject in the shot for a second or two. I snapped off a couple of shots before a number of other people walked into the frame, but was pleased to have noticed the matching colours and to have acted quickly enough to get at least an OK shot. In my haste I did make this hand-held shot slightly skewed. I had to rotate it in Photoshop after the event, but saved something out of the moment. It was shot at exactly the same settings as the last shot, as I didn’t have time to change anything, but the exposure compensation was now at -1 stop, as I think I had shot my last shot of the Nioh statue at -1. I hadn’t worried too much about the aperture though, as although F4 is quite wide, it was going to be enough to get the pagoda in focus and I just made sure that I focused on the woman in the red coat as she was to become the focal point of the shot, not the historical building that has already been photographed millions of times before this capture.
As you descend the stone steps from the Front Gate of the Toushouguu grounds, if you turn right and walk between the grounds and the 36m tall Five Storied Pagoda, you’ll be faced with the scene from image number 1014. This whole row of stone lanterns and the red wall leading down the right of the image is called Shinmon, or God Gate, and it leads to the Futarasan Shrine. For this image I closed the aperture down to F8 to get a little more depth-of-field, but I didn’t want pan-focus as this was have reduced the feeling of depth that we get from having the scene go slightly out of focus as we get deeper into it. I was still at ISO 200 and was hand-holding at 1/15th of a second, and -1 stop of exposure compensation. The shot looks normal as far as brightness is concerned, but this is thanks to the exposure compensation. On overcast days such as this you will often find that the camera wants to make them brighter than the scene really is, so under compensating a little can help to normalize things.
Futarasan Shrine Shinmon Gate
I could have used a tripod here, but I’d also like to stress that on this day I was with my better half and a friend visiting from India, so I couldn’t really take very much time on my shots. I had to get the shot, and get a move on pretty much most of the time. The only time during this day that I used my tripod was to shoot the falls that we looked at last week and earlier today. I enjoy using my tripod when I can, especially for landscape work, as it helps me to think more carefully about composition etc. but I think it’s also important to be able to shoot hand-held when necessary too and still get results.
The next shot is number 1016, and was shot inside the Futarasan outer grounds. This is actually a building or kind of a wall around the garden next to the Shrine’s office. I included this as I like the contrast between the bright greens and the reds, but also the witches broom propped up against the wall in the center of the image adds a little reality to the overall image. From this we can learn that people are living and working here, sweeping up fallen leaves in their daily lives. Again I was under compensating by 1 stop, with an aperture of F5.6 and shutter speed of 1/125th of a second with ISO 200 still, and still using my 24-105mm F4 lens at 55mm for this shot.
Futarasan Shrine Office Buildings
I you walk back out of the Futarasan Shrine, to right is a bank, which is what I shot in image number 1017. Again, I just like the contrast between the bright green of the wet moss in the foreground here, with the red fence out of focus in the background adding a little extra interest. I didn’t want to keep my company weighting while I changed lenses, so despite having an F2.8 100mm macro lens in my pocket, I chose to go with the 24-105mm lens already mounted, and just opened it up to the widest aperture of F4. This was enough to throw the red fence out of focus as I wanted, so I’m quite pleased with the results. So as to keep the green bright now though, I’d raised the exposure compensation to -2/3 and the shutter speed hand held was 1/50th of a second for this shot at 75mm.
Moss with Red Fence
The last shot for today (1019) was something that I spotted from the car on the way out of the Nikko area on the way back to the highway to head back to Tokyo. This is a simple shot of the raindrops ripples in a rice paddy shot with my 100-400mm lens at ISO 400 at F5.6 and a shutter speed of 1/200th of a second. I was OK hand holding as I was resting the lens on my car door with window open. The lens was getting wet, but it’s splash proof because it’s an L lens, so I just wiped it off after I finished shooting. This simple shot kind of wraps up this two part series from two Sundays in Nikko in May of 2006. I will be going back to Nikko many times since becoming a little more free after buying a car in December 2005, but for now, this is my most recent Nikko experience.
One thing that I must say before closing, about Nikko and for that matter much of Japan, is that both Buddhism and the Shinto religion can live side by side in places like Nikko without everybody trying to kill each other and blow up each other’s places of worship. Although this is a pretty touchy subject, and I’m sure that many of those that were held captive in prisoner of war camps will have a very different opinion, in general the Japanese are an incredibly peace loving nation. I do so wish that many of the other countries and religions around the world could take a leaf out of their book and live together in peace and harmony as the main religions of Japan do today.
Even if you didn’t tune in last week, most of you will have now noticed that this Podcast is now available as an Enhanced Podcast, which means if you listen on an iPod the images I speak about will change automatically as the Podcast progresses, and are viewable freely by navigating between chapters. For anyone that does not use iTunes or and iPod to listen, I have also created a new feed that you can subscribe to that contains the MP3 version of the Podcast that has no chapters, but will enable you to continue to listen as you have done to date. The address for this feed is available on my Podcasts page and is also in the show notes.
Finally, remember that there is still just under two weeks left of the Rainy Day assignment, which closes on June 25th, so if you still haven’t posted your entry, please take a look at the detail in the Assignment Forum, and if you didn’t listen to the original Podcast on this assignment, you can go back to Episode 37 for more details. There are some great images already uploaded to the assignment gallery, and I can’t wait to see what the rest of you make of this assignment.
Thanks very much for listening, and enjoy your week, whatever you’re doing. Bye bye.
Music from Music Alley: www.musicalley.com/
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culture, Ieyasu Tokugawa, nature, Nikko, peace, shrine, Temple, traditional Japan
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The Ross School of Business is the recipient of a $5 million endowment to establish the Mitchell Program for Business Ethics and Communications to bolster the development of ethical, diverse business leaders. It is the first gift of its kind at Ross to support faculty in business ethics.
John and Patricia Mitchell
The Patricia W. Mitchell Trusts made the gift to the University of Michigan — which also includes an additional $5 million gift to support the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts — to honor the legacy of Columbia Pictures Television Founder John H. Mitchell, LSA ‘39, and his wife Patricia Mitchell.
.The multifaceted program will encompass four key components:
The John H. Mitchell Professorship in Business Ethics — the first focused exclusively on business ethics at Michigan Ross, pending approval by the U-M Board of Regents.
The John H. and Patricia W. Mitchell Scholarship Fund — a scholarship for undergraduate and graduate business students dedicated to ethical business practices and communications excellence.
John H. and Patricia W. Mitchell Internship Fund — a funded internship in the entertainment industry for undergraduate and graduate students.
The John H. Mitchell Lecture Series Fund — a new lecture series featuring ethically-minded leaders from creative industries, such as film, television, and other media.
“Michigan Ross is committed to teaching students not only the fundamentals of business, but also how to act in an ethical manner as business leaders who are inspired to make a positive difference in the world,” said Scott DeRue, the Edward J. Frey Dean and professor of business at Ross. “The Mitchell gift will enable us to greatly enhance our offerings by infusing business ethics and communications excellence into virtually every student experience at the school.”
Last year, a record 39 percent of top executives who were let go were dismissed over accusations of ethical lapses, according to a PwC study of turnover among the top 2,500 global public companies, making the impact of the Mitchell’s gift to Ross even more timely and significant.
The gift is part of a combined $50 million gift to three universities. Other institutions receiving a share of the funds are the University of California, Los Angeles and the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts.
Read more about the gift
Connect with Michigan Ross
More Ross Blogs
Undergrad Admissions Blog
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Friday 13 April 2018 Transcript
Manager of Government Business in the Senate
Senator for South Australia
Topics: Government school funding; Cyberbullying; South Australian electoral boundaries
Simon Birmingham: Thank you very much for coming today. The COAG Education Council met today in Adelaide, and I was thrilled to once again have a series of constructive conversations with my colleagues from around Australia about important issues in terms of education, and particularly school education in Australia.
One of the very serious topics we addressed today was the issue of bullying in schools. Schoolyard bullying is as old as schools themselves and there’s no silver bullet to fix it, but we are very cognisant of the fact that cyber-bullying and online bullying presents a whole new world of threat and challenge to Australian schools’ children, and that we need to work together as a nation to make sure we minimise that challenge wherever possible.
Today we saw new data that the Office of eSafety Commissioner, established by the Turnbull Government, is dealing with growing and record numbers of referrals. That’s terrible that those instances are happening and any instance is one too many when it comes to bullying. But it is pleasing that Australians are indeed engaging with the eSafety Commissioner, who have themselves reached out and managed to engage with around 400,000 Australian parents and schoolchildren in terms of informing and advising them of the work the eSafety Commissioner can do to receive complaints but importantly to use our world-leading laws to ensure inappropriate material is taken down.
Following a discussion of first ministers at COAG earlier this year, education ministers have agreed that we will work cooperatively in terms of bringing recommendations back to COAG about further efforts that can be undertaken in the bullying space, and particularly what it is we can do to learn from each of the jurisdictions. All of them are doing innovative and different things in terms of trying to raise awareness of anti-bullying measures and policies and I look forward to that collaborative work ensuring that we can have a true world’s best national strategy to counter bullying and cyber-bullying in schools in the future.
The Government also received today or presented to Education Council the report of the Independent Review into Regional, Rural and Remote Education undertaken by Emeritus Professor John Halsey from Flinders University here in South Australia. Country kids deserve the same quality of education as city kids. Country kids deserve to have the same quality of teachers, of schools, of curriculum, of pathways and opportunity as city kids. The Coalition put this on the agenda because we recognised that, all too often, country kids see greater turnover of teachers and principals, and aren’t getting the quality of opportunity in their schools that they deserve.
This is a very comprehensive report that Professor Halsey has presented. It has many recommendations for states and territories; some recommendations for the Commonwealth as well. I was pleased that state and territory ministers of all political persuasions received the report and presentation by Professor Halsey today with respect, with a commitment to work through its recommendations in terms of the types of steps we can take to lift the quality of educational experience for rural kids. The Turnbull Government is delivering significant growth in funding across the board, but particularly based on need which is providing additional support for those children in rural regional Australia. We expect that recommendations such as this should be able to make use of that record growing needs-based funding to deliver even greater support for those children.
I want to place on record the Commonwealth’s thanks to Professor Halsey, but also to the thousands of individuals across rural and regional Australia who engaged with this report, who recognised that we need to put a really strong focus around rural and regional education, and we are very pleased that Professor Halsey’s report is now going to be considered by all of the states and territories.
Questions, guys?
Question: Now, I’m aware that funding was not the agenda at today’s meeting, Minister, but how important is it that the Victorian Government sign on to what’s been put forward and what sort of difference would that make for parents in Victoria?
Simon Birmingham: Well, it’s important that every state and territory signs on, ultimately, this year to an agreement that kicks off next year that will see record growing funds flow from Federal Government into schools across Australia, but also see a commitment to agreed reforms to get the best bang for our buck out of the record dollars being invested.
Now, I note the Victorian Government today has made some announcements about their future funding projections. I welcome the in-principle statements that have been made by the Victorian Government. There’s some significant rhetoric behind Victoria’s announcement and it must be matched by real, firm commitments about the rate of growth and funding from Victoria in the future. It is a reality that Victoria invests less per student on its schoolchildren than any other state in the country. So the test is to make sure that Victoria’s rhetorical commitment today is now matched by firm action in the agreements that are underway.
The Commonwealth, through the legislation passed through our Parliament last year, has made it very, very clear that we will be providing more than $1 billion of additional support to Victorian Government schoolchildren by 2023. There’s a trajectory for how that will happen. Victoria needs to provide a similarly firm trajectory of what it will achieve over the same timeline.
Question: What do you make of the protest action again this morning from the AEU outside of the meeting, and the constant grandstanding from the union when it comes to future funding?
Simon Birmingham: Well, grandstanding’s a good word for what the AEU gets up to from time to time. Unfortunately, the Education Union in Australia seems to be more interested in political grandstanding and headlines and, indeed, partisan attacks on the Coalition than it is on actually constructive engagement. And that’s a sad reflection on the union, and it’s not reflective at all of the many hardworking teachers and principals who I engage with around Australia. Now, we are providing record growing funding to Australian schools, but importantly, distributed fairly, consistently, on the basis of need. It’s in stark contrast to the Labor Party, who, when last in government, stitched up a whole raft of different special deals around the country, and in doing so, meant that children in one school in one state or territory could be getting thousands of dollars less from the Federal Government than children in identical circumstances of need in another school around the country. That’s not needs-based funding. That’s completely inconsistent funding, and the tragedy is it looks like Bill Shorten and Tanya Plibersek are going back down that path again of tearing up the Gonski Report recommendations and just stitching up special deals.
Question: In relation to bullying, was there a discussion about a national law, perhaps similar to the ones that have been rolled out in Victoria?
Simon Birmingham: We didn’t talk specifically about changes to the laws. What we did do was absolutely agree that we would be looking at best practice approaches from right around the country, and that we’ll consider best practice approaches in terms of legal frameworks, as well as the types of programs that are rolled out in schools. I think every jurisdiction, every state and territory is open to learning off of each other to establish how they can best keep kids safe, how they can ensure that schools are environments of respect, of tolerance and of kindness to one another.
Question: In regards to the electoral boundary changes, what do you think about South Australia losing a seat?
Simon Birmingham: Well, South Australia’s paying a heavy price for 16 years of economic and population stagnation under the previous state government, and this loss of a seat has only occurred because our population and our economy has not grown at the same rate as the rest of the country, and that’s a big, big price that South Australia pays in now having a reduced representation in the Federal Parliament and a reduced number of voices who will be there in future. But that’s a reality that we have to live with. Hopefully, the new government can manage to spur sufficient economic and population growth over the next decade or so that maybe we’ll be able to reserve this in time.
In terms of the boundaries themselves and the consequences of them, well, at a political party sense, the Liberal Party will obviously consider them carefully and make any further submissions through the AEC processes. But I would note and expect that it will ignite some factional warfare within the Labor Party. We see that, under these boundary changes, there are now five notionally Labor seats, and I wouldn’t think that Peter Malinauskas’ dominant right-wing faction is going to allow three incumbent left-wing MPs to dominate and occupy three out of those five seats at the next Federal Election. So, who’s going to get the chop? Will it be Mark Butler? Will it be Steve Georganas? Will it be Tony Zappia? That’s a matter for the Labor Party factions to work out, but I suspect it’ll be pretty ugly behind those backrooms. All good? Thanks guys.
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*[——] [——]Yaakob, Zayin-Lamed
[Nachman Son of] Jacob, May His Memory Be for a Blessing
Location: Bavarian Main State Archives, Munich, Regensburg City Doc. 567.†
Bibliography: Monumenta Boica, 1912, No. 799.
The left side of this rather large seal, where the Hebrew inscription recites the name of the seal owner, is destroyed, but the document in German tells us the name. The beginning of the inscription is indicated by a six-pointed star. The remaining Hebrew begins at the name of the father, followed by the contraction indicating that he is dead. A large shield fills the center of the field. On it appears a five-pointed star formed by interwoven lines. A pattern of small crescent moons and six-pointed stars fits into the corners created by the large central star; overhead there seems to be a winged hat. This hat, however, is not the Jew’s hat seen on so many Jewish medieval seals. The background of the field, between the outer edge of the shield and the inner heavy beaded line of the inscription, is composed of what appears to be fabric, a bit like similar seals from Überlingen, not far away on the Swiss-German border.
Loan agreement from Erding, January 6, 1338, sealed by Aferlein son of Nachman. Bavarian Main State Archives at Munich, Landshut-Seligenthal, Doc. 146.
Residence affirmation from Regensburg, January 21, 1338, sealed by Nachman son of Jacob (reduced in size). Bavarian Main State Archives at Munich, Regensburg City Doc. 567.
Reverse of aes grave (heavy bronze Latin coin), Italy, ca. 270 B.C.
Ornament at synagogue of Capernaum, Galilee, ca. late 2d century A.D.
The German document illustrated here, begins “I Nachman,” and the formal declaration states, “Sealed with my seal.” The date is January 21, 1338.* By mistake the seal is catalogued at Munich as that of the Jewish community rather than belonging to Nachman personally. The substance of the document is short but signficant. The Jew Nachman promises to become a citizen (Bürger) in Regensburg before Whitsuntide and to bring to an end his differences with the other local Jews. Here we see that by the fourteenth century the Jew in some urban centers was no longer regarded as a chattel but had legally been accepted as a citizen, though with certain restrictions (he could not vote or hold elective office, and his time of residence was limited). In fact, this document indicates that the city fathers were pressing Nachman to become a citizen and that he was reluctant to do so, as he had not yet settled the amount of his municipal assessment with his fellow Jews.
As noted before, the stars of five or six points were not exclusively considered either religious or symbols of specific religions at this point in time despite the more common use of the hexagon by Jews. Illustrated here is a similar large five-pointed star, with the same interwoven pattern, on a coin from central Italy of the third century B.C., and another on a wall at the famous synagogue at Capernaum in Galilee, which dates from the late second century.
*Apparently Nachman signed but did not seal another document this same day (Wiener, Regesten, No. 132).
86. Seal of Aferlein Son of Nachman
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Volume 56, Number 3, September 2010
Civil War History is the foremost scholarly journal of the sectional conflict in the United States, focusing on social, cultural, economic, political, and military issues from antebellum America through Reconstruction. Articles have featured research on slavery, abolitionism, women and war, Abraham Lincoln, fiction, national identity, and various aspects of the Northern and Southern military. Published quarterly in March, June, September, and December.
The Kent State University Press
Dying of Nostalgia: Homesickness in the Union Army during the Civil War
David Anderson
DOI: 10.1353/cwh.2010.0001
Civilization, Republic, Nation: Contested Keywords, Northern Republicans, and the Forgotten Reconstruction of Mormon Utah
David Prior
Nations, Markets, and War: Modern History and the American Civil War (review)
Marc Egnal
Lincoln and the Court (review)
R. Owen Williams
Wade Hampton: Confederate Warrior to Southern Redeemer (review)
Bruce E. Baker
Volume 56, Number 2, June 2010
Volume 56, Number 4, December 2010
Copyright © 2010 The Kent State University Press.
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ELGAR: Cello Concerto / Introduction and Allegro / Serenade for Strings
Maria Kliegel
11 songs (1 hour and 10 minutes) Released on August 1, 1998
Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85: I. Adagio - Moderato
Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85: II. Lento - Allegro molto
Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85: III. Adagio
Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85: IV. Allegro, ma non troppo
Introduction and Allegro, Op. 47: Introduction And Allegro, Op. 47
Elegy, Op. 58
Serenade in E minor, Op. 20: I. Allegro piacevole
Serenade in E minor, Op. 20: II. Larghetto
Serenade in E minor, Op. 20: III. Allegretto
Salut d'amour, Op. 12: Salut d'amout
5 Military Marches, Op. 39, "Pomp and Circumstance": Military March No. 1 in D major, Op. 39, "Pomp and Circumstance"
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Local Voices Matter in the Dakota Access Discussion Too
In an opinion piece published in The Hill by Bill Gerhard president of the Iowa State Building and Construction Trades Council and Dawna Leitzke, executive director for the South Dakota Petroleum and Propane Marketers Association, the authors point out that for more than two years many people within the states where Dakota Access is being constructed have actually supported the project.
In the piece Mr. Gerhard and Ms. Leitzke write: “In recent weeks, a growing amount of media attention has been focused on the ongoing protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota. Reports of trespassing, arson, and attempted murder are deeply troubling. Equally worrisome is the protest’s rapid spreading from North Dakota into South Dakota, Iowa and other states – a trend that promises only to grow unless law and order are restored to the region. Unfortunately, the voices of those who live in the states where the pipeline is being constructed are not being heard, which is why we’d like to share our perspective.”
We’ve noted the presence of anti-development activists before among the protesters at Standing Rock, and often it’s their activities that the media covers.
Local voices matter too, public support and a need for this project led to the Dakota Access Pipeline’s approval by four separate state utility regulators.
Tags: Bill Gerhard, Construction, Dakota Access, North Dakota, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe
Local Economies Flourish As Pipeline Construction Nears End
A new column co-authored by Ed Wiederstein, chairman of the MAIN Coalition, and Bill Gerhard, president of the Iowa State Building & Construction Trades Council, makes it abundantly clear that the Dakota Access Pipeline is benefiting the Iowa economy.
“Throughout Iowa work continues on the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, and already the long-touted benefits are being felt from Lyon County to Lee County. From the beginning we’ve touted the benefits and supported its construction because of the good it will do for our state — and now, with the project more than three quarters of the way complete in Iowa — we continue to see the many benefits we have extolled over the past two years.”
Wiederstein and Gerhard have been strong advocates for the landmark energy infrastructure project, often citing the thousands of jobs and millions in economic activity it will generate. But now, as evident in communities across Iowa, the case no longer has to be made, the benefits are here and they’re making a difference.
““The 4,000 construction jobs being generated along the 348 miles of pipeline represent a direct cash infusion into local economies in each county along the pipeline route. Recently, the Sioux City Journal wrote, ‘It’s not easy to put an exact dollar amount on the economic impact of the pipeline construction, local leaders say, but it’s not hard to find evidence that those workers are spending money in the area.’”
The influx of pipeline workers has meant restaurants, hotels, convenience stores and laundry facilities remain busy and close to capacity. That’s good news for business owners and the local economy, results that were consistently alluded to throughout 18 open houses across Iowa as well as during the Iowa Utilities Board hearings in November and December of 2015. Iowa stands to benefit from this pipeline from the construction phase through its operation.”
Wiederstein and Gerhard also note that unlike many large infrastructure projects, Dakota Access, despite being a public benefit, comes at no cost to taxpayers. “Large public infrastructure investments often come at a significant cost to state taxpayers, who are left holding the bag when road crews have finished rebuilding bridges or repaving highways,” they wrote. “But private infrastructure investments like the Dakota Access Pipeline do no such thing.”
Click here to read the full column in the Des Moines Register.
Tags: Bill Gerhard, Dakota Access, Economy, Ed Wiederstein, Iowa
Dakota Access Supporters Rally In Front of IUB
Members of the MAIN Coalition along with members of craft trade unions rallied in front of the Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) today to express their support for the project ahead of an emergency hearing.
The supporters have come together to protest the unnecessary additional review of the project which has already been fully approved and permitted by four state regulatory bodies, including the IUB, and the federal government.
The MAIN Coalition’s Chairman, Ed Wiederstein, stated the following:
The MAIN Coalition is dismayed the opponents of this project are once again trying to stop a lawfully approved project that is already employing thousands of Iowans, and will bring benefits to our state for years to come. It is completely ludicrous the Dakota Access Pipeline will once again be brought to the Iowa Utilities Board for review.
This project was reviewed under the laws of the State of Iowa for the better part of a year and a half. The IUB should stand by their decision earlier this year and allow for the full authority and construction of the project.
Opponents of Dakota Access want to keep changing the rules after a decision has been made. This sends a terrible signal to any business or industry wanting to build or relocate to Iowa; what business would invest tens of millions of dollars in jobs and infrastructure only to have regulators have a change of mind a year later?
Iowans of our state deserve well-paying jobs, safe energy infrastructure, and the opportunity for a significant investment in our future. The Dakota Access Pipeline should remain approved and construction should continue.
Bill Gerhard, President of the Iowa State Building and Constructions Trade Council, issued the following statement:
The last ditch efforts by opponents of the Dakota Access Pipeline threatens to kill the jobs of thousands of Iowans. It is completely selfish of these individuals to threaten an entire workforce with termination solely because they want to throw a wrench in the regulatory system. Construction should be allowed to take place, as it was before, because the letter of the law was followed and this project was approved by the State of Iowa. The rest of Iowa gets it and wants to move forward.
Mike Ralston, President of the Iowa Association of Business and Industry, stated the following:
The Iowa Association of Business and Industry is disappointed this matter is once again being brought before the Iowa Utilities Board. This project has already been approved – the Dakota Access Pipeline should proceed with construction as it was lawfully permitted to do months ago. These final efforts of opponents to this project are a sad attempt to once again to take people out of work and deny the people of this state affordable energy.
Tags: Bill Gerhard, Dakota Access, Ed Wiederstein, Iowa utilities Board, Mike Ralston
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Home > Personal finance > Pensions > New charges shock for family trusts
New charges shock for family trusts
By: David Prosser 03/11/2017
People who run family trusts are facing expensive new charges due to an international crackdown on financial crime and tax evasion. Savers who’ve chosen to put money into a family trust for long-term tax efficiency or security reasons have been told they will now have to pay hundreds of pounds for a legal entity identifier (LEI) – a unique 20-digit number that will allow financial regulators and tax authorities to identify the parties involved in any financial transaction in any jurisdiction.
The rules, which come into force in January as part of the European Union’s new “MiFID II” regulations, are designed to increase the transparency of transactions, amid concern that criminals and tax cheats are hiding behind elaborate legal structures to conceal wrongdoing. However, the regime will cover almost everyone holding investments through a corporate arrangement, rather than in their own name. This includes thousands of savers with relatively small sums held in trusts.
Such arrangements are used routinely for long-term and legitimate financial-planning purposes – to plan for inheritance tax, for example, or to hold savings on behalf of children or grandchildren. Yet there is no exemption from the LEI requirement for small trusts, or those engaged in everyday planning. Although there have been calls for small trusts to be exempted from the new rules, regulators argue that, because the rules were agreed as part of a G20 initiative, they cannot be watered down.
As many as 162,000 family trusts and estates filed self-assessment tax returns for the 2014-2015 tax year, according to HM Revenue & Customs. All of these will have to buy an LEI if they want to continue trading in shares, bonds, derivatives and many collective investment schemes. As a result, stockbrokers and wealth managers acting on behalf of those who run family trusts have a legal duty to ensure every trust has an LEI by January 3 2018. Trustees can apply directly to the London Stock Exchange for an LEI; the current fee for registration is £115, with an annual charge of £70. Alternatively, investment managers can apply on your behalf and recover the costs from you.
The Financial Conduct Authority’s guidance places no cap on what managers may charge for LEIs, leaving the issue “at the discretion” of the firm, so they could feasibly charge more than the cost of registration. On the very smallest trusts, these charges will have a noticeable impact on returns. Given that the new rules are really aimed at preventing large-scale tax evasion and serious financial crime, it is possible that a minimum trust value threshold might be introduced at some point, but this does not appear to be in the works yet.
That said, while investment managers may have to enforce the rules, they are under no obligation to pass on LEI charges to all customers. Indeed, the new system is widely expected to generate significant savings for asset managers and stockbrokers. The LEIs will streamline transactions, cutting the costs incurred by financial companies when signing up clients in bulk and processing their trades, by as much as 10%, according to research from management consultant McKinsey. As a result, the investment-banking industry as a whole could save more than $150m per year. That certainly bolsters the case of savers with relatively small trusts who could argue that their investment firms should absorb the costs of LEI registration.
Is your pension getting eaten by fees?
Asset managers who run pension funds may soon be forced to publish much more detail about their charges due to growing concern that people are unaware of how much of their returns are being eaten up by fees (see also page 10). The UK regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), has been investigating charges in the asset-management sector for more than two years, and is set to publish new standards for reporting of fees before the end of the year. Fees, one-off charges and inflation reduced the returns earned by investors by an average of 29% between 2013 and 2015, according to one recent study by the European Securities and Markets Authority (Esma), an EU regulator.
While individual investors tended to pay higher charges, institutional investors, including pension funds, were also paying too much, warned Esma. In fact, research from campaign group the Transparency Task Force suggests that pension funds in the UK are routinely paying more than 100 charges, many of which are not made clear to investors. Such fees can consume as much as a third of the value of the funds over a lifetime of pension saving. The FCA hopes to design a template for fee disclosure that would require asset managers to publish all charges paid by pension funds in a standard format. The hope is that greater transparency would encourage competition and bring charges down.
Tax insult of the week
In a blow to bridge players everywhere, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) decided last week that the game does not technically count as a sport, and so cannot benefit from tax breaks associated with sports, says James Crisp in The Daily Telegraph. The English Bridge Union had applied to HM Revenue & Customs for a refund on the 20% VAT for the entry fees to its pairs bridge competitions, arguing that the activity should be considered a sport as it “promotes physical and mental well-being”. Despite concluding that the physical element of pairs bridge was “negligible”, thankfully the ECJ has suggested that the game might instead qualify for a tax break given to activities that are “part of a country’s cultural heritage”.
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Posts Tagged ‘Amelia Warner’
MARY SHELLEY – Amelia Warner
The British author Mary Shelley, who lived from 1797 to 1851, is best known today for her Gothic novel ‘Frankenstein,’ one of the most influential books of all time, and which has come to be regarded as the first true science fiction story. The romantic drama film Mary Shelley takes an extended look at Shelley’s early life, especially the exalted scholarly circles in which she moved; as the daughter of philosopher William Godwin she had an in-depth classical education, her circle of friends included the poet Lord Byron and the early horror novelist John Polidori, and she was married to poet Percy Shelley, all of whom were significant influences on the story she conceived one stormy night on the banks of Lake Geneva in 1818. The film stars Elle Fanning, Douglas Booth, and Tom Sturridge, and is directed by Haifaa al-Mansour, the world’s first female Saudi Arabian film maker, whose previous work includes the critically acclaimed 2012 drama Wadjda. Read more…
Categories: Reviews Tags: Amelia Warner, Film Score, Mary Shelley, Reviews
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Radruż – orthodox church of St Paraskeva
The church of St. Paraskeva was built in the fourth quarter of the 16th century. Its founder was probably in 1583 starost Jan Płaza. In 1743 church was in poor condition and needed serious reparations. Renovation works were carried out in the third quarter of the 18th century. At that time, the belfry, originally built over the porch, was dismantled, arcades were rebuilt and a free-standing belfry was erected. Around 1825 the church was surrounded by a stone fence that replaced the timber one. Further repair work on the site was carried out in 1832 and 1845. In 1927 the liturgical vents in the iconostasis were repaired and minor repairs were made. In 1944, after the displacement of the Ukrainian population, the orthodox church was abandoned and gradually fell into ruin. It was only during the years 1959-1960 that protection work was carried out, and in 1964-1966 a major renovation of the temple and other elements of the church was carried.
The orthodox church is a late-gothic log structure, built on a three-squared plan. The highest and widest part is a two-storey nave, topped with a quadrilateral dome with a shingle lantern. The lower chancel and the porch have gable roofs. Roofs and walls are covered with shingle. Around the church there are extensive arcades supported by pillars. Once there was a small bell tower upon the porch. On the wall of iconostasis and presbytery, polychromy painted directly on the wood in 1648, has survived.
The freestanding timber bell tower is located on a square plan. It is a two-storey building with an overhanging porch with an open gallery. In the ground floor there is a large and high shingle apron covering the bottom of the building. The roof at the bottom is pyramid, four-sided, in the upper reaches into a pyramid, eight-sided roof. The bell tower was erected in a log-pole structure.
The orthodox church in Radruż is one of the oldest and best preserved timber church buildings in Poland. It is on the prestigious World Monuments Fund, which includes priceless objects, worth of rescue and financial support. In 2013 it was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List. Since 2010, the complex of church buildings is a branch of the Museum of Kresy in Lubaczów.
church complex in Radruż, photo: Wikimedia Commons
St Paraskeva’s Eastern Orthodox church
free-standing belfry, photo Wikimedia Commons
Website wikipedia.org, Cerkiew św. Paraskewy w Radrużu.
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Trzcinica – St Dorothy’s church
The church in Trzcinica was erected in 1551, as evidenced by the date carved on the lintel. It was probably not the first church in this place and before it stood an earlier, small, wooden temple. The initiator of the construction of the church was Zofia from Marszowice Ocieska, and the founder was her husband, Jan Ocieski, then the crown chancellor, the starosta biecki. At that time they were tenutars of Trzcinica as royal property. The church has been restored and renewed several times. At the end of the 16th century a tower was added to the western elevation, which was strongly transformed in the early 20th century. In the years 1800-1806 a new polychrome was painted on the existing 16th century. In 1857 the south porch was added to the chapel of Our Lady and the whole building was planked. Between 1995 and 2010, a comprehensive restoration work was carried out in the church.
The church was built in the gothic tradition as a orienteted one-nave, of the framework construction. The walls of fir wood were laid on an oak floor. It has an almost square nave and a rectangular ended chancel. From the north to chancel is adjoined vestry on the elongated rectangle. The nave and chancel windows are in the shape of ogee. The tower is surrounded by open arcades. The church has a gable roof with a common ridge above the nave and chancel, and the whole building is covered with shingle.
The interior is illuminated according to the gothic tradition only by windows on the south and east side. Originally the church had two entrances, from the west and south. The double-leafed door from the 15th century in the western portal has preserved gothic smith fittings with rhombic motifs. The interior is covered with flat ceilings. Inside the church is preserved renaissance polychromy from the 16th century.
St Dorothy church, photo Wikimedia Commons
church from the north-west, photo: H.Bielamowicz, Wikimedia Commons
church from the south-west side, photo: H.Bielamowicz, Wikimedia Commons
Website wikipedia.org, Kościół św. Doroty w Trzcinicy.
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All Principal Partners /
Following the closure of the last financial institution in Dingley Village in December 2000‚ the Chamber of Commerce sought support from the community for a Community Bank®.
Coincidentally‚ at the same time the support was being raised‚ another financial institution announced its closure. Faced with no banks in the Dingley Village Community the community support was strong and a steering committee was formed. Pledges were raised and a feasibility study conducted.
In September 2001 the Dingley Village Community Bank Branch of the Bendigo Bank was formed and a prospectus was issued to raise the required capital in November 2001.
Notwithstanding the Christmas/New Year period‚ $630‚000 in capital was raised from the share offer‚ premises secured and fitted out and staff recruited. The first shareholder meeting was a very successful social night with more than 350 people in attendance‚ followed by our bank branch opening the next day. The strong support from this community got the bank branch off to a good start.
The bank's doors were formally opened on 22nd April 2002 with no business, no loans, and no deposits, but a community full of support. The branch set a new metropolitan record by opening 247 accounts and having banking business of $887‚946 in the first week of business.
They now hold over $200 million worth of banking business and employ ten staff. They have contributed over $2.3 million of profits back to the community. Through grants and sponsorship they have supported football, netball, cricket, baseball, scouting, aged care, service clubs, schools, the neighbourhood centre and numerous other community groups to continue to offer their services, particularly when the Global Financial Crisis hit and donations from alternative sources become scarce.
For more information about the Dingley Village Community Bank, contact them at:
11/79 Centre Dandenong Road, Dingley Village
www.bendigobank.com.au Call (03) 9551 6111
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Mental Floss's 56 Best Books of 2018
BY mentalfloss .com
Photo illustration by Mental Floss. Book covers: Amazon. Background: Shutterstock.
At Mental Floss, we receive so many books that, come year's end, every staffer's desk looks like its own little library (the way we lend, trade, and barter for each others' books gives our office a library atmosphere, too). Of the hundreds of books that crossed our desks in 2018, these were our favorites.
1. Lincoln's Last Trial: The Murder Case That Propelled Him to the Presidency // Dan Abrams
In many history books, the story of Lincoln’s life jumps from Honest Abe splitting rails to growing a beard and guiding the country through the Civil War. But before heading to the White House, Lincoln spent two decades as a popular and respected lawyer. He had gained some national recognition following his debates with Stephen Douglas in 1858, but just nine months before the political convention that would name him the Republican nominee, Lincoln took on a high-profile case in Springfield, Illinois, that involved the murder of one of his own law clerks by the son of one of his longtime friends. Lincoln was the defense attorney. For this painstakingly researched tome, Dan Abrams and Dan Fisher owe much to Lincoln’s colleague and friend Robert R. Hitt, the court stenographer who recorded such copious notes that they could piece together nearly everything that happened before Lincoln rested his last case.
2. Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup // John Carreyrou
The Wall Street Journal investigative reporter John Carreyrou strings together dozens of interviews to unveil the story behind one of tech’s biggest public scams: How Theranos, a now-dissolved blood-testing company once valued at more than $9 billion, built an empire on a lie. The book details how the company, guided by a charismatic young founder, convinced seasoned investors to pour millions into the brand on the promise that it could run blood tests with just one prick of the finger. There was, of course, one problem: Theranos didn't have the working technology to make its vision a reality.
3. The Mystery of the Exploding Teeth: And Other Curiosities from the History of Medicine // Thomas Morris
Dutton/Penguin Books
From crank cures to bizarre accidents, old medical journals are a font of true weirdness. No one knows this better than the writer and historian Thomas Morris, who collects and interprets centuries-old tales of medical mayhem in The Mystery of the Exploding Teeth. Whether the patients are glowing in the dark, vomiting fetuses, or sticking silverware in places it definitely doesn't belong, there's something for everyone—so long as you have an appetite for the past and a (very) strong stomach.
4. Becoming // Michelle Obama
In a refreshingly open memoir, the first black woman to serve as first lady, Michelle Obama, gets candid and personal about her childhood, the highs and lows of her relationship with former President Barack, and being criticized during her time in the White House. The 426-page memoir is full of intimate details that will be new to even the biggest Obama fans, which is likely part of what earned it a spot on Oprah’s Book Club and the honor of being the best-selling book of the year.
5. The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers // Maxwell King
The first biography of childhood hero and real-life saint Fred Rogers comes from Maxwell King, who previously helmed the Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media. This detailed account of the life and work of Mr. Rogers features some familiar, heart-warming stories, as well as original interviews and new insights into what made the television host tick. His nine-step manual on how to talk to young audiences, for instance, demonstrated his uncanny ability to think like a child.
6. Children of Blood and Bone // Tomi Adeyemi
One of the most anticipated young adult books of 2018, Children of Blood landed a film deal and inspired fans to line up at Comic Con before the novel even hit shelves. At more than 500 pages, the first book in Tomi Adeyemi's young adult Afrofuturistic trilogy isn't exactly a quick read, but you'll still find yourself racing through the rich details of the mythological world of Orïsha, where magic disappeared more than a decade before. The plot centers around lead character Zélie as she sets out to take down a power-drunk king, avenging both the magical community he murdered and her late mother.
7. Born to be Posthumous: The Eccentric Life and Mysterious Genius of Edward Gorey // Mark Dery
Though he would become well known for his macabre, tiny books like The Gashlycrumb Tinies, writer and illustrator Edward Gorey was a bit of a mystery, even to those who knew him. In Born to be Posthumous, Mark Dery takes the reader through Gorey's midwestern origins, his time in the Army and at Harvard, his career in New York, his enduring love of cats—and, of course, his evolution as an artist and writer—in an attempt to unravel that mystery. Through never-before-published correspondence and interviews with those who knew Gorey, Dery is able to create a fascinating portrait of the reclusive writer/artist in this compelling biography.
8. The Philosopher's Flight // Tom Miller
Who run the magical world? Girls—at least in this World War I-era fantasy universe, where women are better at "empirical philosophy," a form of ancient science that allows people to teleport, fly, and cast spells. But when 18-year-old Robert Weekes attempts to prove he's good enough to enroll among the budding warriors and healers at the prestigious all-girls magic school, readers are introduced to a vivid world where young adults come of age to experience romance, adventure, and college debauchery—all laced with a little wizardry. It's a must-read for fans of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series or Lev Grossman's The Magicians.
9. Conan Doyle for the Defense: The True Story of a Sensational British Murder, a Quest for Justice, and the World's Most Famous Detective Writer // Margalit Fox
New York Times senior writer Margalit Fox tells the story of when Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, changed the course of a real-life murder case. Late one December evening in 1908, a wealthy older woman was brutally murdered in Glasgow. Police immediately seized on Oscar Slater, an immigrant Jewish gambler, as the culprit, based largely on the fact that he'd pawned a brooch similar to—but not matching—one taken from the dead woman's house. (Little matter that he'd pawned it before the murder actually happened.) Incensed by the shoddy police work, Conan Doyle stepped in, but it took decades for him to help Slater win his freedom. Fox deftly details how anti-Semitism and anti-immigrant sentiment helped foul the case from the beginning. Along the way, readers get insights on Conan Doyle's mind and character, as well as the evolution of our ideas about crime.
10. Barracoon: The STory of the Last "BLack Cargo" // Zora Neale Hurston
Six years before Zora Neale Hurston wrote Their Eyes Were Watching God, the famed author and anthropologist documented the true story of Cudjo Lewis, the last survivor of the last slave ship to come to America. No one wanted to touch her book back in 1931, but HarperCollins finally published it in May. Hurston spent three months interviewing Lewis at his home in Plateau, Alabama, and what followed is a remarkable firsthand account of hardship, injustice, and ultimately freedom.
11. All the Pieces Matter: The Inside Story of The Wire // Jonathan Abrams
When David Simon's HBO series The Wire aired its final episode just over 10 years ago, it was one of HBO's most criminally underseen—and undervalued—series. Sure, it has a rabid following today and can usually be found at the top of any Best TV Shows of All-Time lists, but you wouldn't have known that if you were to simply judge it by its ratings (or the lack of awards it garnered) during its five-season run. Fortunately, television audiences looking for smarter, more realistic takes on the modern crime drama have caught on to the series, making Jonathan Abrams's extensive oral history perfectly timed. All of The Wire's main players take part and share behind-the-scenes memories, giving detailed accounts of everything from the death of Wallace (Michael B. Jordan) to the infamous season-one "F*** Scene" (in which Dominic West and Wendell Pierce spend five minutes dissecting a crime scene together while exchanging nothing but the f-word).
12. Severance // Ling Ma
Shen Fever is a terrible (and fortunately fictional) disease that traps its victims in their routines, whether it's spreading out a family dinner or making spreadsheets. When it hits New York in 2011, Candace Chen becomes one of the last New Yorkers in the city, after her job producing specialty Bibles offers her a handsome payout to pretend the office is still functioning. She spends her time taking pictures of the abandoned city for her blog, NY Ghost. While the apocalyptic scenario drives the book forward, the novel's true heart lies in Chen's flashbacks about her parents after they immigrated to the U.S. from China. The stories combine to form a haunting tale of survival, memory, and workaday life in late capitalist New York.
13. Natural Causes: An Epidemic of Wellness, the Certainty of Dying, and Killing Ourselves to Live Longer // Barbara Ehrenreich
Some of Barbara Ehrenreich's past explorations have included religion, low-wage jobs in America, and the seedy underbelly of the positive-thinking movement. The 77-year-old journalist doesn't shy away from difficult topics, and her newest work of nonfiction, Natural Causes, is no exception. In it, she declares that she is old enough to die and has stopped scheduling annual exams and medical screenings. She goes on to analyze society's obsession with prolonging life at all costs, drawing from her Ph.D. in cellular immunology and experience as a breast cancer survivor to explain the cellular process of aging—and why we have less control over our bodies than we may think.
14. The Ravenmaster: My Life With the Ravens at the Tower of London // Christopher Skaife
Christopher Skaife has one of the most interesting jobs in the world: He's the yeoman warder (a.k.a Beefeater) in charge of the ravens at the Tower of London. Why do the ravens need their own keeper? According to a legend going back to Charles II, if the ravens ever leave the tower, the kingdom is doomed. Skaife weaves an entertaining look at the lives and loves of the tower's current flock—Munin, Merlina, Erin, Rocky, Jubilee II, Gripp II, and Harris—mixing insights about the surprisingly complex birds with threads of British history and folklore. Perfect for those who love natural history, London, or both.
14. The Library Book // Susan Orlean
Part true crime thriller, part love letter to libraries, The Library Book interweaves an investigation of a 1986 fire at the Los Angeles Public Library—which burned for seven hours, destroying 400,000 books and damaging hundreds of thousands more—with the fascinating history of libraries, from their origins up to the current day. Author Susan Orlean not only writes about the importance and influence of libraries in her own life, but also embeds with every department of the LAPL, chatting with the people who make the institution run, showing that, these days, the modern library does much more than lend out books—it plays a vital role in the community. The Library Book is a must-read for book and library lovers everywhere.
15. An American Marriage // Tayari Jones
Tayari Jones's debut novel, a finalist for the 2018 National Book Award and a summer reading recommendation from former President Barack Obama, follows newlyweds Celestial and Roy as their lives—and marriage—are turned upside down after Roy is falsely convicted of rape and sentenced to 12 years in jail. Jones weaves an emotional and powerful story about race and class issues facing a young African-American couple in the New South—and the ripple effects it has on the people around them.
16. Thanks A Thousand: A Gratitude Journey // A.J. Jacobs
Writer A.J. Jacobs is a self-improvement extremist. He can take a fairly normal resolution (learn more things! Hit the gym more often! Become more spiritual!) and go full tilt (read the entire Encyclopaedia Britannica! Be the healthiest person ever! Follow 700 biblical rules to a tee!). For Thanks A Thousand, Jacobs decided to try radical gratitude and thank every person who contributed to his morning cup of coffee—chemists, farmers, health inspectors, truckers, the EPA employee at his local water plant. Everyone. It'll make your cold, caffeinated heart grow three sizes.
17. Damnation Island: Poor, Sick, Mad, and Criminal in 19th-Century New York // Stacy Horn
Algonquin Books
New York City's Roosevelt Island wasn't always home to sports fields and high-rise apartments. In the 19th century, the 2-mile-long island in the middle of the East River was called Blackwell’s, and it was the site of hospitals, prisons, and an insane asylum. In Damnation Island, author Stacy Horn uses contemporary newspaper articles, city records, and reports to take readers inside these facilities, which became overcrowded, freezing, inescapable spaces where the city’s poor perished in droves. The island's notorious facilities became the subject of many exposés (journalist Nellie Bly got herself committed there for a newspaper story) and rehabilitation efforts, to no avail. Damnation Island is a bleak but fascinating look at a piece of nearly forgotten New York City history—one that will make you thankful for modern conveniences.
18. If You Leave Me // Crystal Hana Kim
Korean-American writer Crystal Hana Kim's debut novel If You Leave Me was named one of the Top 10 First Novels of the year by the American Library Association. This beautifully written work of historical fiction tells the heartbreaking story of two star-crossed lovers in Korea whose relationship was forever altered by civil war. It's a story of family, love, loss, and the difficult decisions that people are forced to make during wartime.
19. The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century // Kirk Wallace Johnson
In 2009, student flautist and champion fly-tier Edwin Rist, 20, broke into a British museum and stuffed 299 rare bird skins into a suitcase, slipping out the window he'd entered. The skins, collected more than a century before, had incalculable value to the scientists who studied them. But Rist's fellow fly-tying enthusiasts, who used the feathers in their lures, were willing to put a price on them—and not ask where they came from. After Rist was arrested, some of the specimens were recovered, but a number disappeared without a trace. In The Feather Thief, author Kirk Wallace Johnson examines Rist's life, his crime, and his punishment. And just as Rist became obsessed with fly-tying, Johnson became obsessed with the case—and with tracking down the missing skins. His search for answers took him all over the world, and even put him in a room with Rist himself. Enthralling and infuriating, The Feather Thief is an almost unbelievable story that will captivate natural history lovers and true crime addicts alike.
20. The Sky Is Yours // Chandler Klang Smith
At the outset of Chandler Klang Smith's darkly funny and gorgeously surreal debut novel, young reality star Duncan Humphrey Ripple V is all set to marry Baroness Swan Lenore Dahlberg—an arrangement their wealthy parents have been negotiating forever. But then the Dunk (as he prefers to be known) crash-lands his HowFly on a landfill island and falls in lust with the trash princess Abby, whose best friend is a vulture. Soon, the trio is fighting not just with each other but for their lives as they flee through the burned-out ruins of a dystopian metropolis, away from spectacular violence and toward, eventually, some semblance of safety and belonging. Smith's world is pure pleasure to inhabit, despite (or perhaps because of) the genetically-enhanced pets, prison riots, and fire-breathing dragons. Reviewers have called it Terry Gilliam meets William Gibson, and they're not wrong.
21. Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart // Alice Walker
Although best known for her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Color Purple, Alice Walker’s poetry is no less moving. This beautiful, bilingual collection of nearly 70 poems is presented in both English and Spanish. An ode to troubled times, the poems were written in 2015-2016 at "a time of great sadness and feelings of loss and despair," Walker divulges in an introduction. Although her subject matter is at times painful, a sense of unwavering hope courses through the anthology.
22. Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women's Anger // Rebecca Traister
"What becomes clear, when we look to the past with an eye to the future," journalist Rebecca Traister posits in the intro of her New York Times bestseller, "is that the discouragement of women's anger—via silencing, erasure, and repression—stems from the correct understanding of those in power that in the fury of women lies the power to change the world." As she traces many anger-fueled, women-started movements through time (abolition, labor, suffrage, civil rights, feminism, #metoo), Traister effectively offers up a longform cost-benefit analysis of leaning into your rage. The verdict? Live and let livid.
23. I'll Be There For You: The One About Friends // Kelsey Miller
Whether you tuned in to NBC on Thursday nights or you currently binge full seasons on Netflix, odds are you've spent time watching Friends. And though there's more than enough rightful criticism regarding the show's very of-the-era landscape (the lack of diversity, the various sexual and sexist tropes) to go around, writer Kelsey Miller takes readers behind the scenes for a more intimate look at the heart of the show. Miller examines the cast's relationships with each other and their insanely famous characters, from the show's biggest moments (like how the famous "we were on a break!" storyline impacted the dynamics for the rest of the series) to how the actors supported each other in their fight for salary parity. And, for fans of footnotes, the book is chock-full of fun facts, like how that ingenious apothecary table product placement is still bringing in money for Pottery Barn, or how Lisa Kudrow's real-life sister would often play her stand-in during Phoebe/Ursula twin scenes. For Friends and a book like this, the nostalgia will never be D.O.A.
24. So You Want to Talk About Race // Ijeoma Oluo
"Why am I always being told to 'check my privilege'?" "Why can't I say the 'N' word?" "What is the model minority myth?" Even if you think you know the answers, writer Ijeoma Oluo's bestseller is an essential CliffsNotes on how to talk, approach, and consider race and racial dynamics on both the personal and the political levels. For each topic she covers, she takes the time to fully explain the problem, debunk any common misperceptions, back her claims with data, and provide guidance on how to adjust your frame of mind or become a truly informed ally. Oluo is astute and engaging, and her treatise works as a guide for people of any race, whether you need a more nuanced perspective, or perhaps just a concise, constructive argument to have ready for the holidays.
25. I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer // Michelle McNamara
Earlier this year, former police officer Joseph James DeAngelo was arrested and charged with eight murders based on DNA evidence. If he's convicted, it will close the four-decade-old hunt for the Golden State Killer—the name given to the masked man who terrorized communities in Northern and Southern California. Much of the credit is owed to true crime journalist Michelle McNamara. She scoured thousands of pages of police reports, talked with victims and investigators, obsessively chased obscure leads, and collaborated with members of true crime message boards in search of the killer. McNamara was in the midst of writing an account of her investigation when she suddenly passed away in April 2016. I'll Be Gone in the Dark was finished by an investigative journalist and McNamara's research assistant (editor's notes explain where the material came from and provide additional context). The transition between McNamara's vivid writing and her collaborator's work is somewhat jarring, but I'll Be Gone in the Dark is a compelling read nonetheless—one that ultimately helped shine a light on a notorious killer.
26. The Proposal // Jasmine Guillory
The Proposal, the second novel from New York Times-bestselling novelist Jasmine Guillory, follows freelance writer Nik in the aftermath of a public proposal gone wrong. (Her boyfriend even spells her name incorrectly.) As Nik recovers, she leans on her own strength, her diverse cast of friends—and, of course, a new potential love interest. The feminist romance touches on uncomfortable conversations about consent during courtship and works to a satisfying ending. Bonus: Fans of Guillory's first book, The Wedding Date, will get to revisit the story of beloved character Carlos.
27. In the Enemy's House: The Secret Saga of the FBI Agent and the Code Breaker Who Caught the Russian Spies // Howard Blum
In 2010, authorities arrested 10 members of a Russian spy ring operating in the U.S., an event that served as the inspiration for the TV show The Americans. But it wasn't the first time Russian spies were unmasked here: In In the Enemy's House, author Harold Blum chronicles the incredible true story of codebreaker Meredith Gardner and FBI agent Bob Lamphere, who, after World War II, systematically took down the members of a spy ring—including the Rosenbergs, who were later executed—intent on finding out the secrets of the atomic bomb. Only recently declassified, this compelling tale is mandatory reading for history buffs and fans of The Americans alike.
28. Educated: A Memoir // Tara Westover
Separated from conventional society by an isolationist family in rural Idaho, Tara Westover didn't begin her formal education until the age of 17, armed only with rudimentary home school knowledge and social awkwardness. Her appetite for knowledge proved boundless, and she eventually wound up earning her Ph.D. from Cambridge. Westover's story is a profound lesson in the merits of education—and evidence that no background is too insurmountable for your goals.
29. Fantastic Four: Behold … Galactus! // Stan Lee, John Byrne, and Jack Kirby
Giants of their field, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby collaborated on some of the most revered comics of the 1960s. This oversized, 13.5-inch by 21.5-inch hardcover collects some of their most popular Fantastic Four stories on a canvas big enough to spotlight the mighty Galactus, their planet-devouring nemesis. The back strain is worth it.
30. Homey Don't Play That!: The Story of In Living Color and the Black Comedy Revolution // David Peisner
The 1990 premiere of In Living Color on Fox was a breakthrough for both comedians of color and sketch comedy. With unprecedented access to creator and star Keenen Ivory Wayans, Peisner details the show’s boundary-pushing run, its memorable characters, and the fight to skewer the sacred cows of pop culture.
31. The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist: A True Story of Injustice in the American South // Radley Balko and Tucker Carrington
In The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist, authors Radley Balko (an investigative journalist at The Washington Post) and Tucker Carrington (director of the George C. Cochran Innocence Project at the University of Mississippi School of Law) examine the cases of two innocent men convicted of horrific crimes as well as the system that put them behind bars. The key players are the titular cadaver king—Dr. Steven Hayne, a medical examiner who at one point performed the majority of Mississippi's autopsies—and country dentist—Dr. Michael West, who asserted, among other scientifically shaky claims, that he could match a killer's teeth to bite marks on the victim. A shocking and gut-wrenching exposé of the systemic racism and junk science rampant in Mississippi's courts, The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist will make you reconsider everything you think you know about the legal system.
32. Robin // Dave Itzkoff
It would take a hefty volume to detail the long and varied career of comic actor Robin Williams, and author Dave Itzkoff delivers it. Charting Williams's rise from the 1970s stand-up scene to becoming a household name during Mork and Mindy to his dramatic feature film turns, Itzkoff's 529 pages probe deep into the mind of a comedian whose seeming spontaneity was the result of years of hard work. For Williams, comedy was something he took very seriously.
33. We Are the Nerds: The Birth and Tumultuous Life of Reddit, The Internet's Culture Laboratory // Christine Lagorio-Chafkin
Hachette Books
When Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian started Reddit in the tech factory of the Y Combinator group in 2005, they envisioned it as the front page of the entire internet. It was an audacious goal, and one that they eventually met—but not before personality conflicts and questionable business decisions nearly sunk the enterprise. Lagorio-Chafkin's assured narrative makes even crashing servers the stuff suspense thrillers are made of.
34. Beastie Boys Book // MIchael Diamond and Adam Horovitz
When parents got an earful of "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party!)" back in the mid-1980s, many assumed (read: hoped) that the Beastie Boys would be just another passing fad. Wow, were they wrong. In fact, in the more than 30 years since their License to Ill album hit record stores, the band has expanded its grasp on popular culture well beyond the music scene. This book—a wild autobiography that is full of conversations between the band's two surviving members, Mike Diamond (Mike D) and Adam Horovitz (Ad-Rock)—embraces the many art forms the Beastie Boys and their music have infiltrated over the years, and even includes a series of recipes inspired by their Paul’s Boutique album. It also, of course, pays tribute to Adam Yauch, a.k.a. MCA, the band's third member who tragically passed away from cancer in 2012 at the age of 47. Much like the band itself, the hefty book is irreverent, full of surprises, and unexpectedly deep.
35. Churchill: Walking With Destiny // Andrew Roberts
If you want to read any old biography of Winston Churchill, there are literally hundreds from which to choose. But if you’re looking for a deeper exploration of the complicated man behind the myth, Andrew Roberts’s latest tome—which clocks in at more than 1000 pages—does just that, but with an affection for his subject that not every Churchill biographer has offered. While it doesn't shy away from criticism, the book also paints a vivid picture of Churchill's legendary wit, loyalty, and devotion to his wife. It's an exhaustively researched study in the contradictions of a man who basked in his ability to be contradictory.
36. Sick: A Memoir // Porochista Khakpour
Since she was barely old enough to write, author Porochista Khakpour has always felt that there was something "off" with her body. Growing up, she battled an onslaught of random symptoms—insomnia, high fevers, tremors, fainting spells—that were initially attributed to PTSD. It was something that her parents believed would resolve itself with time, but the pain Khakpour felt on a daily basis—and the symptoms—only intensified. Then came the pain medications and an addiction to benzodiazepines. Eventually, Khakpour was diagnosed with late-stage Lyme disease. While Khakpour's book isn't necessarily a story of triumph (there is no cure for Khakpour), it is a story of survival. Anyone who has ever dealt with the debilitating one-two punch of both physical and psychological pain will find some solace, and recognition, in Khakpour's lifelong struggle with chronic illness. And for those who know or love someone who deals with such issues, it's a brilliantly honest account of the strength it takes just to get out of bed each morning.
37. The Largesse of the Sea Maiden // Denis Johnson
On May 24, 2017, Denis Johnson—a Pulitzer Prize finalist—passed away at the age of 67 after a battle with liver cancer. Fortunately, he left us with The Largesse of the Sea Maiden, a collection of short stories (his first in 25 years). While his themes have always leaned toward the darker side of life, there’s something slightly different about these tales—call it a kind of finality. Though concise wording and mortality have always been a part of Johnson’s oeuvre, with stories like "Triumph over the Grave”—about a professor attending to his dying friend—it seems clear that Johnson had come to terms with his fate, but wasn't about to go quietly. He saved the best for last; there's not an ounce of fat on these stories. Each word is exactly where it should be, and each description is only as long as it needs to be. This collection is a reminder that there won't be another writer like him.
38. She Has Her Mother's Laugh: The Powers, Perversions, and Potential of Heredity // Carl Zimmer
Carl Zimmer, a science columnist for The New York Times, investigates the meanings of genetic inheritance in this weighty book that reads like a journey into the nature of humankind. Using historical examples, Zimmer shows how heredity was misinterpreted and manipulated by eugenicists; by sequencing his own genome, he explores the complexity of epigenetics and the social implications of DNA in the 21st century. Your 23andMe profile is more complicated than you think.
39. The Poison Squad: One Chemist's Single-Minded Crusade for Food Safety at the Turn of the 20th Century // Deborah Blum
Before the push for food safety in the late 19th century, milk was often adulterated with formaldehyde and foods were preserved with salicylic acid, the active ingredient in acne medication. Pulitzer Prize-winning science journalist Deborah Blum uncovers the movement’s unsung hero, a chemist named Harvey Washington Wiley, who worked for decades to enact and enforce food safety laws that we now take for granted. This entertaining (and horrifying) account will make you think twice about your next meal.
40. Caddyshack: The Making of a Hollywood Cinderella Story // Chris Nashawaty
Chris Nashawaty interviewed nearly everybody involved in making the classic 1980 snob-versus-slob golf film, giving us a book that, in the words of The Washington Post, is "much more fun to read than the movie was to watch." Tracing film production from the first tee to the last hole, Nashawaty not only reveals real tensions between the straight-laced Ted Knight and the pot-smoking Rodney Dangerfield, but also details a slew of bacchanalian hijinks that occurred off-camera.
41. To the Edges of the Earth: 1909, The Race for the Three Poles, and the Climax of the Age of Exploration // Edward J. Larson
With the first summit of Everest and traverse of Antarctica still decades away, historian Edward J. Larson homes in on the year 1909 as a watershed moment in exploration. He follows legendary quests to reach the farthest points of terra firma: Robert Peary's attempt at the North Pole, Ernest Shackleton's stab at the South Pole, and Luigi Amadeo, Duke of the Abruzzi's ascent of K2, the world’s second-highest peak. Characterized by insane cold, extreme danger, and the hefty egos of their leaders, the three expeditions redefined the limits of human endurance.
42. Chesapeake Requiem: A Year With the Watermen of Vanishing Tangier Island // Earl Swift
Smack in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay, Virginia's Tangier Island—and the 200-year-old crabbing community that calls the island home—is quickly disappearing. With its shoreline retreating 15 feet every year because of climate change, Tangier Island has lost two-thirds of its land since 1850 and is predicted to become unlivable by 2040. For nearly two years, Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist Earl Swift lived among Tangier's hardy villagers and came home with this poignant tale depicting a unique culture destined to fade away.
43. The Monarchy of Fear: A Philosopher Looks at Our Political Process // Martha Nussbaum
No matter what your political stripe, chances are the state of American politics makes you feel … something. So who better to explain the current cultural moment than the world’s foremost philosopher on emotions? Nussbaum, a professor at the University of Chicago, writes elegantly about the root source of your gut feelings, pinning down abstract emotions such as anger, disgust, envy, and jealousy. Along the way, she discusses everything from ancient history to modern literature.
44. The Perfectionists: How Precision Engineering Created the Modern World // Simon Winchester
In this homage to precision engineering, bestselling author Simon Winchester gives life to the unknown historical characters who helped make the world what it is today (such as the English ironmaster John Wilkinson, who helped design the machinery that made James Watts’s famous steam engine work). Investigating phenomena from the dawn of interchangeable parts to the digital age, this book is perfect for people who need everything to be, well, perfect.
45. Unclaimed Baggage // Jen Doll
A handful of fantastic young adult novelists have graced the print and digital pages of Mental Floss—John Green and Ransom Riggs to name a couple. Now we're proud to add former magazine editor Jen Doll to that list. In this fresh and enchanting YA debut, a group of Alabama misfits find friendship while working in a store selling lost luggage. In the end, they unpack baggage of a different kind.
46. Florida // Lauren GroFF
The characters in Lauren Groff's book face a variety of challenges—from panthers to snakes to hurricanes—but they're all connected by the Sunshine State. Each short story in the collection stands on its own, but together they create a sense of place that will haunt you like the hum of an air conditioner in the Florida heat.
47. The Incendiaries // R.O. Kwon
R.O. Kwon explores the dark side of faith in her debut novel. The relationship between Will and Phoebe, two college students, is tested when a charismatic cult leader infiltrates their lives. Kwon's prose makes even the most disturbing twists in the story an irresistible read.
48. The Merry Spinster: Tales of Everyday Horror // DANIEL Mallory Ortberg
Most classic fairy tales have dark undertones, and Daniel Mallory Ortberg embraces that in The Merry Spinster. The compilation takes familiar children's stories, like "The Velveteen Rabbit" and "The Frog Prince," and gives them a disturbing spin for modern, grown-up readers. The sense of humor Ortberg brought to The Toast, the website he cofounded, is strong in each piece.
49. The Personality Brokers: The Strange History of Myers-Briggs and the Birth of Personality Testing // Merve Emre
Whether or not you believe the Myers-Briggs personality test, The Personality Brokers is an entertaining read. Merve Emre's book won't tell you if you're an INFP or an ESTJ, but it will take you through the compelling history of the personality test, from its conception by a mother-daughter team of fiction writers to its impact on pop psychology today.
50. War on Peace: The End of Diplomacy and the Decline of American Influence // Ronan Farrow
When he wasn't breaking sexual misconduct stories for The New Yorker this year, Ronan Farrow released a Pulitzer Prize-winning book on the decline of U.S. foreign policy. War on Peace provides broad context for the state of diplomacy today, featuring interviews with influential political figures, including every living former secretary of state from Henry Kissinger to Rex Tillerson.
51. My Year of Rest and Relaxation // OtTessa Moshfegh
Penguin Press
Ottessa Moshfegh's latest novel is a bleak portrait of a privileged, narcissistic, and painfully isolated young woman who decides to literally sleep away her life. With the help of a psychiatrist whose inattention and enthusiasm for doling out prescriptions borders on criminal, she locks herself in her apartment and whiles away the months in a pharmaceutical-induced blackout. Sharply observed with a wickedly dark sense of humor, the book is far from a snore.
52. See What Can Be Done: Essays, Criticism, and Commentary // Lorrie Moore
Lorrie Moore has long been known as one of America's foremost fiction writers, but her latest release represents her first book of nonfiction. Comprising essays, book reviews, cultural criticism, and other writings from throughout her career, some of the pieces date back to her days writing about Nora Ephron and Margaret Atwood for Cornell's literary magazine in the early 1980s. As she puts it in the introduction, the book is "34 years of, well, stuff." With meditations on everything from John Cheever to Lena Dunham and True Detective, it's an exhaustive survey of American culture through the work of one of our sharpest modern writers.
53. The Dog in Photography: 1839-Today // Raymond Merritt
In The Dog in Photography: 1839-Today, they're all good boys. The book features delightful dog pics from the earliest days of photography up to the present-day, reminding us that for as long as we've had cameras, we've wanted to immortalize our favorite pooches on film. It has something for every type of dog lover, from vintage photos of dogs in top hats to photos of celebrities like Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe with their pups.
54. The Recovering: Intoxication and Its Aftermath // Leslie Jamison
"I was trying to write a book about the ways addiction is a hard story to tell," Leslie Jamison writes in the first few pages of The Recovering, "because addiction is always a story that has already been told, because it grinds down—ultimately, for everyone—to the same demolished and reductive and recycled core: Desire. Use. Repeat." Her solution is a hefty, deeply researched book that's unlike any other addiction memoir, tracing not just the journey of her own addiction and recovery, but of the everyday Alcoholics Anonymous attendees she meets along the way. In the process, she explores the history of A.A. and U.S. drug policy, the varied societal responses to alcoholism and drug addiction, and more.
55. The World's Most Beautiful Libraries // Massimo Listri
This elegant coffee table book is a bibliophile's dream. Filled with large-format photographs by noted Italian photographer Massimo Listri, it’s a visual tour of some of the world’s most storied archival spaces, from monastic libraries that date to the 17th century to palatial royal archives and historic public libraries you can still visit today. Get a sneak peek of some of the incredible spaces featured here.
56. True or Poo?: The Definitive Field Guide to Filthy Animal Facts and Falsehoods // Nick Caruso and Dani Rabaiotti
This breezy read will give you numerous unexpected insights into the animal kingdom, debunking ubiquitous myths—like the idea that if you touch a baby bird its parents will abandon it—and providing even more unreal-sounding true facts like "some fish have parasites for tongues." With whimsical illustrations and an entire section on animal digestion and excretion, it's an educational book for the whole family.
Written by Erika Berlin, April Daley, Michelle Debczak, Shaunacy Ferro, Kat Long, Bess Lovejoy, Erin McCarthy, Emily Petsko, Lucas Reilly, Jake Rossen, and Jennifer Wood.
J.K. Rowling Reveals How San Francisco Inspired Major Harry Potter Location
BY Bernadette Roe
Jamie McCarthy, Getty Images
The award-winning play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is about to open at the Curran Theater in San Francisco. The two-part drama takes place 19 years after the events in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and depicts Harry’s life as his son, Albus, is about to begin school at Hogwarts.
J.K. Rowling has pointed out that San Francisco had a deep influence on the original Harry Potter novels, SFGate reports. In the video below, Rowling talks about how Alcatraz, the infamous former prison, inspired her creation of Azkaban.
"[San Francisco] is a very distinctive, special place—I love the feel of it, I love the architecture,” Rowling said. “I've actually said this before, but Azkaban is a combination of Alcatraz and Abbadon, which is an old word for hell. I squeezed those words together. The idea of the rock in the middle of the ocean was directly inspired by a visit to Alcatraz."
With its mist and Gothic mood, it’s no wonder this slice of San Francisco inspired a big part of the Harry Potter world.
[h/t SFGate]
books celebrities cities entertainment Harry Potter News Pop Culture theater bookcorner
A ‘Book Ripper’ in Herne Bay, England Is Ripping Book Pages, Then Putting Them Back on Shelves
BY Ellen Gutoskey
demaerre/iStock via Getty Images
Herne Bay, a town about 60 miles east of London, has fallen prey to a new kind of ripper. According to The Guardian, a criminal known as the “Book Ripper” has torn pages within about 100 books in a charity bookstore before placing them back on shelves.
“I’m trying not to be too Sherlock Holmes about it,” Ryan Campbell, chief executive of the charity Demelza, told The Guardian, “but if there’s such a thing as a quite distinctive rip, well, he or she rips the page in half horizontally and sometimes removes half the page.”
Police are hunting for the Herne Bay book ripper, a pest who has spent the past three months tearing out the last pages of books in bookshops and libraries. https://t.co/tFBMa4QgKs
— Catherine Sanz (@sanzscript) July 13, 2019
Though it’s not the most efficient way to ruin a reading experience, since the pages themselves are still legible as long as they’re left in the book, it’s still devastating to a shop that relies on the generosity of others to serve the underprivileged.
“Of course people donate these books towards the care of children with terminal illness so it’s almost like taking the collection box,” Campbell said.
Since the occasional torn page in a secondhand bookshop isn’t uncommon, booksellers didn’t immediately realize the scope of the issue, but they believe it's been happening for a few months. The Book Ripper targets bookshelves that can’t be seen from the register, and has a favorite genre to vandalize: true crime.
The local library has also reported the same pattern of damage in some of their volumes, and police are now monitoring the situation in both places.
Townspeople are monitoring the situation, too, patrolling bookstores and libraries hoping to apprehend the culprit.
“I’m a little worried about the person,” Campbell said. “It makes you think a little bit about who’s doing this and why they feel the need to do it and what’s going on in their lives.”
[h/t The Guardian]
books charity crime Europe at-the-libraries News Weird weird news
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Edius Naquin
February 15, 2018 by Mitch Reed Leave a Comment
[0:01]
That is a tune by Eidus Naquin, a legendary musician from Mamou, Louisiana. he sang a lot of old ballads and played a lot of old really obscured archaic tunes with very interesting stories about kings, queens, magical worlds and things like that. Definitely some ties to France and Europe, interesting character, he was a good friend of my uncle, Revon Reed, who did a lot of field recordings of Mamou musicians in the ’60s. He and Edius were part of this group of men in Mamou in the late 1960s that were called the Mamou Supper Club and people like Revon Reed, Paul Tate, Adam and Cyp Landreneau, Butch Sealy, Edius Naquin, Isom Fontenot, just to name a few. Some of you from Mamou might recognize these names.
So Edius was just a really interesting guy and I thought it would be fun to talk about him today. He is on a record that came out a couple of years ago and you can download it on your devices. It’s on iTunes called basically, Louisiana Cajun and Creole Music: The Newport Field Recordings. It’s kind of a weird title; it sounds like to me a lot of home recordings. These guys like Ralph Rinzler, who was a folklorist and worked for the Library of Congress, came down to Louisiana in what sounds like maybe the early 70s, late 60s and recorded some of these guys in either their homes or the bars playing tunes. So yeah, check it out!
These are the types of recordings that inspire me. I like the old guys that played fiddle and harmonica and accordion but also sang ballads by themselves and even played fiddle unaccompanied. You don’t hear that too much anymore but that’s what Edius Naquin played- a lot of unaccompanied fiddle tunes. Maybe his tunes were just so strange and so old, I don’t know if people knew the chords to the tunes. Check out BeauSoliel recordings because Michael Doucet has done a great job of bringing back some of Edius’ music and putting it in more of a Cajun band sound. David Doucet has come up with guitar chords and things like that so if you do like these tunes and you want to play with a guitar player, check out BeauSoleil’s The Mad Reel with Micheal Doucet. Also, Gitane is another great record that BeauSoleil did with Edius tunes.
I’ll do one more Edius tune. Hopefully, everyone made it through the freeze and the flu season. Its been a really tough time down here in Louisiana with the flu and then just freezing temperatures, snow, ice… things we never get. If there were any Cajun tunes about snow and ice and freezing, I would play it right now. If you know any, in the comments let me know but I don’t know of any because we don’t usually get this weather.
So I’m gonna do one more tune by Edius and it’s called Hack à Moreau and it goes like this. [05:23]
Alright, Edius Naquin’s Hack à Moureau. I actually inherited some of Revon’s field recordings, and I tried to preserve them as best I could and put them in the archive at UL. One of the first things that I came across about Edius Naquin and Revon and the gang was they had made the trip to Washington, D.C. for the Smithsonian Folklife Festival and they were all rooming together in this hotel or this bunkhouse or something near an airport. They were, of course, having some drinks and you could hear the planes flying overhead and they were playing tunes and they wrote a song called La Valse de Washington, D.C.
Then they all went to bed and Revon woke up maybe 2:30 in the morning and he had a little reel to reel recorder with him. He decided to have a snoring contest and there was an awful lot of snoring going on. You can about imagine about 10 Cajuns sleeping there, drinking all night and playing tunes. He went around recording different people but the one person who won the contest was Edius Naquin and he had this crazy high snore and it’s just an unbelievable recording. Revon was just great about having fun and being funny. It wasn’t just about music. He had this really crazy high snore just like his voice. It was really funny. Revon always loved Edius; I think that he was his favorite. He said he was a fantastic person.
Alright, y’all. Stay inspired, keep on fiddlin’, check out that recording. Hope to see you soon. Thanks.
Filed Under: Etc., Holidays & History
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